Back in the Running

This weekend has been a whirlwind on ups and downs running-wise and lifewise.

On the upside, despite my limiting weekend schedule, I was able (and willing, since ga$ is so expen$ive these days) to have three social runs in a row.

Friday I met R and L at Bootleg for a strong 6 mile trail run. Although waking up for these runs is never fun (since when is a 4:00 wakeup call ever fun?) once I am there I am raring to go! L runs just a bit faster so it makes for a good challenge. There were some harrowing moments like for instance when L went running off a cliff, but other than that we made it back in on piece - whew! It was fun to spend time with both R and L.

Saturday I met on ol' running buddy, Ernie the ultrarunner of running across Nevada two years in a row and badwater fame (see link on the left). The course is challenging (Red Rock Canyon loop), but the pace was not too hard since she likes to take walking breaks up the hill. We met a couple others and we sort of divided into three groups. Terri ran ahead. I ran with Ernie and Steffen ran on his own. We all met up at the end and shared some watermelon I brought (which I meant to bring the day before to Bootleg). E thinks I should just go ahead and train for the St. George Marathon. I am signed up and was very close to cancelling, but I haven't closed the door yet.

I am glad I held back running with E because I knew Sunday morning meeting up with L to run would prove challenging in both miles and pace. Finally I found a running situation that works for Sunday PLUS I can get a long run in to boot! L lives just minutes away from my Sunday morning meeting. Now running with her required a 3:30 am wakeup. It didn't help that Rick returned home at 2:30 am and woke me up causing me toss and turn in bed for an hour before really having to wake up (grumble grumble grumble -- one of the reasons I wanted to give up summer running to avoid the sleep necessary for early morning wakeup calls) I warned her that I am slower and espressed my concerns about keeping up and knowing the course. She said my pace is fine as she runs with another girl who runs probably a little slower than me and is just looking for someone to run with right now. Funny how we push each other in the early miles and we keep having to tell each other to back off the pace. Good thing we did because we lost track of time, which we have done twice before while deep in conversation and ended up getting in 14 instead of 13 miles which was the perfect compromise between her wanting to get in 15 and me wanting to get in 12 or 13.

We ended with a soak in her pool. She let me use her shower too!

Also, on the fun and adventure front, Friday night BD performance practice was great as we continued to learn the moves for Misirlou as well as practice La Playa again. Watching that video over and over really is helpful for me in seeing what I need to work on.

Ok, on the negative front, I am dealing with a car returned from the mechanic that required a new timing belt that cost major buck$. In the process they didn't rehook up the AC nor did they reset the security alarm (insert me picture of me pulling out hair from my head).

Meantime Sunday morning during my meeting, I thought I heard a car alarm go off around 9:45. I asked the receptionists to check. I was driving Rick's car. Turns out thieves broke into his car and stole my gym bag. Given it had nothing but old pink Nikes, skanky sweaty gym clothes (grody shorts and my favorite running expensive bra), a hair dryer and my good makeup collection/deoderant I felt violated nonetheless. I hope they touch the gym clothes and it gives them cooties. I felt sad about losing my favorite WW gym bag. Thank goodness nothing else was taken and thank goodness I had the sense to drag all my other cr@p inside, weighed down like a pack mule before the meeting. I was lucky indeed. Of course having to shell out another $240 to fix the window is not too lucky.

Rick and I had a choice to go home after and wallow and nap or to continue with our plans. We decided to see Transformers instead. Very entertaining, but again too long. I thought long summer movies were a fluke, like when I thought Pirates was too long. But I guess not. 2.5 to 3 hours is too long to sit no matter how entertaining. That is almost enough to erase the entertainment time and make if feel as if I am doing time to get my happy ending.

This morning will be tv weights since I don't want to park Rick's now insecure car outside the gym for an hour, BD moves, appointment and later my meeting and seeing Harry Potter (let's hope it isn't too long) and dinner with M.

PS -- I am no longer tracking my food intake in here. I felt wierd doing it here for all the world to see and was not always around here to do it. It was an interesting experiment nonetheless.