Shhhh....there's a football game on

There's a football game on right now...but since we're not really hosting an event, I'm not paying much attention...although I am guessing by the sound level in the house that the Chargers are not winning. *

That being said, I am having a nice glass of wine right now anyway.

It's been quite a weekend. Here are the bullet points.

• Saturday morning - Betty and I ran 4.45 miles with the track club. BBJ and Scotty were also there (we'll need to come up with a pseudonym for Scotty. At some point, I suspect we will). For me, it was a great run.
  
• Last year (and you're going to have to endure LOTS of last year/this year comparisons for awhile...my appologies)...anyway, last year I ran less than 3.5 miles in 40+ minutes; this year Betty and I ran 4.5 miles in 48 minutes...and we made it to the second water station. I didn't even know there was a second water station.
  
• Last year people talked about running over the second bridge. I didnt' even know there were bridges on the route. This year, Betty and I ran over the first bridge...and back. It's going to be a fun season seeing what a stronger runner I've become in since last year.
• Yesterday, I had to go straight from the run to present at a workshop. Again, I did this one time last year and could barely move through my presentation. This year...no problem. The worst part of the morning was that I forgot to bring a Luna or Clif Bar for breakfast, so by about noon, I was STARVING (not really...but pretty hungry nonetheless).
• Last night, I went to Wilma's "candle party" which was a euphamistic way to invite a bunch of women to a party that showcased various "toys" ...yeah there were candles for sale, but there was other stuff as well. We annotated a catalog for giggles. That's all I have to say about the event other than I had fun, laughed a lot, but I didn't take any pix.
  
• This morning, I ran 10 miles (1:53:16) with Betty, Mik, Alberta, & Elsie (although Elsie ditched us to hang out with her calf and grand-calf). This was my last "long-run" before Carlsbad. I'll run about 6 miles next weekend with the track club.
• Mik, who was in Honduras for a week, told us that termites taste like carrots, a fact that I'm happy to know second-hand, but I don't think I'll ever experience first-hand.
  
• This morning was a little warmer than it's been recently, so I may have gotten a little dehydrated toward the end of the run. But I have no complaints. I live in a great place.

After the run, Alberta (in green), Mik (in black), and Betty (standing) recover by sitting on the curb. Alberta's sister joined us.

• After the run, I dunked my somewhat sore achilles in a 47º pool, which works just as well as ice...but I wasn't brave enough to go up to my ass in the pool...so I used the bag 'o peas method to ice my glutes (which continue to ache after all runs).

It may look nice, but that water was cooooooooooold!

• I admitted to Mik and Betty that I could see myself getting completely caught up in the hoopla and signing up for another marathon at the end of the SDTC training season. It's not my goal to run a marathon this May, but I could see how it could happen. All things being equal right now. I'd rather get through the training season and then run the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon in July than the Rock and Roll Marathon on May 31.
  

* I reserve the right to change this part of my post at some point if this fact changes before I hit "publish post."

Another (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

As I've written several times recently. I grew up in Reno, so I grew up skiing (LOTS) and every winter I do miss the snow and skiing ...not enough to move back there and have to live with it, but enough...

Therefore, because Walter and I such a great parents, we took our kids out of school yesterday (after being back ONE FULL DAY) to go skiing. We did this to avoid the holiday crowds (and the holiday prices!) We went to a little resort called Snow Valley. We sometimes call it Dirt Valley, because the first year we went there, there was snow only on the very center of the runs...all man made snow at that...and you really had to watch out for all the dirt (skis don't slide so well on dirt)...Ahhhh...such is life when you ski in SoCal.

Yesterday it was cold, but sunny and there was plenty of (mostly man made) snow.

Me and Turbo

Me and DramaGirl

Me and Walter

That white spot isn't snow; it's underwear. I took this picture from the lift. HTF does underwear get into a tree?

DramaGirl and Turbo on top of the car at the end of the day (see...no dirt in the background...plenty of snow).

OK...that's close to wordless for me...

Weekend Running Update

I was going to officially declare that the holiday season is over...but DAMN those San Diego Chargers for winning. Winning Chargers means MORE get-togethers with MORE food and MORE bevvies...and well, you get the picture...

Truth be told, I'm not much of a football fanatic, in fact, I generally could care less about most professional sports. This is a minor point of contention between Walter and me by the way. He claims that I misled him into thinking that I was a sports fan when we were dating, but then showed my real "I-don't-really-care-about-professional-sports" colors once we were married. To which I say:

"Who? Me?"

