Archive | February, 2011

meet Zoe!

28 Feb
Today, we got to meet the newest member of our San Diego family, Zoe, who was 1 month old yesterday!  Gah! 

Isn’t she ridiculously precious with that head full of hair and her pudgy cheekies and that sweet lil scowl that eventually erupted into the dearest newborn cry that breaks your heart at the same time you just love her all the more for being so gosh darn cute!?!?  That darling baby has some lungs on her!  Luckily, Mike and Amanda learned all they have to do is bounce on a Pilates ball and/or run the vacuum to calm her down…

Shoot, if it’d encourage us to run the vacuum more often, perhaps we should have a baby soon…

I was seven years old when my nephew was born and 11 and 15 when my nieces came along, so I grew up with the wonderment that are babies.  Not to mention all the babysitting I did in between my newspaper route and hostessing gig at Ruby Tuesday (goodness, I was a workaholic).  Jared, on the other hand, is quite unschooled when it comes to the teeny tiny mini-humans.

It was incredibly awesome to finally meet Zoe, the sweet little bundle of joy who has brought so much happiness into the world already!

And yes, it was pretty ridiculous to see my husband snuggling, rocking and nuzzling a teeny tiny mini-human.

retail therapy for a shopaphobe!

25 Feb

For those of you who got through that last doozy of post, congrats.  I know it probably took six and a half hours to read and I promise this one’s a lot lighter and less meaningful.  Now that we’ve established that running is my therapy, I’d like to share that I’ve found another surprising form of therapy that I never ever in a million years thought would be for me: retail therapy!

Big deal, right?  Well, I am NOT a shopper.  Yes, I go shopping.  Yes, I’ve been heard saying that I enjoy grocery shopping, but shopping is most definitely NOT relaxing for me.  First of all, I hate driving.  I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was a few months shy of 21, so by then, it was less about the license and the freedom and more about simply being shamed into it.  That, and I failed my driver’s test, like, three times, but that’s a story for another day (or never).

Meet the hubster a.k.a. My Driver!

So yeah, I hate driving.  Dealing with traffic, parking, and dings due to runaway carts, I hate all of it.  And as for the actual shopping part, I am not one to make decisions quickly, nor easily.  I hem and haw over purchases because I have this deep-seated fear that I’ll pick something, spend my precious dollars and cents on it, only to find out there’s a better version of that something out there and I’ll be left kicking myself in the teeth for being such a moron.  I don’t know, I think I got it from my dad.  This and the Celiac Disease, gosh.

To say the least, shopping can be STRESSFUL for me …and with me (I can already hear my husband aggressively nodding his head YES as he reads this post).  Shoe shopping, clothes shopping, trips to Road Runner Sports and Costco are really super duper challenging and generally take forever and a day, so they are very, very rare.  And now you know why Jared and I are often seen wearing clothes that are 10+ years old.  Bottomline, shopping is just not my thang… until…
 
I went absolutely shop-crazy on Monday.  Yessir, I pulled up Amazon.com, busted out the credit card and went bananas!  I’m stoked about my purchases and now I’m going a lil nuts waiting for all my goodies to hurry up and get here already!  And since I know you’re dying of curiosity, here’s what I ordered:


Halo Visor, Black: Usually, I don’t like having anything on my head except my hair, but once upon a time, I ran a marathon in the pouring rain and I was really, really, really grateful to be wearing a visor.  Later that week, my rascal-of-a-dog, Sully, ate it.  So I’ve been meaning to buy a replacement for nearly a year now.  I will make sure to keep this one faaar from Sully’s slobbery jowls!

There it is, the visor that Sully ate…


CEP Running O2 Compression Socks, Black: I’ve read good things about compression socks and really, I just want to see what all the hype’s about.  I’m planning to sport these sexy knee-highs for pre and post-long run recovery.


Gu Energy Gel, Mint Chocolate, 24-count: This is Jared’s and my favorite flavor Gu.  We bought a 6-pack of them several months ago (my favorite kind of 6-pack…) and we’ve been saving these guys like they’re the last ones on Earth, so I thought why not buy a big ol’ box of ‘em.  They’re kind of like a frosting-version of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies.  Can I get a Yummo?


Pro-Tec Iliotibial Band Compression Wrap: This bad boy was recommended by a runner-buddy of ours in Ohio (shout out to Coop!), who swears it tames IT band temper tantrums during long runs.  For a measly $15, I’m happy to give it a whirl.  If anything, it gives me somewhere to keep my gun (kidding, mom!).


Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life by Brendan Brazier: Nope, I’m not vegan, but I’ve never been big on animal meat and I’ve been meat/poultry-free for a long time now.  I very rarely eat seafood, milk, cheese and eggs.  I eat Greek yogurt pretty regularly (and, ahem, Yogurtland every chance I get… It’s 8:35am, do you think it’s open yet?) and honey from time to time, but otherwise, my diet is predominantly vegan, so I thought this book would give me the most applicable guidance on how to eat for performance.


