Reunion

It was great seeing Mary Ann again! Since she was in town visiting her family, on Saturday she joined Anita and me for a 10 miler on the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. We met up early, fearing that the forecast rain would drench us. We lucked out with the weather, it was warmer than expected and drier than expected and just as humid as expected. Although we had a couple of very mild sprinkles while we were out there, we stayed dry (from the outside, I was still sweaty and wet from the inside). Except for the times we got tree'd. The lovely trees that normally provide our shade also dripped on us when the wind blew.

We intended to run 10 miles and we ended up with just over 11. A necessary bathroom break added the extra mileage. I was tired when we started and my breathing was bad the entire time, even when we slowed down. Even when we stopped entirely. I almost asked if we could just do 8 miles but decided to keep my whiny mouth closed. I knew Anita and Mary Ann would do whatever I wanted to so I just went along with the plan. My plan.

We were running along at a pretty good clip, doing a 9:1 run:walk. Mary Ann was able to hear the watch beeping so it kept us on track. We never made it under a 12 minute mile, except for the very last quarter mile or so where we averaged just over 11. We ran the first 10 miles at a 12:28 average which made me happy. After hitting 10 we walked for almost a half mile but our 11 mile average was still 12:32. Slow to some but good for me for 11 miles. I'm hoping that translates to a decent average at Nike but I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of walking on the hills there.

My knee held up beautifully during the run. Not a twinge, not a twist, nada. It just felt plain old normal. My back wasn't quite as cooperative, giving the occasional twist and twinge. It didn't exactly hurt during the run, didn't even quite hurt right afterward. We hung out chatting for a long time after we finished running and I stretched everything that I needed to stretch. My back felt fine then. But then I walked around Sports Basement for a while and that must have been just the breaking point. My back hurt whenever I stood or walked for the rest of the day.

I thought that after this run I could make a decision about whether I can run a full marathon or not. I'm still up in the air. My body felt great while I was running but there was too much pain afterward. I think I'll have to defer the decision until after Nike. I'm hoping beyond hope that the race doesn't sell out before I can make that decision.

Saturday night Claudia and I got pedicures and margaritas. Great combination! No, not at the same time. First we pedi'd (and I mani'd) then we went to Amaranta in Danville. The food was fabulous (and since both of us ran and neither of us had eaten all day, we had big appetites). We had guacamole prepared freshly at our table, fresh muddled-fruit margaritas (I had blackberry) and then way too much more food. I enjoyed my stuffed cauliflower and just loved the frijoles. I liked it as leftovers too. What we didn't enjoy was the service. Our waitress was MIA most of the evening and left it to the different service staff to help us out.

Today was mom day again. I had to finish up all the paperwork I started last week and take care of things that had come in during the week. Then, since it was lunchtime and mom was starving we went out for sushi to Oishi in Walnut Creek. We tried 3 rolls that we hadn't tried before and they were all very tasty. I'm not fond of fake crab, which they use in all their "crab" rolls, but the rolls were still good. It took a few more hours than I had planned and I had to scurry to finish the other things that needed doing.

I fit in a bit of gardening. My yard is a shambles. What isn't brown from the drought is overgrown from me ignoring it. I clipped and pulled and trimmed and tried to fix one of the sprinkler heads (not very efficiently, it turns out). The lemon tree still has fruit from last season and they're very strange. Huge lemons, bigger than grapefruits, odd shaped, freaky. I thought I should probably pick everything yellow since this years' fruit isn't ripe yet and the old ones are gross, but the tree started attacking me with thorns and I quit. I didn't need more blood dripping down my arm. I'll have to continue the gardening later.

And I finally washed my wetsuit since it's been 3 weeks since the tri and it's been sitting in the middle of my dining room table waiting for some attention. Ew yuck, of course I rinsed it right after the tri, got the sand and grass and dirt and sweat and salt and kelp off of it. I just needed to really wash it properly with wetsuit cleaner, get it ready to stick on a shelf somewhere for the next several years (forever?). It feels nice finally getting that accomplished and out of sight.

Now I'm going to go knit for a while and then go to bed.