Bad Week

Well I had a great week last week of running and felt amazing. This week :O( no running at all and somehow tomorrow I'm suppose to run 6 miles. I have a feeling it may not be such a good day :o(. I started the week off with headaches and ended my week with a tattoo that is OUCHIE OUCHIE OUCHIE still and will be like that for a few more days. I am hoping that I can get through my run tomorrow though without to much pain. I am sure that it'll be uncomfortable but hopefully not painful. Rocky offered to run the 6 miles with me so he can carry my water...aaahhhhh :o) because I definitely can't wear my fuel belt around my waist. That would really be way OUCHIE!

Last night though I did head out to the track workout with Rocky to take some pictures and support the team. Coach had everyone do circuit drills (squats, lunges, pushups, situps) and I am sure everyone is feeling it to day. It was a great workout and everyone did a great job.

This weekend will be busy again. Tonight I am going to the Giant's game with Olivia, Karen and Rocky. It'll be a long day but hey, they are free tickets :o) Tomorrow morning we are meeting in San Leandro for our 6 mile run and then in the evening Rocky has a gig at the Great American Music Hall....GOOD LUCK GUYS!.....On Sunday Patch and I are meeting our friend Petra and her doggie Domino at the dog park and then we are going to the Farmers Market. Should be a nice mellow Sunday. I am sure Patch will be a happy puppy.

Have a great weekend!

OUCHIE, OUCHIE, OUCHIE

That is all I have to say about last night :o(

THANK YOU Hubby and Olivia for sitting with me and letting me squeeze your hand so tight I though I was gonna rip it off :O(

Leslie did an amazing job and my tattoo looks beautiful, well the part that's done looks beautiful. I was there for 3 hours and finally had to give up for the night. It was to painful. I will go back in a few weeks to have it finished. I can't wait. Okay, I take that back. I can wait, the thought of going back makes me want to cry but I can't wait for the tattoo to be totally done.

Poopy Headache

I've had a headache for 3 days now :o( I did not run on Monday and I did not run last night. I've had 2 days of going home and plopping on my couch. I know it's stress so I'm not too concerned about why this headache won't go away. I know it's all the chaos in our lives right now. Work is busy, home is busy and of course training takes up a lot of time. So I am hoping that after this week and next week are over things will mellow out and life will be less chaotic.

My headache isn't as bad today but it is still there :O( I won't be running today either because I have an appointment this afternoon and I'm not sure how long it'll take and I also won't be able to run afterwards. Why you ask? hee, hee, I know you are wondering, aren't you? I am getting a tattoo fixed that I had done a long time ago and hate.

Note to my dad (he reads my blog): I promise I am not getting another tattoo, I am just getting my old one made pretty.

It's funny how when you are young you don't put much thought into what you are having done. I mean it's not like you don't know that it's going to be on your body for the rest of your life but I guess you just don't think about the consequences. My first tattoo was the sun, moon and stars on my lower back. I literally just walked in, found pretty picture on their wall of tattoo's and had them do it. I hated it when I got it and I hate it now :o( luckily the only time you can see it is when I'm wearing a bathing suit. I've had the tattoo for about 9 years and for the last 4 or so I've been really looking into getting it redone. I didn't really know til I watched a few tattoo shows on tv that there are certain things you shouldn't get in small sizes because as the years go by they turn into a blob or you kind of lose what the design was. That's what has happened to mine. It's an icky blob and I hate it. Did I mention, I hate it? This time I had to really think of what I wanted to cover it up with and who I'd go to. I finally decided on getting plumeria flowers. I love them and since I did get married in Maui, plumeria's have become very significant.

Did you know that the plumeria didn't orginate in Hawaii? I didn't know that til I was doing some research on them.

From Mexico and Central America, Plumeria has spread to all tropical areas of the world, especially Hawaii, where it grows so abundantly that many people think that it is indigenous there. P. alba is the national flower of Nicaragua and Laos, where it is known under the local name "Sacuanjoche" (Nicaragua) and "Champa" (Laos).

Although in the Hawaiian culture the plumeria is worn by women to indicate relationship status.

- over the right ear if seeking a relationship, and over the left if taken.

I guess I'll be wearing plumerias on my left ear :o)

I will be getting my tattoo done at Diving Swallow in Oakland. It was highly recommended by my friend Petra. She had a few cover ups done there. I am having my tattoo done by Leslie Mah and I really like her. Because she is so busy it's took me a long time to get in and see her but I know it's worth the wait. The last place I went to wasn't so great which is also the reason my tattoo doesn't look good. The people weren't very good. Rocky and I went in to see Leslie's portfolio's before I made an appointment with her and her work was awesome. She was also very nice when I went in with all my artowrk. I can't wait to see what the final design is going to look like.

