Live the Life you Love, Love the Life you Live

Things that Make Mommy Happy

2011-06-20T11:41:00.001-07:00

So the question I get the most of course is if I crave anything. I haven't had any weird cravings like having ice cream and pickles at the same time but when I do want something I MUST have it now!!! Before if I wanted something and I didn't have it for a week or two it was no big deal but now I must have it that moment or at least that day. I find that very strange.

Honest Honey Green Tea

One thing that I become obsessed about though was a tea that I found I think at Noah's Bagel's one day. When I first got pregnant I was pretty adamant about not drinking soda and stuck mainly to water but that got old soon. One day I was getting a bagel and looked at the label on these tea's and decided that they were okay for me to drink. They were low in sugar which I liked, compared to soda, low in calories and they were green tea which you can have when you are pregnant. Of course I had to go and find a tea that was not cheap and that would be super hard to find at the grocery store because they are a popular flavor :( and they aren't a brand that all stores carry. So let's just say that I've spent many trips to different stores looking for the tea and I've even got our family and friends on the look out for it. When we do find it and it's on sale we buy it in larger quantities....LOL!! For example in this picture, they were about a $1 each and I bought out everything they had on the shelf.

Rocky made fun of me when I first told him about the tea's but he ended up reallly liking them also and now takes one everyday for his lunch.

Boppy Body Pillow

I had seen these pillows on other people's blogs and was hesitant at first about getting one but once I found out I could only sleep on my side and started having the knee/hip pain I decided to get one and try it out. I LOVE IT!! and so does hubby and so do the dogs, haa haa!! Everyone loves the pillow and well worth getting it. I don't even use my regular pillows anymore.

Storkcraft Hoop Glider & Ottoman

I knew that we would want and need a glider in the nursery room so I registered for this one and we got it as a gift last week. Hubby set it up and I really like it and have already spent a few hours in it and I know once the baby arrives we'll be in it quite a bit. It's the perfect size and it's really comfortable.

33 weeks

2011-06-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

How many weeks? 33

From thebump.com
What changes are occurring with your body? You are one hot mama -- literally. A 20 percent metabolic rate increase throughout pregnancy can leave you begging for a cool breeze no matter what the weather is like. Distract yourself with an exercise in blind identification. Try to distinguish between baby's feet, fists, knees, and elbows -- all doing some major pushing and nudging inside of you.

What is happening with your baby? Things are heating up inside as well: Baby may grow up to a full inch this week alone, and his brain is developing like crazy. Pretty soon, he'll be able to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing. Also, his bones are hardening, and he's started to keep his eyes open when he's awake.

Baby's now the size of a honeydew!

Doctor Appts? No doctors appts until 2 weeks but we’ve had a few classes. We started Childbirth class on the 13th and we have our second class tonight. We also had our breastfeeding class on Saturday which I’m glad we took cause it helped ease my anxiety about breastfeeding.

Weight Gain? 21 lbs

Stretch Marks? None

Belly Button In or Out? It’s sticking out just a little bit now but for the most part still in.

Maternity Clothes? Combination of both and now that the weather if finally warm I plan on wearing lots of dresses.

Sleep? NOT GOOD :( I’ve had some really bad heartburn/acid reflux/ indigestion and what I’m noticing is that it happens when baby girl seems to be shifting. I had it last month for 2 days and then it went away when she settled into place. I’ve got it again and it’s been so bad that I can’t lay down at all, not even at an angle. I have to sleep completely sitting up which means I don’t really get a good nights’ sleep :( I also had a bad cold/sinus headache this past weekend which didn’t help with sleeping. I’m feeling better today but still have a slight headache. The knee/hip pain continue only at night as well. Now I see why being in the 3rd trimester can be no fun. 7 more weeks to go :)

My favorite snack? At this point anything that doesn’t make me feel so full and icky from the heartburn.

What I miss? SLEEP

Baby Preparations? We are getting pretty close to having the room done. The crib arrived and hubby put it together, we ordered the mattress which arrived pretty quickly. I just need to get all the bedding in there. Hubby also set up the chair/ottoman that we got as a present and which I love. We went and bought a nice rug yesterday and I need to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond and buy the curtains and rods. Last week we installed the car seat into my car and I took it to CHP to have it inspected and of course we had done it wrong….LOL! I’m glad I took it in and now I know how to do it right so we can do Rocky’s car and I also learned a few tips from the officer that we wouldn’t have known from just reading the manual. We had our baby shower last weekend and although it’s in an organized pile it’s still just in a pile all sitting on the bedroom floor so we really need to start figuring out what will go where and get it all organized. I’m still waiting for a shelf to arrive that will need to go up on the wall which will have more storage. We lack in storage space in our home so we’ve had to get creative in getting furniture that will look nice but will also provide storage area.

30 weeks

2011-05-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

Can't believe that we are only 10 weeks away from meeting our little girl. For the most part I've had a pretty easy pregnancy and hopefully it continues that way.

How many weeks? 30

From the American Pregnancy Association:
What changes are occurring with your body? You may begin noticing that you become tired easily during this last part of pregnancy. This may be especially true if you are having difficulty sleeping at night. Some women are able to experiment with different sleeping positionsthat make sleep a little easier. If you are suffering from insomnia, and it is becoming increasingly worse, you may want to consult with your healthcare provider. During this later part of pregnancy, you may also experience mood swings. Some of you may have experienced this in the earlier part of pregnancy as well.

Your body is producing a number of different hormones that can cause your joints to become looser. This may result in your feet actually getting larger. Some women report that their feet grow one shoe size during their pregnancy. This is normally a permanent change.*

How big is your baby? Your baby has now grown to be about 15.15 inches long (CHL) and weighs about 3 pounds.*

What is happening with your baby? As your baby continues to grow, he/she takes up a larger portion of your uterus. You may not feel that your body can handle your growing baby, but it will compensate by allowing your uterus to extend underneath your rib cage.

Your baby’s eyes are becoming more mature, and now he/she can tell the difference between light and dark. Babies at 30 weeks can even follow a light source with his/her eyes. Once your baby is born, he/she will spend a great deal of time with their eyes closed. This is completely normal. Newborns only have the ability to focus on objects a few inches from their faces. While “normal” adult vision is 20/20, a newborn’s vision is 20/400.*

from thebump.com.......Baby's now the size of a squash!

As baby's skin smoothes out, her brain just keeps getting more wrinkled. All those grooves and indentations increase surface area, meaning more room for that oh-so-essential brain tissue. She's also adding some brawn -- her grip is now strong enough to grasp a finger.

Doctor Appts? We had our hospital tour last week and it was a little weird to be there. We realized that the next time we'd be walking those halls in Labor and Delivery would be when we have baby girl. We also had an appt on Friday and her heartbeat sounded great and our doctor was kind enough to do an ultrasound. It's always fun seeing her.

Weight Gain? 19lbs

Stretch Marks? None

Belly Button In or Out? Still in and I did find a belly button ring that is made for pregnancy so I went into the tattoo shop the other day and had mine replaced.

Maternity Clothes? Still wearing a combination of both maternity pants and regular tops and some of my old dresses. I have an interview this Wednesday so I had to go out and buy an "interview" dress because none of my nice work clothes fit, luckily I don't have to dress up too much for work so it's saved me a lot of money.

Sleep? I have good nights and bad nights :( the knee/hip pain continues to be an issue at night.

My favorite snack? Still happy eating all foods :) and lately I've been having either ice cream or almond covered M&M's as my dessert!

What I miss? Bloody Mary's...LOL!

Baby Preparations? The room is painted!! YAY!! THANK YOU HUBBY!! The room is painted and just waiting to be filled with baby girls stuff. We have a dresser in there already and it's got a few outfits including her coming home outfit which I found at a local children's store. I can't wait for her to wear it. I also need to stay out of the store or I'll go broke, haa, haa!! The owner has some great stuff in there.

I need to buy some detergent the next time I hit Target so I can wash all her little clothes. We've got her car seat which we are going to put in the car soon and take down to CHP to inspect.

I still have not put our bag together :( but will for sure do that soon. I don't want us to be caught not having it ready.

Things are all slowly coming together and we are feeling pretty good.

The Bump

2011-05-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

The baby bump has been growing slowly and thankfully this little girl has been good to me :) Actually I think all the hard work of working with my trainer Katie for a year and losing 35 lbs helped A LOT!! I've gained 19lbs which is right on track of where I should be and hopefully I don't balloon up like a house in the next 10 weeks. :)

8 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

26 weeks

today at 30 weeks

The Nursery

2011-05-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

We are moving along little by little with getting the nursery ready. The biggest challenge is space in our home. It's small and Rocky and I have used every inch of space we had open. We had to come up with a clever way for us all to fit comfortably and for all of our things to fit as well.

The spare bedroom was our guest room/computer room/wii room/tri bag room/my closet and dresser room and now it's going to become baby girls room. We originally figured that we would get a smaller desk and leave Rocky in there but he decided to go ahead and let that be her room and he would move to our breakfast nook area.

We got curtains for the breakfast nook and we also put one of our other bookshelves in there and everything fit nicely. I think he's pretty happy with his set up. We still got him a smaller desk which we really like and hides all of the stuff so it's not all out in the open.

Then I started working on the rest of the room. We had to get our daybed out of there and store it away. I also consolidated the things I had in my dresser to just two drawers so that I can share my dresser with the baby. I still have to clean out my closet which I'm dreading. I've gotten rid of a lot of clothes but there is still a lot in there as well as my huge collection of shoes :( ick. Will work on that while I'm off the next few days.

The room is pretty much ready for hubby to paint :)

We've picked out paint from Behr, Gentle Rain.

We didn't want to paint the walls pink because we wanted a more neutral color and one that we won't have to change if and when we have a second baby, if it is a boy they will have to share so the grey will work for both would work nicely for both genders. We are going with grey walls and pink/white accent colors. The furniture will all be black since that is what we already have. I really liked the curtains I found for Rocky's new office so I think I'll use the same ones in the baby's room in white.

Our neighbor offered us her crib and we have decided to put her crib in our bedroom. I have always wanted a wrought iron crib if I ever decorated a nursery and I found one that I fell in love with and at a great price so we ordered it and that will go in the actual nursery. The crib will not be here until sometime in June which is fine, the room should be painted by then and ready for the crib arrival.

Since we are going with grey/pink/white and black we found the perfect sheets at Restoration Hardware Baby and I will be ordering those soon and we have a friend who'll be giving us her baby girls bedding so we are all set there....yipee!!

26 Weeks

2011-05-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

YIKES, I can't believe that we are a few days away from being out of the 2nd Trimester. Time is flying by. Over the weekend my counter showed that we were 100 days away from meeting our little girl. We can't wait although I have to admit that I'm also getting nervous, it's becoming so real that we are becoming parents very soon.

I have been feeling great but the tiredness and fatigue I felt in the 1st trimester is slowly starting to creep back :( and I'm still having major issues with my knees hurting at night. I read some message boards where other woman have the same problem with their knees from having to sleep on your side all night long. It's not fun and makes for a sleepless night and of course the constant potty breaks. I'm pooped.

The bump didn't have much update on this week so I took it from the info this week from the American Pregnancy Association although I did still use the phot from thebump.com. We are in our 6th month and baby girl is the size of an eggplant :)

How many weeks? 26

What changes are occurring with your body? The top of your uterus can now be felt about 2 ½ inches above your belly button. During the remainder of your pregnancy you will grow about a ½ inch per week. If you have been watching your weight throughout your pregnancy and have been sticking to a balanced diet, your weight gain should be between 16 and 22 pounds. *

How big is your baby? Your baby is approximately 13.38 inches long and weighs 2 pounds.*

What is happening with your baby? The development that is occurring at this stage may seem small and insignificant, but it is very important as your baby begins to prepare for his/her entry into the world. The nerves in the ears are developing and allowing your baby to respond more consistently to the sounds that he/she hears. Your baby is also continuing to swallow amniotic fluid which is causing his/her lungs to develop. If you are having a little boy, his testicles have begun their descent into his scrotum. *

Doctor Appts? None this week, we had an appt about 2 weeks ago and baby girl's heartbeat sounded great. I also had a bunch of blood work done and it all came back great. Doctor usually checks for anemia and gestetional diabetes at this point in the pregnancy. All my results came back normal and I'm well within normal range.

Weight Gain? 14lbs

Stretch Marks? NONE..yipee! and hoping it stays that way.

Belly Button In or Out? Still in and I'm thinking that it may stay that way. I do have a belly button ring though that will probably need to come out soon.

Maternity Clothes? Wearing mostly maternity bottoms with all my regular shirts and had been able to wear all my dresses but I'm thinking that's not going to last much longer, they are starting to feel a bit tight.

Sleep? Not going so well :( the combination of having to get up to pee a few times a night and the knee pain is making for some not so fun sleepless nights.

My favorite snack? Greek Yogurt and Strawberries

What I miss? A good nights sleep

Baby Preparations? A few weeks ago we asked Rocky's cousin to come to the house and help me clean out our garage and shed. We needed to make room in the shed for our day bed and a table we had in the breakfast nook. We also needed to put a bunch of stuff from the garage in there. We worked like little worker bee's and got it done in about 2 hours and managed to fit everything we needed in there and still have room for other things if we need it later on. I have ordered our crib, picked out the paint and crib bedding. We also found a new spot for Rocky's "office" and have completed that transition already. I will do a nursery/office post in the next few days.

This weekend I am also going to get a hopsital bag ready for us to have ready. It didn't really hit til I was at the doctor the other day that we need to be ready because this little girl can arrive anytime she'd like. We hope that she makes it til my due date but of course with little babies you never know what their plan is so we should always be prepared.

We have also signed up for our next few classes and our hospital tour and we are all registered at Babies R Us and Restoration Hardware Baby.

Week 21 & 22

2011-04-04T11:31:00.001-07:00

Last week we were in week 21 and the size of a banana. I also had an appt on Thursday to do more measuring of Baby Girls body parts and organs. Things are looking great and she's measuring right on track. We als confirmed that no extra body parts had grown and she is still a girl..LOL!!

I am feeling pretty good and have been back to walking again. I love that the weather is finally starting to warm up and be nice. Rocky and I took the doggies for a walk around Lake Merritt on Friday and we were back out there on Sunday for an official 5k. The doggies even got their own race numbers. We had a good time.

I have been feeling her move more and more now and although it's a strange feeling it's fun knowing she's in there and being active. My belly is still pretty small but you can tell now that I'm pregnant. Although sometimes I feel like I just look bloated and I had too many beers. haa, haa!

Today starts week 22, I can't believe that next week we'll be going into month 6. It all seems to be going by so fast.

How far along? 22 weeks

Baby's size? Per thebump.com……Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop. Real estate within your belly is getting tight, with growing baby leaving little room for your lungs to...well...breathe. Expect the huffing and puffing to start soon. There's not much room for your belly button, either -- it'll pop out any day now.

Doctors Appt? None until the 21st

Weight Gain? 9 lbs.

Stretch marks? No

Belly button in or out? Still in

Maternity Clothes? Still wearing a combination of both. I bought a pair of Citizen for Humanity maternity jeans that I LOVE! So I’ll be wearing those quite a bit.

Sleep? Still going to the bathroom quite a bit!

Foods I am loving? Everything

Foods I am hating? None

What I miss? Being able to sleep on my back.

What I'm looking forward to? Cleaning up our spare room so we can start working on baby girl’s nursery.

Half Way - Week 20

2011-03-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we had a few appointments including a long ultrasound where the technician measures different parts of the baby to make sure it's growing right on track. They also look for certain things like defects in the heart and spine. All looks great :) The ultrasound technician is not allowed to give us an information so I'm not sure what size the baby is right now. We are waiting to hear from our doctor after he views the results.

We also got to find out the gender and we are having A GIRL!!! we are super excited. Baby girl is going to be one spoiled little girl :) Our neighbor came by on Friday with a bag full of clothes that her and her daughter had gone and picked out. THANK YOU Ingrida & Marion.

How far along? 20 weeks, we are at the HALFWAY mark…YIKES!! This seems to be going by so fast.

Baby's size? Per thebump.com……Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

Doctors Appt? None, had 3 appointments last week which included finding out the gender :)

Weight Gain? 7 lbs.

Stretch marks? No

Belly button in or out? Still in

Maternity Clothes? A combination. I can still fit into most of my clothes and although I can fit into my pants they kind of hit me right where my belly sticks out so they can get uncomfortable. A friend of the family was kind enough to let me borrow quite a bit of her maternity clothes and I’ve been wearing those pants and wearing quite a bit of my leggings.

Sleep? Had a few great days where I didn’t get up so much to go to the bathroom and but the last few days have been bad and I’m up 4-5 times a not. NOT FUN!

Foods I am loving? Back to enjoying most foods.

Foods I am hating? None

What I miss? Being able to go like an energizer bunny. I get super tired and winded very easily.

What I'm looking forward to? Finalizing the babies name.

Week 18

2011-03-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

How far along? 18 weeks

I can't believe I'll be half way through this pregnancy in just 2 weeks, yikes!!!

Baby's size? Per thebump.com……Baby's now the size of a sweet potato! Baby's become amazingly mobile (compared to you, at least), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough that you'll soon be able to feel movements.

Doctors Appt? None this week but we have an appt on the 17th which I’m anxious for. Look forward to seeing the little one and hopefully finding out if it’s a boy or a girl.

Weight Gain? 5 lbs.

Stretch marks? No

Belly button in or out? Still in

Maternity Clothes? Have not had to wear any yet but I think soon I will. My bump is still small enough to fit in my own clothes. Although, even though I still fit into my jeans they are uncomfortable around my belly area so I now see why they make maternity pants with the stretchy band :)

Sleep? I have good days and bad days.

Foods I am loving? Not many, my taste buds seem to be out of whack! Although I’m really enjoying fruit so been having more of that and lots of peanut butter sandwiches. I'm back to being able to eat everything including beef & beans but I more just eat because I have to but not really enjoying foods. Hope that goes away soon.

