Those diseased vermin gave me a cold!

Damn teenagers! Little germ factories! I keep threatening to install a HazMat decontamination shower over my door. I really need to get on that.

They have no problem cutting my class if they get a hankerin' for french fries in the middle of the day, but when they are sick they always show up and hack and snot all over everything. Then they whine that they can't do any work, because they are sick. If you are sick, STAY HOME! Spare the rest of us your contagious, whiny-ass self, you walking petri dish!

Ahem... sorry. I'm done.



Anyhoo, I have been sick all week and it has been all I can do to keep my head above water with work, my Masters classes (HUGE presentation this week, of course!), teaching at State, blah, blah...

I haven't run since Sunday and I am freaking out. My coach recommended walking today to keep my legs loose. I am feeling a little better, so I will do that.

I do not feel confident about the marathon at all. Not that I am usually a cocky person, but I have trained hard as I could and I thought I would be more confident going into this thing.

I am not.

I think I may throw up.

Hopefully this is normal.

Yesterday's run, pre-marathon jitters

Yesterday it was pissing down rain and I really did not feel like running. My shins have been really sore lately and my coach recommended reducing my mileage because, there was nothing to be gained from running extra miles, and they could potentially hurt me this close to the race. The thought of doing a semi-long run on the treadmill was repulsive to me.

(Picture: Official "Hardcore Status." You can't really tell, but it is raining pretty hard and I am soaked after 6 miles in the rain.)

So I decided to once again try out my rain jacket and hit the Rancho San Antonio trail. Unlike last

time I tried this, it actually rained, hard, for the entire run. There was something liberating about being out there in the pouring rain. I found that the run,rain jacket was great if it was raining hard. It is too hot if it isn't. This time I was able to keep it on for the run.

(Picture: Wild turkeys were every where. I saw about 40 of them. The are quite pretty actually. It was pouring, so this is the only picture that halfway came out. I was worried about my camera getting wet.)

My legs felt like crap and about 1/2 a mile in I was certain that this would be a very short run. Unfortunately, there is no way to run at this park without doing some pretty serious hills. The first 3 miles had about 600 feet of climb, with most of that being between miles 2 and 3. Since I had not done an out and back I was trying to calculate where to turn around to do 5 miles total. I am SERIOUSLY math challenged when I run so I ended up doing 6 miles. I never really felt good, but it did get better than that first 1/2 mile. You can never make a decision about a run in the first mile. I have made a rule for myself that I have to run at least a mile before I decide, "Fuck this. I am going home."

All in all, the rain was not so bad, the trail was beautiful, but the run sucked. This is my last long run before the marathon. I am scared to death that I am not ready, but what will be will be at this point.

(Picture: Just a pretty shot from the trail. I am under tree cover, so this picture isn't as blurred from the rain. This is so much better than the damn treadmill)

The GOOD side of the Solvang trip

It wasn't ALL bad, so here is some good stuff:

(Picture: Lucy is loaded in the truck and ready to go! She looks bored silly, but, really, deep inside, she is excited.)

We decided to drive down the coast along Hwy 1. Many say that it is the most beautiful coastline in the world. I don't have a lot to compare to since I have done limited traveling, but it was breathtaking.

We were following along the race route for the Tour of California bike race. It is one of the biggest professional bike races in the country and it covers 650 miles in California those poor boys got some seriously SHITTY California weather. (click "poor boys" link to see videos of the race. The coastline shots are Stage four.)



The rain was pouring down, the wind was howling, and it was COLD. (Pictures: My husband taking pictures of the coastline in the pouring rain, then returning to the car in the pouring rain.) You will note that I am taking all of these pictures from inside the car.

There was only one thing that I was willing to go out into the rain and cold for.....






BABIES!!! Elephant Seal babies to be exact.

In San Simeon there is a colony of 7,500 elephant seals . There were tons of them. In the winter they have their babies. When my hubby gets his pictures up I will put a link or slideshow up because he got some great shots. They were all the way up the beach, next to the fence. I seriously could have touched one. Please Note: I DID NOT do this, as it is both illegal and wrong to do. We carry lots of bacteria and potential diseases that have unknown effects on wild animals. DO NOT touch them! (Picture: OMG! Big, fat, fatties! Baby faces that are so cute they actually made my heart hurt.)

