Goodbye Harry

I finally finished the 7th and final Harry Potter book. The first part of the book dragged on a little bit but I really got into it about half way through. All yesterday I couldn't wait to get home to read some more of it. With about three hundred more pages to go, I figured I would probably finish it sometime today. I was wrong. Last night I went on a reading marathon... I read virtually non-stop from the time I got home at about 5:00pm until 8:45pm. I took a 15 minute snooze somewhere in the middle when my eyes just wouldn't stay open anymore. I didn't even take a break for dinner. And I'll even admit that I cried. :(

Now it's back to running :D After being absent from track last week due to the Stitch N'Pitch game, I will be back there tonight. I think this may be our last night of circuit drills before we start hill training

LOOOONG Weekend

Sometimes weekends seems so short, and sometimes they stretch on forever (which I'm not complaining about). This was a LOOOONG one :D

Friday night I went to Target to pick up the new Harry Potter book and some other things. I was slightly nervous that they might not have any books left, but there was a full wall of them :D Once I got home, after dinner and some tv, I finished up the last few pages of book #6 and started on #7. It was a little sad knowing that this would be the last time I'd start a new Harry Potter book :(

Saturday morning I headed off to Alameda for Rocky and Phil's Mentor Led Run. I had dressed for warm weather so I was a little nervous when I went through the tunnel and was engulfed in fog. Uh oh, maybe I should have dressed a little warmer :( When I got out of the car at the Alameda Ferry I was pleasantly surprised though... it was still very overcast, but not really cold at all. And the wind that is usually always whipping at the ferry terminal wasn't there either!

The 8 miles went very well. There is just something about this course that I really like. I think it's because we're not on the same boring trail all the way out and all the way back. The first two miles are along the bay with some pretty houses to our right. They we hit the wooden bridge and bike bridge that crosses the channel. On the other side of that bridge, we run for about .75 miles through a neighborhood before we come out along the beach for the next mile or so. It's also all pretty flat, except for the bridge :D I ran the first 4 miles with Phil but when I turned around, he continued on for another mile. Crazy boy... he and Rocky rode their bikes for 10 miles to mark the course, and then RAN those same miles right afterwards. A swim in the bay and it would have been a Triathlon!

The last two miles are always the toughest on this course... you keep thinking that the end must be around the next turn. And it's not. But that's where the Garmin helps out... it tells me exactly how much further it is until the end :D I finished feeling very good. My final time was 1:32 for 8.05 miles. That's about an 11.5 minute mile. I think the first half I was a little faster and then slowed down the last couple of miles. By the time I finished, the sun was starting to peak out but the wind was also picking up.

After we waited for the last runners to come in, a group of us headed out to the Coffee Mill in Oakland for breakfast. The parking was a pain in the rear but the food was well worth it! I had a scramble with avocado, bacon, spinach and swiss cheese, toast and potatos... yuummm :D

Finally I was heading back to WC... after my shower I had hoped to have time for a little nap but that didn't happen. I read for a little bit and then had to get ready to go back over to Oakland to meet up with Claudia and Rocky. Rocky's former boss is in a new band and they had invited us to their debut gig at a band member's house in Mountain View. I was really surprised once we got there how much they had done for this little gig. The host/hostess had rented tables and chairs, and there was a stage with complete sound and lighting set up in the back yard. Joe's band, Big Eye, did a really fantastic job! They did a lot covers of songs from the 90's-- Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, etc. All the music I used to listen to in High School! They played 3 full sets and by the time we said our goodbyes and headed home (after a Jack in the Box run) it was pretty late. By the time I got in bed it was even later and I was very happy that I could sleep in the next morning!

After sleeping in a little bit Sunday, and reading more Harry Potter, I went back to Oakland (that's trip #5 through the tunnel for anyone keeping count :D) to meet up with Claudia-- We were going down to the Art and Wine Festival in Alameda. The Festival was fun... the alcohol was too expensive so we really just shopped around at the booths and in some of the stores along the street. The crowd there was definitely very different from the one you get at the WC and even Lafayette Art and Wine Festivals. It was fun to watch all the people though, and look at all the cute doggies :D And I was a very happy camper after my yummy corndog (a festival must-have) and Funnel Cake. I came home tired and covered in Powdered Sugar dust! I spent the rest of the day napping, reading and catching up on some TV!

