I Don't Want Your Photograph

Brightroom, the company taking photos at last weekend's race, e-mailed me the pictures that they took of me. These are the only pictures I have from the race and folks, they ain't pretty. Since my bib number was covered up by my windbreaker, I pulled my jacket up as I crossed the finish line so they would be able to send me any pictures they took. So...here are the hot shots: http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?29217317

I also found one other picture of me in the "lost and found" pictures. Here's me, wet, cold, and slowly running:
http://www.brightroom.com/stf.asp?EVENTID=30913&PWD=&ID=46246056

Running Update: I was back on the treadmill last Wednesday for an easy 3 mile run. This morning I went to a yoga class. Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Diana at 6am (ugggg) for a 4-5 mile run. The beat goes on...

Blame it on the Rain

I completed my first half marathon on Sunday, February 3, 2008, exactly eight months after I completed my first full marathon. My marathon experience last June was amazing—it was truly an inspiring, fun, emotionally uplifting, motivating, all-around cool time. I won’t lie to you—Sunday’s race, was, to put it lightly, miserable. Here’s why:

• It was pouring rain before the race, during the race, and after the race. “This is by far the worst weather we’ve ever experienced,” said Surf City USA Marathon general manager Amy Tomchak.



• It was cold…as in 50 degrees cold. Way too cold for a now-California girl.



• It was windy. And, since I was running right next to the ocean, I got felt the full force of the wind as it came off the ocean (you should have seen the waves—big!).



• It was smelly (not BO smelly, but fishy smelly).



• The course was, I thought, boring. I ran down PCH through downtown Huntington Beach, looped through a residential neighborhood, and then ran down PCH some more before turning around and returning on PCH to downtown Huntington Beach. Blah. Yeah, I was running right next to the ocean, but the novelty of seeing the ocean has worn off a bit after five years and seeing the ocean on Sunday was like looking at the Bearing Sea, not the Pacific Ocean.



• There weren’t very many spectators or bands, most likely because of the rain.



• All of the timers at the mile markers were turned off, most likely because of the rain.



• All of the mile marker signs were on their sides, not standing up, because of the wind.



• The start and finish corrals were too narrow.



• The Expo area with all of the start and finish line amenities (like bag check, reunion areas, toilets, etc.) was too small and confusing to navigate.



• My cell phone got soaked and broke while it was in the pocket of my windbreaker during the race.



• I finished about 15 minutes slower than I wanted to.

Dang, I sound like such a whiner! There were some good things about this race. Here they are:

• The “free” (as in $75 free) shirt that I got with my registration is a long sleeve dry-fit shirt, which I will get a lot of use out of.



• I got a cool surfboard medal for finishing the race.



• Sabina came out to support me, and even though we actually didn’t see each other (yes, somehow she didn’t see me at the finish line and I didn’t see her), her support meant so much to me and made me very appreciative to have such a great friend in my life.



• I didn't have to use the port-a-potties at all before, during, or after the race.



• I can now say that I’ve successfully completed a half marathon.



• I didn’t die.

Okay, so here’s the full story:

I slept horribly the night before the race, of course. I kept dreaming that I didn’t wake up in time for the race and I was late. When I did wake up (on time), I took a hot shower, ate a banana and power bar and drank a glass of water, and properly prepared and dressed for the race (which included putting on pants, a hat, and a windbreaker). I stepped outside into the raining-cats-and-dogs rain and drove, in the dark, to Huntington Beach. I parked at Edison High School, put up my umbrella, and got into the long line of people waiting to get on a bus to be shuttled to the start line. I sat with a woman on the bus who was also there running this race by herself with no supporters. At the start line area I wandered around until I found the bag check trucks and then stood in a long line again (in the rain) to check my bag and umbrella. I completed this task exactly two minutes before the race began. So, I had barely no time to stretch and squeeze into my corral. My friend, Britt, was there running the race also, but we were not able to meet up before the race. I, along with everyone else, was already soaking wet. I looked like a drowned rat.

The gun went off and I started running in the second wave at 7:47am. One mile into the race (8:30 later), I stopped caring about my finish time. All I wanted to do was be done with this race and out of the cold rain and into a hot shower and then my comfy, cozy, warm bed. Just like during my full marathon, I focused only on one mile at a time during this race. I plodded along…slowly. My running shoes were sopping wet, along with the bottoms of my pants. I felt like I had weights strapped to my ankles. I was so cold and miserable that I didn’t even have it in me to look at my splits on my watch or eat my goo packet. I just kept trudging along…one mile at a time. I stopped dodging puddles and only dodged the roadkill on PCH.

