Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes...

School started this week for me (hence I was "off the grid" for the past few days). The first week of "back to work" for teachers includes LOTS of meetings (one of which I completely forgot to go to...sigh), sending emails, getting syllabi and copies ready for the first week. The actual TEACHING of classes doesn't start until Monday.

One of the things I noticed this week as I was talking to my colleagues is that, for the most part, we fell into two camps...those who felt that "they weren't ready" for school to start. Most of those people taught summer school, so they hadn't had much of a break. The rest were rested, and eager, and mostly said that they were ready to go back to teaching.

I certainly fell into the latter camp. For the first time, maybe ever, I felt like I had enough vacation. I'm rested and am ready to get back at it. It was a great summer. I got to run two half-marathons, I got to travel with friends and family. I certainly had a fair amount of "down time" and way more than enough wine!

It's kinda a nice feeling.

Going back to school is one way that I know that the summer is (or is almost) over. Another signal that my summer is coming to a close is my mid-August birthday, which I quietly celebrated about a week ago.

When I was younger, I made a pretty big deal out of Birthday Week. Heck for a while in my 20's, I considered the whole month of August my "Birthday Month!" (As in, "Hey bartender...It's BIRTHDAY MONTH...shouldn't this round of drinks be "on the house?" You might be surprised at how well this worked!)

Now that I'm (ahem) older, I am decidedly more low key about my birthday. Until this year, I kept my birthday private on Facebook. This year, I made it non-private because some people, when they learned it was my birthday a week after the fact, chastised me for keeping it private.

I'll be honest...the birthday wishes from FB were really nice.

So was my birthday (not a week...but a couple of days of celebrating). On Wednesday, I met up with Mik, Elsie, and Betty at Mik's house. It was the first time we'd been together since the Napa to Sonoma half. We got to hear about Elsie's adventures in Guatemala. (Her dad is a doctor and she participates in an annual trek to South America where her father and other surgeons provide health care services to the people there. She is a translator and always comes back with good stories...and this year, a good luck doll...for the dolls!)

Cute! No? Thanks Elsie!

Mik served the birthday cookies on her family birthday plate...how cool is THAT?

On my actual birthday (Friday). I went for a run at Lake BP. For the past year or so, the road around the lake had been closed about 2 miles in for repair. It's now open all the way, so I got a 5.5 mile run in.

Locals will recognize the target at Lake BP...the lap doesn't count unless you tag the sign!!!

That night Walter and I took our kids to the track so that they could learn the important life skill of betting on ponies.

I bet on the 8 horse in the 6th race in honor of Mona. Damn mule came in last...

Actually, I've had really good luck betting horses this season, but only in the first two races I see. The first time I went to the track, in the first two races, I correctly picked a quinella (where you bet on two horses that you think will come in first and second, but in no particular order). 

I had my friends thinking I was a betting goddess, but then I didn't bet on another winner for the rest of the day.

Then on my birthday, I correctly picked another quinella in the third race, which was the second race I saw...and then not another winner, or even close, for the rest of the day.

So, in the future, I think I will not bet on any races past the 3rd.

Turbo likes betting longshots thinking that if one of 'em hits, he'll win loads of money. Sadly, one of his first memories of being at the track is choosing on a 50:1 longshot to win, so he thinks that this is a common occurrence now.

DramaGirl made this gorgeous thing! Consumed at home later that evening (and for the next couple of days) It was a lime-berry pie that was super rich and yummy!

So...this year, I turned 49. Wow. One year away from 50. I'm in my 50th year of life.

I'm not sure what 50 is supposed to feel like. I've read that 50 is the new 40, whatever that means. I'll also be honest that the prospect of turning 50 has me a bit wigged out. I know that some will say that "age doesn't matter. It's how you feel that counts" and while a huge amount of that adage is certainly true, age does matter in how you feel.

Doesn't matter how you slice it. 50 sorta sounds...well you know...old.

