Thursday

I am posting this late because it has been hectic this week. Today is graduation. The last day of cherubs for the entire summer! After I gave my last final I cut out for a quick work out before graduation. It was the hottest day of the week, 95 degrees.

I was scheduled to do a bike/run brick for a 60 minute ride followed by a 20 minute run. I rode 15 miles in one hour (go me!) and then ran 1.1 miles. No it did not take me 20 minutes to run 1.1 miles, it took 11 minutes. That is all I could take in the heat. My neighborhood has next to NO shade cover (In California, big trees are for wealthy people) I fought the good fight, but I was not going to make it 20 minutes in the heat and direct sun.

Graduation went well, but I think I was coming down with whatever virus has been plaguing my hubby and I was just "off." I hate that graduation is at the end of the year (I know, when else could it be?) but it happens when I am totally burned out on the kids. I want to be excited for



them and be 'on' for them, but I find myself just wanting to get the hell out of there and start my summer. I got some wonderful thank you cards and gifts from students that were graduating and some that I will get to see next year. They are good kids. They really are. I will miss them, but am really grateful to get a break. I will get together with several students before they go off to college in August and I am sure I will cry and get excited, but right now, I am avoiding anyone under the age of 30. At least for a little while.


I bitch about my job on here a lot and I do want to say that I really do love my job. I just hate some parts of my job sometimes.

Congratulations graduates of 2008. I am so proud of you!

Another quickie

Minds out of the gutter people. I am talking about a quick post. Today is the last day of the cherubs, then Friday is a boring ass meeting day and I am DONE! D.O.N.E. Woo hoo!

Today I ran 5 miles, in 92 degree heat, at 12 noon, on 3 hours sleep. The girl that would use excuses like "I forgot my favorite socks. I guess I can't run today" went out and GOT IT THE FUCK DONE. Go me!

Sorry, I have to celebrate little shit like this. It has been a tough week.

Sidenote: Parents that think their child should pass my class just because their kid shows up everyday, even though said child sits in their chair drooling like they have had some sort of brain injury and does not do ONE BIT of work, EVER, should be prevented from further breeding.

I especially LOVE that I hear from these parents, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, during the last week of school. Then I am accused of not caring about their child, ignoring their child's special needs (must be the need to do absolutely NO work whatsoever), and being unprofessional (I used the word "damn". As in, "I am not passing your son/daughter for sitting in their chair not doing a damn thing") with unethical grading policies (because I do not count participation as part of their grade. This is high school, not kindergarten! Besides, creating a REM sleep drool pattern on the desktop is NOT participating!)

Now she has a meeting with my principal to discuss my behavior.

Kiss my ass, lady.

Kiss. My. Ass.

Anyone need a biology teacher? I don't care about children, am unprofessional and unethical, but I work real cheap.

Speed Racer

A quick post to brag about my ride yesterday. It is the last week of school and my time is very limited, so I had to squeeze in my 1 hour ride. I decided to ride BALLS OUT (sooo classy! Charm schools are clamoring for me to join their faculty)

I rode 15.3 miles in one hour on the city streets and bike trail. This may not sound fast to you, but since you have to stop for stop lights, walkers, joggers, and geese (Picture: Geese at the park along the bike trail. Picture taken on during a run a while ago. I am not skilled enough to take pictures on the bike. I LOVE the fuzzy babies!)

This is my fastest mph average for this ride. It was about 93 degrees and I just kept pushing. Dear God, I am actually getting faster. Fast-ER mind you, not fast. But I will take it!

We ride again!

I wanted to post this yesterday, but I was too damn busy being SUPERWOMAN! (I d id all of my laundry, cleaned all animals cages. did all animal laundry and did four sets of animal nail trims, stripped two rabbit coats [pre-summer shedding season], and gave one cat bath. Then I cleaned the house AND wrote one final lab protocol! Rockstar Status!)

Yesterday my run buddy and I did our first ride together in about 5 months! The weather was beautiful and we had a great ride. We did 22 miles at a pretty leisurely pace just to get her back in the swing of things. I LOVE working out with my buddy!

All in all a pretty great training weekend!

Mr. RBR 1 - Pacific Ocean 0

My training schedule got a little mixed up this weekend because it was my wedding anniversary (Picture: beautiful flowers from my hubby. There are nine. We have been married nine years, but together for 17. Yep, he had to buy a nice rock to compensate for that lag time, I digress..) I wanted to stay up late and watch scary movies with my hubby instead of prepare to get up early and go to an open water swim the the freezing, fucking ocean. Who could have predicted that hanging with the cute guy and bailing on the scary swim would win out?