I am, however, a BIG FAN of football parties. So, since the Chargers are on an improbable and unanticipated late-season winning streak, we hosted a playoff party last night. Highlights of the party included another unanticipated and unlikely Charger WIN (which means more football parties NEXT WEEKEND...YAY) and Walter's announcement that this is his new favorite beer. He made me promise that I'd make no comments about it on my blog...

I have ABSOLUTELY no comments about the name of this beer, but it's called "Long Hammer" people...seriously... So, now I'll leave all the commenting to you.

Before the gala event, I did get a nice run in. I woke up early to get to the first meeting of the San Diego Track Club's Rocking and Running Meeting. Betty and Elsie joined me there.

The weather report for yesterday morning...raining and cool. As it was the first meeting, our coach, Paul, rallies the runners, introduces everyone, and generally starts his 22 week-long cheerleading routine, in which he gets everyone to believe that they can run a marathon.

Here's fearless-leader Paul with the megaphone giving his pep-talk. Please note the puddles on the track and the "I'm freezing my ass off here" sitting stance of the guy in the red hat.

(Photo courtesy of the SDTC website...from where I will pilfer regularly for the next few months)


Another picture of freezing cold runners.

Irene and her husband Michael are probably in this photo somewhere. I, on the other hand, am NOT in the photo, so don't look for me. I arrived about 30 minutes late, picked up my race packet, t-shirt (a really nice technical t-shirt this year), my shoe tag, listened to Paul for about 30 seconds, and left.

This may sound lousy, but here's my rationale. I'm running the Carlsbad 1/2 in three weeks, and I really wanted needed o get in a good run, and I am in the slowest running group for the track club--the C Group. The C group was scheduled to run only 30 minutes yesterday morning (Hell, I barely cover three miles in 30 minutes and I needed to run more than that).

Also, it was raining, which was in some ways pretty funny because our first run with the track club last year was in the POURING RAIN...so at least it wasn't POURING RAIN, only misting rain, but it was also cold, and as much as I love Paul, I just didn't have it in me to sit in the rain to listen to the welcoming remarks.

Finally, I'll happily throw Betty and Elsie under the bus. They were not willing to listen to him either, although I will also say, they were willing to forgo the run as well and head straight to breakfast, but I knew I would want a mimosa, and 7:30 am seemed a tad early for mimosas...even for me.

So we ran about 4 miles through Balboa Park. Then felt justified in breakfast and mimosas at Casa Elsie. We had to go to the store to buy juice however because Elsie said that all she had was some green (healthy) juice. Betty and I thought that green mimosas might now be such a good idea.

We did purchase something called Blue Juice, but it turned out to be more purplish, and made a lovely pink-ish mimosa


Also, Elsie is a grandma, so she has started to accrue toys for her grandson to play with when he visits...really the toys are for him, not us!

One would think that would be enough for one weekend, but NOOOOO...four miles does not make a long run, so we made plans for a long run this morning, which I almost slept through, but I cleverly put my phone on my nightstand, so when it rang at 9am (I kid you not), it woke me up. The conversation went something like this:

Betty: Are we running today?
Me: huh? yeah?
Betty: Are you asleep.
Me: huh? yeah.
Betty: Well, I'm going to meet Elsie, she just called me. She's waiting for us. So I'm just going to head down there.
Me: (starting to wake up) Come get me then.
Betty: Really?

I was ready in less than 10 (OK maybe 15) minutes...half asleep and drinking coffee in Betty's car as we rode down to the bay.

Again, what a difference a day makes. No rain. No mist. A few clouds...beautiful. I could have worn shorts (if I wore shorts when running). Ah...San Diego winter weather...don't like it? Stick around, it's likely to change tomorrow...

So we ran about 9 (excruciatingly painful) miles. Garmin says 8.91 miles/1:41:06. I'm thinking I need to give up the glass (or two or three) of wine I've been drinking for every night the last two weeks.

Elsie and Betty after their speed work.

Yes...me dripping sweat after the almost 9 mile effort... I'm thinkin a detox diet is in order...

All I know is when I got home, I needed some serious ice on the glutes and hammies. It took me awhile to figure out how to ice my glutes...I finally settled on a bag of peas, down my shorts, as I lay on my stomach reading the paper. I love ice.

TMI?

So...over the weekend, I did manage to run 13 miles....but not all at once. I've got some concerns about this 1/2 marathon. I should have had plenty of time to be ready for it, but somehow I feel less ready than before the Nike Women's 1/2 in October. I'm hoping its all in my head, but the last two long runs have been really difficult.

My First Fo-Sho Photo Friday

Deene made a comment a few days back that maybe I should try some cross training (since I was whining about my general lack of motivation for running), so yesterday we started off the year with a family hike up Cowles Mountain. It was a pretty good climb. I wore my Garmin, which reports that the trail was 1.5 miles up, and 1.5 miles down, and about 1000 feet (ascent and descent)...whew!

