Hello Out There! (A Report on Maui and More!)

Everything is OK over here! (Snorkling off Molokini, Hawai'i - July 2012)

Sitemeter sends me a report every week about how many visits there were to my blog. Apparently last week 142 peeps visited my blog and found a post that was about a month old.

So I have to wonder who those 142 people are...

Apparently one of my regular visitors is my dad, who mentioned to me last week that he hadn't seen anything new on the blog recently. 

True That. 

He complained noted that the blog is one way that he keeps up with what is going on in my life (yes, I am a bad daughter and I don't call nearly often enough).

So... Dad reads to find out what's going on in my current life, but those other 141 people (or maybe they are even non-people autobot Internet search engine thingies...I'm not entirely sure how these things work) were primarily interested in things I wrote last year and beyond. Top posts were:

• A June 2011 review of the San Diego Rock and Roll Swag Bag (59 page views)
• A March 2011 post about getting ready to ride the Grand Fondo (58 page views
• A October 2011 post about Elsie's bday-party weekend in San Francisco when we ran in the Nike Women's Half Marathon (54 page views)
• A June 2009 rant about my various foot injuries (47 page views)
• A January 2009 photo-expo in which I describe how I further injured my hip by using a massage stick...I think the title "The Dangers of Self-Massage" gets some people to the site by mistake. (46 page views)

Clearly, I USED TO BE, far mor interesting than I am right now.

My goal at the beginning of this summer was to get back into blogging regularly. Clearly THAT hasn't happened, even though I regularly have LOTS of ideas for things to write about, not all of them having to do with running. Still, when push comes to shove, I don't write. Not sure why. I just don't. I have all these great ideas, (or at least in my mind they are great), about things I can write about that come to me at the most inopportune times (inopportune = when I am nowhere near a computer and can't write them down). These inopportune times include:

• when I'm running
• when I am riding, 
• when I am working out with Kelly (the trainer at the gym), 
• when I am arguing with my soon-to-be-17-year-old-daughter, DramaGirl, about... well, about any number of things.
• when I can't sleep

In any event, I have come to one conclusion. Well... a kinda, in-a-way, sorta, but not really a conclusion, just a sorta inevitability. In the coming months I either need to somewhat repurpose this blog, write more frequently about specific things, than this past year's general "here's what's been going on this week" type things (sorry Dad)

or

I have to let it go.

I'm going to aim for the more regular posts about random things that happen in my life. Some of these posts may be about riding, running, working out, but others may not be. I hope that's OK. (of course it's OK...my blog, my rules, right?)

But as for the rest of this post, I do have to upload what will probably be too many photos of what's been going on this past month. After all, I can't force Dad to go all-cold-turkey-on-the-whatsgoingoninmylife-blog-updates.

Late June - Turbo's 8th Grade Promotion

My grownup baby boy...and Walter of course. They're lookalikes aren't they?

Went to a mascarade party with his buddies. Impressive to get 8th grade boys to dress up. They decided to wear vests. I don't know why, but stylish, no? 

Late June - Early July - Family Vacation to Maui

On the plane - All I saw was "complimentary Mai Tai!" 

And we arrive...in time for lunch and more umbrella drinks

We saw mandals everywhere (Betty's sandal of choice BTW) 

Our first morning there, we enjoyed the sunrise from the top of Haleakala (Volcano/Crater on Maui) - about 6am. We'd been up since 2am at this point. The sunrise was breathtaking. 

It was also breathtakingly COLD at 10,000 feet. Even if you are in Hawai'i!

We rode our bikes down from the top of the Volcano. 28 miles, all downhill. Fun! Here we are doing bike tricks. 

DramaGirl and I at Sunset

One (and only) morning run on the beach for Walter and me. Beach running was no fun for my injured baby toe

One very windy scenic lookout.  

DramaGirl and Turbo - Checking out the fish

DramaGirl and Walter checking out the fish  

On a boat, after snorkling. Walter did a good job of feeding the fish.