Anyway, that's what my new pretty redone tattoo will be. There is also another element to it but I'll talk about that another time :o) and NO it's not Rocky's name..geesh!

Olivia is going to come with me to hold my hand cause OUCHIE it's gonna hurt. I also brought my teddie bear to hold onto and Rocky will meet us there later.

It's funny how tattoo's have changed over the years. I know a long time ago people getting tattoo's were mainly people in the military. It was also a huge gang thing to be tattoo's all over. Now it seems like tattoo's are more acceptable and people of all ages are getting them. I am totally hooked on the show Miami Ink and they always have great stories on there of the people getting tattoo's. Last week there was a little old lady, in her 80's, who really wanted a tattoo so she had her first initial put on her shoulder. It was really cute. Last night there was an older gentleman, not quite as old, who was blind and had gone in with his daughter to have the smiling/sad drama masks put on his back shoulder. He couldn't see it but wanted it there for others to see. He was really into theatre. I don't think my parents will ever quite get used to or like the fact that I have them. I often find them looking to make sure there aren't new ones :o) which there aren't. 3 is enough and luckily other than my one on my ankle I can keep them covered if I need to.

Bee Hive? Birds Nest?

What the heck was wrong with my hair?

I usually put my hair up in a clip when I run. I know last week before track I was running late and trying to hurry out the door to make it to track by 6:30 but what was wrong with my hair? It looks like a big birds nest up there. YIKES! I could probably hide a few things in there. Maybe I can carry my gels in there :o)

Training, Food, Friends & Laughter

This weekend was a busy one, the entire weekend was pretty much spent with girlfriends and we had a great time.

Friday night was spent at home doing last minute stuff for the run on Saturday. I had to make a 2nd spirit cape so that the walk team could have one also and I had also agreed to help Trish, our honoree captain, with the honoree banner. Rocky was great and helped me out because by the time I got to the banner it was about 10pm and I was starting to get cranky :o( it was past my bedtime. The banner and the spirit cape turned out cute and thankfully they dried by the time we headed out on Saturday morning. I'll try to get a picture up here soon.

Saturday we met the team at 8am at a new location in Oakland. It was a nice trail and a nice run except for NO SHADE and for some reason it was super warm in Oakland. We thought it was going to be a cool run especially because it was by the water but no luck. It was warm :o( I started my run out with Jeanette, Olivia and Phil and we all pretty much kept together til we got to the water stop. Jeanette and I sped up a little bit after that and finished 4.02 miles in 45:14. I felt great and YAY didn't get sick from taking the GU and GU2O. I think this might be my new combination of gels and electrolyte drink.

After the run Rocky and I grabbed breakfast at the Coffee Mill in Oakland. I had a yummy breakfast rap and managed to only eat half of it. I was a good girl. The thing was huge but I took half home and ate it on Sunday. By the time we got home I was pooped and had no energy to take a shower so I laid on our living room floor since I was all icky from the run. Rocky brought me my blankie and a small pillow and a took a 30 minute nap while him and the doggie did computer stuff in the other room. The nap helped refresh me and then it was in the shower to get ready and head out to Walnut Creek to meet Olivia. We had planned to go shopping for very specific things. We managed to find exactly what we needed and we was very painless. We treated ourselves with Gelato :o) I headed back home for a change of clothes and to kill some time before meeting Petra and 9 other of her friends to celebrate her ????? birthday. We had dinner at Pizzaiolo. The food was super yummy but the service was very slow. I've never been there and I'm not sure if it's always like that but when you are starving it's not good that they take forever to bring your dinner :o( Everything that we ordered we shared. We had a couple of salads, some appetizers, 5 different pizza's and some very yummy desserts. It was a fun evening. Amy, Anita and Olivia were there and we got to meet some of Petra's friends from the knitting store. It was another late night so I was pooped by the time I got home.

Sunday I was suppose to get up and do my video or go do a short run. Ummm, neither of those two things happened. I decided I needed to get some extra sleep. I think I finally rolled out of bed at 10am :o). I cleaned the house, did some laundry and then got things ready for the girls to come over for knitting. The menu: Pomegranate Martini's in our new super cute martini glasses, maui style short ribs, chicken, corn, macaroni salad, green salad and dessert. Everything turned out very yummy. THANK YOU Rocky for bbq'ing all the yummy food, Raji for the green salad and Jeanette for the yummy dessert. We spent quite a few hours knitting, being silly and talking about everything you could imagine. My poor husband may never let these ladies back in the house :o) We had a wonderful time and before we knew it it was past our bedtimes and everyone headed home.

