Let the record reflect...

I swam not ONE, but TWO times this week!

And I rode my bike

in the cold

I had to buy tights and everything!

I am willing to entertain the idea that I may have a problem with the LOL cats...

I know, those of you back east that are being pummeled by snow and ice storms, are saying "Quit your bitching you California wussy!" And you would be 100% justified in saying so. I am a bona fide California weather wussy.

Too hot (above 85), I whine. Too cold (below 50) , I whine. Too cloudy (not full, beautiful sun), I whine. You get the picture.

I also, however, paid a RIDICULOUS sum to purchase my 900 sq. ft. house that is located precariously close to The Pink Poodle strip club, so there are pros and cons to everything.

Anyhoo....



IT IS FRIDAY!!! Not just any Friday mind you, the Friday before the Holiday break!!! I am not sure who was watching the clock more, me or the kids, but ...

I AM DONE!! TWO WHOLE WEEKS WITH NO CHERUBS!

Well, not exactly "no" cherubs, I have a AP lab tomorrow (only 2.5 hours) and two AP lectures on Monday and Tuesday ( 2 hours each. I am a smidge evil), but then I am completely CHERUB FREE!


On another note:

I finally did something about the microscopic font on my blog. I don't know if I am just getting old, but it was too darn hard to read.

November Totals and 2009 Plans

I am late posting my totals, but they are at least better than the pitiful October totals.


Just to remember the shame...

October 2008
Run: 79.5 miles
Bike: 32 miles
Swim: 0 yards

Now these are better, but still not great...

November 2008
Run: 85.3 miles
Bike: 168.0 miles
Swim: 0 yards (ummm....yeah.)

I have been a busy little planner bee with respect to the coming months, and I decided to do something crazy like run race plans by my coach (I kind of forgot to tell her about CIM. Oops! She was like, "You are running a marathon on Sunday?!" And probably not in a good way)

Race/Training Plans Spring 2009, aka "Holy shit! I am doing an Ironman in 6 months" And because I am a total geek I am going to list who I get to race with! (There are links to the race websites over to the right --->under my 2009 schedule if any sound fun to you!)

March 1: Napa Valley Marathon Back to the the scene of the crime!! The marathon that made me love marathons!
Fellow Napanian Racers: Julia (from Bizz Johnson) Claire (from training run with Badass Helen), I heard rumors that Julianne is considering it as well!

March 14: Solvang Century 100 mile Ride
Fellow Solvangite Riders: LA Run Buddy and Izzac (Formulaic) and his lovely bride, Kelly

April 4: Cinderella Classic Challenge 100 mile Ride This is an all women's ride that is local and has a training group to help you get ready for it. I am kind of excited (cautiously so, after my first ride with the cycle touring club and the tri club) Hopefully I will finally find some people to ride with!
Fellow Fairy Princesses: none, hoping to convince Run Buddy

April 19: Rage 1/2 Iron Distance Triathlon Scary, is about all I have to say.
Fellow Ragers: STEF!!! so excited! And hopefully LA Run Buddy!!

April 26: Big Sur International Marathon I have always held this as a marathon that only hardcore people do. I don't know if that is true, but I never felt like it was for people like me. I am pretty excited to do it.
Fellow Big Suronians: New Mexico Cindy!! (she is taking a blog hiatus, so now she is New Mexico Cindy since I can't link :o) ) I keep trying to woo Willie into it, but he is being stubborn! Something about me choosing IMCdA over Redman. Boy, he can hold a grudge! ;o)

May 31: Auburn Olympic Distance Triathlon The half is billed as the "World's Toughest Half" and my coach agrees. I am opting for the olympic distance since this is 3 weeks out from CdA.
Fellow Auburnites: Julia and Claire

June 21: Ironman Coeur d'Alene Christ. I don't know if I am ready to even think about this as reality yet.
Fellow Ironmaniacs: IRON JANE!! and Izzac (Forumalic) except in linking to his blog I read THIS which is SO MUCH COOLER!!

Race Report: California International Marathon - December 7, 2008

Today I ran my last marathon of the season. All I can say is...

PR BABY!!

Yep, again. After a string of lack luster performances, I have PR'd the last three races I have done. A 1/2 marathon, a 10k, and now a marathon. Hell yeah!

Time: 5:00:23

Yeah, yeah. So close to my goal of sub-5.

I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in miles 23-25. No regrets though. I did my best and got a 20 minute PR over Napa.




The day before

I met up with Julianne and her hubby at the Expo. Super cool. She is just as bubbly and friendly as her blog. She was going for a sub-4 marathon and she rocked it! We took pictures, but mine didn't come out very good. I will steal hers when she posts it :o)

I went up by myself to this one, but I have an old friend who is in law school in Sacramento and we met up for a pre race dinner.

Cool to see an old buddy!

The Pre-race

It started with a sleepless night and the horror of waking up to realize that my dirt cheap hotel room did not include a coffee maker.