DramaGirl did not enjoy this adventure AT ALL

Toes in the sand at Sunset

Turbo on a Zipline (no hands!)

DramaGirl doing Crazy Legs

As I was doing this, I was thinking how awesome my life is, and how great it is to be fit and active and that I just climbed a ladder on a freeking 900 foot tree with no problem!

Too much fun (we were yelling at him to LET GO!!!!) 

Last night - Sunset Dinner Cruise

While we were in Maui, we celebrated our 20th anniversary - 20 years later... I think he still likes me :-)

Last morning beach walk. 

The family (before the Sunset Cruise)

Upon returning to SoCal - Back to the grind (I am still on vacation you know...)

40 miles ride with Betty and "Seven" to Oceanside and back 

This weekend, 40 mile ride with Betty and Mik to Chula Vista and around South Bay (to get there, Betty took us on a lovely ride down Imperial Avenue and Euclid...parts of town I have not been to before)

It's been a very, very, very, good month. 

Here's to 20 more (or more) just like it!

A Shower, a Bar, and Some Verbal Vomit

So...you'd think I could scrounge a post together over the weekend about our absolutely marvelous six mile run around the island of Coronado (which isn't really an island, more of an isthmus really, but I digress, and if I'm incorrect about the geological label for the place, Betty will correct me) and subsequent breakfast with Irene and Michael at The High Dive...

Yum...mimosas!

You'd also think I could wax on poetically about the freekin' AWESOME 6-mile, pain-free run, (in my new running accessory no less).

Yes...it IS quite attractive, but since it helped with the knee-clicking and pain I've been having, I'll continue to wear it even though it acts as a too-small knee-fat girdle.

Once again, Mik ran in the stapled pants...

Running Stats...6 miles, 1:09:14, 11:31/mi

And you'd also think I'd take some time to retell some excellent stories about how we drank mimosas and told ridiculous jokes about The High Dive coffee mugs.

The High Dive has the MOST random assortment of coffee mugs at their self-serve station. How can you NOT love a place that has a Reno coffee mug...especially when it's not even in Reno?

But you'd be wrong...

It was a very busy weekend...

First of all, on Saturday night Walter, the kids, and I met some friends at the stadium to watch an SDSU Aztec game which was followed by the KGB Sky Show. For the non-locals, KGB is a local radio station (classic rock...thank you very much) and for years they promote an absolutely amazing fireworks show after a sporting event.

Betty and I at the Sky Show

THEN...On Sunday, I went furniture shopping for a new sofa and a media cabinet of some sort, and it took all day (and trust me, "furniture shopping" is not a euphemism for ANYTHING fun).

Here's the sofa I think I like...haven't settled on the media cabinet yet...GAH! There are just too many of them...all different sizes and colors and shapes and I JUST CAN'T DECIDE!!!!

The sofa and media cabinet will go in this room...the room with the new bar!

I promised a few members of the herd that I'd post some pictures of the new bar... Bar breaking in will occur as soon as the rest of the room has some furniture!

It is a really loooong bar...which I have wanted since we moved into this house almost 10 years ago...and now I have one!

Also, thank goodness that after a month of sharing a shower with DramaGirl and Turbo, our master-bath shower is also finished. I told Teresa I'd post some photos of that...so here's another batch.

Inside the shower. DramaGirl took this photo...she was standing on a bench.

Outside the shower

The whole bathroom...I really should straighten the counter before I broadcast photos of my messiness to the world...sorry mom.

Anyway, the whole shopping experience gave me a headache, and I was EXHAUSTED by Sunday night, so no bloggy-blog-blog about the weekend (so sorry).

Then Monday came, and I woke up early for a quick 30 minute dreadmill run (I haven't done that in AGES). Once again, no pain...I averaged 5.5 mph (about a 10:54 mm) for 30 minutes. AWESOME!

Then I was off to do that teaching thing that I have to do. Darn it if THAT didn't take the whole day!

