Don't fence me in

My recovery continues well. Yesterday I was all about the ouch and owie but today my legs are just a bit weary. We'll see how they feel after sitting at my desk all day. I have to remember to get up and stretch.

I got home on Monday and as I was going to the mailbox I noticed there were lots of branches and twigs all over my front lawn. I have an ailing Sycamore that doesn't fare well in windstorms so I figured that we must have had a lot of blowing. I was hoping that the tree wasn't just losing branches because of Monday's heat. I finished unloading my car (geez, I take a lot of crap with me when I got to races) and started glancing through the pile of mail. On top was a folded piece of paper with a letter from my neighbor who lives behind me. He said that the fence between our yards had fallen down on Saturday and he'd be out of town until late Tuesday, but he'd try to fix it on Wednesday. Unless, that is, I'd rather call a professional and pay to have it fixed or replaced. Uh, let's see. Spend time researching and calling fence companies, or do nothing and let the neighbor try to fix it. Yup, I'm taking the do nothing approach. I hope he can fix it, it's creepy knowing that anyone can see right into my house. Especially now with the heat, when I keep my back slider open for a breeze.

I decided to go to last night's buddy run to see if moving would help make my legs feel better. I thought I'd have to walk and I didn't want to push it too much. It seemed like everyone at the run (all 5 of us) was in some sort of pain. Great, the week before their long run and they're all hurting. I ran with the group to where we stretch but that was all the run I had in me. I ended up walking almost 3 miles and felt much better than when I started. Except for my toes. I think during the race there was a wrinkle in my sock underneath my big toe and it feels bruised. There's no blister, just very tender skin. Walking didn't help it at all.

I had a mostly knitless weekend. I had taken my multidirectional diagonal scarf in case I had time. I knit for a while on Saturday before the pasta party but that was about it. After the victory party I was too exhausted to think about what I was doing and I knew I'd just end up frogging anything I knit. After the run -- er, walk -- last night I spent some time on my neverending superlong wrap. I'm getting so tired of it. I need to knit something else with some instant gratification. And some bright colors. But first I must ... finish ... wrap.

My weekend at the redwoods

Few things are as frustrating as writing incisive witty remarks for an hour and having the computer EAT THEM!. Hmmph! If my weekend report is boring it's not my fault, I wrote a very good report earlier.

I left my house Saturday morning, ready for the long ride up to Humboldt County. I had managed to get my car washed between rain showers on Friday night so it was nice and shiny and I could see out of all the windows. I made short stops for a latte and bagels then met Joanne and Oscar at the BART parking lot. Because of logistical problems we had decided to drive up separately but together. For almost the entire ride I followed Joanne's excellent pace setting. Her green truck kept me on the road at good speeds.

We planned to stop a few times since we were heavily hydrating in anticipation of a warm race. We stopped for lunch in Willits at La Mexicana. I had a combo plate with chicken soft taco and tostada, and rice and beans. I only ate a couple of chips since I know that my stomach isn't too happy with fried food the day before a long race. I also skipped the beer, which was much harder to do! The food was very good and filling, and I'm glad I had the protein. The tortilla for the taco was fresh and pretty obviously hand made. Good carbs!

It had been many long years since I had last headed up Highway 101 to Northern California. I don't think I've been north of Sonoma County for decades. I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful California is. It was exactly the right time for this trip. The hills are green, wildflowers are still blooming, new green leaves are on the shrubs and hardwoods, and there was no traffic on Saturday. That combined to make a very fast and enjoyable trip. Fast, except for the speed traps along the way. One was so obvious it was almost laughable. It went from freeway speeds to 35 mph in about 100 yards, with a patrol car sitting right there. I guess that town has to make enough money to pay the officer through speeding tickets. Another place there was a fake squad car alongside the road, with a dummy inside. No, a real dummy. No, not a cop, a scarecrow-like dummy!

I had brought along my iPod with the running music so my whole drive had a background of high tempo, rockin' songs. I had a good ol' time singing along so it was a good thing nobody else was in my car. It helped keep me awake and focused, especially on the return trip when there was traffic, road construction, more traffic jams, and have I mentioned traffic?

Packet pickup was at the staging area for the race. There wasn't a real expo, just one local vendor who had all kinds of running gear. This was good for the people who had forgotten some essential, like socks, gel or sunglasses. Packet pickup was very smooth for me; I got my bib and my chip. The chip tie was unusual, just a long baggie twist-tie.

I wasn't as thrilled with the tee shirt. The design was very pretty, but they had different 100% cotton shirts for men and women. The women's shirt was a girly cut white shirt, the men's was a normal tee, in burgundy. Not being a white shirt wearer, in addition to not liking the girly cut, I asked if I could have the men's shirt, since they hadn't mentioned in the registration process that they'd have different shirts. Nope. They said they'd ordered according to who had registered so I got the girly shirt. They said if I came back after the race they may have leftovers. Riiiight. After I've run for 6 hours I should schlep to the car and back to exchange my shirt. I took the white shirt, knowing I'd never wear it, and tossed it in the back of my car for later use as a rag.

I continued on to my motel, about another 25 miles north of the race staging area in Fortuna. The team was officially staying in 4 motels, all clustered together. I was at the Super 8. My room, although posted as being non-smoking, reeked of cigarette smoke. I think they took a smoking room and just stuck up signs without doing anything about the lingering stench. It was pretty bad, even after I tried to air it out for a while. When the furnishings are all soaked in smoke, just a bit of fresh air won't help at all.

Our TnT pasta party was in town at the Vets Building. I think there were about 300 people there, runners and their families (or maybe it was 200). I was unimpressed with the food. There were rolls, salad (greens in one bowl, a few cut up veggies on a plate), a very nice fruit plate with lots of different types of fruit and pasta. Three types of pasta, all using the same noodles. There was slimy pasta with mushrooms, slimy pasta with a tomato sauce, and slimy pasta with a meat sauce. Not my cup o' tea. I had salad, fruit and bread, figuring I'd have a bagel and cheese back in my room later. Not what I'm used to before a long run.

There were the usual speakers after we ate, including the requisite survivor who had us all sniffling and wiping our eyes. It is very touching to see that we're helping to make a difference in peoples' lives, to see someone who's been through it all, to hear what they've experienced and felt, and to hope that we can help raise enough money to find a cure. It puts it all in perspective, how fortunate we are to be able to run a race, to train, to be healthy. We can never take this for granted, it can disappear too quickly.

Afterward I went back to my room, made sure all my stuff was ready for an early morning (although not too early compared with other races), and went to bed. Oh right, as if I was going to sleep. My sinuses had stuffed right up when I reentered my room. The bed was hard. Blah blah whine I tossed and turned for hours, got maybe a couple of hours of sporadic sleep. I was up before the alarms went off, figuring what the heck, get the day started.

The race will be in a separate report, but short version is I ran hard, didn't give up, finished in 5:52:09. More than being pleased with the time (although I am), I'm happy with the effort I put forth.

I had told Bree that since she was returning to the Bay Area after the race she could come back to my room and shower. Her bf was going to meet us there so that he didn't have to drive back and forth and back and forth. I hobbled to the car, changed my shoes, and drove with erratic speed back to the room. My feet hurt! My legs hurt! Bree wished that she were driving! Bree showered and took off, I showered, and damn, it was almost time to leave for the victory party.

I'm not sure why but the party started very early at 4:00 pm. I made it there about 4:30 and the food this time was pretty impressive, maybe the best TnT victory party food I'd seen. There were a couple of types of salad, fried chicken, another chicken dish in some sauce, sweet and sour pork, a hunk of beef, oh, much more that I'm forgetting. And a dessert table. I had been waiting for that. There were fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate, small carrot cakes, little mud pie thingies, and a couple of other dessert-y items. The only problem was I wasn't hungry. I knew I had to eat, knew I should have already eaten something, but I pretty much had to force myself to have anything other than the carrot cake. I tried several things, but the fresh strawberry lemonade and the wine were really all I wanted. Actually, I would have liked a doggy bag since I knew I'd be starving later.

