What Mom? No Costume?

Well it looks like summer is officially over :o( boo, hoo. We are so not ready for this. I don't even have a clue where my umbrella is. I guess we'll need to go buy new ones.

And why is it that the weather the past few years always changes on Halloween. Poor kiddos get so excited and then it's cold and wet, yuck!

This year in an attempt to save money I've decided no costumes for the doggies. I know Daisy is happy about that, she hates clothes. Patch on the other hand I think is a little sad. He's been dressing up every year since we got him :o( I didn't even buy him a pretty orange shirt this year.

what mommy? did you say no costumes this year? :o(

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Lazy Days

I have to admit that I have been 100% lazy and have not worked out since Nike. Partially because I was recovering from the race and partially because I am being lazy. The cycle team starts on the 8th and I know that I'll be working out a lot again so I'm kind of just enjoying the time off and at the same time I'm ready and can't wait for the season to start.

Looking back at TNT

At the pasta party on Saturday night The Peguin asked all the Alumni to stand up, then he went on to ask the people who'd done 2 seasons to stay standing, 3 seasons, 4 seasons, etc. He got to 10 seasons and I sat down because I knew I'd done a lot but wasn't sure that I had done more than 10. Well folks, I have completed 12 seasons with Team in Training and on November 8th I will start season #13. WOW!!! I can't believe it.

Here is what I've done

Cycle Winter 2009 (Web Captain)
East Bay Triathlon Summer 2008 (Participant)
EB Run Fall 2008 (Community Captain)
EB Run Summer 2007 (PR Captain)
EB Run Spring 2007 (PR Captain)
EB Run Fall 2006 (Team Captain)
EB Triathlon Spring 2006 (Mentor)
EB Run Fall 2005 (Team Captain)
EB Run Summer (Honoree Captain)
EB Run Winter 2004 (Web Captain)
EB Run Summer 2003 (Training Captain)
SF Bay Area Half Marathon Spring 2002 (Mentor)
SF Bay Area Half Marathon Winter 2002 (Participant)

It's funny to type this out and look back at all those seasons. When I started TNT I actually had no desire to do this at all. Someone I used to work with was involved with TNT and still is and she thought it'd be cool if I tried it. She was going for a 3 mile run and invited me. I made it 1/4 mile and thought I was going to pass out. She went on her 3 mile run and I walked. I signed up though and at first had signed up for the Washington D.C. Marathon, that was insane. I very quickly changed my race and decided that I should start with a half marathon. I did the Las Vegas Half Marathon my first season and hated it. I was so darn sore afterwards, the race itself was not fun. What's funny is that because I'd had fun during the season and met some awesome people I had already signed up for the following season as a mentor, Spring. In fact on the day of my 1st race in Vegas back at home the Spring Season was having their Kickoff Celebration which I missed. When I got back from Vegas I said to myself "SELF are you crazy, you hated that. Why did you sign up again?". Had a good season and went on to run the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon. This season I also made a lot more good life long friends including Ms. Olivia :o)

At some point during the Spring season I met Coach Al at a workout (The first two seasons were only a half marathon team and so Coach Al was not the Coach). He ran with me during that workout and I was so impressed by him. I was also impressed by how much his team loved him and respected him. I watched closely and that night I went home and decided that I'd join the marathon team as a Captain. I could be part of the team but also just observe. I thought running 13.1 miles was crazy but I really thought 26.2 was even crazier and those people had for sure lost their minds. NO WAY! I'm doing that. HA! Little did I know.

It's been 6 years and because of Coach Al and Mama Lisa's training, frienship and inspriation I've done 5 marathons and some how found the determination to do the other crazy endurance sports like triathlons and hopefully in March I will complete a century. I now have personal connections to the cause and I have made as I said above, life long friends and I met my amazing husband.

Looking back at Nike

As I had metioned before Nike is not a race that I train hard for. I do Nike because it'a fun race although a tough course for me because I'm not good on the hills. I also do it for all the fun clothes I get to buy at Nike and the prize at the end, the Tiffany Necklace :o) Nike has also always come after a marathon for me and by the time I do Nike I'm pooped so it's also why I don't push myself to hard. I was looking at my results from the past and it's funny to see how I've progressivly gotten worse in my time although this year I did do a bit better so maybe it's a sign that at some point in my future Nike races I'll do better :o) or as best as I can on this darn hilly course.

