I think it is time

I think that it may be time to become a full-time lurker and to abandon the blogger part of my life. Sad, but unfortunately, true.

Until further notice I'll be on semi-permanent hiatus.

Cool Trail Runs--NOT a PR

I opted to do the Cool Trail Runs 10k and not the 25k. I just didn't think I was ready for the longer distance. Friend M picked me up at 5:45 a.m. for the drive up to Cool. Chit-chatted on the way up and parked the car at 6:30 at the Cool Firehouse. I registered (no more t-shirts--BOO!). The 10k didn't start until 8 a.m. but the 50k, 21 mile, and 25k runners all started at 7 so we were able to watch them start.

By 7:50, I had my hydratino vest on and was at the starting line shivering--it couldn't have been warmer than 45 degrees with a fierce wind. The Cool Run was fairly casual--no "start line" to speak of--just a large clock and the race director counting down and saying, "GO!"

The run was stunning. Really really beautiful. The sun was glistening off of all the, uh, weeds and dirt. I got into a little groove with about 4 other women all around me. We were giving each other encouraging words, etc. One of the women had an IPOD clipped to her upper arm--this isn't a problem for me. However, she didn't have headphones.. she simply had the IPOD volume cranked as a loud as it possible so it projected all around us. It reminded me of those old boombox radios that people used to carry on their shoulders--she just wanted to be sure that we could all hear her disco music.

In any case she kept sprinting past me on the downhills and then stopping to walk. She also walked every single hill. Again, not a problem except she would stop right in front of me. I would slowly pass by her on the uphill only to have her bomb the downhill and almost sideswipe me on her descent. This back and forth went on for the first 6 miles.

About a mile before the finish, we cross a little wooden bridge and head up a long steep climb. Between the bridge and the climb, the grass and single track filled up with water, creating a marshy, swampy, muddy mess. IPOD girl walked way to the right, trying to find a way around the muck. I saw my change and barrelled through the mud, almost loosing my shoe in it, but I managed to pass her and I kept running up the long incline. I looked back near the apex of the hill and saw she was a good 1 minute behind me. I raced down the hill toward the finish line and finished 7 miles in 1:16. Approx 1000 feet elevation change. One muddy shoe.



What else? Hubby had oral surgery this week, so my running has been put on the back burner while I nurse the 3-year-old in a 45-year-old's body back to health. His favorite words this week? "I'm recovering so I get to do what I want!" Nothing like caring for a toddler while trying to log 40 miles running during the week. Suffice to say, I've only gotten in 2 miles this week.




I may just have to tell my coach that it was a bad week and I'll do better as soon as hubby's better.











My response to his whining isn't very empathetic. Good thing I don't work as a nurse.

Superbowl 10k PR BABY!!!

Old 10k PR was 58:16 (2005)

Superbowl 10k was 54:44 HURRAY!

This was a great run--a lot more crowded than I thought it would be. I met some friends and we headed for the start line.

Not much to report on the run itself, but the after-race beer garden was a nice touch.



Cool Trail Runs is this weekend and I am still debating whether I should do the 10k or the 25k. Maybe I'll just toss a coin to figure it out.

My own personal Jeebus.

January Totals: Running 60.3 miles; mt bike 5; road bike 0, swim 0

That's how we get it done here in NorCal! Yes, that is sarcasm.

The weather here has been a real bummer. Not like, "we're buried under tons of snow and its -40 outside" type of bummer; but the relentless, rain, fog, no sunlight, dark when you go to work, dark when you get home from work, type of "bummer." I'm really feeling down. and irritated. So is the whole family. We've got a bit of cabin fever and find ourselves snapping at each other: "I said, 'KILL THAT MOSQUITO NOW!'"




Basically, we all have a perpetual case of "the Mondays." (Who can tell me what movie that's from?)

Such lousy attitudes have made getting up at the crack of dawn to run very, very, VERY difficult. I feel like i'm in hibernation mode--sleeping until spring seems a great way to get through the dark.

I had an email "come to jeebus" conversation with my run coach yesterday. He basically said that I wasn't going to do anything spectacular this year by averaging 15 miles a week running. Ouch. The double ouch is that I am sure he wanted to type, "get off your lazy ass and run" but he refrained so I wouldn't jump off the nearest bridge. So I vowed to get better. To run more consistently. To eat right and take my vitamins like a good little hulk-o-maniac.





