Most importantly, Monday night was our once-a-month Dinner Club...which is where some of the running-heffers force invite the husbands to go out to dinner with us...although for some reason the number of running-heffer husbands seems to be dwindling.

I wonder if it's because we spent considerable time talking about this item...

According to this website, Go Girl is "a female urination device (sometimes called a FUD) that allows you to urinate while standing up. It’s neat. It’s discreet. It’s hygienic."

AWESOME! Seriously, you have to go to the website and click on the "demo" link...it's priceless. I think it'll be a perfect stocking stuffer...

I imagine that we decided upon FUDs as enlightening dinner-table conversations because before dinner, Mik, Dr. Elsie, Betty and I met at Parky's (a nearby dive bar) for a pre-dinner cocktail.

Parkys...doesn't the strip-mall frontage tell you everything about the place? It is located next to a Big Lots... which also tells you much about the place...

It took me three U-Turns and a text message to Betty asking "where the F is this place?" to find it.

But it was well worth the effort. We loved this bar and here's why

• Happy Hour Hors D'ouerves were being served out of a crock pot
  
• Everyone who was a regular came in the back door.
• They had two beers on tap, Bud and Bud Light
• They wouldn't take a credit or ATM card, but would take a personal check
• The drinks were REALLY strong
  
• Elsie ordered a glass of wine...which the bartender poured out of (I am NOT making this up) what appeared be a cranberry juice bottle...we assumed it was box wine.
• After one sip, Dr. Elsie noted that it did NOT taste like "Chardonnay."

We are sooooooo going back there one day.

This month we had dinner at The Fish Merchant.

Betty, Mik, and Dr. Elsie with The Fish Merchant...Mik made sure she got a hand on both bass...

Have a great week everyone! I'm off to PT in the morning... If I had blogged AT ALL this weekend I would have given a big shout out to my PT, Brett, who finished the Malibu Olympic Triathlon this weekend in 2:30. (I couldn't stalk him, but I did check his results!). Way to go Brett!

The Reason I Blog and not Vlog

This morning the herd (Betty, Edith, Elsie, her calf, Mik and I) did the End of Summer Fire Run as did fellow bloggers Irene and Lisa.

Irene, Lisa and me before the race

The Fire Run is a local, low key, event with no chip timing, and quite frankly, I don't think they get the non-chip timing very accurate. The "official" race results say I finished the 4 mile run in 47:23. My Garmin says 42:40...In fact, as I crossed the finish line, I saw the clock turn to 43:00. Now, I'm willing to concede some seconds or so since I started near the front, but five freekin' minutes? No Way!

So, the race report...the good thing about starting near the front is that I started off by running with all the faster runners and that inspired me to run faster (my first mile split was 10:18, which is almost a sprint for me!). The bad thing is that people were passing me right and left, but I refused to be demoralized by that.

In fact, I spent most of the first mile trying to catch Betty (who did NOT wear her green shirt today), but lost her in the crowd about the mile mark. She told me later that I passed her, but since I didn't see her, I spent the remainder of the race running as fast as I could thinking "OMG! Where is she?"

Mik, Elsie, and Edith ran awesome races too. Finishing in 33:55, 40:14, and 35:26.

On the other hand, who knows if any of these times are correct.

Anyway, it was not about the time. It was about the free beer! The best part of the run is that you get two free beers at the end (so yes, we were drinking beer at 9:00am), at a local beach bar called the PB Bar and Grill. I finished the race (thirsty and having to pee...WTF is up with that?), wandered around aimlessly for several minutes. Finally got some fluids from the VitaminWater peeps (THANK GOD for them because I couldn't find the water people), located Edith. Then Mik came up and said...come on, we're at the front of the line to get into the bar (well of course they were. Mik finished 10 minutes before I did).

So...all sweaty we headed into the bar to get our two free beers.

That's where we were, still sweating from the run, when a reporter from the local NBC affiliate, noting the brightness of our shirts asked if she could interview us. Betty (who loves to promote the hefferblog. I think she's thinking it will eventually lead to free stuff for us) told the reporter that I have a blog. I, of course, point to Lisa (who else am I going to drag under the bus with me) and say "she does too!" (you're welcome Lisa). So she interviewed us about that.