My best half marathon time is 2:19:08 which was in 2003 at the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon. Here is a little history on Nike.

Nike 2004 - Ran the Portland Marathon 2 weeks prior
2:40:22

Nike 2005 - Ran the Chicago Marathon 3 weeks prior and was having plantar faciitis/shin splint issues
2:46:14

Nike 2006 - Did the Wildflower Triathlon in March, then did the Disney Half Marathon in September. I continued to train but not as hard as I should have
2:55:27

Nike 2007 - Ran Nike against doctors orders and then went on to Walk New York which took me 7 hours :o( Had not trained at all since I had fallen in September.
3:03:04

Nike 2008 - Did the Pacific Grove Traithlon in September and then trained kind of sort of with Olivia. Got the flu and missed my 8 mile run. Managed to get my 10 mile run in but then didn't run for 2 weeks until race day.
2:52:13

Nike Marathon Udpate Part 2

I've added pictures to yesterday's update :o)

Okay where did I leave off? Oh yeah, crossed the finish line in 2:52 according to our watches and according to the chip results it was a 2:54.

We walked over to the handsome young firefighters with the pretty clue boxes and grabbed our much deserved Tiffany & Co. Necklance :O)


Made our way to the chip removal area and then grabbed our t-shirt which is a poopy brown color this year. I guess that's good for the boys but it's still kind of girly for the boys to wear.



Finally made it out of there and headed over to the TNT tent to grab some food and meet Rocky how was hanging out with his brother.

We chatted with them a little and then Olivia and I headed out to find my dad and Rocky's parents. Rocky decided to hang out longer and watch the marathoners on his team come in. Olivia and I made our way to the Safeway Parking lot where our parents were parked and then we had a nice tailgate lunch :o) we were all starving so we ate a little and just hung out for a bit. By the time we were done and ready to go home Rocky was also ready to be picked up so we made our way over to the Great Highway to find him. We then all headed back to my in-laws house in Daly City to shower, take a little cat nap and then headed back out for lunch.

We had been talking about Salvadorean food the night before so that's what we had for our post-race meal and it was the best meal ever. It was cheesy and it was greasy, yummy for my tummy. After lunch we said our good bye's to Rocky's paertns and then Rocky, Olivia, my dad and I headed back to Oakland. Olivia poo went home and we all went inside, unpacked and passed out. It was a long day and we were all pooped. The rest of the evening was pretty much spent vegging out on the couch.

THANK YOU to my dad who flew up just for our race. THANK YOU to Rocky's parents who hosted all of us at their house and the drove all over SF with my dad on Sunday to support us and cheer us on.

THANK YOU to Ms. Olivia for a great run. I had fun. WOOHOO Nike #5 - COMPLETE!

and THANK YOU to all our other friends who were out there cheering us on.

Congrats to my hubby who had a great race!

Nike Marathon #5

Nike Marathon weekend started for us on Saturday evening with the Pasta Party at the Moscone Center in SF. 7,700 Team in Training participants as well as family & friends from all across the United States packed into the Moscone Center for the Pasta Party.

Rocky, Olivia, my dad and I headed over about 4pm since Rocky had to meet the team at 4:30 for pictures.

After pictures we stood in line and then we were let into the big huge room that had been set up. We grabbed our food and found our table, ate and then waited for the program to start. As usual they had a slide show playing with pictures of the honorees and past races. The speakers this year were a lady from LLS, Joan Benoit Samuelson, John Bingham "The Penguin" and a TNT honoree who made us all cry but also inspired us. We were also told that $18 million were raised for this event alone...WOW!!

After the pasta party the four of us headed to Daly City to my in-laws house to spend the night and then have them drive us to the start. We chatted a bit, got our gear ready and then hit the sack. I for some reason was really nervous and couldn't sleep. Geesh you'd think it was my first race.

