Come Out and Play

RANDOM

The last time I ran was supposed to be a 10 miler with the track club on my day off.  I was looking forward to it  and we had perfect running weather, meaning overcast skies and temps in the low to mid 60s.  I woke up that morning not feeling right, but a lot of times I'll get past that "not right" feeling and run OK.  I only made it a little more than 2 miles before I had to turn around and walk most of the way back.  I ended up in bed from the time I returned home until the following Tuesday when I decided I needed to go into work and produce a paycheck.  Wednesday I had a session at RU and that was difficult at best.  Thursday it's a visit to the doctor's office.  I came home with antibiotics, Rx nose spray, a netti pot, and a big bottle of Tylenol.

I hope with all this rest that my IT band will ease up. It's better than it was a month ago, but still reminds me it's there.

I was asked to review the book Train Like a Mother  - How to Get Across Any Finish Line and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, authors of Run Like a Mother.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!  I honestly didn't want to put a lot of preconceptions into this book before reading it because I've often been disappointed with running books written for women.  This book is written with real life in mind, a healthy sense of humor, and serious support and concern when needed.  It's as if you're getting training advice from your very knowledgeable running friends who know what it's like to fit in a training schedule and juggling kids, school, family, work, etc.  I like that they go over things that everyone talks about, but nobody ever addresses in other training manuals, such as going commando, race goals, running music, women's nutrition, etc.  The training schedules are very straight forward and not too technical -- they explain everything as if they're talking to you without being condescending.  I liked that there were little reminders to not skip a particular workout and get a babysitter. Both authors give their spin on explaining things, which I liked, because no two experiences are the same.  This book is a good read for the new runner with constructive tips on how to get started, as well as the seasoned runner with chapters affirming that what you're doing (or thinking) is actually right on par, or that you might need to change a few things. This book can be read in a weekend and is a good "go to" or reference book.  If I gave stars to books, I'd give this a 5 out of 5 stars.

I'm also reviewing another pair of running shoes.  This time it's On Cloud - Cloudrunner.

Yes, purple and fuchsia, but I actually like the colors, which aren't too foo-foo.  Photo from the On Cloud Facebook page.

I've never heard of this brand until I received them.  They're engineered in Switzerland and relatively new on the running shoe scene.  I've received them a week ago, and haven't run in them since I got sick, but they're very comfortable.  My only concern is that they might be too cushy, which might aggravate my plantar faciitis.  I have some miles to make up next week, and I'll be able to judge on how well they ride then.

This weekend is the La Jolla Half Marathon and 5k, which I am happily not running in, but my brother and sister-in-law will be here to participate in the 5k.  My sister, the one who concocted the whole running weekend has backed out, which sort of throws things off. My sister has participated in only two, maybe three 5ks in the past 5 years or so.  She likes La Jolla because she doesn't really race it.  She's more of a walk/runner.  That's all fine and good because she can enjoy the scenery.  I personally don't like this race.  I like the course on my own terms because it is a pretty course that goes along parts of La Jolla Shores and ends near La Jolla Cove.  If I'm in a 5k race, well, I'm in to RACE and try to edge out that lady in the red tech shirt just ahead of me. I'm far from being 5k race ready at this point,  my IT band aches just thinking about it,  and running La Jolla, with the steep hills and bumpy running surface for the last mile, does not bode well in my mind.  Hubs and I are planning to be at the finish line to see if my bro can score a podium finish.  My sister-in-law has been running for a long while, but sort of new to racing.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare on Sunday, then head out for brunch. 

In a little more than a month is the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon/Half Marathon.  I'm not 100% certain, but I think this will be my last race for the year.  I almost put in for the lottery for the Nike Women's event in San Francisco in October for 2012, but I reminded myself that I do need the break, and would need to continue training and be half marathon ready.  No to Nike, and probably most other races until January 2013.