Now, I'm not much of a hiker. This is probably due to my incredibly-out-of-shape past, thus DramaGirl and Turbo are not much into hiking either, but we had a wonderful day. So, at the risk of alienating those of you who are in cold places, I'm going to post a few pix from the day AND I'm going to remember to post a comment on NikeMom's website (which I forgot to do last time...details, ah the details!)

Another view of Lake BP

Turbo with walking stick plays air guitar

DramaGirl and Turbo reinact a Star Wars Scene (what else would a brother/sister team do with sticks in their hands?)

DramaGirl and me on the trail (with lake BP in the background)

We made it to the top

Some comments about the hike:

• Uphill was actually pretty easy.
• Because I have incredibly short legs, climbing up the rocks was not so easy, but doable
• Although I don't hike, I do own trail shoes, which were a godsend. I saw people in tennis shoes sliding all over the place.
• It was pretty crowded. Apparently, there are lots of people who start off the new year with a hike up the hill.
• The views were wonderful.
• I'm proud of DramaGirl for going all the way to the top with me.
• There were some people running the trail, which I find incredible. Like I said it was pretty steep, rocky, and boulder-y (is that a word?).
  
• Going downhill was waaaaaay more difficult than going uphill. My quads were close to shaking by the time we got to the bottom of the hill.

So, I do think I'll be adding in the occassional hike as part of my new cross-training program. It was nice to get out there with the family and a nice way to start the new year.

Running Through a Sea of Orange

Now that most of the holiday stuff is behind us, it's time to set our sights on the Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon which is only 3 WEEKS AWAY (OMFG). Unfortunately, I didn't get in a long run on Saturday (had to recover from Christmas)...or on Sunday (had to go shopping with DramaGirl so she could spend some of her Xmas Gift Cards)...or on Monday (had to do something important, AND I also didn't run in the Holiday Bowl 5K, but that was more of an "I should stop spending and start saving some money thing)...

So...finally...this morning Mik, Betty and I got our long run in...our goal was to go 10 miles in less than 2 hours. It was also another chance for me to play with my new Garmin (dubbed the perfect gadget, and it does almost everything except for vibrate on demand, which is what Mik is apparently looking for in a watch!)

The really difficult part to getting ready for Carlsbad is that I've been struck by an intense case of non-motivation for running. I'm not sure if it's all the holiday craziness that's affecting me, or if it's some other malaise, but once again, had Betty not called me yesterday, and had Mik not emailed me, I'm sure I would have found SOMETHING ELSE to do today that would have precluded my running this morning, but they both called, so off we went...and I'm so glad we did.

First of all, it was beautiful this morning. I don't want to make ya'all feel bad, but it was one of those mornings where I am reminded, once again, of why I live here. It was a little cold when I left my house (my iPhone weather Ap said it was 37 degrees!), but by the time we got to the bay, it seemed closer to 50. I know that by the end of the run, it must have been close to 70!

Here's Mik looking on at the bay..yes all those tourists in t-shirts and shorts.

The most surprising thing about this photo is that there is not a single person wearing Orange in it, and this morning we ran in a sea of orange...all of the Oklahoma fans who are in town for the Holiday Bowl. We didn't see as many Oregon fans, but that may have been because Oregon's primary color is green, and they just blended in...but Oklahoma fans wear all sorts of gear in VERY BRIGHT ORANGE and they where EVERYWHERE. I'm rather glad that the weather this morning was so wonderful for them. For the most part, you can always tell the tourists on winter mornings like this...they have these rather blissful, happy, silly, smiles on their faces as they gaze onto the picture perfect bay.

We did note that after our run that none of the mid-westerners ordered a latte or a cappucino...black coffee and a pastry. We're not sure why it took us so long to get our latte's...I mean, how long does it take to pour coffee?

Me, Betty and Mik enjoying our post-run coffee. Oklahoma fan is clearly behind us.

Of course, the blissful-smile-tourist-wander a little less endearing when they wander aimlessly in front of you, but for the most part, it's sorta charming. I don't blame them. After a couple of weeks of pretty lousy-cold-wet weather, I had some of the warm-weather silliness in me too.

Despite the wonderful weather, I'm gonna rant a little bit about some of my current running gripes...

• Like, why is it I can run 8 miles with no problem, but 10+ has become a nightmare for me...what is it about those last two miles that have been so painful, and how am I going to overcome it to run 13.
• I sure felt those extra 5 pounds I'm currently carrying due to the holiday fest. Going to have to deal with that in the next three weeks (and then some).
• I am completely enamored of the Garmin, but wonder if it'll take some getting used to. I know that twice today, I sorta freaked out a little because I looked at it and saw that I was running quite a bit faster than I thought I was...then thought, I should slow down because I don't run that fast...
• I loved running miles 5-10 with Mik because I had to push myself to keep up with her speedy self, and that was good for me, but I'm also feeling it tonight in my hammies.
• Am so proud of Betty for going the distance commando style...no chaffing!
  