Alarm went off at 4:45am. We all got ready, we ate and then we headed out. We arrived at the start at 6:00am and headed over to Geary & Stockton to meet with the team. Coach Al gave his last speech and told everyone they were ready. Did the usual team cheer and then everyone kind of went on their own to find where they were going to line up.

My dad and Rocky's parents hung out with us for a while and then they headed off. They were going to drive around and to cheer us on and they did a great job of that. THANK YOU!!

7:00am the gun went off and the race started. It was about 15 minutes before we even crossed the start line though.

Anyway, once we crossed the start line we were able to get running pretty easily. It was packed of course but it didn't seem like we had the difficulty we've had in the past with trying to get around people. A little past mile 1 Olivia and I had to go to the bathroom so we decided to stop. Rocky wanted to stretch so he joined us. I hate stopping during the race but I'm glad we did because we ran into Raji :o) she was going to walk half of the race. She is still going through chemo but she looked awesome.

We did our duty and then headed back on the course. Rocky finished stretching and Mr. Speedy eventually caught up to us and passed us. Bye bye Rocky.

Then came the unexpected...A HILL!! A SECOND HILL!!! Two hills that were not there before. Two hills that we did not know about. When did this happen? I guess at some point they decided to change the course because the section of trail that we used to run on by Aquatic Park was closed :o( OY!! Olivia and I ran up them and we even ran up the 3rd HILL which is usually the first hill. Olivia got stuck behind some walkers but we both managed to run up it and then downhill we went.

This was the first cheering station for my dad and Rocky's parents :o) We also saw Phil there with his family.

There is a hill coming out of Chrissy Field that we know is there but the course was re-routed here also and the hill we went up was a bit different. We knew before we even got to this hill that we would just walk and that's exactly what we did :o) and it was pretty much the same story on the rest of the hills that came after this one.

I believe the next time we saw our parents was between mile 8 and 9 which was really nice because I was not expecting to see them again til the finish. We also saw them after coming down the Cliff House Hill before heading into Golden Gate Park :o) Again a nice treat because I was not expecting them there.

I have to admit that this is a kind of boring race report. For the second time this year (first was Pac Grove) I had a good race. This race was slow for me as has always been the case at Nike but for the first time in the history of my Nike Half Marathon races I felt good.

I was telling Olivia while we were running that although we would have a slow time that it felt like it was going by fast and neither one of us was complaining. Had some pain in the knees and some pain in one hip but other than I felt good. I was not dehydrated, I didn't feel like I wanted to quite, the knee pain was tolerable. I was actually pretty surprised with how my body was doing. 11-13 were good. We did walk a little on the flats because I think we were both feeling a little bit more of the pain in the hip (Olivia) and my knees but even the walking we did there was very minimal to the walking I've done in the past. Usually by the time I'm in Golden Gate Park I'm ready to sit on the curb and just wait for somone to come pick me up. Not yesterday, we walked it off for a few minutes and then kept on going. A little before mile 13 we ran into Mama Lisa and she ran with us for a little bit. That was nice. We came around the corner at the Great Hwy and down the stretch to the finish line.

I was very proud of us. Finished in 2:52

urrrgghhh, I just tried to post this blog and it didn't work and I lost everything I wrote after the last sentence above :o( sooooo, to be continued.........

Rocky + Grocery Shopping = Trouble

Things have been very hectic this week and everday after work I or we both have had something going on. I have not been able to get to the grocery store so on Wednesday I ask Rocky if he could please make a trip to the store. We needed toilet paper, paper towels and I asked him to please pick up a few things for him to eat breakfast and to make his lunch. We weren't going to be home for dinners so we didn't need any of that stuff plus we had a few things in the freezer if anything changed.

I had a meeting at the LLS office on Wendesday night and got home around 9:30 or so. I put all my stuff away and then headed to the kitchen to get some water. I looked in the fridge at Rocky's purchases. He bought the paper towels and toilet paper we needed, picked up some cereal and milk for his breakfast. YAY! Then I find 2 boxes of ice cream and a package of cookies??? A loaf of bread and salami.

Me: Umm, Rocky where is the other sandwich fixings?

Rocky: Ohhhh, I dunno! Don't we have any?

Me: No silly that's why I asked you to go grocery shopping.