PS... I'm updating my Lake Chabot post with a couple of pictures so check them out!

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Yea, it's Friday!! Woo hoo!

Last night I had intended to do my workout video since I had missed the track workout this week. Didn't happen. My co-worker Ann invited me to meet her, her cousin, and a friend out at Stanford's for dinner and drinks. That sounded like a MUCH better idea than exercising! What no one was aware of was that Broadway Plaza was also having it's Summer Jazz Series last night too so the whole shopping center was packed and parking spaces where few and far between. :( But we had a wonderful dinner and a lot of fun chatting.

Tonight I'm going to buy a copy of the new Harry Potter book... I wanted to re-read the last one to refresh my memory before I started on the new one. I think I have less than 20 pages left to read so it's time for a trip to the bookstore :D Then it's early to bed for me since I'll be up early to head out to Rocky and Phil's Mentor Led Run in Alameda for an 8 mile run! The Diablo Valley team is having a Coached Run in Oakland, which means they'll have water stops, but I really love running the Alameda course so I'm heading over there instead-- I'll gladly trade water stops for a good run on a good course.

What's my real age?

According to a very detailed survey on RealAge.com, my real age is 28.5 (2.1 years younger than my calender age). I'll take it :D But does that mean I have to turn 30 all over again?! Go take the survey... it's fun and will give you a good idea of things you need to improve in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, social support, stress, and lifestyle. Very interesting :D The other girls in the office took the survey and only one other ended up younger than her calender age. One even scored 8 years older!!

Last night Amy and I did our normal run, but this time we started in Alamo so we could bypass the trail closures in Danville. We ran the opposite direction-- towards Danville and back-- hoping that the tail breeze and down slope would help us on the way back. We both still ran too fast on the way out. By the time we got to the turnaround at a little past 2 miles, I was hot, sweaty and exhausted. On the way back we slowed down a little and the downhill slope did help a little. I think we finished our 4 plus miles in about 46 minutes. We even sprinted in the last 50 yards or so. I felt pretty good... just WAY out of breath!

Just say NO.... to cotton candy

Last night's Stitch N'Pitch baseball game was fun, but not really because of the game, mostly because of the socializing! The Giants lost and Barry didn't hit any home runs, 'nuff said about that.

After work I met Amy on the BART train and on our route into the city we picked up some more of our group. We got to SF a few hours before the game so we could have dinner at this yummy place called Primo Patio. It's this tiny but really cute place that serves Caribbean food. I had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sandwich.... yummmmmm.... and a drink called Buli Buli, which I love partly for the name and partly for how good it was. They combine beer, lime juice, sugar and ice into a pitcher... sounds a little odd but it's very good :D

After eating we headed over to the park. First stop, pick up our Stitch N'Pitch swag. Last year we got a cute tote, some fugly yarn, a few patterns and a pair of needles. This year we got another cute little tote, no yarn, some knitting needles (including a pair of size 1s that were way too long to be of any true use), some patterns and a cute little tape measure with the Stitch N'Pitch logo.

What I said about the game above pretty much sums it up... a lot of big swings but not many hits from Barry and lots of flashes going off every time he swung-- in fact, not many hits from ANYONE on the Giants (until after we left that is). I really didn't pay too much attention to the game, in fact I missed all of the runs scored by the other team! We were all chit chatting, talking about running, about knitting, and god knows what else.

A little aside... Cotton candy is a sport's event tradition for me, going back to King's games in high school with my dad. And if I'm not actually eating it, I'm spending the whole game tracking the cotton candy man around the stadium/arena. Usually they ignore my silent cries but not last night... even up in the nose bleed seats the cotton candy man seemed to always be there :( No fail, the ONE time I don't want cotton candy, we see the cotton candy man about 50 times.

When it looked like the Giants were destined for a loss, and Barry wasn't going to be hitting a home run, a bunch of us left. The earlier you leave, the more you avoid the mad chaos on Muni and BART. But of course once we left, the Giant's rallied back and scored 4 runs in the last inning to tie it and go into extra innings. I think they took it all the way to the 11th inning, but then ended up losing anyway :( Oh well, guess we didn't miss too much.