Everyone managed to get out on the floor and dance a little after they ate. Only about 4 team people had run the full marathon, the rest had run the half. I was pretty happy for all the newbies who had run their first big race. I think it was a good one for a starter race. Some of them were more sore from their 13.1 miles than I was from my 26.2. I remember how I felt after the first time I ran that distance and I had plenty of sympathy for them. Mostly. It was fun to dance and laugh with my teammates.

The party ended early, I think I was back in my room long before 8pm. I decided to pack in the morning. I knew I wouldn't be sleeping since I never do after a marathon, but I wanted to just plant my body on my bed in my stinky smoky smelly room. I had brought a bottle of wine with me and proceeded to rehydrate with it. Ahhhhhh. Just what I needed to relax! Toss in a couple of advil and I was a happy camper. I did end up getting hungry about 10pm so I had some cheese and crackers I had brought with me. I really wanted something sweet and totally forgot I had brought some bars with me. I finally turned out the lights about 11:00 and tossed and turned for the rest of the night.

Since Monday morning I was up so early and packed and antsy to go I checked the phone book for the nearest Starbucks. Which was in Eureka. I'm pretty sure if someone wanted to make some money they could open one in the middle of Humboldt County and rake in the cash. Or maybe it's one of those areas where they want to retain the "charm" of the towns and not open chains. In which case they should dump all the motels, the Denny's, the Safeway, the McD's, etc. Or at least open lots and lots of really good and easy to find coffee shops the the sleep and caffeine deficient!

Mama Lisa had arranged for several of us to meet at Denny's for a pre-drive breakfast. Only thing is, geez, what's with the calorie/fat/grease laden (cheap) breakfasts there? I'm not a food snob but -- oh wait, I kinda am. I really wanted a piece of good french toast and a few slices of bacon. And a good latte. That was almost impossible to order so I got a meal with pancakes, eggs and bacon and a cup of coffee. It wasn't too appetizing but I ate quite a bit of it when it finally came. It was a fun meal, all of us talking about the race, past races, future races and more. We finally got on the road about 10am. Once again I was following Joanne's lead. Thank you Joanne!

We had to stop at Bigfoot's place along the road. I would have liked to buy a tacky redwood chainsaw teddy bear but they were absurdly overpriced. My garden will have to do without it.

We stopped again in Willits for lunch. This time we went to the Country Skillet. I was torn between something healthy and something with gusto and settled for a Reuben, with french fries. I know, I don't eat beef. But I make this one exception, once or twice a year, for corned beef, since it doesn't really look or taste like beef and doesn't gross me out. I ended up taking half the sandwich home with me for dinner. I was afraid to eat too much when I still had several hours of driving left. After eating we cruised across the street to the cheap Safeway gas station where I paid only $3.29 per gallon! First of all, yay, cheap gas! Second of all, when did $3.29 become "cheap gas"??

After that we just drove and drove without stopping again. Once we got into Mendocino there was a lot of construction and traffic jams that were on and off until we crossed the Richmond/San Rafael bridge. Then, surprise of surprises, Highway 80 had no traffic. In the 30+ years I've lived in the Bay Area I have never seen 80 so empty, even when I've been on the way to pre-dawn weekend runs or when I used to stay out into the early hours partying. It was a very pleasant part of the ride that I had thought would take forever. Traffic didn't slow down until right at the 580/880 split (the 880 part had just reopened that morning) where stupidheads had to slam on their brakes to see the hole in the freeway. Dumbasses. What are they trying to do, create a crash with another conflagration to destroy another part of the freeway??

I finally made it home just after 4pm. I had driven over 600 miles and run 26.2. I was pretty tired! So I skipped my Monday run with Pam. Well, duh! Of course I did! I had a sofa with my name on it, just waiting for me. Ahhhh, naptime! It's great to be back home.

The post monster ate my post

I had a nice long weekend report written and my browser crashed and I couldn't recover the post. I can't face doing it again now, so: nice weekend, long drive, good race. See ya later.

Rain and anticipation

I was going to leave work early today and get my car washed for the long ride up to the redwoods, but it's raining again. Not that I particularly care if the car is shiny, I just wanted all the windows cleaned, inside and out. I don't do windows. Ok, I'll clean the outside, but I'm abysmal at cleaning windows and mirrors without missing spots or streaking. With my difficulty seeing in the dark, and knowing that I'll be doing at least some driving at night in a strange city, I wanted to be able to see where I was going. Maybe it'll clear up by the time I leave work. Yeah. Maybe pigs will fly. Oh wait: that's this weekend too.

Stupid National Weather Service forecast for Sunday is still an overnight low of 43 and a high of 85, sunny with winds of 9-14 mph. Hey! Trying to run here! Weather Underground's forecast is a little friendlier, with 8:00 am forecast to be at 44 degrees and 2:00 pm at only 76; sunny with winds from 8-11 mph. The Weather Channel is completely different from both of those; low of 45, high of 67, partly cloudy, humid and winds of 13 mph. Makes planning tough. I'd like to wear the short sleeved TnT shirt, since my shoulders and arms will be freezing in the morning, but it may just be too warm later and I'll need the singlet (which I find very uncomfortable; Nike styles these things for tiny women and even the big sizes just don't fit right). I'll take both and decide Saturday evening which to pin the number on.

Slogged a bit more on my superlong wrap last night. I think I still need it to be 8-10 inches longer. This will be the first thing I've tried blocking and I'm not sure how much the length will be affected, so since I have the yarn I'm just going to keep going. Yawn. I was trying to decide which project to take with me this weekend and realized that it doesn't really matter; I'm not going to be in my room for much non-sleeping time, and it's not like I can knit while I drive.

Today's Gratuitous Bear of the Day is Toastie. He really is toastie; he's a warmable heating pad bear. I can stick him in the microwave for a couple of minutes and he gets warm. Of course, putting him in the microwave feels like I'm committing bearicide! I feel kind of like Snidely Whiplash when I do this; "haha nothing can save you now Toastie Bear" before Amy Do-Right comes to the rescue and turns off the oven. Hokey smoke, I think I watched too many cartoons in my formative years!

First send-off

Last night was our TnT send-off party for those running Avenue of the Giants and Vancouver Half Marathon. It was at the San Leandro Yacht Club. For some reason, people have trouble finding the building. Maybe because it's called a "yacht club" and from the outside looks like a fishing shack. I know I was confused the first time I went there.

I left the office early because I had no idea, with the freeway collapse situation and all, how long it would take to get there. Not very long, it turned out. I didn't care. I had my mindless diagonal multidirectional scarf to keep me busy. I mellowed out knitting for a while, watching the birds over the marina. It was very peaceful.

The send-off was fun, seeing all the people about to run, in some cases, not only their first half marathon but their first race. I remember how excited I was before my first marathon and these peeps are feeling much the same. There was pretty decent support from the rest of the team and most of the mentors were there to support their mentees. We started the night with potluck. It's funny how very few people actually prepared the food they brought. Aside from one pan of lasagna and some cookies, most of the food was prepared by Safeway and Costco. I should talk, I brought some yummy veggies and some pasta salad from Safeway. There was, as is usual at these thing, way too much food. I managed to stick with the healthy stuff, except for one yummy cookie.

Mama Lisa, one of our coaches, gave her patented pre-race talk about how to pack, what to eat, what to do. It's a good (long) talk, but unfortunately most of the mentors/captains have heard it many times. I'm pretty sure that most of us were on the edge of our seats, waiting for something different, or wanting to say "oh, you mean" when she paused. We didn't, we all like her too much to interrupt or be rude during the talk. Although I must say there was a bunch of light chatter in the background.

