One more thing...

THANK YOU to Wendi Leyba, awesome neighbor, for your donation!!

Emerald Nuts Race Report

I'm sorry... I know I'm an irresponsible blogger... I said I'd post the race report yesterday and here it is a whole day later. After much anticipation I'm sure (said VERY sarcastically) here it is:

Phil and I being the chronic early birds that we are had planned to get to the city before 7:00 so we could catch one of the early buses over to Fort Baker. When we got there the lines were nonexistent and we hopped right on. 15 minutes later we were dropped off at the start line on the other side of the bay. And then we just waited. And waited some more. And pottied. And waited. The race didn't start until 8:30-- Speedy Phil was in the 2nd wave which went out at 8:45 and I was in the 3rd wave at 9:00. So we had some time to just chill. Slowly my TNT teammates started arriving and then Mama Lisa showed up to get us stretched and do our shout outs.

Once the race started everything went really well. I've run the course before a couple of years ago and knew there would be a nice little downhill before the monstrous uphill climb to the golden gate bridge. And the hill? Worse and longer than I had remembered it! I had started out running with Sarah but she sped ahead of me up the hill... I run the very first part, walked through the middle of it, and then as soon as I heard Mama Lisa's bell towards top of the hill I started running again!

Once we were out on the bridge the views were gorgeous. The skies were clear and blue and although it was windy, it was a tail wind so I wasn't complaining. Yet. At the other side of the bridge we got a nice downhill to Crissy Field where we felt the wind again, this time coming at us from the side. We ran out and back along the bay to Fort Point and it was super windy. :( At this point I was still feeling pretty good... I wasn't tired, or feeling like I needed to walk at all. Then we got out to Crissy Field-- last time I ran this race I remembered this section as warm and boring. This year it wasn't warm, but it was boring :( For some reason this stretch just seems to never end :( Thankfully I ran into Jeanette out there taking pictures. I stopped to chat with her a little bit-- it was a nice break but after a few minutes I could tell my muscles were tightening up.

After I left Jeanette I looked at my watch and saw that I had less than a mile left. I caught up with a couple of teammates, one who was having some shin problems. She was a trooper though and wanted to run into the finish line for her family who was out there cheering her. We ran out along the street, up one last hill (we walked it) and then had a nice downhill to the finish where a bunch of TNTers were cheering us in. Woo Hoo!! I don't remember my final time... and I don't think they've been officially posted yet, but I felt really good at the end so I'm happy :D

Jeanette, Phil and I walked around the post-race area for a little bit and then Phil and I went in search of some food. The diner we went to in Ghiradelli Square was understaffed and had a long wait so we ended up at an Irish Pub downstairs. A Guinness, a burger and some fries and we were happy :D

After I got home I did a little cleaning, took a much needed shower and a short nap. Later that evening Lael and I went over to Claudia and Rocky's for a yummy dinner and some catching up. Oh, and of course got to spend some time with my favorite, crazy, spoiled doggies :D

Do you have your green on??

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

I'm not doing any celebrating tonight since I did it all over the weekend :D Friday night I spent the evening with some TNT friends at Julie's house. We had a great time catching up, eating and enjoying some wine.

Julie, me, Jennifer, Bryan and Sarah... Claudia is behind the camera

Saturday I actually got to sleep in since we didn't have a Coached OR Mentor Led Run that morning. I had signed up though to help man the TNT booth at the Dublin St. Patrick's Day Festival in the afternoon. I had planned on going over a little early to walk around and get some of the yummy festival food and Claudia and Rocky decided to meet me there with the doggies. We knew that the "official" word was that doggies were not allowed but since we've heard that plenty before at other festivals and no one seems to enforce it, we thought it would be a big deal.


WRONG! I guess they were VERY serious about not letting the doggies in the main festival so we ended up hanging out near the entrance eating and chatting. Right before I needed to be at the booth they took off and I walked around a little. It looked like they had some cute stuff but it was a little chilly so I did just a quick walk through. The TNT booth was actually inside the library with the other non-profits booths which ended up being a good thing-- we didn't get to see as many of the festival-goers but we were nice and warm inside :D That night I just took it easy since I was doing the Emerald Nuts 12k race the next day. Jeanette was nice enough to let me use her bib since her knee was giving her some problems :( THANK YOU!!


Continued tomorrow...


In the mean time, THANK YOU to my latest fundraising supporters, Korina Riggin and Rocky Reyes. Thanks to you both (and everyone else who has donated to my fundraising campaign) I have raised almost $1,200!! Woo hoo!!

Who are you??

I'm always very curious about who reads my blog. I know that a few members of my family do(thanks mom and dad :D), and some friends as well, but I'm curious about those readers who don't know me, or don't know me well, that end up on my blog. Enter SiteMeter :D I love this site :D It tells me a bunch of fun details about everyone who lands on my site-- where they're located, how long they stayed, if they out clicked on any links, where they were referred to my site from, how old they are and what their favorite color is. Just kidding on the last two :D I can guess who some readers are based on the information it collects, but for the rest I'm clueless. Who is the reader from Maryland, who from Colorado? I have no idea! And the curiosity is driving me a little nuts!

Here's a breakdown of some of the more interesting statistics from SiteMeter for my last 100 visitors (which is just in the last three days):

Where are you from?
All over the bay area
Kansas
Colorado
Maryland
New York: Commack and Oneanta
Minnesota
France
Queensland

How did you find me?
Friend's blogs: Mostly Claudia and Phil
Facebook: I just added my website to my profile... I guess people really DO look at it!
Google Searches:
"Make running fun for kids"... My entry came up 3rd in the search results
"Nike pics"... Came up at the bottom of Page 2
"Ranger kiosk yosemite"... 2nd
"'Pulaski bridge' filpped"... 2nd
"How long to get an appointment at diving swallow in oakland"... 8th :(
"zipline kaanapali"... 3rd
"Fat kids always win at seesaw"... 5th
"New balance runs small"... 1st on the list!! Woo hoo!
"Running what to eat"... 8th :(

My question is, did these people actually find what they were searching for in my blog? Hmmm.

Warrior's Game

A few months ago Crazy B, a fellow TNTer and Cappy of the Diablo Valley Spring Team, sent an email out announcing that for his fundraiser he was selling tickets to a Warrior's game. I had decided not to go because honestly, the last time I went to a Warrior's game I was so uncomfortable in their seats-- they're NOT made for tall people with long legs :(... I think they have less leg/knee room than airplane seats. I didn't want to shell out money, even though it was for a good cause, to be uncomfortable for two hours.

All of that changed when Claudia busted her baby toe :( Claudia offered her ticket to me since traipsing around a huge arena was exactly what she should NOT be doing! I told her I'd go in her place so after work I did a couple of errands, went home to grab a bite to eat and then got on BART. I met Rocky at the entrance to the arena and we headed inside to meet up with Debbie, Claudia's friend, and all the other TNTers. It turned out that the seats up in the nose bleed section were much more comfortable so I was happy :D The game was a good one... the Warrior's were ahead pretty much the whole time, although at one point the Raptor's had scored enough to tie them, before the Warrior's took the lead again. One thing I don't get is that the cheerleaders went through FOUR outfit changes (one per quarter) and yet spent most of the time just sitting on the side of the court shaking their pom poms. I think they only got up to dance twice. What is the point in that?

