A Tuesday Post? More from The Night

Yeah, I don't usually post this early in the week, and truth be told, I should be grading papers right now, but I was just procrastinating doing research on the web and I decided to check to see if the Light the Night photographer had posted any pix yet.

And, in what might be the official WORST nighttime race photos EVER, yes, there were.

yeah...it's barely a picture, but I wish you could see what I'm looking at...FlashDance girl in the pink in front of me was NOT, as far as I could tell, in costume.

My official time was 32:15, and I'm not complaining, but here's the thing. Walter's time was 33:19, yet he was through the chutes and had joined the group before me. I'm pretty sure I stood in those freekin' chutes for an extra five minutes (ok. ok. I'll let it go)...

Albera, who ran with a cold, looks pissed that she didn't chick this guy. 

Alberta still finished with a respectable 29:39...and did I mention that she had a pretty bad cold and almost didn't run at all? I laughed before the race when she told me that she was going to walk if she had to (yeah, right, like she'd EVER do THAT!)

Elsie with a stellar finish

Here's the best part! Elsie placed 4th in her division! You go girl! I'm so proud.

That's it. Hope you all are having a good week. I really am going to grade those papers now, or maybe I'll just go to bed. Is it Friday yet?

Even better, some "official" results were posted as well

Lighting the Night - Sorta

Last night Walter and I ran the Light the Night Against Crime 5K in Balboa Park.

The nighttime run threw off my schedule for the whole day. I guess I've become a creature of habit, and my current Saturday habit is to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and run at least five or six miles. So yesterday, after my successful, early morning trip to the Apple Store, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the house, trying to figure out what to do. What to eat. WHEN to eat.

I did take a nice nap.

In all honesty, I prefer the Saturday morning run and all things being equal, I wish I'd gone to run with the track club, which did another beautiful morning run on Coronado as I certainly could have run 5 or 6 miles with the track club and the 5K that night (oh sure you could Alice...oh sure you could).

Anyway, as I frittered away most of the day on FB, napping and a quick trip to Tar-jay, Walter had beers and watched the Aztecs beat Colorado State (the one local team that seems to have the capacity to win a game right now), and both our kids made plans to hang out with friends rather than run with us. (hmmmm...video games or running, what will they chose?).

Finally, by about 6:00, we headed to Balboa Park for the nighttime run.

As with lots of local runs, the field gets larger every year. While parking was easy in Balboa Park, by the time we got there, there were a few thousand people milling around. Walter and I managed to find Elsie and Alberta before the race as we picked up our bibs and t-shirts. Then Walter volunteered to run the t-shirts back to the car since we had about 25 minutes before the race.

Big mistake. That was the last I saw of Walter until the end of the race.

We're still trying to figure out how we missed each other because we finished within about a minute of each other, but with 3000 or so people running at night, and even though I was wearing the neon-lime-green-race shirt, we still somehow couldn't find each other. GAH!

As for the run? It's a pretty simple out and back route. 1.5 miles up Park Blvd and another 1.5 miles back. Also, as with some of the local, smaller run, there was no chip timing and it doesn't look like the website is going to report results, so I'm going completely with my Garmin here.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Light The Night Against Crime*

Here's my report.

Mile 1 - The first mile is mostly up a small grade, but it's uphill nonetheless, and even though Elsie, Alberta, and I were toward the front of the field,** we started pretty slow and had to zig and zag just a little bit to get around walkers***. I found what I thought was a quick but somewhat comfortable pace as I looked around for Walter.

Thoughts along the way:

• Where is Walter?
• Why is this kid skipping in front of me?
• I wish I could actually see my Garmin so I would know how fast I'm running.
• Where is Walter?

Mile 1 - 10:32 pace

Mile 2 - Most of the race is in front of the San Diego Zoo on Park Blvd, which is a four lane city street, divided by a grass median. At about 3/4 of a mile, we had crossed over to the west side of the street...then at about the 1 mile mark we could see and hear the police car in front of the lead runner telling us to cross back over to the right side of the street, which meant going back up and over the grass median, two curbs and a grassy area, in the DARK.

By about 1.5 miles, I could see all the runners who were headed back. I saw Stoney who was running fast, but it was pretty dark (didn't remember it being that dark last year), so he didn't see me. I think I was still pretty close to Elsie and Alberta (and her friend Shelley). At the turnaround, I kept my eyes peeled for my husband, figuring he was probably somewhere behind me, but couldn't spot him. I really need to put him into a neon-lime-green-dayglo shirt for future races.

