Another "Where Did the Week Go?" Post

So apparently I'm back to posting updates once a week. It's really nowhere near enough for me (you all may not care either way), but I had REALLY GOOD IDEAS for posts all week, most of them non-running related and I didn't get to write them, and now they're lost.

When do you all find time to write, when you work, and run, and raise families?

Anyway...Opix uploaded some pix from last weekend's SuperRun...which was super fast (the uploading thing). It seems like it takes some other race photo shops FOREVER to upload pix. There were a few that made me smile.

Betty...showing off the number of SuperRuns she's completed (4).

I love EVERYONE when I'm running uphill!. That's Walter behind me in the yellow, looking at his feet.

That's Wilma, who had the whole "with dog" category all to herself

Whatever was on his foot sure was fascinating (see my photo above).

Moving onto this week...

For this weekend's long run, we were back to Hospitality Point. Betty, Walter and I were the only herd representatives because Mik and Kat were in New Ahhhhhleans for the Mardi Gras 1/2 which they ran this morning.

Kat and Mik-post race with the beaded bling... LOVE that Mik wore the green. I'm sure they have many other "bead" stories to share when they return!

Back in SoCal, we were on schedule to do an 1:15 run from hospitality point and back. We were warned that as we ran toward Fiesta Island, however, that we would be crossing paths with another race event, so to be aware, and to be considerate.

We started off and it was COLD! I've been wearing gloves to start most morning runs right now. For some reason, It doesn't bother me if my arms, shoulders, legs, body, whatever is cold, but if my fingers are cold, that's all I can think about it MY FREEKIN' FREEZIN FINGERS. So the gloves have been very helpful.

I ended up starting toward the back of the pack because I had to take care of some #1 business, and by the time I got out of the ladies room, everyone was taking off. No worries. I caught up with Walter and Betty in about a 1/2 mile, then I caught up with Irene's hubby Mike and we chatted for awhile about the joys of running on the riverbed (gotta watch out for all the cyclists and for the divots...it's treacherous out there!).

By the time we were heading into Fiesta Island, sure enough a whole back of runners were headed our way. I'm guessing that it was the 10K runners doing the Mermaid Run, which had a 1/2 Marathon, 10K and 5K. Anne has a great race report about this relatively new race in San Diego and it sounds like something I'd definitely want to do in the future. In any event, we let the runners pass...not losing pace in a 10K is much more important than a training run!

Once we were past the island, most of the track club veered to the left and stayed on the walking/running path. Walter and I decided to continue running on the street because given the choice, I'd rather run on asphalt than concrete. Concrete hurts me.

One consequence of running on the street was that the 5K group from the Mermaid run was starting at 8:00. As we headed toward their start, I could hear the announcer making that pre-race-announcer-type small talk (Who's celebrating a birthday today? Who is running their first 5K?) and I wanted to get past their start, so Walter and I picked up our pace, and good thing because as we ran past, I could hear the start.

Running INTO a race start is NOT something I want to cross off my bucket list.

We ran for about 5 more minutes and then turned around to head back, crossing paths with some of the 5K walkers and back of the pack runners. Finally, we were out of the race area, back on the road, then back on the riverbed. About then, Walter took off in what I think will be par for the course for him...a final sprint to the end. This is where he just kicks my ass now...he can really pick up his pace in the last two miles.

My splits weren't too bad yesterday either:

Mile 1 - 10:14
Mile 2 - 10:35
Mile 3 - 10:15
Mile 4 - 10:06
Mile 5 - 10:08
Mile 6 - 10:15
Mile 7 - 10:15

Total - 7 miles - 1:11:57 - 10:15 pace

I'll admit, I'm pretty pleased. When I was running with Irene's Michael, he noted that it seemed like I was running much faster these days, and its true, I have been. This is the first year since the first year I ran with the track club that I've been running without an injury in February. I keep wondering if I could keep a 10:15 pace for 13 miles. It's going to be all about consistency and not getting hurt.

We were among the first back and Noreen, from the track club, who has a stress fracture and hasn't been running,  took this photo of us.

The dude really needs to remember to open his eyes

The morning speaker was a local chiropracter who was doing some table stretching. Irene's (and now our) friend Rich took advantage of it. I probably should have done the same.

Hey Rich...told you it was payback time :-). Rich is being a running maniac right now. He ran a 5K Sand Run on Wednesday AND ran the Coronado Valentines Day 10K this morning...no wonder he needed some stretching.

Betty, Irene, and me after the run. The sun had come out, the gloves were off, and it was time to go home.