That was it. The rest was Lompoc hell hole. Hubby went to Solvang to take pictures of the race and had a good time. We ate in Solvang on the way home. I had some pancakes that were unremarkable. Solvang seems cute, but I didn't see much of it. It was nice to spend time with the hubby and Lucy so all in all a success, but I won't be racing back to Lompoc anytime soon.

Hiding out in Lompoc

Ok, so I love booking hotels on the internet you can search see pictures, look for specific amenities, etc. I am relatively new at it since I usually don't go anywhere, but my new race running addiction seems to be taking me all over. Sometimes you can get burned booking this way. Well, this time I am feeling a little like a crispy critter.

We are staying at the Travellodge in Lompoc. I needed a modestly priced (read: cheap-ish) motel that allowed dogs and had wireless internet so I could work on my project. At $79.00 a night it was at the max I wanted to pay for this trip, but since it was only about 15 miles from Solvang and fit the other criteria I booked it.

When we checked in the first thing we noticed was the large number of derelict cars in the parking lot. Either they were starting their own jalopy salvage yard or they had some permanent hotel residents. When we went to our room we found that non-smoking room, wasn't. It reeked of stale cigarette smoke, then I noticed the coup de gras of class, gang tagging etched on the mirror. After settling in I went to check my email and that is when I noticed that the wireless wasn't working. After about four trips to the office, modem rebooting, and countless attempts to reconfigure my wireless settings, they agreed to move us to another room in the morning.

Now I am here in this alone shit hole hotel trying to work on my project. I was planning on running 3 miles today. NOT going to happen. It is icky out there and there are several, less-than-savory characters hanging around the office (apparently friends of the management. Awesome.), so I think I will just stay put. The upside is that they are blasting their music so, I have a free concert with enough bass to vibrate the bed, another free service.

If I click my heels together three times, do I get to go home?

Wednesday

We are headed out to Solvang today. It is a Danish town in California's Central Valley. (picture: stolen from a "Come to Solvang" type site.) I have never been and it is supposed to be a great little town. It will be good to get away for a couple of days with hubby, but I have so much work to do that I am stressed about leaving. I am going to stay in the hotel while he photographs the race and do my presentation for my masters class and grade some stuff for San Jose State. Hopefully I can enjoy myself. It is tough for me to relax on short trips when I have a lot to do at home. Hubby went last year and I was supposed to go, but I canceled on him and I still feel guilty about it.

I will probably go for a run on Friday. This time I will plan a course ahead of time to make sure I only do 3 miles! The hotel has internet so I can keep in contact!

Wednesday Food
B: 2 sl. HM French Toast/banana/coffee (320 cal)
S: dried plums/yogurt & cereal (250 cal)
L: whole wheat bagel w/ artichoke spread and tomatoes (350 cal)
S: yogurt & cereal/apple (200 cal)
D: Bean, Rice & Cheese burrito (600 cal)
S: none
Total: 1720 cal
Water: 3250 ml

The Katydid

Yesterday, I helped a friend (she's older and is like an adopted Grandmother to me) take her older dog to the vet. Katie (the dog) is a 100 pound lab and REALLY doesn't like to go the vet. She has been limping and I feared it was something bad. I was right, Katie has osteoscarcoma. Bone cancer.

Katie is my friend's last tie to her husband that died a few years ago and has been my friend's constant companion since he died. This friend adopted a dog from me, Cassie, a year and a half ago that I found on the street so she has two dogs now. Someday I will write Cassie's story. It is a pretty great one.

Katie is at home now with a Fentanyl patch for pain and my friend is taking some time to get herself ready and say goodbye. Katie still loves her biscuits, her sister (Cassie) and her baby (my friend's great grandson lives with her) but we know that the time will be soon, probably in the next week or so. No one wants her to suffer in any way.


Katie had to stay at the vet's (my good friend Helen is her vet. I make all the animals I love go to her) for the day (this is when I took time to go run) to be sedated for x-rays and blood work to confirm what was happening. When I picked my friend up to go get Katie she said, "some people won't have pets because they are too afraid of losing them and this pain. That is like not marrying your true love because they will die some day. I wouldn't give up what she gave me. Even to avoid this."

Needless to say, I didn't get to make it to my meeting with the coach last night.

(Picture: Katie a year ago, trying to kiss her way out of a nail trim.