Foods I am hating? None

What I miss? Having energy. Seems like I’m getting tired more easily and get winded easily as well.

What I'm looking forward to? Finding out the sex of the baby.

RIP Pa

2011-03-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

On Friday, February 18th we lost my father-in-law unexpectedly :( we know that he is in a better place free from any illness but he will be missed.

People often tell me how great Rocky is and my response is always YES HE IS. I married an amazing man but I also tell them that his brothers are the same with their wives and they are like that because of what their dad taught them. I'm thankful that I got to meet Pa and spend the last 6 years around him. Family was priority to him and we spent a lot of time together as a family. I know that I and my parents will miss him dearly. I'm also sad that Pa won't get to meet our baby but I know he'll be watching and looking down on us and his memory will live on through his other 4 grand children. They will tell our baby of their Pappy! and he will always be in our hearts.

Rest in Peace Pa!

Rocky, Me, Uncle Bob, my mom, Pa and my dad

at the Giants Celebration Parade 2010

Week 15

2011-02-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Momma and baby are doing well and I'm so happy to be out of the 1st trimester although at the same time it means I only have two more to go...YIKES! I feel like August will be here so soon. I'm feeling great and not having many symptoms. I understand this is my Happy Trimester and then things will go downhill again in the 3rd. We will hopefully find out next month what this little munchkin is as I'm ready to start planning for the baby's room.

We had our pre-natal class on Tuesday evening and we learned a few new things and the rest of the class was more of a refresher for us on what we've read in the books so far. We were able to get in groups and chat with mom and dad's and it was good to see that we aren't the only ones going through the nuttyness...LOL!! Sometimes I feel I'm the only one feeling icky. I know I'm not though.

It has also been great being able to share this expirience with my sister-in-law who is also pregnant and just 2 weeks behind me. We text everyday and share in the misery :) and the fun. Our friend is also preggy and we check in about once a week to see how we are each doing. Our babies will all be born within weeks of each other and it'll be a fun summer of babies.

How far along? 15 weeks

Baby's size? Per thebump.com……Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby's legs now outmeasure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can't feel the movements.

Doctors Appt? Had a routine OB appt on Tuesday and all went well. Baby was moving around a lot and we got to hear a strong heartbeat.

Weight Gain? 3 lbs, right on track with what I was suppose to gain in the 1st Trimester

Stretch marks? No

Belly button in or out? Still in

Sleep? Still going tink about 3 to 4 times a night :(

Foods I am loving? Chinese Chicken Salads and Taco Bell

Foods I am hating? Beef, beans and anything that is too sweet and apparently as of yesterday home cooked Chicken :( hopefully it was just a one time thing.

What I miss? Diet Coke, Salami and Sushi

What I'm looking forward to? March 17th, we have a 2 hour ultrasound and at the end we get to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. Hopefully baby cooperates.

Vote for Ironhubby

2011-02-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Rocky made a video and entered a TNT contest, vote for him and he could win a $500 Nike Gift Card.

Click HERE to vote

Changes

2011-02-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back :) and now that our news is out I can blog without having to make up little white lies about why I'm not training...LOL!!

There are lots of changes happening, some that I'm not happy about and that are out of my control but that I just have to stay positive about and see the positive side of them. These are related to my job and career but I won't go into details since it's not good to talk about work on a public blog. So just keep me in your thoughts and hopefully things will all work out.

The other changes I'm super excited about :) okay, maybe not the part about gaining the weight I finally lost but at least this time I'm gaining it for a good reason. Rocky and I found out on November 28th that we are expecting our first baby and we couldn't be more excited. I'm feeling pretty good now that I'm entering into the 2nd trimester. As most pregnant woman, I've had the crazy symptoms but luckily not all hit me at once and not all hit me for to long. I'm ready for whatever is next.

I will try to update once a week on how we are doing.

Other than that things are pretty good. Rocky's training is ramping up quickly as they head into week 14 as well of Ironman training. He's loving it and I love being able to support him especially in the cooking and keeping him fed department :)

I stopped running/working out back in October and was finally cleared to resume a few weeks ago. Although I was told I could keep running I've decided not to for now. I've been walking a lot and I've been working out at home with all the various equipment we have. It feels good to work out again.

So here is a little update on the munchkin and I

How far along? 14 weeks

Baby's size? Per babybump.com the baby is the size of a Lemon and 3.4 inches and approx 1.5 oz.

Weight Gain? None

Stretch marks? No

Belly button in or out? Still in

Sleep? Sleep is much better than the first few weeks but I’m still getting up 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom :(

Foods I am loving? Water with lots of ice, Chinese Chicken Salad, Frozen Yogurt w/Mango, Strawberries and Kiwi

Foods I am hating? Beef, beans and anything that is too sweet

What I miss? Diet Coke, Salami and Sushi

Milestone? Starting the 2^nd Trimester

What I'm looking forward to? Seeing our little munchkin next week and going to our first pre-natal class.

San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon - DONE!!

2010-10-05T11:54:00.001-07:00

Well I better write about this now or I'll forget or I won't end up doing it. I've never done any of the Rock and Roll races and after having a great race in San Francisco I got super excited and decided to sign up for San Jose Rock & Roll to try to PR again since it was a flat fast course. Oh boy, did the race gods have something else in store for me. I know that every race is not going to be a great race but it's so hard not to beat myself up. I finished in 2:28:16 which is not a bad time for me but I was still a little sad to not beat my 2:18 PR time. There is always next time :)

My original strategy was to start out with the 2:20 pace group and stay with them and then speed up after the half way mark but that pace group was in the corral behind me in 10 and I was in corral 9 :( so I lined up in my appropriate corral and figured I'd just keep a 10:30 pace and speed it up later on. So I did and I actually was able to keep that pace until mile 8 and I was happy because things were looking good in the time department and if I kept the pace I would finish in 2:17.

In the meantime though the weather had gotten pretty muggy. In fact I had started to sprinkle at the start of the race which was a bit odd but that didn't last too long. It just got muggy and I started sweating like a piggy. At the San Francisco Half I had decided not to carry water and I would just use the race water and gatorade because it was spaced out perfectly that I didn't need to carry my own and San Jose was the same. I got the first water stop which I think was either right before or right after the 2 mile marker and at that point I was already pretty hot so I needed the water. I took a cup, I took a sip and OMG it tasted so gross :( I looked over at where the water was being poured, it was water from a HOSE and it tasted like hose water. I spit it out and went for the Cytomax, blech!!! that was nasty also. I think I could have tolerated the Cytomax but if that stuff was mixed with the hose water than it's probably why it tasted so bad. Well there goes my drinking water from the race and I'm in trouble because I'm not carrying any. Most races have bottled water especially because some water company sponsors them. I have no idea what happened at San Jose but you'd think with the amount of money they charge and make off these races they'd provide decent water for the runners.

Rocky, Olivia and Lindsay were going to be at the right side of mile 4 so I knew I'd be seeing them and I knew that Rocky had brought some gatorade for himself so I thought I'd just drink that and tell him to pick up some water for me and I'd just get it from him when I saw him again That never happened. I guess they couldn't get to the right side and they were on the left so I never saw them. I would not see them again until mile 12 :( plan b wasn't gonna pan out for me. **Update 3pm - I just looked up the water sponser and it was Arrowhead, where did the arrowhead bottled water go? cause it sure wasn't out on the course**

Okay, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and drink the nasty water. I took a Power Gel around mile 6 and drank some water with it at the next water stop, probably not enough though. At mile 8 I was starting to feel a bit icky. I knew I was dehydrated, I was sweating quite a bit and I could feel my belly rumbling from the icky water so I took two packets of salt. That seemed to help me a little but by this point I couldn't keep the 10:30 pace so I slowed it down a bit. Around this time the 2:20 pace group finally came up behind me and I was going to try to stay with them but I couldn't. I just got slower. I was starting to get a little anxiouse and worried about being dehydrated so I decided to take off my shirt and just run in my sports bra which I NEVER do but I needed to cool off. I took off my shirt and that seemed to help.

At mile 12 I saw Rocky, Olivia, Lindsay and Leslie and I smiled a very forced smile at them and kept on going, I didn't stop. I was grumpy and since I was so close I just wanted to keep on going. I didn't realize it but Rocky was running to catch me and when he finally did and I saw he had his gatorade I guzzled quite a bit of it down like I hadn't had water in years! It tasted so good and it really seemed to help out. I walked a little, ran a little, walked a little and then ran it in at the finish line! Hubby right next to me :) thank god he caught up to me because I needed that push and that gatorade :)

I feel super sore today and I think a lot of it was that I pushed myself pretty hard in those first 8 miles and then afterwards I think I was tense so my upper body is pretty sore too.

I've learned my lesson on not carrying my own water or at least in finding out before the race what type of water a race will have. Phil said RNR is known for using hose water. Wish I had known that before :( next time I'll investigate more. This race though is probably not one I'll do again. If I'm paying $100 for a race I expect better. The expo was very small. The race gear sponsor was Brooks but the stuff fit funny and they didn't even have the logos on straight. I'm not paying $50 for a shirt that fits funny and has a crooked logo. I was not impressed with the gear. The race shirt they gave us was also Brooks and it was HUGE!! a shirt I will never wear, I think it fits Rocky so maybe he'll use it and of course the hose water. Boo!!

On a good note. This is a race that a lot of TNT people do so it was fun being out there with a lot of our friends. Quite a few people were also out there just to cheer and it's always nice to have that at a race. It gives you and extra boost to see your friends/family cheering.

2010 brought me 3 new half marathon's I'd never done before and 1 PR :) I've had a great year and a lot of that is thanks to my personal trainer who's gotten me in great shape. Losing the extra weight and having a stronger body has made me love running again and being faster is just an extra bonus :) I am also glad with my decision to stick to doin half marathons and not full marathons. My body appreciates it and I just enjoy it so much more. I don't miss running those 18 and 20 milers. I'm happy with how this year turned out. I'm already looking at races for next year and I'm hoping to throw in 3 more new ones. My races will also depend on hubby's schedule for Ironteam 2011. I'll keep you posted on where me and my running shoes will be next year :)

Still Plugging Along

2010-09-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm still here and I'm still as busy as ever. WE are still as busy as ever. I've been enjoying having the hubby home and spending time with him. The nice thing that has happened is that as a result of all my training with my personal trainer and the weight loss I have gotten faster and can now actually keep up and train with Rocky. That has been a lot of fun.

We cleaned up my bike and took it out for a nice 25 mile bike ride two weekends ago. I was pretty tired and out of breath for the first 10 miles but the rest of the ride was really nice and I actually enjoyed it. I plan on getting on my bike as much as I can before winter. I'm really hoping to get an Olympic or Half Ironman done soon but that will all depend on the hubby's upcoming schedule :)

On Labor Day we ran a 5K at Lake Merritt which was a fundraiser for the East Bay Walk Team. They did a great job on setting it up and hubby even won 1st place. After the race we headed out to Shadow Cliffs and did a half mile swim. I felt pretty pooped on the first two loops but after that I got in a groove and felt pretty good.

So I've decided to keep it up and add the swimming and the biking to my running as much as I can til winter hits.

This week I also joined a spin class that's being tought by Rocky's Ironteam Coach at Sports Basement in Walnut Creek. He'll be doing it for 7 weeks and I plan to join them for the entire time. I wanted to puke on Tuesday during and after but it was a great spin and although I'm sore today I felt good doing it. Something new to throw into the mix.

Rocky has signed up for another race, Iromman Coeur dalene in June 2011. We are very excited and look forward to him racing there next year. So the fun of training will start for him soon and so will my cooking, laundry and support :) I'm really excited though and can't wait for him to get started.

This Sunday we are doing a short "training" Tri. It's 700 yards swim, 18 mile bike and 4 mile run. It nice and short and it'll be fun to get out there.

Next on the running race books is San Jose Rock and Roll Half for me and Nike for Rocky. I am really hoping to PR at San Jose since it's a nice flat and fast course. We shall see though how that goes.

San Francisco Half Marathon

2010-07-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

I ran the 2nd half of the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday.

The 2nd Half Marathon covers the second half of The San Francisco Marathon™ course with a slight deviation at Mile 2. The race starts in at Spreckel's Lake in Golden Gate Park and finishes on the Embarcadero (near the Ferry Building). It passes through Haight/Ashbury, the Mission District, into Mission Bay, and passes AT&T Park, finishing just before the Ferry Building.

and for the first time since 2003 I managed to have a great and fast (for me) race :o) My final time was 2:18:19 which was a PR. My last best time was in 2003 at the Avenue of the Giants Race and it was 2:19:28. YIPEEE!!! The races after that have been 2:20, 2:30 and 2:40ish time frame. I somehow progressively got worse instead of better :o(

I fully believe that the cross training with my trainer is what paid off and what has made me a much stronger runner because honestly I did not train as well as I should have for this race. I was suppose to be running Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and that did NOT happen, I was mostly just running on Saturday's and going to the gym twice a week.

I loved the race although I think because there were 3 different races doing on (2 half marathons and a full) it probably wasn't the most easiest race to spectate, I'm not sure, it seemed like there were many parts where no one was cheering and it got quiet out there. The race itself was well supported with water, cytomax and GU. I'm also very thankful that Olivia convinced me to do the second half and not the first. It was a lot less hilly although there were a lot of gradual inclines and it also started at 8:30 :o) I didn't have to get up til 6am which was very nice. Hubby dropped us off at the start line and then him and my parents went to mile 6. It was really nice to see them there but I was feeling so good that I didn't want to stop. I waved hello at them and threw my long sleeve shirt at Rocky and then kept going.

I believe they tried to see us at 9 but missed us so we just saw them again at the finish line. We got lots and lots of goodies at the finish although next time they need to give us a bag to put them all in. I could barely carry it all. I'm very happy I did this race, it's one I hadn't done before and I'm so happy with the way I performed :o) YAY for a good race.

Next......well, next might be San Jose Rock and Roll which I have a few more days to decide on before the price goes up or I may just wait to do Nike in October. I would love to do San Jose because it's a flatter course and maybe I could even get a better time but we shall see.

THANK YOU!!! to my hubby for skipping out his bike ride to come cheer me on and to my parents for getting up at the crack of dawn to join them.

WHOA stop the time!!

2010-06-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

When did it become July, weren't we just celebrating Christmas? GEESH!!

Life at Casa de Reyes continues to be busy as usual. My hubby is doing AMAZING with his training (read here). I can't believe he started this back in November and now his race is only a month away. I"m already getting excited and nervous and I'm not the one doing the race, haa, haa. I am incredibly proud of him and what he has done so far.

I also continue to do well with my training although I did fall off the wagon a bit after we went on vacation at the end of April. It ended up being a month of going to the gym by the time I went back but the good news is that I managed to maintain my weight. I am only doing 2 days a week this time instead of 3 because working out on Friday's before a run is tough. I don't end up getting enough time to recove for my Saturday runs.

I am not running as much this season but luckily all the hard work from the gym has paid off on the road and I'm feeling great during the days I do run which are mainly on Saturday. I am signed up to do San Francisco Half in July with Olivia and I'm looking forwad to it.

Other than that I've been keeping really busy with stuff around the house and having some fun in the sun (now that it's finally sunny and warm out) with the BFF. We did manage to go to Hawaii in April and we'll be taking a small trip in July for our family reunion but until hubby is done at the end of July we won't be doing much traveling.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July weekend :o)

The Yard - AFTER :o)

2010-05-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

If you are facing the house to the left we had Succulents put in. Our neighbor, Ingrid, has succulents and we figured it would look nice to keep it all looking the same and she's done a great job over there already.

In the middle right in front of the house we put a Japanese Maple Tree (Fireglow)

3 Astilbe right behind the tree which look like this now

but will hopefully look like this

and towards the front of the tree we put 3 African Daisy's

and on the right side we put

3 Salvia Plants

5 Variegated Hebe which will have purple flowers that attract butterflies :o)

and 2 Golden Euonymus

I love our yard and can't wait to continue in the back yard :o)

The Yard - Before

2010-04-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned last year when we bought the house that I am NOT a gardner at all. I know nothing about plants and the few that I've tried to plant inside in pots and outside I've managed to kill :o( So there was no way that I was going to take on the challenge of making the yard look nice on my own. I actually attempted to plant a few things last year and I did not enjoy it but then you have my neighbor who's out there all summer and see's it as a stress reliever. I think I got more stressed, haa, haa.

Anyway, last year we did the kitchen and this year we'll focus on the yards. The backyard is going to be done in stages because I"m sure it won't be cheap so we'll take it a little bit at a time. The front yard is much smaller and we aren't putting too much out there so hired a gardner and he started last weekend. We initially hired him to clean out the weeds in both the back and the front but then he told me if I just went and picked up all the plants at Home Depot he'd put them in the ground for us. YAY!!! They finished doing the work last night and we love it. It makes our house look so much prettier. The challenge now will be not to kill the plants but I think I can handle watering. I'm so happy with the way it looks that that's motiviation enough to get me out there with the hose.

Here is what it looked like before and later today I'll take pictures of the after.

Bad Hair Day

2010-04-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

I don't typically have Patch groomed at the groomers because he's always been easy to deal with at home but his fur has gotten a little out of control recently and since he needed his nails trimmed I decided to take him and Daisy in today. I don't like Daisy's hair short but it tends to get too wild especially around her face if it's too long so I have her done every few months. At one point we attempted to do it and that didn't go so well, it's not as easy at it looks.

Daisy looks cute

BUT

I'm not so happy about Patch :o( I was hoping he'd look like this. Short hair on the body and long hair on his ears and tail.

but instead he looks like this

They took his ear hair off :o(

Proud Oakland Resident

2010-03-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

March 28th was the Inaugural Oakland Marathon/Half Marathon and I was part of the festivities. We heard about this race last year and since I am now a resident of Oakland and since the race is local and FLAT :o) I decided right away that I would do it. At some point last October my neighbor and I had been talking and she mentioned that she'd be interested in doing a half marathon for her 40th birthday (her bday was at the beginning of March) so this was perfect for her and I was her mentor/coach.