My thoughts?

• (as I ran up and over the grassy median) - Oh, this isn't good. Someone's going to trip and get hurt.
• Where is Walter?
• How fast am I going now? Damn...still can't see the Garmin.

Mile 2 - 10:28 pace

Mile 3 - The last mile was painful. My foot was really starting to hurt, and just like last year, my foot pain started not the bottom/heel part, but the tendon top of my foot. I know now where this pain is headed, so I slowed up a bit, still looking around for Walter. I was past the water station, which was cleverly hidden in one of the darker parts of the road, before I noticed it was there. But figured it wasn't a big deal. Running three miles w/o a water stop is not an atypical event for me.

My thoughts?

• Ouch...foot hurts...Shiz, shiz, shiz...Mostly, in the last mile I was concerned with the foot.
• I'm feeling pretty spent. Maybe I went out faster than I thought I did.
• I really want to walk right now, but I REFUSE to walk in a 5K.
• I'm guessing not eating much since breakfast was an error.
• Where the heck is Walter?

In about the last 1/2 mile, I just tried to pick up the pace and finish strong. At the 3 mile mark, I FINALLY see/hear a person with a stopwatch calling out times. I hear "Thirty-two, fifteen" and I think "Really? That's close to an 11 minute pace and I'm pretty sure I was going faster than that...WHATEVER....I'll just finish"

Mile 3 - 10:32

Finish - Crossed the finish line and saw the race clock say 33:15, which sorta matched with what the mile 3 person was calling out. Some race photographer was taking pictures****, but I'm sure I didn't have a look of confidence or glee, mostly I'm sure I was grimacing, but I was glad I was done.

But here's my second big bitch about this event...the finishing chutes, or more accurately, people's behavior in the chutes. Typically it's good etiquette to stay in the order that you finish, right? Not last night. People just kept barging past me, crossing over lines...I mean WHATEVER...I'm not doing this race for a time or a medal (clearly), but everyone wants to get to the end to meet their friends and family, not just you tall dude who almost threw an elbow in my face. pffffft.

Hate rude people.

I finally looked down at my Garmin and realize I never stopped it, but it probably auto-stopped when I stopped running. It read 32:58. Not my slowest 5K ever, but certainly not my fastest either.

As I made my way to the end of the chute, I could see Elsie in the bright neon-lime-dayglo-green race shirt and standing next to her is...

Walter!

Sweaty as all get-out, but finished ahead of me!

I was so happy to see him that I gave him a sweaty kiss and hug. I mean I really felt bad because I convinced him to run with me, then we got separated and we ran alone. It wasn't how I envisioned the night going. We tried to figure out how we didn't see each other, but like I said, it was a crowded field and it was dark. Also, we discovered later that he lined up on the north side of the start and we were at the south, but he had the same experience with crossing over the median at about the same time I did...so we figure we were near each other the whole time, but at the downhill end, he still had legs (despite having beers) and I didn't.

Ah well.

Afterward we went to Nunu's and had burgers, wings, and beers...which made it a good night after all. Walter and I came home. I iced my foot, then we sat in the hot tub and slept.

So, overall? The event itself was pretty poorly run, even for a smaller event. I'm not sure if more people showed up than they were expecting or what the story was, but really, for a race that cost $30, I expect more than the obligatory t-shirt and one water station. There was a new race organizer this year, some outfit called Generic Events. which seems to run the Xterra series, and I've never read complaints from those of you who run in those events, but there were lots of problems last night.

• The course was either incorrectly marked or someone made a major error in having us cross over to the left at the wrong time, then cross back over to the right over a dark, tree-lined, grass median.
• The water station on the course was only on one side and was hidden in one of the darkest parts of the course.
• The finish chutes were undermanned which led to lots of people pushing through and crossing over to other chutes.
• At the end there was no water. There were some vendors giving out flavored waters and other recovery beverages, but they were warm.
• The post-race expo was just pathetic...no vendors or services at all.
• Today, no "official" results on the website, nor is there an indiction that there will be.
• Once again, no chip timing.

Sorta makes me yearn for Kathy Loper events. Although their smaller events don't do chip timing either, at least they have reasonable water stations and post-race services.