Finally...hope you all have a really happy new year! Betty, Mik and I were talking about having a theme party where all of the foods are inspired by "bob." We though of:

• Sish-ka-bob,
• bobbing for apples,
• anything on a Boboli, and
• babaghanush

What else is there?

OK..here's one more shot of the bay this morning...just 'cuz

Happy tourists, but still...no Orange, which is amazing because Orange shirts were EVERYWHERE!

Ho Ho Ho - Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays Everyone! It's been quite a 48 hours hasn't it. I've loved reading all your blogs these past two days with all of your holiday plans.
Here's my after Christmas morning confession. I've gotten tagged three times in the last two months, and since I've been posting only twice a week, and have VERY IMPORTANT lazy-ass running reports to rant about, I've neglected all three tags...so to make amends, I thought I'd do a Christmas post that combines them into one mega-tag, since they all asked me to do roughly the same thing.

Back in October, Shosh tagged me with this:

Thank you so much! I *heart* your blog too! and am completely envious that you're skiing today. The rules for this tag were for me to list 6 facts about me.

Then in November, Southbay Girl, tagged me with this:

Thank you too! I don't really think my blog is all that creative...but that was so sweet of you to think of me! The rules for this tag were for me to list 6 things that make me happy.

And then last week, Dawn tagged me...this tag asked me to list 6 random facts about myself, then tag six other blog-peeps.

Soooo, here are my Six Random Happy Facts based on six equally random photos taken in the last 48 hours.

Random Happy Fact 1 - Gathering on Christmas eve morning with the in-town cousins for the annual cousins with Santa photo...Youngest niece (on Santa's lap) does the mandatory "I'm a one-year-old and who is this old man I'm sitting on" scream of terror. Classic, but this makes me happy and we love to compare the pictures from the first year we did this with DramaGirl and cousin Sam.

Random Happy Fact 2 - Finishing up wrapping gifts, and it was only 3pm. Usually, I'm up until 1am wrapping gifts, but I started early this year. Notice the number of shoe boxes. I completely neglected to get gift boxes this year. Luckily, there are always plenty of shoe boxes in my closet.

Random Happy Fact 3 - Watching Walter play with no-longer-screaming-in-horror neice as she flirts with Mickey Mouse.

Random Happy Fact 4 - Loving that DramaGirl and Cousin Sam are playing and singing Christmas Carols

Random Happy Fact 5 - Turbo and DramaGirl wearing as many Christmas gifts as they possibly can...and yes it is still dark outside (cuz it's 6:30am) and yes, even though it is winter Turbo dresses as if it is a summer day.

Random Happy Fact 6 - DramaGirl and me...'nuf said.

Hope you all had a blissfully happy day!

PS...got a Garmin 305 from Santa/Walter/Hanukkah Harry...tried it out this morning on a short run in Manhattan Beach (at sister's house). I'll write more about it later, but it ROCKS!

PPS...oh yeah...since two of my tags are soooooo old, I figure they've made their way around the blogosphere...so consider yourself tagged if you'd like to post some random happy facts (especially with photos!) about yourself...don't feel like you have to do it soon though...take a few months to think on it!

Ho Ho Ho!

Christmukkah Begins!

Ah yes...it's that time of year...the time when I get to eat my body weight in fried potatoes...

It's the Christmukkah season! Yes, in our house, we get to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. People have asked me over the years if this dual celebration has confused our children, and my answer is that kids are pretty smart and tend to learn whatever they are taught, so no...they're not confused, although their lack of confusion may also come from the fact that we're pretty secular about both celebrations.

Actually, this year's Christmukkah celebration is rather tame since both holidays overlap...thus the celebration(s) are localized to this one week (which began last night, the first night of Hanukkah). The most stressful years, for me anyway, is when Hanukkah falls somewhere at the end of November or beginning of December. Usually, I'm up to my ears in final papers at that time. I'm just recovering from Thanksgiving. I'm not particularly ready for another family gathering (the family latke-fest is usually at our house because I seem to be the only one willing (or enough of a sucker) to fry up all those potato pancakes (the latkes for the uninitiated)). AND at that time, I am JUST NOT READY FOR ANOTHER HOLIDAY YET.