Ingrid did awesome this entire season considering she only ran on Saturday's and that her mom passed away at the end of January so she missed out on 3 weeks of training :o( She didn't let that stop her though and week after week she got out there and did her mileage and did great. I was gone at Wildflower with the hubby for the last short run before the race and for some reason Ingrid started having knee issues, issues that would become a problem on race day.

Saturday morning Ingrid and I headed over to the Marriott for the race expo. We quickly found out that it was not the expo that I am used to and really it was just a race number/shirt pick up location with a few booths advertising other races. They did have race shirts, hats and mugs so I picked up a shirt for myself although when I got home I realized it was 26.2 and not 13.1, boo. I also got hubby a sweatshirt. I guess the good thing about it not really being a place to shop is that my wallet stayed full :o) We left the expo and had a nice breakfast at Lynn & Lu's off Grand Avenue and then headed back home. I had cleaned the house on Friday and done grocery shopping early Saturday morning so that I could rest most of Saturday which is what I did til around 4pm I started preparing dinner for our "pasta party". Our little running group this season was Onweena, Sandra, Ingrid and myself so hubby and I invited everyone over for a little carbo loading. I decided to make salad, baked shrimp/feta over pasta and bread. Oweena was also spending the night since she lives in Fremont and darn that girl, she brought over cream puffs for dessert which I refrained from having til after the race. Gosh those things are yummy.

It was a nice evening which included a few gifts for the ladies :o) We did not get bags to check into gear check like most races so I made some for each of us.

but I also made this shirt for Ingrid

It made Ingrid cry and then Onweena and then Sandra and then me :o) but Ingrid loved it and it's what she wore on Sunday.

My hubby and his band played on the main stage and he was super lucky and scored a VIP parking pass which is funny because after all the worrying we did about how packed it'd be and where we would park it ended up not being a problem for anyone who got there around 8:00 (race start was 9am) but it was nice to be able to park super close.

My dad also joined us which is always a nice treat, he likes coming out to the races. I guess he couldn't convince my mom though to get up early, lol and join him. I don't blame her. It tends to be an early and of course long day.

Race started at 9am and I managed to finish in 2:41. I have to admit I really don't like the 9am start it's just too late to start a race. Of course it ended up being a warm weekend so it got a little too warm for us out there and we've been training in winter conditions. I still managed to have a good race though and I felt great at the end.

Ingrid also finished although not as great as she had hoped and a little injured :o( at 8 we separated because she had to slow down but around mile 9 she started to have some major knee pain and couldn't run so she walked from 9 to the finish. The good news is she completed her first half marathon and her hubby and daughter were there to see it :o) the bad news is she is still having some knee issues and will have to go through physical therapy. I am really proud of her and what she accomplished. YAY INGRID!!

The rest of our little group did great as well. Onween and Phil both PR'd :O) and Onweena now on her way to training for her first full marathon.

I think th race organizers did a great job in putting this race together and I'm happy that they will return next year. Oakland really needed this and I've read that Oakland brought in almost $2 million that weekend. The people of Oakland were also amazing in coming out and cheering. It was funny that so many people especially volunteers kept thanking us for "doing this for Oakland". I kept telling them NO THANK YOU for being out here for us runners.

I'm talking a little break and still seeing my trainer which continues to go well. I am most likely going to do the San Francisco Half but I'm still trying to decide since July is a very busy month for us and the race is one week before hubby's Ironman. We shall see. I did sign up for Nike Half again as a legacy runner and will be doing that in October. It has now become a tradition and it's the only race I'll keep doing over and over.

Ironteam Wildflower Training Weekend

2010-03-24T13:50:00.001-07:00

He Swam (1.2 miles)

He Rode (56 miles)

He Ran (13.1 miles)

He Completed his First Half Ironman Distance Triathlon (70.3 miles)

We Volunteered and We Cheered

I am proud of him

**********************************************************

I think we are still trying to recover from the weekend, we are pooped but life goes on. Hubby's schedule had no rest time since they rested on Sunday (we drove back home from Wildflower) and I'm go go go with getting ready for the Oakland Half Marathon this weekend. Hubby's band is playing on the mainstage and I'll be running the race with a few friends including my neighbor. This is her first half marathon so my plan is to stay with her for the race.

For some reason I have really enjoyed running this season more than usual. I think part of it is that having my trainer has helped me so much and I don't feel like I'm struggling like I used to. It probably also helps that I've now lost 15lbs and I'm not carrying all that weight around. All the hard work has really paid off.

Still Here

2010-03-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Still here, still training with my trainer, still training with my neighbor for Oakland Half and still trying to keep up with the laundry and food that my husband is requiring...LOL!!! Hubby is doing awesome with his training and I'm very proud of him.

I am still doing great at the gym which makes me happy. I'm also doing good with my running and feel like the training with the trainer has really helped my running. I'm looking foward to running the Oakland Half.

Other than that life's just plugging along. I took a trip with my hubby to Florida a few weeks ago which was a nice break from work. Well, a break for me not so much for him since he was going there for work but it was nice to get away for a little bit. Thing are quickly going to get busy in the next few weeks for us. We've got hubby's Half Ironman Triathlon in 2 weeks, our annual April Vacation, Easter and then of course all the fun summer stuff is quickly approaching. Looking forward to it all and mainly for winter/cold/rainy season to be over.

Last night I had a Stitch-n-Bitch at our house which turned out very nice. It's been a very long time since we've all gotten together to knit although it's been even longer probably since I picked up my knitting needles :o( my poor yarn is growing cob webs on it. NO knitting got done but we did a lot of chatting and it was so nice to see the ladies and catch up with them. Looking foward to doing it again soon.

2010-02-12T10:19:00.001-08:00

Oakland Half Training

2010-02-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! Things continue well and after being measured and weighed today I am down 12 lbs and 9% fat loss...WOOHOO!!! I am still 5 lbs from my ideal weight ant 10 from my goal weight but I have to admit that I feel great. It's the first time in many many years that I have felt this good. Yes, I have been quite active for the past 7 years so at least I haven't been sitting on my rear but I wasn't making a huge effort to lose weight. I had started WW 3 years ago and lost 14 pounds and then 2 years ago I really didn't put much effort into it and at the beginning of last year I really hit it hard. I'm very happy with my progress :o)

Training for the Oakland Half Marathon is going although I must admit I'm not pushing myself very hard. I've only been running on Saturday's or Sunday's and nothing during the week. It's till too dark at night after work and that creeps me out so I won't run alone. I had been helping my neighbor with training, it's her first half, so I had been mainly running with her and not going at my full speed but her mom died :o( so she's been out of town for 2 weeks. The last 2 weeks I've run with my friend/co-worker and she runs a bit faster so we've been sticking together for most of the Saturday runs. I have felt really good during those runs so I really think the loss of weight and strengthening of my core has made a huge difference.

Things at home are good although as usual very hectic. Hubby has been doing amazing with his training and I've been trying to keep up with his laundry and feedings...LOL!!! I though the amount of laundry I produced during tri training was bad!! geesh, this is crazy!. I also finally got a Costco card because the amount of food he's eating is crazy! But it's been fun because I'm getting to try out lots of new recipes. GO IRONHUBBY :o)

Continued Progress

2010-01-26T15:53:00.001-08:00

This are good around here just really busy. Busy at work and busy at home so not much time for updating :o(

I continue to make great progress with my goal to lose weight and be healthy. I've cut down my food portions quite a bit and due to the constant headaches, which I'm still having :o(, I have cut out the alcohol which means no useless calories :o) I've dropped 10 lbs and 5% body fat. The fat is coming off faster than the weight but it's great. For the first time in a very long time I am feeling really good about my body and I'm happy. I'm done with the dieting and obsessing over the weight. I can still eat the things I love I just need to do it in moderation. Now that I'm going to the gym on a regular basis I'm really starting to enjoy it. I have to admit getting up at 5am isn't always easy but I'm doing it and loving the workouts. Now I need to go shopping in the smaller section of my own closet for clothes cause my fat clothes are falling off :o)

I noticed in this picture taken on January 16th that you can really tell in my face that I'm slimmer. No more chipmunk cheeks..lol

Hubby is also slimming down which is not such a great thing, he's going to disappear. He eats like a machine but with all the working out he is still losing weight and getting slimmer. YIKES!! He doesn't have smaller clothes so we may need to go shopping for him.

He is doing great with his training though and I'm very proud of him. He had a fundraiser this past weekend and raised lots of money for LLS.

He also completed his first Olympic Triathlon which you can read about here. Despite only having 4 hours of sleep he did a great job. GO IRONHUBBY!

Results

2010-01-05T10:32:00.001-08:00

Things are going well at the gym. I still have my trainer and let me just say that she is kicking my rear into gear :o)

I managed to get in 11 sessions before the holidays and although I hadn't seen a huge drop in weight I did notice my clothes were looser. The good news was when she measured me and measured my fat I had dropped quite a bit. I was a happy camper. I decided to take the week of christmas off and new years because I've been having some bad headaches. I was only working a few days each week because of the holidays so I decided to just take it easy in every aspect. I managed to be very good during those two weeks and even managed to lose more weight. I've been cutting my food portions in half and because of the headaches the drinking has gone bye bye and that has helped quite a bit. My trainer measured me again yesterday and again my measurements were all down :o) YIPEE!! I have lost a total of 7 lbs since starting and quite a bit of fat. The biggest thing for me at this point is to be healthy. I of course love that I'm skinnier but the main goal is health. Diabetes and high cholesterol run in both hubby's and mine's family so it'd be nice to prevent that with just diet and excercise. The fact that the hubby is training so much and has to eat healthy has also helped us change our eating and consumption of alchohol.

Training for the Oakland Half Marathon starts next week so that will add 3 more days of workouts for me and that should help out even more.

We are both feeling pretty good.

Hello 2010!

2010-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Well we are 3 days into the new year and so far it's been pretty relaxing. It's also come with a bit of bad news but also a bit of great news.

The sad news....Our beloved Coach Mama Lisa who we love dearly and has been a huge inspiration, supporter and mentor to us has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will start her journey on this icky cancer battle :O( Lots of prayers for her.

The good news....our friends Trish and Steve got engaged and I am so excited for them to start their new journey in life together :o) Congratulations to them.

Hubby and I have had a pretty mellow few days. Well, I guess I can say that my days have been more mellow than my hubby's. There is no such thing as mellow in the Ironteam world. ICK!!

We spent New Year's Eve at home together. I made Chicken Pot Pie and we just watched tv and relaxed. It was very nice. Relaxing at home is not something we do often. Friday morning we got up and headed out to Mama Lisa's Annual New Year's Day Run. Although I've been working out quite a bit and have dropped quite a few pounds I'm in no shape to be running crazy hills at Lake Chabot so I decided to meet Meenu and go on a nice walk. Our friend Sandra joined us and we did a nice 4 mile hilly walk. It felt good to be out there and also see everyone.

While hubby's away I try to clean up, do laundry and get all the house stuff done and when he's home and he's not napping..LOL..we try to hang out together and just relax. Tomorrow it's back to work and back to the daily grind of life.

Bye Bye 2009

2009-12-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of the year. This year has been a very busy one for us but we have had a blast.

The start of 2009 brought us a new home, an accomplishment that we are very proud of. I was very hesitant at first to dive into this huge commitment but my hubby got me to see that it was a great decision for us. The drop in housing prices was not good for many people but it was good for us. We love our home and I'm glad we took the plunge. Within the first few months we did some renovations and upgrades with the big one being our new kitchen which makes me a very happy girl because with that new kitchen has come a lot of cooking :o)

We traveled quite a bit this year as well. Hubby and I took a trip to Las Vegas for our anniversary, we went on a small cruise with Olivia to Ensenada for my birthday, attended the yearly Reyes Family Reunion in Arizona, ran a small 26.2 mile race in Chicago and traveled with hubby's family to Palm Springs for Thanksgiving.

Lot's of bday's were celebrated, a bridal shower for the Big Fat Indian Wedding we attened which was a blast :o)

We saw Cher, Beyonce, Stone Temple Pilots, Confunkshun, The So You Think You Can Dance Tour and hubby saw a few more with his friends.

Hubby had a few gigs including the Brenda Donato 5K which is held in memory of our friend Brenda.

My parents moved to Brentwood.

We ran a few races...Chicago and Nike.

We ATE A LOT :o)

We made new friends along the way as well.

Unfortunelty the end of 2009 also brought a loss of a dear friend who I miss dearly so we cried a little :o(

All of this was done with the people we love. I am so greatful for our families and for all of our friends who are in our lives. I am looking forward to 2010 and what it has in store for us and all the new memories to be made :o)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

R.I.P Raji Watawala

2009-12-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

On Friday night around midnight we lost another friend to cancer. It was not a blood related cancer but still a cancer and it's why we continue to fight for a cure. I will miss Raji dearly but I will never forget her and she will forever live on in our hearts.

We have lite a candle for Raji and bought her some flowers,

this is set up on our table.

Trainer Day 2

2009-11-20T16:23:00.000-08:00

Met the trainer this morning at 6am. I got up 15 minutes later today than I did Wednesday and the timing for me to get ready, get on the road and be ready for the trainer at 6 was perfect. I'm a little tired now but I think if I keep doing it it'll get better.

I am sore today from Wednesday and I had mentioned that which she laughed at :o( she said on her way to the gym she was trying to think of how to push me harder...YIKES!!!

She had me to 6 sets of different exercises. Each set consists of 2 different exercises and I have to do each exercise 3 times. So that ends up being 36 reps and it takes 50 minutes. I am surely feeling eat. We are going on vacation next week which means I'll only get to go to the gym once but the nice thing is that I can do all this stuff on my own. The resort we are going to has a gym and since hubby has to workout I plan on doing my workouts also. I'm also liking that all these exercises will help my running :o)

Trainer Day 1

2009-11-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well I decided to work with a trainer at my gym. Today was day #1 and OMG, I have a feeling I won't be able to move tomorrow. So my plan since hubby is training almost everyday was too go to the gym in the morning so I could be home a night. I also like the idea of getting my workouts out of the way because I like being able to just go home after work and not have to worry about doing something else afterwards. The downside is that I have to be up at 4:45am so that I can leave my house by 5:15 and start working out by 6am....YIKES!!! I woke up pretty easily this morning but by noon I was starting to fall asleep and got a second wind around 2pm. I am hoping that once my body gets used to doing this it won't be so hard but we shall see.

As for the training part it went well. I was not easy at all but it went well. I also had some issues with my stomach so I'm going to have to change my breakfast strategy. I usually have yogurt with cereal well the yogurt just did not make me feel good after bouncing around and drinking gatorade so that will have to go. I'm going to try a bagel with peanut butter the next time.

If I can keep this up I plan on going 3 days a week :o) and run on Sunday's with my neighbor. This will hopefully help me shed the last 15 lbs I want to lose and it will also help me stay healthy and in shape since I won't be doing any crazy endurance events next year.

Crock Pot Dinner

2009-11-17T11:19:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to come up with new recipes that are healthy and that also give us a left overs so that I don't have to cook every day. The one easy way to do that is Crock Pot Recipes because they usually yield a larger amount of food and that way hubby can have left overs for lunch or we can have dinner for 2 days in a row. So this week I decided to try a pot roast. I don't usually eat pot roast but I know hubby likes it. I tried a recipe from Allrecipes.com and it was delicious and I think it's one I'll try again. The only change I made to this was to add some potatoes and carrotts since it didn't have any veggies included in the recipe. We put everything over rice and it was a perfect dinner.

I'm back, NO really I am...

2009-11-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

I am taking this first line directly from Brandy's blog

The idea of blogging has become a chore. Although simple in nature, the idea of writing about something.. anything... exhausts me.

I think it's how I started feeling and part of it because I wanted to write about all our summer adventures and once I missed a day and then another and then another it just became to overwhelming to keep writing. So let's just say our summer was crazy and it was buy and it was a lot of fun. Can't believe we are so close to this year being over.

I will just start updating with what's been going on this past week and move forward from there.

The rest of 2009 and all of 2010 will be a mellow year for me. I plan on running the Oakland Half Maraton and Nike Half but other than that I don't plan on too much training. I am going to devote my year to helping hubby get through his year of Ironman Training and help him with his fundraising. He was told by a friend to expect a fun year but also a hard year. He'll have days of happy and excitment and days he'll just want to cry. Doing an Ironman is a tough challenge so it's going to be an interesting 10 months. He's excited to take on this journey and I'm along for the ride :o)

So he made it through week 1 and so did I...haa, haa. I told hubby I'd make sure to be home in the evenings so that I could cook dinner and have it ready for him when he got home from his workouts. If you know Rocky you know he eats A LOT and OMG now he eats A LOT x3. I think I'm going to have to start shopping at CostCo. The good thing about all this is that I do love cooking and this week I managed to cook 4 of the seven days. He also got a packed lunch everyday with lots and lots of goodies to keep him fueled.

In case anyone is looking for some yummy recipe's I'll try to post what I've made

Spaghetti w/Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes (I used less cream and butter and more broth and I added a spicy turkey sausage)

Chicken Tacos (bought some already marinated chicken tenders from Trader Joes's, they were in sundried tomoatoe marinade, flour tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes and a little mexican cheese mix)

Farfalle w/Zucchini (also cut down on the amount of cream and used more broth/wine and added in Aidells Meatballs)

Last night I put a roast with potatoes and carrots in the crock pot. Can't wait to see how it came out.

Got to see my parents and Mr. Hendrix who is a little overweight and now needs to be put on a doggie diet...lol! We'll have to see how well he does since he loves his treats.

Looking forward to one more week of work before Thanksgiving week :o)

Phil's Not Alone!