Lisa looks great. My clever answer for "what are you going to blog about?" should have been, "well this of course!" but I don't think that quickly (thus the reason why I only blog twice a week. These things take me for freekin' ever to think about and write).

Elsie just killed me with the reference to her calf. I love how it takes the reporter a couple of beats to "get it." Even after the camera guy turned off the camera, she was still laughing about it.

Anyway, the race was (as I reported...) muggy and sticky...Can you imagine? God what a dork I am...see if it were my blog, I could edit that out, or at least make it sound dirty, but my ability to do that off the cuff? Not. So. Much.

I had a great time hanging out with Lisa, who shared a breakfast burrito with me, and may have gotten more than she bargained for in hanging out with the herd. She told me that her original plan was to run the race, then run back to La Jolla. Of course, as we headed straight to the bar at the end of the race (can you see how I'm all glowy in the video? That's real running-sweat peeps, no hollywood fake-misting-sweat for this girl), I looked at her and said "I don't think you're going to be running back. Let's have a beer!

She was easily persuaded. Quite frankly, she fit right in.

Anyway, it was an oh-so-appropriately named race...end of summer, which today is for me. Great race, good friends, free beer...what else could I ask for?

Classes start tomorrow (which is what I SHOULD be working on right now).

200th post...But Nothing New Here

This is my 200th post.

When I started this blog, I never really thought about where it would lead or how long I would keep writing, but I certainly never thought about writing 200 times.

In that time, there are some entries that I think are somewhat entertaining. Loads of really boring, trite shiz. And a few that other people have apparently enjoyed (judging by StatCounter, whenever you blog about the dangers of self-massage or you drop your iPhone in a toilet, people find your blog).

But today's post will be none of that. In fact, you might think that you've already read this about two months ago.

I went for a bike ride this morning and played with a flat tire.

Yep.

At least this time it wasn't me with the flat. In fact, it wasn't even really a flat tire, just an under-inflated one that we couldn't get inflated. We even tried out some of my CO2 cartridges, although we've really got to figure out how those work because I don't think we did it right.

I mean, it felt hard, but it wasn't really hard enough.

Hate it when that happens. (That's what she said...ba da dum).

Clarence, Me and Mik - again trying to figure out how to pump a tire

Seriously...how long do you leave one of these things on?

So, for me, it was a pretty good ride. About 16 miles in 1:15 (I have no idea if that is a good time or not. I think not), but mostly I felt bad for Clarence in the last five miles were difficult. I've sooooo been there, riding on under-inflated tires. It sucks.

On the good news - home remodel front, I've got floors!

Bar/counter isn't finished yet, but the floors rock! Now I need new furniture!

Tomorrow morning, I"ll be up at O-Dark:30 again because we've decided to do the End of Summer Fire Run (a 4 mile run) from La Jolla to Pacific Beach. This will entail leaving a car in PB, then driving to LJ to register and run the race since almost none of us (except for Edith) are pre-registered, but it's a chipless-fun run, so no worries!

Race report to follow.

A huge shout out to Mel at 2nd Chances who is doing her first Tri in the morning! Go Mel!

Foto Friday, New Socks, & Goodbye Marcy

Today is NikeMom's Foto Friday...so here's a shot of what took up the remainder of my week!

Little League Champs... Probably one of the last times we can ask a group of boys to raise a finger and have them all raise their index fingers... Turbo is the second ballplayer from the left in the front row. Walter is in the back... Quite a win as the team had to come out of the loser bracket to win.

Mandatory goofy shot...

Thanks for all your advice and support regarding my wacky foot issue. I spent a fair amount of time yesterday looking through other pictures of me running (since I belong to the track club, there are a fair amount of those because there's almost always someone on the course shooting photos).