CW-X Women’s Ventilator Running Tights, Black: Lastly, we have my biggest, most exciting purchase!  These are legit superhero tights!  …well, for $85, I’m thinking these puppies should offer superhero powers or perhaps a guaranteed sub-four hour marathon.  Or better yet, an injury-free marathon.  Check out the promises:  

“The first warm weather conditioning tights, are perfect for warm weather athletes who want lower body support and cooling.  Mesh ventilation panels located in the hottest areas of the leg (the quadriceps and calf), allow hot air to escape and cool air to enter, reducing heat fatigue and improving circulation.  Coolmax quick-drying body fabric wicks moisture away from the body to the outside of the tight, keeping it cool, dry and comfortable.  The patented CW-X Support Web provides targeted support to the knee, IT band and hip flexor areas for greater stability and improved performance.”   
Sure smells like a sub-four hour marathon…  Fingers crossed they show up today or tomorrow, so I can long-run in them on Sunday!  This week’s working out to be my highest mileage week in… a long time (too long!) and I’m stoked about it.

LA Marathon countdown: 23 days!

In the words of SkinnyRunner: Goal big or goal home.

26.2 for Jessie

23 Feb

The LA Marathon countdown officially stands at… 25 days.  Yowzers!  I’m super duper excited and just a skosh nervous.  I ran 14 miles on Sunday and squeaked out another 6 on Monday (which was a much-needed holiday/day off work that I savored like the last day of summer break).  3-day weekends and 4-day workweeks are A-Mazing.  Love love love them.  So when I got to work today, realized there are no holidays in the month of March, I immediately submitted a PTO request for Monday, 3/21 (the day after the LA Marathon), so now I’m looking forward to that weekend EVEN MORE!

Anyhow, back to the running and this untrained, impromptu marathon that’s about to happen…

(Gulp!)

I don’t have a training plan, really.  My #1 plan is to run what I want according to how my body feels.  I’m merely on Week #4 of an 18-week training plan for the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon on 6/5, so now I’m just kinda sorta sticking to that plan and making the long runs longer.  I’m really happy with Sunday’s 14 and I’m gearing up for 16-18 this weekend.  Then, I’ll “taper”!  It sounds insane to be tapering when I haven’t really been training (well, at least not training like I’ve ever trained for a marathon before), but the most important thing is to keep my body healthy.   

Even I’m not stupid enough to try cramming months of training into a few short weeks.

So anyhow, me and Mr. Foam Roller, we’re best buds these days… my motto for the next 26 days should be: “Stretch, stretch, stretch some more.”  Okay, I take that back.  That’s a super lame motto (albeit important) and I’d rather have a more meaningful motto to mull over as the days fly by bringing me closer and closer to that moment of on your mark, get set, GO! 

I’ve been sifting through my list of 8,904,209,385 quotes on running and life (that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration, but I do have a TON… apparently, I like running or sumthin’) and I pulled up a few awesomely appropriate quotes for this “untrained, impromptu marathon” that’s all about honoring my darling niece, who’s bravely enduring her own marathon battle with cancer. 

“If you can do it, do it.  If you think you can’t, you won’t. 

Only you have the power to meet your goals.” (-Nancy Cook)

“You don’t have to be fast.  But you’d better be fearless.”

(-Christopher McDougall, Born To Run) 

“Pain is a part of life.  Misery is an option.” (-from Mom)

“Live well. It is the greatest revenge.” (-Talmud)

Right now, I’m really feeling the last one.  Live well. 

Generally, I’m not a vengeful person… but, I’ve seen a lot of crappy hands dealt to my loved ones and that makes me mad–like, shake your fist at the sky screaming Why, God, why mad.  And while I know it’s not God–at least it’s not my feeling that God inflicts the suffering–I know life’s just not fair. 

I’ve heard my mom say that a million and one times, usually in response to something silly and stupid that my brother or I wanted but didn’t get and we’d whine: “But mom!  It’s not fair!”  And mom would give us The Eyebrow, followed by: “Life’s not fair.”  I’m pretty sure she has a mug that says that.  And she’s right, you know… after all, she’s a mom. 

Life’s not fair.  And the proof is all over the place.  There’s cancer and heartbreak and war and so much other crud in this world and it makes me mad.  So I deal with it by running.

Jessie’s at the hospital today with her oncologist and “pain management team.”  I can’t imagine having pain so bad that it requires a whole team of people to help me out…  Again you have it: Life’s not fair.  I cried to Jared last night that I don’t know what I’m doing running this LA Marathon in honor of Jessie because frankly, running is for me.  It benefits me far more than it can ever benefit anyone else and it certainly won’t take her pain away.  It won’t cure her cancer.  It won’t pay my sister’s bills or, really, solve ANYTHING!  So why the heck do I bother? 

I guess it goes back to Nancy Cook’s quote: “If you can do it, do it.”  I feel guilty about my inability to take away Jessie’s pain, but I have the ability to push through my pain, to be fearless and live well and it seems so small and miniscule and meaningless, but I’ll run 26.2 miles with nothing but positive thoughts for Jessie and my amazing sister, the Mommy Warrior, as well as her team of supporters.

Yes, it’s predominantly for me and I don’t have delusions that my lil pumpkin really cares all that much about my running endeavors (she’s 16 years old and probably busy painting her nails and watching Cake Boss and putting together her second dream wedding scrapbook), but it’s my crack at revenge. 