2009-10-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

Remember 2 posts ago when I said that Phil was crazy? Well, my hubby is CRAZY too :o)

Rocky has decided to go Ironman!

and so have our friends Brian and Chris. It's a decision that Rocky's been thinking about since all the boys started talking about it and last week he decided that this was the best time to do it, he's got my 100% support, he's got the other boys on the team to do it with and other than work being our main obligation there really isnt't any reason why he can't do it. I had already decided that I wasn't going to really train this year. I'll probably do the Oakland Half Marathon in March and Nike Half in October but other than that my year will be fairly mellow. So let the madness begin.

You can follow him on his blog here and if you are feeling like you want to give a little you can donate to him here.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2009-10-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated much about my training but training is over and it's now time to head to Chicago. The first 2 months of training went great but I feel like the last 2 could have been much better. I got bronchitis and then I just kind of lost steam. I did manage to keep plugging along and although I won't be setting a PR I know that this race will be much much better than NY.

GOOD LUCK to the rest of our CHI TOWN Team :o) I'll see you in the windy city!

Crazy Phil!

2009-10-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

As Phil said, I would have never thought 4 years ago that he'd grow to love TNT and endurance events so much that he'd sign up for an IRONMAN...WOW!!! I am so proud of him and can't wait to see and support him on this journey.

You can follow him too and if you can support him with a donation :o)

http://www.ironphil.com/

Still here...

2009-09-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

....I know I know, I keep saying I'm going to get better about updating and I haven't :o( I think part of the reason I don't update is because we've had so much going on this year that I just don't even know where to begin. It's been a fun but very busy summer for us. We are 3 short weeks away from heading to Chicago..woohoo and YIKES! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. The 3 weeks I'm sure will go by super fast since we have quite a bit going on.

Our friends Chris and Meenu will be getting married this Friday. Meenu is Indian and because of their tradition there are a few events that we've been invited too. One of them being the Sangeet which waw held this past Saturday.

What is a Sangeet?

The literal translation for sangeet is "music." The sangeet is the Indian version of a rehearsal dinner. At the sangeet, ladies sing traditional Indian songs, using the dholki (a two sided drum). Friends and family from both sides come together for a night of great food, dancing and singing.

It was a such a fun event and very different from anything we've ever attended. It was really sweet to see how happy and excited Meenu's parents were for her and Chris.

me with the lovely bride

New Look

2009-08-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

I am working on giving the blog a new look, I'm not sure if I'll stick with this or change it a bit. Hopefully once I get that all done I can get back on here and update more often. I've been really bad about it :o(

Bday Wishes

2009-08-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today is my dad's birthday :o)

Happy Birthday Dad!!

2 months down 2 to go

2009-07-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we did 15 miles! WOW!! I can't believe I cactually did it. Life has been a bit hectic and Olivia and I have only managed to do Track Wokouts on Tuesday and our long run on Saturday's but somehow we are doing it and feeling pretty okay. Phil and Sandra were out there with us as well this weekend and they too kicked butt. I am really proud of our little group.

I have to admit though that at 14 miles I wanted to quit but Phil would not allow it...THANKS PHIL!! I was tired and I was also having some knee/hip pain. I pushed through it though and it felt great to do it and be done.

:o) YAY US!

Reyes Family Reunion

2009-07-25T21:07:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we were in Arizona for the Reyes Family Reunion. Why Arizona in July you ask? Well because the uncle hosting it lives out there. The family reunion rotates between Arizona, San Diego, Concord and Daly City. Next year we head to San Diego.

The family reunion is always on the 3rd weekend of July. Rocky's grandparents started this and now his parents and uncle's have kept it going and eventually the responsibility will be passed down to our generation.

We have a great time and it's nice to see the rest of the family we don't see often like the cousins in Oregon and Maryland. It's also very cool to see how close the little ones are. The nieces and nephews look forward to this all year and seeing everyone.

I've Fallen and I can't get up

2009-07-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I didn't fall under a tree but my poor car did. I arrived at work yesterday around 8:30 and my co-worker around 8:40, he said "um, you might want to go check out your car, it's stuck under a fallen branch" YIKES!!! The good news is that there was no damage to my car just a few scratches. The other good news is the branch fell after I had gotten out of my car or I really would have been stuck under it.

The property owner felt really bad so he took my car to get washed and polished til all the scratches were out. It looks pretty now :o)

Running is going okay. Our schedules have been a bit busy so Olivia and I have managed to do our track workouts on Tuesday and our Saturday run's. This weekend we have a 15 miler and I'm pretty nervous about it but I know we'll get it done. I can't believe we only have 2 months til our race.

Birthday Dinner Pics

2009-07-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've been celebrating my birthday for a few weeks now :o) and one of the celebrations was my birthday dinner with some of our family and friends. We decided to have it at Petar's in Lafayette because there is a guy there, Diamond Dave, that we wanted to see. It wasn't til later in the night that we found out he was on vacation :o( but we still had a great time. Thanks to everyone who came out and thanks for all the b-day gifts :o) I had a great time.

Also THANK YOU to all my friends who have taken me out for individual dinners and will be taking me out :o) very sweet of you. I think I'll officially stop celebrating August 5th, haa, haa. One whole month of celebrating sounds good.

I think my mother-in-law took more pictures of the fun evening so I'll post those pictures when I get them form her.

Ensenada by Pictures

2009-07-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

These aren't in the right order but blogger is too much of a pain and I don't feel like turning the pictures around from bottom to top :o(

Rocky, Olivia and I took a 3 day cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada on 4th of July/My B-day weekend and we had a blast. We also got to see my parents while waiting for our flight in Long Beach so that was nice also.

Be Back Soon

2009-07-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

I promise to update soon, it'll end up being a lengthy one cause we've had a trip, my birthday a concert and a run to talk about. I just need to download pictures off my camera.

In the meantime head on over to Sylvia's blog to read about her "little angels". I've always said doggies are like little kids, I know mine are :o)

Pt. Isabel 10 Miler

2009-06-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend we officially completed our first full month of training, it seems like it went by so fast...yikes, that means 1 month closer to Chicago.

This weekend was NOT a good weekend to be out running because of the weather. We had decided last week that we'd start at 7:00am instead of 7:30 which we are glad we did. We knew it'd be hot we did not know it'd be in the 100's. Crazy!

Anyway, Olivia, Sandra and I met at 7am at Pt. Isabel and were promptly on our way. We ran about 0.5 mile and then stretched and then went on our merry HOT ways to do the other 9.5 miles. It was warm but we did have a few spots of shade and a few spots where we got a nice breeze. We made it to the turn around no problem and shortly after we stopped for Olivia to take some GU and at this point Sandra mentioned she was starting to get hot and might be walking more than running. I told her no worries I'm probably in the same boat. I was starting to get a little puffy. I'm not sure if it was the endurolyte pills I had just taken or the sharkie's I had just eaten but instead of slowing down I picked it up a bit and was feeling great and was just running running running....wow! Could I keep this up for the rest of the run? haa, haa, no such luck. I was able to keep it up until I got to about 7.5 miles. I was ahead so I decided to walk a little and wait for a Olivia :o) we walked a little more and then returned to our running. Was getting puffier and hotter but we were still running. We made it to the turn around and walked a little again but then finished of the 10 miles pretty strong. Sandra was not very far behind and although hot and tired we all felt good and everyone had a good run. I am really proud of our little group :o)

I am feeling a little sore today all over and doing a little bit of a shuffle around but other than that I am good and feeling pretty good about our training. Training during the summer is always hard for us because we have so much going on but we are trying to work around all that.

This week we'll only get two days in and will probably miss our long run on Saturday because we are headed on a 4 day cruise to Mexico :o) We had planned on running on Friday morning but it might be too hectic especially since it's a holiday weekend we'll need to get to the airport with a little more extra time. I highly doubt we'll be running 8 miles on the track of the ship...LOL!!! I'd be a bit dizzy and sunburnt.

:o( RIP Farah and Michael

2009-06-25T09:51:00.001-07:00

False Alarm!!

2009-06-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very intersting afternoon and not one I want to have again whether it's real or false.

I got a call at 4:45pm on my cell phone from ADT, our alarm company, that we had alarms going off in the garage. I asked the lady on the phone to please have the police dispatched right away and that I would head home and have my hubby head home also. Rocky is about 10 minutes from the house but I am 45 minutes :O( Anyway, we both rushed home.

On my way home I called Rocky and he said that he had gotten a call from his friend John, him and his wife live across the street, and that his wife called him to say that there were fire trucks were outside of our home.

At this point I was in tears and thinking the worst.

I called ADT back to find out if the police had arrived and she said she wasn't sure but that they had been dispatched and that now we not only had alarms going off in the garage but the whole house and that the fire department had been dispatched.

UGGGGGGHHH. I kept thinking our house was burnt to the ground the doggies were probably not alive.

In the meantime my hubby is trying to get home and you can read his part of the story on his blog here.

The fire department finally called me also to tell me that they had gone out to the house but they saw nothing...PHEW!!! The house was not on fire and the doggies were in the house barking up a storm. She said that they kept getting called though so they wanted to make sure that Rocky and I were okay and that we weren't stuck in the house needing medical help.

Nope, we are okay we aren't even home yet. I told her that the police were on their way to make sure NO ONE else was inside. We thought if the call was coming from inside the house maybe someone had gotten in like a burglar and something went wrong inside.

Anyway, hubby got home, the cops came, I finally made it home and NOTHING was wrong. Something very strange had gone wrong with our alarm system.

Rocky spent a quite a bit of time on the phone with ADT and we decided it was a good idea to have someone come out and check the system.

Mr. ADT arrived this morning and I had to explain to him all over again what had happened. When Rocky was on the phone with ADT last night they read to him all of the activity that had happened between 4:45pm and 5pm.

The front door opened, it closed, opened again, closed. The code was punched into the key pad, the fire department was called anyway, the list goes on. The guy told me that it sounded like it what happens when someone from ADT is testing a new system.

Anyway, very long story short. This was all an administrative error on ADT's part. Someone got a new ADT system and when serial numbers were punched into the system they were punched under our home and account number. So when that person's system was being tested yesterday it made it seem like our house was sending all the signals. Are you freaking kidding me? That is a very big mistake and good thing that the other customer was just getting new service and didn't really need help from the police or fire department.

I am very thankful that it was nothing serious but also pretty upset that we had to go through this. The only good thing that came out of this is that hey at least we know the alarm system in place and procedures work. They called us right away, they dispatched all necessary people right away and OPD and OFD showed up right away. You never know if they take the alarm systems seriously since there are so many false alarms. I am very thankful to both departments for taking this serious and showing up so quickly and also for the follow up phone calls to make sure we were okay.

Better 8 Miler

2009-06-23T09:04:00.001-07:00

So I did end up being a little sore from last weeks track workout. I was not sore the next day but I was sore on day 2. It was a good sore though which means we had a good workout.

Saturday I met Olivia, Sandra and Jeanette out at the San Leandro Marina for another 8 mile run. It was a bit breezy, a bit cool and then a bit warm. This weather is still a bit funky. It was still cooler than it would have been though on the other side of the Tunnel so we are glad we ran by the water.

We had a much much better run this time and although there was a little bit of walking here and there we did way more running than walking so I think things are going to pick up for us and start getting a little easier. I say that now but we'll see once we get out there and start running in the heat. It's suppose to be 80's this weekend!

This week our schedule will be a bit off :o) we are going to the A's/Giant's game tomorrow night so we won't be doing track so we'll wait til Thursday to do a short run and then we have a 10 miler on Saturday. As much as I whine about having to run I am actually enjoying training and happy that we've started back up.

Week #2 Down and on to #3

2009-06-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

Well we officially finished week #2 of our training and it went fairly well.

Thursday, June 12th
Olivia and I had another almost 3 mile run. I think I was a bit tired though and it was muggy out so I wasn't really feeling it but we got it done.

Saturday, June 13th
Holy Smokes this was the longest day ever and I felt it on Sunday. I was up at 6:00am to get ready for our Saturday morning run. We were scheduled to do 8 miles at the Lafayette/Moraga Trail. Meeting time was 7:30am and everyone was right on time. We have a few friends that will be joning us once in a while during the runs which is nice. We headed out on the trail for a mile and then stretched and then off to do the other 7 miles. Olivia I made it to 3 miles and then we needed a walk break :o( The Lafayette/Moraga Trail is a gradual uphill on the way out and a nice decline on the way back. Well, we were feeling that uphill.

I definetly feel that had I kept going to my boot camp class (didn't sign back up after my first 12 classes cause it gets expensive) and had I kept running on a regular basis I would not be struggling :o(

Anyway, the rest of the run was pretty much a run/walk for 4 miles. I do think we ran more than we walked but I can honestly say that the last mile was tough for me. It had also gotten warm and I drank all of my water. 2 bottles was not enough, next time I think I just need to take all 4 bottles with me even if I don't use up all the water at least I have them there.

The good news is we got the 8 miles done and it doesn't matter if we walked or ran them it's that that we were out there and the time on our feet is what counts. YAY US!

After the run we headed to breakfast, then I had to go to Walnut Creek to buy a graduation gift and birthday gift, then I headed home to shower, then I got in my car and drove to Granite Bay (without the hubby cause he had to work), spent the afternoon in Granite Bay with the Reyes family celebrating our nieces graduation, then made the 2 hour drive back home at 9pm by the time I got home and into bed it was almost midnight :o( I was POOPED.

Sunday, June 14th
Had a nice brunch at Faz in Pleasanton with my hubby and although we had every intention on going grocery shopping we could both barely stand up and keep awake. Rocky had worked a 16 hour day on Friday and a 13 hour day on Saturday :o( We made a quick stop at Petsmart and Target and then we went home. I took a nice nap and then got up and cleaned the house and did some laundry. Rocky put up our nice new table in our breakfast nook and I re-did our bedding in our bedroom :o) We relaxed the rest of the evening.

the new bedding

Patch approves :o)

and yes that is a stuffed animal on our bed and yes I do sleep with it, hee, hee

the new table, still need to finish decorating the walls

Tuesday, June 17th
We had our first track workout last night and it went well. I am not sore today so I'm not sure if that means we didn't push ourselves hard enough or I'll be feeling it later/tomorrow. We'll have to see :o)

Buddy Run/Hike

2009-06-10T08:16:00.001-07:00

Tuesday's are going to end up being a "buddy" run day as usual. The plan for now is to run in Danville unless something comes up and then I'll go to Lake Merritt. After my run I will then go for a hike with Debbie.

Last night I met Lindsay and Olivia and we went for an approx. 3 mile run. I forgot my watch and Ms. Olivia's watch did something wacky so we still don't know how far we are running but we figure it's somewhere close to 3 miles. We had a nice run.

After the run I went down the road and picked up Debbie and we went on a nice hike. It starts UPHILL. We hiked for an hour and then I dropped her off and headed home to relax.

this is the view from part way up the hill we start on

We are back to getting home at a late hour so we need to figure out what meals we can cook the day before that can be used as left overs on Tuesday and Thursday's. Coming home and cooking at 9pm is way too hard and by the time we cook, eat and take showers it becames way too late for me.

Anyway, happy RAINY Wednesday :o(

Slow Start

2009-06-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Well our first official week to training was off to a slow start but at least we got 2 days in of running.

Saturday's run was so so. We (Olivia, Sandra, Leslie and I) met at 7:30am at Lake Merritt to do a 6 mile run. I was tired and since I haven't run 6 miles in a very long time I was not sure how it was going to go plus even just running 3 miles at Lake Merritt always feels so long. Anyway, we all started together and quickly separated. Olivia and I were in front, Sandra in the middle and Leslie at the back (Leslie was only going to do 1 lap). Olivia and I got our one lap in and then decided to do the second lap in the opposite direction but I told Olivia I needed to walk for a minute but she could go. She walked with me..LOL!! We ended up walking 1 mile, running 1 mile, walking 1/2 mile and running the last 1/2 mile. So although we didn't manage to run the full 6 miles at least we got out there and did 6 one way or another :o) Sandra on the other hand plugged along and did great. She ran all 6 :o)

After the run I headed home to meet Rocky and my parents and then we ran some errands, I later had a facial appt and then came back again to meet everyone for dinner at PF Chang's in Pleasanton for my mom's bday.

UGGHHHHH, could not have picked an ickier day to go there. I don't know if that location has gone down hill since the last time I was there or if they were just having a bad day with food but it was not fun at all. First the girl who brough our appetizers didn't bring us plates and when we asked for plates she left to get them and never came back. My dad and Rocky had ordered white rice, they bring it out and it's NOT cooked. We ordered Mu Shu Pork and I'm not sure what happened with that but the waiter himsef decided to take those back. We never even tasted them. My mom ordered Cho Fun, the noodles were so hard she could barely cut them with a knife. We complained and the manager blah blah blah, I"m sorry. Okay fine whatever, he took a few bucks off the bill. After all that my dad orders coffee and the mug is HOT but the coffee inside is cold :o( Never going back to that location again. Luckily we had brought our own cake for her bday and that was super yummy. It was strawberry shortcake from Merritt Bakery..yummy!!

Sunday my parents left early with Hendrix :o( boo, hoo, and Rocky had Kali. Later in the day we hit the Walnut Creek Art & Wine Festival with Olivia, Debbie and Brian. It was breezy but finally a warm day in the Bay. It was a lot of fun and we had lots of yummy festival food and beer :o) we all even managed to get a little cripy from the sun. What's up with this weather? One minute we are freezing the next we can't get sunscreen on fast enough. Craziness!

Today is my mom's official birthday so....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Here I Is :o)

2009-06-05T08:30:00.001-07:00

I've been lazy about not updating my blog :o( We's been busy the last few weeks so it's no like I don't thave anything to write about. I'll have to do a shortish recap.

Hendrix

If you're my friend on Facebook you know already that we've had a little guy named Hendrix staying with us. Hendrix is a 6 month old, 5lb Chihuahua :o) My parents had been looking for a doggie and we found this one at a breeder in Walnut Creek. The idea was that we'd pick him up and keep him for 2 weeks until my parents came to visit and then they would take him home. Well the little guy ended up getting bronchitis so he's been living with us for a month. It has been a bit chaotic but it has also been a lot of fun. He is the most adorable doggie ever and him and Daisy have become best buddies. We are all sad that he's going to be going home with my parents this weekend.

