What a week!

The day after my crappy 11 mile run last Saturday I got on a plane and flew to the east coast for Christmas. Monday morning I ran 3 brisk miles around town, nothing too exciting. Christmas came, I got a new digital camera :), some money and stuff. Eric got me a bracelet and tickets to see Wicked this Friday so I'm excited about that! Wednesday, Thursday, blah blah blah, Waffle House with some friends from high school, etc. I flew home on Friday, which was not too fun because the flight was postponed due to the plane coming from snowy Chicago. FINALLY I get home and get to sleep in my own bed for one night. On Saturday Eric and I ran 6 miles, since we're tapering for the OC 1/2 marathon next weekend, which went okay. We're going to try to put in some speedwork this week in preparation for that. Later Saturday we drove up to Bishop and got a good night's sleep before climbing Sunday and Monday. I impressed myself by climbing pretty well and even sending one of my projects :) Probably due to New Years Eve, there was little traffic on 395 and the 15 on the way home, and we are finally home to stay!!!!

Climbing on Monday at the Pollen Grains -

Crappy 11 Miles

I should've known that my run today was destined for failure based on my Friday. I wanted to run on Thursday, but I ended up taking the day off from everything, which was actually really hard for me. I could've ran anytime on Friday, but I waited until late Friday afternoon to run, mistake #1. Mistake #2 - trying a new yoga, Vinyasa yoga, that was really quite hard, so I was pretty worn out today from that. So I shouldn't have been surprised when I went to run my 11 miles today and I felt bad from the start. I decided to go out to Chino Hills and run some easy miles. I headed out and decided to only run 8 miles on trails in case it started to get dark. I didn't want to go out by myself, but I didn't really have a choice, so the whole time I'm paranoid about mountain lions or crazy people. Then my legs feel like lead. Then I run out to the park at Brea and I full on trip and fall on some root, scraping up my knees and feeling like a dumbass. I'm getting a little frustrated at this point so I head back and then someone stops to ask me for directions, which was fine, except I had just watched a Law and Order: SVU marathon so all kinds of thoughts were running through my head. I start running again and feel pretty good until I realized I didn't turn my watch back on (I had stopped it when I stopped to talk). At this point I knew it was mind over matter so I tried really hard to change my thinking, but I couldn't. Finally, I was almost done. I went to step over a stream and my foot slipped and went into mud, which coated half of my foot. I had to laugh at this point and just be glad I didn't slip and fall down again. And my sock didn't get wet, which was amazing to me. I went up the last hill and past the car because I decided to run 3 more miles to get my full 11 in all at once. I ran on the dirt horse path next to the road, and my knees were kind of sore, but I decided that it was from the scrapes and swelling, not my runner's knee issues. Eventually I finished and haven't really stopped going since (not that I had a break before that taking Daisy to camp and then getting shoes). I had to go around putting up posters for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's information meetings in January, then I got Jamba Juice, came home and ate, now I have to pack and get ready for my flight tomorrow to the east coast for Christmas. I love my family, but going back for Christmas is so stressful!!!!! Ok, enough complaining... I need to go pack!

i heart yoga

i've been going to yoga a lot lately since i'm off from school/work. it's one of those things that i have always wanted to do while i was offtrack, but haven't actually done it. at yogaworks, they have a new student special - 2 weeks for $30, which is really a great deal! so far, i've tried anusara (which had been pretty challenging), yogaworks, yoga bliss, and power yoga. i'm not sure if it's a coincidence, but i really think it has helped my running. i started yoga last week, before my pain free 9 mile run, and i think all the stretching and "hip opening" has helped, so that's exciting too :) too bad this spring is going to be crazy while i'm working - 3 classes (mon, tues, online), training for the marathon, climbing... i'm going to try to get to yoga at least once a week, maybe twice on weekends when i stay home and don't go to bishop!