Tonight Amy and I are doing our usual run but not in our usual location. Because of the trail closure, we're going to meet in Alamo. Hopefully the beer, fries and jerk chicken I had last night don't come back to haunt me!

Trifecta of fun :D

Tonight a group of us running knitters (not at the same time, we're not THAT skilled) are off to Stitch N'Pitch night with the Giants at AT&T Park. A bunch of us went last year and had a lot of fun... you get to sit in a special section of the park with a bunch of other knitters and last year they gave us a little Stitch N'Pitch tote bag with some yarn, patterns and even bamboo needles. Last year we all knitted a Giant's hat, and this year we were all supposed to do the same. With as busy as we've all been, I think most of us are going to be wearing the hats we made last year!

As it just so happens, our little Stitch N'Pitch night happens to land right during Barry Bond's chase to reach, and surpass, Hank Aaron's home run record. He's only 2 homers away from a tie and he just might reach it tonight. I'm sure McCovey Cove behind the park will be packed with kayakers and boaters vying to catch a home run ball!

What makes this night a true trifecta of fun is the fact that my first major league baseball crush will be pitching for the visiting team. A few years ago, Tim Hudson was part of the Oakland Athletic's Big 3-- 3 very good, and very good looking, pitchers. All three-- Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito-- have moved on to new teams but tonight I'll get to see Timmy in action again. :D

Pretty Schmitty, those hills were BRUTAL!!

On Saturday morning was the dreaded Lake Chabot 10 miler. I ran, I conquered, and I came home coated with dirt and sweat. :(

I woke up Saturday morning, got dressed, ate a little food and headed off to Lake Chabot at about 6:45am. My stomach hurt the whole time. As much as I told myself this was no biggie, I've run 10 miles before, I've run at Lake Chabot before and I know I could do this, my body wasn't listening. :(

The first group was set to go out at 7:30 so before Coach started warming us all up, I went to the potty. After I came back, Coach had already gathered everyone together but since I didn't see them stretching, I thought I still had some time to chit chat before I joined them. After a few minutes we see the whole group running towards us so Claudia and I fell in behind them thinking we were doing the warm up run before we stretched. Instead of turning around and heading back the start, we kept going. Oh well, I guess we weren't doing our usual warm up and stretch!

Since the first time I ran Lake Chabot, I've hated it. Yeah it's pretty, but I've never been good at running hills and Lake Chabot us full of them. This time was no different. For our run on Saturday we started off by heading around the left side of the lake from the Marina. Up we went, down we went, rinse and repeat. Claudia and I ran the first semi-major hill but walked the rest. When I'm doing 10 miles, especially on a tougher course, my goal is to just do the damn thing, not necessarily do it quickly!

After going out 2 miles and back, we were back at our starting point. Claudia's knee and head were hurting her at this point so she decided to call it quits. Considering it had been 3 weeks since she last ran, and she was nursing a sore ankle and knee, she did a fantastic job! Now I was on my own for the rest of the run :(

After passing "GO" I headed out along the other side of the lake. The right side is the "less" hilly side-- at least the part that I had run before is. Little did I know what was in store for me! After almost 2 miles, the paved trail turns into a dirt fire road. And that's where it all went downhill (or in this case, literally uphill). The first part of the dirt trail is a VERY LONG hill. I have no problem admitting that I walked the entire hill (except when I saw Jeanette at the top and ran the last 50 yards :D). I think if I would have tried to run it, I would have died of a heart attack, rolled off the trail down the hill and into lake, never to be seen again, except by the fishies.


Towards the top of the hill was a fork in the trail. Left for the 10 milers and right for the 8 milers. Jeanette was waiting at the fork in the trail, taking pictures as people struggled up the hill. She pointed me to the left, telling me that I would "LOVE this part of the trail... it's so pretty in there amongst the trees." She also told me that this part of the course was known as the 10 Hills Trail because it's a series of "rolling" hills, but "don't worry, they're not bad". She lied. Some of those hills were so steep I didn't even run DOWN them. After running (or walking) for awhile, I saw a couple of people who were coming the other way and said that the water stop was just ahead. 10 minutes later, we hadn't reached the water stop. They lied to me too :( The next time someone told us we were almost there, I didn't believe them but they were actually telling the truth and after cresting the next hill we saw the water stop and the turn around up ahead. But now we had to go back the way we came, up and down those same damn 10 hills. Urg.