I’m sure I’ve written about this a gazillion times, but I’ll never forget the day Jessie longingly sighed: “I wish I could run and play like a normal kid.”  The next day, I started running.  Because it’s a privilege. 

So yeah, this blog got away from me a bit, but you get the gist.  Sure, I’ve got some nerves about running 26.2 miles with very, very little training and five months of nagging from a fussy IT band, but these issues ain’t no thang.  It’s all about living well.  And if you can do it, by golly, do it.

I won a free bib to run the LA Marathon!!!!

19 Feb

Well, kids, if you wander over to the LA Marathon website, you’ll see the lovely race countdown currently reads: 29 days.  And in other crazy awesome exciting news… I WON A FREE BIB THROUGH A WEBSITE GIVEAWAY!!!!  *Courtesy of MommyWarriors.com and Salonpas Pain Relief Patches.

 

Nope, I’m not a mom–although my husband does call me “mommy” when he talks to our 94-pound bloodhound, Sully: “Mommy‘s gonna take you on a walk, buddy.  Be a good boy for mommy.”  And it’s no secret that hubby and I are very, very excited to have real, human babies “one day.”

But for now, I’m throwing my whole heart into running the LA Marathon in honor of my beautiful 16 year old niece, Jessie, who is courageously battling her sixth relapse of a nine year battle with cancer, not to mention one of THE strongest “mommy warriors” on this Earth: my sister, Amy.  

I am infinitely and wordlessly proud of these two women who mean the world to me.
Jessie, Amy, my other awesome niece-Clara & I dancing the night away at our cousin’s wedding.
Amy was the first marathoner in the family.  Here she is running the Kona Marathon!

3 frozen yogurts, 2 races & 1 maniac wannabe

15 Feb
Today is my first wedding anniversary with my husband… it still feels weird to use that word… which is crazy and confusing because it feels like we’ve barely been married for a month and then again, I can’t really remember or imagine my life without him, so it feels like it’s been a lifetime–a perfectly wonderful lifetime.  Sometimes, I feel like it’s crazy-unfair to be as happy as I am, but then I whack myself in the head and remember to just flippin’ enjoy it already. 

With that said, we had an OSOM weekend (better than awesome, it was OSOM).  It zoomed by way, way too fast, so I had to whack myself in the head again and remind myself to enjoy it.  And I did.

Friday, at work, I got my booty kicked.  It was just one of those days.  I cried on the drive home.  When I walked in the door with tear-stained cheeks and heavy shoulders, opened the refrigerator and remembered we had absolutely no food, I turned to Jared with my most pathetic, pouty, puppy-dog eyes and he whisked me off to dinner at Souplantation.  I ate two ginormous plates of salad, the teeny-tiniest sweet potato I’ve ever seen in my life and, like, four bowls of messy dessert concoctions (frozen yogurt, vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding and sugar-free triple berry mousse.  I threw a bunch of grapes in there too to make it healthy). 

On Saturday, we were up and at ‘em by 7:30am for the Black Mountain Summit 7k.  The website’s course description really, really, really downplayed this bad boy:

This trail run is fun but challenging due to the steep summit climb.  If you can run the whole way you will feel accomplished and the views from the top are well worth it!

Wow.  It should say: “If you can even make it to the top without hacking up a lung or breaking an ankle, you should be proud of yourself.”  The course was strewn with loose rocks and gravel.  This, coupled with the extremely steep, narrow, uneven pathways, made for a course that was far beyond “challenging”–it was practically impossible at points.  Oh, and to make it a full 7k, those lovely race organizers had the brilliant idea to have us run down the very steep parking lot and back up again at the start of the race, so you’re a mere three-tenths of a mile in, sucking wind and hating life when you first step foot onto the trail.  What a psychological beat down!



What they did get right was the fact that the views from the top were “well worth it!”  I had “marathon thoughts” throughout the course: What the heck am I doing?  This is crazy!  Are we all crazy?  Why are we putting ourselves through this torture?  But as soon as you reach the top, you immediately forget all of the suffering.  There wasn’t a hint of a cloud in the bright blue sky that stretched from here to eternity, blanketing the ocean, the city, the mountains; it was incredible.  It was a good 30+ minutes of suffering on the way up, then an instant “high” as you hit the peak, turn around and head back down through the same atrocious course you covered on the way up.


Jared would argue that the way up was the hardest, but I had a harder time on the way down.  I wanted to fly.  I wanted to let gravity be my friend, but I knew that would tax my knee/IT band, so I tried to take it easy.  Also, the loose rocks made it extremely dangerous.  I played it safe and finished in 55:14 (according to Mr. Garmin) and 55:16 (according to the official race results), which is roughly 12:50/mile.  That slow pace does NOT reflect the intensity and exertion required on this monster-of-a-course.  I’ve never wanted to wear a heart rate monitor before, but I wish I had for this puppy, because it was TOUGH.  We probably burned about a bajillion calories. 


Interestingly enough, the only residual soreness from this event is located in my left butt cheek.  Why just my left???