Parents Visit

My parents arrived at our house on May 15th and stayed for 5 days. It was their first time coming to visit us in our new home. We took them to Sonoma the first day they were in town and went to Cline's Spring Fling Party for their members. We had a great time but it was in the 90's and even though we were in the shade we were all miserable. I think we lasted about 3 hours and then we headed home. The rest of the time there were here we ran some errands, hung out at the house and ate :o) My dad was very kind and planted some tomatoe plants for us :o) They seem to be doing well and I haven't killed them yet.

Memorial Weekend

We had a nice weekend it was a combination of mellow relaxing and having fun at different events. On that Saturday we headed to Livermore to Coach Al's Fundraiser at Wente Vineyards. The turnout was low but Coach still made over $1000...yay!!

On Sunday we went to the San Ramon Art & Wind Festival with Olivia and WE FROZE. That whole weekend was weird and it was like we had gone back to winter :o( not fun holiday weather. After the festival Rocky and I headed over to the Walnut Creek Yacht Club for their 12 Year Anniversary Party. It was a fun party with lots of different seafood appetizers, drinks and music. Rocky and I are always up for all you can eat oysters especially when they are free :o)

On Monday we had the gang over and we BBQ'd. The weather was actually a bit nicer and we were able to hang out outside and eat at our new patio table. I think it's safe to say the gang had a great time. We chatted, we ate and then everyone spent like 3 hours playing Wii. We had no casualities but lots and lots of laughter.

Last Week/Weekend

On Thursday the 28th we attended the Man/Woman of the Year Gala at the Bentley Reserve in SF. We were there to suppor Coach Al in his quest to win Man of the Year. I am sad to say that he did not win but we are still very proud of him. There were 12 candidates and they raised $307,000 for LLS. The winner, Bill Shen, who I've known since I began TNT was the winner and raised $58,000...wow!!!

Saturay was busy for us and it was a long day. Rocky had Kick Off in the morning for the Summer Season Run Team and I stayed home cleaning up. He finally made it home around 1pm and we headed to San Bruno for our nieces birthday. Once again the weather was not cooperating and it was freezing. We hung out there for a while and then my sister-in-law and I hadead to the Crab House for dinner....YUMMERS!!! We had a nice evening chatting away. We headed back to my mother/father-in-laws house where our hubbies were hanging out and Rocky and I finally headed home around 11ish.

Sunday we got to sleep in a little and then I met Ms. Amy for brunch and then we headed over to the nail shop for pedicures. It was a nice mellow morning and afterwards I headed home to relax for the rest of the day.

That then brings us to this week :o)

Monday night I had a very nice dinner with Meenu at Cafe Esin :o)

We've been having doggie issues and so far 2 of the 3 dogs have had to spend some time at the vet. Hendrix had the bronchitis and now Daisy has a boo boo in her foot :o( On Tuesday I was suppose to run but since I had brought Daisy to work so she could go to the vet to have her foot checked I didn't run and went straight home. Last night I did manage to run and it felt pretty good although I thought it was gonna be cold and it was a bit warm. This weather is so wacky. Anyway, I had a great run and then when I was heading to the freeway I spoke to my friend Debbie and she wanted to go for a walk but her hubby didn't so I offered to go with her. I thought we'd be going for a walk on the Iron Horse Trail, NOPE, she wanted to go for a hike which started UPHILL!!! It was actually fun but today I'm a little bit tired :o) I may try to go with her again next week though. It was nice.

Tomorrow is our first officaly Saturday run for the season and we are starting with 6 miles. We shall see how that goes.

GOOD LUCK TO MR. PHIL who's doing America's Most Beutiful Ride in Lake Tahoe this weekend :o) GO PHIL!!!

Gardening

2009-05-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

I think I have admitted on here before that I haven't the slightest clue about gardening. I've been buying magazines and reading up online to get some idea of what to do. It's going to take a while or our backyard to fully look they way we want to but in the meantime I'd like to start planting a few things. One thing I do know I want to do is build a raised bed so we can grow tomatoes and other veggies in it. I'm thinking maybe next weekend or the week after (I'll be off for a few days with my parents visiting) maybe we can work on that. Maybe my parents can help me out since they grow tomatoes :o) hint, hint to my dad..LOL!!!

Anyway for now I've managed to replant three items.

This plant which is in our kitchen and I can't remember what it's called.

a jalapeno plant and a tiny tomato seedling

After I post this I am going to go online and read up on these to make sure I take care of them properly so they don't die. Wish me luck :o)

Food Pictures

2009-05-04T14:07:00.001-07:00

People make fun of us for taking pictures of our food but they also love our food pictures so here are a few from our trip to Vegas.

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, Caesar's Palace

We started with an appetizer plate of chicken tacos. They gave us 3 small skewers of chicken with a peanutty sause. I forgot to take a picture of those but they were delicious.

This is a picture of my Tuna Steak over couscous. In the middle is a cast iron skillet with roasted corn with cotija cheese...yummy and in the background you can kind of see Rocky's pork tenderloin which was also really good. It came with a small tamale.

RM Seafood, Mandalay Bay

We started with some raw oysters.

I then had the pear/apple and goat cheese salad and Rocky had the clam chowder.

For dinner I had scallops (they came a la carte and I chose not to order a side) and Rocky had the halibut topped with crab and asparagus :o)

Believe it or not I managed not to gain a single pound while gone. I think it mainly had to do with picking lots of seafood for my meals and all the walking around.

Vegas Recap

2009-05-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

We are home from Vegas and we had a blast.

We left from Oakland on Wednesday morning, we wanted to get there early but not too early :o) Our flight got in at 10:45, grabbed our luggage, grabbed a cab to the hotel, checked in and got our bathing suits on. It was about 11:30 and we were hungry so we grabbed lunch at the Beach Side Grill. If you've never been to the Mandalay Bay they've got a "beach" there. They've got 6 pools but the big pool has sand and a wave pool just like a beach. It's the best. Anyway after a bit to eat we grabbed a few beach chairs and relaxed by the pool. We ordered a bucket of beer, people watched, swam a little and just hung out. It was a nice 88 degrees :o) aahhh, how I love sunshine.

We managed to hang out for about almost 3 hours and then it got a bit hot for us so we decided to walk around and check out the shops. We also decided to try our luck at the slot machines and spent our first $20, I won $50...woohoo. We cashed it out and went about our afternoon, haa, haa, we aren't much gamblers.

After a little walking around we went to our room and took a nap before heading out for the evening. This was our actual anniversary day so we had bought tickets to see Cher and were having a nice dinner at Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's Restaurant at Caesar's Palace.

We got ready and then headed out for the night. We had dinner at Mesa Grill and it was delicious we were so happy with our choice. Then it was off to see Cher and OMG, it was an awesome show and we had awesome seats. It was a perfect anniversary evening.

Hubby and I decided to walk around Caesar's Palace and check out the shops and have a little dessert. Rocky had never seen the Fountain Show at the Bellagio so we decided to also walk over there and check out the show. The night show is prettier because it's dark and the fountains are all lite up.

Anyway, we checked out the show and then it was time to go home BUT NOOOO hubby wanted to walk around some more. I HAD HEELS ON :o( not good. Next thing I know we've walked almost back to our hotel (not a short walk) and my feet feel like they were going to fall off :o( We were so close but I couldn't take it anymore we finally got a cab to take us the rest of the way and OUCHIE!!! I was in pain. Don't boys know that heels are only meant for sitting and looking cute and not for walking all over Vegas...LOL!!! Besides the painful feet we had a wonderful day and evening.

Thursday I had planned on going to the gym at our hotel but that DIDN'T happen, haa, haa. I was still sore from walking around the night before so I decided to sleep in. We got up and got ready and then headed out for the day. We had breakfast in our hotel and then headed out to the strip. We were headed to the Bellagio because we had tickets to the Andy Warhol Art Exhibit. His work was there along with Roy Lichtenstein's and they are both artists we like and have in our home. We first made as stop at MGM Grand to shop around and we ended up stopping to check out the tiger exhibit there.

We then headed to the art exhibit and we were a bit bummed though with the exhibit. There were only 16 pieces and only 4 were of the artist we liked :o( oh well. It was still something to do. We then headed down to see the gardens at the Bellagio which I had heard were beautiful and they were but the tulips weren't fully grown out yet :o( bummer.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the strip and shopping. When we finally got pooped we took a cab back to Mandalay Bay and headed back to the pool :o) We had had a late breakfast and then a late lunch so we didn't head out for diner til later in the evening. We had decided we'd had enough walking around so we decided to stay in our hotel for the night. We had dinner at a very yummy seafood restaurant there, RM Seafood, the food was once again delicious. We decided to try our luck again at the slots machine and woohoo hubby won $140 so once again we cashed out and decided to walk around. Some lady approached us and said we looked HOT :o) LOL!!! and then told us we could have a free pass to get into a VIP only exclusive House of Blues Club, The Foundation Room. This club is on the 23 floor of the Mandalay Bay. We decided to check it out and ended up hanging out there for a while. It was a lot of fun and the view was awesome of the strip. After a while we headed back down, walked around and finally called it a night around midnight. I gotta say all that walking around and the sun is exhausting. Not to mention I'm getting old and have a hard time staying up past 10, hee, hee. We grabbed a few sodas and midnight snacks and headed back to the room. It was another fun evening.

Thursday was very mellow. We got up late, had breakfast and then packed up to head to the airport :o( left the sunshine and came home to rain.

We had a blast!

Vegas Baby!!

2009-04-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I are headed to Vegas. We are super excited and need the mini vacation. We've been running like crazy for months now. It'll be very nice to get away.

It is our 2 year wedding anniversary. I could not ask for a better partner. He is the bestest and we've accomplished a HUGE goal this year of buying a house. YAY us :o)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

TO MY HUBBY!!!!!

Family, Friends and Lots o'Food

2009-04-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend and both days involved lots of food :o)

Friday evening we had been invited to a friends birthday but I was pretty exhausted and I had also made plans to have a TNT friend over for dinner. Rocky decided to head over to the SF to have dinner and hang out for al little while with all his friends since he doesn't see them often and I stayed home and had a nice relaxing evening with our friend. We actually ended up going out to dinner because I made a boo boo and bought steak to make for dinner, she doesn't eat read meat :o( oopsy!

Rocky's parents both turned 65 this week so the boys decided it'd be nice to throw them a party with their friends and some of the family on Saturday. After throwing back and forth some ideas the final decision was to hire a Sushi chef and invite everyone over to my sister/brother in-law's house. Somehow everyone managed to keep the whole thing quiet and they were both very surprised when they arrived. My mother in-law even cried a little, it was cute. The food was delicious and everyone had a great time.

Sunday Rocky and I had the immediate family over to our house. Although our house is not huge it's still roomier than the condo was and we were finally able to have the whole family over. That would be 12 of us. Yeah not so small, haa, haa. Anyway, Rocky and I were busy the few days before preparing our home and making up a menu. We made beef brisket, asparagus with toasted almonds, couscous, salad, bread and polish sausages. It was quite the spread and it all turned out yummy. Everyone had a great time hanging out and the weather was perfect (unlike today's freezing cold weather :o( ).

Rocky's parents playing Wii

Before/After

2009-04-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

woohoooo!!! Our kitchen is offcially done as of today. They came and installed all the hardware and we are up and running :o) We need to get a final inspection but that is quick and there are only two things they inspector is coming back to check. The plumbing and the darn light fixtures that he didn't like because they weren't florescent. Well Mr. Inspector they are now :o)

Holy Hotness Batman!

2009-04-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

WOW it is crazy hot around here. We went from it raining, snowing and hailing about a week and a half ago to 80+ degree weather. It's actually suppose to be in the 90's today but it hasn't quite gotten there yet. Of course this isn't going to last. Wednesdasy it's suppose to start cooling down again and then rain over the weekend....strange!!!

We had a very busy weekend but it was fun.

Saturday I started my morning out with a body conditioning class at 8:30am. Olivia and Jeanette joined me. It was HARD and the common theme today is ouchie, ouchie ouchie! haa, haa. The class was hard but it worked us out good. I plan on continuing with it. It's only $10 and the class was about an hour and twenty minutes. We got our money's worth.

After class I had to go weigh in, weight loss this week was only half a pound :o( boo, hoo but I guess the good news is that in 2 weeks I've lost 3 lbs. YAY! Every little bit counts and in the end it all adds up.

Ran a few errands after weigh in, put more of our kitchen stuff in the cabinets and then got ready to head to SF for Rocky's gig at Beale Street. Rocky, Olivia and I had dinner at Gordon Birch first and then headed over. It was a very yummy dinner and we had a great time at Rocky's gig. They had a great turnout. Got home about 11:30 and headed straight to bed because we needed to be up early on Sunday.

Brenda's Fun Run was on Sunday and I was volunteering. Alarm went off at 4:45am :o( It turned out to be such a nice day and we saw so many people from TNT that we haven't seen in a long time. It was such a successful day and Brenda would have been proud of all the hard work that was put into this race. There were over 200 people registered and $9000 was raised towards Coach Al's Campaign for Man/Woman of the Year!

The rest of Sunday was kind of spent lazing around. I took a 3 hour nap, I think I was pooped :o) and then got up and put more stuff away in our kitchen and actually finished..YAY!!! Then we plopped on our couch, watched a movie and relaxed. It was so hot that sitting was the only thing we wanted to do. When we headed to bed at 11pm it was still 82 degrees in our home!! YUCK!!

Sunny Days!

2009-04-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

Woohoo it's finally going to be sunny and warm (HOT). I can't believe that we went from freezing, rain, hail, snow weather to 75 degrees today. This weekend is suppose to be even hotter. I love the sun, I love summer BUT why is it that it always gets warm right when we start running...LOL!! That I am not looking forward to but I am happy that finally we'll be getting some sunshine.

Had a great run last night although did feel a little winded. I think maybe was going a little faster and it was also already a little warmer than last week.

Tonight I'm taking the day off off but tomorrow morning I'm taking a class at 8:30am :o)

The rest of the weekend will be a bit busy but fun. I plan on getting everything put back into the cabinets on Saturday and then in the evening we are heading to SF to watch Rocky's band play. Sunday we have Brenda's Run, come out and join us if you aren't doing anything. This run is in Memory of our friend Brenda and the money raised will go directly to Coach Al's Man/Woman of the year campaign to raise money for LLS. The rest of the day will be spent relaxing.

Getting Better

2009-04-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

I think my body is finally starting to adjust to my training class. I am sore but I am not in pain like I was the first 2 times I took the class. I can really tell that I'm starting to get better and that I'm even getting a little stronger. Last night I upped my hand weights to 7lbs from 5 :o) little by little, right?

I also lost 2.5 pounds last week which was great. I'm hoping this week will be just as good if not better since I'm going to be able to get in 6 days of doing some sort of exercise.

and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MS. AMY!!!!!

Back to Running

2009-04-15T14:40:00.001-07:00

Things are going well and this week I'll be able to make my class both days. I went on Monday and I'll go again tonight.

I've also started running again. I ran a little under 3 miles last week and it went well. I was a bit nervous and worried that I wouldn't make it since I haven't run since September :o( but all went well. I also ran last night at Lake Merritt. I'd say I ran with Rocky and Phil but I'd be lying. Those guys kicked my butt and Phil has gotten so darn speedy that even Rocky couldn't keep up with him. He dusted us both. The good news is that I made it all the way around the lake (a little over 3 miles) without stopping. It was HARD not because I felt I couldn't make it but because it was insanely windy last night. We had a few spots where we were running into a bad headwind and that was no fun. I did it though and I felt great.

Things at the house are going really well. The kitchen is done, well about 98% done. The painting is being finished today and the hardware should arrive in a few days. The good news is we can use our kitchen again and this weekend I can put all our stuff way. We love the way it turned out. I'll post pictures once the rest has been done.

OUCHIE!

2009-04-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

I had not been able to attend my boot camp class because I had gotten sick with the stomach flu and then the kitchen work started at our house. I missed four classes and I'm super bummed but I'm back on track now and went to my class last night.

The first thing the trainer asked when I walked in was "where the heck have you been?"....sorry!!!

Anyway, class once again kicked my rear and I am very sore today but it's a good sore and I got in a great workout. We did a lot of leg stuff so although my whole body is sore my lower half if even more sore. I'm looking forwad to going back on Monday. In the meantime I plan to either do a workout on the Wii or just a reguar workout video at home. I might even see if I can get out for a run on Saturday morning. I gotta break in the new running shoes and we only have about a month and a half before we start officially training for Chicago...yikes!

A little closer

2009-04-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

We have made lots of progress and things are close to being done.

Today Rocky is at home with the counter guy and we also had an inspection on the heating system which YAY passed. We had all the ducts replaced because the old ones were super old and even crushed in some places under the house. As I mentioned before we also had asbestos, not good, so that was removed. We now have a high efficient heater which keeps us and the upstairs of the house nice and toasty. Before we had no heat upstairs and the whole garage and laundry room were super hot. Looking forward to getting the lower PG & E bill.

The kitchen is looking really nice. The cabinets have all been installed, one coat of paint has been put on the second will be done once the kitchen is finished so the guys don't scratch up the walls. The counter guy is there today. The light fixtures and backsplash will be done on Thursday. I think the only thing that will be left to do is add the knobs and pulls to the drawers and cabinet doors but we are still waiting for those to arrive. I can't wait til it's all done. It's going to look pretty and it'll be nice to have the kitchen back :o)

These are the old cabinets and the big space to the left is where the fridge was before, it's like in the middle of the wall. The white power outlet you see is above the counter and that's where the fridge was plugged into...that was a big No No.