"It is almost impossible to get lost"

Today's Run
I decided to run at Rancho San Antonio today. It is a county park that I have heard a lot about but I was always afraid of the trail running. Today I wanted to get outside and run. I could not fathom running on the treadmill today for some reason. I had a n emotional day and needed to just go out and run. It was raining, but not hard. I thought I would try out my run rain jacket. Apparently, the way to ensure that it does not rain is for me to wear that rain jacket. (Picture: California Newt on trail, these little suckers seriously disrupted my nice downhill run. I was so paranoid I would squash one of these buggers I had to constantly scour the trail ahead of me. This little guy was pissed at me. He is in an aggressive posture. Such a bad ass weighing in at 30 grams! Random Trivia moment: California newts secret the same powerful neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin, found in pufferfish and poison dart frogs.)

I will start this story with the preface that I am a planner. Probably to the point of obsessiveness. I also have NO sense of direction. I currently own 3 GPS units due to my complete inability to read a road map. With that in mind....

Today I had no plan and a trail map. Yikes.

The fact that I got out alive and you aren't watching my husband on TV lamenting his choice to let me go, in the middle of the day, to a well marked county park trail without a forest ranger escort is amazing. (Picture: worthless ass trail map, soaked with sweat from being carried in my waistband)


I was going to run 4-5 miles depending on how I was feeling. Note: I said I WAS going to. Again, a lack of planned course lead to crazy wanderings through the Rancho foothills for a total run distance of 7.16 miles. The really sad part if that I saw several other hikers and runners two of which gave me directions. One runner even said, "it is pretty much impossible to get lost here" Ha! He obviously seriously underestimated my ineptitude.


It was a beautiful run. I snapped a few photos since it was my first time there. The beginning of the run had a 1.5 mile hill with 590 ft of elevation gain. When I got to the top I stopped to take a

picture and met another runner and we talked for a couple of minutes about running and dogs (yes, he is the one that gave me directions that I foolishly did not follow) The first hill was a little brutal, but the rest of the run was more rolling hills with plenty of downhill and flat sections. I had a great time. I really wasn't even fretting about being lost until about 6.5 miles. I am in taper for Napa so I don't want to trash my legs too much I will keep my Friday run lighter. Hubby and I are headed to Solvang this weekend to photograph the Amgen Tour of California Bike Race. He is photographing. I will be doing homework. Here is a link (cycling photos1, cycling photos2) to some photos he took of the prologue at Stanford on Sunday.

Food
B: 2 sl. TJ French toast & banana/coffee (290 cal)
S: Powerbar (pre-run)/cottage cheese (post-run) (300 cal)
L: leftover TJ Chicken Stir fry (250 cal)
S: yogurt & cereal (150 cal)
D: more leftover TJ Chicken Stir Fry/1/2 whole wheat bagel (350 cal)
S: 1/2 whole wheat bagel/warm delights mini (275 cal)
Total: 1650 cal
Water: 2600 ml

Time to get real about the eating again

February Update
My quest to improve my health and fitness is a journey and a lifestyle change. I know I will falter and slip back into old patterns, but I have to be honest in assessing my progress. That means that I have to pull back and recognize there is a problem before I get back to where I was before. My exercise has been ok, but not exactly where I want to be. I know I have been posting all my runs, but there is more I want to do to improve my overall fitness. I am happy with my eating and fitness over the winter which is historically a bad time for me, but Spring is approaching and I want to start getting back on track.


I have been avoiding the scale (not a good idea) and this morning confirmed, what I think I already knew, I have gained back 5 pounds (amazing how quickly I can put it on isn't it? It still shocks me and I have been in this body a long time). When I reached my goal weight, I decided to use 135 as my panic weight and I weighed in this morning at 135.5. Time to get serious again. So, I apologize, but the boring ass, freaking lame, food log is coming back.

We are six weeks into 2008 here are my totals so far: (included entirely to make me feel better about the weight gain)

Number of miles run: 141.72 mi
this time last year: 4 mi.
Number of races completed: 5
this time last year: 0
Number of yards swum: 3150 yd.
this time last year: 0 yd.
Number of hours on bike: 2.5 hrs.
this time last year: 0 hrs.


Other news
Tomorrow I have my first meeting with my new triathlon coach and the triathlon training group. I haven't mentioned this because, to be honest, I am a little embarrassed and a WHOLE lot scared.

Why I was embarrassed: It seems "over-the-top" for a 38 year old, back of the packer, trying to break 4 hours on an Olympic distance triathlon to hire a coach. But, screw it I work hard and can afford it so I am doing it.