Unfortunately, I don't see another photo that shows my foot at that angle. The good news is that there are some other shots of me running and my foot is NOT doing that weird angle thing. (looks more like its doing the normal over-pronation thing that I thought I know I do). 

I also tried to make an appointment to see a sports therapist (Irene's recommendation) yesterday, but their office hasn't called me back yet to make an appointment. But that's OK. I think I'm going to go see my regular doctor first to get a referral to the therapist to see if insurance will pick up part of the cost. 

Have I mentioned that I HATE going to the doctor? I really do. It's all I can do to get my girl-parts examined and my boob smushed once a year... 

I did run on Wednesday (for National Running Day...and after my last post). I did 3.5 miles on the 'mill. I decided to run on the mill because it was the middle of the day and it was getting warm. Also, I was short on time. And finally, because I figured my feet started hurting, I could just stop running and not do any further damage.

Good news: Running didn't hurt while I was running

Bad news: I did have some pain in both feet after running (GAH).

That night, I found some arch support socks at Sports Authority (conveniently located next to the Shakey's Pizza where the team was celebrating it's win), and I thought what the heck...and bought them. They really seem to hold my foot steady, so I wore them all day yesterday. Then I was a complete slug yesterday and didn't run, or ride, or do anything but get ready for some presentations I'm doing next week (and look at photos of me running...what a narcissist)

Good news is that this morning, both feet feel pretty AMAZINGLY BETTER.

So...I'll be wearing the socks regularly for the next week or so.

This weekend is a busy one - later this morning I'm going up to Orange County to see my sister. I may or may not be bringing one or two of her kids back with me. Tonight I get to hang out with Mik at our sons' first game of the District Little League Championship (yes...winning the league championship on Wednesday meant that we get to play MORE. BASEBALL!!!) 

Saturday, I am taking DramaGirl to a swim qualification. She has to show that she can swim 100 yards in less than 2:15...shouldn't be a big deal. 

Then I'm going to Road Runner Sports with about a 1/2 dozen registration forms because the herd is doing the 1/2 marathon training program.

Then we have Little League closing ceremonies. 

Maybe I'll get a short bike ride in.

Sunday, is the IronGirl 10K. Irene has boldly decided to carpool with the herd!

_________________________________

On a final note...much of the running-blog-world is sad this weekend as Marcy at I Signed Up for THIS? submitted her final blog post yesterday. She has decided to go into blogging retirement. I think we all get that. I love running and blogging about it and reading all of your blogs about running, but I know how much time I spend reading and commenting on blogs (which is why I sometimes disappear for days at a time and only comment on every OTHER post you all do...).

Like almost everyone else, I'm really going to miss Marcy and her trashtastic, daily yakfest. There are so many classic blogs that I'll always remember. Walmart Bingo and all the public restroom photos will remain among my favorites.  (I'd link back to them, but I think that Marcy has already deleted, or at list made private, her archive). In fact, I read her blog for several months before I got brave enough to leave a comment amongst the 80+ already left there, and much to my surprise, within hours, she'd left a comment on mine. I felt like a celebrity had been to my blog.

A part of me thinks she'll be back at some point. I hope so. The running-blogosphere will certainly be a less funny and entertaining place without her. (Although I still get to stalk her on FB...).

Better than that, her blog and her comments are always spot-on funny. She has an incredible knack for commenting on just the thing that I think is going to be funny (like the smelly dead whale...which got me BOTW honors...which is why some of you now visit here occasionally).

In any event, there have been lots of other blogs out there that are saying goodbye to Marcy much more eloquently than I have...

but seriously chica...gonna miss ya..fo reals!

Looking Around

Looking Back...
Last January, several members of my herd (the Heffers) decided that we could run a marathon. We had really no idea what we were getting into. In fact, most of us could barely run three miles...including me. While Betty and I had run a 1/2 marathon the previous August, I really wasn't much of a runner at that point. In fact, when I started the SDTC marathon training program last January, I probably hadn't run but a handful of times in three months following the 1/2 marathon.