A couple of years ago, We celebrated 32 days of Christmukkah (from the first night of Hanukkah to Christmas). I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

DramaGirl and Turbo LOVED that year because it somehow became like THE MONTH OF PRESENTS, and we are NOT one of those families that you hear about that give their kids gifts on all 8 nights (one night is enough, thank you very much). I'm still scarred from that year, can you tell?

Anyway, yesterday, we kicked off Hanukkah a little early with a brunch. Now officially, the holiday wasn't supposed to start until the sun set, but we (Walter and I) decided that we wanted to do a brunch, so we feasted early, watched the Chargers prolong their season of agony by winning a game (finally) and then waited until it was dark to light the first candle.

I did make a kick-ass brunch.

Yum...fried potatoes! And don't ya love the Hanukkah tablecloth and the Christmas tree in the background. This is how it rolls at our house...complete inclusion!

We ate (and drank) all day long...and then we ate some more. Like I said, I'm pretty sure I consumed several thousand calories worth of Latkes, and other yumminess.

My response to that carb-loading venture...

A long run this morning with Mik and Betty! IN THE RAIN....It was a long, slow run in the rain. (9.5 miles, 1:52, 11:45 minute pace...I blame the rain)

It started off nice enough, and although we knew there was a fast moving storm headed our way, when I left my house it was sunny...still overcast at the beach, which is normal, and the weather report said it would start raining around 11am...so we figured we had plenty of time.

One of Mik's last questions, before she took off (since she runs much faster than Betty or me) was: "If it starts raining, are we still running for two hours?" Answer: It depends on the rain.

But a dry run was not to be. I think we'd run about a mile and a half when I felt the first sprinkle. At first I hoped it was just ocean mist, alas..no. By the third mile it was raining pretty seriously...and yet, for some crazy reason, we kept running.

Some thoughts about running in the rain.

1. Sunglasses are useless in the rain. I wonder if someone has invented windshield wipers for them yet... That would be useful.
   
2. You can't always see the puddles.
3. Wet clothes weigh more than dry ones.
4. Wet shoes suck THE MOST.
   
5. Mist can be cooling, but wet pants are cold.
   
6. Rain does give you the whole boardwalk to pretty much to yourself (which was wonderful).
   
7. There are some other crazy runners running in the rain. They are all smiling. One woman running the opposite way of me laughed and told me how she was multi-tasking, showering and exercising at the same time.
8. Homeless people look at you as if you're crazy.
   
9. You don't get a salt-encrusted face after running in the rain. In fact, afterward it feels like a facial.
10. Running with the rain at your back is WAY BETTER than running into the rain.
    
11. Butt Chub Rub Chafing is still a problem... (Note to Betty: Glide on ass helps).
12. We now have a list of things you cannot say to students who are changing by their car after surfing, and who recognize Betty. For example: Gee, it must have been cold out there...
    
13. Blisters are caused by wet feet, especially due to wet socks and shoes (see #2 & 4 above).
14. Wearing gloves is smart because they can be used to wipe water off face and snot running out of nose (Note to self: Wash gloves).
15. Betty and Mik did a fine job of fogging up the windows and waiting for me in the car.
    
16. Bringing dry clothes to change into is VERY SMART, since ride home in holiday traffic, slowed by rain, is inevitable.
17. Changing into dry clothes in the back of a Honda Pilot is challenging (I think my quote, as I was rolling around in the back of the Pilot trying to change into dry sweatpants, was: "It's hard because I'm damp and sticky."

This is me getting out of the back of the car after changing clothes. Look at those puddles!

All that being said, I'm sooooooo glad I ran this morning, because I have LOADS of leftovers to deal with and the Christmas part of Christmukkah week hasn't even started yet.

And finally, I'll leave you with this because I *heart* Jon Stewart and I think he explains Hanukkah perfectly...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Best Hanukkah Moments

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Happy Christmukkah Everyone!

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!

Amost Wordless Wednesday - Heffer Holiday Edition

Oh yeah...like I could EVAH be wordless...but this one will be close.

The heffers had our annual holiday-fest last night...it was also Betty's b-day, so she received several really special sweaters & sweatshirts. This one took the cake. I don't think the photograph really does it justice...it had bows everywhere (including a huge BOW on on the back!)

Really, the light bulbs somehow LIT UP! Must have been Betty's electric personality.

Sometimes I (forget)

Sometimes I forget things...

For example, I occasionally forget to go to meetings. I regularly forget things that students ask me to do (my mantra to my students is that they should email me if they want something from me because the likelihood of me remembering to email them their grade (or whatever they want) when I return to my office is slim and none). I also often forget that I've assigned homework for a class until a student asks me if I'm going to collect it (oh yeah, I was going to collect that at the end of class)...

I used to forget to pay bills all the time (which is why Walter is in charge of that aspect of our lives).