Hope everyone has a LOVELY day and a LOVELY Valentines Day! Congrats to all the runners who ran races this weekend!

Have a great week!

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

Other Signs...

Today GlavEn touted the 666 unread blogs in his RSS reader as a sign of the apocalypse.

To which I say, "Only 666? pfffft..."

How 'bout this?

GAAAAHHHH!

I wish I had better running/biking stories to report from the weekend, but the truth is that it was a pretty slow weekend running-wise.

Except for this...

I don't know if you can read it or not, but the first sentence says "Congratulations! As a thank you and reward for training with your Nike+ system, we would like to invite you and a friend to register for this year’s SOLD OUT Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco on Sunday, October 18, 2009!"

So my obsession with running gadgets pays off!*

But, oh shiz, shiz, shiz...what to do now? It's only weeks away! Why oh why didn't Nike extend this invite even a friggen month ago, when I had a 1/2 a chance of getting a decent fare on Southwest?

And then there's the little issue that I haven't trained, not even one little lick, for the HILLS or for 13 miles...

I'll keep you posted...I need to register before Wednesday if I'm going to do it.

Other than that, on Sunday, Mik, Elsie and I ran the 6 mile loop on Coronado. Nothing too interesting to report, other than the used-condom-on-the-road sighting, which always surprises me. I mean, use a trash receptical for peet's sake people! I mean come on (oh...I guess someone did...never mind.)

I also have no stats because the Garmin failed me and wouldn't start. (has since been reset and is working fine now), but the run felt good and no pain, so that's always a good thing. But truth be told, a little 6 mile jaunt around the flat island wouldn't get me up into Presidio Park.

Sunday was left to some chores and stuff...and noticing other signs as well, maybe not signs of the end of the world, but certainly signs that confirmed my glee at not having really young kids anymore.

Da, da, da, da, dummmmmmmm....the toy aisle at Costco.

Little shiz that I step on at night and swear loudly about...and the big eyes completely freak me out!

Yep, it's a ENORMOUS MR. POTATO HEAD!

WTF is Sparkle Floam and why would anyone need 30 pieces of it?

Because all little girls want a Hello Kitty bubble gum machine and a water dispenser (for $27.95...and I swear two people were discussing how it was the PERFECT gift for some special little girl as I was taking this picture...)

Oh, and just in case...let's teach the baby how to use the candy machine. Sweet.

Yep...real signs of the apocolypse here...real signs...GAH!

Oh...about those unread blogs? I'm workin' on it!

_______________________
* Although truth be told, I stopped using the Nike+ thingy about the same time I started using the Garmin...but shhhhhhhh...I don't want Nike to rescind the offer.

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

Ya gotta know that when it takes me a whole week to post ANYTHING...It's been a heckuva week...or I died.

But the real truth is that I really didn't have much interesting to blog about this week. I've got two weeks until the end of the semester...lots of grading to do (again)...too much drama in the English department to think about...and most depressingly...I've got running pains (again) to report...so, because I don't wanna bore you all with the tedium of it ad nauseum, here's a VERY brief weekly rundown of some running (and nonrunning) new from the week (boring...boring...boring...boring...).

Monday
DramaGirl and Turbo do math homework together...a moment of non-bickering so I took a picture.

A moment of parental bliss...

Tuesday
Track workout...a really good run we did 6x800 repeats. Elsie was there. I still can't keep up with the skinny biatch. Still, I ran faster than I have since before I got hurt. My 800 split paces were:

1 - 10:04
2 - 9:50
3 - 9:53
4 - 9:41
5 - 9:40
6 - 9:32

The result...major Plantar Fasciitis ...this time in the left foot...GAH!!!!! WTF is up with that?

Wednesday
DAY. FROM. HELL. First class started at 8am...last class ended at 9:30pm...a non-stop day. Wouldn't have run anyway since my effing feet were on effing fire all effing day....

Thank goodness for the Real Housewives of New York City (what a train wreck) to make me feel better about my life. (yeah, it was on Tuesday, but I didn't get to watch it until Wednesday...so whatever...)

Thursday
Despite PF pain, had high hopes of running, but went to happy hour with Mona and South Dakota instead ... a decision that took me two days to recover from. Drank waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too much wine. Really shouldn't do that. Discussed at length how Jorts* and a tie on a man is soooooo NOT HAWT!!!!

Friday
Major hangover, so no running.