After being on my own for awhile, I did find a running partner along the way! One of the participants and I were neck and neck along the 10 hills trail. She'd pass me, then I'd pass her. Since the trail was pretty empty by the time we turned around, it was nice to be on the trail with someone else. We talked each other through the hills and finally we reached the fork in the road again. This time we got to go the other way, back to the start. I figured at this point, we HAD to start going downhill since it didn't seem we could climb anymore. Wrong again. We had one more big hill to go up before we would head back down to lake level. Less than a mile to the finish we finally got to the down hill! It was nice to run again, since I had been doing so much walking, and nice to have enough breath to chat with my running partner! Despite my filthy legs, sweaty body and worsening blisters, it was a great end to the run! Over 2 hours and a little over 10 miles after I had started, I was finished. :D

Saturday was also the honoree potluck so after hanging out for awhile, I headed back home. I ate some lunch, scrubbed off all the dirt and then took a nap... ahhh, heaven! I wasn't sore at all the rest of Saturday, but yesterday and today my calves are a little tight and my hip (joints?) are sore. But all in all I'm not as sore as I thought I was going to be after 10 miles of hills. :D And boy am I glad that run is over!

Rumble in the East Bay!

This morning I got a Bay Area wake up call... which means EARTHQUAKE!! At about 4:40 in the morning I was woken up by a "little" 4.2 magnitude earthquake. I don't think it lasted more than a few seconds but to my half asleep mind it seemed like forever. I remember laying there in bed wondering what I would do if it got worse... run outside in my pjs practically blind with no shoes? Get dressed first, or at least grab a sweatshirt since it's probably chilly outside? Put in my contacts, or just grab my glasses? Put on flip flops? Grab the poor fishy, if he hasn't been sloshed out of his tank? Thank god I didn't have to find out because it was over before I had made any real decisions. But knowing me, I would have taken the time to get partially dressed, put on my glasses, grab my shoes, purse, phone and fishy before I ran outside. Wait, I don't think you're even suppossed to run outside during an earthquake. Hmmm, living in the Bay Area maybe I should know this stuff!

Eeek, tomorrow I have to run 10 miles :( At hilly Lake Chabot :( I'm scared :(

Ouchie, ouchie, ouchie...

That's what I've been saying for the past couple of days, ever since that darned track workout. I know, track is good, track makes you run better, and faster but it's SUPER hard :( Right now it hurts to breath, laugh, sneeze, roll over, get out of a chair, walk down stairs... pretty much everything! Here's what our workout was like on Tuesday night:

10 minute warm up (4 times around the track)

Plyometric (explosive) lunges (this hellish exercise where we get in the lunge position, and then jump up to switch legs, coming back down in lunge position)
Hellish exercise #2 (I don't even remember what it was called, I think I've blocked it, but we laid on our backs with our legs up in the air and tilted them to the right, back up, and then left and up)
Push Ups
Bridges (Look easy but are super hard, especially if you have no core strength like I do. Basically you lay on your stomach, back and sides and then prop yourself up on your elbows for 30-60 seconds-- or 15 seconds if you're me)
Plyometric (explosive) skipping

Run one lap

Regular lunges
Reverse Crunches (lay on your back with your feet in the air and lift up with your legs)
Heel walks and toe walks
Butt kicks and high knees
Pickups

Run one lap then repeat it all again :(

I was so pooped towards the end, and my muscles were so shot, that I actually fell down while doing lunges. And I didn't fall while I was moving, I fell while I was HOLDING the lunge position... my legs just gave out under me. I don't think anyone saw me though, thank god!

After track I felt super nauseous though... I think I was a little dehydrated from not drinking much water that day, and only drinking water, not Gatorade, during the 2 hours of track. :(

Last night I met up with Amy for our weekly run. This week though we had to run a different route since part of the trail is closed off. We ran parallel to the trail on the streets of Danville and it was actually nice... shaded, cute homes to look at and practically no cars. About a mile in, we hooked back into the trail until we turned around a little past where we usually turn around.