This year will be the 30th anniversary of Title IX.  Even though Title IX happened in 1972, I personally did not see any changes until I was in high school in the mid to late 70s. It also took my parents longer than that to be on board, even though my high school finally had girls track team started in my Junior year. There was no support (or transportation) to stay with the team.

Because of Title IX, my niece was able to participate on the high school wrestling team and sparred against boys and girls in her weight class. 



Song from Saturday, April 14, 2012:
Part of Me - Katy Perry

PEACE

My Girl

The last time I was here I said I was going to give my book review, but, I swear, I didn't think I'd take so long to read the book. Life happens.

I was eager to read the Run Like A Girl by Mina Samuels because it's an accumulation of inspiring stories about women in sports, but mostly running. There were several points in the book that I did not want to forget, and I ended up tabbing a few pages...

OK, so I tabbed more than a few pages, so sue me.  I did go through a few sets of tabs, especially to refer back to some of the finer points that resonated with me.

I found my head nodding over "shrink and pink."  Shrink and pink is where clothing and gear companies take a man's designed item, such as a t shirt, size it down and change the color to pink, with no consideration to a women's body, sizing or need.  You would kind of think that, by now, shrink and pink would no longer be an issue, but it is.  The last two half marathons I ran in gave out men's sized/fitted t shirts to everyone. Bonus points that they were tech shirts, points lost because both of my XS men's t shirts from those two races have no consideration for my curves and fit me rather large, even though those are both XS.  In both of those races the women outnumbered the men. "Shrink and pink" is so 10, (20 ,30+) years ago, but still an issue. 

Samuels points out that when women get together we rarely start a conversation with a list of our accomplishments, but with the tendency to bond though belittling ourselves, and dialing into the internal radio "KFKD," and, yes, it's exactly as it sounds. K- f**ked.  This got me thinking to a conversation I had with a couple of ladies from the track club, how the first things that we all talked about were our crappy run times, aches, pains, and other mishaps of the running week.  After a short while one lady piped in "hey, next time we get together let's talk about how wonderful we all are!"  Everyone laughed, but she had a point.  We needed to celebrate each other and focus on the good things, that we showed up for the run that day, that we ran, that we're together, that we are strong and awesome, etc...  It's time to turn off "KFKD" and tune in to "KGrrrT."

The book is chock full of stories of women who have overcome struggles in their own lives which lead them into sports, mostly running, and how their lives evolved from being involved in a sport.  What I took from this book was an over-all sense of empowerment from participating in a sport.   As a girl growing up in the 1960s  and early 1970s, sports were not encouraged unless the choices were dance, tennis or volleyball, and maybe basketball.  There's nothing wrong with any of those activities, but that's all there was and I wasn't adept at any of those.  I was rarely encouraged to find empowerment in sports, or anywhere else, for that matter.* There was no sense of empowerment from running because that was a considered boys sport, at least in my parent's eyes.  There was no girls track team in middle school or in the early years of high school.**   I often longed for that sense of empowerment in those younger years, but I'm glad that I can feel empowered from running now.  It's never too late.

Title IX is brought up a few times in this book, which is the education amendement, passed in 1972 stating:

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..."

—United States Code Section 20, ^[1]

I'm not sure why, but there is a reference to Roe v. Wade in this book.  I'm not sure the context of which it  was meant, as I re-read that particular paragraph a few times over to figure it out, but I just couldn't wrap my head around the reference.  I'm not sure what Roe v. Wade has to do with running, and I felt the reference was rather unnecessary.

When I began reading this book I was excited to delve into the individual stories, but as I read I became rather complacent,  making the book a bit slow to read.  It's not that the stories weren't interesting, in fact they were interesting and very relevant,*** it's just that I felt certain points were made time and time again.  I became bored.  I'd read a page here and there, but would often put it down to take care of other business.  There was no desire to get back to the book until I realized I has been over a a month since I received the book and figured would finish reading it.  I began plodding through, just to give the book a fair shake.  I found a new eagerness to read this book once I made it to the last couple of chapters, and my interests were once again piqued.