9 miles and some rock climbing in Bishop = Great weekend

This weekend we were in Bishop for rock climbing (more about that below), and I needed to run 9 miles. I decided to get up Sunday morning and run before we went out climbing for the day. It was cold. Like sub-40s cold. I put on my headband, my gloves, my many layers of clothing, and headed out the door. The first mile was through the town of Bishop, mostly on the sidewalk. It was very brisk, but I warmed up quickly. I headed out of town towards the Buttermilks (some of you may know Buttermilk Rd. from the Bishop Ultras) and found a dirt path next to the road to run on, which made me super happy :) I kept checking my Garmin, finding that I was running a little slow for me, but at first I figured it was because of the cold. As I continued, I realized that I should not have been running that slowly. I turned around and realized that I was running a gradual uphill the whole time. And I continued on the gradual uphill the whole first half of my run. I wasn't too concerned, I figured that I would make it up on the way back, and I did, so that was good. I was impressed with myself for running pretty well in the cold weather, considering I'm very adjusted to the mild temps in SoCal :) I'm also very happy because my knees felt good (a little tired, but good). My right knee is a little sore today, but besides that, this is the best 9 mile run I have ever done!

I had a great weekend climbing wise, too. On Saturday, Eric and Jeff were warming up on the Sunshine Boulder, which is 20 feet tall, and they tried to convince me to climb it, too. I finally gave in, but chickened out on a move about halfway up and climbed back down. *For those of you not familiar with rock climbing, when I go out to climb, I boulder, which is not using ropes, and putting pads down on the ground in case you fall.* After coming down, I sat around for a minute, and then when they started to pack up, I decided I needed to sack up and climb the problem. I went up, and got to the same place that I chickened out before, but cruised past it before I could get scared again. I did another problem that was my arch rival last time I was in Bishop, and impressed Eric by flashing (completing a problem on your first try) a problem that was also kind of high, and kind of technical. I didn't really do anything else, but I did pretty well on a couple hard problems, so that was cool. On Sunday, I did a couple problems, and I also did a very easy problem, that was higher than the Sunshine Boulder, called China Doll. I was psyched that I did two highballs within two days!

Gettin' ready for the Sunshine Boulder

Halfway up!

Just a little more...


Some mountains ... the dirt next to the road is where I ran :)

What a nightmare!

It all started yesterday when I got back from my run. I looked in the kitchen and there was a couple big puddles of water. So I try to sop it up with paper towels, but it wasn't working so I was a little irritated that I was going to have to go out and buy a mop. Little did I know, it was the beginning of a HUGE mess. I went in the bathroom and the floor was covered in water. Maintenance was all, oh it's just a leak a couple townhouses down, no problem. Ha. Fast forward a couple hours and their jackhammering away in my neighbors house. Daisy is going nuts, but I had just finished yoga so I was luckily in a calmer state of mind. Then they come knocking on my door. They think the leak is under our apt. We now have 3 huge holes in our kitchen floor, mud everywhere, and cement dust on everything. Lovely. And we got to stay cooped up in the bedroom most of the day into the night. Fast forward again to this morning when I go downstairs. I step on the carpet and an inch of water squishes up. So now I'm waiting for someone to call me (with the sound of more jackhammering a couple houses down) to discuss what we're going to do because we're not staying here. Daisy is spending the night at doggie day care thankfully, but oh yeah Eric's parents are going to be here in about an hour. Great timing. The only good thing I can say is that (so far) nothing has been ruined besides the carpet they're replacing (knock on wood).
I don't think you can quite get how trashed our apartment is without pictures, so here are some that we took, just in case we ever need them...

The water this morning

The holes filled with water in our kitchen

First trail run in FOREVER

This morning I met up with Wendy, Skip, and E-rod for my first trail run since my surgery. I was sooo excited to 1. run with the Northern OC contigency again, and 2. run trails again. I was not, however, excited about how cold it was. Low 40s! I know, I know, it could've been way colder. And this is prepping me for my 9 mile run in Bishop this weekend. And I did get to test out my new gloves. They work just fine, so that was good.
Anyway, we started at Cedar Grove park and continued to the east ridge in Peter's Canyon. I have been lacking in the hill work department, and this run threw me right in! It was a little sad how much hill strength I had lost since my surgery :( BUT after a few weeks of hills I'm sure I'll be fine. So the run was challenging, but it was fun and I'm glad to be back with OCTR and the trails :)

Best song to run to is...