Then this morning, I chose to run instead of swim at the pool, 'cuz when I bail on something I go all out. Picture: Me heading out to NOT swim! Yippee!

I wanted to go to the new bike trail that I had run at a while back, but when I got there they were having the San Jose Mountain Bike Sprint Triathlon. Rats. So I drove around for awhile trying to find a trail head I had seen on one of my bike rides. I was getting pissed because I couldn't find it (shock of all shocks, I know). I kept telling myself "It is a run. Just park the car and go run, dammit!"

But, I am glad I held out because I found a trail head (Never did find the one I was looking for. Whatever!) As a matter of fact, I found the perfect RBR trail head. There is only one trail. No turns, no other trails lead to it. Just one, stand alone, 10 mile trail. Point to point. It is truly impossible for me to get lost.



Unfortunately it does have a bit of climb in it. Here is the elevation for my out and back 6 miles run this morning:


It was a truly glorious run. Pictures: View from the trail. Pretty shots of the trail. And in case you thought I was just tra-la-la-ing along taking pictures, here I am obviously working hard!
























My other scheduled workout was a 2 1/2 hour bike ride. Hubby and I went out for 32 miles on an absolutely BEAUTIFUL California day.

Rockstar work out day!

I am an idiot

Tonight I was supposed to meet my triathlon clinic group for a bike/run brick workout (that is a workout with more than one sport. There are no actual 'bricks' involved. Just so there is no confusion for Willie! ) long story short, I got stuck in traffic and missed them. Everyone was already out on the ride when I got there. If you have ever read one of my trail run blogs, you know that I get lost in a shoe box.

So, naturally, I decided to head out on my own, in an area that I am not very familiar with.

Yeah. I know, brilliant.

I decided to do 40 minutes. 20 minutes out, 20 minutes back. No turns. Just keep going straight so I don't get lost. That doesn't give much room for choice of terrain. So, 4 days after my marathon here is the elevation chart of my 40 minute ride.



Umm, a little more climb than I was going for. Well, at least I didn't get lost. It took me 40 minutes to go 9.2 miles.

I got back and decided, what the hell, let's go for a run. The run was supposed to be about 20 minutes, so I decided to do 2 miles (21:58). I was surprised at how great I felt. The first run after the Napa marathon suu-uucked. This was quite nice. Go me.

Race Report: San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

Race Report: San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, San Diego, CA. June 1, 2008 (Time: 5:33:12)

First things first

Thank you all for your cheers and tracking me yesterday. It was very cool to feel you all with me during this marathon. It was filled with challenges, but I survived: a little wiser, a little redder, and a little prouder of myself, than when I began. Coming home to all the comments was so sweet. I actually got a little teary that you all took time to be a part of my race. Thank you so much!

You guys rock!

Picture: Race schwag: Number with RBR on it. So cool! (obviously post-race, it will become clear later why is looks like that), medal (VERY COOL. You should do Rock 'n' Roll Events for the medals alone), and the pink hat that my run buddy bought me after the race (LOVE HER!)


Pre-race Day

My run buddy and I flew to San Diego strapped to the back of a epileptic carrier pigeon called an American Eagle commuter flight. It wasn't the smallest plane I have ever been on, but it came in a close second. (The first was when going to a foreign country called Cheyenne,Wyoming. Don't go. Just don't.)

We met up with my LA run buddy at the hotel (She came down too. I am seriously the luckiest person alive. I have the BEST friends. I am unworthy!), and we went to the convention center for packet pick up.

Hmmm, that little sentence make it sound so easy. Unfortunately, the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon is held in San Diego (who knew?) and getting around San Diego when there are more than 20 people visiting is NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE! It took us 1 1/2 hours to go from our hotel to the convention center parking lot (an 8 mile trip). Once inside the expo was extremely well directed and organized and I had my packet, t-shirt, and goodie bag in less than 5 minutes. I bought some race schwag (cute fleece and running shirt)

We had an awesome girl's day out. We went back to the hotel, took a nap and then went out to get pedicures, and off to a less than healthy, but totally delicious, pre-race dinner (can you hear the eerie, foreshadowing music?)

Race Morning

I got up extra early as usual, we left early, got horrifically lost, and then we got stuck in the traffic nightmare that is San Diego on event day.

Awesome.

At 6:15 am (race start was at 6:30 am) I, and about 150 other runners, had to bail out of the car, in traffic, and hike/run up a 1/2 mile, steep as hell hill to the start. Have you ever had the misfortune of walking up a San Francisco trolley hill?

Yeah, like that.

Super awesome.