40 has been a great decade so far. I earned a doctorate. I started running and have had some absolutely wonderful adventures with some great women as a result of "being a runner." I've raised two great kids out of toddler-hood and into teenage-hood. I continue to be happily married to a great man. I have nothing but good to say about my 40s.

But there's a nagging voice in the back of my head that wonders how long can this continue? Certainly, life is going to change. It always does. It, of course, already has. If someone had told me when I was 39 that I would earn a degree, change jobs, start running, change jobs AGAIN, run a marathon, many halves, and even do a few long bike rides, I'd have probably been a bit incredulous.

That really wasn't me then. It is me now. I've changed.

So while I shouldn't be wigged out about change, I am. The changes that I went through in my 40s were very positive, yes, but I know that it won't always be so. I know that my body will, eventually, not allow me to run any longer (I may be 90 when this happens, but it will happen). Even now some of "the herd" complain, suggest that not ALL of our adventures need to culminate in a 13.1 mile run. Maybe we could look for some 10Ks instead? Maybe we could go somewhere and not run at all? Maybe we could ride Segways (that was for Mik who is morally opposed to such things).

I know my body is changing, some of it for the good (I may be in the best shape of my life...definitely the best shape of my adult life...and by adult life, I mean the part of my life that started in my 30s. I dont' really consider my 20s adulthood...it was more an extended adolescence.)

But some other aspects of a changing/aging body?  Not. So. Good. This became clear to me when I went to the gym last night. I didn't actually go the gym to workout. I had signed Turbo up for a gym membership so that he could go there after school with a couple of his friends. It is definitely the least expensive after school program I've ever paid for. Anyway, as the membership director walked us around the gym and was (of course) trying to get me to purchase some personal training sessions (I also belong to the same gym, so personal training isn't an entirely outlandish idea), he also asked me what my training goals were. Whenever I'm asked this question, I always mention running and how any strength training that I do is generally focused on increasing endurance in long runs and/or riding.

He took one look at me and talked to me about improving my posture because "as we grow older, our shoulders tend to start hunching over..."

HUH? Grow older? Hunching over? WTF????

But I can look at myself in the mirror and I see the hunch. I see the difference between a young person's posture and mine.

GAH! GROWING OLD SUCKS!!!!...I'm just saying...and there. I've said it.

Sigh...

So, I will fight these NOT. SO. FRIGGIN' POSTIVE changes as best I can, but getting older really pisses me off.

Thankschrismafinalskikkah

Tis the season...

The calendar gods made it so that three days out of Thanksgiving weekend, we found ourselves in the throes of Hanukkah.

Then Hanukkah begat finals, and I became overwhelmed by the number of student papers that needed grading.

And then so forth will come a family ski trip to Mammoth, and a check of available snow-wear revealed that we all need SOMETHING (which is what happens when you haven't skied in two years...kids grow).

And also the BIG HOLIDAY that includes the guy in the red suit will follow shortly thereafter.

Thus, Alice has been very, very, VERY busy, which is why, until today, you had no news from heffer-land other than at some point Alice and her family ate LOTS of Turkey and Pie...

So, a quick catch-up in bullets and photos.

Hanukkah - The Day of Potato Latkes
Hanukkah is called the festival of lights, but for this girl, it's really the festival of Latkes. Latkes (for the uninitiated), are a potato pancake made with onions, matzoh, and potato, then fried up in a pan. They are traditionally served with applesauce and sour cream and are incredibly yummy...I mean, it's a fried potato. What's not to like.

That' being said, they are pretty labor intensive and need to be made right before eaten. I've tried making them in advance before, but they never turn out as good as the right out of the pan method. Needless to say, making them for 25 people is quite the day-long effort.

Turbo was my number one potato peeler.

Walter stepped in to help a bit (25 lbs of potatoes is a LOT of potatoes to peel)

Five frying pans, ready for service

LOTSA SPUDS

As if 25 for dinner is not stressful enough? I went to answer the front door, started talking to a neighbor, and forgot I left the water running in the sink...