Next up is the Shelter Island 5K in two weeks (a KL event, so I'm not expecting chip timing). I've got two weeks to get my foot in shape. Time to start doing those lunges and squats I keep writing about.

______________________

* You can feel the thrill of running with me if you click on the link to Garmin Connect's website then click on the Player.


** We learned from last year to start toward the front...and even still, there were people walking who were in front of us.

*** I have no problem with walkers, or with dogs in a race, or with strollers, I just think that those who are going to stroll the race ought to start toward the back of the field.


**** I took no pictures because true to form in my week of technological failures, my camera battery was dead...GAH!

My Week With Technology

Tuesday - I thought my Garmin 305 had a full charge when I went to Tuesday night's Track Club workout, but apparently not. so. much.

It crapped out after 1.92 miles (the first two of 5 1000 repeats). Which was really a bummer because now that I've downloaded the stats, I'd actually like to see how fast I was running in the last three miles. I thought I was running REALLY SLOW. I mean, I was running on grass and even running with the slow group, I was among the last. But in the 3rd and 4th miles, I actually felt like I was running OK (e.g. I wasn't last). So now I'm curious because in the first mile I had a 10:19 pace and I even had a 10:53 pace in the second mile...and that's not even that bad considering that I'd had no rest (I got back to the start just as the group was taking off again),

Oh...and did I mention those splits were on GRASS?

Anyway, I'll never know how stellar those splits were, so GAH on the Garmin which doesn't seem to want to hold a charge right now.

Friday - If you've seen my Twitter or FB posts or feeds, you know that last night when I came home from a day-long training, I dropped my new iPhone in the toilet...

AGAIN!

Even worse, this time I have no amusing story to accompany the drop. I was just doing what I do every day when I come home from work, I go straight to the bathroom to pee.

But yesterday I was distracted. I was tired. I was hungry. My kids were home for the first time all week, so I forgot that I still had the iPhone in my back pocket.

But as I heard the "splosh" and I hadn't even sat down yet, I remembered.

F*CK!

I grabbed it immediately and at first, it looked OK.

The screen still worked.

I could make calls.

I could get email.

But in the next few hours, I started getting random operating messages. Then the home button stopped working. By 9pm, the whole thing stopped operating.

So, I resigned myself to paying the $199 replacement fee for a new iPhone and made an appointment at the Genius Bar at 9:00 this morning.

When I got there, I told the guy the truth, that I'd dropped it in some water. He asked politely if I wanted to tell him where, I sighed and told him that it fell out of my back pocket and into the toilet.

He smiled and said, "That happens a lot."

I replied, "yeah, it's happened to me twice...you'd think I'd learn..."

"Really? Twice?"

Anyway, after he activated the new phone, he handed me the receipt and told me that since the phone was only 3 months old, and since I'd come in early, and hadn't tried to make up excuses about what happened to it, and because he didn't want to ruin my weekend, he was just going to replace it for FREE!!!

Really?

WOW!

I guess good karma and telling the truth pays off after all!

I also love the Apple store genius right now.

As for running/training this week? I give myself a big D- because while I did go the track club on Tuesday, I haven't done anything else beside work and go out to dinner with Walter.

I am running the Light the Night 5K tonight with Walter and Turbo and some of the herd, but it's only a 5K and I REALLY need to get some long runs in at some point in the next month or so.

If I'm feeling OK, I think I'll try a 6 or 7 mile run tomorrow as well. I probably WON'T run w/the new iPhone though.

For One Week Only! We're DINKs

DramaGirl and Turbo are at camp this week, so Walter and I are sans kids.

So on Monday, Walter went to the Charger game (lousy Chargers...they DO look good in those throwback jerseys, but really, they suck otherwise...we blame the coach)

On Tuesday, Walter and I went to the SDTC* workout and ran with Elsie. It was the first Tuesday night workout I'd been to in MONTHS and it was fun to have Walter there, but the workout was really, really hard (5 x 1000 repeats on the freekin' grass!)**

After the workout we went to dinner at Ortegas, a fabulous Mexican restaurant, had some wonderful shrimp tacos and margaritas and didn't have to worry about getting home at any point to pay a sitter.

Yummy non-mix-made Margaritas. And how can you complain about a $2.00 margarita anyway?

Tonight, Walter and I went to (yes) another Mexican restaurant called Ranas. This one had "Mexico City" style food (which is different than border food). I had Pollo a la Chipolte, which was in a cream sauce with sauteed onions and mushrooms (like I said, not Baja style Mexican food). It was yummy and delicious.... which is not at all repetitious!