By the time I got the the corral (corral 21 I was supposed to be in 17, but I didn't make it. You KNOW how much I LOVE being late) my shins were killing me and I was already sweating profusely. I had no time to wait in the port-a-potty line (more eerie, foreshadowing music) and it was time to go. My friends showed up about 20 seconds after me. Turns out IMMEDIATELY after I bailed out they found a way to get up the start. By car. As in, not hike/running up the steep as hell hill.


Awesome squared.

Picture: Me and the RBR girls moseying forward after the gun start. Picture taken by very sweet TNT runner. Damn we are cute!


Marathon lesson # 1: When running a HUGE race in a poorly planned urban community. Do not plan your departure time based on an assumption that the directions you have are accurate, or even fucking close, to the actual layout of the city.


Miles 1-7

The first 7 miles wind around downtown San Diego which was quite pretty and there was a nice cool breeze off the water. It was a beautiful start, still slightly overcast and cool. Gorgeous running weather. Pictures: Running through Downtown San Diego. View of harbor from run course.

Unfortunately, at about mile 3 I realized that my pre-race dinner of spinach/artichoke dip, tortilla chips, an Asian chicken wrap, french fries, and chocolate cake with ice cream, was an extremely poor choice. A fact I would NOT forget for the next 23 miles.




Marathon lesson #2: Greasy, fat-laden, nutrient-poor foods ingested less than 12 hours before an event WILL come back to haunt you. Repeatedly. And often. With much vehemence.


My stomach was a nightmare from that point on. Which sucks all on its own, but sucks doubly hard (Both my mother and my English teacher are SO proud of me right now) because I was running really well. No knee, or leg issues. I felt great everywhere. Everywhere, but my tummy.

Miles 7-10

The freeway. For those of you that have read other race reports on the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll course this is the dreaded section of the race. Picture Elevation profile for the course.


Meh.

Not so bad.

The hill seemed pretty gradual, but the concrete and the slant was pretty rough on your legs. I actually didn't mind it and running on a closed freeway with cars zipping above you on the overpasses was kind of cool.















Pictures 1. running on the freeway. This is mile 10 where we have crested the hill and are heading down. 2. is an absolutely GOR-GEOUS gal I met and ran with, Tina-Louise, from LA. and 3. Me being a goofball, as usual. I can see in my face that I don't feel good and let me tell you, I DID NOT FEEL GOOD. But I was determined to have some fun.

Mile 11

I finally decided that I had to wait in the 10 minute port-a-potty line (This was one of the shorter lines. Hey San Diego, with 22,000 runners, well over half being women, you need more f-ing porta-potties!) I didn't stop before because I feared the porta-potty stop would make things worse. I was right. 13 minutes lost and nothing to show for it so to speak. (Sorry! Totally TMI)

Mile 12

RBR Girls! So excited to see them! I missed them at first, so I had to actually turn around and run back to hug them. I forgot to take a picture! I found out later that getting around San Diego to cheer on the runners was VERY difficult. I so appreciate all the hell they went through for me!

Miles 13-19

Slog, slog, slog.

The sun came out, it got pretty hot, and this long flat section was pretty brutal. Stomach VERY unhappy. RBR very unhappy.

Some very kind neighborhood people were out with their hoses spraying runners. Sent straight from God, these people.

Thank you San Diegans!

Pictures At least it was pretty. I don't know where these were from. Everything was icky at this point.









Mile 18

Another 10 minutes in the port-a-potties. Unhappy, unhappy, unhappy. You know the saying "Nothing tastes as good as 'thin' feels"? How about "Nothing tastes as good as 'not running as a huge, bloated, gas bag' feels"?


Marathon Lesson #3: Spandex drenched in sweat will NEVER return to the same spot on your body as it was when you took it off. Never. Wedgie or saggy ass, choose one and move on.


Miles 19-25

Another freeway stretch that was flat, boring and I wanted to be done. Here is when I first realized that, Hey, maybe all that talk about sunblock was actually directed at pasty white girls like me and I should have worn some! Picture No, I am not wearing a white tank top that is my sunburn. Nice job, RBR!


Marathon lesson #4: When running in June, in San Diego, and you are admittedly as white as a newborn's talcum powdered ass, WEAR SUNBLOCK, DIP SHIT!



Picture Me and T-L at Mile 20

Miles 25-26.2

I don't know if it was psychosomatic, but I felt a little better. I just wanted to be done. I picked up the pace and finished strong. Had I known they were filming the damn finish for the live tracking I would have done something cool instead of just slogging across the line looking at my Garmin. Sorry about that!

5:33:12. It could have been much worse. Considering the excessive time spent port-o-pottying it I think I ran pretty strong. Next time sub-5, baby! Oh, and no Fried Food Fiesta the night before.

Marathon #2 DONE! Go me.