...No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age. I swear this song is the exact number of beats per minute to get you in a good rhythm. I had always liked running to this song, but the other day Eric commented about it, and we run at different paces, so try it out :)

What's worse - wind or rain???

Friday night Eric and I went to his work's Christmas party, so I was super tired Saturday morning. I went to turn in my paperwork for Team in Training (now I'm officially registered for the LA Marathon), but I didn't have time to run my 7 miles because I had the Big Brother Big Sister Holiday Party on Saturday morning as well. After all that excitement I was really tired and decided to take a nap before running. I woke up and it was raining. Yes raining in Southern California! It wasn't supposed to rain on Sunday, so I figured I'd try my luck the next day. Around 3:30 on Sunday I headed out for my 7 mile run. I think that wind is worse than rain. I was running on the Santa Ana River Trail and had to cut out to the road because the wind was so bad! I felt like I was running a 9-9:30 pace, but when I looked at my Garmin I was running an 11:30! It was like running in slow motion and it sucked. So I ended up running around on the road and then finishing with a couple miles on the trail before heading home. Overall, I felt good. My legs and knees started to get tired, but no pain.
This morning I tried Anusara yoga and I think I'm hooked :)

Potential Races

So after looking through Runner's World and TrailRunner, I've come up with some potential races for 2008 -

*Nature's Path Whidbey Island Marathon & 1/2 in WA - April OR
San Juan Trail 50K in the OC - April (depends on how the LA marathon goes :))
*Triple Crown Trail Races (if I'm in DE for my break) - Delaware - April
*Wild West Marathon and 50K - Lone Pine, CA - May
*PCTR Santa Monica Mountains Trail Run - Los Angeles - May
*Xterra Malibu Creek Challenge - Los Angeles - May
*Xterra Vail Lakes Trail Run - Temecula - May
*Shadow of the Giants 50K - CA - May
*Peters Canyon Summer Trail Series - Orange, CA - summer
*Tahoe Rim Endurance Runs - Lake Tahoe, NV - July
*Bulldog 25K & 50K - Calabasas, CA - August
*Pike's Peak (if we're in CO for climbing) - CO - August
*5 Peaks Trail Run (if we're in Canada for climbing) - Vancouver, BC - August
*Xterra Point Mugu Trail Run - Los Angeles - September
*Xterra Crystal Cove State Park Trail Run - Laguna Beach, CA - December

Not quite sure how to proceed

So last night we ran 2 miles. I'm not quite sure what to do during my weekly runs. I'm already increasing my weekend long runs by 2 miles per week to try and "catch up" and be ready for LA in March. But I can't keep running 2 and 3 miles during the week and then a long run. I'm not sure how to build up my mileage safely. I was thinking of doing higher mileage on the elliptical, since that could be counted as "running". At least after this marathon I'll be free to run however whenever I want! Apparently Lake Hodges is canceled, which is what I planning on running, so I need a new idea for that too. Maybe something in the early summer... I'll have to double check the TrailRunner race calendar. Ideas?

It's getting better better better BETTER! (said to the tune of hey, jude)

3 miles today! Saturday's 5 felt better than the previous 2 and 3, and today's 3 felt the best so far. It helps that the weather is cooperating, I love SoCal :)
I think I'm going to stick to the 8/2 run/walk for at least awhile, maybe 9/1 for the 1/2 marathon in January.
I looked at the new TrailRunner and have a few races that I'd like to do next year... I'll post when I decide for sure :) Some of them are also based on what part of the country/Canada I'm in at certain points of the year. There's actually a trail run in Northern DE, where I ran XC in college, in April when I'm off of school. Maybe I'll show up for the Triple Crown event there(1/2, 10K, 5K right after another).

All kinds of running!