In other words, without kids, I'm not cooking this week.

Tomorrow, I'm getting my hair done (can you say GRAY?)...maybe a late dinner w/my date.

Kids are back on Friday and we'll resume our regularly scheduled life.

____________________________

* I am soooooo not going to another SDTC workout in Balboa park where we run on the grass. I read in Runner's World last month that running on grass is really bad for PF and Achilles issues because of the uneven surfaces...can I just say, UH, YEAH! My foot is KILLING me today.

** I have some words for my insurance company about how my foot was "functional" after 6 treatments. Define "functional" for me, will ya? GAH!

Beware of Flying Drool

Does walking around a theme park for 7 hours one day, running for 3.5 miles the next, then biking for 25 the next count as one seven mile, longish run?

Probably not.

But it'll have to, cuz that's what I did this weekend.

On Friday, Walter and I took the kids to Magic Mountain. It's on the north end of LA county, which meant that Thursday night we were driving though LA, which I hate, but driving through LA at 9pm is by far better than trying to drive through LA in morning traffic.

It also meant that the next morning, we were up, bright and early, had a nice breakfast at the Marriott Courtyard where we stayed and did the roller coaster thing. Did I mention that I really LOVE roller coasters? Here's my RC stats

• 7 roller coasters
• 9 rides (went on two of them twice)
• 15 loop-de-loops, 9 steep initial drops, 5 twirls

It was awesome. The best ride was SCREAM, with 7 loops and was FAST, FAST, FAST...and of course Golaith, with it's first drop (about 65 feet, almost straight down...Turbo and I went on that one twice).

Nobody puked, although after Scream, I could see why someone would.

The scariest coaster was one called Tatsu, where you are strapped into a seat, and then it rotates so that you are facing down. When the ride starts, you essentially feel like you are flying. It was then, that I noticed that someone in the seat ahead of me must have drooled, as the drool went flying by me.

I thought DramaGirl and Turbo where on when I took this photo...the people on those seats are looking at the ground! AWESOME!

I thought about how that's a sign that you don't often see in a theme park...one that warns you to beware of flying drool, which is something that someone sitting behind me would have needed to heed when we rode on Colossus (an old-school wood roller coaster, that is still just a classic) because as I was screaming and laughing, I could just feel the drool flying out of my mouth.

Luckily, we were in the last seat.

After a lovely dinner with my sis and her family in Manhattan Beach, we headed back to San Diego, and although I had EVERY intention of getting up in the morning and running with Betty and Mik, since we didn't get back until after midnight, I just slept in, although truth be told, I didn't really sleep. I just lay there feeling bad that I wasn't running...I shoulda just gotten up and run.

But geez my legs were tired from that day of running around MM following my day of driveway lunges and squats. So by the time I got on the 'mill, I could barely eek out 3.5 miles. GAH!

So this morning, as I headed out for a bike ride, I was expecting the worst. I was expecting a painful, long, slow, ride. But in fact, it was the opposite!

Betty, Mik, and I started in Penasquitos (which is North San Diego County), there's a great bike path that runs all the way from the 15 to the ocean. I think this is the path that Anne rides on. I do love a dedicated bike path.

Also, at 8am when we started, it was sill foggy and pretty cool. I wore my arm warmers and my Zenza compression sleeves, which kept my arms and legs warm.

Mik, however, hurt her toe last week and couldn't get her foot in her shoe, so she rode with one shoe and a flip-flop. She still kicked our asses.

Yep...one bike shoe, one flip flop and she still rocks!

We ended up at Torrey Pines State Beach. Seriously high tide today. We talked to a couple of guys who wanted to run on the beach...but no beach today.

I'm actually holding in my stomach in this photo...GAH! I really need to stand facing forward for these shots.

The saddest part of the ride is that due to budget cuts the restroom was not open yet...even though there was a park maintenance guy cleaning up. He said that he couldn't open it up for 15 more minutes. I don't get that. I mean, he's there, right? Can someone explain that to me?

Since we were on bikes, it was no big deal to ride over to the other restrooms (about 1/4 mile away), but if I'd been running, I'd have been PISSED. I mean, that would have added 1/2 mile to a run...again, I say GAH!

After the potty break and the photo shoot, we headed back to Penasquitos...which, by the way, was mostly uphill (0 to 600ft).