Walls after the old stuff was ripped out

Ripped out walls after they realized they had to do electrical work :o(

The new cabinets and now the fridge has it's own plug behind it

New counter top

Remodel Continues

2009-03-31T10:08:00.001-07:00

Well the chaos in our house continues. I guess the good thing about this chaos is that at the end of it will be a nice pretty kitchen with cabinets that fit all of our stuff and electrical that works properly. Also good plumbing in there and a gas line to our stove that won't blow up :o)

Part of the cabinets are up, yay! and today they are working on putting the walls they ripped out back together and then the rest of the cabinets will be installed. Someone will then come out to measure the counter tops for the granite and we'll have to order the back splash. I think the kitchen easily has another week of work to go. Luckily hubby just got told at work he needs to start taking a bunch of his vacation time so he doesn't lose it so that will work out great for us. He can stay home and supervise and take care of the doggies who's nerves have had it :o) poor doggies.

The electrical in the kitchen has now been fixed and our electrician is fixing the rest of the house now. I think he'll be done today.

Yesterday we had asbestos removed from the heating system and today the heating guys are here replacing heating stuff and insulating some of the vents. They'll be done by tomorrow or Thursday. We got really lucky that the weather warmed up because we'll be without a heater for a few days.

I guess that's it on the home front. Since it was a nice day and all I'm doing is sitting around doing nothing I decided to pull some weeds out front. Oh boy, I'm going to have to learn to enjoy doing that, haa, haa. I also need to learn some gardening stuff because I know nothing.

This past weekend we headed to Carmel for Debbie's wedding. I'll have to upload pictures later. I have been helping Debbie with planning for a few weeks now and my hubby was very very nice and was the photographer/video person at the wedding. The wedding only had 32 guests so it was small but it turned out very nice. It also got very hot in Carmel so it turned out to be a perfect day for a wedding. Since it was a day wedding Rocky and I were able to enjoy sometime hanging out in Carmel Saturday evening. We walked around, did a little shopping and had dinner there. It was a nice weekend.

The doggies were at home with their momma, Olivia :o) I hear they had a great time and we are very thankful to be able to have Olivia take care of them when she can.

Dark Cloud of Sadness

2009-03-26T15:16:00.001-07:00

There is a dark cloud of sadness looming over the Oakland, over the 4 communities that these four men were from and over the entire Bay Area. It doesn't matter if you know these men or not I think everyone feels the same, sad. The events that occurred on Saturday are heart breaking. Tomorrow the 4 officers killed will be honored in a public Memorial Service at the Oakland Arena. We will be watching at home since it's going to be broadcast live on national tv. I really considered going but with 18,000+ people attending we thought it'd be best to stay home.

Think of them and say a little prayer for their families and friends who are left behind :o(

24 Hour Bug

2009-03-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

Life at home as gotten chaotic and then my body decided to fail me and knock me down.

On Monday I was at home dealing with our kitchen remodel. The contractor and workers came out to remove all the old cabinets and work on the electrical. WELLL.....as many of you with homes know that things don't always go as planned when doing any kind of house work. It always seems that some other "little" thing comes up :o(

After the cabinets were removed the electrical work began and I guess the previous people had done a hodge podge of work back there and it was all a mess and not something that could be left that way. First of all because we've pulled a permit and an inspector would not allow that and second of all because we don't want our house to catch on fire :o( The other thing that needed to be worked on was some plumbing and the gas line to the stove. Our contractor is awesome so we've told her to do what she has to do to fix everything properly so we don't have to deal with it again. Like I said, we dont' want our house to catch on fire because the electrical is not done correctly. So of course with all the extra things that were found the installation of our cabinets was pushed back a few more days. It's fine but our house is a disaster and the only thing working in the kitchen is our microwave so hubby has been eating dinners from Whole Foods that he can just heat up.

The same electrician doing the kitchen is going to fix the rest of the electrical in the house for us so that we don't have to worry about it anymore. Pretty much the whole house was done incorrectly and it's a bit of a hazard so it'll be nice to get that fixed.

Monday night I had dinner with Ms. Amy. A very yummy dinner at the Walnut Creek Yacht Club. Monday's they have mussel madness. For a set price you get salad, bread, french fries and all you can eat mussels :o) We had a very nice dinner and it was nice catching up with her.

Headed home and went to bed.....when I woke up I wanted to die.

My stomach was in knots and I started getting sick. The first thing that came to my mind was that the mussels had made me sick. I had an electrician coming to the house at 10am and our painter. It was not fun standing there talking to them while all I wanted to do was toss my cookies :o( I managed to get them going on what they needed to do and then I headed in to work to get a few things done. Luckily those things only took about an hour because I felt awful. I headed back home and once the painter and electrician left our house around 2pm I went right back to bed. I was sick for the rest of the day and night. I had called Amy earlier and she was not sick so it wasn't the food. I had a 24 hour Stomach Flu because when I woke up this morning, I was fine. Other than have no energy at all from not eating and my tummy hurting a little bit still I am doing fine and not sick anymore. Urrgggghhh, darn flu's. How do we catch these darn things? Hubby was really good and took care of me once he got home from work. I tried to eat a little this morning but my tummy hurt so I think today I'm sticking to mainly soup and fluids. Will try solids tomorrow or the next day :o( I am at work today and since my boss is on vacation this week it should be a nice mellow day which is what I need.

The cabinets are being installed on Friday :o) yay and then we head to Carmel for the weekend. My friend Debbie is getting married :O) and we are super excited for her. The weather is suppose to be nice and I know it's going to be a fun time.

Man/Woman of the Year

2009-03-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended the Kick Off for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Man/Woman of the Year Campaign. Coach Al is one of the candidates and we wanted to head out and support him.

Kick Off was held in SF at Hotel Vitale. They had yummy food, drinks and our friend Brian gave a very nice speech to motivate the new candidates. I have to admit there is some good competition in the goup but of course our candidate is Coach Al :o)

A little info:

What is the Man/Woman of the Year Campaign? Their goal: to be the candidate who raises the most funds for LLS in a ten-week period. The clock stops the night of the Grand Finale Celebration, May 28, 2009, where the Man & Woman of the Year will be announced.

How did it start? The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man & Woman of the Year campaign began in 1990 in San Francisco to honor John Spencer, a valued employee at Hastings Clothier in San Francisco and a LLS volunteer. Spencer died of leukemia at the age of 39. It was in John's memory that Hastings began supporting LLS's Northern California Chapter with the San Francisco Man & Woman of the Year event. Now, more than 40 Man & Woman of the Year campaigns occur across the nation, making this a highly visible fundraising program.

Past Man & Woman of the Year candidates include Johnny Love Metheny, Harry Denton, Anna Alioto, Christopher Caen, John Bristow, Dean Karnases, Renee Richardson, Gavin Newsom, Heather Luplow Hartle, Edward Saenz and more. They are a diverse and talented group of individuals.

The Cause? The Man & Woman of the Year candidates run in honor of the Boy & Girl of the Year (local blood cancer survivors). Many of them also honor friends and family members who are currently undergoing treatment or have battled a blood cancer.How you can help? You can make a 100% tax deductible to Coach Al on his Fundraising Website or click logo on the left of my blog.

Eating healthy didn't go so well last night since all they had at the event was appetizer type stuff and I was starving so I ate one too many and didn't count my points :o( back on track today.

Happy 1st Day of Spring!!!!

Fit Camp Class #1

2009-03-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well I had my first class last night and right now I am feeling....OUCHIE!! I am feeling it today. It's a good sore but boy I'm moving slow.

I arrived at the class about 15 minutes early so I figured I'd sit down and watch Gary, the trainer, train the very young high school girls he was with. NOPE, no such luck. He said to go ahead and get some cardio in to warm up. Okie dokie!

I decided to get on the bike and do a 15 minute warm up. I can handle that.

The rest of the people in the class started to come in and do the same thing. They each jumped on some sort of cardio machine and did a warm up. At 6:00pm Gary yelled out something which I did not hear so I just looked around to see what everyone else was doing. What he said was....10 push ups, 10 mountain climbers and 20 bicycles (sit ups)....okie dokie, here we go.

So basically the first part of the work out was

10 push ups
10 mountain climbers
20 bicycles

and then cardio - I did the treadmill

repeat and each time you had to pick a different cardio machine. I ended up doing the treadmill, the row machine and the elliptical.

Thrown in between some of those was hitting a punching bag 10 times followed by a squat and I had to do that as many times as I could. I also got to do a little punching on Gary and another punching bag they had set up followed by shuffling.

I think by the time we were done with this stuff it was about 6:20 and I wanted to vomit :o( This guys is not messing around and I love it but OMG, I was not feeling good. That's what happens when you sit on your butt for so long..haa, haa. I was not going to wimp out though.

Next we had to grab weight and do lunges all the way around the room. Then grab a partner and do sit ups in 3 different ways. He called them 60 second sit ups. The last set was 30 second sit ups.

I didn't do so well with those so I'll have to practice at home to get better.

Not done yet, next was weights.

He set up a circuit of 11 exercises. YIKES!!!! Each one had to be done 3 times. 15 reps the first set, 12 the next and 10 the last. We used the weight machines for some and free weights for others. By the time I was done my arms were shaking.

I finsihed by stretching and then I headed home, very exhausted and very hungry.

Hubby had made dinner so we ate as soon as I walked in the door.

This class was hard but I liked it and I'm looking forward to going back next week :o)

Back on the Wagon

2009-03-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

There are lots of wagons I need to get back onto :o) one being my blog and two being my not sitting on my butt doing nothing anymore.

Things are starting to settle down and I'm hoping to get back on my daily blogging schedule. I am also planning on getting back on track with working out, which I'm excited about.

I have gone back to Weight Watchers in hopes of losing the last 15 lbs I would like to lose. Some would say I don't "need" to lose them but I feel that I do in order to feel good about myself and how my clothes fit. Tight close=grumpy girl :o( I pretty much quit working out once the house move was happening and that has not been good but I guess all the moving has at least helped keep my weight stable and I have not gained weight, I just haven't lost any. I've already lost a few pounds so I'm excited to see the rest come off. I've decided to join a Training Camp program at a new training gym that has opened right across from my office. I signed up for 12 classes and I'll be going 2 days a week. The fitness trainer is an older gentleman but very very fit and I have to admit he is a bit intimidating but he'll get my little butt in shape in no time. I have enjoyed being able to go home after work, making dinner and relaxing with my hubby so I don't want to be gone too much so for now I'll do 2 days of the training class and then 2 days of working out at home. I plan to start running around Lake Merritt on Saturday mornings as well to get a head start on training for Chicago. Official training for that will start June 1st but I haven't run at all since last September :o( not good. So that will give me 5 days of working out and should help with dropping the pounds but also getting me in shape for this next marathon training season. I'm excited.

We continue to stay busy with home stuff which has been fun but also exhausting. We fix one thing and then move on to the next. I think it's going to be like that for a long time but it's nice to be able to do things around the house the way you want them.

Last weekend we tackled our spare bedroom. We had set it up with our old furniture and it was serving as a storage area for things we hadn't put away yet and it was driving me batty. Part of the problem was that we were having a hard time figuring out how to set it up like our old one to fit everything we needed in there. The spare bedroom serves as our guest room, computer room and now my dresser is in there (didn't fit in our room). The room is not as big as our spare bedroom in the condo so fitting everything was going to be difficult. So after looking around online for ideas and shopping around we decided to take out the full size bed we had in there and replace it with a daybed. It would give us the spare bed we need when guest come over and sitting room in case you want to hang out in there but also it gave us the space we needed to set up our computer desk and bookshelf. We have a spare TV in there with a Wii set up so it will be the "fun room" as well. We are happy with the way it turned out and it's now a space we can utilize...yay!

Shoe Review

2009-03-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

Actually it's more of a online shopping review of Zappos.com

Background on how I ended up on Zappos. Each year I buy a new pair of boots for winter. They are pretty much the same each year, sometimes different brand but for the most part I have a standard boot I wear. Black, 3 1/2 inch heel, pointy toe. I wear my boots out pretty bad each year so for as long as I can remember I know that each November or so I need to buy a new pair. In fact for a few years my mommy would buy me a new pair for Christmas because it was a gift I always needed. This year was no different but out of pure laziness I never got around to buying a new pair. Now I NEED a new pair because they are so worn out that my bad ankle bothers me when I wear them. A few weekends ago Rocky went on a hunt for new boots and I had NO LUCK. Retail stores have decided that it's now time to sell open toed shoes for spring and summer. Umm, have they not looked outside? It's cold and pouring down rain :o( Maybe it'll only last a few more weeks but it's still not time to bust out the strappy shoes, flip flops, open toed shoes :o( No success at the store so I turned to the handy dandy internet. I finally found some in my size at Zappos.com. I decided to go with Nine West since that is what I had at home and that way I could avoid the buying and returning if they don't fit issue. I picked out 2 pairs in a size 6 1/2, one was a pointy toe and one was an almond shaped. I would return the one that didn't look or fit as nicely.

The boots were "on sale" for $89.95 and I was willing to pay the $25 to have them shipped overnight. If you think about it $89.95 is really not that cheap considering it's not boot season anymore according to the retail world. I didn't really feel like I was getting a deal but what the heck I need the boots it's pouring cats and dogs outside and I can't find any at the stores. When I placed my order I forgot to say overnight service so I had to call them and see if they could still do it even though I had processed my order. The lady on the phone was very nice and said yes they could do it and they would waive the $25 overnight fee...YAY!! I was happy and coudln't wait to get my boots.

Boots arrived on that Friday as promised (it was actually 2 days since the day I ordered because I had ordered after 1pm, which was okay with me). I took them home I tried them both on and decided that the boots with the pointy toes are the ones I liked the best. The almond toe ones were a little too loose. I am going to return them. Anyway, I told hubby I should just go ahead and exchange the other boots and have them send me a second pair of the ones I like so that next year I don't have this issue. I went online to order a second pair and they were $96...what?? In 2 days the boots went from $89.95 to $96 and then today right before I was about to write this post the boots are now $106. I don't understand. How does this site work. I did see on their policies that if you buy something and the price goes down they will refund you the difference if you contact them within 10 days. What a paint though. I am thinking that I won't be shoppoing on here again. Who knows if you are getting a "deal" or not. My luck I'll go on there again next week and they'll be $29.99. Urrggghhh!!!

More Yummy Food

2009-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to stick to my idea of cooking something new at least once a week and I was able to do it twice last week.

Last week was Mardi Gras so in honor of Fat Tuesday we made some beignets.

A beignet (pronounced [bε.ɲε], which is the French word for doughnut), in American English, refers to a pastry made from deep-fried dough and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, is a kind of French doughnut. Savory versions of beignets are also popular as an appetizer, with fillings such as crawfish and shrimp.

Rocky had picked up some mix when he was in New Orleans last year so we finally decided to make it.

Actually I should say that other than frying them, Rocky did all the work :o) and yes we do own a deep fryer, a mini size one.

The turned out super yummy but even though he only made half the batch it was still too many for us and they don't taste good the next day. So next time we'll have to make them when we have guests over.

On Friday I decided to try Ree's Pan Fried Rib-Eye Steak, delicious!!!

I followed the directions but added a little something extra. I added sauted onions and mushrooms to it and boy was it good. I paired the steaks up with some mashed potatoes. It was a very easy meal to make.

I still have to download the pictures of the final product, I'll post them tomorrow.

Last night I did not cook but we had Rocky's parents over for dinner and had some very yummy fresh crab.

The weekend was both hectic, emotionally stressful and then mellow.

Saturday Rocky and I headed out to Marin to support the cycle team on their 80 mile bike ride. It turned out to be a nice day with no rain although it was crazy windy out there and that is never fun on a bike ride. The first part of the morning was going well and then we had an accident. One our riders locked up her breaks and went flying over handlebars :o( it required a trip an an ambulance and some ER care (I went with her while Rocky continued on with the team) but she is doing fine and just pretty banged up but no broken bones. That was quite scary. When they finally discharged her Rocky picked us up, we went back to the parking lot and got her car and we took her home. The rest of the evening we spent relaxing. It was a long day for us.

Sunday Rocky had Kali so I headed out in the icky pouring rain to run errands. I had to go to the grocery store, made a stop at the farmers market and the headed back home. We cleaned up our house, vegged out a little and then had dinner with my in-laws follwed by a movie. It was a nice Sunday afternoon.

I was thinking of trying Ree's French Onion Soup tonight but it might take too long so I may need to wait til the weekend, we'll see how late I get home tonight.

Smart Doggies

2009-02-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

I keep saying how impressed I am with how smart doggies are. They are smart and of course they will always do anything to please their mommies and daddies. Okay, maybe not all the time but most of the time :o)

Rocky takes the dogs out potty at 7am, 6pm and 9pm and during the day the pottin in a litter box in the house. I never knew these existed until we got Patch and I have to say they work great especically since we lived in a condo before. When we lived in the condo we had very light carpet so after every walk Rocky would wipe their paws off. We are continuing to do that now even though it's hardwood floors because it's muddy out and because it's just nice to have them have clean paws. Rocky's been telling me how he tells Daisy to lift her paw up to get it wiped and she does it. I didn't believe him. When I would look she wouldn't do it. I think she knew I was looking at her. The other day I pretened to turn around and not look but I was from the corner of my eye. He told her "Daisy paw up" and she did it. She lifted her little paw so he could clean it. Then he said "other paw" and she did it again. It was pretty funny.

Such smart little guys.

Home Sweet Home

2009-02-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

Our home is looking more and more like a home now and not a storage facility :o) Rocky and I have been able to come home in the evenings, cook dinner and relax. Last weekend we put up some of our pictures on the walls and set up a book case in the living room so we could unpack all the knitting and cooking books :o) That got rid of quite a few boxes. We weren't really home this past weekend so not much was done but this weekend we've got a few little projects to take care. I think we are going to move some stuff around in the extra bedroom so we can fit our computer desk and bookshelf. We've been using the kitchen table for the laptops and that's just not going to work. Rocky also needs his little guitar area :o)

We've had a friend over painting this week and that should be done by Friday so we are excited. The previous people did a horrible job with painting the walls. You can see that at some point the walls were red. It's also a bummer because they painted over the wood, that's one thing that we were kind of bummed about with the house. The house has some very pretty wood molding around the doors, windows and baseboards but the previous people painted over some of it. We have a mixture of the original wood in the front part of the house and then most of the back of the house is white. It would have been really pretty if it had been left alone. We are going to leave what wood is left the way it is but we'll repaint the white parts so that they look nicer and you can't see the icky old paint.