So I ran my 2 miles on Wednesday, then we did 3 miles on Thursday, which was a little faster. I did 2 miles on the elliptical machine at the gym, and was a little tender and swollen around the incision site. I was actually kind of nervous for my 5 mile run this morning. I got to meat my "Team" in Training, and my coach, Melissa. It was good to finally get out and meet everyone :) We had a nutrition clinic presented by Melissa, and Marsha talked about adding trace minerals and electrolytes to water. I might try it, but I'm not sure if they would really make a difference. Then for the run. I decided to run/walk 8 min/2 min, mostly to take it easy on my knees. I'm pretty much sold on the run/walk idea anyway, I think it really saves your muscles and allows to run faster :) I started off about 1 1/2 minutes slower than my usual pace, but figured it was okay to start like that. At the turn around, I wanted to pick up the pace a little, and averaged about 30 seconds slower than my normal pace. Overall, I felt good, and my groin was a little tight, but that's to be expected. I tried out IB cream on my right knee to try and prevent any problem that might spring up, so we'll see how that goes!

My 2 mile run

Yes, a whopping 2 miles. Eric ran with me in the dark as night. It was a slow 2 miles, but I'm back! With putting in more miles, I need to learn to learn how to put more into my blogs.
In other news, I'm done with the semester! I turned in my last assignment today and I'm done until January :)

UTAH

Our trip to Utah was fun. It was COLD (high 30s - low 40s) which is something I'm certainly not used to since I've lived in SoCal for the past couple years. We bundled up with our thermals and it wasn't tooo bad. I got to do some climbing, and today I'm going for my first run in almost 5 weeks! I think it's only gonna be a couple miles, but yay anyway :) I'm hoping to be ready for LA, but I'm not so sure... I turn in my paperwork to officially commit with TNT in a couple weeks, and I'm nervous! My longest run before the marathon might be just 17 miles...

Here are some pictures from the trip... nothing too exciting - it's Utah, remember??

This is the only article of clothing that we have for Daisy, and believe me, she needed it!

I'm free!!!

It's officially been 4 weeks since my surgery! Technically I'm unrestricted, but I'm still gonna take it easy. As easy I can considering I'm in Utah on a rock climbing trip... I took a walk this morning with Daisy in the 30 degree weather (slightly colder than I'm used to in SoCal) and I've been hiking and I feel good, so I'm optimistic :) I'll post pics from Utah when we get back next week!

Your vocabulary can feed hungry people!

This game is one of those little addictive ones, but it's for a good cause :) I got up to level 40, what can you get to??

3 weeks down!!!

3 out of 4 weeks down on my road to recovery! Besides the stuffy nose I'm feeling good and ready to go! It has been super hard not to lift my students to help them get drinks at the fountain (I teach pre-k spec. ed.) and "help" them go places they need to go. I wanted to start walking some this week and start getting some VERY light mileage under my belt, but this whole coughing thing has put that on the back burner. SO I'll be starting that next week. Tuesday night we're leaving to go to Utah to go rock climbing (well more Eric, not so much me) and I'm hoping to get a run or 2 in before we leave next Sunday night. yay for another Thanksgiving in a random state! (last year was Arizona) It's starting to be a tradition...

2 weeks down!!

Well my second week of healing involved a flu. I think. It started with a sore throat, then I developed a cough (my worst nightmare after a hernia surgery) and then the fever came. So my second week was mostly spent in bed. Which may not have been such a bad idea because it forced me to rest. Now that I can somewhat keep up with the average person walking-wise, maybe I was trying to do too much and the flu was my body's sick way of grounding me. Eh. I decided to post a picture that I took in August at Rocky Mountain National Park to remind me that in 2 weeks I'll be back to climbing and running. Outside. And I will not be stuck in this house!!!!!

1 week down!

At 1 week, I'm feeling better. I can actually walk (kind of) straight up, but I'm still pretty slow. This surgery is making me stop and smell the flowers :) It's a little frustrating, a little relaxing... I'm still not able to lift anything over 10 lbs, which is hard when I work with preschoolers, but I'm doing okay with that. I'm just frustrated because right now I can't even walk around like normal for some exercise, I'm pretty much stuck sitting around feeling lazy... :(

4 weeks!