I had a good time at the game... THANK YOU Claudia for the ticket... but by the time I got home it was after 11:00 :( Today I am sleepy. Pam told me last week when I canceled on her that she wasn't going to be able to run tonight so at least I can go home and have the night to just relax, and maybe even fit in a nap :D Ahhh, I love sleep!

Team bonding

Monday night I skipped my run with Pam so that I could go to a TNT social at Mentor Sarah's house in the beautiful Oakland hills. She and a couple of the other mentors had planned a little potluck night where we could socialize, eat some yummy food, do a taste test of various gels, and watch Runner's High starring our very own Coach Al! I saw the movie when it first came out at the SF film festival but many of the people at Sarah's hadn't seen it yet. It was really nice to see everyone in their normal people clothes, instead of all our running gear!

Last night I went out to the Buddy Run at Lake Merritt. With the time change, it was nice and bright the whole time we were running-- yea, no more headlamps (although I brought mine just in case)! I ended up running with Leslie, one of the participants. She's usually a little faster than I am so I either sped up, she slowed down, or we did a little of both. I was definitely pushing it the whole time and was exhausted by the time we finished 1 and a half loops, about 4.75 miles. And what a difference that sun makes... it was definitely warmer out than during our previous runs and we were both wishing that we had brought some water out there with us! A few people decided to go out for some burgers, but all I wanted to do was go home, take a shower, grab a quick bite and plop on the couch for American Idol!!

Pretty Schmitty, those hills are STILL awful!!

Friday night after work I rushed home to pack up for the run on Saturday and the weekend at Claudia and Rocky's. I got to their house around 6:30 and took the doggies out for a little walk. The rest of the night was pretty low key... I made some dinner (THANK YOU Claudia for the pasta :D) and then cut up some oranges and cooked potatoes for our Honoree Potluck the next day after the run.

The doggies were good, pretty much just followed me around all night and then tried to both fit on my lap whenever I sat down. Daisy cracked me up when she was eating her dinner... I think a lot of dogs do this, they take a little food in their mouth, carry it away from their bowl, drop it on the ground and THEN eat it. I've seen Patch do it a lot, and Daisy does it too. At first she just walked a foot or so away, then she walked across the room to eat her food, and they for some reason she decided to walk into the empty magazine rack to eat her food! All I could see was her little hiney sticking out one end, and her ears out of the other as she ate her food. Silly girl!!

After some tv watching it was off to bed and a restless night's sleep :( First I was hot so off came the covers. Then around midnight my cell phone started beeping... the battery was dying and of course I forgot my charger. I knew Claudia and Rocky had a spare one around so I decided to peek into the closet to see if I could see it laying around somewhere. Found it, and then had to go plug the phone in which got the doggies excited in their little doggie condo. Back to sleep I went only to wake up a few hours later to Daisy whining. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes so I went back to sleep and woke up next to my alarm at 6:00am. Sigh. Time to get up :(

I got myself ready, got the doggies pottied and walked, and was out the door at 6:30. The benefit to staying in Oakland was that my drive to Lake Chabot for the run was a short one! Jeanette and I got the water stop people off to their posts and then the team started to arrive. The mileage for the team was anywhere from 3-9 miles so there were a number of course options depending on how far you were going. First Coach sent everyone off to the left side of the lake (the blue line in the picture below) and then back to the starting area before heading off along the right side for a 6 mile loop (with a little out and back in the middle) (the red and green line). Jeanette and I didn't want to do the full 9 miles, and wanted to hang out at one of the forks in the course so we could give people directions so we skipped the first out and back, and just did the loop. This is the same course that I with the team when I was training for New York, and includes the dreaded 10 hills trail! Ugggh, I HATE hills! It was much easier with Jeanette by my side though. :D

After our run we had our honoree potluck, which gives the participants and chance to get to know and learn more about our honorees, and kind of thanks our honorees for letting us support them! Of course, there was much crying since their journeys have been very emotional ones. Some of them are in remission, some are still fighting, and some, like Brenda and Cole, lost the fight with cancer. We even got to hear from some of the participants who have a personal connection to the cause, and are running for someone close to them who has cancer. A definitely did a little crying, but it was still a very fun potluck, and the run wasn't bad either :D

Michael (an honoree), a participant whose mother is fighting cancer, and Matt (an honoree)

Louis (an honoree and fellow participant)

The rest of the day I spent lounging around with the doggies. I tried to take a nap on the couch but it's a little hard when two wiggly warm dogs are trying to find a comfy spot on YOU to take a nap too. I wound some of my yarn, watched some tv, took the dogs for a longer walk around the complex, wrote thank you cards and made some dinner. I talked to Claudia that night and she said that both Phil and Rocky had finished the century (WOO HOO!!!) and were feeling good, but tired. Check out their blogs to find out how the ride went! What I want to know is this: how is that they could spend 9.5-11 or so hours riding a bike, and climbing some nasty hills, and not feel as bad as when they run a marathon, which takes half that time. I don't get it. Even though you feel worse afterwards, I think I'll stick with running!

That night I slept much better! I started with the covers off so I wasn't too hot, the phone was charging and the doggies were quiet as mice the whole night. I still woke up though at 6:30 :( Why oh why can't I sleep in. I took Patch and Daisy out to go potty and walk around and the we all piled into bed to sleep/rest for awhile longer. Once I finally got up, packed my stuff, and had a little lunch I left the doggies :( and headed back home.

A weekend with the furry babies

I get to spend the weekend with these two:


Claudia and Rocky have headed down for the Solvang Century ride and asked me to watch the doggies for the weekend. I can't wait for my weekend with the furry babies! Patch used to drive me crazy sometimes when he lived with me and Claudia but now that I don't see him all the time, I miss him :( And Daisy is such a funny, sweet, yet slightly neurotic dog that I love seeing her too! I'll be able to spend plenty of quality time with them this weekend since I really only have our run and honoree potluck at Lake Chabot tomorrow.

Last night I ended up bailing on the run with Pam :( I was at work late, and then had some things I needed to do before I went to Claudia/Rocky's for the weekend, so I called Pam to tell her that I wasn't going to be able to make it. After doing my errands, and meeting Claudia to get the key, I didn't get home until after 6:30, which is when Pam and I usually run. Pam called me back later to tell me it was okay, she was tired anyway -- that made me feel a little less guilty for bailing at the last minute! Since I can't run on Monday, and she can't run on Thursday, I won't see her again until the next Monday-- St. Patrick's Day!

100 miles? No problem!

This weekend both Phil and Rocky are headed off to the Solvang Century ride! Phil has been training his booty off (seriously... and they even have something called "butt butter" to help with that :D) and I know he's going to have a fantastic time and just kill the course. Rocky's training has not been as intense but he's one of those darn athletic people that always do well, even if they haven't been training so I know he'll do well to! GOOD LUCK BOYS!!!! I won't be there in person to cheer you both on but me and the doggies will be cheering you on from afar!

Since Wednesday's are my only weeknight off from running (Friday evening doesn't count... once work is over the weekend has started!) I decided to take the opportunity to do a little shopping at Old Navy and then I stopped in at the hospital to spend some time with the Regans. Andrew seemed to be happy walking around with no sign of pain in his leg, but the scan he just had shows no improvement so the doctors are still trying to figure out what's going on. :( He seems to be doing fine being at the hospital, and from the fun Emma was having in the playroom last night she doesn't seem to mind being there too much either. I think Brandy and Keith have probably had more than enough of hospitals at this point though!