Saturday
Still slightly hungover from THURSDAY, but got up early to run with the Track Club anyway. They were running 12-14 miles, as they are tapering for the Rock and Roll Marathon. But, I'm not running this year...and I had to go to a paper-scoring session at school, so I ran five miles instead.

I left a little before the fast group (all of the pace groups in the Rock and Roll Marathon have rock and roll names. The fast group (7 min mile and faster) is called "The Untouchables," The pretty fast group (7 t0 9 minute milers) is called "Cheap Trick," and those of us at the back of the pack are called "Air Supply" a label which I find rather insulting to be honest.

Anyway, I left a little before "The Untouchables" which means that at a certain point they all roared past me...but in truth, they're all really nice and supportive, so I didn't mind too much...

I ran for about 30 minutes, then I turned around and headed back a little past the first water station, which is where I saw Irene...lookin' awesome!

I really enjoy this run through Ocean Beach and Point Loma. This morning was humid, but the marine layer never lifted, and the ocean breezes were cool. I wish I'd had enough time to run the whole 2 hours, but I had to be at the college by 8:30 (BTW...apparently 8:30 is an estimated time to start at the college. We ended up waiting until about 9:15 to actually start the meeting, which really ticked me off cuz I could have run for another 45 minutes...I HATE meetings that start late....especially when I'm on time!)

It felt great to run, although I ran pretty SLOW!

5.02 miles
56:59 minutes
11:21 pace

Unfortunately, PF is back tonight with a VENGEANCE!!!! Been icing, stretching, and tennis balling all day.

OK...So that was the boring week. I'm glad it's over. Going on a bike ride in the morning with the herd. Maybe I'll have something interesting to say after that. My goal for the day is to not fall on my ass.

Finally, good luck to Shosh and Cyndi (Cyndi is doing her first 1/2 Mary!), and to everyone else who is running this weekend!

(WOOT! WOOT!...Walter just came home with PIE...The week is not a total waste after all...)

___________________
*Jorts = Jean Shorts and yes, I am channeling G with all the footnotes...me likes...

The Math

OMFG...so Marcy, (who's pretending that she's gonna retire from blogging on June 4, 2009), has recognized me with her Blogger of the Week (BOTW) designation.

Wow. I mean. Wow. Lil' ole me?

And in an even GREATER HONOR, I also got to share some of that web-space recognition with Jessica Alba's ass-tattoo*...

Now how often in my life will I get to say THAT?

Soooo...here's me

In my office...wearing my "Seriously?" look

Here's JA's ass (thanks Marcy, borrowed from your blog)

Leave your comments regarding the tat on Marcy's blog :-)

So it's finally Thursday afternoon, and that means I'm done teaching for the week, and that also means that like Carly, I have about a gazillion blogs to catch up on because this is the first time all week I've had a moment to sit down and read/write/think about my or anyone else's blog...(I just wrote "sit down" and looked up at JA's bow simultaneously...quite. disturbing. moment. really.)

So, when I read Marcy's blog about being BOTW, I had an initial moment of PANIC, because my last blog entry was posted all the way back on Saturday, and although it does include a picture of a dead whale, and a great insult, AND it references after-run mimosa drinking, to be honest, it's not one of my finer attempts at blogging...so the pressure for today is GI-FUCKING-NORMOUS

And, I was gonna post today anyway, and the post today is about MATH**.

In the heffer-sphere, the email conversation this week has been about the upcoming Race for Literacy. It's a little 8K run around Balboa Park on May 3. It's not chip timed, but you do get to run down the 163 freeway (downhill - toward downtown San Diego - the opposite of the uphill route of the Rock and Roll Marathon). In fact, it's mostly a downhill race. I had one of my fastest mid-distance pace times EVER when I ran last year. AND the proceeds go toward improving literacy improvement in the county, and we bloggers LOVE literacy, right?

I've run this race every year for the past four years with a group of teachers from the high school where I used to teach.

This year, some of the math teachers in our group (BBJ and Santiago for example) are balking at a running a race for literacy. BBJ said in an email that he was holding out for a race for numeracy.

WTF?

Betty's email response to BBJ about how we all do mental math while running got me to thinking about how much math I do when I run.

• How many races should I run in a season?
• How many miles have I run so far?
• How many miles to the next water station?
• How fast am I running right now?
• How slow am I running right now?
• How much longer until I'm done?
  
• How many calories have I burned?
• How many more calories do I have to burn in order to share pancakes with Betty at breakfast?
  