In 4 short weeks I will be back in action :) It's going to be a looong 4 weeks of doing nothing, but after that I can run and climb to my heart's desire! Woo-hoo! Then I can really start training for OC 1/2 in January. Eric is running that with me, and we're going to go for sub-2 hours :)

HERNIA SURGERY!

My hernia surgery is complete. I feel pretty good - I got some meds, a pain pump, some ice, and Eric to take care of me :) It was a quick surgery, and now it's over and I'm on the (speedy) road to recovery! I'm hoping this doesn't but too much of a hinder on my climbing or my running, I was starting to gain momentum in both. Hopefully this break from activity will help rather than hurt. Not that I can do anything outside anyway because of all the fire, smoke, and ash :(




My pain pump. Yes, that's a clip on top so it clips to my pants.
Pretty sweet. ------------------------------->

You feel great, it's a piece of cake!

And so was my mantra during the Nike Women's 1/2. Which was partially a lie because the terrain was a bit tough from mile 6-10 (and I say tough lightly, considering Keira ran 100 miles this same weekend on a seriously tough trail), and then my mind started to try and convince me otherwise after mile 10.
The hotel room was only a couple blocks away from the start, so I left around 6:25 a.m., and Jessica was supposed to leave at 7 a.m. to meet me at the 3 mile mark. I stretched for about 15 minutes, and it was a great idea. My knees really didn't start hurting until the 6 hour drive home. By myself. Thanks Jessica. (kidding - I'm sooo glad you went to the race with me :) ) The race started at 7 a.m, but I didn't get to the starting line until about 7:17 a.m. Then my Garmin wasn't receiving a signal in the city, so I thought I was going to have to pace myself based on my time alone. Bummer. Then we got out by the bay and it came back on so I was happy. I looked for Jessica at mile 3, but we somehow missed each other. She found a friend and ran with her, so it was all good! We ran past Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge, and the rest of the race was a blur. Except the 6th mile, which was a big hill. The whole mile. It turned out to be my slowest mile at 10:43. And I'm no slouch at hills, but phew. They just kept coming! It was hilly from 6-10, and then it flattened out and boy was I glad. It was going to be tight for me to break 2 hours, so I tried to haul it whenever I could to make up for lost time from a couple slower miles. So I ran and ran and ran and my final time was..................
1:56:25!!!!! Yay for 2 PRs in 2 consecutive weeks! And for the Tiffany's finisher necklace :)
My fastest mile was actually mile 11 - 7:58, my average was 8:53. I placed 668 out of 12196 people :)
And now it's time for surgery on Thursday... dun dun dun!!! Hopefully I'll only be out for a couple weeks - I have the OC 1/2 to train for :)

Pointing to my name on the NikeTown wall of names.

Yay for 5K PRs!

I set a lifetime PR today for the 2nd time this year! My time was 21:53! I'm still amazed. And I won a basket full of cool teacher stuff from a free raffle at the race. AND a teacher at Centennial High School asked me to be the asst. girl's xc coach next season!

What a busy, fun weekend - the only thing that would've made it better is if Eric was here instead of on the east coast...

Under pressure...

This weekend is the 1st annual 5K for the school district I work for. And I signed up. What's the big deal? Well everyone just about I work with knows I run, so I have to do well. Though most people wouldn't know the difference between a 20 min 5K and a 30 min. 5K, I know the difference, so it matters to me! My previous PR is 22:33 from the Memorial Day 5K earlier this year, and my goal is to at least break that PR, and to break 22 min. if I'm feeling especially fast. I'm going to reorganize my iPod for optimal motivation. I'm sad that Eric won't be there since he's on the east coast, but that might be a little more motivation - getting to tell him I ran super fast :) The course is flat, which disappoints me a bit since I like to use the hills to pass other people. But we'll see what happens. Like I told Jessica, I doubt there are many teachers in the 18-24 age bracket, much less teachers that run. So unless someone's high school xc runner child shows up, I just might place in my age group!!! Cross your fingers for me Sunday morning :)

I PASSED!!!