We are concentrating on getting the upstairs of the house all squared away before we move to the downstairs or the outside. I'm going to have to start reading up on gardens because I do not have a green thumb.

This past weekend Rocky and I headed to Half Moon Bay to do ride support for my cycle team. The team rode 65 miles and everyone did a great job. We had a great time supporting and cheering them on.

Sunday we headed to Sonoma for the day with Ms. Olivia. It was pouring rain which was a bummer but we had t pick up our wine and it was the last weekend we could do it before they shipped it to us. We had a nice lunch at Red Grape Pizza, picked up our wine, did a little tasting at a few wineries and then headed home. We got home pretty early so the rest of the evening we just relaxed and watched the Oscars.

We are trying to enjoy the house and the down time we have before training starts again. We are both looking forward to training and running another marathon.

Oxtail Stew Part II

2009-02-17T20:26:00.001-08:00

It turned out delicious. We are on dinner #2 of eating it. The meat was so tender it just fell off the bone. We decided to pour it over some rice and it was the perfect rainy day meal. I will add it to my recipe book :o)

Oxtail Stew Part 1

2009-02-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

My friend Cynthia sent me a link to a cooking website the other day so I could read up on my cry for help with the Pizza Dough situation. BTW...thanks for all the tips. I will have to try the pizza dough again. Maybe this time I'll just make it from scratch instead of buying it at Trader Joe's. Anyway, I decided to check some of the other recipes on there and I found one for Oxtail Stew. I love that the recipe has step by step pictures on it. I do better with pictures. I don't always like recipes in cook books with no pictures.

What is oxtail?
Oxtail (occasionally spelled ox tail or ox-tail) is the culinary for the tail of a beef animal. Formerly, it referred only to the tail of an ox, a castrated bull. The oxtail of a steer typically weighs 2 to 4 lbs. (1-1.8 kg) and is skinned and cut into short lengths for sale.
Oxtail is usually slow-cooked, often stewed or braised. It is a good stock base for a soup.

I decided to try it out. So I headed out to Crate and Barrel yesterday and purchased a dutch ove. Not just for this recipe but also for a few others I'd like to try. I've always wanted one and now I have one :o) I have a Mario Batali pizza pan which I really like so I decided to purchase the Mario Batali Dutch oven.

Then it was off to the store to buy all the ingredients. I headed to the Mexican Supermarket down the street from our home to get everything. You don't always find oxtail in Safeway although I have seen it at Draeger's. I knew though for sure I'd find it at the Mexican Mart.

I got all the ingredients ready and now our stew is on the stove cooking :o)

I just took a little taste of the meet and YUMMERS!!! Can't wait to actaully eat it! If it turns out good then I'll have to make it for my parents the next time they come visit. Or maybe I can even try Osso Bucco, there is a recipe in the little book that came with the dutch oven.

I also bought this little guy, a timer, that way I can stop using the one on the microwave :o)

We will probably follow the recipe as it's written and we won't eat the stew until tomorrow. It's not going to be ready until 3:00 and Rocky and I are heading to San Francisco about 3:30 for our Valentine's Day date :o)

oxtail stew to be continued........

Snow, Rain, Hail....brrrrr!!!

2009-02-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well looks like winter finally decided to arrive. It's FREEZING and there is snow on Mt. Diablo again. There is snow in the Sierra's and the road have had to get closed. It's suppose to pour rain here and the other day I got caught in a hail storm. YIKES!! I hate this weather but I do realize we need the rain. I'd like to keep taking two showers a day :o)

We just received and email from our Coach that the ride is also cancelled for tomorrow. She doesn't feel it's safe for the riders to be out there plus it's going to be so cold and wet it's not worth it for people to get sick. I was looking forward to being SAG support but I am happy that I can sleep in tomorrow :o) and that I'll be able to get more stuff done around the house.

Rocky and I don't have plans for tomorrow but I understand he's got something planned for Sunday. I am not sure what it is I just know we need to be in SF by 5pm, hmmm wonder what he's got up his sleeve :o) Sunday morning Olivia and I will be heading to Sonoma for wine pick up and some lunch and then we'll head back home so I can go out with my hubby. For the most part it's going to be a mellow weekend.

Pizza Dough Disaster

2009-02-11T16:02:00.001-08:00

Okay, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, maybe you cooks out there can help me out. I've bought pizza dough at Trader Joe's a total of 4 times. Twice I've managed to make really yummy pizza and twice it's turned out to be a disaster and I end up almost in tears. Last night was a disaster.

I followed the rules....let dough raise for 20 mintues on a lightly floured surface. Did that. Then I go to roll out the dough and I end up with the stickiest mess ever :o( It's so darn sticky that it sticks to the board, sticks to me and sticks to the rolling pin. Urggghhh!!! what am I doing wrong? of course I only bought one bag of dough and since I had no idea how to fix the mess or even if it was fixable I had to throw it out :o( I ended up using all my toppings and throwing them in some pasta for dinner instead.

HELP!!!

Adjusting

2009-02-10T11:09:00.001-08:00

Well it's been a week and a few days since we moved in and we are adjusting nicely to our new home. It's still a little weird to say OUR HOME :o) but it's a good weird feeling. I might cry when we have to make our first payment next month..haa, haa...but we are happy and proud of ourselves for being able to accomplish this.

I was able to take about a week off to move. I took a few days before the move and a few days off after which helped quite a bit. I unpacked, made a lot of different trips to Target, Bed/Bath Beyond and of course Home Depot and we also had quite a few people coming by the house to give us estimates on the various things that need to be fixed. Oh the life of a homeowner :o)

We had a new garage door installed because the poor old one was ready to fall off. Of course our little one car garage door cost more than a two car garage door because it was a "special" size and it needed to be built on site from scratch we couldn't just pick one out of the catalog and have it installed. It's a pretty door and once it stops raining and it dries we can paint it.

Rocky has been hard at work doing handy man stuff and things are really coming together. We are almost completely unpacked. I think the majority of the boxes still left are the kitchen things. I'm hoping to get those done by this weekend. I figure I can unpack 1 box a day. I just can't continue to go home though and do stuff til 11pm, we are exhausted and barely making it awake through the day. So we are trying to just go home and relax and leave doing major things for the weekends.

Last night I actually made us a home cooked meal. I think it's been about 2 weeks since we've been able to cook :o( First because of the move and second because the fridge in the new house (which was an old fridge) didn't work :o( so we had to buy a new one and wait for it to be delivered. I wasn't able to grocery shop til the new one arrived.

The doggies are LOVING their new backyard. Patch sits at the door and barks to go out. He loves being out there and they love chasing each other. When we have the shades up on the big front window they like to stand and look outside. Daisy figured out how to climb down the steep stairs to the laundry room which is good because she had been standing at the top when we were downstairs just crying...LOL!! She wanted to come down with us but couldn't figure out how. She's a funny doggie.

So things are good.

Team is doing great with their training and the Solvang Century is right around the corner. I miss training but I'm glad I can still help out with the website and with ride support on Saturday's. This weekend Jeanette and I are heading to Half Moon Bay for the team's 65 mile ride. We will be driving around to make sure everyone is okay.

Hubby is finally done with schoool and passed all his microsoft certification classes :o) YAY HUBBY!!!

I guess the other big thing going on is that we are making plans for our next race, the Chicago Marathon. YEP, we are going back. I feel like I can't finish my marathon career with a bad race like New York so I'm trying for another good one and I had told Olivia that if she ever wanted to do Chicago I'd do it with her :o) Now there are about 10 of us going so it's going to be a fun filled weekend and race. We don't have to start training til June so at least I don't have to worry about that quite yet.

Hopefully the blogging will get better now :o)

Thanks for checking on us and for all the good wishes you've sent us.

IT'S OFFICIAL.....

2009-02-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

WE ARE HOMEOWNERS!!!!!!!!

and now you know why my poor blog has been abandoned for weeks now and why I decided to stop training for Solvang. Rocky and I have been super busy with getting ready to move, work, school, the team....blah, blah, blah. Lots has been happening.

We started this process around August with getting our loan and then finally finding something that we liked. And it's been a long process but we finally did it and we got our keys last Tuesday and moved in yesterday :o) and we were able to spend the night there. Our house is a disaster right and it'll take a while to get it nice and clean and put together but that's how it goes right? I've taken a week of vacation so that should help :o)

We did hire movers but.......THANK YOU so much to Jeanette, Olivia and Debbie for helping us out yesterday. We really appreciate it and it made the move pretty quick.

We won't have internet at home til Thursday :o( and won't be at work so I probably won't post again til next week.

A Tough Decision

2009-01-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

I had to make a decision about my training and I have to admit it was a tough one. I've been doing this endurance event thing for 6 years and even when I've been injured I've followed through and done my races. There have been marathons where I have trained my littls tushy off and same last season with my triathlon. I gave it my all and it paid off. I have not been able to do that this season though. :o( and that has been bothering me quite a bit.

I am finally recovering from being sick but being sick took me out of cycling for 3 weeks. That's not good. Before getting sick though I was only riding on Saturday's, not good. Now that I'm not sick I would be able to ride on Saturday's but I would continue to not be able to ride during the week. We have some things going on. I promise soon you will know :o) it's good something good but it's something that needs my 100% attention which means I can't give that 100% attention to my riding. Riding only on Saturday's is kicking my butt and now that we are getting into the longer mileage it's just going to get worse. Anyway, after talking to my hubby and coaches I've decided that the best thing to do is to NOT do Solvang :o( I just don't have the time to commit to my training. It's all for a good reason and the good thing is Solvang isn't going anywhere I can join the team again next winter. I am still going to be on the volunteer staff as the web captain, I will still be helping out on Saturday's as SAG support and I will still travel to Solvang to cheer my teammates on. I just won't be training for it anymore and doing the race.

I am very sad but it's a smart choice for me right now.

My goal is to do some Sunday short rides and start running again now that it's beginning to stay light out longer. In June we start training for the Chicago Marathon and by then things will have calmed down quite a bit and I'll be able to once again focus on training.

I really liked my riding group and will miss them but I'm happy I can still be out there to support them :o)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY!!

2009-01-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2009-01-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe we are 9 days into the new year and I haven't written a single post :o(

Let's see last time I wrote was the 28th and guess what? I am STILL sick :o( On Monday the 29th I felt okay and managed to work an entire day. I thought I was getting better and what was good is that I had never really gotten super sick. On Tuesday it was a WHOLE different story. :o( I did manage to go to work but I started feeling pretty icky by 2pm I was feeling really bad and my boss finally told me to go home cause I did not look good. I went home and straight to bed. Wednedsay was New Years and I was still feeling icky so we decided that we would stay home. No New Year's Parties for us :o(

We had invited Olivia over but told her not to feel like she had to come. She did though :o) and we had a very yummy crab dinner, watched tv, rang in the New Year, watched more tv and finally at around 2am we all passed out. In the morning my hubby cooked us a very yummy breakfast. Olivia went home and I went back to bed. I was not feeling great and it seemed like the cough was getting worse and worse. Luckily since it was New Years Day we had the day off work so Rocky and I just hung out at home and did NOTHING. I think I stayed in my jammies the entire day.

Friday I still didn't feel good but I did go to work but my boss called me around 9am and said I could go home because he'd decided to take the day off. I stayed til noon doing a few things and answering emails but once I was done I left and back to bed. GEESH!!

I was too sick to ride but I still went out to the training to take pictures. I drove around with another teammate that wasn't riding and Daisy. We took pictures, cheered our teammates on and made sure everyone was okay as they went on their 40 mile ride. We headed to the water stop and chatted a littlle with everyone and then headed home. Guess what I did? Went home, got my jammies on and went back to bed :o( Rocky and I did leave the house in the evening to run an errand but after that we were back home.

Sunday we did actually leave the house the entire day to venture into the city for a day at the museums with Olivia.

We started out at the de Young Museum, then went over to the Japanse Gardens and ended our day at the Legion of Honor. It was a cold day but a very clear nice day to be out there. I really enjoyed our day. Before heading home we had dinner over in the Marina District. We finally made it home around 6ish and I passed out, or attempted to at about 7pm.

On Monday I finally decided to go to the doctor. I was diagnosed with bronchtis :o( boo, hoo. The good news though is that I got lots of meds which meant sleep and finally being on the road to recovery. I've never had bronchitis and would be very happy if I don't ever have it again, YUCK!!!

Back to work....

2008-12-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

.....at least for a few days.

We survived Christmas and I think maybe I only gained a few pounds. LOL. As I sit here eating yet another piece of chocolate. I told Rocky he must take them to work tomorrow and get them out of our house.

I've been sick since Tuesday but I managed to keep myself nice and medicated on Tylenol Cold Medicine and Theraflu and I made it through the festivities. I seem to be fine during the day but feel icky at night :o(

Christmas Eve Rocky and I both worked for a few hours and then headed home to finish wrapping presents and cook a few things for dinner at Martin & Minnelli's house. We headed over to Daly City about 5:30. Most of the family was there and we had all brought a nice combination of food. Minnelli cooked a super yummy roast as the main dish. The food was all super good as were all the desserts. After dinner we did the gift exchange which was just a Kris Kringle type thing. We each brought a gift, you put them all in the middle and each pick a gift. Except it took about 30 minutes to figure out if we'd be stealing gifts or just keeping the one you picked. It was quite funny and in the end we decided with stealing gifts til everyone had picked. It was a very fun night.

Rocky and I headed home and opened gifts at home with the doggies. Then we hit the sack since we had to head back to Daly City on Christmas Day for brunch at my in-laws.

Christmas Day was yet another day filled with food and desserts and more presents. This time no stealing :o) The entire day we sat and relaxed, ate, relaxed, ate.... :o) The doggies got to enjoy the day as well with the family and got spoiled by everyone.

The rest of our weekend has pretty much consisted of relaxing, watching movies at home, a littel shopping, a little more eating and me trying to get better. I'm worried I won't be able to get up tomorrow for work. I've been going to bed late and getting up late :o) Luckily we only have to work 3 days :o) yipee and then.....woohoo it's 2009.

It's been a crazy year for us and we are looking forward to 09 and what it will bring.

Hope you all had a great Christmas

From our home to yours.....

2008-12-24T10:56:00.001-08:00

Let it Snow......

2008-12-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's snowing, not here on the ground where I am at but pretty darn close. It has been freezing and some days the temp has been in the low 30's :o( We aren't used to this and I don't like it. One thing I don't like is being cold :o( brrrrrrr!!

Before I start my update about the happenings of the last few days I'd like to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!!

Welcome to 32 :o)

I still can't believe that Christmas is next week. We are so not ready and I'll be one of those people running around like a chicken with my head cut off shopping at the last minute.

Saturday, December 13th - 30 mile ride in Sunol
I had the best ride yet and I'm not sure it'll ever happen again...LOL!! Our team rode in Sunol and although the hills weren't crazy steep like Three Bears last weekend it was still a tough ride. You just slowly kept going up and up and up and up and no joke I thought I'd never be done.

I started out in my group as usual and the first couple of miles were pretty much flat. Once we were going to start going up Coach Beth told us to find a gear that we felt we could keep for 5+ miles, we'd be in that gear for approx. 40-50 minutes. It was all going to be up from there, yikes. Let me just say that after Three Bears I was worried about the ride, my knee and the fact that I had had Chinese food for dinner, not the best choice dinner.

Anyway, I found a gear that I felt comfortable and started pedalling. I passed a couple of people and then passed a few others. Coach Beth and Mentor Amy said I had a great cadence going and that I looked great. This was an out and back so Coach Beth said to go at our own pace and if we got ahead no biggie there was no way of getting lost. Okie dokie, here I go then.

I eventually passed up my whole group and then eventually I lost my whole group. The only good thing about this was that I was feeling great and was moving on up. The bad part though was that I ended up all alone. The mind started messing with me and at one point I wanted to cry. It seemed I was never going to finish climbing, the 14 mile turnaround seemed so far away even though I was at mile 12. At every corner I thought I was done climbing, but NOPE!! I kept on going. In my head I said...keep on going going going :o) you are doing great, you've pedaled this far KEEP PEDALING. I finally saw the water stop and was super happy. The only bad thing is that while I was talking myself into getting up that darn hill I was also freaking myself out because I knew I had to come down it :o( I am terrified of downhills.

I got to the water stop, filled up my water bottles and ate some food. I decided I would wait for my group and decent with them. I waited 25 minutes and they weren't there so Coach Cyd told me to go back down alone :o( I was waiting to long and getting cold. Okie dokie, here I go. I eventually saw my team coming up and later found out they had a flat tire so they had had to stop to fix it. I knew I wasn't that far in front but bummer I had to go back alone.

Once again big bummer I was alone but in the end I was kind of glad I was. I was so scared going down that at some turns I almost came to a complete stop which is a big NO NO, you can fall over doing that. I eventually made it down. I think I forgot to breath though, haa, haa.

It was a physically challenging day but also emotionally and mentally. I did it though and I was so darn proud of myself. I still had some knee pain but I just powered through it. It wasn't as bad as last week but it was still there. Still need to get the darn pedals checked out but haven't had time.

YIPEE!! I did 30 miles :o)

Saturday evening we had Rocky's company Holiday Party. It was held at the Scottish Rite Temple in Oakland so at least it was close by. We had a great time hanging out with his co-workers. They had dinner, did some raffles, had a dj and even had a booth to take photos. We didn't dance but people watched, that's always fun :o) We did take pictures which turned out cute. I'll have to scan it and post it.