To my credit, I've never forgotten to pick up my kids after school or from an event when I am supposed to, although I think Walter lives in fear that I will...which explains why he reminds me OVER and OVER that I need to pick up the kids after school on Thursday (or whenever)...I consider the fact that I've NEVER EVAH forgotten one of them a great testament of my love for them and one of my greatest accomplishments. I remember when I was pregnant with DramaGirl, my reoccuring nightmare was that I'd forgotten her somewhere (although I've read that all expectant mothers have that dream...so maybe that wasn't just me).

I did once forget to take DramaGirl to a doctor's appointment when she was something like 18 months old.

One year, I forgot my mom's birthday (bad, very bad)...although I blame that on finals.

The list of things that I forget is pretty lengthy...and this morning my forgetfulness extended to running.

Betty and I went on our weekly long run. Thank God she sent me a text at 7:30 this morning asking if we were running because if she hadn't, I'm sure I would have conveniently forgotten, which wouldn't have been true. Let's just say, I was lacking some mojo this am. But once I got the text, I wasn't going to say "no...let's not run," so we headed down to San Diego Bay and were thrilled to learn that the weather on the bay was nicer (warmer and the sun was peeking through some clouds) than it was inland where we live (where it was cool, cloudy, and looked like it was going to rain...and by the way, have I used enough parenthesis in this post yet?)

That being said, it was a little colder than we are used to (I won't say it is cold, seeing as some of you are dealing with ice storms, and blizzards, and snow, and other kinds of serious weather)...but it was colder than we SoCal weather-wimps are used to.

So...this morning I realized that I'd forgotten some things about running in the cold(ish) weather...and about planning for a long run in the cold(ish) weather. (We ran 9 miles this morning, which is a long run in my book). Here's my list.

1. I FORGOT that no matter what, I need to go to the restroom at the last possible moment before running. "Holding it" for 9 miles is just not any fun. We wished that Elsie was with us because she would have been able to explain why pee is not just absorbed back into our systems even when we appear to be sweating out every other last drop of fluid.
2. Speaking of sweat, I FORGOT that even when it's cold, I sweat. And even though it was cold enough to wear running tights, I forgot that chafing could still occur, thus it would have been really important to remember to apply Glide to some areas in the upper thigh/lower butt region that cannot be photographed for verification unless a porn site is in the making, but I FORGOT to apply the Glide, thus my upper inner thigh is so painful tonight it hurts to sit, and I have no idea how I'm going to put pants on tomorrow.
3. I FORGOT that wind blowing off the bay = running uphill...or that's what the last 1/2 mile of the run felt like as Betty and I ran into the wind.
   
4. I FORGOT that there would still be tourists on the Bay Front taking pictures. This means that loads of people were standing around gazing at the Carnival Cruise Ship they'd just gotten off of, which meant that they NEEDED to stand in the middle of the walkway to take a picture of it. Why anyone would want a picture of only the ship is beyond me. I mean, I have pictures of my family ON a cruise ship when we were ON A CRUISE, but if I really wanted a picture of the ship, I'd buy a postcard... In any event, there are a fair number of what appeared to be Japanese tourists who have pictures of a Carnival Lines Cruise Ship and BETTY AND ME, running by, for their family vacation albums.

Not a forgotten item, but of note...There were some pretty cool new public artworks at Seaport Village called "Cool Globes," all with environmental themes. Betty and I ran past them (oh yes, we were so speedy) but they definitely are worth another look. I only took one picture of them.

Aren't they cool? That's Betty speeding past them...I know she's thrilled that I got this shot..haha

So....how'd we do? If only these were easy questions to answer, but alas, they are not. I recalibrated my Nike+ sensor, so I think it's a little more accurate than it has been, but I think it's still off by .10 mile for every 5 miles, so I also mapped the run on MapMyRun (which used to be a really cool mapping tool, but is now so weighed down with advertising and other garbage that its becoming less fun to use. Maybe the "paid" version is better).

Here are my stats from both Nike+ and MapMyRun
Total run time 1:49:32
Nike+ - 8.95 miles/12:14 mm
MapMyRun - 9:19 miles/11:55 mm

Also, Betty is getting back into the swing of things by running for 8 to 8.5 minutes, then walking for 1.5 to 2 minutes, so when she walked, I'd run ahead for about a minute, then run back to her so that we could run together...My map on MapMyRun doesn't take this into account, but I figure I may have added another .10 mile or so by doing that...which would support my idea that the Nike+ sensor is off by .10 for every five miles...

In any event, I think I ran a bit under 9.5 miles this morning...which is what I wanted to do.