Two types of onions - yellow and scallions - for the latkes

My sister-in-law and I fryed up 103 latkes (we had an official counter this year). It was probably too many, and it took waaaaay too long to do. I think we cooked for about an hour and dinner was, sadly, not served until 8pm (sigh)...I will continue to refine my latke plan. One year it'll be perfect

Running at Lake BP
Clearly, a night of potato eating revelry requires a good run the next day, so Walter and I went for a run at Lake BP on Sunday.

Me and Walter after a sweaty run at Lake BP

The holiday season begins
One of the important events of the season is the HAG party. HAGS are the women who work at the high school where I used to teach. They say that once a HAG always a HAG, so I picked up Betty and we went.

A word about our hostess's (Judy's) home. It is really unlike any other house I've ever been in. Judy is a quilter and crafter and every aspect of her house is crafty...quite unlike my minimalist house. I admire those who can look at a space and think "oh, I saw the perfect _____ at a garage sale, if I refinish it and add some _____, it will go perfectly in my ____.

I can do none of that, but Judy can...she's really good at it.

This is one of the bathrooms. Yes, there is a sink there somewhere.

Judy's grandaughters' playhouse in the back yard, fully decorated for Santa's arrival

Daisy (center) and some HAGS. This is an arbor in the back yard

Even the laundry room is decorated (an adorable side-board with antique milk bottles and other things)

Betty, enjoying the event. The piece of furniture in front of her is an antique sewing machine table (I think). Judy had re-envisioned it into a quilt holder. Betty re-envisioned it as a cup holder for her beverage (see the ubiquitous red party cup?)

It's a canoe...doesn't everyone have an old canoe hanging from their ceiling.

This photo has nothing to do with anything...other than we've had some pretty extraordinary sunsets recently. I took this photo as I was driving to Road Runner Sports to get some new tennis shoes.

FINALLY! SOME RUNNING NEWS!!!!

I wrote in my last post about the weirdness in my shoes, and finally this week, I took a few minutes to drive up to Road Runner Sports to get some new shoes. I bought my Saucony's back in July, so I was well past the 90 day return policy period, so I figured I would be spending a few bucks on some new shoes, and as we all know, running shoes ain't cheap.

But here's why I love RRS...they exchanged my shoes anyway! And more than THAT. They were out of stock of my Saucony's (new model due next week), so they told me I could wait for an exchange with the new model or I could try out some Asics Kayanos, which are a comparable model. If I don't like how they work, I can return them in a few weeks.

How cool is that?

So, Saturday, the Herd (Betty, Mik, Elsie, and I) met for a run at Mission Beach. It was cool, but sunny when I left my house in La Mesa, but by the time I got down to the beach, it was very foggy, like pea-soup foggy. If I didn't know where I was going, I'd have missed an exit or two.

We had a really nice run (about an hour). Elsie and I ran toward Bird Rock, Mik ran toward South Mission, with a plan to run up the beach. Betty said she was going to do sprints on the beach and some core work.

So, Elsie and I ran north on the boardwalk and chatted about life, family, work. It was damp and cool and I was glad that I remembered my running gloves (I HATE it when my hands get cold). About the time I got to Bird Rock however, the sun was starting to peek through and it warmed up. I took off my gloves and my long sleeve shirt to enjoy the warm.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one enjoying the sunshine at Bird Rock...so was this bird (har, har, har...get it, Bird Rock - Bird on a Rock...ok, whatever)

Some people on the beach beating on a large tire with hammers (Biggest Loser style)

Back toward Mission Beach, Mik showed up and we ran back together...or I tried to keep up with speedy Mik. There is an ocean behind them, I promise.

After our run, we headed toward Elsie's Casita Bonita for breakfast and mimosas and some long awaited catching up!

Whew....so now, you're caught up on what I've been up to...

Up this week are a couple of holiday events (including the Heffer Holiday Happening). I've got finals this week. I am eagerly awaiting getting back to regular blogging (both the writing and the reading kind) soon!

Happy holidays everyone!