Are you fucking kidding me?! No coffee maker?!

I am certain that approximately 33% of my total blood volume at any given time of day is made up of coffee. How the hell am I supposed to function without coffee? I ended up reheating the 1/2 a cup of leftovers from yesterday's thermos of coffee.

Yummy.

Whatever. At least it it kept me from a B & E charge for knocking over a Starbuck's at 3:30 am.

I hopped on the early bus to the start and then proceeded to wander around the start by myself for and hour and half freezing my ass off and feeling somewhat like a big loser. I did capture a picture of the Vaseline Angels. One guy went up to the Angels took some vaseline and proceeded to lube up the family jewels.

Right. There.

He didn't even step three feet way. God, I wish I had caught a picture of that Angel's face. It was like, " I did NOT sign up for this shit!"

Come on that shit is funny!

The Vaseline Angels of the California International Marathon.
I know at least one set of balls that was grateful they were there

The Race

The start was foggy and cold. The middle was foggy and cold. And the end was, you guessed it, foggy and cold.

There are tiny horses somewhere in that fog. No, the horses weren't actually tiny,
it is just a shitty picture.

Half way mark and a balloon arch. Pretty cool!

The runners were really friendly and talkative. There was a large group of us that ran at steady paces and we were together for many miles. This was both good and bad.

Here is an example of the bad:

In our unofficial pace group, there was one gal that was doing her first marathon with her husband. Now, some of you may think that sounds like a sweet and romantic picture. I adore my hubby, but it sounds like a little slice of hell to me and this guy validated my position by running about 10-15 feet in front of his wife and continually barking "Come on babe, keep the pace!"

What was mildly irritating at Mile 4, had me trying to figure out what I had on me that I could use to kill the mother fucker by Mile 12. (FYI: I decided I would use my car key to open his carotid artery. Yeah, I had a lot of time to think about this. Sorry for the scary window into the fragmented psyche that is RBR)

Yeah, so I decided I needed to get away from them, so I picked up the pace a little. Maybe I should thank Mr. Control Freak for the PR.

I was feeling pretty good at the half, but the asphalt was getting to me. I was ecstatic to see that I was at 2:29 at the half.

There were so many locals that came out to cheer and support the race. This race had the best crowd of any I have been at so far. There were several homespun aid stations with local businesses handing out oranges and water.


It took everything in my will power to not pick up this sweatshirt. I kept thinking about running into its owner like at the Bizz Johnson Marathon, except this time it wouldn't be about being cold it would have been because I wanted it and that seemed wrong and loser-ish.

Nothing says Christmas like a pit bull in a Santa hat!

Here is about Mile 22 where Mr. Control Freak and his betrothed passed me. Yep, there was lots of internal swearing. I didn't have it left in me to catch them. Should have killed the bastard when I had a chance.

I would love to tell you that marathon number 5 was effortless. It wasn't. The big lesson I learned is that while trail running makes any type of hill in a road marathon seem like a joke (lots of whining on the course over the very small rollers), it does NOT prepare you for the pounding of a road marathon. I am definitely comfortable with the distance, but my feet, knees, and hips were complaining by 11 miles in and killing me by 21 miles.

The course is really fast and better than I expected. I expected pancake flat and it is not. It is really rolling. Very easy ups and long gentle downs. It is a really a fast course. If you are looking to PR or qualify for Boston I recommend this course.

This smile belies the mile and a half walk back to my car AFTER the marathon. I was told it was 4 blocks. That lying son of a bitch better hope I don't see him again. Certainly not if I have my car keys.

Off to Sacto!

I don't know why we Californians insist on giving nicknames to our cities, but 'Sacto' is Sacramento our state's capital and the site of the CIM - California International Marathon that I will be running tomorrow. (BTW 'San Fran' is San Francisco, no one who actually lives in the state calls it 'Frisco')

I am very excited to go and meet Julianne and TinaGirl! Unfortunately, we won't be running together. They would have to tie two of their legs together and do a three legged race if they wanted to keep pace with me since they are Fasty McFastertons, but I will get to enjoy their company at the expo!

I can't believe that this is my fifth marathon this year. Just five years ago a marathon (or really, even a 10K) seemed like impossibility. I could not fathom running for 26.2 miles. Even now typing it I think, "You? Fat ass, lazy ass you are going to run 26.2 miles?! Yeah right."


Old tapes die hard I guess.


I don't know if the dirt cheap hotel room I got will have internet, but I hope to catch up with you all this weekend! This week has been like all the others I have been whining about lately so I will spare you the diatribe.

This is a seriously boring ass post. I am feeling a little *blah*. I will end with a self-portrait LOL cat (me, lying my ass off )


Ooh, one last thing, I did pick a new race for 2009. My first 50 miler, The Firetrails 50 in October 2009! I really wanted to do Rocky Raccoon 50 miler with IronJane in Texas, but since my swimming and biking SUCK and I have a little triathlon thing in June I better not.