We swung by Gordon Biersch to pick up our race packets for Sunday’s event, then headed home where we resisted the urge to drift into lazy comas for the rest of the day.  We walked Sully, ate breakfast, ran errands, then met our buddy, Muffin (yes, Muffin, he’s a dude, real name’s Clint, and he’s awesome.  Or OSOM, rather) at YOGURTLAND (a.k.a. heaven on earth). 

Fro-yo two nights in a row you ask?!  Hello, this is why I run!  And I burned a bajillion calories, remember?

We played some Rummy 500 and I whooped their butts.

Sunday morning came mighty fast.  We were up at 6:00am for the Coronado Valentine’s Day 10k and were running by 7:15am.  We stayed together the whole time and spent the run reminiscing about the past year’s events and playing “what were we doing at this time last year?”  It was sweet and sentimental and we both thoroughly enjoyed the ultra-flat terrain of Coronado.  
 

I felt a little discomfort in my right knee/IT band just shy of mile 3, but it subsided quickly and I finished feeling great… don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing in terms of the IT band injury, but it certainly is what it is.  I’m staying optimistic.  We scooped up our heart-shaped medals and post-race goodies, including Activate water. 


It’s only 5 calories per bottle and I was thirsty, so I went for it, though I normally stay away from flavored water and stuff like this because I look at the ingredients and can’t pronounce 90% of the words, so I guess my thoughts are: 1) I don’t want to ingest something that I have no idea what it is except not natural and 2) I can’t even begin to guess whether or not it’s gluten-free.  Well, I broke my rules on this one and drank a bottle of the passion fruit and it was delish!  I love me some good ol’ plain water–bottled or tap, preferably icy cold, (but when I’m thirsty, I won’t discriminate), so I won’t be running out to buy this stuff, but it’d be good for someone who doesn’t love the plain stuff and needs a lil something.

We finished in a respectable 1:10:26 (again, according to Mr. G), which averages out to 9:54/mile, then got some extra steps in trying to find our car because we only kinda sorta paid attention to where we parked.  I freaked out a little bit because I thought we’d lost the car and was having flashbacks of the Silver Strand half marathon in 2009 when we lost our car key during the race and had to hitch a ride home with some strangers to pick up our spare key.  It was all good in the end, but it was a stressful way to wrap up a race.  Luckily, we found our brains AND the car and were home before 9:00am.  

We took Sully for a long walk, then met up with friends for a mimosa brunch at JRDN on the beach, which turned into a mimosa afternoon on the rooftop of PB Ale House and when we got home at 5pm, Jared immediately started sawing logs on the couch, while I ate a giant lentil-pepper-spinach salad and watched Food Network.  When he woke up, we went to Yogurtland, yes, again. 


What the heck do they put in that stuff!?!?

I’ve talked about my ambitions to become a “Marathon Maniac” on a few different occasions, but I’ll admit, I’ve always kept it very light and joking and not serious.  But, truth be told, I really AM serious about wanting to accomplish this goal for two reasons:
  1. I’m slacking off on my ambitions to “Qualify for Boston ASAP!” because, well, I just don’t want to put so much pressure on myself!  First and foremost, my goal is to enjoy running and training and racing and for me, pushing, pushing, pushing is a surefire way to squash my motivation like a bug, so I’m eliminating the pressure and embracing my desire to simply run as much as I want to, baby!  And… 
  2. I AM a maniac. 
The minimum criteria to become a Marathon Maniac involves running:
  • 2 Marathons within a 16 day time frame, OR
  • 3 Marathons within a 90 day time frame
So I’ve scoped out the nearest (and soonest) events and I’ve narrowed it down to these four options:

03/20/2011: LA Marathon: http://www.lamarathon.com/  
Registration: $145 until Sold Out – This is STEEP and I’m trying to win a free bib… There’s only one contest left, which ends on Wednesday, so we shall see…
 Travel to LA is 116 miles or approximately 2 hours
 MarathonGuide.com Ratings: Course-3.5/5, Organization-3.5/5, Fans-4/5
Comments were primarily about the organization (or lack of), parking and expo.
 
05/01/2011: OC Marathon: http://www.ocmarathon.com/
Registration: Marathon-$100 & Half-$85 until Sold Out
Jared would have the option to run the half, while I run the full
 Course: Full & Half Marathoners split at Mile 12
Travel to OC is 84 miles or approximately 1½ hours
 MarathonGuide.com Ratings: Course-3.5/5, Organization-3.5/5, Fans-3/5
Comments were about the crowded start line and course, rolling hills and lack of course support.
  
05/15/2011: Pasadena Marathon: http://pasadenamarathon.org/
Registration: Marathon-$81 & Half-$67.50 thru 2/20 – Cheap!
 Again, Jared could run the half, while I run the full
 Course: Full & Half Marathoners split at Mile 8
Because I’m running RNR San Diego in 3 weeks, I’d be aiming for 20-22 mile long run this weekend anyways, so why not just run a full marathon!?
 Travel to Pasadena is 123 miles or approximately 2 hours, 10 minutes
 MarathonGuide.com Ratings: Course-4/5, Organization-4/5, Fans-3/5
Comments were about the hills, frequent switchbacks and lack of course support.
 
06/05/2011: Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon: http://san-diego.competitor.com/ – ALREADY REGISTERED!