Goodbye Saucony, Hello New Balance!

It ended up being a good thing that I wasn't able to get my shoes on Monday night at the Danville store. I went over to the Walnut Creek Forward Motion last night to pick up the Sauconys that were waiting for me there. While I was trying them on I started chatting with the guy working there. I mentioned that I had some problems with blisters when I trained in my old shoes and he said that I might have the same problem with the new pair since it was the same shoe, just in different colors (white, red and black ... Amy, I thought of you when I saw them!!). Boo hoo... I don't want to have the same blister problem :( He thought the problem might be that the Sauconys were a little too tight around my arch, causing some friction that led to the blisters. He suggested that I try on some other shoe that might not be so narrow through the middle of my foot. Okay!

I tried on a pair of Brooks, New Balance and Mizunos and decided that I liked the New Balance pair the best. And guess what? Since their sizes run small, I'm now a size 11 in mens! How nice. I mentioned to the guy that I wished they'd make the women's shoes in larger sizes so I could wear the prettier ones-- I guess in some shoes they DO make larger sizes, but he said they would probably be too narrow and give me the same problem that my last shoes did. :( Oh well, I guess I'll stick with the mens. With my running shoes I'd definitely prefer comfort over style!!

I tried the new shoes out at the Buddy Run in Oakland. So far they feel really good... we'll see how they feel when we get into the longer mileages. The people at Forward Motion have always steered me the right way before so I trust their judgement and think that this was a good switch.

Big Foot

And by that I'm referring to myself :( Last night I headed out to Danville a little early so that I could pick up a new pair of shoes before I met Pam for our run. I popped in to Forward Motion and WOW, that place was packed! I walked up to the shoe area and found the shoes I needed... Saucony Omni Ultimate. Size 10.5. In mens :( I have such big feet, they don't carry my size in the pretty women's shoe. Because running shoes should be big, to give your feet room to stretch out, my shoe size in women's is a 12, which they don't make. That's sad :(

Sadly, they were out of stock in the men's shoe so I was stuck running in the old ones again. AND, I forgot my headlamp. I wasn't having much luck last night! Thankfully the run did go well, and since the nice boy at Forward Motion called the Walnut Creek store, I'll have a pair of shoes waiting for me when I go by there today! Yea!!

BIG THANKS to Deni and Stan Smart for their latest donation! Mahalo!!

A weird deja vu :(

Friday night Claudia and I met up for some Vietnamese food in Lafayette. While we were on our way to the restaurant, Claudia told me that our friend Brandy had sent out an email telling us that her youngest son, 16 month old Andrew, was being admitted to Kaiser in Walnut Creek that night :( Andrew was having some pain in his leg so after a bunch of tests and x-rays to see what the problem was, they decided that chances are the pain was caused by an infection in his bone :( Poor guy was being admitted so they could administer some heavy duty antibiotics through an IV over the next week.

After Claudia and I finished dinner we headed over to the hospital to bring some food and visit with Brandy and Keith, Andrew's dad. Their daughter Emma was there and she entertained us all while poor Andrews was getting stuck with needles :( For those of you who don't know Brandy's story, her oldest son Cole passed away from cancer a few years ago when he was just short of his 2nd birthday. Being in the hospital with Andrew (even though the situation isn't nearly as serious), brought back some sad memories from the months and months they spent in the hospital with Cole. While Claudia and I were walking down the hall to Andrew's room, we were talking about how weird it was being there again... it's was not a good kind of deja vu :(

Saturday morning I headed off to Yuba City to spend the weekend with my parents and to help my dad celebrate his birthday. We had a fun time and of course I managed to get a bunch of laundry done :D We went out to lunch at Red Robin and then dragged my dad off to a little craft store in Marysville that has some nice yarn. Thanks to my mom, I now have some more yarn to add to my stash :D After that we went out to my grandparent's old house to pick some oranges. My grandparent's oranges are so yummy and juicy... WAY better than the flavorless ones they have at the grocery store. I love them so much I brought home three bags :D If anyone wants some oranges, I have so many I'm giving them away!! After a nice nap on the couch with the doggies and then a movie, we went to a Chinese place down the street for dinner. Then it was back home for another movie :D

Sunday morning my parents went off to church, letting me sleep in a little bit :D I spent the morning finishing up my laundry and watching some movies with the doggies. My parents didn't end up getting home until the afternoon, so all we had time for was a quick goodbye before I needed to pack up and leave. :( It was SUPER windy in Yuba City and I worried that the whole drive home would be the same but once I got to Vacaville, the wind had pretty much died down. Once I got back to WC I unpacked, made some cookies for Brandy and the family, picked up some water and trashy mags and then went over to the hospital to drop the goodies off. Brandy said that Andrew is doing much better and seems to be responding well to the antibiotics. They still need to keep him in the hospital though for at least the rest of the week :(

TGIF

After a couple of days off, I went running last night with Pam. Everything felt good, not perfect, but good-- no major tightness or pains from the old-as-dirt shoes :) I will be going out and getting new shoes though on Sunday or Monday so I'll be all set for Monday's run with Pam!

Tonight I'm having dinner with Claudia at a yummy Vietnamese place in Walnut Creek. Her hubby is going to see a band tonight so it is the perfect night for a roomie date! Tomorrow AM I'm skipping our Mentor Led Run so I can drive to my parent's in Yuba City. Since my mom was out of town last weekend, we decided I'd go home this weekend instead to help my dad celebrate his birthday :) It should be a nice relaxing weekend!

Fundraising update: In addition to all the wonderful donations I've received through my fundraising site, I've also received some donations in the mail! A HUGE thanks to Bob and Jeanne McClard, Fred and Pat Okimoto, Anthea Lim and my cousin Rich Ross!!! THANK YOU!!

Time for new shoes

My running shoes are old... really old. Since I left my NY Marathon shoes in NY, and the previous season's pair in Hawaii after trecking around in the mud with them, I've been running in shoes that I last wore a few seasons ago :( Whoops. I've been too lazy to go get new ones, and since the older ones didn't seem to be giving me any problems, I kept putting it off. But the time has come... I need to get a new pair of running shoes.

Monday night I went out and ran with Pam. As soon as we started out I could tell that my shoes were pretty much shot. The bottoms of my feet hurt and my slower leg muscles were really tight. We pulled over to stretch and I could feel how tight everything was but oh well, the run must go on :D We spent the first part of the run chatting as usual and then it got quiet. I realized that I was breathing harder than usual-- too hard to easily talk-- and my first thought was that I must REALLY be out of shape :D But then I looked down at my watch and saw that we were running much faster than normal. That explains it! I said something to Pam and she had noticed it too. I think we were going at least a half a minute, and up to a minute, faster per mile! Despite running harder, I still hadn't loosened up by the end of the run... it's definately time to toss the old shoes!

Last night I took the night off and didn't go to the Buddy Run. I ended up staying late at work and then had a project I wanted to work on at home that ended up taking up most of my evening! Plus, I don't want to run too much on these shoes... I'll run in them tomorrow with Pam and then get some new ones before I run again on Monday! Bye bye old dirty shoes!