Do you just want two pieces of bread with some salami in it?

Rocky: hmm, haa, haa, no!!

Me: No sandwich fixings but you bought 2 BOXES OF ICE CREAM!!! and COOKIES!!!

Rocky: Yep

OY!!! BOYS!!! My hubby is funny.

Last night Rocky and I headed out to Union Square in San Francisco to pick up our race packets for Sunday. Once again Union Square was converted intot he hub for the Nike Marathon Weekend. We picked up our race packets, mingled with all our freinds and people on Rocky's team and then headed over to Nike Town.

Every year the left wall of Nike Town is covered with the name of all 20,000 runners. Rocky and I found our names on the wall and then headed inside for some shopping.

I was a very good girl and didn't do much damage at Nike although they have made it really really hard to be good. This year they have so many more options and super cute things to pick from. A few weeks ago I was at Forward Motion and they had put out the marathon stuff so I bought a few things. I got running shorts, a running long sleeve top and a nice vest :o) Last night I only bought a cute shirt they had that said 5 year anniversary on it. So I'm all set to go. I have my cute running outfit for Sunday now we just wait for the day to arrive :o)

Tonight we are heading back out to the city for my sister-in-law's birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MINNELLI!!!!

Saturday morning we'll get all our stuff packed up and ready to go, in the afternoon we'll pick up my daddy from the airport, he's coming for our race :o) and then we'll head back to SF for the Pasta Party. Sunday is race day!!

GOOD LUCK TO

ALL OUR FRIENDS

RUNNING NIKE!!!!

Gala Girls

Last night Amy, Jeanette, Olivia and I got all dressed up and headed to the Marine Mammal Center's Annual Gala. The event this year was held at the Ritz Carlton which was a nice treat.

Last year Rocky and I attended with Jeanette and Amy and this year Olivia went as Amy's date and I went as Jeanette's since her hubby couldn't make it. THANK YOU Jeanette for taking me :o)

The evening was a lot fun and the food was super duper yummy! It was nice to get all dressed up in our fancy clothes for the evening.

Giggly Girls

I had a really fun evening last night with the girls :o) well most of them. Brandy couldn't join us and we missed her :o(

Jeanette, Brandy, Lindsay, Olivia & Me

The rest of us met up at Pizza Antica in Lafayette and had a great time chatting and giggling as we always do. I love these ladies and I'm grateful that they are in my life.

Too Old To Party

I've come to realize that I just can't party like a rock star any more. I am too old. Is it sad that I can't keep up with my husband who's OLDer...haa, haa.

Friday night the Motherhumbuckers had their CD release party at the Rockit Room. I went to work and right after work I met Olivia in Rockridge for dinner and she was going to leave her car there so we could ride together. We had a yummy chinese food dinner and then headed into SF. No traffic so we arrived about an hour early. Rocky, Ollie and Jose were headed to Thai food for dinner before the show so we joined them. They had dinner and Olivia and I shared dessert :O) about 9ish we headed back over to the Rockit Room and listened to the first band. They were LOUD and I didn't quite enjoy their music. We mingled with everyone til it was time for Rocky's band to go on and then the party started. They packed the place and they did an awesome job performing. I am very proud of Rocky for all the hard work that him and the rest of the band guys have put into getting this cd completed :o) There were 2 more bands after the MHB which we stayed and sort of listened to but mostly we just mingled so more. By the time we got home and into bed it was about 2am. YIKES!!

Olivia and I decided that instead of running Saturday morning we'd run in the evening so we could get some sleep. I had an informational meeting to work at at 2:30 so I told her I'd head to her house for a run after that. I called her on my way to her house from the info meeting and we decided that we were both still pretty exhausted so we decided to skip the run :o( Instead Rocky met me at her house and she cooked us a very nice dinner and we just hung out. It was a very nice mellow evening which we all needed. THANK YOU OLIVIA!!! After that Rocky and I headed home and to bed. POOPED!

