Sunday, October 18, 2009

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!

17 comments:

  1. she rode a bike in a shoe and a flip flop?!? that's determination. i don't even think i'm coordinated to walk in one bike show and one flip flop, much less bike that way. lol

    thx for the shout out about the race too. :-)

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  2. !

    You guys are amazing, Mik, way to go

    !

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  3. What's up with all this fog, any way?
    At least you could see the beach!

    Budget cuts? What a lame-ass excuse. I think the guy was a control freak.

    Go Mik! I'd be too wimpy to ride with a flip-flop.

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  4. I can't handle roller coasters. They give me such bad motion sickness that I ride one and I feel barfy for the rest of the day.

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  5. nasty drool!!! Gross!

    Glad you had a great time and yes you had a great weekend of exercise!!

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  6. I'm a big baby with rides, I used to be able to handle some, but the big roller coasters....NO. I think going to Great Flags with too much marijuana in my system had a big play in those bad high school days!
    Nice job on the runs and rides!!

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  7. Yes, that's "my bikepath." Glad there weren't any bodies or dead rats on it yesterday. You know, I was riding around PQ yesterday morning too but I won't do the 56 bikepath in dense fog, not alone anyway. Too creepy. But if I had, we would have seen each other.

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  8. flying drool - eew!
    MM is one of my husband and kid's favorite parks. After my kid's prject building a roller coaster, i finally understand the physics so i might actually ride one.. someday.

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  9. Oh man - closed restrooms KILL me when I'm running along. A girl's gotta go when a girl's gotta go!

    I like tamer roller coasters as I get older. At this rate, I might end up just riding the kiddie ones in a few years :)

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  10. That's hard core - one shoe and a flip flop!?! And still kicked ass, I love her!

    Flying drool better than flowing snot;)

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  11. I love, love, love roller coasters. My hubby-- not so much, so we don't go a lot. Although, when we went when my son was a baby, he stayed with the stroller while I did all the rides.

    Sounds like a great weekend! When Mik's toe feels better, she needs to reverse the shoe/flip flop thing so she doesn't get a lopsided workout. ;-)

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  12. Nice weekend! It's been years since I was at MM. I need to go back sometime. I think that I can now ignore the warning signs about riding if you are obese....

    The fog was pretty incredible. I didn't go out Sunday morning, but it was thick as pea soup here in OC as well.

    I'm looking forward to meeting up at Shelter Island!

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  13. thanks for the shoutout! It would have been so awesome to meet you this weekend as well, but maybe one day! I haven't done a rollercoaster since before my brain surgery. Not because i was told not to.. but i just feel like i should protect what i have left! LMAO!!

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  14. LMAO @Mel...heehee
    Hey, are your friend's toenails black or did she paint those babies?????

    Great workouts mixed in with family fun. You get extra points for that!

    You shoulda peed on his leg....LOL

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  15. I hate roller coasters but love those beach shots! I don't get it about maintenance workers either. How much extra is it costing the tax payer to open the bathrooms 15 min. early? At least you have them year round. Ours get locked up from Nov. 1 until May 1. You learn to hold it or pick another route.

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  16. I'm leaving the Roller Coasters to you. A flip flop?

    I'd give you a B. Soudns like you did a lot.

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