As for the week coming up, all my finals are done by Tuesday morning, then I'll have some grading to do, but my goal is that by Wednesday morning to be FREEEEEEEEEE, which means more time for running and blogging...and oh yeah, at some point I'm going to start planning for this holiday thing that's coming up...GAH! (I'm not forgetting it, but I am ignoring it).

Have a great week peeps! Don't worry, I won't be FORGETTING to stop by your blogs...

Happy Birthday Mom!

Dad, Mom and DramaGirl - Taken after DramaGirl's performance in Annie a couple of years ago

Today is mom's birthday.

I won't say how many she's had.

She is a great mom. She is always there for me. She has always encouraged me to be my best. And she has inspired me by her perseverance, and her loving, loyalty to her family. I (hopefully) inherited some of these traits from her and they have certainly served me well, as a runner, as a mother, a friend, and in my professional life.

I love her lots.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Looking Around

Looking Back...
Last January, several members of my herd (the Heffers) decided that we could run a marathon. We had really no idea what we were getting into. In fact, most of us could barely run three miles...including me. While Betty and I had run a 1/2 marathon the previous August, I really wasn't much of a runner at that point. In fact, when I started the SDTC marathon training program last January, I probably hadn't run but a handful of times in three months following the 1/2 marathon.

Luckily, I am blessed with an amazing group of friends, and we have a history of talking each other into doing things that we probably wouldn't do otherwise, so we joined the San Diego Track Club and signed up for the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego. Almost immediately, I decided to chronicle that training with a blog.

Tonight, I located the first blog entry, which I thought had been lost to the Internet. When I started this blog, I used iWeb (Apple's blogging software). I thought that first blog entry had been lost when I upgraded software, then I moved to blogger...the herd was no-doubt completely annoyned or amused by my bloggy-ADD-ness...anyway, I thought the first blog was gone, but I found it. Here's the first photo of Elsie, Betty, Clarence and I after that first, wet, training run in the pouring rain...

We look fabulous and heffer-like, don't we? It was pouring rain that morning.

Then, I dropped my iPhone in a toilet after our second marathon training run, and in my mourning over the loss of my iPhone, I felt compelled to release my angst into said blog, and somehow I became a blogger. So, I was hooked, both on blogging, and on running. (I also now spend an inordinate amount of time making sure my (new) iPhone is NOT in my back pocket.)

The running herd on our first long run - back when running for 35 minutes was a long run - Alberta, Betty, Clarence, Edith, BBJ, and me, not pictured - Elsie & Mik.
Even for SoCal, it was COLD that morning

Along the way, I blogged about the fun, pain, bodily function discoveries, Elvis, random condom sightings, and the GALLONS OF MIMOSAS CONSUMED during our marathon training season and low and behold, I became a runner. You have to believe it when I say that NOBODY is more suprised by this than me.

So...as I draw close to my 100th blog entry, I'm having a little fun, looking back, thinking about now, and making plans for the future... The looking back part was fun...

For now...
Betty, Alberta, Mik, BBJ, Elsie (scanning Craigs list for a Bib since it's now sold out) and I are training for the Carlsbad 1/2 in about six weeks. (Edith? are you in?)

Saturday morning, Betty, Elsie and I ran 8 miles...it was a great run. Cool, on the bay, flat... easy... What a strange thing to say, an easy 8 mile run, but it was. I ran 8 miles in about 90 minutes...quite speedy for me. We all talked about how we felt great afterwards...of course there were mimosas at our favorite World Famous, where we had the best waitress EVAH, who even came off her break to make sure we were OK...

Yum...mimosas, breakfast, and surf...

I have no doubt that we talked about completely inappropriate things during breakfast, but that was on Sunday, now it's Thursday and I don't remember a single one of them. I do know that there has been an email circulating among the herd this week which originated with Mona...I know I've got three holiday pot-luck parties to go to in the next two weeks...Do you think this is appropriate for the department holiday party?

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Our favorite caption: "It's better than a candle because you can eat it"

Looking ahead
The goal for this year is to do the triple crown--The Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon in January, La Jolla 1/2 Marathon in April, and America's Finest City 1/2 Marathon in August. Then to do one or two of the three California Dreamin' 1/2 marathons, which includes the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon in June and the Long Beach 1/2 Marthon in October. The Surf City 1/2 Marathon will have to wait until February 2010, first because it's sold out this coming February, and second because it's the week after Carlsbad, but next February...FO SHO...

I also hope to do the Nike Women's 1/2 in October again...mostly because it was just a really fun weekend.