Its nice having your own personal jeebus.




In order to motivate me, Jeebus gave me a time goal for my upcoming half marathon (Shamrockn)-- get this-- 1:55. Yeah, I laughed too. This upcoming weekend I have a Superbowl 10k. Based on that time, I'll get a better feel for the half marathon and if 1:55 is even possible. Jeebus thinks I can do it easily, so I'll take his faith in me as a good thing.

Pleasure, Little Treasure

I'm baaaack.

I can't believe I haven't posted in two weeks! I have kept very busy with running, work, biking (!) and a few family dramas. Instead of mindlessly grinding away at a triathlon plan, i've decided to simply do exercise that makes me feel good: in otherwords, pleasurable enjoyable workouts.

Run in the late afternoon, not in the early morning.

Trail run on the weekends.

Mountain Biking!!! I did a great 5 mile ride in granite bay and had the best time I can remember in a long time.















I realized I have somehow cultivated a whole host of guilty pleasures in my life as well. A lot of these involve slothfulness of some type.

• The Real housewives of BH
  
• Pita bread with pepperoni and oregeno toasted in the toaster oven
  
• Reading Vegan Cookbooks and tagging the pages with post it notes
  
• Drinking really good coffee until 11 a.m. on the weekends while watching someone else make breakfast
  
• A weekend nap between 2 and 4 pm
  
• 4pm Teatime just like my indian relatives
  
• Intervention
  
• Hoarders
  
• BIG LOVE!!!!
  
• Very very occasionally reading the blogs of people whom I think are, well, freaks.
  
• Cranking the thermostat to 70 when my husband isn't home.
  
• Sipping a cocktail in the evening while sitting in front of a roaring fire.
  
  Will be up in Cool this weekend running 10 miles on the trails and will try to do another mountainbike ride. I am trying to talk myself into racing this race in the bay area. Nobody I know will run the half marathon with me, so I would drive down there alone and race alone and drive back alone. But for some reason it is so intriguing! What do you think?

Number Geeks R Us

I went to beginnertriathlete and queried the data for 2010. Wow.

Swim: 55,285 yards
Bike: 1293 miles
Run: 703 miles

compared to 2009
Swim: 20,214 yards
Bike: 549 miles
Run: 399 miles

and 2008

Swim: 19,726 yards
Bike: 308 miles
Run: 146 miles

I feel pretty good about my numbers for 2010. Between 2009 and 2010 I more than doubled my swim and bike and almost doubled my running. I was also much more consistent in my exercise.

I already did one race (Resolution Run) this year. That's 3.1 miles already for 2011. :)

Oh No YOU DIDN'T...!!!

Oh, yes I did.

I did something I haven't done in years.

I scheduled two weeks off of work.

Thats right--I'm on (drumroll please) Vacation!

No getting up for work
No crappy commute
No foot pain from high heels
No pretending to laugh at others' dumb jokes
No deadlines
No emails
No phone calls

Nothing but bliss.

I finished all my xmas shopping already. All I have to do is wrap everything and put it under the tree.

Yesterday, I splurged and had a full spa-day. Saltscrub, seaweed wrap, massage, facial, manicure, pedicure. The whole works.

My favorite was the saltscrub and seaweed wrap with the vichy shower.
My least favorite was the facial. Just somethng about having someone touching my face with stuff I can't see is, well, strange.

But it was all good. I didn't opt for the christmas colored paint on my toes or fingers. No, in homage to the constant rain here in northern california, all my nails are BLUE.

Blue also covers up my black toenails really well.


I haven't run recently either. I know, I was supposed to run a few days ago, but I felt a bit run down and kept sneezing. Normally I would have forced myself out for a run--but with no major races approaching, I thought, "F-ck it" and drank lots of coffee and tea instead.

I might run today. There seems to be a break in the storms. But then again, maybe I won't.

Maybe I'll have a glass of wine tonight with dinner. For weeks before CIM I eliminated any alcohol with dinner. Now I can indulge a little. And a little more. It is the holidays after all.

"NEW" for 2011

Boy what a crazy couple of weeks! I was so happy to finish CIM that I haven’t done any running since. My days have been filled with work, work, oh, and work. Plus holiday shopping, etc has kept me from running. Hopefully, this weekend will be different and I can get a few miles in.