Last weeks totals:

Tuesday - 3.1 miles
Wednesday - 2.66 miles
Thursday - 1.56 miles
Saturday - 4.02 miles

Total Week 2 - 11.34 miles

I am actually pretty happy with my training last week. 4 days of training is more then I'm used to and I managed to do it and feel pretty good each time. I am averaging between a 10:30 and 11:30 minute mile, not too bad for me. I am hoping to be able to run a 10 minute mile without pooping out. We'll see how that goes as the miles get higher. This week my running days will be a little different because I've got some other things going on but I'm hoping to be able to get 4 days in again. Our official NY training starts this week so on Saturday we'll be running 6 miles already. YIKES.

Weight Watchers is going okay. I typically do better during the week but even though I didn't eat well and count points this weekend I managed to maintain my weight and not gain any. I think all the running is helping. I hope to do much better this week.

Adjusting

My body is still trying to adjust to running 4 days a week. Although the mileage is still low I went from running 3 days a week, to not running at all for 6 months to now running 4 days and hopefully getting some other workout in on one other day or possibly running 5 days. That leaves me 1 day of rest. When I trained for the Chicago Marathon I tried to follow this schedule but it didn't work out so well. This season looks good and I think we'll be able to stick to it. Last night we had a track workout in San Leandro. We were suppose to run 14, 17 or 19 minutes. I chose 17 and believe me even that was a lot for my little legs. I could feel that they were a little tired from the other 2 days of running. My body seams to be adjusting though. I'm not sore anymore like I was the first week I am just a little pooped. I also haven't been getting to bed on time and I know that's affecting me. I'm hoping next week will be better. My handy dandy watch said I did 1.56 miles in 16:56 yesterday. Not too bad.

I was cracking up at the picture above. This is taken from the program I use online to look at the info from my watch. Notice all the squiggly lines? Haa, haa...that's my path each time I went around. Not so straight :o( The GPS is very accurate and plots out your exact route. During track workouts it's hard to stay in one spot because you are running around other people on the track. It was funny to see this.


This weekend is going to be a bit busy. Tomorrow morning we have a team run in Oakland. YIPEE at least it's close and I don't have to get up super duper early. I will be running 4 miles. After the run Olivia and I have a shopping date, then it's off to a friends birthday. Sunday I plan on doing my exercise video or go for a short run. Then clean the house and then the girls are coming over for knitting....YAY! It's been probably about a month since I picked up my knitting so I'm looking forward to it. Rocky is bbq'ing for us :o) can't wait.


GOOD LUCK to all our friends doing the Anchorage Marathon this weekend and GOOD LUCK to our friend Tom who's doing the Ironman in Idaho this weekend!


Have a great weekend!

Fancy Watch

I got a new fancy watch for running. I had never really thought about getting one and hadn't really lookend into all the cool things they do but after Olivia got one for christmas from her parents and said she really liked it I started looking into them. The watch she has and the watch I got is the Garmin Forerunner 205. I had done some research and read up on their website and other websites about all the fancy stuff on it and I decided that I would get one. I was able to get an awesome deal on it so it made it well worth it. I really want to start being more consitant on my time and have a better performance on my next few races. I really think the watch will help with that.

Last night I ran with Amy and Olivia at the Ironhorse Trail. I started out with both of them but then after stretching I ran a little faster. I run a little faster then Amy and last week I noticed a little it of pain in my left leg, I think because I was running at her pace it was a little to slow for me. I sped up although not by much but it was more comfortable for me, we did our usual 2.7 mile loop and finished in 30:13. That was pretty good :o) I was able to go home and play with my watch and the software it came with for a bit. It was pretty cool to go on there and see my performance throughout the run. OH BOY was I not consistant with my speed. It was funny to see how I'd speed up (burst of energy) and slow down ( pooped) and at one point it even showed that my best pace was 8 minutes and something seconds....haa, haa, that's pretty funny. I didn't keep that up for very long. My slowest pace was over a 12 minute mile. I can also go online and use a program there for free, here is a snap shot of what I can do with this watch. It gives an overall review of my run, a map and a chart. It's a bit fuzzy but it gives you an idea. Pretty cool.