Eventually, I finished. I took out my cell phone to call Sabina and see where she was. After 13.1 miles it was completely waterlogged and broken. I found a non-runner in a tent and borrowed her phone to call Sabina and leave her a message stating that I was going home. (Later in the day I baked my phone in the oven for five hours at 125 degrees to dry it out and it now works mostly fine again.) I picked up my freebies, my checked bag, and walked to the bus, which shuttled me to my car. I went straight home and got into the shower and then crawled back into bed for a nap.

Now for the stats:

Finish Time: 2:14:07 (10:14 pace)…Bummer!
3 Mile: 26:45 (8:55 pace)…Was doing good so far here.
7.75 Mile: 1:17:40 (10:02 pace)…Strange place to take a split. I had already slowed down considerably.
Overall Place: 3921 out of 8713
Women’s Place: 1711 out of 4898
F 25–29 Place: 266 out of 887
Age Grade: 48.74%

I'd like to think that if I wasn't weighed down by layers of sopping wet clothes and soaked running shoes and that if heavy winds and strong rain weren't pushing me across the road and pelting me in the face, I would have finished faster. When I ran in my marathon last year, I crossed the half marathon mark at 2:04, so I fared worse, not better, this time around. Hopefully the next race I run will be drier and less windy and I will be able to redeem myself.

I don’t have any pictures from the race and I’m still waiting to see if the official event photographers were able to snap any of me at the finish line.

Physically, I felt fine after the race. 13.1 miles really did not pain my body too much—it feels nothing like 26.2 for sure. I went to a yoga/stretch class on Monday night, which felt good.

I still want to run in more races, just not this one again (I have to prove to myself that I can run a half marathon in under two hours!). I'm glad, though, that Sunday’s rainy race is over with!

Oh, Monday and every other day this week, it's been beautiful, warm, and sunny out.

Ready...Set...

Well, folks, tomorrow at this time, I will, God willing, have completed my first half marathon. This week's tappered schedule was nice--I ran 4 miles at the gym on Tuesday, 3 miles on Wednesday, and 2 miles today (I was supposed to run the 2 miles on Thursday, but I started teaching again and didn't feel like going after that and then I was just plain lazy on Friday). During my pre-training, I ran 46 miles and during my "real" training, I ran 115.5 miles for a total of 161.5 miles since mid-October. Not a whole lot (especially compared to my full marathon training), but too shabby either.

After my light run today I went to the Active Lifestyle Expo in Huntington Beach to pick up my bib (5090), race shirt, and other goodies. I bought a power bar and gel packet for tomorrow. I also listened to the guy speak who made the movie, Spirit of the Marathon, which I totally want to see (the DVD will be coming out this summer). It was sunny down by the beach and the temperature was warm. Tomorrow, though, is not looking so good. It's supposed to be cool, rainy, and windy. Ug! Rain or shine though, the race must go on.

I already ate my pre-race pasta meal. The race shirt that I picked up today is a dry-fit long sleeve shirt and I'll probably wear that tomorrow with pants, since it's supposed to be so cold (well, cold for Cali). Tomorrow is going to be a hat day, not a sunglass day. I figure I'll have to get up around 5:15am tomorrow so that I'm awake, parked, and at the start line well before the official starting time (for me) at 7:47am. I should be done with the race around 9:45am. My realistic goal is to finish in 2:15, but my ultimate goal is to finish in 1:59:59 (under two hours!). If the weather is not cooperating tomorrow, I imagine many people's times will be a bit slower than normal.

So...here goes...13.1...I'll report back tomorrow with my results!

Ten Miles From Nowhere

How have you been
In the shape you were in
I'm surprised that you got where you're going...

Last Saturday morning, well before the crack of dawn, Diana came over to my house and we set out for what was supposed to be an early morning ten mile run. Two miles into it I almost threw myself in front of a BMW driven by a rich OC mom on her way to her early morning yoga class. I felt like crap. I was running so slow that I'm pretty sure I was actually going backward instead of forward. We ended up turning around and running/walking back to my house. I was so deflated. How am I going to run 13.1 miles next week when I was contemplating becoming road kill after just two miles?

Answer: I'll just do it. Like Nike.

My problems on Saturday morning were many, but mostly, they were mental. I was not excited about getting up at 5:30am and running in the dark and cold. In anticipation of this early morning run, I went to bed early on Friday night, but slept horrible because I was anxious about getting up so early. The chips were stacking up against me before I even got up to count them. Also, my brain has been telling my feet mean, nasty things about my running partners (how could it? I love my running partners!). This makes my feet want to shrivel up in my shoes like the Wicked Witch's. For some reason, lately, I have not been running well with others. Like I said, this is all mental, but as my race gets closer and closer, I cannot seem to break down these mental barricades. Instead, I'm building new ones. When I run, I rarely run with my iPod. I actually like to be alone on a run with my thoughts. I like to hear the sound of my own breathing and focus on the inhale, exhale, inhale. So, I think I need to take a break from running with others and get through this upcoming half marathon on my own (where, you know, I'll only be running with 10,000 other people!) and then I can get back into the groove of running with friends.