The run back took us a little longer since it's the slightly uphill portion. I think we overdid it the first half because we were definitely slower, and took a couple one minute walk breaks, on the way back!

Last night before our run, I had the brilliant idea of taping my foot to prevent more blisters. I put bandaids on the existing ones and then taped around that to keep the bandaids in place. Well, it didn't work so good :( When we got back I took the tape off and saw that my two smallish blisters had turned into two much larger blisters. I think sweat from my feet loosened up the tape and caused it to rub on the skin... nice visual, I know! I went to the store and got some moleskin, but now I have to wait for the blisters to heal before I can use it :(

Go A's!!

... oh wait, they lost :( Last night I went to the A's vs. Texas game. Karen was going to take a friend for her birthday but that didn't work out so she invited me :D Karen has a hookup so, although she bought tickets for the cheap seats, we got to sit right down front near the Texas bullpen! The game wasn't very crowded so it was really easy to get seats really close... in fact, we were in the second row! The only think I was nervous about was someone hitting a line drive foul ball down the first base line right into my face! There was a guy in front of me who had brought a mit so I was hoping if that happened, he'd catch the ball before it got to me! There were a couple of balls that came in near us but none that were too close. Pheeewww!

Her friend, who is on-field security, scored us some Bazooka bubble gum from the bullpen's stash and also gave me a ball! It was fun watching the bullpen guys horsing around out there... some of them did more playing around than anything else. I guess that's what happens when you may pitch only an inning or so every few games!

Tonight it's off to track... hopefully I won't end up as sore afterwards as I did last week!

I "heart" lumpia

Yum... just writing that title is making my mouth water... more on the lumpia later...

Wow, this was a busy weekend! I can't believe that it's over already! Friday night I rented a movie and just took it easy in preparation for the 8 miler Saturday morning. I watched Catch and Release, a cute movie if a little cheesy :D

Saturday morning I headed over to the Berkeley Marina to do the Mentor Led Run with the Bayside team, led by Phil, Matt, and Lindsay. The weather in Berkeley was PERFECT for running-- overcast and chilly! It was so cold at the start I kept my sweatshirt on for the first mile or so of the run. I started out running with Matt, which means I was going a little faster than I should have. After the first mile, he took off ahead of me and I ran with another woman for awhile. I was feeling really good but when I got to the hill behind Golden Gate Fields, I decided to walk it so I didn't wear myself out-- after all, I still had to make it BACK to the marina! By that time Phil had caught up to me so we ran together the rest of the way.

After we turned around at mile 4, I was expecting to run into Claudia. At the base of the Golden Gate Fields hill we ran into Brandy, who had been running with Claudia earlier. She said that Claudia had tripped and fell around mile 1.5. :( That part of the course is particularly uneven and I'm surprised no one has taken a spill there earlier! Further down the road we see Claudia and Rocky pulling up... Claudia's knee is all scratched up and her ankle was starting to swell :( After chatting for a few minutes, Phil and I took off again to finish the rest of the run.

We finished in 1:36:03. All in all, I felt really good, other than my calves getting a little stiff towards the end. I think they were still shot from the track workout on Tues. and super speedy run with Amy on Wed. Today they feel fine though so I think they're pretty much recovered. I also got a couple blisters on the instep of my left foot. It seems like everytime I get new shoes I get blisters there for a few runs. Then the shoe is broken in and the problem is gone. I think I'll use some moleskin during our next few runs, just until the shoes are broken in.

After the run, just as the sun was starting to come out, I headed back home to get ready for a former co-worker's baby shower. It was really nice to see her, and fun to see all the fun baby stuff she got! AND we got yummy ladybug cupcakes as a favor!

Sunday I went over to Rocky's Uncle's house for the Reyes family reunion :D Yummm, lumpia :D If you've never had lumpia, you haven't truly lived. It's a little like an egg roll, but much smaller and yummier... and when it's dipped in that sweet sauce, it's pure heaven! They had tons of other food... ribs, chicken, Betsy's sister, beef, hot dogs, pasta salad, rice (of course), cake, It's It, otter pops and lot's more! It was an afternoon filled with yummy food, sun, laughing kids, barking dogs and Rocky's fun relatives :D His family is so big, I spent half the time trying to figure out who was related to whom, and how! I even got to see my little muffin... he was such a baby, wanting to sit on everyone's lap. I wonder how he got so spoiled?! :D

Happy Friday the 13th!