Why I am scared: There are two group workouts a week and I am sure I will be training with some seriously hard core triathletes (most of whom are probably training for an Ironman distance) and will be, by far, the slowest and least fit person out there, but I am going to do it. Tomorrow night I will get to meet everyone. Yikes.

Food
B: 2 sl. TJ French Toast/banana/coffee (290 cal)
S: apple/coffee/dried plums (155 cal)
L: Whole wheat bagel/artichoke & lt. cream cheese spread (320 cal)
S: yogurt & cereal/handful almonds (200 cal)
D: TJ chicken stir fry (yes, I cooked it myself!)/salad (355 cal)
S: Molten Delights mini (150 cal)
Total: 1460 cal
Water (ml): 3900

Race Report: Buzz 1/2 Marathon San Miguel, CA

My race buddy decided this week to go down with me to the Buzz 1/2 Marathon. Very cool. She wasn't fully ready for a half-marathon, but figured she could finish and I was glad to have the company on what is a miserably boring drive.

(Pre-race ham shot)

We had to leave a o' dark thirty to get to San Miguel for the check in. We are habitually early. I am glad we both feel the same way about this. When I am nervous about something I would rather be WAY too early than get there at the last minute and feel rushed.

The race was held at Camp Roberts Military base and we had to get officially checked in my the MPs (they were super hot, but they had guns so, no pictures. Sorry ladies)

The race is a really small, fund raiser run for the Lillian Larsen School in San Miguel. They were a little lacking in signage, but we figured out where to go. The volunteers were PTA moms, grandmoms, and granddads and were very sweet. There was a full marathon, 1/2 marathon and a kids 5K.

The race started at 8:35 and I was quickly left in the dust as usual. This has stopped freaking me out as much. I think it is good training for Napa. Except at Napa I don't think I will get to pass anyone later on. I did get to pass about 8 people later in the race so I wasn't dead last.

I would love to write what a glorious run this was from the start, but that was not the case. My legs felt like shit for about 5 miles. The side of my shin where I got my injection Thursday was sore, my ankles were sore and I had this nagging pain down the left side of my other shin. I kept telling myself that this was normal, that it was always hard for at least a mile, but around mile four when we started to climb (more on this later) and my legs still felt bad I was beginning to get concerned that I would not feel better and this run would be tough all the way through.



(taking pretty pictures to distract me from my icky feeling legs)

Then came the hill. There was a gradual uphill in the beginning of the race which I don't mind on an out and back because that means you will going down hill in the way in, but at mile 4.5 there was a real hill, that took at serious up turn at mile 5. You might be able to spot it on this elevation chart of the race (yes, that was facetious. Holy shit!)



I ran up the whole thing, I wasn't fast, but I made it up. Interestingly enough, my lower legs felt much better after that. My quads were pretty fried, but at least the nagging pains of my lower legs went away. The rest of the run was good, my knees were complaining on the steep downhill (you had to run back down that beast) but they did pretty well for the rest of the race.

Now for the good part, my previous half marathon time at San Jose Rock 'n Roll in 2006 was 2:59:40. I have been working pretty hard to improve my speed so, I was hoping to do this one in 2:45:00 and my super-secret hope was to do it in 2:30:00. When I saw the hill my hopes were dashed. The SJ Rock 'n Roll is perfectly flat NO hills whatsoever, so I did not think I could improve my time very much on a more difficult course, but when I came in and stopped my watch it read.....


*drum roll please*

2:22:54!!! 10:55 min/mile pace

A new PR on a a much more difficult course! The lady at the finish gave me a Buzz Marathon Finisher's Dog Tag (very cute touch I think. Horrible picture to the right, but you get the point). Most runner's would be mortified with that time, but I thought was was going to cry, I was so happy.

Then I waited for my run buddy to finish. She came in at 3:25:40 and although she had to walk more than she originally wanted, she had a good time too.

We went to lunch and then checked into the motel. I had rented a room because I thought I was going alone and I wanted to shower and nap before the long, boring drive home. It was kind of an extravagance, but since I had already paid for it (I couldn't cancel when she told me she wanted to go with me) we took advantage of it. Since I wasn't going to stay the night I booked a cheap room. We both about fell over dead from laughter when we saw the decor (yep, those are teddy bears. ON EVERYTHING. Including the lampshades), but it was a relatively nice room and felt good to drive home clean and rested.