Then Coach Gary (and I just can't get used to calling him, or anyone other than Lisa or Alphonzo, "coach") gave his pep talk. Y'know, the "go out fast, die like a pig" talk. After that we heard from our Honoree Captain, to put the whole thing in perspective.

The final speaker, as is his right, was Coach Al. Some day I'll talk about Coach, what he's meant to me and what he means to the team. Short version, I adore him; I come back to TnT simply to have him be my coach again. He's warm, caring, inspirational, funny and a damn fine coach. He'll be going to Vancouver; Mama Lisa will be with us at Avenue. Anyhoo, Coach talked about Brenda and Cole, got teary eyed along with the rest of us. He told us to believe in ourselves, believe in our training, believe in our angels who will carry us along. He gathered us all in a big hug circle (yeah, all of us, it was quite a sight), had our moment of silence for our honorees, past and present, then told us to just to out and DO THE DAMN THING!

So Sunday morning at 8:00 am, that's exactly what I plan. Right here, right now, I'll say that Bree and I will do the damn thing and finish in 5:45! You betcha!

Drive me crazy

What is it with California drivers and bad weather? I realize it doesn't rain here that often, but it happens every winter, even the dry ones like this. I don't think the idiots realize that when it's wet they shouldn't (1) weave in and out of traffic at high speeds, (2) zip right in front of big rigs and slam on their brakes, (3) eat breakfast/put on makeup/hold a phone/shave, (4) tailgate the car in front of them when the front car is already too close to the car in front of it, (5) turn around to discipline a child in the back seat, (6) try to drive 15 mph faster than the rest of the cars around them, or (7) try to drive 15 mph slower than the rest of the cars around them. Sheesh! What's so tough about that?? It took extra long to get to work today and I was privileged to observe all those behaviors. Ok, take a deep breath, think calming thoughts. Hmmph!

So, there's this storm front moving through northern California right now. A week ago it was supposed to hit on Sunday, during the race. Now it's sped up and should be clear by the weekend. That's where the forecasters start guessing. Not that I'm a weather geek or anything -- oh wait, maybe I am -- but I've been checking 3 sources so I'll know what I want to wear for the race. The National Weather Service is saying that on Sunday we'll have an overnight low of 41 and a high of -- get this -- 84 degrees!! Crap! The Weather Channel says an overnight low of 45 and a high of 65! Huh?? Weather Underground is telling us there will be an overnight low of 37, high of 71. Thanks guys, clear as mud. My interpretation as someone who knows squat about forecasting is that by the time of the early bird race start at 8:00 am (that's not early - get a clue organizers) it'll be close to 50, and by the time I drag my sorry ass across the finish line in the middle of the afternoon it'll be toasty warm, if not blazing hot. At least the course should be shaded, right? By all those giant redwoods? What, me anxious?

My run along the Iron Horse last night was more interesting than usual. The only ones to show up for the run were Mentor Marcie, Fiancee Dave and me, so I was running alone. Heh heh. I always run the buddy run alone, this was not different. I just stuck my headphones in my ears and tootled off, determined to get in at least 3 miles although I totally wasn't in the mood. All of a sudden I saw a police car turn off one of the cross streets and onto the trail. Hmm, I thought, what's this? So I kept running until I came upon a pretty funny scene. There were 2 cop cars, a big ol' official looking black SUV, 5 or 6 very unhappy teenagers sitting on the ground and a bench, and one stern looking cop. I didn't see other cops, but I didn't stop running so I didn't really get a good look. When I returned about 10 minutes later, there were 3 (count them -- 3!) more uniformed cops and another in a suit (I think he was a cop, he had that bearing), and one more squad car. The first cop was patting down one of the boys while the others sullenly looked on. The boy being patted down looked like he was going to cry. The one girl in the group was smarting off to the cops; I could hear her even through my music. I wish I knew what was going on, but my guess is either vandalism (there were a couple of smashed ceramic pots along the trail) or drugs. Oooh, are their parents going to be mad!

I was doing some gardening over the weekend and discovered what my mystery plant is. I was right, it's an Iris. It's not that pretty and not terribly colorful (or at least it wasn't, until I color saturated the picture), but is a nice break in all the greenery. There should be four or five more flowers opening off the plant but the rain might just turn them to mush. And they'll probably open over the weekend while I'm gone. If you look closely you'll see another yard bunny behind the plant.

Last night I spent more time knitting the super long (and and now super boring) wrap. Yawn. Maybe I'll finish it this week. Or maybe I'll just fall asleep knitting and poke out my eyes. Either way, I won't be working on it for much longer!

Rats again, this one cute. Sort of.

After the shower on Saturday I went to my bro's to see my nephew's new rat. My nephew is a typical nine year old boy who loves everything gross and icky, so of course he needed a rat. Just because he already has 3 cats and 2 dogs doesn't mean another animal wouldn't be welcomed into the house. At school the classroom rat parented a swarm of ratlets (ratlings? pups? kits?) and some lucky students were able to adopt one. The new rat isn't full size yet, and should get either one-third bigger (according to my bro) or twice the size (according to my sis-in-law). Ratty (ok, I forget what they named him) is friendly and will submit to hugging and loving. As long as there's food involved. I know people like that too.

When I first arrived at bro's he said that since I'd spent the afternoon bartending at the shower I could certainly continue that and mix up some drinks. After surveying the contents of his freezer, pantry and fridge I concocted a blueberry kiss: vanilla vodka, natural unsweetened blueberry juice, Rose's lime juice and triple sec. Very yummy! And how nice, they were also feeding me dinner. Which I totally needed after the wonderful food and booze and chocolate fountain at Bree's house. Not. Just imagine my shock and horror when bro announced that we were having chicken pot pie from Bakesale Betty's! I knew then that there was no hope for any diet redemption, I should just figure on gaining weight. I'd never had the pot pie but I was (too) familiar with her scones, cookies, sticky date pudding, etc. The pot pie didn't disappoint. There had to be at least a half inch of butter dripped out on the cooking sheet that the pie sat on in the oven. It was beyond a doubt the best pie crust I've ever had. The inside was wonderful too: big chunks of veggies and chicken and a wonderful gravy. I was in glutton heaven and figured I wouldn't need to eat again for a couple of days. And I'd have to run a million miles to work it off.

It wasn't a million miles, but Pam and I had another great run last night. It was the short short route. Hey, I'm tapering! I really love running in perfect weather; upper 60's, sun low enough to not be an issue, light breeze. Too bad the traffic was heavy and cars keep trying to run us over. We could run on the trail only, but that's too boring. I'm hoping that after recovery from this next marathon we'll want to run the longer route occasionally. Maybe!

I've gotten more rows done on the super long wrap. It goes on and on and on. Pretty soon now I'll need to decide just how long I want it. I'm not sure if I just want it long enough to hang straight over the shoulders; to wrap over one shoulder; to double wrap; to double wrap with knee length ends. I have enough of the alpaca to let it be pretty long, but I'm tired of knitting it. I need something bright, colorful, and instantly gratifying. Too bad I told myself to just finish this darn thing!

Visit Claudia's Blog

Ok, first of all, you have to go to Claudia's blog to see what she's up to in Hawaii. Go ahead, I'll wait. No, go there first.

Exciting, hmmm?!?!?! Now back to my regular blogging, which is boring in comparison.

Another busy busy weekend is done. It was a good one, too. Saturday started early with a team run at Coyote Hills. I'd always wondered what was on the other side of the hill at the 9 mile marker on the Alameda Creek Trail, and I finally got the chance to see. It wasn't too big of a crowd, just big enough. Mentor Cindy led us out for the warm-up and was going to turn around and and come back to the start for the stretch. I went a few steps and then remembered that (like usual) I had forgotten my inhaler. Since it was already warm and very weedy/grassy/pollen-y I figured I'd better go back to the car and use it, thinking I'd be back at the beginning when the rest of the group got there. Oopsie, Cindy decided that with the heat she'd just keep going to the next parking area, about a mile out. One other woman and I ran to catch up with the group. Big mistake on my part, since we ran that mile in just over 10 minutes. Oopsie again! That was just about all the energy I had and the other 5 miles were pretty much of a slog.