I got my CSET results today, and I almost had a heart attack, but I passed ALL THREE! Yay :) Now I don't have to worry about that anymore!

This weekend

We had an fun time in Bishop this past weekend, and the climbing bug is back! Unfortunately, I might only get outside one more time until my hernia surgery :(
The ride up on Friday night was long, as usual, but we got a good start and got to Jeff's house around 1 a.m. Saturday morning we had the best breakfast ever - a big bowl of oatmeal with walnuts, brown sugar, and almond milk. I recommend it as a high energy breakfast. I left a little early to run a few miles, and ended up doing a little over 4, including a big hill and a monster hill (all at 4300 ft. and a 8-8:30 pace on the flatter parts - great run!). We climbed at the Happies the first day, and Daisy had lots of fun running around. I got my Five Fingers shoes from Wilson's that night - yay! My world was also opened to tuna melts... mmm...
Day 2 we went to the Buttermilks. Daisy's feet were a little raw after an hour or so of running around in the gravel that is the Buttermilks. It took her awhile to notice since she was busy eating part of a dead rabbit... she was being a wild dog (Yes Eric and I checked the rabbit to make sure it wasn't going to make her sick, and it looked like it had been killed late the night before or early in the freezing morning). I did a slab problem that I should've flashed but I chickened out twice because slab is scary.
Overall, Eric and I both had a great weekend (though it was a little hot in Bishop) and sent some cool stuff!!! I can't wait to go back and work on some of my newly found projects! My only disappointment was that I didn't get to meet Lisa Rands because her parents were in town :(

Daisy

Eric on Acid Wash (V10)

Me on Meth Squealer (V2)

Two posts in one day!

has anyone tried the vibram five fingers shoe? I'm thinking of integrating some of the bare foot mentality into my training, and seeing what happens.

I think I've created a monster...

... pre-running routine, that is. I just got back from a lovely 12 mile run. I say lovely because it was a million times better than my 10 mile run last weekend - yay! Unfortunately I've created a pre-run routine that can't possibly be broken now. An hour before the run, I took 2 Aleves. I also took 3 capsules of SportLegs (http://sportlegs.com/about/welcome.asp). Then 10 minutes before the run, I used my foam roller and stretched. and stretched. and stretched some more.
I started out my actual run around 11 a.m. (yes 11. Sometimes I'd rather sleep in and run in the heat than get up early.) I decided that a 9 min. run/1 min. walk routine was not enough break for my knee, so I went with an 8/2. My first 6 miles were tough mentally. I was planning on running to the Santa Ana River Trail (1 mile) then 2.5 miles one way, then double back and do 2.5 miles the other way, then the 1 mile home. I got to 3.5 miles and decided I really had to pee so I'd run to the port-a-potty that was only .5 more miles away (vs. 3 miles in the other direction). Then I decided I could at least keep going to 5 and then I'd only have 1 mile extra in the other direction. Then I finally decided to just do all 6 in the same direction, and turn around and come back. On the way out I ran at a conservative pace, and ended up running faster on the way back (maybe because I told myself I was running home...). I have rarely been more excited to see the blue and yellow Embassy Suites hotel that marks Glassell, where I get to turn and go home. Throughout the run I stopped and stretched my muscles when they tightened up, which seemed to help. Now I'm icing my knee, so hopefully it will feel great tomorrow! And my total time was 2:07, about 7 minutes off what I had hoped, but still fine all the same.
And I'm pretty sure that I lied to Eric (sorry). When we were in Colorado hiking at the end of one of the most exhaustive days of my life, I told him that how we felt was how you feel at the end of a 1/2 marathon (he has never run one, and is at the OC Marathon). Well I was wrong. That day was WAY worse than how you feel after a 1/2 marathon. So yay for 1/2 marathons!