With the LA Marathon bib giveaway contest ending on Wednesday and Pasadena’s fees increasing on Sunday, I’m thinking I’ll be making the decision this week… Is now the right time to go for it?  And if so, which ones do I want to do?  Not to mention: Will Jared be supportive of my leap into Maniac-ville?  Who am I kidding?  Of course he will be!

In the meantime, that husband of mine is on his way to pick me up from work so we can go to Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza for our Anniversary/Valentine’s dinner celebration.  Osom!

I have a feeling there’s a glass of Malbec there with my name all over it.

fun-size races, giveaways, and coping

12 Feb

Work has been utterly dreadful and my totally amazing, awe-inspiring, courageous niece is in the hospital and in general, life seems like a big fat jerk right now, but I don’t really wanna talk about it… So I’ll be keeping busy this weekend with some fun-size races:

Saturday, 2/12: Black Mountain Summit 7k – First of all, “Summit”?!?!  That sounds rather ominous, eh?  Who wants to run up a mountain for… what the heck is 7k…?  I had to break out my calculator to figure out that’s 4.3 miles.

Sunday, 2/13: Coronado Valentine’s Day 10k – Not gonna lie, my sweet hubby kinda got tricked into this one.  We were already committed to the Summit run when I emailed him about this race.  Being the wonderful I’ll-do-anything-to-make-her-happy hubster that he is, he signed us up only to find out we were scheduled for back-to-back events.

So yeah, we have TWO races in ONE weekend, which is basically CHRISTMAS for lil running-obsessed me!  This weekend’s all for fun and ultra laid-back as I’m not really planning on “racing” for two reasons:

#1) My IT band is still a temperamental pain-in-my-arse.  I’d really like to divorce the little miscreant, but we’re still trying to work things out with frequent foam rolling and time with The Stick.

#2) Hub’s and my 1st wedding anniversary is on Monday (yup, February 14th, a.k.a. Valentine’s Day), so Sunday’s run is kinda sorta special.  Although I actually wrote into my wedding vows that “I will always wait for him at the finish line,” I’d rather run this one together.

Now that we’re all feeling a bit nauseous, I’ll move on.

I’m so mentally unstable after this crap-shoot of a week that I’ve been entering LA Marathon bib giveaways like a madwoman (though I did not win SkinnyRunner’s giveaway).  Now I know you’re thinking: That doesn’t sound unusual for a nutcase like you.  *Please see IT Band gripe above.  Also, note that the LA Marathon is only 36 days away… 26.2 in five weeks should scare the sense back into me, but somehow, in my brain, it sounds like a totally OSOM challenge.  So why am I farting around, waiting to win a contest?  Why don’t I just sign myself up?  Registration is $145 (steep!) and I’ve read so many horror stories about the poor organization of this event that I crossed it off my wish list forever ago.  Again, somehow, in my brain, a FREE bib would override all of those red flags… Healthy Coconut’s giveaway ends Sunday, so we shall see…

All of these pesky burdens of crappy work weeks and a fussy IT band and life’s below-the-belt jabs at an innocent little rockstar like my niece… they are what they are.  I can’t say this is the healthiest way to deal with it all, but somehow, in my twisted, crazy brain, they’re ever-so-slightly diminished by the fact that I have cute new Champion running tops to test run during our double race (anniversary!) weekend:

Now I just need to get dear hub to clear up some space on this dinosaur-of-a-laptop, so I can upload some photos!

Life is a rollercoaster… so what the heck do I do with this surfboard?

9 Feb

You guessed it, life’s been a little rollercoaster-y over here with ups and downs and more ups and downs.  I’m doing my darndest to throw my hands up in the air and enjoy the ride, but I’m a girl who likes her peace.  My mantra for this week should be: “Change is good.”  It’s certainly not easy for me, but I need to learn to embrace the possibilities that come with it.

Anyhow, onto the good stuff…

Last night, Jared surprised me with tickets to see Sarah McLachlan in concert.  I’ve been a fan of hers since my freshman year of high school and I feel pretty confident (and smug) in saying I know all of her published work.  I certainly knew every song she sang last night and the concert, by far, surpassed all of my expectations.  It was absolutely perfect.  I was surprised to find myself so unbelievably emotional before, during and after her concert, but she’s just such a beautiful person with a beautiful soul and her music has carried me through some indescribably dark times in life.  To this day, her songs soothe my soul like no other artist and before I fall further down this well of melodramatic awe, I’ll sum up by saying (and it probably goes without say) that the concert rocked my socks off, despite the fact that I was paralyzed in my chair because I didn’t want to start bawling like a baby.  Again, it was perfect and I’m infinitely thankful to have a hubby who just gets it.

We weren’t allowed to take photos during the concert… but here’s the stage!
Waiting for the concert to begin!
   
New boots!

Last fall, I determined that Sunday, February 6th, 2011 was destined to be the gosh darn BEST day of our lives, man!  We signed up to run the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, then planned to watch our teams go head-to-head in the Super Bowl (his team: Chicago Bears versus my team: Pittsburgh Steelers).  I was convinced it’d be the Steelers’ seventh Super Bowl win, since it was supposed to be my seventh marathon; HOWEVER, destiny had a different plan.  I got injured during my fifth marathon (Long Beach on 10/17/2010), hobbled through the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas half instead of the full and when my physical therapist repeatedly demanded: “NO RUNNING!” I threw my hands up in the air and downgraded from the Surf City full to the half (compromise, right?).