Don't tell my husband but I think I'm in love

This is a totally stalker moment, but I want to be her. Of course, I will need a time machine and gene therapy to correct some unfortunate genetically encoded pie addiction, but there are some amazing advances in science, so I will keep my fingers crossed.

She is an ultrarunner, with a special love for running 100 miles (not in a month, not in a week, in ONE DAY!) Here is her blog, very inspiring.

The 13.1 miles I am going to run tomorrow sounds somewhat less impressive now, but nevertheless I will be heading down to San Miguel to do the Buzz 1/2 Marathon tomorrow morning. My knee feels pretty good it was sore after the shot yesterday and the doctor said not to run on it, so I didn't. this is a sucky week mileage wise, but on the up side....

IT IS VACATION! NO CHERUBS FOR A WHOLE WEEK!

In the weeds

When I was a waitress there was a saying for when you were completely behind on all your tables. It is called being "in the weeds." (Random trivia moment: the saying apparently dates back to wartime, when being in the weeds would cause your army to be slaughtered. and was used by the army cooks to indicate when they were seriously backed up)

I am totally in the weeds.

Unfortunately, I am 100% responsible for my for my position among the vegetation. We are off next week for President's Week (don't ask me, but I ain't complaining) and I have almost every minute of it booked. I just need to get caught up and I am sure I will feel better. I have a mountain of grading, a major presentation to create for my master's program, I need to do my training, my house is a disaster, I have no clean laundry after today, the list goes on and on and on....

Valentine's Day

It is Valentines Day, the Thursday before a week off of school. The kids are going ape shit and I think it is seriously cruel and unusual punishment to expect us teachers to actually try to teach them today and tomorrow. It is a simple formula:

Teenage hormones + candy + drama = massively unproductive learning environment


Random Trivia moment #2: One of the stories of the origin of Valentine's Day. It was named after a rebellious Roman priest, St. Valentine that lived and died in 270 AD. At the time the Roman emperor had issued an order banning marriage as a means to keep men from being distracted by familial ties assuming that it would make them better soldiers. St. Valentine opposed this order and would meet young lovers in secret and perform marriage ceremonies (see picture to right. I like it because it looks like he is flipping the bird to the Roman emperor). For this act he was jailed and sentenced to death. While in custody, it is fabled, that St. Valentine befriended his jailer and restored the sight of the jailer's daughter, on the eve of his execution he wrote a note to the daughter and signed it "from your Valentine"



Somehow that all got turned into butt loads of money being spent on candy, flowers, and Hallmark cards. Oh, and of course, my favorite, singing, dancing stuffed animals (my husband gets one every year! I love those damn things . I don't think he does, but that is not the point!)


Kooza!

My husband and I bought my parents Cirque du Soleil tickets for their birthdays in October and on Tuesday night we finally went.

It. Was. Awesome.

I have seen three (Vareka, Corteo, and now Kooza) Kooza was the best of the three. That is saying a lot because with Cirque du Soleil it is hard to top the first one you see because you are so blown away.

Now, I am not a "show" person. I hate crowds. I never go to concerts or Vegas shows, because I usually am bored to tears. Cirque is AMAZING. If you have never been you absolutely MUST GO. It is expensive, but worth it.


These women either have no bones at all or they are mutants that have 78 vertebra in their spinal column. Of course, this is a gross exaggeration to illustrate the point that these were the most flexible and strongest humans I have ever seen. (Random trivia moment #3: Adult humans have 24 vertebra in their spinal column. You are born with 33, but five fuse to form the sacrum and the four below that fuse to form your coccyx. The remaining vertebra are divided into three regions of the spine: 7 cervical (neck) vertebra, 12 thoracic (upper back) vertebra, and 5 lumbar (lower back) vertebra.)



Marathon training

I ran on Tuesday and my knee felt pretty good, but I am going to the doctor today to get a cortisone shot just in case. I am going to try to run tonight. It may not happen because the shot made me sore last time. It has been pretty sore since the 30K. I don;'t want it to be an issue for the marathon. I am running in a half marathon this weekend that is supposed to be a little hilly. Hopefully the knee will be ok.

I went and had my weight room training last Sunday. It was pretty laid back. He just told me how to use the machines set the range of motion, etc. They are are FitLinxx machines so it stores your information which is nice.