Mentor Portia had marked our route through the marsh over wooden planks and a dirt road, which was very pretty (and buggy), along the road (buggy too), over the hill (more bugs), along the trail (buggier) and then back again. Ick and patooie! Since I breathe through my mouth when I run I had to keep spitting the little buggers out. But even though I took more walk breaks than I had intended (and walked up the steeper hills too) I was faster than I thought I'd be. Our fabulous mentors had provided fruit, pb&j sandwiches, waters, etc. for after the run. That was the warmest run we've done yet, a taste of summer (and hot marathons?) to come. I was glad there was a water fountain along the route to refill my bottle.

I scurried on home to get out of running clothes, shower and put on girlier clothes. Bree was throwing Sandy a bridal shower at her home in Oakland. She prepared lots of good food, and - oh look, a chocolate fountain! I had said that I'd be the bartender, although I didn't really think that with a shower starting at 1:00 pm, anyone would be drinking except for maybe a glass of wine or a beer. I gave Bree a few suggestions for mixed cocktails and she got all the booze and mixers ready and set up in the only area available, the garage. When I got there I surveyed it and thought it was a great idea. Until I remembered that the reason you need a wet bar is so that you can dump the used ice and rinse out the shaker. Not to worry, I had brought my big ice chest and decided it would make a great sink replacement. I got a pitcher of fresh water for rinsing, and just dumped the used ice and rinsed. I was pretty surprised that almost everyone was drinking! I mixed cosmogranates with pomegranate vodka and Grand Marnier, French kisses with vanilla vodka, Chambord and pineapple juice, regular vodka martinis with lots of olives, umm, and another drink that I can't remember, certainly not because I was sampling my own wares! Ok, maybe I had a drink. Ok, maybe I had two. Umm, I'm pretty sure I didn't have more than that. Probably.

So we ate, we drank, then ate some more. We played the usual (boring) (don't tell anyone I said that) shower games. I didn't win. I wasn't playing too hard either. Then Sandy opened her fabulous gifts. (Not everyone was watching her open her gifts LADIES - a few people were off in the kitchen schmoozing away - and I won't mention any names - but I'll publish the picture!). I sure hope Sandy or Tom take up cooking, because they've got to have every type pot and pan available. And a top-of-the-line mixer. And glasses and pitchers. And a couple of ooh-la-la nighties too, but those won't be for the kitchen (and if they are, don't tell me!).

After the shower I went to see my bro and his family, since I was in Oakland already. I'll talk more about that, and have a picture of my nephew and his new pet rat, tomorrow. Yes, I had more to eat. Yes, I had more to drink.

Yesterday I went to a TnT recruitment effort lightly as an alumni run and brunch. It was just a few minutes from my house and I figured that I needed to run anyway, so I might as well do it with company. They're recruiting for summer season, which is Nike season. Since Nike managed to leak the information for early registration, and also managed to sell out the entire race within a few hours, the only way to run the Nike Women's Marathon is to join TnT. There was a decent sized turnout and they started us with a 5k run along the Iron Horse Trail in San Ramon. At the turn-around point there was a water stop with chocolate (and very cute girl scouts), just like they have in the race (only better than the first year of the race when they were out of all chocolate by the time I got there). When we crossed the finish line there were studly gentlemen holding trays of blue Tiffany bags, just like at the race. Unlike the race, there was no fancy Tiffany necklace inside. Oh, c'mon now, you really didn't expect there to be one, did ya? The bag had a drink, a cd, Nike propaganda -- er, literature, some jelly bellies, and more chocolate. There was a great catered lunch waiting for us too; freshly barbecued chicken or eggplant, salad, potatoes, cookies. There was also a raffle drawing. The only thing there was that you had to actually register for summer season to get a ticket. Hey, I cry bait and switch tactics! They were giving away fabulous parting gifts like an iPod nano and a real Tiffany necklace. Since I'm not joining summer I didn't get a ticket and just said my good byes and took off.

The rest of the day was filled with the joys of getting ready for a busy week to come. Y'know, laundry, grocery shopping, gardening. Yawn. The real countdown has begun for Avenue. I'm pretty excited. At the moment the forecast is for sunny warm weather. A couple of days ago it was for rainy cool weather. I think I'd better stop looking until we're closer to the date; I'm driving myself nuts. Now I just have to get a little sleep this week and I'll run well!

Do what with my what?

My life is full of spam. I mostly use my office email address, except when I'm trying to be a bit more anonymous and I use another one. Unfortunately every spammer in the universe also uses my email address. I get, no kidding, about 250-300 emails per day. Maybe 50 of those are picked up by my spam filter, but the rest get through. Of those going into my inbox, 25-30 are real emails that I need to see. I don't know what the parameters of the filter are, but I get almost identical emails in both my inbox and spam filter. I can't do real tight controls because, and I know this will shock you, I buy a lot of stuff on-line and so I get lots of spam-like emails selling me stuff - that I actually want.

But I'll tell ya, I don't need a new Rolex, I have no use for viagra or the ability to please a lady or to last like a porn star, I don't want to purchase worldwide drugs or hoodia or human growth hormone or the latest weight loss program, I don't bank at BB&T or Citi or BofA and I don't want to review my paypal or ebay account, I'm pretty certain I haven't won the UK National Lottery or the Irish National Lottery, I can't read Chinese or Russian, I don't want a dream vacation (that doesn't involve a marathon!), I'm pretty sure that the outstanding contract payment from the Bank of Nigeria for ten and a half million dollars is in error and I'm damn certain sure that I won't be letting Mr. Kosi Zulu or any other civil servant in Cape Town use my account to give me sixteen million dollars. I mean, who DOES fall for this crap??

Meanwhile, every once in a while a business associate sends me an email that I miss, or a friend writes to say hi and I mistakenly delete it, or a company that I love has a big sale and I just can't stand to see another email. So if you've written me and haven't heard back, try again, will ya? Only don't put any of the above matters in the subject line or I may just delete that too!

I had a good run last night with Pam. We ran, yes, our usual short short run. We were chattering away -- ok, I was chattering away -- and my breathing was pretty bad. I couldn't tell if it was because I had forgotten to use my inhaler, or because I was talking, or because I was running too fast. Or some combination of those. Pam's a much faster runner than I am now so she always lets me set the pace. Turned out that I was running fast, I had forgotten my inhaler, and I was talking too much. So nice to solve a mystery. It was the first really warm evening run this year. Yay spring!

Today's Gratuitous Bear of the Day is Sweetie. She's yet another lovely Steiff bear and ... darn, there I go again, mesmerized by their website. Ahem. Alright, I'm ok now. Sweetie is a soft, plush modern Steiff, straight from Germany. My sis-in-law was visiting her family there and I asked her to get me a bear, and described the type I was looking for. She did a great job and brought me this one. So I had to call the bear the same thing my bro calls his wife. Awww!

Memories of my first

First marathon, that is (get your mind out of the gutter). After season one of TnT and my very first marathon, the Suzuki San Diego Rock 'n' Roll in June 2001, I wrote a long review of race weekend and race day. I wanted to remember every little thing, every nuance, every feeling. As you'll see from the length I included all of that. This may get boring, but hang in there! On June 3, 2007 I'll run my 26th full marathon, my 5th RnR-SD. The routes may change but the feelings are still the same.

I now present "Memories of Amy's First!"

I DID IT! On June 3, 2001, I crossed the finish line of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego. Four months of intensive training, over 300 miles run, all came down to the final 26.2 miles on a beautiful Sunday.