So it wouldn’t be my seventh marathon (or my sixth, for that matter), but the Steelers were on their black-and-yellow way to the Super Bowl and I was still jazzed for a Heath Miller-hail-mary-last-second-of-the-game-winning-touchdown.  Again, Ms. Sassy-Pants-Destiny has a mind of her own…

I’ve run over two dozen races in the past year and a half and I’ve never had the #7 on any of my race bibs–no joke!  My Surf City number was 19229–still, no #7.  And still, no #7 for my Steelers.  Darn cheeseheads… Oh well.

Surf City Expo in Huntington Beach
J’s bib said “Monkey” – too bad it was so small…
Hey, hey! A chick named Chuck!
Buying a Spibelt.  Jared took pics because it took me forever and a day to decide which one I wanted.
February in So Cal
We swung by Maggiano’s in Costa Mesa on our drive home.
Despite my happy face, I really picked the wrong time to do a vegan cleanse…

Moving along to my Surf City Race Report:

Huntington Beach is 80 miles north of San Diego, so Jared and I were up at 3:30am on Sunday morning.  I am NOT a morning person and I’m usually extremely slow to get out of bed (my snooze button gets A LOT of action), but race mornings are an exception… well, I was up after one five minute snooze instead of ten.  I got dressed (in black and yellow, of course) and scurried around the house, gathering a change of clothes for the ride home, and packing pre and post-race snacks.  Sully was a wimpery, confused mess.  Jared was probably singing (he’s always singing).

Check out all that black and yellow!

The website warned that the (free) parking lots would be full by 6:30am, so we took off at 4:15am and arrived at 6:04am.  By golly, I think we were the first ones there.  Jared reclined his seat and took a nap, while I ate my oatmeal, made nine billion pee pee trips to the public beach restrooms (WAY awesome compared to traditional race’s port-ew-potties) and quite literally watched the sun come up.

We decided to hoof it to the starting line since an absurdly long line had formed for the shuttle.  We ended up walking 1.5 miles to the start and arrived at 7:45am as the race announcer was sending the wheelchair racers on their way, so we quickly checked our jackets at the gear tent and headed for the corrals.  We ducked in with the 2:10 pacers and just shy of 8:00am, we were off!

It was extremely gray and foggy, so although we were running along Pacific Coast Highway, the ocean views were pretty minimal.  We cruised along with the 2:08 pacers and hit Mile 3 at 28:18 (averaging a 9:26/mile), which was both surprising and exciting.  Two weeks ago, I ran the Carlsbad half in 2:09:53, so I was hoping for another sub-2:10.  Jared and I got separated during a water station and I briefly pulled to the side to look for him, but couldn’t spot his yellow t-shirt, so I continued on, shooting him infinite love and gratitude.  Just short of Mile 4, he caught up to me just to say he loved me (Reason #6,237,590,294 why I’m the luckiest girl in the world) and after encouraging him to enjoy the run, practice his meditation and smile for the entire last mile, we parted ways.  I’d caught up to the 2:06 pacers and was already gunning for 2:04.

 At Mile 6, I grabbed a cup of water and a cup of Sharkies (energy chews) and struggled to choke two of them down as I ran.  These are very stick-to-your-teeth chewy, though I think they’d be perfect pre-run or if you take breaks mid-training run.

I cruised through miles 7 and 8, ambitiously thinking: “I wonder if I can break 2-hours today?”  As I crossed a split mat at 8.2 miles at 1:13:30 (averaging an 8:58/mile pace), I realized I was pushing awfully hard for having another 5 miles to go and started to feel like I couldn’t hold it.

But I did my best.  I’d caught up to the 2:04 pacers and while I desperately wanted to hunt down the next group (2:02, I suppose), I couldn’t muster enough umph to push past the 2:04s, nor could I even see the next group ahead.  At mile 10, I was feeling totally beat.  I could feel that phantom twinge in my right knee, alerting me to a looming IT Band temper tantrum, but I wasn’t about to throw in the towel!  I focused on running with a strong core and proper form, aiming to land mid-foot with each stride.  This helped for about 39 seconds.

I was tired.  And I really, really, really wanted to slow down, but I also really wanted to do better than I did in Carlsbad.  So I hung onto the 2:04 pace group, which consisted of three female pacers leading what looked to be just one runner.  And that one runner, bless her heart, was really having a tough time of it.  She was hunched over, sucking wind, her eyes glued to the ground in front of her.  So I focused on looking livelier than her.  One of the pacers ran next to her shouting: “Keep your eyes up!  Do.  Not.  Look.  Down.”

And so I kept my eyes up, but I still felt grumpy and angry and frustrated and discouraged.  I was struggling.  I knew how important it was to stay positive because as soon as you let that negative just-give-up voice take over in your mind, you’re finished.  I did not want him to poo on my parade, so while I couldn’t seem to locate my positive you-can-do-it voice, I knew Jared would share his.  And so I thought about what Jared would say if he were physically by my side.  He would say he believed in me and that I amaze him and that I can do anything I put my mind to–optimistic, positive, lovey-dovey junk like that.  And it worked.  I held pace.