Yarn Galore

This last weekend was all about the yarn :) Saturday after hanging out but not running at our Coached Run in San Leandro (which went very well and was rain free!!!), Jeanette, her sister Bennie and niece Amy and I drove down to the Santa Clara Convention Center for Stitches West, a yarn lover's paradise! And oh boy was there a lot of yarn there... and everything else yarn related. All the standards were there... cotton yarn, yummy soft alpaca, wool from all over, silk yarn, sock yarn, lace weight yarn, undied yarn, not-yet-spun yarn to be and on and on. And on. And then of course there were some things I've never seen... Yak yarn, Buffalo yarn (surprisingly soft AND expensive), pet hair yarn (GROSSS, but yes, soft) and many many knitted items that should never be worn in public.

After over 4 hours of browsing (and a little buying) we were pooped. Jeanette and I had been up since before 6:00 for the run, and then we all spent the entire afternoon walking around a large cement floored building. We could tell it was time to leave when we got more and more giggly, and yarn decisions took much longer than necessary... our blood sugar was running low! We hit the Macaroni Grill on the way back home for a much needed refueling-- it was so nice to just sit for awhile!

Sunday I couldn't wait to bust out one of my new projects (I was a good girl and just bought supplies for three new projects) but as I am in the middle of two current projects, I decided to work on one of those. For the rest of the day I was plopped on the couch watching all the Oscar hoopla and working on the bag that I'm going to be felting. It's a nice project to work on when you just want something mindless!

Before I go I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad!!! I LOVE YOU!!

Big Storm

There is a big storm brewing here in the Bay Area and I'm not looking forward to it :( I'm especially not looking forward to standing out in the rain and wind all morning tomorrow during the team's Coached Run. I guess the worse thing would be actually running in it, which I've decided not to do-- I want to go down to Stitches West (a convention for us knitting geeks) afterwards in Santa Clara and didn't want to backtrack to Walnut Creek to get ready before heading down there!

Last night I met up with Pam for a run. Before I started running with Pam and Amy during the week, they met up twice a week very regularly. Since I joined them (and then Amy got injured) Pam and I have only managed to meet up once a week at most. Either she had something going on, or I did, and we never could make it on both a Monday and Thursday. I am very proud of us that this week we actually did it!

For some reason I'm really sore this week and I was half (okay, more than half, maybe 90%) hoping that the torrential rains would start yesterday and we'd be forced to cancel. The weather didn't cooperate with my wishes and the rain held out until right after we finished... of course. Even though I was really sore, it actually felt good to go out there a run to loosen those muscles up. By the time we finished our run, I didn't feel as sore and was glad that we had been able to run. Those good feeling didn't last long... I think I'm even sorer today :( So, another plus to not running tomorrow is that I'll give my sore muscles another day to recover!

Singing Running in the Rain

Last night I felt like a kid... running in the rain, jumping over puddles. Well one difference... when I was a kid I AIMED for the puddles instead of avoided them :D It had started to drizzle on my way to Oakland for the Buddy Run and I was hoping that the weather wouldn't get any worse. No such luck :( As soon as we started warming up and stretching, the rain began to fall in full force. We decided that since the weather was so icky, we'd all just do a quick 15 minutes out and 15 back. Other than getting soaked, it really wasn't too bad since my jacket kept me warm. Oh, and I can't forget all the puddles on the dirt part of the path. Once Belinda and I turned around we decided to run up on the sidewalk so we could avoid the worst of the puddles... I could just envision one of us trying to jump over a puddle, landing on a rock, twisting our ankle and falling into the lake... YUCK!

The only thing worse than running in the rain was driving home in it afterwards-- I was soaking wet and cold, and everyone was driving so slow. Grrr!

THANK YOU to former teamates Bryan and Jen Saulsbury for their recent contribution!!! When are we going to see you two back on the team, huh?!!

Productive Weekend

I heart three day weekends... especially when it's so nice and sunny out :D This weekend was a very productive and yet very relaxing one. Saturday I met up with the team for a Mentor Led Run at Pt. Isabel. We had a suprisingly big crowd for a holiday weekend-- it was nice to see that so many people had showed up for our first non-coached run! The mileage was 2-5 miles and I ended up going about 4.5 miles. Even though it was cool out and we were running by the water, I was getting hot out there in the sun and pulled over about 2.25 miles out to take off my long sleeve shirt. All the speedy people were still in front of me and since I didn't want to be the last one in, I decided to just turn around then and head on back. :D I got a chance to meet some more of the participants, and ran with a few of them on the way back which made the return trip go by much faster!

After I got back from the run I did a little cleaning, took a shower and then headed out to Target to do a little shopping. I guess everyone had the same idea because it was PACKED in there! I spent the rest of the day lazing around the house, reading outside on our very warm balcony (warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt!).

Sunday I finished up my taxes, paid bills, did laundry... all that not-so-fun but necessary stuff. I also started a new knitting project... I wanted something that I didn't really have to think about so I'm knitting a bag that I'll felt when it's done. I don't really have to follow any pattern... just knit, knit, knit until it's done :D

Monday I picked up Lindsay and we went for a walk around the Lafayette Reservoir. It was family central over there... I have never seen so many strollers in one place... well, other than at the fountain at Broadway Plaza! After our roughly 2.5 mile walk, we rewarded ourselves with lunch at Chow. It was just warm enough to sit outside by the heat lamps so we could people watch. I had the yummiest Prawn Louie salad with grilled prawns, tomatoes, avocado and egg and also the yummiest Crab Cake :D The rest of the day I spent reading on the balcony again and just lounging around (oh my life is so hard :D).

At 6:30 I met up with Pam for our Monday night run. We did the short route and kept the pace easy. Despite the 2+ mile walk earlier, I felt really good. Today is another story... My legs are not happy with me after their dual workout yesterday!

A BIG shoutout to my latest fundraising contributers... David Johnson (my landlord) and Kathy and Rick Webster (Kathy was a fellow participant during my very first TNT season so long ago :D) THANK YOU!!!!

Hugs and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Buddy Run

Last night I went out and met up with Sarah and Belinda's group for their Buddy Run at Lake Merritt. Sarah wasn't there since her dad was getting out of the hospital and she wanted to spend some time with her family. We're all keeping her dad, who is her personal honoree, in our thoughts and prayers! :(

Belinda and I led (or rather followed since they were all a little faster than we were) the 5 participants around the lake. The two girls I ran with last week weren't there so I ended up running part of the way with Belinda who, although still sick, it still a little faster than I am. :( I didn't want to slow her down too much, or fall behind, so I pushed myself to keep up with what she called a "comfortable" pace. Not so comfortable for me!

Last week we ran out and back, but when the time came to turn around last night we were about halfway around the lake and decided to just keep going. We finished 3.22 miles around the lake in about 36 minutes. Those girls kicked my butt and I was pooped! I felt like I got a good workout in though so I was happy!

A big THANK YOU (and hugs and kisses) goes out to my parents... they just sent me a donation and pushed me MUCH closer to my goal! I love you this ∞ much!

I'm not done fundraising yet though so if you'd like to donate, just click on the "Make a difference... donate now" link to on the left!

Running and Fundraising...