So, my training for the week? I'm still giving myself a C+. I did run twice, but not very far. I didn't get a long run in, but I did do a pretty substantial bike ride, which included about 12 miles of uphill (my quads are gonna feel it in a bit). I did do some strength training and I rode lots of roller coasters (that's gotta count for something, right?)

And while I did get hit in the face by a really big bug today during my ride, I didn't get hit by any drool, so that's a good thing too.

Hey...huge shout out to everyone who ran a 1/2 marathon or marathon this weekend. I know there's just a bunch who ran the Nike Women's 1/2 in San Francisco, and Lisa who ran in Albuquerque, and in NikeMom who ran Des Moines. Congrats to all!

A Quick Recap

I set out some pretty lofty running-workout goals for myself last weekend during my run at Lake BP. If I were to grade myself for the week so far?

C+

Monday - nada
Tuesday - I had every intention of running with the track club, but at about 3:30 on Tuesday, some of the herd started texting and emailing that we needed a happy hour at Gios (a local wine bar), and I succumbed to the herd and drank wine instead of ran.
Wednesday - I did run...about 25 minutes on the 'mill. At about 20 minutes, I started feeling some tightness on the side of my foot. This is how the PF started last time, I don't feel it in my heel, but in the tendon on the outside of my foot. As soon as I felt it I stopped running (well...OK...I ran for about 5 minutes more) and realized that not doing any strength training for the last two weeks is a REALLY BAD IDEA. Made pact with self to start doing squats and lunges STAT.
Thursday - 30 minutes of lunges and squats with weights on my driveway. I'm sure the neighbors were entertained.
Today - No running today because we're taking the kids to Magic Mountain, which is on the north end of LA County. We drove up here last night (hence the comments from me on Twitter about the 10 being the longest road EVER. I HAAAAATE driving in LA. I know a few of you live up here. Honestly, I don't know how you do it.) We'll drive home afterward, so this weekend's long run may have to wait until Sunday. I've got 7 miles on my training log scheduled for this weekend.

Oh...yes, this should be good. 7 miles, a tender foot, and one measly 25 minute treadmill run. I've really gotta do better than that.

I know it's Foto Friday, but I've got nothin' this week. I'll probably be blogging over the weekend, but I'm definitely thinking of all of my blogging-friends who are in SF this weekend for the Nike Women's Marathon and 1/2. Good luck to all of you and have a GREAT TIME.

Belligerent and Poetic

So...my goal Saturday was to run 7 miles. I didn't quite do that, in fact, I almost didn't quite run at all...

My first thought when I work up at 6am yesterday was: "geez, it's dark out there...it can't be 6:00 yet!" So, I closed my eyes for a minute and then realized that it WAS 6:00 (... 6:05 by then) and I was supposed to be at Lake BP by 6:30...

Now I can get ready for a morning run pretty quickly, but I'm not THAT fast...a girl needs her coffee and all. Also, the track club was meeting at the north end of the lake, which has no restroom that I know of (there's probably one at one of the little league fields, but it would be a crapshoot* to bet on whether or not the restrooms would be open or not).

Lying in bed considering all this, I momentarily thought about not running at all. Elsie and Betty were not going to be there, but then I remembered that I told Mik I would be there, and so I pushed myself out of bed, started the coffee, got dressed (by then it was 6:16), and texted Mik that I'd be there but I'd be late.

Then, in a moment of clarity (musta been the coffee kicking in) I decided to start my run at the south end of Lake BP instead of the north end, which is where the track club was meeting, that way I'd still be able to see Mik and some of my track club friends on the way...good planning, yes? And that plan worked out pretty darn well. I got to chat with Anne and see her new shoes since she was hosting the run. I saw Stoney (twice) and I saw Mik who turned around and ran with me for a bit. (Turns out she started at the south end too...)

But mostly I ran alone, which was fine. I had lots to think about. It was a busy week. I have a few more busy weeks in front of me. I'm going to run the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon in about 9 weeks. I've had a really hard time, most weeks, of getting more than two runs in, one midweek and one on the weekend, and this past week, I didn't even get in one midweek run.

So as I ran, I had to come up with a training plan for myself for the next two months. My first goal is to continue doing strength training on Monday and Wednesday mornings before I teach. This is when I was going to PT, but since that seems to have ended, I'll do it on my own. I've got hand weights and a big long driveway, so we'll see how that goes.