This about sums it up for me...

Tonight it's about rest and relaxation because tomorrow is our 8 miler! I know it's not much when you think about the big picture-- after all, we're training for 26.2 miles. This feels like it's our first actual LONG run... anything that's 6 and under doesn't really seem that far!

Stare Down...

My coworker brought in a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts this morning... they are now sitting on a table that is right outside my desk area. For the past 2.75 hours (yes, I'm counting) I have been trying to ignore their call.... come, eat me Olivia, I am SOOO tasty! SHUT UP!! So far I've won the stare down, but I don't know how much longer I can hold out :(

So last night I met up with Amy for our "buddy run." We were sans Claudia this week since she was on her way back from a wedding in Tahoe. Amy was unsuccessfully trying to find a satellite signal for her Garmin watch and after a few minutes we just gave up and headed on out. As cool as the watch is (I LUV mine) sometimes getting a satellite connection can take a little time. I've learned to turn my watch on when I leave my house instead of waiting until I'm ready to start running. Sure, I look funny driving down the road with my arm out of the window but by the time I get to the run, my watch is ready to go.

The whole way out, Amy's watch kept beeping, letting us know that YET AGAIN it had lost the satellite signal. Stupid watch. When we get to our usual turn around point and my watch says we've only gone .86 miles, I know some of that beeping must have been my watch too. Our turn around point is actually about 1.3 miles out so my watch probably dropped the signal at some point too. The other crazy thing was that my watch said we'd been running slightly under 12 minutes!! Umm, are we SURE we turned around at the right spot? At first Amy thought we hadn't, that we should have gone one more section of the trail. But then she checked her mileage chart that gives the distances for each street we reach and yep, we turned around at the right spot. I guess that "explosive" skipping really did help! No wonder we were too out of breath to do any talking!

The way back took us a tad longer, mostly because we stopped to walk a little while we figured out if we had turned around at the right spot. 27 minutes later we were done. Yep, that's right, 27 minutes for 2.7 miles... SUPER fast for us! And boy I felt it... I was out of breath and my muscles were starting to tighten up. Today, I can hardly walk... track on Tuesday and our super fast run last night did a number on my calves! Hopefully everything will stop hurting before the 8 miler this Saturday. I'm a little nervous about that distance-- it seems so much further than 6 miles!

Are those sweat droplets?

Nope... RAIN! Last night I headed out to the Diablo Valley team's track workout at DVC. The skies were grey and the weather was cool... but hey, I wasn't complaining! Partway through our workout, it started to drizzle.

Right now the team is doing circuit training and plyometric drills-- basically lots of different exercises broken up with laps around the track. It was nice to be on an actual track... the last track workouts I did with the team were at a park in Concord. It wasn't really a track, more of a gravely path around the park.

Here's Coach Tim's description of what we were going to be doing:

"Plyometric drills are the secret to running strong and faster. The drills may look like child's play with lots of hopping, skipping and jumping, but these simple drills simulate explosive actions to help you become a stronger and faster runner. Plyometric training will put more spring in every step you take, which is the key to better running. At Tuesday evening's track workout, you'll be introduced to plyometrics with skipping, slightly increased ranges and some tempo paced running."

Here is Coach Tim demonstrating the Plyometric, or "explosive", skipping:

And here's a breakdown of what I did:

WARM UP: Ran for 10 (about 4 laps around the track)
Squats 15
Crunches 30
Lunges (each leg) 10
Push Ups (Girly version) 12
Plyometric Skipping 50 yards, 2x
Run 1 Lap Easy Pace on Corners, Tempo Pace on Straights

Isometric Squat (Hold 40sec to 2min), 2x
Superman Back Extensions 15
Heel Walk/Toe Walk 50 yards each, 2x
High Knees/Butt Kicks run 50 yards each, 2x
Strides 50 yards, 4x (This means you basically run and speed up for the first 25 yards, then slow down for the remaining 25 yards)
Run as before