However, as usual, I have started planning 2011. Does anyone else do this? I’m an incessant planner. I also try to pick a “theme” for the year. Last year, I had a goal to get a second finishers’ medal for every half marathon I’ve already done and I did it! Shamrockn’ half marathon, American River Parkway half marathon, and Cowtown half marathon medals all have mates on my medal rack. In 2011 my theme is “new”. I will do races/rides that I have never done before. For 2011 I have the following races

Resolution Run (Jan 1)
Cool Trail Runs (Feb 12)
Way too Cool 50k (March 12) (Didn’t get in)
Coyote Hills Half Marathon (March 19)
San Francisco Marathon (July 31)
Run on the Sly (August 21)


Ok, I am technically breaking my “new” rule with Jan 1 Resolution Run since I did the same race last year. However, RugRat #2 BEGGED me to do it with her, and I can’t say no to the pleading eyes.




All the others are new for me. You’ll notice there are no triathlons on the list. I haven’t yet figured that part out. I would like to do the Auburn Half Ironman on May 22 (I switched to the sprint distance last year because of severe illness—so technically it is a different race ) but it is fairly pricey. Vineman Half Ironman on July 17th also has me waitlisted—I am WAY LOW on the waitlist so I am not sure if I will even get in. Lastly, Wildflower century on May 1st in Chico is something I’ve always wanted to complete and never got a chance to do. I want to convince a couple of friends to go with me so that we can at least try to be social while we ride and on the drive there and back.

Also notably absent are road races other than the SF Marathon. There is a lot of trail races near my home and I’ll be focusing more on those this year which means that my chances of a PR are slim to none. I am not sure what to feel about this. I LOVED getting so many PRs this year and since I’m in my late 30’s my chances of achieving MORE PRs are decreasing. Maybe I should try to get as many PRs as I can. If I go that route, I will add a couple of half marathons and 10ks to my list above; that will necessitate an amended “theme” from “new” to “New & PR worthy.”

I just realized, I never posted any pics from the Marin Century I did way back in August. Here are some. I’m not vain, but I have to admit I think I look pretty badass in some of the pictures—especially when all the guys riding in proximity are wearing jackets and armwarmers and I am in a short sleeve jersey and shorts without knee warmers. Men are such wimps.

CIM is the best race ever...

First: I COMPLETED CIM!!!
Second: Chip time was 4:37
Third: Garmin time (excludes porta-potty stops) was 4:32.
Fourth: Weather was a perfect 53 degrees at the start. No rain.

After so many years of trying to get to CIM, I finally crossed both the start line and the finish line. I am still floored that I actually finished.

I don't know that I can provide many details of the race since it is all a big blur. I did see TONS of friends and acquaintances along the route who were cheering and that made a big difference. Thank you! Hubby and both RugRats also positioned themselves at key areas and cheered for me..My brother (brother J) even drove in from SF and took video of me making the final turn toward the finish line.

After getting home and showering (hubby said I smelled so bad he had to roll down the windows--Thanks!) I was famished. Since it was also Hubby's birthday on CIM day, and he had spend the whole first half of his day doing something for me, he bugged off the lunch and went mtn bike riding in Foresthill. Brother J and I and Rugrat #2 went to Mikuni's sushi for a celebratory late lunch. It was awesome. Nothing like raw fish and rice to fill up on after a marathon. Brother J tried to get me to drink some Sake, but that was not about to happen.

I got home and laid down for awhile and watched some TV thinking that I might fall asleep but I couldn't. Instead I indulged in two hours of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills". :)


While watching TV, I realized that two toenails are really loose and my weird calluses on the side of my big toe turned into a giant blood blister. Gross.

Dinner time came and since I was in no position to cook and Hubby didn't want to cook, we brought home some takeout and watched a Harry Potter movie in front of a roaring fire while a wind and rain and hailstorm raged outside.

It was the perfect end to a great day.

Facebook Failbook: Wednesday Funnies

Since i'm tapering for CIM this week, i've had time to peruse the internet for funny stuff in the evenings. Below are some of the funniest things I have found on failblog. The more clean stuff is first.. a couple of gross ones are at the bottom.

Enjoy!








































And now for some gross/risque/filthy ones...









The best one!!


see more Failbook

Thursday Thirteen: Fake Science

Wednesday Fun Gaga

see more Historic LOL
see more So Much Pun