I am still not sure about a routine. I have some exercise plans that I am taking from and I need to add strength exercises for the knee issue I have. I am procrastinating,

... much like I am by writing this blog instead of grading. Ok, must go back to life.

Race Report: Juana Run 8K

Today I got a little creative with my long run. I decided to sign up for The Juana Run 8K (5 mile) in Palo Alto. I ran 4 miles before the race. It was supposed to be 5 miles, but their course map sucked! I was trying to run the course backwards and then I would run it the right way when the race started. Because the map was so bad and they had drawn the arrows over the street names I got lost and it took longer than I planned. I didn't want to get too lost and miss the start, so I left it at 4 miles, then I ran the 5 mile race, then I ran an additional mile after the race for a grand total of 10 miles this morning. I went to the gym tonight to run again 3-5, but my knee was sore in the first 1/2 mile, so I decided to be conservative and I didn't run. The knee has been a little touchy since the 30K.

So let's get to the race report. It was a pretty uneventful run, so it should be brief.

Juana Run 8K - Palo Alto, CA

The packet pick up started at 7 am with an 8:30am start of the actual race. I was there right at 7 and they weren't quite ready, but the volunteers were cheerful anyway (except the t-shirt guy, he was a little grouchy when I went back because they hadn't given me a race bag, they just gave me the t-shirt by itself. I didn't even know there was a race bag until I saw other people holding it. It had coupons in it, for crying out loud! I had to go back!)

I ran my four miles and ended up at the start which was a seemingly random location in the middle of a neighborhood street. There were probably about 150 runners I would guess. Then without out any fanfare, or signal of any kind for that matter, the race started.
As usual, the pack left at a pace faster than I wanted to run and a pace faster than most could maintain. I did end up passing quite a few people later on. I even passed some men! And they weren't all over 80.

The first mile was a little painful because after the 4 mile run I had to stand around and wait for the 8K to start. My legs felt like lead. After about a mile, a mile and a half I found my legs and my pace picked up. Miles 3-5 (which were really miles 7 -9 for me) I was flying, well, flying for me. It felt good.

Here are my splits for the 8K:
Mile 1 10:53
Mile 2 10:16
Mile 3 9:18
Mile 4 9:55
Mile 5 9:04 (holy shit!)

Are those actually nines?! I can't believe I have a race with all nines in the the last 3 miles! The mile I ran after the race was like a cool down since I had pushed so hard at the end of the 8K.

Alright, let's get to the BEST part of this race. The coup de gras that ensures that I will run this race next year: PANCAKES! The Original Pancake House in Los Altos donated pancakes. Not only did they donate all the food, they cooked the pancakes fresh for every runner! Rock on! Hobee's also donated their famous coffee cake (that I LOVE) so I had some of that as well.







The rest of my day was complete shit. I have been fighting with my husband. Not really fighting, more like I am being a complete psycho over stupid shit that he has no control over and he is not being sensitive enough (he isn't really a sensitive guy, so for me to expect sensitivity to my psychosis after 17 years is a bit stupid on my part. Hello! Did I just meet him?)

Then, I was supposed to have a lab today for my AP biology students and the fucking bacteria that I plated yesterday did not grow. Are you kidding me? The fucking bacteria DID. NOT. GROW! Needless to say, no bacteria, no lab. You can't really do a bacterial transformation lab without bacteria. Aaaaahhhhh!

I had to call the kids to cancel. Some of them showed up because I couldn't get a hold of them and I had to have then call their parents pick them back up. I felt like a idiot. Now, with everyone's nightmare schedules (mine and the kids, you would not believe some of these kids' schedules. They are crazy) we have to reschedule the damn thing.

Is it already Thursday?

Today
Lordy, where did the week go? My masters professor always uses the saying "busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest." That is pretty much how I feel. I am buried already and the semester just started. This is my hardest time of year. From now until May 12th is a mad dash. Good news: I am still running; Bad news: My diet has taken a hit and I am stressed so I am not sleeping nearly enough. Still overall it is much better than this time last year, so I guess I am improving.

I am also seriously burned out on Jenny Craig right now. I think I need a break, but I need to have a plan. In the past "no Jenny" has turned into a free-for-all, and while my eating isn't great, it certainly isn't as bad as I am capable of.