On Tuesday and Thursday, I'll run. Yes, I'm going to start going to the track club Tuesday night workouts again. It's good for me. I'll get my Thursday run in either on Thursday afternoon, after work, or on Friday morning. On Saturdays, I'll do long runs with the track club, building about a mile or 15 minutes longer of running a week, until I get to two weeks before the race, then I'll taper a bit.

So that's my training plan. I've published it. I expect you all to harass me when I break from it.**

On the insurance front...

Heffers have long know about the classic ballad "Cows with Guns." I think Daisy shared it with us a few years ago, probably in response to one evening when I decided (after decidedly too much wine) to recite cow poetry. (I am NOT making this up).

My favorite cow poem? ((ahem, ahem))..

Distant Hills

The distant hills call to me

Their rolling waves seduce my heart.

Oh. How I want to graze in their lush valleys;

Oh. How I want to rundown their green slopes.

Alas, I cannot.

Damn the electric fence

Damn the electric fence***

What does any of this have to do with insurance? Nothing really, but all your email, and a nice conversation with my mother about my insurance, her insurance, and the ridiculousness of our health care system has made me feel rather militant and belligerent. I was talking about this and Turbo shared with me, "hey mom, I found a YouTube video of "Cows With Guns."

Maybe THIS will scare the insurance company...

Hey, have a great day and a great week. Shoutouts to all who ran Chicago and Long Beach this morning.

______________________

*Yes, I'd already typed "crapshoot" when I realized I'd made a really bad pun.

** Oh yeah, that 7 miles ended up being 5.77 miles; 1:03; 10:58 pace

*** I really have no idea who wrote this. I think it was on a Boynton birthday card. That I've saved it all these years on my computer? What can I say; it spoke to me.

Another Week That Was...(not that interesting)...

I'm gonna guess, but I think the last time I used this title (or something close to it), it was probably about the 6th or 7th week of classes...hold on a sec, I'll check.

OK...I was wrong. I used almost the same title here, but it was almost the end of the semester...

There's an even bigger difference between that post and this one.

I actually DID have things to write about then. I had pictures. I was running. I was struggling with PF issues. I drank waaaaaaay too much wine one night.

This week, I have none of that.

Just work. Some long-ass work days.

Oh...and I'm fighting with my insurance company, who announced rather unceremoniously last week that both the physical therapist's office and I were wrong about my needing a prescription for PT.

In fact, they claim I needed PRIOR AUTHORIZATION, which of course I didn't get, because I was told by my doctor, the physical therapist, and I'm pretty sure someone at the insurance company that all I needed was a prescription.

I won't bore you with the details. All I have to say is that there are reasons why people hate the way health care works in this country because right now health care decisions are not being made by my physician, or by my physical therapist, but by someone who has the title "review nurse" and who works NOT for my doctor or my PT, but for the insurance company and who has, without meeting me AT ALL, decided that really, all I needed was 6 sessions of physical therapy. GAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

After 6 sessions I could still barely walk and I have the blog to prove it.

Whatever.

So, this week, there was no running and no PT, which also meant no strength training, and now my knee hurts, probably because I worked some 10 and 11 hour days this week with no stretching or strengthening.

So, I've gotta figure out a way to do the strength training on my own (which I was going to have to do anyway because, lets face it, PT wasn't going to last forever).

Whatever...

But, I am going to run in the morning at Lake Boy Part and since I have no other art this week, I'll post this instead...

Gotta love running at Lake BP. My goal is to do at least 7 miles.

I do want to send out some shout outs to all who are running or tri-ing this weekend, especially Glenn who is doing the Long Beach Marathon on Sunday. Have a great time Glenn (even though you are spending way too much time thinking about those lousy Dodgers right now...)

ROFLTAO

Instead of running with the Track Club this morning, which was hosting the Ursula Rains Balboa Boogie 5K, where we could have run or volunteered (of course none of us wanted to do either a 5K or volunteer, and we know that we're going to hell because we're really lousy track club members who take and take but never give), Mik, Betty, Elsie and I decided to head to Mission Bay to run.

We were SUPPOSED to meet at 7am, which is a far more civilized time for a run on a Saturday morning than 6:30, which is when the track club has been meeting this summer... (just what is it about that 30 minutes that makes it more civilized?). However, I didn't get there until about 7:20. Let's just say I had "technical difficulties" this morning.