Mina Samuels discusses the importance of friendships and bonds through sports, and how, as adults, we still needs play dates.  This chapter resonated with me.  I never really thought about running in the terms of "play dates,"  but she has a point.  Running can be a very social activity, and people can accept that you have no make-up on, you're sweating from every pore on your body, probably smelly, and, well, gross. Running friends are rather accepting of each other.  We help to hold each other accountable, or to be our cheerleaders. Yes, there is something to be said about having solo runs, where you can clear your head, but it's nice to have someone who knows about your training,  someone who you can talk about running with out the blank stares back and that that common bond of running that evolves into long term friendships.

I would recommend this book to an eager, new runner or any one who needs to rekindle the spark to get off of their butt and start doing something to put their body in motion.

If you don't mind, I have a play date to attend to.

Gotta run.

Song from Thursday, August 25, 2011
Take it all - Adele

PEACE

*My parents were of the realm of "Leave it to Beaver" and I was supposed to grow up to be June Cleaver.


**FYI, I  graduated from high school in 1977, and the small Catholic school I attended was still playing catch up with girls in sports.  They finally had a girl's track team in my Senior year, but I had no transportation to or from practice, even though I did try out for the team.  My parents weren't quite caught up with Title IX.

***There were many inspiring stories of women who were top notch athletes, beginners, women who overcame disease, abuse, adversity, discrimination, struggles with weight, self-esteem  issues, finding love, separation, divorce, death,  losing, winning, and so on...

Take It All

"Didn't I give it up
Tried my best
Gave you everything I had
Everything and no less"


 Summer, although somewhat at the end for most people, has been in full swing for me over the past couple of weeks or so.  For weeks not much happened, but then August starts and everything becomes super busy... and exhausting.  A lot of the busy isn't anything extra special, work and house stuff, but nothing earth shattering.  There are some notables, though.

Hubs' uncle and cousin visited us from Rio de Janiero Brazil.  Between work and everything else, we found time to share some great moments together.

My daughter Renee, Uncle Pedro, my grandson Evan, and cousin Ana Christina.

We managed to purchase tickets to Adele in concert. I was initially irritated that I could only purchase over priced tickets through an unaffiliated on line ticket agency and not through the venue ticket sales, but it was a concert worth attending. At first Hubs was thinking I was dragging him to a chick show, but he was pleasantly surprised.  Even though Adele was accompanied by her band, she could have easily sang without the band. She was THAT fabulous.  In addition, Adele's personality is nothing like her songs of relationships gone wrong.  The girl is genuine, hilarious (let the "f*** bomb" fly a lot)  and really connected with the audience.  She also dedicated  the song "Make You Feel My Love" to Amy Winehouse. The cool thing is that she had us  - the audience -  turn on the lights to our cell phones and cameras during that song.  I didn't get a picture of that, it would not have turned out on my cell phone, but the affect was amazing.

@ the SDSU outdoor amphitheater. Adele is down there, I promise. Not the best seats, but I'm glad we managed to get tickets without having to apply for a loan. 

I ran in the America's Finest City Half Marathon on August 21, 2011.  I honestly did not train well for this particular half marathon.  I guess my head wasn't into it as much as it was for the SDRNR half marathon this past June.  I did almost no speed training and it really affected my time.   My goal was to complete the Triple Crown series, since I had never done that before.  Done. Check. I have no mile to mile account of this race.  I just could not find my groove at any point in the race.  Sometimes it takes me the first couple of miles to get my bearings then I'm OK.  No groove.  I dragged.  No reason.  No good excuses.  Perhaps not being mentally invested in this race affected my performance.  I haven't looked at all of my stats, but this could possibly be my second slowest half marathon.   I must say that the support on the route (water/electrolyte stations, restrooms, etc) was well done.  I'm also loving the Triple Crown Medal.  I think this has to be my absolute favorite medal.  One of my friends said it looked rather Olympic.