Saturday morning I arose very early to make certain my trip to San Diego would go well. There was no traffic and parking at the airport was a breeze. I walked to the gate and waited for my team members to arrive. I started worrying when it was boarding time and my running partner Ellen hadn’t arrived, but she showed up in time. A very uneventful flight, met at the airport by my mom. I exchanged cell phone numbers with my friends so we could meet up later (what did we ever do without them?) and left with mom.

We went to the expo at the convention center to pick up the race packet and tee shirt (and try to spend some money!). Parking was impossible and the expo was very crowded. I got my number, my tee shirt and goodie bag. I bought a souvenir timing chip to tie on my shoe and a tyvek marathon jacket with pictures of previous years’ marathons. I also preordered a video of the race and finish line photos. We tried all the different gels, bars and drinks, getting samples of some of them for the race.

My pre-long-run training meal had always been sushi and I didn’t want to change that so we stopped at Benihana’s for a quick lunch. We sat at the sushi bar and had a wonderful snack, then went to check in at my hotel (Red Lion Hanalei). That went smoothly, my room “down the hall, out the door, down the steps, around the pool, through the door, up the elevator and down the hall to the left”. Unfortunately my non-smoking room wasn’t; despite an open porch door there was a heavy lingering smell of smoke. Yuck. Mom said goodbye and I unpacked my racing stuff and set it up for the morning.

I met up with Ellen, Mike, Julie, Denise and Brian and we took the bus back to the convention center for the pasta party (Denise had a walking cast on her stress fracture and was attending for support – ours and hers!). This was held in an enormous room, with the tables coded for the different teams. We finally found a table with enough empty room and sat to eat our pasta. In the center of each table was a large bowl of fruit (apples, oranges and bananas) and small bags of pretzels. Then the presentation began. There were large video screens hung around the room, which was a good thing since I couldn’t see the stage (too far away!). There were awards given to the largest fundraisers (including a Suzuki motorcycle!) and talks by different people. John “the Penguin” Bingham gave a talk but I don’t remember much of what he said, only that he was very funny. The closing speaker was a woman whose young daughter was diagnosed with leukemia a couple of years ago, and after lots of treatment is doing ok. The woman was a TnT runner, doing her first marathon. Her talk was very moving and most of the audience (including me) could be heard sniffling.

The line for the bus back to the hotel was endless. I sat next to woman who was the mentor for a walking team from some southern state. She had run 2 marathons, her first one with TnT. She told me how wonderful and close her group was. We had a great chat.

We finally got back to the hotel and went to our rooms. I double checked all my stuff for the morning, called the desk for a wake-up call, read for a while, watched a bit of tv, read for a while, then put out the light. Then I actually fell asleep!

Sunday morning June 3^rd started for me with a 3am (this is not a typo) wake-up call. First I couldn’t find the phone. Then I realized that the phone next to the bed wasn’t working. The bedside light didn’t work either. By the time I stumbled out of bed to the other phone it had stopped ringing. Two minutes later it rang again and I received my computerized wake-up message. The day begins!

I took a quick shower to wake up, and then methodically started to dress for the run while trying to eat my oatmeal (not terribly tempting at that time of morning) and drink water. Shorts, sports bra, racing singlet with my race number pinned to the front (17769), honoree bracelets (dad’s on my left wrist and the other on my right), bus bracelet, heart rate monitor and chest strap, sunscreen, body glide, socks, gloves, sweatshirt, wrist sweatband, shoes with racing chip on one foot and id tag on the other, hat, sunglasses (even though it won’t be light for hours yet). I double checked my water bottle belt to make sure it contained gel, lip protectant, ibuprophen, tums, kleenex, mixed ultima in the bottle, my room key. I opened and read the card from my dearest friend Ellen, wishing me luck in the hours ahead.

I made it downstairs to our 4am meeting (this is not a typo either) with a few minutes to spare. Most of my team, and the other teams staying at our hotel, were assembled in the courtyard by the pool. Coach Al gave us a few final words of wisdom and inspiration, we did a few cheers (and woke everybody else in the hotel, haha) and we got in line for the bus to the start area.

So there we were at the start area. Two hours before the start. It’s dark out. We stood around. We sat around. We felt nervous and giddy. We hydrated. We used the porta-potties (no lines yet!). We sat some more. It started getting light. More people arrived. We got a bit anxious. We used the porta-potties again (still no lines!). We sat some more. I noticed the indelible ink writing on my honoree bracelets was rubbing off (good thing I knew what was supposed to be written there). Finally at about 6:15 we walked over to our starting corral (we were starting waaaaay back at the 18^th corral, about 1000 people in each). Stood in line for the porta-potty. Said good-bye to our teammates who were in earlier corrals. Took some pictures. Got really excited. After what seemed like hours (oh wait, it really was hours) we heard a distant noise that must have been the start.

Seven minutes after the official start we crossed the start line and our race began. I was running with my teammate and training partner Ellen, and with our teammate Julie who had lost her training partner Denise to the stress fracture she got during our 16 mile training run. Our goal was to take it slow and steady and to concentrate on finishing in good health. As in our training we walked through water stops to make sure we hydrated frequently. We sucked down lots of gels. We listened to the bands along the route, slapped palms with the cheerleaders and marines, and talked with other runners and walkers.

We saw Julie’s family before mile 6 but didn’t really stop to see them. My good friend Tom, along with friends Gloria and Frank (all wearing tee shirts with “Amy’s TnT Crew” on the front and “You Go Girl!” on the back) and Ellen’s boyfriend Mike were supposed to meet us at mile 6 with fresh drinks, gels and whatever else we needed. We saw Mike, but where were the others? The black tee shirts with yellow lettering should have stood out in the crowd. Oh. There they are, goofing off with the cheerleaders! Not paying attention to whether we were passing or not. I wasn’t too thrilled and I unfortunately let Tom know that. Sorry Tom! But we got our goodies and ran on.

There’s so much about the run I don’t remember, and strange things that I do. After the first mile we saw a runner lying on the ground, never found out what was wrong with her. We ran around Balboa Park, we ran through the Gas Lamp District (not even noticing that the streets were lined with jacarandas in purple bloom), we ran on the freeway, we ran around Mission Bay. The people at the frequent water stops were wonderful, the cheerleaders were great and the bands looked like they’d been up all night and this was the first time they’d seen daylight in ages. Some of the bands were really good and we ran in step with the music. We had our names on our singlets (mine on the front and back, Ellen’s on the front and Julie’s on the back) and people cheered us on by name. It was personal, they were all there just for us!

We kept running. We got tired, and kept running. Somewhere between miles 10 and 12 we kept running past “The Motivator”. This was a woman in jeans and dreadlocks who walked slowly along loudly shouting encouragement to everyone. We couldn’t figure out how she kept getting ahead of us (we finally saw her sprint past us one time when we had our heads turned).

Our friends met us at mile 13, just before the half marathon mark. About mile 16 I saw my mom’s car, then saw my mom sitting on the ground with a “Go Amy” sign. I yelled and waved to her, she got up and walked a bit with us, took a few pictures. We kept running. Our friends met us for the last time at mile 19. I wearily told Tom that he should run the rest of it instead of me (he ignored me). Somewhere during the 20^th mile another runner joined us. She and Julie pulled ahead and finally ran out of our sight. That was fine, Ellen and I were used to being among the slowest runners. We kept running.

At some point we stopped bopping to the bands, stopped slapping hands with the cheerleaders, stopped smiling. But we kept on running. We slowed down to drink, and sped up again after. We knew the finish line had to be close. More running. Even this far along the route and late in the day we see lots of Team in Training runners and walkers. The TnT supporters were along the road with bags of pretzels, crackers, jellybeans, lifesavers. It was too much work to chew so I passed, even though the food would have been good nutrition.

