Photo Therapy

My plan was to get the house cleaned up tonight since we were gone most of the weekend. As I started I came across some old pics, and well, cleaning time was ova. For your viewing pleasure…

Check out all of the up-do’s. Niiiicccceee. This is a college formal my junior year sooooo Spring 2000. Yes, I am a sorority girl at heart. What? Now you know a real life legally blonde…well not really, but sort of.

This was one of the most fun days in the history of fun days. It’s me, our rad friend Kracken and the Hubs (LD). The sun was setting, we were on the beach, why wouldn’t we take super rad pictures?

Being on the beach makes everything good.

Apparently is was so bright at 11 p.m. I had to wear shades. Really.

This is on the beach in Del Mar at a friend’s wedding in 2006.

Digging through pics is therapeutic for me. No matter how crazy things get, when I look at photos I get to push the life pause button and sit and laugh. Ahhhhhh photo therapy!

Newport this weekend!

Today’s workout: 1 mi hill warm up, 45 min spin, 15 min core

This week is going to be a chill week for me. I am feeling really good and want to be cautious going into the OC Marathon. I have no soreness at all from the 21 on Saturday, so now I just hope I can get through 26.2 without an injury. Wouldn’t that be nice?!? I’ll likely do a few short runs and then off to Newport!

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I was talking to a friend this weekend who asked me what my plan is for this race. Truth be told I don’t really have one other than to finish. Is that weird? Other than Saturday’s run I haven’t had a really long run since February. My expectations are not high given my foot is at about 95%.  Yes,  I said 95%% Isn’t that AWESOME!?!?!?!? So I am way off base here not having a plan??

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I forgot to tell you all that I tested out the new Nike Vomero +6’s on Saturday.

This shoe has changed a LOT over the years. I had the +3’s several years ago and loved ’em, tried the +4’s and hated them so I never gave the +5’s a chance.  I saw  the +6’s out and decided to give em a whirl. They have a wide toe box and really good forefoot cushion! So nice for a forefoot striker like myself. They are nice and light and don’t feel like a lot of the “neutral plus” shoes.  I really was not prepared for how cushy they are- I rotate Brooks and Asics (I love both) but the Vomero is a totally different shoes. I want to test them again for longer distance before deciding if I want to add them to the rotation.

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Easter on the sand

Happy Easter everyone!

The alarm went off at 5:15 this morning so that we could make it to sunrise on the shore. This is the one time each year that service is held ON the beach!

It would be awesome to have service like this every week, however, it wouldn’t be as special. Plus there is no kids church at the beach which means trying to keep the little peeps in line

LD attempted to get a photo of us (minus him). You can’t expect a whole lot at just after 6 in the mornin’

Service was about 2 hours. There were several guest speakers including one of the Chilean miners!! AMAZING!

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After church we headed back to the parentals for the annual Easter egg hunt. The kids super scored! Now it’s time to get our cook on, color eggs and relax the rest of the afternoon.

I hope you and yours have a beautiful day!

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Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26 )

Tour De San Diego

This morning I met up with The Rock Runners and San Diego Track Club for a 20.1 mile run dubbed the “Tour De San Diego”

We met at hospitality point and the weather was overcast, but a bit humid.

This was a tough, hilly course that went through Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Downtown San Diego, Hillcrest, Golden Hill, Old Town San Diego and back to Mission Bay. The hills were NO JOKE!

I stayed with my friend Stacey the whole time and we chatted, stopped at the water stations to fuel and then proceeded to get lost. We were supposed to make a right at Fort Stockton and somehow we ended up down Washington St (near the San Diego airport) at a dead end! Ooops. That’s what we get for not keeping a map with us. Yes, maps were handed out and we didn’t take one. Genius. Thank goodness for cell phones. She called an aide station for directions back and we were back on course. At this point I also stopped my watch and forgot to turn in back on for a mile and a half. My brain was clearly not functioning this morning.

Soooo 20.1 turned into 21 miles for us two knuckleheads!! Done in 3:05, not too shabby!

When we got back it was clear, sunny and getting warm. So glad we started at the butt crack of dawn!! Time to ice, eat and get ready to head to north county for Easter festivities.

P/S So far so good with the foot! My legs are tired as this was my longest run since February.  Other than that, mama is on point!

El Take It Easy

Tonight the fam and I headed to a gastro-catina in North Park called El Take It Easy. 

With a name like that, who wouldn’t want to peek inside?

We got there early so that if the kids decided to act like total maniacs they could. Super laid back atmosphere with a yummy menu!

Ok, bad menu shot, I know. Here is the original which does us no good!

I mean really. So the only way I can describe the cuisine is modern baja comfort food. They have everything from empanadas, to pizole, to chicken mole, fish tacos, tortas, salads and even albondigas. I was tempted by the local catch of the day but just wasn’t hungry enough since we got there at 5!

I ended up with a crab and avocado salad, LD had shrimp tacos and the kids split a vegetarian mole dish. Oh baby, the food was soooo good! We will definitely go back- likely sans kids so we can hang a little longer. The only thing I didn’t like was that 18% gratuity is automatically included in the bill. That means the servers can ignore you the whole time and still get a sweet tip. It also means that the servers could be the BOMB and only get 18%. They will not accept any additional tip. Just a heads up. We had no problemos, our server was great.

Sooooooo if you are local, check out El Take It Easy on 30th St. The food does not disappoint!

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Someone who was not el taking it easy during dinner

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I’m gettin’ up bright and early to meet the Rock Runners for a 20 miler. Praying that the foot holds up!