Exercise
Run treadmill (39:55)
Run 4 miles (9:58 min/mile pace)
HR Monitor: Total calories burned (479 cal)

I ran the first 3 miles at 9:20 min/mile and then ran another slower mile after that. My knee felt pretty good, but my legs were still a little tired from the weekend run.

Food
Breakfast
Sourdough toast & jam/coffee (200 cal)
Snack
JC French toast & banana/coffee/ Cliff bar (post run) (470 cal)
Lunch
Chevy's: Chicken Quesadilla (600 cal)
Snack(s)
none (0 cal)
Dinner
JC Chicken Fettuccine (I took the chicken out. It looked gross) (220 cal)
Snack
yogurt & 1/4 c. cereal (150cal)

Total calories in: 1550 cal
Total calories burned from exercise: 479 cal

Very Tired Monday

Melvin Update
Thank you for all the well wishes for Mr. Mel-man. He is doing fine. We are waiting on test results. He is eating and active and time will tell if his issues are resolving. He is very glad to be home and I am glad to have him home.

Exercise
Swim (approx. 26:00 forgot watch)
Swim 1000 yds.
Total calories burned (237 cal)

This little item (H2Oaudio.com iPod case) is AWESOME. It is a waterproof case and headphone set for your iPod. I greatly dislike swimming. I think many people feel the same way about running on a treadmill, but swimming laps makes me continually think, "when do I get to stop?" The addition of music to the incessant laps helped a lot. I had planned to swim 600 yards, but I swam 1000 yards. I would have even kept going for an even 30 minutes, but the lap swim time was over and they were going to start a class in the pool. This rocks!

Food
Breakfast
English Muffin & jam/coffee (155 cal)
Snack
JC French Toast/banana/coffee (320 cal)
Lunch
Sushi: Golden Bell Roll/Tamago (700 cal)
Snack(s)
Yogurt & 1/4 c. cereal (150 cal)
Dinner
JC Chicken Carbonara (260 cal)
Snack
1/2 pc. Choc. cake/yogurt & 1/4 c. cereal (350 cal)

Total calories in: 1935 cal
Total calories burned from exercise: 237 cal

Race Report : Jed Smith Ultra Classic 30K Run

Stats for the day
Total Run Time: 3:34:04
Total Distance: 18.82 miles (according to Garmin GPS)
Pace: 11:22 min/mile (Man. I never expected it to be that good)
Total Calories burned: 2105 (according to Garmin HR monitor)


I got there about an hour and 45 minutes early, checked in and proceeded to wait in the car and go through my now ritual "self-doubt session." Every person I saw looked like they knew what they were doing. I asked myself more than once, "why are you doing this?"

The race was held in Gibson Ranch Park in Sacramento. It was a beautiful park with a lake (complete with geese and ducks) and the start was held by the stables. There were horses, goats (with babies!), a ram (sheep), and a llama. The course was a looped 3.31 mile course and was as close to perfectly flat as you can get without being on a treadmill. The 30K started with a 2.25 out and back to account for the odd distance. Then you ran 5 of the 3.31 loops.

Things I loved about this run:

1. I finished!

2. I was third in my age group and they gave me a hat!! (I think there may have only been 3 in my age group. I will have to check on that. Still awesome!)

3. The people running the race were super nice, supportive and organized. Kudos to Sacramento's Buffalo Chips Running Club!

4. The Ultra runners (there was a 50 miler and a 50K [31 miles] happening at the same time) were so supportive and nice to the back of the packers like myself! Cheering you on, smiling, saying 'your looking good' (this is usually code for 'you look like shit, and like you could use some encouragement').

5. There were two aid stations on the loop, so you were completely covered for food or drink. I had enough on me for the race, but still nice to know it is there.

6. Real bathrooms! No port-o-potties! There were two easily accessible bathrooms on the loop. Rock on!

Things that sucked

1. IT WAS COLD!!! Bitter cold. I wish I had worn a thicker shirt. My blue fleece is too warm to run in, but the thin long sleeve I wore was too cold. At one point I took off my gloves, big mistake. One I wasn't smart enough to correct for about 7 miles. Once I put the gloves back on I felt better all over. Lesson learned.

2. On top of the cold it was windy and raining. Not hard rain just drizzle, but still. Ick.

3. Two words: Looped course. It is a little cruel to have you run past the finish line 5 times before you get to cross it.

4. The recent rains made the trail portion muddy. Really muddy. After a few loops of runners the mud got sticky and threatened to pull of my shoes.