• If I run my current pace, for x more miles, how many more mimosas can I consume that will be equal to the number of carbohydrates in a Gu? (I think that's an algebra problem)

So...since every run is a numeracy run, I think all the math teachers ought join in... Edith already is (I haven't written about Edith in awhile and she HATES it when I forget about her.), but Edith is a chick...maybe it's just the dude math teachers that are being lame...(yeah, I'm callin' you out boys...)

Finally, today's TiART at the Runner's Lounge is about runners who blog -- how and why. Today's post is a bit of a snapshot which really sorta captures my how and why. I started this blog a little over a year ago, mostly to ramble on about stupid shiz like this as my friends and I were training for our first marathon. Mostly I've recounted the random things I think about and see on long runs and races. I post silly pictures of us before, during and after running. I rant about rotten roads, dead creatures, how I hate running in the heat, how I started to enjoy running up hills, my aches and pains (plenty this year), OH, and I retell stories that my friends (who are all waaaaaaaaay funnier than I am) tell me after we run...oh yeah, and I write about the mimosas we drink afterward

Since then, I've written about a bunch of other shiz as well...sometimes I write about my kids, my husband (who is running the Race for Literacy with me...so not not a dude thing; just a math-dude thing) my family, teaching...but usually in light of how these things interact (or sometimes interfere) with my running.

I started this blog for a small group of friends and because of it, I've made lots more. The runner-blogger community is just THE BEST. I can't wait for Thursday and I'm done teaching, and I finally get to sit down with my computer friends...and find out how their weeks went, who's doing what race this coming weekend, who's kids are bugging them, and who is making a great comeback after being hurt. We cheer each other on and make each other laugh...that's important to me. Lots of others have said it already, but I run, blog, run, blog, race, blog, repeat...I can't imagine doing one without the other now.

Oh, and for those of you who came here from Marcy's blog looking for the dead whale...here it is again

I wonder who will find my blog today because they Googled "Jessica Alba," "ass" and "whale?"

*I'll assume that ya'all read Marcy's blog...since she's got about a gazillion readers, and is one of the most popular chicas in the internets, at least according to Facebook, she is.

** Nice freeking transition, don't ya think?

TGIF - Photo Friday on the Bay

I have wanted to participate in Adventure Seeker Mom's TGIF Photo Friday for awhile, but by the time I (typically) get my shiz together on a Friday, it's late in the afternoon, and I'm on the west coast, so I figure I'm too late to post a photo, so I haven't

But today...I've sorta got it together, and yesterday morning, since school is OUT and my grades are DONE and the kids are still at SCHOOL, I went running at San Diego Bay...While it was a little cool and windy (by SoCal standards), when as I pulled up to the bay, I was thinking that I would take some pix to post today (What can I say...I'm a thinkin' gal..).

So, here's the view of the bay yesterday morning...

Gotta LOVE San Diego in the winter...absolutely no one around!

Except this...seagulls completely scare me. This one was completely mad-eying me...like I was holding out on the breadcrumbs or leftover food or somethin.' 

For all you haters out there, who are stuck in absolutely freezing cold weather...I do want to point out, that I used to live here...

Pogo Nip

This is some photo I embedded from a news station in Reno...where it's pretty darn cold and snowy right now... Pogo Nip is a kind of frost that clings to EVERY THING. 

I got tired of living in that sort of thing, so I moved to SoCal when I graduated from college... I do have to wonder why everyone else who lives in cold weather doesn't do the same... Although I get that some people actually LIKE the cold weather.

Yesterday's Run
49:05 - 4.42 miles-MapMyRun/4.11 miles 9-Nike+ (how can there be such a difference? A little bird tells me I may be getting a Garmin for Christmas...I can't wait!)... I was running either an 11:07 pace or an 11:55 pace. I gotta go with the former...

Finally...my penance for having such a lovely morning run is that DramaGirl announced at about 8:30 last night that she needed to get one more gift for a girlfriend at school. Of course, I know that the ONLY place we're going to be able to get what she wants (a crochet hook and some purple yarn?) is at....

duh, duh, duh, duh....

Walmart (nooooooooooooooo)

Actually, the customers at Walmart were relatively well behaved last night, although the whole store smelled like glue (WTF?)...  I would have only marked a few squares on Marcy's Walmart Bingo card .

DramaGirl - beginning to understand my aversion to Walmart.

We found the gift in minutes...but had to stand in line to pay for another 20 because apparently many others have this need to holiday shop at 9:00 on a Thursday night.

Here are some fine ideas for gifts from the checkout isle. I have no idea what this stuff is, but it's also available on TV!