Three Good Things about The Blackout...

Perhaps you heard...Southern California experienced a pretty massive power outage yesterday afternoon and evening. It lasted (for us) about 8 hours, although I think there may still be peeps without power. Even still, I know some of you on the east coast who were without power for days are thinking "SoCal wussies...we didn't have power for three DAYS after Irene!" and to be honest, I'd be the first to concede the point.

In any event, I had planned on running after work yesterday, once it cooled off, but since there was no power, I ended up attending to other things... 

No matter, there were three VERY GOOD THINGS that did occur as a result of the outage.

• I didn't have to work today. Was supposed to do a full day workshop at Cal State San Marcos, but it is closed for the day, so I have the day off!
• Betty came over as we were activating our "Family Emergency Plan"* which meant opening a bottle of wine and sitting by the pool and then sitting in the pool because it was so dang hot.



We have a really well developed emergency plan.

• While I was looking for a cable to charge DramaGirls phone with my battery charger, I found the nose piece to my Nike Vomero Sunglasses. I LOVE these sunglasses, but losing the nosepiece has been an ongoing issue for me. I thought I'd lost it AGAIN somewhere in Kansas City, but when I opened a case that I keep the battery charger supplies in, I found it. Apparently, I had cleverly put it there in KC, so that I WOULDN'T lose it. I'm such a genius!

So that you know, you were saved from reading a really boring post about the saga of the Nike Sunglasses and the Lost Nosepiece, part 5. Instead, if you want to know, you can go here, and here, and here.

So, the power is back on, I have the day off,  I have my favorite running sunglasses EVAH, and all is well with the world!

___________________________
* I saw a tweet that SDG&E (the power company) was advising people to "Activate their personal family emergency plan." Walter and I figured we'd already done that.

Two Weekends

Two WEEKS? Ah Geez...maybe I should just give up the blog... GAH!

OK...so here's what happened..school started. First two weeks are an adjustment. I'll figure it out.

Here's what else happened two weekends ago...

End of Summer Fire Run - For those who are new here, this is the annual end of summer race which starts in La Jolla and ends in Pacific beach. Every year, we figure out a way to get a way back to our car in La Jolla without having to take the post-race bus...because we are just like that. This year Walter volunteered to drive out and, even though he wasn't running, drive us back to La Jolla to fetch our car.

The Herd's fifth anniversary of running this event...and as is typical for a race run in the last weekend of August...it was HOT and HUMID...but we were undeterred. So here's the story of that day in photos

At least Elsie and I wore the neon-dayglo-lime green shirts so that we could find each other! 

I have no pictures during the race. In fact, I wasn't expecting to do much. It was hot. I hadn't done anything in the way of training. I had a PR in this race last year, and did I mention that in addition to the heat, it was gawd-awful humid. I just figured, I'd have fun and have a couple of beers at the end.

So...what did I do? 

4 miles - 38.22 (official) 9:36 pace - A new PR (which only happens at this event, because when else would I run a 4 mile race?) AND 8th in my division (which mostly means that there weren't that many other women my age crazy enough to run in that head/humidity)...

Whatever. I'll take it!

Afterward, we gathered at PB Bar and Grill to claim our two free beers because isn't beer what EVERYONE is looking for on a Sunday morning at about 9am?

Everyone has a roll...I am the planner. Elsie is the brains. Betty makes us laugh. Mik brings us beer. See how that works out. 

Sweaty green girls

More light beer than we really wanted.

Walter (our sherpa and all around great guy) arrived as we were drinking our morning brews to take us back to our car (which was still in La Jolla). It took us about 42 seconds to decide that the food and beer at the high dive was MUCH better than where we were, so off we went.

Isn't it good that The High Dive gives Uncle Sam his fair share? Yes Bkfst Champs and OJ Karafe were for Mimosas!

And here's what happened this weekend...

This one turned 16 (she also got some new furniture and a giant wave picture for her bedroom...lucky girl) 

Isn't she beautiful? I am so proud to be her mama. She is growing up into this fabulous person who makes me so proud!

So...to celebrate, we rented a condo at the beach for the weekend so that DG could invite a few friends along to help her celebrate....also because I thought it was better than some crazy party with lots of screaming teenagers.

In other words, it was a gift for everyone!

And I got to spend the weekend looking at this...

Sunset...the first night

And this...

I think that's Walter out there somewhere...

And watching my boys play in the waves

They may not look like much, but trust me, those waves had some power...or at least that's what Walter said.  SoCal had an epic southern swell last week and over the weekend. Glenn has some way better footage of the waves from up north in Newport Beach on his blog

Which led to a bit of this...

This is what happens when you play in the waves for 8 hours

And a little bit of hanging out with some good friends (who are the parents of DG's BFF)

And waking up to this...

I figure if I'm going to rent a condo at the beach...I really want to see the beach.

I also got a 6 mile run in yesterday morning - so I'm not completely off track for Nike in October...tomorrow morning, it's back to the hills. I think I'm going to have to pay for some of the overindulgence of the past few days.