Last night I went running with Pam (Amy... we MISSED you!!) I felt a little sluggish but I think we were running at a good pace. Not as fast as when I was training for NY mind you, but a pretty good pace for me being out of shape. :( Once we were done running though I didn't feel that great... I actually felt a little naseous. I don't know what that was about but I went home, showered, got into bed to read and felt better after awhile.

Speaking of running, Saturday I went out and ran with the team. We had a "Coached Run" which was more of a track workout. We just did 6-8 laps around the track (I did 8) because afterwards we had Marathon University which is where we listen to a few people talking about proper shoes, nutrition, hydration, stretching and injury prevention. I've heard a lot of this information before during past clinics and Marathon U's but I always manage to learn something new. Too bad it was FREEZING in the auditorium where we were sitting... the sun outside was so nice but we were stuck inside until noon. :( It's all great information for the new participants to learn though!

Lap number ??... Am I done YET?

Tonight I'm off to the Buddy Run in Oakland. I'm still tired from this weekend and just want to go home and take a nap... but once the run is over I'm sure I'll be glad I did it :(

THANK YOU to my latest donator... Ann Glynn-- TNT alum, former (and sometimes current) co-worker and occasional bad influence!! :D

Car trouble

Who knew that car batteries needed water? Not me... at least until last night! Yesterday started out pretty good... I got to sleep in and spent a little time out reading on the balcony enjoying the beautiful warm sun. Around 1:30 I headed over to Claudia's for one of our Sunday Stitch N' Bitches. I brought some wine, Claudia made some super yummy quesadillas and Amy, Cindy, Anita, Claudia and I got a little knitting, and a lot of bitching, done :D It was a productive day and we had a ton of fun, like was always do! I also got to spend lots of cuddle time with the doggies :D

At around 7:30 we're all ready to go and I head out to my car, put the key in the engine, turn it.... and nothing :( I walked back to Claudia and Rocky's and Rocky drove his car over to try and jump my car. Didn't work :( Either we didn't do it right, his car didn't have enough juice to get mine going, or something more was wrong with my car than just a dead battery. :( Back to the apartment to call AAA to see if they would have better luck. About 30 minutes later (they were quick :D) the guy was there... he takes a look at my battery and informs me that there is no water in it. Huh? I need to put water in my battery? He said he could fill it up and jump the battery, but he thought the battery was pretty much dead, and it might quit on me while I was driving home. NOT GOOD! Good thing is that AAA does have a battery delivery service where they'll come replace your battery... bad thing is that it was too late to have it done that night and I'd have to call in the morning.

Claudia and Rocky generously put me up for the night (THANK YOU for taking care of me!!!). After a trip to the store to get contact solution and a toothbrush (I had a feeling of deja vu... wasn't I doing the same exact thing last weekend in Sonoma?!) we watched a little bit of the Grammy's and then went to bed. This morning I was up at 6:00am and back on the phone with AAA scheduling a time for someone to come replace my battery. They didn't end up getting there until about 9:00 but the battery extraction and replacement went quickly :D And good thing is that I just needed another new battery... nothing else was wrong with the car. I drove home, took a quick shower, and finally made it into work just a few hours late. ... not a good way to start the week :(

I hate dead batteries. I love AAA. I LOVE my friends :D

A little sore

I can tell how out of shape I am right now because after two very short runs, I'm feeling a little bit sore. Nothing too bad... but those muscles I haven't used since November are reminding me that they are still there!

Last night I met up with Pam in Danville for our run. The weather was perfect... just cold enough for a comfortable run, but not too cold :) We did the shorter route which is a tad over 3 miles (3.2 to be exact). Our pace was very relaxed and we chatted the whole time -- it felt good to be out there!

On a side note... I blogged a few months ago about a missing man in New York-- my former coworker/friend's sister's boyfriend's best friend Tony Devine... follow that?? I just got an update that they believe they have found his body. It seems at this point that no foul play was involved which is good... they found him in the river which means that his death might possibly have been due to a drunk tumble into the river. :( I know how important it is to have some kind of closure in this kind of situation, but it also dashes any hope his family and friends might have had that he could still be alive. How sad for them all :(

First run of February

How sad am I... despite all my good intentions, I've only run twice so far this year :( Well, that will all soon be changing! I didn't run with the team on Saturday so I was excited about joining one of the Buddy Runs on Tuesday night for a run! I decided to meet up with the Lake Merritt group so I headed out there around 5:15 so I'd have plenty of time to get there by 6:00. Traffic wasn't too bad, until I merged on to 580 for the last mile or so, so I made it there with a few minutes to spare.

There were about 8 of us there running, and two mentors who weren't feeling well and stayed at the start to cheer us on. I stuck with the back of the pack people and I think we ended up doing a little over 2 miles in about 30 minutes. I didn't push myself as much as I wanted to but it was more important to stick together with a group. I have never run out at Lake Merritt in the evenings and it was actually pretty nice... it's well lit thanks to all the lights strung around the lake, and there were quite a few people out there walking and running along with us.

Tonight I'm off to run with Pam (sans Amy who is still injured :-( )... she's hopefully all recovered from the Kaiser Half Marathon on Sunday so we should be able to get in a good run. And who knows... this time if she asks me to do the longer route, I may just say yes! Time to get back into the swing of things!

Wine, football and food...

That was pretty much my entire weekend!! It was one busy weekend, but also a lot of fun! Friday night was the only time that I was home all weekend so I spent it relaxing and doing a little laundry.

Saturday morning I was up early for our first coached run of the season at Alameda Ferry. We had a pretty good turnout, especially considering that it was FREEZING out there along the water! I almost wish that I had run... at least that way I would have warmed up a little! At least the rain held out for us... it didn't start sprinkling until the very end of the run, and even then it was a very light sprinkle. At 10:00 the run was over and everything was packed back in the car so Jeanette and I headed up to Claudia's. The reason I didn't run was because Jeanette, Claudia and I were heading out to Sonoma for a day of wine tasting and I didn't want to take the extra time to shower before we left. Claudia cooked us a yummy breakfast, we got ready and headed out the door!

It was COLD out there... but I did get to wear the new hat I knitted :D

And that's right when the rain started up :( What I thought was going to be just showers on Saturday turned into a day of torrential rain and wind :( We still had a lot of fun wine tasting though-- well, how can you NOT have fun wine tasting! Despite the icky weather, there were still quite a few poeple at the various wineries. We hit Cline (so Claudia could pick up her wine), Gloria Ferrer for some yummy champagne and snack, Sebastiani, Ravenswood, and then the Mayo Tasting Room on the Sonoma Square. Followed by all that wine was our usual dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack! The weather was still really bad so Claudia and I decided to just stay up there for the night. Jeanette needed to head home so after dropping her at her car, Claudia and I picked up some emergency overnight supplies, and holed up in a hotel-- we had a glass of wine, snacked on some M&M's, watched the Eukanuba Dog Show on tv and conked out!

The next morning we woke up and it was super sunny (of course). Yea the sun was out!! But why couldn't it have been that nice the day before?! The sunny weather didn't last too long... the rain started up again on our drive home. We got back to Oakland, where I picked up my car and rushed home to shower and bake some cookies. Then it was back to Oakland so I could go with Claudia and Rocky and the doggies to Rocky's parents house for Super Bowl! An international food buffet was awaiting us there... and we got to watch the game on their new, super nice, super big screen tv! I spent the game eating, knitting and trying not to fall asleep. The end of the game was really exciting though and I'm glad the Giants ended up winning! I'm not a big football fan and didn't really care either way but it's more fun to root for the underdog!