I walked through my last water station just shy of Mile 12, gagged on a couple more Sharkies, then ran on with Jared’s voice in my head and a big stupid grin on my face (or at least in my heart, because my race photos are atrocious…) and I crossed the finish line with 2:14-and-some-change on the clock.  I hit the stop button on my Garmin and stared at my time in disbelief: 1:59:54.

Officially, I finished in 1:59:52 with a pace of 9:09/mile and although it felt like a major effort in those final 3 miles, it gives me hope that I can come back quickly and hit my sub-4:00 marathon goal soon.  Very soon.  I scooped up my surfboard-shaped medal and huddled by the curb until I spotted Jared coming through the finish line chute, then scurried over so we could hug, kiss and congratulate each other, muttering our usual exclamations: “We did!  We did it!”

Stopped by the medical tent to have a bag of ice saran wrapped to my right knee/IT band

This was my tenth and his ninth half-marathons and it never gets old.  It never ceases to be awesome and amazing and completely exhilarating.  I actually teared up a bit on the drive home as I realized we don’t have any half or full marathons in the very near future (we have the La Jolla Half on 4/17 and the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon on 6/5… so dreadfully far faaaaar away, sigh…), so that’s when I shifted my focus to Super Bowl Sunday… and we all know how that turned out…

Oh well, I guess it was my day to win and not theirs!  Sorry, Steelers.

"It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive." (-Springsteen)

8 Feb

A dear friend recently blogged about gratitude and I’ll admit, I shrugged it off.  She kicked off the post by referencing the atrocious weather that’s plaguing the Midwest and frankly, I have ten million things to be thankful for just by living in the obnoxiously and endlessly beautiful city of San Diego, so… my gratitude glass should be overflowing, right?

Well, you can call me a spoiled brat, but I’m having a rather ho-hum day despite my residence in Perfect Weather Land.  Maybe it’s a case of the Mondays or the fact that I watched “my” team lose the Super Bowl yesterday… Maybe it’s that vague twinge of tenderness in my right knee (you’d better behave, Mr. IT Band!) or the looming anniversary of the worst day of my life… Whatever the reason, I have a case of the unexplainable blahs.

In an effort to fight off this case of the grumpies (and not register myself for every single race listed on raceplace.com), I’m bringing you my top 10 list of gratitudes for today (obvious blessings like family, friends, health, etc. aside–though, I am grateful for all of you bums whether you read this or not)!

In descending order, I am grateful for…

10) Baggy jeans – I’ve been on an eternal quest to lose weight for, oh, ten billion years and there’s nothing as relieving and rewarding as putting on a pair of everyday jeans and finding they’re a little looser than they’ve been in awhile.  I’m rocking a droopy, baggy butt today and I’m lovin’ it.

9) PureFit bars – oh, how I love their gluten free, vegan, protein-packed goodness!  I’m out of yogurt and packed oatmeal for lunch, so I had a peanut butter bar for breakfast and an almond crunch bar for my 4:00 pick-me-up.  Two in one day!  I’m spoiling myself!

8) Crushed ice – our new office has ice machines and since I love me some ultra-cold water, I love, love, love this new office perk.

7) Coffee – speaking of new office perks, our new coffee vendor is amazeballs.  I’m a sucker for flavored coffees and there are four OSOM flavors (in order of OSOMness): Vanilla Bean, Caramel, Hazelnut, and Cinnamon.  Coffee makes me happy.

6) Sarah McLachlan – I’ve been a fan and have wanted to see her in concert for 14 years now (ahem, that’s half my life!) and my sweet hubby (of exactly one year, exactly one week from today) surprised me with tickets to see her in concert TONIGHT!  Um hello, I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

5) Gratitude – It’s not every day that I hear gratitude from the members that I work with.  It’s certainly not the reason that I do the job that I do, but it’s one of the best feelings in the world when a member says, “I really do appreciate what you’ve done for me.”  And yep, one of my stress management members said that today.  Warm fuzzies!

4) Lap shawl – yes, I’m 27 years old going on 84 and I do, indeed, have a lap shawl.  My awesome momma has taken up knitting and made it for me in black and gold, so I can rep my Steelers pride at work with a cozy, warm lap.

3) The sweet burn – that’s my term for DOMS or delayed onset muscle soreness.  Yesterday’s half marathon effort is lingering in my quads and hammies and I’m savoring the sweet burn of success!

2) Coffee – okay, I know I already listed this one, but I’m drinking a mug of vanilla bean right now and it’s scrumptiously delish.  Did I mention coffee makes me happy?

1) Weather – yes, I’m grateful for our ridiculous weather even though I grumble a bit at 4pm, when I have to get up from my desk to close the shades because the sun setting in the cloudless sky blinds me, BUT I love my window view.  And yes, I have a picture at my desk of snow-covered Salt Lake City, Utah because I love and miss snow (don’t throw snowballs at me!) just a teeny tiny itsy bitsy little bit!  It seems kind of backwards, but truthfully, I do appreciate the fact that I don’t have to wear jackets each day and that yesterday, we were running the Surf City Half Marathon in shorts and t-shirts.  I DO feel incredibly lucky, grateful, appreciative, and thankful for weather that’s simply lovely, paradise-esque and virtually the same every day.  It’s certainly not difficult to love it here!

