Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Running With the Herd (even when the herd's not around) and other randomness

In the last month or so, Elsie, Mik and I have burned CDs for each other with some of our favorite running songs (Betty doesn't listen to music when she runs. She says she has her own "internal" iPod. I'm pretty sure it contains, almost exclusively, tunes by Cheap Trick).

Mommy's allright, Daddy's allright
They just seem a little weird
Surrender, surrender

So, I've had some pretty entertaining runs this week. I'll be running along and then "Milkshake" (Kelis) will start playing:

My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard,
and they're like,
its better than yours,
damn right its better than yours,
I can teach you,
but I have to charge


And I'm thinkin' "is THAT what makes Elsie so happy when she's running?"

Here's the rest of Elsie's playlist


Mik shared her VERY eclectic taste in music...everything from the Beach Boys to Paul Simon to The Kooks...and lots of Irish tunes. Quite frankly, I think this explains why Mik runs so fast!

My list is pretty standard compared to theirs...some '80s pop and some current tunes. The lyrics to "Fish Heads" (They Might be Giants), is always good for some giggles...


Fish heads, fish heads,
rolly-polly fish heads,
fish heads, fish heads,
eat them up, Yum,

In the morning,
laughing happy fish heads,
in the evening,
floating in the soup,


Ask a fish head,
anything you want to,
they won't answer,
they can't talk,

I took a fish head,
out to see a movie,
didn't have to pay,
to get it in,


As I alluded to in my last post, I arrived very late to last Saturday's run. Both Kat and Elsie (who were there) were convinced I'd missed what is arguably one of the most scenic runs, so both took photos...just in case...

At the north end of Pacific Beach, near Tourmaline. Photo by Elsie
I think this is above La Jolla Cove...Photo by Kat
Yesterday, I solo'd it at the SDTC track workout where we did 7 x 800 Repeats. Spring has sprung here (finally...I think...), which means that at 6pm, it was still about 80 degrees on the track. Silly me, I forgot my water in the car. Can you tell from my Garmin Connect stats when I went to the water fountain? What this also means is that after the 5th 800, I did a set of steps at Balboa Stadium...LOL
Despite this, I managed to keep my 800 splits below a 10 minute mile pace (well...once was 9:59, but that's still under 10, right?).

In other news, the herd has registered for two more spring/summer runs.

Inaugural RiverFest 5K
In the last four years, we have spent PLENTY of time on the San Diego Riverbed, so it seems appropriate that next Sunday, Betty, Mik, Elsie, and I (and maybe a few more) are going to do the Inaugural RiverFest 5K. RiverFest is a full day festival which is the capstone to two weeks of events sponsored by the San Diego River Park Foundation called River Days. There'll be a 5K run/walk and a 1 mile kids run. If you are local and want to join, here's the link to register. It's for a really good cause (improving the river area). The foundation does some really good work.

San Francisco 1/2 Marathon (the first 1/2)
After much discussion, we've decided to complete the California Dreamin' Racing Series. We already ran the Surf City 1/2 Marathon in February, so now we're headed to San Francisco to run the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon on July 25. Then in October, we'll do the Long Beach 1/2 Marathon. It also means that we have to run Surf City again in February so that Betty can officially run as Betty and not Tiger (although she says that her pseudo-pseudonym for all races IS going to be Tiger...grrrr), so that she'll have finished the series as well.

My goal? To run all remaining 1/2 marathons this year sub 2:30 AND not get injured again!

    16 comments:

    1. I feel ancient that I have no idea of any of those songs from any of those playlists! Then again, it's my own fault for not ever leaving the '70's!
      My playlist??? Truly, anything and I mean anything from the 70's. From ABBA to Zeppelin. Good old rock and roll and some crazy ass disco to sing to the cows!
      Love the scenery-you're lucky to have that to run by. I get rolling hills of green grass and cows! Soon the corn fields will be plentiful and high making for a nice "port-a-potty" for me!

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    2. OMG!! you need to ask Madge about the milkshakes we saw one year in Hawaii! ;0

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    3. I love all of those playlists! Thanks for the great song ideas. I was cracking up about "fish heads," that was SOOOO high school in the 80's!
      We're off to SF half too! I am determined to meet you at SD RnR though first!

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    4. None of you have "Lose yourself" by Eminem? That is a running staple. Sorry I missed you at the workout...I was dressed and heading to Balboa when a kid crisis arose. All is good, but I missed a workout :(

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    5. Those playlists are cool and make me feel so OUT of it. You need to put them on iTunes so I can just buy them (lazy me..). No I will be inspired and get some. Serve me right - right now I'm listening to The Power of Madonna by Glee and that is moving me along - child of the 80s and born Gleek...

      Nice scenery AND weather - you're lucky! We had a few weeks of spring but now the heating's back on as it is COLD!

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    6. I don't know how anyone can run without an iPod. Sometimes, on a "good" run ("good" in quotation marks because there's NO SUCH THING!1!) I zone out and don't listen to the music because my mind is on other things. And if it's not on the music or the pain from running, then that is a good run. But most of the time, I listen to the music to take my mind off the fact that I'm running and sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going.

      I'm happily surprised to see that, by judiciously cutting and pasting for the Heffers' three lists, i could compile what I would consider a pretty decent running mix.

      At best, two songs would come from your list, sister. Sorry.

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    7. Loved looking at everyone's playlists. Amazing what kind of music will move us along.

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    8. 9:59 is *totally* sub-10. This is all I strive for in a half marathon. Yet to be achieved, but if my pace says 9:59, I consider it to be mission accomplished.

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    9. Fish Heads is by Barnes and Barnes, not They Might Be Giants.

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    10. So - I hope you have the Barnes and Barnes reording of Fish Heads. Did you know that it was the #1 requested song on the Dr. Demento show?

      One other comment - where's the Mojo Nixon?

      Speaking of Cheap Trick, do you know what I had to pay to get a legit copy of Live at Budokan back in the late 70's?

      Great playlists! I'm hitting up the iTunes store....

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    11. Fish Heads was sooooo high school! :)

      Back in the day, Michael's car didn't have a radio and the only song we sort of knew all of the words to was "Surrender." We sang that one a lot. LOL.

      I loved seeing everyone's play lists. Mik has a lot of the ones I used to have on mine until I changed it for this year, and yours has a lot of the songs I have now.

      It's fun seeing the track club run on the track through your Garmin! It looks like you had a really good workout.

      Thanks so much for the comment on Daily Mile. Uh, I haven't done THAT workout since I posted it so many weeks ago. I am trying to use my arms in the garden (pick ax/hoe) and I hope that counts for something. I miss you guys, too.

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    12. DUDE!!!!! YOU ARE COMING TO SF?!?!?! I'M SOOOOOO STOKED!!!!

      Ok, I will stop. My apologies.

      That is very exciting to me though. (in case you missed my subtlety in the intro to this comment)

      I, unlike he-with-no-taste G, love your play list and stole several songs. I am so damn sick of my playlist that I am certain I expend almost as much energy changing and skipping songs as I do running.

      Ok, one more

      WOO HOOO!!! ALICE IS COMING TO SF!!

      Alright, I am really done now.

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    13. I love checking out other people's running song lists!! Those are all great, of course. And hello, you're running the SFM half!!?!? This is exciting!!! Hope I get to run into you! :-)

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    14. Oh and thank you for not deleting me from you blog list! LOL

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    15. How can only one of these play lists have "Rock Star" on it? Solo 800s are hard!

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