By the time I got home (with a bag of leftovers, of course :D) I had time to watch Eli Stone, which I Tivo'd on Thursday night (pretty good show) before heading off to bed to pass out. All the exhaustion was worth it... the weekend was really fun!

Before I sign off... a quick SHOUT OUT to my latest donator Ms. Linsday Gage, who donated $37 to the cause in honor of Brenda, who would be 37 years old right now! THANK YOU!!!

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who ran the Kaiser Half Marathon on Sunday in the freezing rain and wind in San Francisco!! You all kicked some serious butt!

Shout Outs

THANK YOU to all of you wonderful people who donated to my fundraising already:

Amy G.
Claudia R.
Karen B.
Monica and Kieren H.
Phil L.
Trish D.

Thanks to you I've already raised $225!!

You guys ROCK!!!

I'm a "Fat Kid"...

... no, I don't mean that literally! In April I will participating in The Relay, a 199 mile relay that stretches from Calistoga, in Napa Valley, to Santa Cruz. 12-member teams run 36 legs (3 legs per runner, 3-8.9 miles each) through 36 cities and across the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight. I'm crazy you say? Um, yeah. Team names can get a little crazy too... 12 Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Does This Van Make My Butt Look Big? and Pain Train are just a few this year. But ours is the best by far... Fat Kids Always Go For Seconds! (Last years team was Fat Kids Always Win at See-Saw)

I'm really excited about doing The Relay. 1) It will get me running again, 2) I've heard this is the craziest race I'll ever do, 3) I get to be part of an experienced team which means even if I have no idea what's going on, THEY do :D and 4) Because I'm the slowest on the team, I get the easiest legs (wait, do I actually want to admit that? Oh well :D) Last year Phil posted a really good description of his experience with the Fat Kids!

After much thinking, I've also decided to do the Rock N'Roll San Diego Half Marathon on June 1 with Team In Training. I hadn't originally planned on doing an event this season, but then decided that since I'd be out training for The Relay, I might as well continue training for a half marathon. I've never done this event before so it's a good chance to do something new, AND it's only offered to Team In Training participants and alumni so that makes it special too! This means that I will also be fundraising this season also! Yep you got it... time to open up those wallets and SEND ME SOME MONEY!! This season I'm committed to raising $2,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so if you'd like to donate money to a good cause, just grab your credit card and head over to my fundraising page.

Slideshow fun :D

Today is Ms. Jeanette's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADY!!!), and while I was looking around for an ecard to send her, I came across something called Smilebox, which makes really cute slideshows. So of course, I had to make one to share :D In the spirit of the New Year, I put together a little slideshow of pictures representing some (but not all... I could only choose 8) of the things I'll always remember about 2007 :D

Team Because We Can!!

Coach Al has a tradition of naming each team at the beginning of the season. There has been a Team Sunshine, Team Positive, Team Rain or Shine, Team Cole, Team Brenda, plus dozens of others.... this season we are Team Because We Can! While that may not roll off the toungue as easily as some of our past team names, this one has a special meaning to many of us who knew Brenda. We train for these crazy difficult endurance events because we can, because we're alive, and for so many others like Brenda who can't.

Saturday morning I was up very early for Kick Off... the celebration of our new Spring training season. After a stop at Starbucks I was on the BART train on my way to the city. Before all the new participants showed up and the event really begin, I spent the morning chatting with our mentors and people I knew on other teams (and drinking more coffee... which was NOT a good idea :(. This is really the only time of the season that all the SF and East Bay Marathon, Tri, and Cycle teams are all together in one place. Once the new participants started showing up, the craziness began :D But it's good craziness. The program started at 10:00 and I think Jeanette and I finally left around 1:00. We has a nice lunch in SF before heading to Oakland for a side trip to the yarn store, and then she dropped me off at the BART station in WC to pick up my car.

I finally stepped in my front door at 3:30... I took a little nap and then it was time to get up and head BACK into the city for my former TNT manager and friend Monica's birthday party in Glen Park! Phil and I met at the BART station (my second time there in one day) and got to Monica's place about an hour later. Her new house is really cute, and Glen Park seems to be a cute neighborhood although I'm still not sure where in the city it is :D We ate some yummy fajitas, cake, lumpia (!!!) and visited with some of Monica's friends, former co-workers and current TNT co-workers. Phil had an early bike ride the next morning so at 9:00 we decided to make the trek back to BART, and back to the East Bay. Sometimes I hate taking BART because it's just so boring and full of wierd people, but since it was raining when we left Monica's, I was glad we didn't have to drive back in the yucky weather!

Sunday I slept in since I was so pooped from the day before. At noon I made my way over to Claudia and Rocky's for an afternoon (and evening) of knitting, eating and hanging out. Claudia made yummy black bean soup and pupusas for lunch and then we just veged out on their couch , drinking wine and hanging out with the crazy dogs. Dinner time rolled around and I was still there so we had some pizza and watched American Gladiators (which I thought I'd hate, but ended up really getting into!). Of course when I left around 7:30 it started to pour again but I made it home safe and sound, in time to catch up on some tv before bed :D

Rain rain go away... come back in a year

Uggg, it's been so gloomy out :( There are times when I don't mind the gloom... a day curled up in my pjs on the couch with a fire and a good movie can be fun. But a whole week of rain and no sun is not fun :( Supposedly there is snow on the top of Mt. Diablo but I haven't seen it yet because of all the clouds. COME BACK SUN, I MISS YOU!!!

This week has been a pretty mellow one... Monday after work I met up with my friend and former co-worker Ann, her cousin Maureen and friend Lara for drinks and food at Stanfords. Their happy hour rocks! Tuesday and Wednesday I got a lot of knitting done... I was feeling uninspired for awhile but now am excited about knitting again. I guess this cold gloomy weather has one benefit... it makes we want to knit warm things!

Last night I joined a bunch of other TNTers to watch a special theater release of Spirit of the Marathon. It's a documentary film that follows 6 people as they train for the Chicago Marathon. The film did a great job of using these 6 stories to highlight the history of the marathon from the historic first "marathon" (after which the messenger running from Marathon, Greece to Athens reportedly keeled over and died), the development of what is today's marathon, the introduction of women into the sport, and the increase in the marathon's popularity among more "casual", non-elite runners.

I loved that Spirit of the Marathon profiled both elite athletes AND "regular" runners-- I think many of us watching identified more with it because of that. It was a wonderfully produced, entertaining, and inspirational movie! I think it got us all thinking about which marathon we want to do next! Chicago 2009 here I come (maybe... don't hold me to it :D)!

This movie came out at the perfect time... it's gotten me all pumped up for TNT's Spring Season Kick Off tomorrow!

Winter padding

The only justification I can come up with for all the eating I did this weekend is that my body must be trying to create some winter padding to protect itself from the snow that's suppossed to be falling in the bay area. Who am I fooling? It's not the need for an extra layer of cold weather protection... it's that food tastes so darn good :(

Friday I met up with Amy, Jeanette and Claudia for a girly evening of pedicures and dinner. During our pedicures, we got a special treat... they busted out a bottle of champagne and poured a glass for everyone there. Drinking champagne while someone rubs my feet and scrubs my legs with some sea salt? Heaven :D After our toes were all polished we headed over for dinner at Maria Maria. We had a yummy dinner, and enjoyed some yummy cocktails :D I don't think our waitress was too pleased with the fact that after we had eaten and paid for dinner, we sat at our table for another hour or so having a couple more drinks. Oh well... she was a little snooty to us at the beginning of the evening and (oh the horror) forgot to bring Amy's margarita so we really didn't feel TOO bad!