Luckily, I am blessed with an amazing group of friends, and we have a history of talking each other into doing things that we probably wouldn't do otherwise, so we joined the San Diego Track Club and signed up for the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego. Almost immediately, I decided to chronicle that training with a blog.

Tonight, I located the first blog entry, which I thought had been lost to the Internet. When I started this blog, I used iWeb (Apple's blogging software). I thought that first blog entry had been lost when I upgraded software, then I moved to blogger...the herd was no-doubt completely annoyned or amused by my bloggy-ADD-ness...anyway, I thought the first blog was gone, but I found it. Here's the first photo of Elsie, Betty, Clarence and I after that first, wet, training run in the pouring rain...

We look fabulous and heffer-like, don't we? It was pouring rain that morning.

Then, I dropped my iPhone in a toilet after our second marathon training run, and in my mourning over the loss of my iPhone, I felt compelled to release my angst into said blog, and somehow I became a blogger. So, I was hooked, both on blogging, and on running. (I also now spend an inordinate amount of time making sure my (new) iPhone is NOT in my back pocket.)

The running herd on our first long run - back when running for 35 minutes was a long run - Alberta, Betty, Clarence, Edith, BBJ, and me, not pictured - Elsie & Mik.
Even for SoCal, it was COLD that morning

Along the way, I blogged about the fun, pain, bodily function discoveries, Elvis, random condom sightings, and the GALLONS OF MIMOSAS CONSUMED during our marathon training season and low and behold, I became a runner. You have to believe it when I say that NOBODY is more suprised by this than me.

So...as I draw close to my 100th blog entry, I'm having a little fun, looking back, thinking about now, and making plans for the future... The looking back part was fun...

For now...
Betty, Alberta, Mik, BBJ, Elsie (scanning Craigs list for a Bib since it's now sold out) and I are training for the Carlsbad 1/2 in about six weeks. (Edith? are you in?)

Saturday morning, Betty, Elsie and I ran 8 miles...it was a great run. Cool, on the bay, flat... easy... What a strange thing to say, an easy 8 mile run, but it was. I ran 8 miles in about 90 minutes...quite speedy for me. We all talked about how we felt great afterwards...of course there were mimosas at our favorite World Famous, where we had the best waitress EVAH, who even came off her break to make sure we were OK...

Yum...mimosas, breakfast, and surf...

I have no doubt that we talked about completely inappropriate things during breakfast, but that was on Sunday, now it's Thursday and I don't remember a single one of them. I do know that there has been an email circulating among the herd this week which originated with Mona...I know I've got three holiday pot-luck parties to go to in the next two weeks...Do you think this is appropriate for the department holiday party?

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Our favorite caption: "It's better than a candle because you can eat it"

Looking ahead
The goal for this year is to do the triple crown--The Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon in January, La Jolla 1/2 Marathon in April, and America's Finest City 1/2 Marathon in August. Then to do one or two of the three California Dreamin' 1/2 marathons, which includes the San Francisco 1/2 Marathon in June and the Long Beach 1/2 Marthon in October. The Surf City 1/2 Marathon will have to wait until February 2010, first because it's sold out this coming February, and second because it's the week after Carlsbad, but next February...FO SHO...

I also hope to do the Nike Women's 1/2 in October again...mostly because it was just a really fun weekend.

My big question is whether or not to join the San Diego Track Club again. Their winter training program focuses on training for the Rock and Roll Marathon in June. I'd really rather focus on running 1/2 marathons this year, and not another marathon. On the other hand, training with the club put me in the best shape of my life...and that couldn't hurt the 1/2 marathon training that I need to do to do the triple crown...especially the La Jolla 1/2 in April...the hill at Torrey Pines is a KILLAH!

Decisions, decisions, decisions...it's a good time of year for that.

What's up for this weekend? 10 miles on either Saturday or Sunday.

Have I run this week? Not much...three miles yesterday morning, four or five tomorrow am. Thank goodness the semester is about over. I taught my last class today...three finals on Monday, one on Tuesday...then I can think about the holidays.