Then we repeat it all, and this time I upped the reps for most:
Squats 25
Crunches 30
Lunges (each leg) 15
Push Ups (girly) 12
Plyometric Skipping 50 yards each, 2x
Run 1 Lap Easy Pace on Corners, Tempo Pace on Straights

Isometric Squat (Hold 1 min), 2x
Superman Back Extensions 15
Heel Walk/Toe Walk 50 yards each, 2x
High Knees/Butt Kicks run 50 yards each, 2x
Strides 50 yards, 6x
Run as before

Man... I'm pooped! Track started at 6:30, I didn't get home until 8:45. :( Just enough time to grab a quick bite, jump in the shower and ice a little bit before bed. Good news is that neither my hip or knee bothered me during the workout... they were a little sore afterwards but I didn't have a problem during track!

Lots of fun, but little running :(

Wow, I have lots to catch you all up on since I haven't blogged since last week! I've been a bad, bad girl and have not been running much in the past week... there's been too much going on and it's been way too hot :(

So last Tuesday I mentioned I was going to go home and do my exercise DVD... that didn't happen. Neither did getting up early on the 4th to go running. Claudia texted me that morning saying that she had gotten home really late the night before and did I mind running on my own instead of meeting at Lake Merritt! Not at all, I said, right before I rolled over and went back to bed, knowing I wasn't going to get up and run on my own! After I finally rolled out of bed, I headed over to Claudia's around noon to hang out for the rest of the day. We worked on some party favors, watched a little tennis and then at 2:00 headed over to the pool with Phil. Karen, Lindsay and Christina joined us there and we hung out at the pool the rest of the afternoon, drinking some yummy sangria and snacking on goodies! Around 5:00 we headed back to C&R's condo for BBQ and a movie :D

Thursday it was back to work :( No running that night either since I needed to finish up the scrapbook stuff I was bringing to the reception on Saturday. I got it all finished up so Friday night I just hung out... I went to get my toes done and then was treated to a wonderful massage from Christina! Ahhhh, so relaxing!

Saturday AM I got up really early to run, anticipating a hot day. I got dressed, headed out of my apartment to run on the trail and was met with cloudy skies and chilly weather... YEA!!! I ran 6.02 miles in 1:11 hours. I felt way better on the way back than I did starting out, thanks to the slight decline :D I did something funky to my hip and knee though and they've been bothering me since then. I ran in my new shoes so I'm hoping that it doesn't have anything to do with that :( Tonight I'm off to track with the Diablo Valley team so we'll see how things go...

Now on to the fun stuff :D Saturday after my run I got everything ready for Claudia and Rocky's wedding reception/party later that day. My parents were coming in the afternoon so I wanted to get everything all laid out and ready to go so I could hang out with them. Once they got there, we had a wonderful lunch at Chow in Lafayette and then did a little shopping. At 3:45 it was off to the community center at Civic Park to help set up and then the party started at 6:00.

It was such a fun party! All our TNT peeps were there with a bunch of other friends, co-workers, and family. Everyone looked so great in their Hawaiian clothes, the food was yummy, the wedding cupcakes were delicious, the hula dancers put on a great show and of course East Bay Mudd rocked the house! There is no way I could describe the whole evening so here are some pictures:

Sunday I met my parents for breakfast and they we spent the rest of the day shopping in Berkeley and Walnut Creek. We even went to the Apple store in WC to check out the new iPhone. I have to admit that I was really iffy about a phone that costs $500 but those things really are cool, especially the internet capabilities. But as cool and fun as they are to play with, I don't think I'll be shelling out that much money any time soon for what's just a fancy phone!

Now that the party is over, I'll be focusing more again on my training! At least our heat wave seems to be over so the weather is much nicer!

Holy heat wave Batman!

Um yeah, it's super hot outside. It's supposed to be in the 100's over the next couple of days. Thank god for air conditioning! And it's even worse in Yuba City... Weather.com says that it's going to be 107 degrees tomorrow!!! Isn't that about how hot it is in hell? So glad I'm not there right now!