Good Friday, Earth Day, a lot going on!

Happy Good Friday all! I am so looking forward to a weekend of running, church on the beach and spending time with family. Let’s all hope that this Easter we can celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and remain earthquake free! (Last year we had a 7 point earthquake right in the middle of dinner, eeek).

It’s also Earth Day today, so grab your reusable mug and head to Starbucks for a free cup of coffee!

Photo courtesy of Starbucks

Alot going on today, right? Since we like to overprogram ourselves let’s talk about more stuff going on today…

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If you are interested in getting into the lottery for the Nike Women’s Marathon (and half) today is your last day to do it!

If you click HERE you will be directed to the website/link to get yourself signed up. I believe the drawing will be held next week sometime. Good luck to you all!!

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I think that’s it for Friday anouncements (riigghhhttttt), now I need some help!

I got an email from my husband’s Aunt who wants to organize a family reunion around a race that benefits either Alzheimer’s research or Diabetes’ research. This will be done in the memory of Meme (LD’s grandma), who went to heaven in December of 2009 and lived with both diseases. I have been searching around trying to find a run that would accommodate the family (offering several distances such as a 5k, half, full, etc) but am having a hard time locating one outside of So Cal. I mean, this race could be anywhere, but preferably closer to his family since we are the only ones in California. If anyone knows of any races that benefit either of these causes that takes place in Texas (or east of) please let me know. We will need to plan this at least a year in advance to allow everyone to make proper travel arrangements.

Ok, off to get some work done….if I am lucky I may get to sneak out a little early today…

Inner Martha

Tomorrow my kids have their Easter celebration party at school. Beings that I have a reputation to uphold (ha!) I channeled my inner Martha Stewart and made “Little Chick” cupcakes for them to bring to their party. These came from a Martha recipe I found online. When I printed the directions they looked easy…however, I am a kind of a dork when it comes to baking.

Started like this

Basic cupcake mix healthed up. The kids will never know. The tray is toasted coconut. YUM YUM YUM!! Looks easy. eh? Progressed to this

The muffin tops are in a container waiting to be eaten!! Then we went from janky mess above to

Baby chick!! I know kinda creepy, yet cute. I told LD that “I heard it through the grapevine” should be playing as background music for these treats.

Now I just need to figure out how I am going to get all of them to the school tomorrow without them falling apart…

Count Your Blessings

Today’s run: 6.2 miles, TM run, had the tunes cranked loud!

I have been working on a mid-foot strike (I naturally strike with my forefoot) and the TM has been the perfect place to do so. My calves are a little tight, but other than that, no complaints. I hope this helps eliminate some of the stress on my plantar fascia. For speed repeats or short runs forefoot striking doesn’t hurt it, but for my long runs is contributing to the PF.

Foot is holding up so we will see what the doc says this afternoon! I am gearing up for a nice long run this weekend. Yippeee! It’s been too long since I have been able to do so!

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On the serious front, I found 2 weeks ago  out that a friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer. She didn’t know what kind, what stage, or what the treatment plan might be. She said she felt healthy! Not one bit sick, how could she have cancer when she felt fine? What did I say to her? WE WILL BE PRAYING FOR YOU MY FRIEND.

While I have sat and complained about my foot, or worried about a little ache, or ya-ya’d about my crappy half marathon finish she has been thinking about how long she has left to live.  While I fight to figure out how to get my team at work on track, she is trying to figure out how to FIGHT LIKE HECK to beat this. Today I found out that things are not looking good. Puts a lot into perspective.

This is just a reminder for all of us to count our blessings. Now go hug your family then get outside and run!!

 

Up at 2:30 am…and not in Vegas

Today’s workout: 25 min spin, 35 min strength training

Yesterday’s craziness carried into the night with Tootie and Bootie deciding to have a party a 2:30 am. Not kidding. If we were in Vegas it would be totally acceptable. However, at home it made for a not-so-fun 4:30 wake up call to head to the gym.

I somehow managed to drag my hiney there and was on a spin bike by 5:05 a.m. I am not sure where I found the energy, but I must have had some serious motivation deep in my core.  I survived Mt. Baldy (remember,  my spin bike has that cool interactive TV) and then headed to the free weights and got my workout on. GLAD ITS OVER.

I did try 2 of the 3 G Series Fit products this morning.

Started with just one of the Banana Chocolate Bites on my way to the gym.

IT WAS GOOD. Really it was. I like chocolate and banana, but we all know that energy bites/bars are not always good. This  was not chalky, not bulky, not too sweet. Little chunks of banana and nuts with just a hint of chocolate. The one bite had only 50 calories and satisfied my early morning hunger. I probably should have eaten two given the intensity of my workout, but it did give me enough energy to get through my workout. I would FOR SURE need more than one bite pre-run. All in all I score it as a LIKE.

Post workout I tried the recovery smoothie

I thought it was just a tad too sweet. In my opinion it was like an unblended strawberry jamba juice and the taste would not leave my mouth. I had LD taste it and he liked it- but then again he didn’t just work his hiney off at the gym. If it was blended with some ice and yogurt it might help. It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t the best taste post sweat sesh. I definitely like their original recovery drink better.

In good news the foot is holding up today. I set my cell phone alarm so that I get up from my desk each hour and stretch it. If it is feeling good in the morning I’ll get another run in and then follow up with the doc at lunch time. Yeee hhhaaawwwwwwww!!! Mama is on the road to recovery!!!