I completed these three races...

... to receive this.

There were a few notables on race day.  Waking up at o'dark thirty so we wouldn't be late for the bus to the starting area was extra special since I didn't sleep well.  We had cool, overcast skies at the start of the race, which was somewhat of a bonus since August can be toasty.  The warm up and stretcing exercises with the track club was nice, and helped me to wake up.  During the race here were a couple of guys who were running ahead of me who stopped at the half way point to do burpees.  I'm not sure how many they did, I wasn't going to stick around to count, but they full on, proper burpees without looking tired.  Show offs...  I got it done in 2:30:00, and that included walking up part of the 6th Ave. hill.  It wasn't the hill that got me, it was just that I had no umph to spare even well before that late point in the race with one mile to go.  I actually felt like walking the rest of the race, but managed to focus on and follow someone just in front of me who was running at a pace I could deal with.

I'm having kind of a tough time bouncing back from this race.  I usually recover rather quickly from a half marathon, but I've been feeling rather lack luster since that day.

I've been asked to do review on this book:

I'm still reading it and will probably give a full review on my next blog post.  Several pages have been dog-eared or tabbed.  There are some great quotes and a few pet-peeves in the writing. I should have been finished reading it by now, but I haven't had much time to sit still and just read, or even blog.  I just need to remember to take the book with me to work and read it during my lunch hour.

My niece Amber, (Hubs side of the family) who was training for her first triathlon for later on this year, ended up with a femoral fracture, similar to what I went through back in 2008.  She had a similar surgery, too.  In her case, what caused the break to manifest further was a freak accident where a kid (playfully) jumped on her after she completed a brick (training).  There's speculation that she had the beginnings of a fracture, but the kid jumping on her caused a dislocation and possibly contributing to the fracture.  Surgery was on  8/19.  She's  going through a lot of what I went through and I've been talking to her a lot.   I keep reminding her that she will get through this and complete a triathlon, but I know that sometimes it's hard to sit still, be happy and heal while all of  your friends are out there training. I feel for her.  Been there, too.

My niece Anne, my brother's eldest daughter, is officially engaged.  I'm not sure when they're planning the wedding and any details, but we'll attend if they have a big to do. Anne will be the very first out of all of my nieces and nephews from both sides of the family to get married.

Anyone till there?
I hope to get back to regular blogging soon.

Song from Tuesday, August &, 2011:
Heaven - Los Lonely Boys


PEACE

Blue Orchid

Randomness

This being sick thing is so last week. I'm not one for daytime TV soaps since the plots are recycled over and over and over again. The soaps are EXACTLY the same as when my mom watched them 25 years ago - Victor Newman is still on The Young and the Restless - I checked. Blogger Jill pointed out that there's only so many times you can watch H&G TV before you feel like your house is a total dump, but she said it with more verve. I worked out on Monday, and it was difficult, even though the exercises presented to me weren't that hard. Coughing between sets of any exercise adds to the caloric burn, I suppose. I'm not working out or running for the rest of the week. I might go for a walk, though. I'm coughing less, but the fatigue can be overwhelming. There's almost no more head pressure, but the lung is still whistling. I create my own music just by breathing. I have asthma and never wheeze like this. I was finally able to read a book without falling asleep after the first paragraph, so that's progress.

I had jury duty on Tuesday. I showed up with big bag of Sugar Free Hall's Cough Drops and a book. This was the very first time I didn't have to go through the jury selection process. My name was never called, thank goodness. I'm sure they would have excused me anyway, with my "mentholyptus" scented breath and chronic cough. I really didn't cough that much, and probably just as much as anyone else there. By the way, the book I read while waiting in the Juror's Lounge was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

The sun came out yesterday. I put on my Uggs and a light jacket over my PJs and sat on the back porch to read a book. All of my critters (three cats and one dog) sat out with me, and no wars broke out.