Sunday, December 7th - Crazy Day of Shopping!
I had planned on taking my bike in to the shop to get the pedals checked but Christmas took over our day. We got up fairly early to clean our house and once we were done with that we got ready and headed out of the house.

First stop was a Christmas tree lot to get our tree. We usually get a 5-6 foot tree but because of space this year we decided to go with something smaller. We usually get a Noble Fir because I feel like the leaves are a little more sturdy for the ornaments. We went to a lot in Castro Valley which is where we got our tree last year and a 4 foot Noble Fir tree was $68.....YIKES!!!! That seemed quite pricey so we left and headed to another lot. I had seen a lot not far from my work so we headed there. We got a very pretty tree, between 4-5 ft and guess what? It was only $37 with tax...woohoo. I can't believe that going just a few miles down the road made such a big difference.

The next few stops were Target, Whole Foods and the mall. We managed to start our Christmas shopping and got a few gifts. We still need to go back and finish though :o( OY!!!

We invited Olivia and Cousin Rodney over for dinner on Sunday night for a very yummy crab dinner. Crab is my all time favorite and I try to eat it as much as I can when it's in season. When we went to Whole Foods to buy it we were very happy to find that it had gone down in price quite a bit :o) so we even got an extra crab to eat the next day.

Olivia brought some salad and Rodney steamed clams, we had quite the spread. We had WAY too much fun.

4 eaten crabs and clams

Rodney even got us to decorate our tree so it turned into a tree trimming party. Rodney supervised while Rocky and Olivia decorated the tree. I helped by unraveling all the lights and getting all the ornaments out. I love our tree and it looks pretty. Thanks Olivia for helping us out. Thanks Rodney for getting us to decorate it. It'd probably still be bare if we hadn't of done it then.

This week is filled with holiday/birthday dinners all week. I am gonna have a Santa belly before Christmas even arrives :o)

FINALLY A NEW POST :o)

2008-12-11T16:22:00.000-08:00

It's going to be a long one since I need to catch up from the last two weeks. I'm gonna have to see if I can remember it all.

Thursday, Nov. 27th - Thanksgiving
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Rocky's family. We weren't able to see mine :o( since my mommy had to work the whole weekend, even Thanksgiving. This year everyone pitched in and we all had a dish to bring. I was in charge of mashe potatoes and string beans. Nice and easy. There was lots of food, lots of desserts and it was all super yummy.

This is only part of what was there :o)

Friday, Nov. 28th

It was a nice relaxing day. Hubby and I took the doggies to the dog park and made the race each other. It was a great way to get them tired out :o) They've been cooped up in the house for quite some time.

After the doggie park we headed home, gave them a bath and then just relaxed. In the afternoon we headed to the spa for massages. It was so nice and relaxing. Afterwards we had a yummy dinner at Cafe Esin.

Saturday, Nov. 29th
Rocky and I headed out early for a nice bike ride with a co-worker of mine and her husband. They ride in Sonoma every weekend so they invited us to join them. It was a very nice day and we were able to get 32 miles in. Lynn, my co-worker, was a great help and gave me lots of tips. After our ride we had a nice lunch the Red Grape Pizzaria in the Sonoma Square. We walked around and finished our day off with some yummy gelato.

Headed back home, unpacked the car, took showers and headed back out the door. We headed to San Francisco to celebrate my brother-in-laws birthday. We had dinner at Butterfly and had a very yummy dinner and lots of fun hanging out with friends.

Sunday, Nov. 30th
hmmm, what the heck did we do on Sunday??? Okay, this is sad, I really have no idea what we did. Maybe we just hung out at home. I can't remember at all :o( boy, I'm getting old. Was this the day I rode with Jeanette and Phil? Help!!! Hmm, maybe it is the day I rode with them. Okay, I give up.

Rest of the week was pretty hectic and training has really taken a back seat at least during the week. Which is NOT good. That needs to change very quickly.

Friday, Dec. 5th
Rocky's was given the opportunity to attend the Academy of Science and bring me along :o) I had never been there and was pretty excited to go. I guess it just had a major overhaul. I LOVED IT and can't wait to go back. We had a great time spending the day together there and afterwards we had dinner in SF before heading back home. It was a nice day with my hubby.

Saturday, Dec. 6th
OH BOY!! The Three Bears in Orinda. We've head how tough this ride is and I was pretty nervous about it. I was also excited to do it and say that I had done it. It turned out to be a tough day physically and emotionally. Everyone did an awesome job though and I'm proud of our team. I can't give too much info on here but we had 2 riders down and 2 ambulances :o( so that rattles us quite a bit. Happy to report though that both of those people are doing good and on their way to recovering.

I made it up what is called Mama Bear, HILLY, which was 15 miles out. I did not continue on with my team for the last 9 miles though and got a ride back. I have been having lots of knee/shin pain in my right leg and we think it's due to my pedals/cleats. The rest of the ride was harder so my coach advised me to stop and not overdue. It's still early in the season and the ride was only 25 miles. We've done some adjustments and we'll see what happens this weekend. If it still hurts I'll need to go in and see someone and have them help me with adjusting my pedals or mayb even buying different pedals with more supports. I'll keep you posted. My goal is to go back and conquer all 3 bears :o)

In the evening Rocky and I headed to Daly City to his parents house. They were having everyone over and some friends to watch the Oscar de la Hoya fight. I didn't realize until I got there what the big deal about the fight was besides Oscar hadn't fought in a long time. Well the other guy was Filipino....aaaaahhhhh....I get it. Well the little filipino man won. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone especially my sister-in-law, Hideko. We kept screaming and closing our eyes every time Oscar got punched in the face, it was a bit stressful. Such girls!!

Sunday, Dec. 7th
A very very early morning. I was up at 4am, showered, dressed and out of the house by 5 to pick up Olivia. We headed to Sacramento to cheer on Lael and our other TNT friends running the Cal International Marathon. We FROZE our tushies off but we had a really fun time. Lael even PR'd so it was a good day for him. Afterwards we had lunch and then headed home.

Okay, I think I'm caught up now.

I have not done a single thing in regards to Christmas and that makes me not only sad but gives me anxiety. Rocky and I need to get on the ball so I'm guessing this weekend we'll be doing some shopping, card sending and getting a tree. I still can't believe Christmas is right around the corner. YIKES!!!

The holiday parties have begun which means so has the eating :o) gonna have to be careful on that one and not over do it.

:o)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well life is a bit crazy busy, work is busy and working the website is a bit busy so updating my own blog hasn't been happening :o( I might have to stick to once a week updates til things calm down.

This week has been a bit lazy and not much working out has been done. It'll probably be that way til next week. I do plan on riding on Saturday though I just haven't decided if I'll ride with the team in Sausalito or in Sonoma with a co-worker, her hubby and my hubby. I still have to check with Rocky and see what he'd like to do. Other than that our plan is to enjoy our time with family tomorrow, eat lots of yummy food and try to relax since we are off til Monday :o)

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

glitter-graphics.com

Monkey See Monkey Do

2008-11-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well at least that's why our yoga teacher says :o) although yoga didn't happen much for me this week. Tuesday night I was in a meeting all afternoon and didn't get back to the office til almost 5pm so I ended up working late to go through phone calls and emails from the day. It was too late to go to class when I got home so I ended up googling "free yoga video's" and found one on youtube I really liked. I did it at home, alone in the comfort of my own home. I did good and pushed myself but I feel I try harder in an actual class with an actual teacher starting at me. Oh well, at least I did somthing.

Wednesday night I didn't do anything. I was suppose to ride but still have the small issue of not being able to :O( it's too dark to ride alone and I have no stationary bike BUT that problem will be solved soon :o) I've decided to go ahead and get a cycle trainer since we can get them at a great discount through TNT. I will use the cycle trainer during the week. I will also pray I don't cycle so hard I land in our downstairs neighbors lap..haa, haa. It's one of the reasons I didn't want to get one but I'm hoping it won't be too loud and I can get my workouts in.

Last night we had a team social at Sports Basement. Since I'm the web cappy I brought my laptop and helped a few of the participants with website questions. We were able to get 20% off also at Sports Basement so I bought a new wind/rain jacket for cycling which I really needed. Other than needing the jacket it's been very nice for my check book that I haven't really needed to buy any gear since I have it all. It can get quite expensive buying all the stuff we need especially in the winter when you need extra layers of stuff.

Tonight I will rest and get all my gear ready for this weekend. We have a team ride in San Francisco on Saturday and on Sunday we are to do a 60 minute recovery ride. I'm guessin that ride won't happen til later in the day since the hubby has a gig Saturday night :o) I'm sure sleeping in will be in the plan for Sunday morning.

It's back to being chilly and I'm not liking it. Riding in the cold is no fun although I'm happy it's just cold and not cold/rainy.

Happy Weekend!!

Week 1 Recap

2008-11-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

Thursday

I was pretty sore on Thursday from Tuesday night's yoga and wasn't quite sure how I'd survive going back. Every muscle in my body hurt. I still went to yoga though and funny thing is that once I got going I wasn't feeling all the soreness. My muscles were nice and loose and I did the whole class. It felt great and I really think it's going to help with strength. My schedule this week is a bit weird so I'm not sure how many days I'll make it but I'm hoping for at least once or twice. We'll see how it goes.

Friday

REST DAY! My favorite day of the week :o) Our friends Cynthia and her boyfriend, Ray, have joined the triathlon team and I had a few things here and there that I don't use anymore that I gave her. They came over to pick the stuff and we made dinner and hung out with them. It was nice since we are all so busy and are lucky if we see them once a year.

Cynthia might be buying my old bike from our friend Belinda. Belinda has joined the Iron Team, crazy girl, and ended up buying a triathlon bike and so now she's selling the bike I sold her. It's funny how I am attached to it and would like it to stay in the family :o) I am hoping it works out for Cynthia.

It was a nice evening with them and I'm glad we were able to get together.

Saturday

Met the team at Las Positas College in Livermore for our Saturday morning Team Ride and our Flat Tire changing clinic.

By the way, I do NOT like changing tires :o( they are no fun especially the back tire.

Our ride was scheduled to be 23 miles and I'm happy to say that I did the enitere mileage. I also moved up one group and I think this is where I'll stay. I was kind of in the middle for most of the ride. Not with the fastest people in our group and not with the slowest. Just kind of in the middle. The ride through Livermore was beautiful, you'd think we had left California. We even got to see cow's, horses & llama's. The weather could not have been perfect, actually it was a little warm but I'll take 80's over freezing cold and rain.

I felt great during the entire ride. I did have a little bit of knee/shin pain but after talking to the coach's it looks like it might be the position of my cleat. I just need to adjust it a bit and see if that helps. I might take a few adjustments/rides to figure it out but hopefully that will help. Everything else seems to be positioned in the right place.

our team manager, coaches, mentors & captains

After the ride I headed home, had a yummy chicken salad lunch and then got ready to head out to Ms. Brandy's 35th Birthday Celebration. Today is her actual birthday......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

BRANDY!!

It was funny because we were joking about how old we are getting or at least feeling. 10pm hit and everyone started leaving. If we were going out to a club in the city you wouldn't even be leaving til 10pm, haa, haa. Not us, we were ready to go home and go to bed. We had a great time though hanging out with our friends and meeting and chatting with some of her other friends. Brandy also made some super yummy home made pizza's and a yummy chocolate cheesecake.

Sunday
Another sort of early morning, I got to sleep in til 7:30 :O) that's late for us these days. I headed out to Berkeley Marina and did my 60 minute recovery ride. It was nice and flat. I did about 9 miles out and back from the Berkeley Marina to Emeryville and then I did 3 miles out and back from the Berkeley Marina to Albany. I felt good and was happy that I got out there and did it.

The rest of our day was pretty mellow. Rocky and I vegged out, ran some errands, had a super yummy dinner at Yankee Pier in Lafayette and then headed home for some more relaxing.

It was a nice weekend and a great end to week #1. I'm enjoying cycling, well just have to see if I'm still saying that when I'm riding 80 miles mostly up hills :o( yikes. I think I'm also enjoying it because it's all I'm doing. I'm not having to swim a gagillion yards and then hop on my bike for a 2 hour ride. Looking forward to week #2 which actually has a few extra days of riding.

Monkey Yoga

2008-11-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

Well the training week has started off well, I've signed up for Yoga. Our training schedule for the Cycle team is not as crazy as the tri team which is kind of nice. Two days a week we are suppose to work on Stretching & Sit-ups so I decided that maybe doing yoga would be good.

A few weeks ago I did some research on yoga centers near our home. When looking around I found Monkey Yoga which close to the house and it has a class that starts at 7:30 which works out great for me. A lot of places I have no time to get to the class with out rushing or it's too early :o( A 7:30 class will allow me to get home, change and make dinner and then head out. I don't have to rush there. The other great thing was they were offering a 30 day pass for $30, it's a deal. Normally classes are $13 per class. I made a mental note to check it out once the new season started.

A few days ago our friend from TNT, Candace, had posted on her Facebook status that she was starting yoga at Monkey Yoga :o) I chatted with her a little and decided that I would join her, it's always nice to have a buddy. She said Monday didn't work for her because she had to watch Dancing with the Stars, haa, haa, priorities. We decided to start last night.

OMG, it kicked my butt. I took a class a long time ago and never really went back. I think it was a different type of yoga though. I remember it being hard but not as hard as last night and not as intense. I tried really hard to do all the poses and although they are hard it will get better with more time and practice. The class was 1 1/2 hours and I sweated like a piggy. I was actually surprised at how flexible I really am. I think it's something I will really enjoy as I go more and I'll be getting my 2 days week in of stretching :o) Today, I am SORE but it's a good sore. I was going to go tonight but I think it's best I rest tonight and not over do it. Tonight is also a different instructor and I think I want to stick with the same one until I'm more comfortable. I have decided that I'll just go every other day and try to get in 3 or 4 days per week. Hubby said he might even join me :o) There was actually quite a few men in the class last night.

I am really looking forward to working on my balance, flexibility and strength.

Kickoff and 1st Ride

2008-11-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

The season has officially started :o) woohoo. I am excited to be working out again and I'm really excited now to take on the new challenge. Scared? yep still scared but I love our coaches and our team so here we go.

Saturday was our Kickoff celebration at the St. Mary's Cathedral Event Center. It was a new location for us but it was set up nicely and all went off well. I met Meenu at Lake Merritt at 7am, we grabbed coffee at Peet's and then headed in to the city. We mingled with the Alumni for a while and then we went over to our post, the Fundraising Clinic Table. We were only there a short bit and then were re-assigned to the New Registration table.

At 10am the main program started in the big room and we listened to the MC who is also an Alumni and former LLS employee and then to a team honoree. After the main program in the big room was done we headed into our individual sport rooms to meet with our coaches, mentors, captains and meet the new participants. We had a great turnout and we have some fun people on the team. It's always fun to meet the newbies who have never done anything like this before. They are nervous, they are excited and eager to get started and see what it is they signed up for. After it was all over Olivia, Phil and I headed out and stoppe at CPK for a much needed lunch, we were all starving. The rest of Saturday Rocky and I just hung out at home and relaxed since it was such and icky rainy day.

Sunday was our first ride of the season. We met in Pinole at 8am and the day was filled with lots of information. It was a busy morning for me since I'm also trying to learn but at the same time I have to do my web captain duties. It's okay though it all keeps me on my toes. Everyone got fitted on their bikes, Coach Cyd went over some information on clothes and gear and also the rules of the road. Coach Kerry led us through some stretching and then we were on our way.

I decided to ride in the slowest group. I've never ridden with this team and since I'm as slow as a snail I didn't want to be to confident and think that I could ride with the faster group. I am happy to say that I am not the slowest and that rididng in this group was actually a little hard because I wasn't going at a pace that I could actually feel good at. During some points we were going so slow I couldn't pedal cause I didn't want to slam into the mentor that was leading our group. I have officially moved myself up to the next group :O) I will ride with the next group this coming Saturday and see how I do there.

Our route was an out and back of about 12 miles which inlcuded going up Mama Bear but our group was told to turn around at the base of Mama Bear (Three Bears refers to the section on Bear Creek Road which has three climbs called Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. From Alhambra Valley Road, Mama Bear is first, Baby Bear is in the middle, and Papa Bear is last) and not do it. I was very happy at the moment not to have to do it but now I'm bummed I didn't since it also meant I didn't do the full mileage. I will stop being a baby and push myself as hard as I can from now on. I am not the slowest and there is no reason either why I shouldn't be doing the full mileage. No more being a baby :o)

It was a good ride though and I felt great. I am also really enjoying being web captain and I've gotten good feed back from my teammates about our website, yipee!

A New Season, A New Team, A New Sport

2008-11-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

Well my quiet, restful, sleeping in weekends are over. Tomorrow is Kickoff for the new season and Sunday is my first ride. Yeah, the Cycle team doesn't mess around, we start Sunday.

Technically it's not a new sport for me since I have been riding my bike but it's a new distance. Each mile after 25 miles for me will be a new goal accomplished. I can't wait to get to 100 miles :o) although I'm sure by hiney has a different wish, can you say OUCHIE..LOL!!

Last night we had a staff social at Pizza Rustica in Rockridge which was nice since I don't know anyone on the staff besides Meenu. We are the newbies to the team although it sounds like everyone is new to working together. Everyone has been on a team at some point just not the same team and working together. I'm excited and I think it's going to be a great season.

I'm also nervous. I know how to ride my bike and I know I can ride for 2 hours (25 miles) no problem but I still have so much to learn. I don't do well on the hills. I am slow going up and I am slow coming down because scared to death of going so fast, going around turns and riding next to cars. It's going to be a new challenge for me but I think the end result will be good. Stick to the schedule, learn as much as I can from the coaches and have fun. I have 4 months and 1 week to get there :O)

History was Made!

2008-11-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

America stepped up to the plate and came through.

The Day is Finally Here

2008-11-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

What Mom? No Costume?

2008-10-31T14:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

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.