Somewhere around mile 23 we both started getting choked up and emotional. I told Ellen and myself that crying took too much energy and to save it for the finish. I kept singing stupid little positive jingles through my brain (“I feel good, I feel fine, we’re getting close to the finish line” “I feel great, I feel good, I’m getting close to the neighborhood”) to keep the pace and keep my spirits up. I thought a lot about my dad, what he had gone through, and how much I wished I could tell him about the race. I was cheered by thinking of how excited he was when I told him I was doing this and what it meant to him.

Still more running. We stopped responding to all the great people cheering us on; no extra energy to thank them or wave. We slowed to a walk to drink but walking hurt more than running so we’d quickly start running again. We ate sharkies and they seemed to give a bit of strength. It felt like we were going really fast (we actually were; our last two miles were among our fastest). Finally we made the last turn and saw that glorious finish ahead.

We crossed the finish line side-by-side at an official time of 6:17:07. We gave each other a hug and walked along the finish area. I was pretty choked up with emotion and exhaustion and couldn’t catch my breath. We were too tired to hold the water being passed out, and luckily the children handing out the medals put them directly around our necks. We were given mylar blankets but we were already overheated and just hung onto them as souvenirs. We waited while they cut the chip off Ellen’s shoe.

We found our friends and hugged and took pictures. We searched for the Team in Training tent to get our special “26.2” pins and sign out. We hung around the finish area for a while, but were too tired to see what was there, look at the displays, look at the booths. We had to stand in line for the bus back to the hotel, but at least they had water for us there. I sat next to a woman from the San Francisco team, also completing her first marathon. Everybody was kind of dazed. We got back to our hotel with just enough time to shower before the victory party.

Mike drove Ellen and me to the party; no waiting in line for a bus tonight. We went back to the convention center, under the flags. The party was huge! We ate, we drank, we danced and we took pictures. I didn’t understand why I was so hungry until I remembered this was my first meal of the day (other than oatmeal and gels). Either the food was excellent or I was starving. And although not recommended, I had three beers (hey, I was rehydrating). There were no speeches, just a party. And we deserved it!

The party was over early, about 8pm. I hugged and thanked my “Amy’s Crew” and my mom, and Mike drove us back to the hotel. We said goodnight, and I went to my room.

It was over. Four long months of training, six days each week. Focused and intent on a goal that was successfully completed. I’d made many new friends, seen lots of new places. It’s impossible to describe the feelings I had and have.

There were about 3700 purple-clad Team In Training runners and walkers participating in our marathon representing The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, 320 from our San Francisco group. Together we raised an amazing $14 million toward a cure for leukemia and lymphoma, with $1,084,000 from our group. Our little East Bay Run group raised over $263,890 for this marathon alone!

2007 afternote:

When I finished that marathon I was sure it would be my one and only; I had no need to do it ever again. Within the week I had decided to mentor for the next season. I thought I'd run a second marathon just to make sure the first wasn't a fluke. I had no idea that marathon running would become my life, that I would travel throughout the country for races, that I'd have such marvelous friends who shared my obsession. Thank you TnT! Thousands of miles run (and thousands of dollars spent) later, this race remains special to me. I'm glad I took the time six years ago to write it all down.

Don't touch that faucet

When I moved to California umpty million years ago it was in the middle of a severe drought. The weather was dry and and warm and beautiful and made up for the fact that we couldn't water the yard (but we didn't care because we were renting), we couldn't wash the dishes (but we didn't care because we were in our 20's), we couldn't do a lot of laundry (but we didn't care because we didn't have a washer and dryer) and we had to take 2 minute showers (ok, that one hurt). This summer our utility district is asking that we voluntarily cut back our usage by 15% because we're having the seventh driest year in about the last century. This can be a problem, since we're already very conscious of our power and water usage and conservation.

We're asked to water our yards three times a week on nonconsecutive nights. I already do that. We should fix leaky plumbing. Duh. Run our dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads. Uh huh, already do that. Use commercial car washes instead of washing at home. Wash our cars? People do that?

It's been the same with power over the past few winters. A few years ago the other utility company said we needed to cut back. Ok, heat down to 68 and off at night, lights off when not using them, only full dryer loads, unplug other things when not in use. Check and check. The next year they asked us to cut back even farther. Okey dokey, will do. Then last year they decided to give rebates to people who cut back another 15%. Hey waitaminute! I'm already sitting in the dark with three layers of clothes and a blanket. There's no room for any less power. When it turned out to be one of the coldest winters around I finally gave up. I decided not to conserve. It was time to set a new higher baseline so that next year I could get a rebate for being such a good conservationist. This winter I only wore two layers and a blanket, took long hot showers when I was cold, dried my clothes until they were actually dry, didn't unplug anything. I got a sad letter from the utility saying I didn't meet my goal. Aww, but next year I can!

So I'm afraid I didn't prep well for a drought. If I had known, last year I would have watered my lawn every day, run the dishwasher daily, taken 30 minute showers all the time (oh yeah, I really do that), washed my car -- uh, no. I still wouldn't have washed my car. That's what commercial car washes are for. I guess I won't get a gold star on this conservation effort either.

Last night was our buddy run on the buggy Iron Horse. There were the regular six of us. Or rather, the five of them and me. I'm pretty sure that if I ran only a minute per mile faster I could keep up with them, but I can only do that for a couple of blocks without keeling over. For a while they were just close enough to be the rabbit so of course I ran too fast. I finally took a walk break so they'd get far enough ahead. It was one of the warm dry nights swarming with hard little black bugs. They're not gnats, not squishy enough. I did a lot of spitting during the run to get them out of my mouth. My iPod+ again gave the wrong mileage, short this time. According to the official maps I went 3.96 miles. The iPod+ said I went about 3.4. That's even worse than last time. When I finished Lance Armstrong congratulated me on my longest run yet! Heh heh. If Lance only knew!

Today's Gratuitous Bear of the Day is Demi. I received him as a get-well gift from a friend after I had a minor surgical procedure. It must have been around Valentine's Day again, thus the heart. This was the first time in my life I had taken Demerol and what a treat that was! I don't normally take drugs (well, not since high school anyways) because I don't like the lack of control. Demerol didn't so much remove pain as it removed my caring about pain. Everything was happy and sharp and la la la isn't life wonderful. I think I had one, maybe two doses, but it was enough to name my new bear after it. I'm pretty sure that Demi is my only bear named after a narcotic!

Don't run me over please

Spring is apparently back. Again. Some more. I'm pretty sure we're not done with winter yet, but it's nice to have warm (not hot) sunny breezy days. Even with the late rains the hills are browning out. There's still some brave mustard blooming above the dead grasses, but this is the end of it.

I had a great run with Pam last night. We did our usual short short run. It was one of those nights where it seems people really were trying to kill us. Jerks squeeling around corners, morons screetching up to lights, loose dogs, etc. Lots of adrenaline made for a faster than normal run. At the last stretch I sped up, more or less unconsciously, and Pam asked me if we were sprinting. Not yet, just running fast. Then I started the sprint. The first few steps were great, then a twinge in my knee. Another twinge. I slowed down a tad, felt ok, sped up again, another twinge. Sprint officially over. No more speed work until after the marathon. My knee's fine, caught it in time. That's why I don't go to track!

Today's Gratuitous Bear of the Day is Val. I have a hard time in stores during the Valentine's Day shopping season because of all the bears on the shelves. Not only that, but there are also lots of red bears. If I have a weakness for bears I have a severe weakness for red ones! Several years ago I saw Val and she just stood out from the crowd of stuffies on the shelf. [Note: I didn't know they were called stuffies until my then 8 year old nephew called them that. Cute name.] Val just jumped in my basket while I wasn't looking so I had to take her home. Sigh. It's an addiction. I may need a 12-step program. Only I'd probably make it a 12-bear program so it wouldn't work!

