strawberry sunday

so i only got 3 out of 4 runs in this week, but i'm happy to report that 15 out of 18 miles were at strawberry canyon.

my tendency is to lead laterally with my right leg on the downhills and while i could get away with this when i was running more regularly my knee got to griping about it on thursday. some cross friction massage along with motrin seemed to help...and less running which was easiest thing to do given my hectic week on the work front.

i had a couple of interviews this week and am really excited to be finally breaking out of the skilled nursing setting and into the acute rehab arena. early in my career i worked in a an acute setting for about a year and a half but the facility went belly up for various reasons and over time i found more steady work in skilled nursing.

after 10 years i'm ready for a change and this new job is going to challenge me in new and exciting ways. i'm super excited and must confess a little intimidated too. but my "can do" attitude has gotten me this far so it's full steam ahead.

A plan of sorts

looking for some inspiration to run this morning i found myself at angies reading her zane gray report. i don't have any illusions about ultra running but there is something very contagious about their relationship with nature, body, mind and spirit.

i used my new shoes on pavement for a slow 3 miles around the neighborhood just to keep loose. i want to run no less than 4 days a week with my long runs on sunday and yoga on friday. this is
the beginning of my return to the world of trail running

Fresh Start

i can't believe how long it took me to finally get my shit together and go for a trail run. it's been at least 5 months since i've run on a proper dirt trail!

i took Brandy with and we headed over to Strawberry Canyon. My garmin wasn't charged and i purposely left my watch at home. with only 9 weeks to go before my 20k i'm still very much in "base building" mode which needless to say isn't where i should be. but it is what it is. PCTR events are as hard as they fun and beautiful. i'll have good time regardless of how under trained i am on race day. still, today up at Strawberry my run assured me that while i'm not at the level of fitness i was this time last year i haven't gone totally to pot.

i shuffled up Big Bertha without much ado but i fatigued as i approached the second climb to the lookout bench and walked until it flattened out. Brandy was her usual curious self and leaped and bounded most of the way up, though her enthusiasm eventually gave way to her lack of fitness and she was lagging behind towards the end. more than once i had to double back and coax her along.

last weekend i went to REI to buy a new pair of Montrails and learned they no longer carry them. My Hurricanes still have some miles left on them, but hey since I'm basically starting trail running all over again I felt justified in getting some new shoes. I went to Transport on Solano. i asked the sales guy to measure my foot and it appears to have shrunk ....and no, it wasn't first thing in the morning when i shopped . it was noon and AFTER my Strawberry run when you'd expect feet to be their most swollen.

so i tell him i usually wear 9 and he says "really, looks here like your a 7.5 - 8" and i say "yeah, but i go up a size for running shoes" and so to appease me he brings out an 8.5 W because not only is my foot short it's now wide...which is news to me. i confess that i'm a pronator and he redirects me from some svelte looking Montrail i'm eyeballing to a more orthopedic looking Brooks which i dismiss immediately in favor the bulkier Montrail Hardrock. 8.5 and it feels good on...in the store...but i've been happy with Montrails thus far so i got them along with a new camelback waist hydration pack.

it was good to hit the trails again, it's been way too long. it does require extra effort to gear up for a trail run and after such a long hiatus i feel like a roookie fumbling with basic logistics and gear issues as i try to get out the door.

what i know about trail running has basically come from just doing it and reading blogs or articles. i've been looking for a book specifically about training for trail races. i half suspect i already know what i need to know. i just wonder if there's a book out there that emphasizes the unique training aspects of trail running.

BOOM!

this was actually taken at disneyland last month. the display we saw lastnight at the berkeley marina was pretty good too despite smoke and fog that occluded the grand finale. the three of us had a good time gorging ourselves on spinach and potatoe knishes, hot links,corn dogs, curly fries and corn-on-a-stick. totally justified as we parked Really Far Away. my choice of footwear could've been better but i had to wear my cheapo red sneekers to go with the blue and white i had going on and boy are my dogs tired. but i finally feel like i'm catching up on sleep.

as i watched T kicking back on our big blanket before the show he appeared to be the most relaxed i'd seen him in a long time. i think talking on the cell phone less and having fun closer to home has done us both some good this week.

is the universe TRI-ing to tell me something?

while i was in anaheim last week i noticed several women at disneyland with race markings in their arms and legs. i struck up a conversation with a woman at the pirates of the carribean gift shop and she was participating in her first sprint triathlon put on by Danskin. it was cool chatting with her and i could feel the old excitement kicking in and a little emotion welling up inside me as i said very matter of factly "you are going to have a great day out there."

i ran all of twice while on vacation but i looked for my athelete on the course the next day. the ladies were greeted with perfect weather conditions. a cool cloudy morning without a hint of the heat and humidity that would dominate the rest of the week. as i ran along Harbor blvd. i gave shouts out and words of encouragement to the cyclists and as i got closer to the park i ran along with several runners cheering them on like they were all my best friends.

a few months ago i ran into my old triclub coach Hae Won and she mentioned that the club was going to reunite with alumnae and train for an oly in june. this morning i registered for my 20k at Redwood (Sept 6th). that should leave me plenty of time to get ready. i'm not commiting to the oly event but man did i get worked up and nostalgic when i saw the athletes last sunday. oh i'm so excited to have something to train for again. even M said to me , "yeah mom, i'm glad you signed up for something, you've been so stressed out"

today i receieved an email from Hae Won inviting me to join the upcoming training. when i think about how excited i got last week about the danskin event it's really got me entertaining the idea. i think i'd be over stretching though given how little training i've actually done these past few monthes and the oly is only 2 mos away. i told Hae Won when i saw her that i'd definitely be interested in doing a few workouts with them. between running into Hae Won, the Dankins event and her recent invite i'm starting to suspect the universe might be giving me a nudge to TRI.

My Journey

Hi...long time no nothing i know. school has been out for a month and i just got back from disneyland. the first thing i did when i got home was check my grades. i got an A in anthropology and a B in Basic Math. i'm pleased with my grades but not so happy about the stress and physical deconditioning that occured as i tried to wrap my brain around fractions and the edward sapir theory. i decided to drop my summer pre-algebra and just focus on a few areas i neglected during the spring. so, i've pulled out the quilting and i'm looking for a nice 20k trail race to train for maybe PCT's Redwood around the end of august, not sure. it's been months since i've stepped foot on a dirt trail.
i'm still not sure what i want to accomplish by going back to school. i do know that i turned out to be a fairly good student. school this time around is more interesting and i can learn math. i just don't know if i can be a good mom, wife and employee simultaneously. people do it all the time but i really don't need to compare myself to them do i? i learned that i like taking classes and so i plan just take ones that appeal to me and keep the stress to a minimum for now.

Home Stretch

Anthropology is over, we met for the last time last Saturday and i feel confident that i did well, i really enjoyed it though some days the amount of reading and writing competed heavily with time i needed for math. now i just have to do well on my math final....good vibes totally needed:)

i just got back from a decent run. i felt good and strong and it got me in the right space to get cracking with my studies. as sporadic as my running has been I'm still able to run 5 miles with relative ease...slow but enjoyable.

going back to school has been both great and extremely hard. i never really found the balance and i failed to keep up with exercise and healthy habits many times along the way but something positive did come from all those setbacks. I just stopped beating myself up over it. i found myself on several occasions giving myself pep talks and just moving forward. challenging myself academically certainly played on my confidence and math could be compared to ripping off a scab and exposing myself to all sorts of discomfort. but still, I'm stubborn as hell and will get through this even if it kills me...figuratively speaking of course.