Runner's Woes

So my knee bothered me a bit (okay a lot) when I ran the Rock N Roll Marathon in 2006. I took time off, came back, got shoulder surgery, took some more time off, and came back gradually starting in Feb. A couple months ago I built my mileage back up to double digits and started noticing some manageable knee pain. Last weekend I ran 10 and had considerable knee pain and then the next day the middle of my kneecap hurt. I'm almost 100% sure this is Runner's Knee, but I also have issues with my plica on the side of my knee. Kind of a bummer since I'm doing the Nike Women's 1/2 in a month, but then I'm having hernia surgery, so I'll have forced time off.
What to other people do to avoid injury? I suppose I could go 3 weeks on running, 1 week cross training only... hmm...

MUSE

Muse concert = awesome. Probably the best concert I've ever seen. Special effects included:
Dancing robots, Galaga (the space invader-like old school game), War propaganda, the X from the British flag that was ever present, JFK, BIG white balloons, a special guitar that made special screechy noises, Amazing songs!


If you want to listen to them, check out their Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/muse
Songs I recommend - Supermassive Black Hole, Kinghts of Cydonia, Starlight, or Our Time is Running Out. They all sound kind of different, so check them all out!

ONLY negative - the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater sucks. It's hard to get out (everyone is funneled into one area) and then parking is a nightmare. It took us 25 minutes to even move. And we were in the "premium" parking. It was a bummer. Good thing the concert rocked :) And the rain held off until we were in the parking lot!

The CSET was this morning.

And I totally bent over and took it. I wouldn't be surprised if I failed the WHOLE thing. Ok, so there's a slight chance that I did okay. I know that I totally bombed one of the essays... oooh well, it's over for now. I don't have to panic again until Oct. 9th.

Kiva.org

Kiva.org allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing so, individuals provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

It's a new, direct and sustainable way to fight global poverty, and the way I see it, I get a higher return on $25 helping someone build a future than the interest my checking account pays.

If you have a minute, please check out the site: http://kiva.org. If you need more "reputable" validation than my recommendation , know that they have received great press in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to NPR to BusinessWeek.

All the money you donate goes straight to the people who need it - if you can spare just $25, it's really an easy way to help people who are trying to get out of poverty in other countries.

Peter's Canyon

1/2 of Big Red...

So Eric and I have been going out to Peter's Canyon (the same place from my Feb. post, that I now know and love) about once a week and the past two weeks we have tackled Big Red. For the first time, I "ran" up the whole thing, which I have to say is quite an accomplishment. Overall, the run pretty much sucked, but at least we owned the biggest hill in the world. Besides like Everest.

On a side note, Peters Canyon is also the place where I got stung by a bee. In the roof of my mouth. (Good thing I'm not allergic) And I figured it would be best to keep going and keep blood circulating, which turned out to be a pretty good idea, and did keep the swelling down. So take note, if you ever get stung by a bee in your mouth and you're not allergic, go for a run.
CSET is in like 2 days... I hope you're right Addy! I hope I'm overstudying with my 2 prep books and notecards and practice tests...

Actually going to use my blog...

Well I've decided to actually post to my blog now, we'll see how long it lasts...

So, what's going on since my first post...

I'm climbing again.
I'm running alot.
I have a hernia and I'm getting surgery after the Nike Women's 1/2 marathon.
I'm taking the CSET, the hardest test on earth, this Saturday. It's a teacher certification test that basically covers everything in every subject K-8.
I'm taking classes for my Master's degree in Special Ed.
I'm starting to get busy with stuff for the Twin Peaks Ultra that I'm asst. Race Director for - we need volunteers!
etc. etc. etc.

My first run in 2.5 months!!!

So I scope out this park online so I can run on trails instead of my usual pavement run around town, and I figure I can't go wrong on a 2.5 mile run around a lake. Oh was I wrong - I wanted to ease my way into running again and instead I jumped right in... There were these two "hills" that kicked my ass!!! At least the hills took my mind off of worrying about rattlesnakes and mountain lions... gotta love nature...
And my Garmin GPS kept saying to slow down because I was running a sub-5 minute mile pace, and let me tell you I couldn't SPRINT that fast. I'm thinking it glitched because of some trees, but overall it's a bit of technology that I'm glad i have :)