What a lovely weekend. Busy and restful at the same time. Lots accomplished and still time to nap. What could be better! Heh heh.

Friday night I had dinner at Mudd's with my dear friend Ellen (no, not that one; the other one). Our birthdays are 9 days apart and some years we celebrate, some we don't. We've had trouble finding time to get together lately and have actually taken to scheduling outings months in advance. This year we hadn't planned anything. In fact, she forgot my birthday. I knew she'd be a lot more upset about it than I was, and she sure was. One of those "I didn't forget when your birthday was, I just didn't realize it was April already." Yeah, I've been there too. So Friday afternoon we realized we both had the evening free (bwahhahaha - as if I'm ever booked up on a Friday night!) and decided to celebrate. In limited fashion, since we both had to get up early and I'm trying to watch what I eat and drink. Um, I mean diet.

We each started with a nice Grey Goose martini with lots of olives. That was a hard decision; we starting by thinking we'd split a bottle of wine, then thought one of their fancy cocktails would go down well, then just decided to stick with the tried and true. One each only though! We split the crab cake appetizer. It was 3 little (very little) round cakes, sitting on an olive tapenade-type thing, with endive salad. Very good. For the main course I had the scallops, seared and placed on pea risotto in a pancetta nage. Yeah, I had no idea what that was either. Pancetta is a type of cured bacon and nage is a thin broth. It was beyond delicious and I cleaned my plate with a piece of warm bread. We passed on dessert. There had been some problem with, I'm not sure, the order, or the kitchen, or something, so it took a long time to serve us and they apologized repeatedly. We didn't care, we were pretty happy to just sit there and chat. The meal wasn't really diet approved but it was worth it all.

Saturday morning was a TnT coaches run. As I mentioned, it was changed to Lake Merritt and yuck on that. I got there in time to start with the first group and ran most of the first loop with Joann(e?), with whom I ran last week. I just wasn't too into it, so I checked with Coach Al and he told me that I only needed to run the loop twice since I had done a long run last weekend. Yay and yippee! I ran the second loop alone and ran at top speed. Contrary to my earlier expectations I didn't fall in the Lake. I hung around after my run while everyone else finished. It was cold, my fingers were getting numb, my lips turning blue, shivering. For some reason I decided that sugar would warm me up so I nibbled on gummy bears. Oh whoops there goes the diet again. At least I wasn't munching bagels.

I did a little work in the garden but the weather wasn't quite right for working outside. Some time during the week my first peony blossoms opened up. It's the plant in the most direct sun and isn't the showiest of the bunch. Still, it's loaded with flowers and the ants haven't destroyed it yet. The other bushes are getting close to bloom, and the columbine is flowering. I have a mystery flower. I've seen the bulb getting bigger the past couple of years but this is the first time I've really seen the plant itself. I have no idea what it is so I'm looking forward to the flowers opening. Maybe an iris? That's my current guess but we'll have to wait and see. There are a couple of little ones behind it that may have flowers too. I'm just hoping it doesn't bloom the weekend I'm off running my next marathon. I'm pretty sure that's what's happened the last couple of years.

Sunday wasn't too interesting, just the usual cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, blah blah yawn boring. I did manage to do one of my cross-training tapes, a lower body workout. I'm pretty sure by tomorrow afternoon I'll be owie owie-ing every time I stand up or sit down.

The only knitting this weekend was rows and rows of the super long wrap. Until I get good sick and tired of it, or I finish it, that's all I'll be knitting. Black alpaca, two rows, over and over. And over. My brain is saying "must finish wips" and my heart is saying "start a new project with the blue silk" or "knit a hat" or "knit some fingerless gloves." It'll be interesting to see which wins out! I have told myself that before I go to Stitches MidWest I have to knit something from yarn I bought there last year!

Have a grantastic Monday!

Rationalization

As I've said before ad nauseam, I quit smoking on my 38th birthday. Since then, when I decide to spend money on something I usually just say "well, smoking a pack a day would cost more -- much more!" The cost of cigs has skyrocketed in California because of all the taxes and I think a pack is over $4.50 now. Something like that. As I've also reported, lately I seem to be addicted to lattes. In particular, large non-fat sugar-free vanilla lattes. Umm umm good! In addition to the caffeine boost I get, there's the calcium and the fact that I'm not hungry the rest of the morning when I have one. (There's also the little problem with a slight lactose intolerance, but we won't discuss that.) When I started with these I'd have them about once a week. Then twice. Then every other day. You see it coming, right? Now it's daily. I'm trying really really hard not to have that many, but I've been soooo tired lately. And since I'm trying to cut back on food, the 4 point drink keeps me from eating anything else for the rest of the day.

I was getting them on my way to work at the local Safeway Starbucks. Then they discontinued their "buy 7, get 1 free" promotion and there wasn't a reason to get it from their surly clerks. Except that it really is right on my way to work, easy parking, etc. This morning I decided that today would be a caffeine-free day. I'd go straight to the office and have yogurt and a tangerine for breakfast. I hopped on the freeway and drove 3 miles and then sat in traffic. Without a latte to sip. Getting crankier and sleepier. Finally got to Walnut Creek, totally drove past my exit, went a mile past there and got off at the exit that would take me to a Starbucks. [Note: in Walnut Creek almost any exit will take you to a Starbucks. Or a Peets. Or another coffee shop.] Parked, ran in, got my latte, ahhhhhh. That's more like it. And it cost less than a pack of cigs!

Noah has posted his awesome Ironman Arizona report on his blog. I'm astounded not only that he completed an Ironman, but that this included his very first full marathon! Wow and double wow! Oh, I don't mean that I'm astounded that he completed it, but that he attempted it in the first place. Being a mere mortal multiple marathoner myself (my, how very poetic that was) an extreme athlete like an ultramarathoner or triathlete is just an overwhelming role model to me. I applaud Noah's determination and resolve to do another one (!). And I urge you to hop straight on over to his website and donate money to his Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man of the Year campaign. He deserves it!

Do you ever get the feeling you've forgotten something? I've had that feeling all week! Hey - if I've forgotten to meet you somewhere, or forgotten to give you something, or forgotten your birthday, let me know, ok?

Our team's coached run for tomorrow was moved from Walnut Creek to Lake Merritt. Yuck. I don't mind running around the Lake once. I'll put up with running it twice. Tomorrow will be at least 3 times. Possibly in the rain. Probably wind. Time to start mentally preparing so that I have a good run. "I will not fall in the Lake. I will not slip on goose poop and fall in the Lake. I will not be body checked by a ranting homeless person and fall in the Lake. I will not be attacked by a flock of Canada geese and fall in the Lake. I will not be tripped by a faster runner and fall in the Lake." What? So I have a phobia about falling into the Lake, wanna make something of it??

Today's Gratuitous Bear of the Day is Pittie. Like Penny from yesterday, I got him on a trip to visit my sis in Pittsburgh, also at Harry & David's. He's a smaller version of Penny, but still soft and squishy. Here's a picture of both of them together, since that's how they're cutest.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I only whine for half of this

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day. Today? Not so much. Overcast, cold, windy, blah. Being a creature of the sun this is depressing to me. I just want to crawl back into bed and throw the covers over my head and stay there all day. Whine whine whine.

I didn't get much done yesterday in the way of exercise. I managed to do about a million crunches but blew off the rest of the cross training I had planned. My stomach was still having issues, I was tired and I wussed out. Again, whine whine whine.

I went to weigh-in yesterday and, surprise surprise, I gained a little (tiny) bit of weight. Ounces, actually. I'm not sure if it was the long run upsetting my system, the PF Chang's dinner, the upset stomach, the lack of extra exercises, the excess wine last Wednesday or what. You'd think that if I run for 4-1/2 hours I'd lose something, but noooo. Fooey. Three weeks and already I'm not losing anything. Once more for good effect, whine whine ...

