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!