Any peeps that want to get in on the action?!

Well, that was SUPER!

Today I went on my first ride with the tri club.

Ok, with is a slight exaggeration. I met them at a parking lot, we all left that parking lot at the same time, and that was pretty much the extent of the with for the day.

I had a feeling when all the Cervelos, Felts, and Guru's showed up I was in trouble. They kept saying "don't worry we are taking it easy today", "this is an off season ride" , and "stay in the back with me. I am slow." To which I say, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, and BULLSHIT.

I did make one friend, a girl that was riding in the back with me after the entire group dropped us like a bad habit in the first 2 miles. She said, "I'll stick with you if you stick with me."

Here we are after the ride



Isn't she a cutie? This is EXACTLY what she looked like to me for the majority of the 31 mile ride

FUCKING INVISIBLE!

She dropped me approximately 43 seconds after she told me she would stick with me. Apparently, what she actually meant was that I should stick with her if I was faster, but she could drop me like a used condom if she was faster.

One poor schlub would wait for me at each turn (probably the guy that drew the short straw at the last club meeting) so I didn't get lost. But, really, if I am going to ride alone anyway I would prefer that one person not be forced to wait for me, show me the turn, and then immediately drop me again.

Super awesome ride. Really, I can't wait to do it again.

As if there was any doubt...

I am a super geek.

I was intrigued by this fourth folder, fourth picture thingy I have seen lurking around blogland.

This is the fourth picture in my fourth folder.


Are you kidding me?

Shirleyperly has a professional Runner's World photo shoot where she not only looks like a world class runner, but a super model to boot, AKA Alice has her adorable children as babies covered in bandaids, Cindy has adorable Dink playing fetch AND her cute as pie son being carried in an Igloo cooler (she cheated and posted 2), Stef has a soapy, sweet face, poochalicious, Brinley.

And me? I have Dorkfest 2008.

Photo Explanation: This is a transmission electron micrograph of 3 T2 bacteriophages (bacteria specific viruses) injecting their DNA into an E. coli cell. I mean, as transmission electron micrographs go it is pretty darn cool, but...umm... yeah.

Excuse me while I go find my pocket protector, I have to get ready for the Star Trek convention.

Race Report: Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10K November 27, 2008

I was supposed to run this with my dad, but Thanksgiving dinner obligations kept him from joining me (read: Mom was pissed he was skipping out to go run instead of helping.) No one wants an unhappy Mom and since I have a smaller role in the preparation of the meal (read: I do jack shit for the dinner and bring a store bought pie for dessert every year) I had no room to complain.

I thought I would be solo in this one, but ...

My Run Buddy decided to join me and do the 5K!! Yay!

It was really crowded but I felt pretty good, so I tried to keep a good pace. This is only my second 10K and the first one was done for fun with friends. One of my goals had been to run a 10K at a 10 min per mile pace and today I succeeded!


Total time 1:02:30 a 9:58 min/mile! Woo Hoo! After running 24 miles in the redwoods on Sunday I really thought this was a pipe dream, but lookie there I did it!

After the race we ran into my friend from State. She had run the 10K in 50 minutes.


Whatever, she is freaking 22! When I was 22...

hmmm.... let's see... when I was 22 I was chain smoking cigarettes and barely had the wherewithal to leave the couch to get another Snickers bar.

Ok, bad example.



Thanksgiving

Today I want to give thanks for all the things I am grateful for in my life, but honestly the list is overwhelming. Great! There is ANOTHER damn thing I am grateful for, an overwhelming list of things I am grateful for.

I spent many years of my life clinically depressed and unable to feel gratitude or happiness. Now, I am awed daily by the undeserved bounty of my life. Here is my incomplete list: (in pictures of course!)

1. My family:




The people that know the real you, not just the pretty package you present to the world, and love you anyway.


My husband has been at my side for the worst of the worst and the best of the best. He has stayed when lesser men would have run away screaming. In my wild swings from one extreme to the other he represents my 'middle', my safety. It doesn't sound very 'girl power', but nothing I have accomplished would have been possible without him. I am stronger and better for knowing and loving him.

































My animal family remind me daily that whatever my current crisis or deadline, it just isn't that fucking important. They love me just as much at 130 pounds as 160. They love me just as much with a college degree as without, whether I PR a race or sit on my big ass eating Ho-Ho's. They just love me and I thank the stars above everyday for each and every one of them.



My friends: which I feel close enough to call family. I didn't think I was capable of having friends like this. I am without words for how happy they make me.

The Blogland community of friends. This is another area I am overwhelmed with gratitude for. I have met and virtually 'met' so many amazing people through this journal. A journal I just started to shed a few pounds, but it gave me so much more.

I have a post in my mind that I want to do, but I will have to wait I have to go into work today, but I just want to say thank you. Truly, thank you for all the love and support you have given me over this last year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!