My big question is whether or not to join the San Diego Track Club again. Their winter training program focuses on training for the Rock and Roll Marathon in June. I'd really rather focus on running 1/2 marathons this year, and not another marathon. On the other hand, training with the club put me in the best shape of my life...and that couldn't hurt the 1/2 marathon training that I need to do to do the triple crown...especially the La Jolla 1/2 in April...the hill at Torrey Pines is a KILLAH!

Decisions, decisions, decisions...it's a good time of year for that.

What's up for this weekend? 10 miles on either Saturday or Sunday.

Have I run this week? Not much...three miles yesterday morning, four or five tomorrow am. Thank goodness the semester is about over. I taught my last class today...three finals on Monday, one on Tuesday...then I can think about the holidays.

Sweetness

OK...yesterday's rant is evidence of why drunk-blogging is a very bad idea... And while I am thinking about writing an eloquent ode to running at some point in the near future, it's not quite jelled yet.

Luckily, as I was trolling my fave-blogs tonight, I came across this on Run Jojo Run (hooray...salvation for us all!). My biggest issue is that I had to figure out how to do a strikethrough on Blogger... Let's just say that I had to edit in html (not fun). If there's an easier way...please, someone let me know.

Thank goodness there's not a lot that I wouldn't eat (behave yourselves!)...

Anyway, onto the sweetness...

How the Sweet 100 Works:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and White Cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (also known as the Magic Bar or Hello Dolly bars)
9. Fried Fruit pie (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just-fried (still hot) doughnut
13. Betty, Grunt, Slump, Buckle or Pandowdy (I'm pretty sure I've had a buckle)
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana Pudding with nilla wafers
17. Bubble tea (with tapioca “pearls”)
18. Dixie Cup - Though we always called them Hoodsie Cups.
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout cookies
24. Moon cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo bar
29. Baba au rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavolva
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon/mille-fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac Biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch Baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade chocolate chip cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey butter cake
52. Rusks (same thing as zwieback)
53. Daifuku
54. Green tea cake or cookies
55. Cupcakes from a cupcake shop
56. Creme Brulee
57. Some sort of deep fried fair food (twinkie, candy bar, cupcake)
58. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe (Is that a dessert? I thought it was a clothing store! Who knew?)
62. An “upside down” dessert (Pineapple upside down cake or Tarte Tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a mold
65. Black forest cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat pie (Yeah...but yuk!)
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle / Lobster tail
76. Pain au chocolat
77. A piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or cake made with candy bar flavors (Snickers pie, Reeses pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake (only because DramaGirl made one last month!)
92. Gateau Basque
93. S’mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas foster or other flaming dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire’s Shortbread
99. Animal crackers
100. Basbousa

Midweekish Rant - Dontcha Hate???

Dontcha just hate when you go to the ladies room with a quarter in your pocket because you are desperately in need of a tampon and the only thing left in the stupid vending machine is a 25¢ maxi-pad (BTW–any dudes who read my blog really need to stop now. Know that you've been warned)?

I mean, who wears a pad anymore?

So, why do the vending machines in the ladies room carry them AT ALL?

Yet, when those are the only things left.

And you're desperate.

And you have no choice?.

You go ahead and buy the pad and use it... because the alternative is just...well let's just say it's not gonna happen...

Then later that day, you're going over to a friend's house, and you've torn through your purse, and your briefcase, and your desk, searching for that fugitive tampon, and the person who you share an office with is a MALE, and is therefore useless to your cause, and you've had meetings all through the day, so you haven't yet been able to go to a drug store, and you're still wearing the pad, but luckily you know you have tampons in your car, and you figure you'll stop somewhere on the way to your friend's house, but there's no place to stop between getting your car (which is at a parking lot near an airfield and you had to take a shuttle bus to get there) and your friend's house, so you end up at your friend's house and claim you really have to pee, but really you just have to change the pad to the tampon which you (luckily) had in the glove compartment of your car, but then you have no choice but to leave the used pad in your friend's guest-room bathroom's trash pail (very cute) in a HUGE WAD of toilet paper (sorry Mona).  

Anyway, you're completely embarrassed now because...I mean...who has to deposit a pad in a wastepaper basket at a friend's house? And you figure that Mona's completely HAWT, lifeguard hubby, is probably the one who empties the trash and you hope that he did not notice (WTF is THAT?) what was actually in said trash bin? And who TF even uses a pad anymore? Except for those who are REALLY desperate and who have to buy them for 25¢ from a restroom vending machine that is out of tampons?

GAH!

Anyway, now, you've drunk several glasses of wine (including at least two at your friend's house, and several more at the wine-bar where you waited for 45 MINUTES for your dear husband to show up) and you're compelled to blog about your day, but all you can really think about is how you wore a pad all day, and left it in your friend's guest restroom (sorry Mona).

I soooooo need a good, long run this weekend!