Saturday I didn't eat too much earlier in the day in anticipation of the huge amounts of food I would see later at Rocky's parent's house! I took a roundabout route to Daly City so that I could stop off at a couple of yarn stores. I had a gift certificate for one store that I wanted to use up, and Claudia had told us about a big yarn sale at another store so of course I had to check it out. The damage wasn't too bad for the amount of yarn that I got so I was happy. After the yarn spree, I was off to Daly City. Rocky's parents were hosting a 40th birthday party for Rocky... mostly family and some of his closest friends. I had already helped him celebrate his birthday earlier this month but who am I to turn down another chance to celebrate (and eat lumpia)! Rocky's mom had a feast... a turkey, ham, salad, rolls, green beans, pasta, lumpia, various appetizers and then two kinds of cake and a pie. OMG... I don't know how I made it home before I slipped into a food coma! And of course Rocky's mom wouldn't let me go unless I took some food (and a bag of frozen lumpia) home with me :D

I think when I woke up on Sunday I was still full from Saturday night... I wasn't hungry for anything until the afternoon. I attended a Team In Training training with our Coach Mama Lisa and it was also a potluck so I ate a little bit there. Bad idea... I also had dinner plans with my friend Katie and we had some yummy Thai food around 6. So nothing all day until about 3:00... and then I ate again just 3 hours later. My poor belly :( But dang was that Thai food was good... it's impossible to eat just a little. It was a lot of fun to see Katie though... even though she lives just across the bay from me, our busy schedules keep us from seeing each other often. The last time we saw each other was months ago... and in the meantime we've both had a birthday and Christmas has passed-- we had a few gifts to exchange!

First run of the year

I told Amy that after the holidays I would join her and Pam on their Monday and Thursday runs. For the first couple of weeks of January I always had some prior engagement that prevented me from joining them but last night I was finally able to make it! Unfortunately Amy is taking a forced break from running for a few weeks so it was just Pam and I. We met up in Danville and ran their usual short, short route. Partway through Pam asked if I was up for doing the slightly longer route... ummm, considering I hadn't run for about a month, I wasn't up for that :( The run felt great though... it was pretty chilly out but once we got going I warmed up quickly. I forgot to wear my watch so I don't know how long it took us but it felt like we were running at a good pace! It doesn't look like I'll get a chance to run again for at least a week or so... either Pam has something, or I've got something that prevents us from meeting up :( Maybe at the end of the month I'll be able to fit another run in!

The calm before the storm

No update since Thursday... I'm being a bad blogger :( Now that the holidays are over, and since I'm not really training yet, my life lately has been pretty low key. I guess that I should be happy about that since things look like they're going to be getting a little busier over the next few weeks... and when the new TNT season starts at the end of the month things will definately be getting busier!!

Quick update:

Last Thursday a few of us went out for Rocky's 40th birthday to Luka's in Oakland. YUMMMY food and a fun reason to get together :D Amy and I carpooled over together and decided to make a quick stop at Article Pract in Oakland. Bad idea... whole street was blocked off for a few blocks because of a police action. Thank god we left Walnut Creek early... even after the detour, parking a couple blocks away from A.P., a quick visit to the yarn store, and then trying to find parking at Luka's we made it to the restaurant on time!

For the most part the weekend was pretty low key. I spent some time on Saturday taking down all the Christmas decorations. :( Tonight I have to take our tree out to the street to be picked up by the garbage people. I also did some filing and spent some time sitting out on the balcony reading. Saturday night I met a friend in Danville for some drinks and a little dancing to 80's music. Sunday I headed over to Claudia's for what was supposed to be a small knitting get-together. It ended up being a nice sized gathering and of course we had a lot of fun. Claudia and Rocky cooked some yummy, but healthy, food and I actually got a lot of knitting done. I've been bad lately about knitting-- not very motivated to work on anything-- so it was nice to get back into it. Now I have a lot of ideas for projects I want to work on!

Birthday time

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY ROCKY!!!!

The birthday hat awaits you...

I survived the storm...

... which wasn't as bad as I really thought it was going to be, and I'm kind of sad about that. In a weird way I was really looking forward to torrential rains, hurricane force winds, maybe some power outages. What we got was a lot of rain, a lot of wind, and a bunch of crap in the roads!

Friday was when we were really hit the hardest and I got a nice view of all the storming from my desk at work. Lots of sideways rain and the trees waving in the wind. In anticipation of a storm filled weekend, I hit Blockbuster on my way home and rented a few movie. I didn't really have any plans and thought spending the weekend holed up in my warm home with my comfy clothes on watching movies would be a good idea.

That's basically the way I spent Friday night and a lot of Saturday but since the weather wasn't too awful, I decided it'd be safe to venture out on Saturday night. Lindsay and I had a date night... dinner at Chipotle (along with the entire under 21 population of Walnut Creek), movie (PS. I Love You... VERY sad, but cute and funny too... I laughed, I cried) and then of course some cocktail time at Tiki Tom's and Dan's.

Sunday the weather had definitely calmed down... I caught up on some tv (I currently have a weird crush on Anthony Bourdain and have TiVo'd all episodes of No Reservations) and then met a friend for dinner that night.

Last night I spent the evening volunteering at an Info Meeting for Team In Training... ahhh, the captain duties begin again! It's so fun to see all those eager-yet-semi-terrified faces there... I remember when I was in their shoes exactly 5 years ago in Jan. 2003! And now they can't get rid of me... I've been involved in TNT every since!

Just blowin' in the wind...

Wooohooo, it's really whipping out there! If you've heard already (because it seems everyone is talking about it) the Bay Area has been hit by a major storm... actually it three storms one right after the other. The first storm hit yesterday and we got a little rain. By this morning the storm was raging in full force... the rain was falling and the wind was whipping! I'm kind of a scaredy cat when it comes to driving in the pouring rain so I just decided to take the back roads to work... the back roads weren't much better-- lots of flooding and debris in the roads-- but it least I didn't have to deal with a bunch of crazy people trying to drive likes it's not raining!

Speaking of rain and wind, we got a little bit of that when I was in Maui. It wasn't enough rain to keep you indoors the whole time, but it was enough wind to keep us off of the beach. :( Despite the less than perfect weather, the Lamon clan still managed to have a lot of fun!

My brother and I arrived at the airport in Maui the Saturday before Christmas and my parents were there to pick us up (the bums had already been there for a full week!). Instead of making the drive out to the condo where we were staying, we decided to do a little exploring on the other side of the island closer to the airport. We headed to the upcountry, the hilly area near Mt. Haleakala. For lunch we stopped at the Kula Lodge and then went to visit a Lavender Farm and THE maui winery (since there's only one)! The lavender farm was really pretty although we got there too late to visit the gift shop-- we did get to the winery though in time to do a little tasting :D After making our way back down the mountain and a dinner stop along the way, we headed to the condo and had a belated birthday celebration complete with some presents and cake :D

At the Lavender Farm

Sunday morning my parents wanted my brother and I to go to church with them. Neither of us are really churchy people but us being the nice children we are, we went without too much grumbling. Downside... LONG service. Upside.... beautiful setting on a beach with views of turtles out in the water. Downside.... I was VERY tired. Upside... nice nap (sorry mom!) :D After church we headed off for a yummy brunch at Ma La, a little place my parents had discovered last year. The rest of the day my brother and I spent hanging out on the beach near our condo... it was actually nice out and not windy at all. That night we had dinner down on Ka'anapali Beach at Leilani's (and of course Hula Pie for desert)!