Yesterday I was a busy little bee: I met Jeanette for lunch in Walnut Creek. She just got a new job with the company that Amy works for. This week she's only working part time and she needed me to taste the carrot cake cupcakes she's making for Claudia and Rocky's wedding reception this weekend so we decided to meet up for lunch! That cupcake tasting is a tough job... but I know someone has to suck it up (in this case suck up a bunch of cream cheese frosting!) :D

After work I went to Danville to get some new running shoes and run another errand. I also met Claudia there since I had given her back the ribbon I was using to put together some of the favors for the party. I had finished one batch, given the finished ones to Claudia and then picked up another batch, forgetting that I still needed the ribbon. Duh... such a blond moment. By the time I got home, I was not in the mood to do my workout video so instead I highlighted my hair and worked on the other crafty wedding party project! So productive!

Today I was supposed to meet up with Jeanette and go to the Diablo Valley "it's going to kick my ass" track workout. BUT I checked the website and track is canceled for tonight... yea!!! It's super warm out today so I'm going to just go home and do my workout video.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early to run with Claudia at Lake Merritt. What good girls we are running on the holiday! For the rest of the day we'll be plopped by Claudia's pool with some yummy Sangria and snacks. The rest of the gang will be joining up with us for a BBQ at their place later! It'll be such a nice relaxing 4th of July!

Everyone have a fun and safe 4th of July!!!

Welcome July!

I can't believe it's already the beginning of July... it seems like not too long ago we were saying goodbye to winter. It feels like the older you get, the faster time passes. Summers seemed endless when we were little and now they pass way too quickly!

Friday night Claudia, Rocky, Karen and I went to see the Giants play the Diamond Backs. We had a free parking pass so we decided to drive in instead of BART. BART can be convenient but on game days there are just TOO MANY PEOPLE to deal with! We figured that it wouldn't be easier to just drive in since we wouldn't have to pay to park... and it should have been easier but we had the bad luck to run smack into Critical Mass, a literal mass of cyclists who "reclaim the roads." Of course this happens when I have to go potty too :(

The game was fun... I don't really remember much of it since I had my eye out for the cotton candy man the whole time. Since I was little, attending a professional sporting events was less about the sport for me, and mostly about the people watching and cotton candy, and not necessarily in that order. :D By the end of the night I was on a sugar and salt high (salt from the sunflower seeds, another baseball game must) and my mouth was a pretty blue color. Cotton candy has really come a long way since back in the day... they have all these fancy flavors and colors. I got the 4 in one bag... purple grape, yellow lemon, blue berry and pink something sweet (we couldn't really figure out the flavor on that one).

Saturday I had decided to run on my own instead of going to Livermore with the DV team or Oyster Bay in San Leandro with the Bay side team. I headed to Alamo with the intention of running on the Iron Horse Trail out towards Walnut Creek for a mile and a half and back, and then out towards Danville for the same distance, making 6 miles total. I went out to the Rudgear staging area, since I figured that was about 1.5 miles... it was actually 2.3 miles. I felt really great on the way out (helped mostly by the slight decline)-- at one point I looked at my watch and it said I was doing a 9.49 minute per mile pace. Yeah, WAY too fast. There were a ton of people out on the trail, including my boss' wife Nancy who is training for the Breast Cancer Walk (crazy lady... even I wouldn't attempt that!!).

I definitely took a lot longer to get back to where I started once I turned around. I could feel the slight incline and at one point my hips really started to hurt. By the time I got back to where I started (54 minutes and 4.6 miles later) I wasn't feeling great and didn't think that trying to go out for that last 1.4 miles was a good idea. I was disappointed in myself but I figured that a run cut short was better than getting injured. I'm hoping that it's just a case of shoes with too many miles on them... I've worn these shoes for the past 4 races. Whoops, time to get some new ones!

Later that night, after a nice nap, I met up with Karen and Claudia in Oakland. Rocky's band MotherHumbuckers had a gig that night in the city so us girls met for dinner in Oakland before hand. The band did a really fantastic job, as they usually do, but unfortunately they didn't make it into the next round of Emergenza, a kind of international battle of the bands that they've been competing in. :( After they played we stuck around to get our free CD, sticker and poster and then headed home :D

Sunday I got to sleep in... ahhhh :D The rest of the day was spent cleaning, doing laundry, running errands and working on a special craft project. Man, it was a busy weekend... and it looks like the craziness isn't going stop until after next weekend! Maybe THAT'S why the time passes so quickly... too many fun things on the calender!