I'm craving carbs, and not the good for you ones, either. I'm craving Stacy's Pita Chips, toast, bagels, chocolate chip cookies, Cocoa Puffs, pretzles, Pub Mix, and so on.

Check out a Runningskirt.com giveaway at blog: Endurance Is Only Physical.

Check out a Champion giveaway at blog: Shut Up and Run.

Blogger Laura gave me a "Sunshine Award." Thanks, Laura. Everyone needs sunshine in their day, and this made mine sunny. I'm supposed to bestow this award to 12 others bloggers. I think I'll save it for another blog post next week, since I need to find 12 bloggers who Laura didn't already mention. :)

A few weeks ago, blogger Julie (Juls - Keeping Pace) wrote about her orchid plant, how it's nice and green but it hasn't bloomed in a year. I responded that I have orchid plants with nice and glossy leaves but no blooms, and that I actually stuck fake orchid flowers in one of the plants just so I could pretend it grew. I have 4 orchid plants with beautiful leaves but no blooms, not since their first blooms or buds when I bought them years ago. Julie's blog post got me to get up and take a good look at my orchid plants. I went and took a peek. This is what I saw:

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." -- John Lennon

I never notice the buds before. I did a happy dance because this is the FIRST TIME, ever, that an orchid plant I own produced buds a second time. I did nothing special to get this plant to produce buds -- no fertilizers or special filtered water. Other than a little water once a week, I did nothing. If it matters, my orchids sit in a west-facing window in my kitchen. The funny thing is that I was resigned to putting more fake orchid flowers in with the live plants. I guess I should have more faith in my plants and in what ever green thumb I may have.

Yesterday's Song:
Steep - Phish

PEACE

Everybody I Love You

I had every intention of delving into more books this summer, but one of the pain medications I was (and still am) using takes my attention span to that of a flea with ADD. The days I am more clear minded have been spent making an attempt to read more than just magazines and random stuff on the internet. One of the books I've just finished is I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies) The Tales of a Loudmouth Girl by Lauie Notaro. This book was lent to me by my hair dresser. It's a good, light summer book. A chapter is very doable if you're strapped for time or, in my case, dealing with drug induced flea ADD, and a chapter is all I can deal with and remember. Laurie Notaro talks about her mother frequently in this book, and often quotes her. I was actually quite surprised when one of the quotes in the book was something my own mother said to my sister. I just about died laughing because it was so spot on, especially a reference to truck drivers and prostitutes.

Back when I was still living at home, and Mom was still around, my sister, who was probably about 12 or 13 years old at the time, said a very, VERY bad word. My mother overheard this word and scolded my sister, saying "who do you think you are?" "With a mouth like that do you think your mother's a prostitute and your father's a truck driver?" I had to leave the room because it was so funny, I burst out laughing. Later on, my sister was also laughing, but we didn't let Mom know. Mom would have been even more upset that we were laughing... To this day we're still laughing.

Real good times.

Today I also ventured out into the world. My husband and I went for a walk. I took my cell phone and turned on the BiM GPS to track my walk. This is the first longish walk I've taken since the marathon, when we had to walk from the parking area to the water table and back, and I was using a walker at that time.

Activity:	Walk
Date:	06/28/08 11:11 AM
Distance:	0.93 miles
Time:	0:30:06
Speed:	1.8 mph
Pace:	33' 20 min/mile
Calories:	88

I had taken pain meds, had my cane, and had to remind Michael to go slow. My neighborhood is hilly, and it was difficult to even navigate walking down hill a little. Wow. It took me about a half hour to burn off 88 calories and barely go one mile! I sure have my work cut out , don't I? Will I be even be running by fall? That's all besides the point at the moment. Each day is a little better. Each day I'm limping less. Each day is less painful.

Yesterday's song:
Yummy - Gwen Stefani

PEACE