The beach outside our condo, on one of the only really sunny days

Monday was Christmas Eve and my family had a little shopping to do. After breakfast my mom, dad and brother went down to the mall while I took a nice nappy on the couch (one benefit of getting all my shopping done beforehand!). That night we went to dinner at one of our new favorite spots in Lahaina, the Lahaina Store Grille and Oyster Bar. There is a fabulous view from the upper level on the roof and the food is really good. We stuffed ourselves silly (my mom even tried an oyster shooter!) and then walked around town until it was time for the 10:00 mass at the church we always go to in Lahaina for Christmas Eve. (Wow, church two days in a row... I'm SO going to heaven :P)

Christmas morning dawned and it was PRESENT TIME!!! We restrained ourselves though and ate a nice brunch before we opened our gifts. We each got some nice things to play with... I got a new camera to replace my broken old one! After sitting around playing with our new toys (and eachother's toys) we decided to keep with our tradition and head out to the beach. Sadly, the wind did not cooperate :( We got pelted big time by sand... I ended up with sand in my hair, in my ears, in my clothes and stuck to my skin :( We decided to call it quits and head back to the hotel and go to the pool! Ahhh, much nicer! Right next to the pool is a little restaurant so we decided to just have an early dinner there. I wasn't too hungry so I figured I could order something small. That didn't work... it was a prix fixe menu so we were stuck with a BIG dinner... 3 courses. I think we all felt a little sick afterwards from all the food :(

Wednesday was another overcast and windy day. We went out to Kapalua so my dad could pick up his volunteer bag for the PGA Mercedes Benz classic this week (He's going to be one of the guys who holds up his hands for everyone to be quiet on the course!) The day initially seemed to be not too windy so we thought we would brave the beach in Napili, but that didn't last long either :( While my parents moved up on the lawn, my brother and I decided to go on a little walk. We got soaked by a rainstorm :( Now I was sticky, sandy and wet :( After lunch at the Sea House we decided to go on a little drive around the northwest side of the island. There really isn't anything up there except for twisty roads and some little shacks. On the way back we pulled over and walked out on this cliff above the water... it was so windy out there I thought we were going to be blown over the side! I had a hard time just standing up! That night we just took it easy and went to the movies in Lahaina.

The pathway along Napili Bay, right before we got rained on

Lunch at the Sea House

Super windy overlook

Beach we found along the way

Thursday was ZIP LINE DAY!!! My parents took my brother and I and dropped us off down the road at the Skyline Tours shop. There were about 8 of us in our group and we signed some forms, got some cool water bottles and then piled in a van. About 2 miles down the road, we turned off the main, paved road and then started up this super bumpy dirt path to the Skyline Tours hut. At the hut we met our guides and put on our gear. We had to wear this really heavy and no flattering harness that made the girls look like we had a "package" (wink wink). We also had to wear they dorky helmets, mostly to protect us during the ziplining but as we found out, also to protect us during the next leg of our van trip. We piled back into our van and made our way up higher into the mountains. If we thought the first part of the ride was bad, this was WAY worse. Our new driver must have been a NASCAR driver in a previous life... he was gunning it up the mountain and around all these hairpin turns!

Ready to "Cross the Line"

Geared up and ready to go...

Finally we reached the top and first zipline. Our guides went through the safety stuff and then we were off! It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be and was actually a lot of fun! It had been drizzling out so everything was really slick, including the ramps we were supposed to go up as we came in at the end of the zipline. Instead of kind of running up them, we did a lot more sliding up them.... more fun in my opinion! After our 4th zipline they treated us to a nice lunch at an overlook nearby.

Waiting in line on the platform

Lunch spot

The problem was with all this drizzle, the dirt had turned to mud and we had at least an inch of this sticky red mud on the bottom of our shoes. After lunch we did 4 more ziplines and then the van took us back to the hut so we could take off our gear. Problem #2... the same mud that was stuck on our shoes was also caked on the van's tires. Great... more slipping and sliding, this time in a van careening down a mountain! We fishtailed a few times, and slid into a few embankments but we ended up safe (albeit dirty) back at their shop at the bottom of the hill! After a show and a little rest, we went to dinner at at a new place (for us) in Lahaina called Pacific'O. The food was SOOO good and the view was very nice. It was right next to one of the Luaus so we got to enjoy their music while we ate!

Friday we went to Napili for breakfast at the Sea House and since it didn't look to bad there, we decided to try the beach right next to it at Kapalua Bay. I think we actually lasted a couple of hours there before we got sick of the blowing sand, clouds and cooling weather. Well, at least we had sun for a little bit. I think all the activity had finally gotten to me a little so I spent that evening just relaxing in the room reading while my parents and brother hung out up in their room.

Breakfast at the Sea House

Saturday was our last full day in Maui :( The first part of the day we spent doing a little shopping for souvenirs and gifts. We had also planned to go out on a whale watch from Lahaina and although I was worried about the weather not being great and it being windy, it was really nice out there. We saw a few whales but not too many, since it's just the beginning of whale season. I had taken a bonine before we got on the boat because I was concerned that it was going to be really choppy out on the water... I think it made me really sleepy (it couldn't have been the sun, rocking motion and Mai Tai... no way) and I just conked out. I didn't even care about seeing a darn whale, I wanted to sleep. We were all a little pooped after that trip so we decided to have a casual dinner at Aloha Mixed Plate, this yummy local place that serves plate lunch (2 scoops rice, one scoop macaroni salad and the meat of your choice). Yummm :D

Going out on our whale watch... look at those clouds!

Sunday it was back on the plane and back to the Bay Area :( Boo hoo

Zipline Fun!

While I work on the full Maui vacation post, here are some videos I took when my brother and I did the Zipline! Skyline tours has two zipline courses... my brother and I did the newer (and closer) one above Ka'anapali. We had such a blast doing it and it wasn't as scary as I had anticipated. It was a little rainy that day which made everything a little slicker than it would normally be! As you'll see in a couple of the videos, that made coming in a little more fun :D


Me going out on the zip line:




And then here I am coming in on another zip line... the rain made the ramp a little slick... you're suppossed to actually run up in when you come in:




Here is my brother going out on the last and longest zip line... he was a brave one and jumped off the platform:




And here he is sliding in an a different zip line... watch the leg kick at the end when he's trying to turn himself around to come in straight on:

Welcome 2008!!

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome back to work :( What day is it? Monday? Tuesday? I'm so confused!

I'm back from my trip now and back at work. Thankfully my desk doesn't look as bad as I thought it would, and my email and voicemail isn't as full as I thought it would be. It looks like everyone had better things to do over the holidays than work :D

I'll update again with more details about cloudy, windy Maui, Christmas, and New Year's Eve!