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!