Sunday we were up early again. We had gotten free tickets from Team in Training for the Now & Zen Concert at Golden Gate Park in SF. We all expected it to be a pretty cold day there since it has been freezing and windy. We were WRONG. It was a very clear and very hot and sunny day. I think what saved us is that we were all wearing long sleeves and jeans or it would have been bad. Rocky & I had burnt lips but that was about it. We both had visors so I think that saved our face from burning. The good thing is that we weren't miserable from being cold. It was actually a perfect day in the city for an outdoor concert. We had picked up sandwiches on our way out there so we had a nice little picnic. We enjoyed the music of Lenka, Sara Barellies, Sugar Ray, Gavin DeGraw and Duffy. We were also able to see the Air Show going on at Fleet Week which was kind of cool. I was bummed that we weren't going to be able to go this year but we were able to watch a little bit of what was going on there. I love the Blue Angels and they even flew over Golden Gate Park a couple of times :o) that was a nice treat. We spent 5 hours at Golden Gate Park and when the concert was over we headed home. I plopped on the couch tell bed time :o)

It was a music filled weekend. I am still trying to recover though, I could sure use a nap :o)

New Challenge New Race

Things are good and we are only a week away from doing Nike. I'm feeling good and excited. Tuesday evening Olivia and went on a run which went, aaahh okay. Neither one of us really felt like running. In fact there were a few text messages back and forth and we were super close to bailing. We didn't though and we were good girls and went on our run. It was hot and we were a bit slow but it still went well and we did 3.10 miles, YAY US!!!

Last night I was suppose to swim with Amy & Phil but wasn't able to and really won't be able to the rest of the month. I had told them that I'd commit to swimming starting the first week of November but I guess they found out last night that the pool will be closed in November for maintenance :o( we'll have to come up with another plan.

I won't be running again til the weekend and it'll probably be just a short 6 mile run and then next week running is pretty much out since I've got a busy schedule everyday after work :o( then it's time for Nike. YIKES!

So you say, what's my next Challenge?

I found out this week that I was accepted to be a volunteer on the Winter Cycle Team. I will be the Web Captain and I will be training for the Solvang Century. YEP 100 mile bike ride! I am super excited because it's a new challenge and because it's close enough to my parents that hopefully they will come :o) but I'm also scared! If you live in the East Bay you know that there really isn't any flat areas to train and that if you are in the hills there are major HILLS!!! From what I hear the training ends up being much harder than the actual race. I am scared!!!

Rocky will not be on the team because he's going to focus on school while he's got a bit of a break but he will do the race with me. As we learned last year he doesn't need much training :o( I am excited and a few of our friends will be on the team so it should be a fun and very interesting season.

Wish me luck :o)

Friday Night Fun

Hubby and the band are finally read to release their CD they have been working so hard on. If you aren't doing anything Friday night come on out :o)

Ready for Nike

My poor little blog is getting lonely. Stress is high around these parts of town and I haven't had much time for blogging. I'll try to get better this week.

Last Thursday I had a great run with Olivia and Amy. We did a little over 3 miles in a little over 36 minutes. We were quite warm since it was pretty muggy out and we were pretty out of breath when we finished but I felt good otherwise.

Saturday Olivia and I met up at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek for our long 10 mile run to prepare for Nike in 2 weeks. We decided against running with Rocky and the team because they were running in San Leandro and neither one of us likes the trail there. We always end up leaving there in pain. We decided to do short loops since we didn't have water stops. We needed to come back to the car to fill up. It actually worked out great and made the 10 miles go super fast. We headed out to the left of the trail 2.5 miles and came back. I fueled up with some water and sharies and the refilled my electroytes and then headed back out. 2.5 miles to the right of the trail and back. 10 miles completed in exactly 2 hours. The weather cooperated better than we had expected so that was nice also. It was actually a bit warm for the first 5 miles but the second half was much cooler although I think because of the humidity we were both drenched in sweat, grody!

We ran at a nice comfortable pace. Not all out and not super slow and if we can keep that up at Nike we can finish the race in a good time, not great time but maybe better than we've done in the past few years. We shall see. I feel ready though and I'm excited. I had some pain in the knees while running which is not good but hopefully that doesn't bother me on race day. Sunday I was a little sore all over but today I feel good. YIPEE!!!

I am hoping for 3 days of running and one of swimming this week. We'll see how the week turns out.