Ahem. Now we return to our normally cheery portion of this blog.

I got a lot of knitting done last night on my super-long wrap. I'm finally back to where I was before ripping out that large section. I didn't remember it being such a big part, I guess I wiped it out of my memory so that i wouldn't just throw the whole thing into a corner and ignore it. Oh wait, that's exactly what I did with it. I love the softness of the yarn but the little alpaca hairs are getting everywhere. I should get used to it, I think it'll take me a while to finish. All the time I'll be thinking of that lovely blue silk on my shelf, waiting for inspiration. Meanwhile I made a little flip card for the wrap so I can remember which row I'm knitting. My normal knitting/sitting spot isn't light enough for me to see the stitches closely enough to be able to tell, and I don't want to have to move and find somewhere brighter to sit. Maybe I really need a knitting light for over the sofa.

I'm getting confused about my Gratuitous Bears of the Day; I haven't been keeping a list and I'm not sure who has graced these pages already -- and I have so many I don't need to start repeats this soon. I initially was going to put them in acquisition order but then I started forgetting when I got them all. Today's BGotD is Penny. I got her at a Harry & David's in Pennsylvania while visiting my sis (before she moved to Nashville). She's a big, soft, squishy bear, much prettier than her picture shows. In case you saw them in the stores, she's the larger version of a multi-sized bear. The incredibly huggable one!

Spring day with a bow

I didn't run last night; I totally blew off the buddy run. I've had -- um -- digestive issues for the past several days. My run Monday night with Pam was rudely interrupted by an urgent need to get to a bathroom. To make a long indelicate story short, yesterday I didn't feel like having the same emergency while out on the trail. I stayed home and gave my weary legs (and grumbly tummy) a rest. I think I'll stay home tonight too, probably do some cross-training.

Now that I've finished knitting Clapotis I can move on to another unfinished project. I decided to pick up my super-long wrap and get back to work on it. I haven't touched it for months, since Song at Article Pract put it back on the needles for me. I had made a huge mistake and ripped it back about 4 inches, then couldn't figure it out. I'm using a double strand of black alpaca and was flummoxed. I actually had to unknit another couple of rows last night before I could start going forward again. Now if only I can stop frogging and continue onward, I might finish this some day! It's not like it's a difficult pattern, it's a two row repeat. I don't know how I keep making stupid mistakes; probably the yarn, it's hard to see stitches.

Today's Gratuitous Bear of the Day is Bo. About 14 years ago I was working with a woman who bought her young daughter a pretty bear for her birthday. Before she wrapped it and took it home I couldn't stop playing with the bear. A couple of months later for my birthday she presented me with a similar bear. I named her for the bow on her head. She's reminds me of a sunny spring morning, just like today!

Outrage and horror

Like most of the country I'm horrified by the tragic mass murders at Virginia Tech. Thirty three dead, mostly young students. One unhappy, crazed individual got a gun and went wacko. "Guns don't kill people, people do" is one blithe saying, "he could have used an axe or a knife" is another. No, there's no way that many people would have been killed without a gun. These simple hand guns turned into weapons of mass destruction. The guns weren't used for "protection" or for game hunting, they were used to hunt down and kill other human beings. We need gun control and we need it now, before the next slaughter of innocents.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happ -- yeah, that's enough!

I had a mostly fabulous weekend, lots of running, lots of eating, lots of friends. It really doesn't get much better than this. At least not in my life.

Saturday morning was a Coaches run at the San Leandro Marina. As I drove over the Dublin grade I got a baaaaad feeling. It was drizzly and windy. But the lowlands looked ok; lots of dark clouds and a breeze, but still dry. I was going to run only about 4 miles, taking it easy in anticipation for Sunday's run. I started to run with one of the newbie peeps, going a nice slow 13-ish minute mile, and just stopped when we were past the 2-1/2 mile area. I decided to walk/run/meander back to the start, cheering on the people who started later than I did. La di dah, despite the wind it was really beautiful out there as I strolled along. The dark clouds added something to the atmosphere (pun not really intended) of water, waves, birdies, marshes, etc. I cheered and yelled whenever I saw a teammate coming along, knowing they had quite a run ahead of them. Then I felt a drop of rain. Yep, I thought, must be rain because I certainly wasn't going fast enough to be dripping sweat. Another drop. More drops. I decided at that point that running was probably a good idea, just to get back to the start/finish before any real rain started.

I don't know why I sped up, or where I thought I'd be going. Fabulous Cindy and her family were cooking breakfast for the team. The whole nine yards; eggs, pancakes, sausages, etc. etc. etc. Tons of food being cooked in the on-coming storm. Luckily for them they had brought a tent to cover the cooking area. Unluckily for us, there was no other cover except for a really big tree. That was ok until the wind and rain got going. We all wanted to wait for the entire team to finish before leaving, and that meant waiting for quite a long time in the cold wet. We were all whining about frozen fingers, frozen faces, frozen bodies. We whined a lot quieter when the runners came in since they had all run 14 miserable miles. The breakfast was fabulous and the team came through and waited for the last finishers before running for their nice warm cars.

While waiting around we received the sad news that Brenda only had a very short time left. Later Saturday afternoon Brenda passed away. I never knew her personally but felt like I knew her and loved her. She left behind a loving family and an enormous group of friends. Rest in peace Brenda.

Sunday morning started early. Way early. To get to my 6:15 am run I got up at 4:30 am. Oy. I'm so not an early morning person, despite the way it might look from when I get up on weekends. Sandy and Bree joined me for our long run, 20 miles for me and Bree and 10 for Sandy. It was a nice sunny morning on the Alameda Creek Trail. There was no breeze until Bree jinxed us at mile 7 or so by saying "at least there's no wind." Uh huh, right after that, within seconds of that, the wind picked up. Often on the trail it's a swirly wind and it was that way Sunday. It wasn't horrific going east but was very strong and directly in our faces when we went west.

We dropped Sandy off at the staging area after 10 miles and continued our run eastward. Once we got out to the DUST marsh area it was really beautiful. Spring wildflowers were in full bloom and the red-winged black birds were flying all around (ok, I don't know that they're technically red-winged black birds; that's really just a description, not a name). Good thing it was so scenic since Bree wasn't feeling too well there. We decided to walk for a while; what the heck, I was in no hurry and just wanted lots of time on my feet. We ended up walking most of miles 15 and 16 but then went back to running for 17-20. It was amazing how good I felt a the end. Stiff, tired, a little achy here and there, but nothing too bad.

I went home and just washed my face and went back to bed. Ahhhhhh. Not much sleep but the rest was wonderful. I popped up after a few hours, showered and dressed and met my buds at PF Chang's for dinner (and drinks -- don't forget the drinks!). Their food is definitely not recommended while you're on Weight Watchers, but I had just run 20 miles and didn't really care. I finally got my ginger mojitos (no, not ginger martinis as I had thought) and the food was wonderful. Thanks guys, for a great evening!

I finished Clapotis. All of it, dropped the rest of the stitches and wove in the ends. It's beautiful. Even better than I had hoped. I wore it to dinner to show it off and it was soft and warm and -- just wonderful! I decided that when I win the lottery (uh, exactly when will that be, hmm?) I'm only going to knit with silk. I can't wait until I finish a couple of other projects so that I can start something with some of my stash silk.

My (step)nephew Noah finished his first full Ironman yesterday in an amazing 13:09. Wow! Because of that, doesn't he deserve your donation to his Man of the Year campaign? If you haven't made your donation this year to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please consider doing so now through the link on the upper right of this page. I'll thank you, Noah will thank you, the L&L Society will thank you, and grieving families of cancer victims everywhere will thank you. To me, this is personal. We need to keep up the fight against this deadly disease and every little cent counts. Thank you!