New Blog!

4 Feb

Recently, I’ve been reading other running blogs non-stop (virtual stalking, if you will…) and I’m feeling inspired to share my adventures in running beyond my long-winded race reports and love letters to running.

I will continue posting race reports (and if I have anything to say about it, there will be new posts on a close-to-weekly basis!  Booya!), but I’m going to put my ostensibly unedited shtick elsewhere.  Don’t get too juiced about new material, though.  I assure you, I have no life beyond running.  Ok, ok, I do… sorta.

5% will (probably) be about raising a perpetual puppy-natured 94-pound-beast-of-a-dog, life as a Midwesterner in SoCal, my career as a health coach, my adventures as a gluten-free vegetarian sugar addict, oh, and, my hubby may make a debut once in a blue moon (he’s my number one fan–obviously, the reason I married him, so he will inevitably make himself a part of every post by commenting below).

95% of the time, you can expect running-related posts about products and gear, training schedules, cross training, pre-race jitters, finish line parties (who wants dibs on my free beers?), FOOD, ice baths, trail running, travel, post-race brunching, and anything else that amuses me at the time.

What are you addicted to?

3 Feb

I make a living as a health coach, helping people set health-related goals, but the reason why I’m LUCKY to have the job that I do is because goal-setting is in my DNA.  Essentially, my job is second nature.

I was one of those nerdy kids who loved school.  I looked forward to the first day of school like other kids anticipate Santa.  I actually counted down the days until we went back and nothing in the world made me happier than going shopping with my mom for back-to-school supplies.  To this day, I love the smell of new pencils and the feel of fresh, clean dividers (…as if I need to dish out more info to verify my lunacy).

There was only one part of school that I absolutely loathed… gym class.  I was never picked last (at least that I remember) and I never had a weight problem, so it wasn’t that I was one of the kids who was bullied.  What I did have was high anxiety.  I was terrified of being hit by the dodgeball; terrified of whacking the softball out of bounds and blowing it for my team; terrified of swallowing so much pool water that I’d die of chlorine poisoning.  While I didn’t want to be picked last, I was relieved not to be picked first because that meant my team wouldn’t be overly reliant on me and my nonexistent skills.  They didn’t have overinflated expectations of me and I certainly didn’t expect much out of myself because I was so preoccupied with my nonsensical fears of snapping my wrists playing volleyball or forgetting which goal was whose in soccer.

In middle school, I started taking it personally that I was so athletically hopeless and unskilled.  I admired the kids who loved gym and played sports.  And I was fascinated by my dad who worked out faithfully on the Nordic Track in our basement, tracking his sessions on a scrupulous spreadsheet.  During those sessions he dripped sweat like no other human being I’d ever seen and I was pretty certain my dad was THE fittest person on Earth.  My mom was less rigorous and obsessive (no offense, dad!), but she worked out just as faithfully, attending aerobics classes at the YMCA.  I was surrounded by inspiration, but full of self-doubt and insecurity.

The first time I did something about it was in ninth grade.  Not only was I a lowly freshman at a new school, but we went through Physical Fitness Testing in gym on the very first day school.  Oh, the horror.  I don’t remember the tests or the requirements (gimme a break, it was 14 years ago…), but I remember the teacher telling me my results: “YOU SUCK.“  Okay, so he didn’t say that, but whatever words he did say to me were full of disgust and disappointment (or at least they were in my low-self-esteemed teenage brain).

I don’t know what got into me (hormones, perhaps?), but I signed up for the Track Team that week (say what???) and created my own nerdy-wimpy-girl-version of my dad’s scrupulous spreadsheet.  I started doing pushups, sit-ups and stretches each night before bed, adding checkmarks to my tracker and marveling at my first sore muscles.  I ran track (and hated it.  We had to run one-whole-mile everyday!  Gah!), but I learned to love the sore muscles.  My involvement in track was pretty minimal and half-hearted, but I gave the PFT my all and drastically improved my score by the end of the semester.  My teacher was shocked.  Even though I didn’t meet every high standard, my teacher announced to the class that I was “most improved,” and for the first time in my life, I felt proud of a physical accomplishment.

No, it wasn’t the beginning of my love affair with running, but it was the beginning of my love affair with self-improvement.  That year I learned: I can do whatever I put my mind to because, gosh darn it, I could finally touch my toes!

What exactly does this long-winded trip down memory lane have to do with running, you ask?  Well, my friends, I am addicted to dreaming, setting, pursuing and achieving goals.  Addicted, I swear!  Instead of questioning my sanity, I’ve embraced it, and turned my odd infatuation with goal-setting into my career.

Until someone organizes some sort of televised intervention on A&E, I’ll continue indulging my obsession and encouraging others to join MY team, where anything is possible and the bigger, the grander, the crazier the goal, the better!

With that said, it should come as no surprise that my “New Year’s Resolution” is to run as much as I want!  I’m less attached to time goals and more interested in running and racing A LOT!

I think, perhaps, I’ll join this club:

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