Mik, Betty, and Elsie kindly and patiently waited for me to show up.

So...I was a little late in my running outfit for the morning...what of it? Do I need to work on my full-length photo pose? I'm thinking that Tyra would NOT be impressed with this.

This was Betty and Mik's response to my arrival.

ROFLM THEIR A's O - Literally...apparently Betty and Mik were surprised by the pink compression sock/neon green top combination.

Mik told me it was worth the wait.

Anyway, I was trying out my new Zenga compression sleeves. I'd been considering trying these for awhile...ever since Stuart at Quadrathon reviewed them a couple of months ago, but its been so darn hot, so I haven't. Luckily, the Santa Ana left on Tuesday afternoon at about 1:45 and Fall arrived in SoCal, which means that its cooler now (although more humid), so I decided to wear them this morning.

I guess the pink and neon green combo was a bit much for Betty, Mik and Elsie because their responses to them were immediate (WTF are you WEARING ALICE???). In truth, by the time I got to the bay I was so stressed about being so late that I'd forgotten I had them on.

My brief review is that these socks are f*cking AWESOME! I ran 6 miles, negative splits until the last full mile (and even then, it wasn't my slowest mile), and afterward?

No pain, not in my foot, not in heel, not in my shins, not in my knee...not anywhere (I feel like I should add a Sam-I-am to the end of that...)

So, I don't care what they look like, I'm going to continue to wear them. As far as I'm concerned, they're HAWT!

After our run, we went to World Famous for breakfast and mimosas. We had to think for a bit about why we hadn't been there for so long.

Since you've never seen this picture before... *

The answer is that summer is over, the tourists have gone, and we have the beach back.

As we were running, the mens USD crew team was also running (I never mind when the crew team passes me on a run...nice view!) One of the guys was wearing a T-shirt that read: "I live where you go for Spring Break."

Oh Yeah...

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* all photos by Elsie today :-)

Foto Friday - or Video Viernes

How many among us really HAAAAAATE that underarm jiggle.

((women's hands shoot up from around the country, if not from around the world! Probably some dudes hands shoot up too, but possibly for different reasons...))

And I know that many of us just love our running gear and gadgetry (Garmin, Nike+, The Stick, The foam roller, hydration packs, iPods, heartrate monitors, etc. etc. etc)

Finally, a solution for all of us...

Problem solved! Who knew? Thanks so much to Betty who sent it out to the herd.***

So, since I don't think anyone is currently hosting Foto Friday, and since I don't really have any photos anyway, and since SoCal is so bilingual, I'll dub this one por Video Viernes*

Running Updates

OK...so I went to see Brett the PT earlier in the week, and when I told him about MY GREAT opportunity to run the Nike Women's 1/2 in three weeks, he just sorta looked at me and said something about how he'd like to see me have an actual RACE PLAN** for next year, with no more than three 1/2 marathons and that includes a training plan for building speed and distance AND recovery time after the race.

I suggested that I'd had plenty of recovery time this summer and fall.

He (again, just sorta shaking his head at me, although I will add that he was almost standing on top of another patient at the moment, stretching his shoulder) laughed and said, "planned recovery, THAT was unplanned recovery."

OK...so I won't be running in SF in three weeks.

It was more than Brett's comments that drove the decision. Walter wasn't thrilled with the idea either. So...it just wasn't meant to be this year... ((sigh))

Movin' on...

Next thing up then is the Light the Night Against Crime 5k on October 24. It's a night race which starts at 7:00 pm. Then the Shelter Island 5K on November 8 which ends with an awesome champagne brunch at Humphries. For those of you in OC and LA it is a nice little K and is well worth a trip to San Diego!

I'm signed up for the Las Vegas 1/2 on December 6, which will still have me doing 4 1/2 Marys for the year.

Oh yeah, and I'll come up with a plan for next year.

Happy Friday everyone (or Buenos Viernes!)****

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* Viernes = Friday...but in Spanish, I get that ever-so-satisfying alliteration.

** In all honesty I DID have a plan for 2009...to do the triple crown. I admit that into that plan I did not include two bout's with Plantar Fascitiis and related ITB issues...all fixed now BTW. I don't even limp when I get out of bed in the morning. SWEEEEEET.

***If the embedded video doesn't work, try this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S3C4AC908w

**** Mik and Elsie are completely entertained by my espanol.