Even though the half marathon is going to be packed with people, I think I'll be okay because I don't plan on having conversations with the other runners and I'm only competing against myself and my goal time--no one else. My friend, Britt, is going to be there also, so we might run a little while together at the beginning, but since I'm afraid I won't be very fun to run with due to my current mental state, we probably won't stay together too long.

So, Saturday's run sucked.

Sunday, however, was much better! In between bands of heavy rain showers, I laced up my old running shoes (I didn't want to get my new ones all wet and dirty), and headed out on a ten mile loop through Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, and Laguna Hills. I felt great during the run and did well on all of the hills (and there were quite a few!). Once I get past mile four on any run, I get into a grove and just go and I was groovin' on Sunday. When I returned from the run I felt like I am ready for the half marathon on Sunday (yes, as in THIS Sunday).

This week's running schedule is light, of course. I went to a great yoga class last night. Tonight I will run four miles, tomorrow three miles, and Thursday two miles. Nine miles until 13.1 miles...

Two Things

1. I ran my second fastest three miles since high school on Wednesday: 24:56. I started out at an 8:57 minute/mile and got progressively faster until I was running a 7:30 minute/mile at the end.
2. For the first time ever, I ran five miles on the treadmill at the gym (last night). I have never run farther than four miles on the treadmill because I was pretty sure that I would pass out and have a heat stroke, or die of boredom, if I went beyond that. But, I'm alive and writing this now, so clearly that was a myth. I had to run the five miles at the gym last night because I didn't get home from my friend, Maria's, birthday happy hour until late, and, it was raining. I ran the five miles in about 44 minutes or so.

(Secret item #3: Last night when I was running, I was thinking that I want to run in the Nike Women's Marathon in October in San Francisco. I must be crazy. Or bored. Or both.)

Countdown to Race Day

Holy crap...my race is now 1 1/2 weeks away! I haven't prepared nearly as long and hard as I did for my full marathon last year. But then again, this is only a half.

On Sunday I met Sara for a run around UCI. We ran about 2.5 miles and then walked about 2.5 miles. I felt like crap--very sluggish. Also, I had rubbed my heel raw in my trail running shoes and ghetto old socks the day before and the wimpy Band-Aid I had put on did nothing to protect the new wound. I don't know if I just needed additional time to recover from my long run on Saturday or if I can just really suck it up sometimes, but I did not have a good workout. However...it was wonderful to see Sara and catch up with her. I hadn't seen her since before my sabbatical either.


On Monday I went to a great yoga class at the Mission Viejo 24 Hr. Fitness. The stretching was sooo good for my tight muscles.

Last night (Tuesday), I hit the road again and ran 5 miles around Aliso Viejo and Laguna Hills. I actually had a great run--I felt great, the moleskin on my heel was protecting my boo-boo, and I felt very energetic. So, maybe I don't suck so much after all.

Tonight I need to run 3 miles at the gym and then tomorrow night is another 5-miler outside. Then this weekend I'm putting in my last "long" run of 10 miles.

Coyotes attack from the rear and the flanks of their prey.

This morning I met Diana at 6am to go running in Aliso & Wood Canyons. I hadn't been running with her since before I went on my sabbatical, so it was really nice to chat and catch up. Diana is used to getting up before the crack of dawn, but I'm not, and I was surprised that it was still pitch black dark outside when we met. I saw a group of runners head into the canyon with headlamps on, but we didn't have lights and didn't want to be running in the wilderness when it was still dark out. So, we ran 2.5 miles on the roads and through Laguna Niguel Regional Park and then ran into the canyons once it was light out. We ran 7 miles on the main fire road in the canyons. Since it was still very early, we didn't see very many other people on the trail. When we were about 2 miles back in the canyons, Diana stopped all of a sudden and fearfully asked me "What is THAT?!" Both of our hearts stopped beating for a second. I was really, really hoping that we were not about to come face to face with a mountain lion. Diana quickly jumped behind me (which I thought was funny because I am about the biggest wimp ever and would certainly not be able to fight off a mountain lion and save the two of us!) and I just as quickly noticed an animal in the bushes next to the trail. It took a few seconds for me to realize that the animal was only a coyote. Despite my insistence that the coyote would not bother us, Diana didn't seem to be too convinced. But, there was no where to go but forward! The coyote crossed the trail and we ran by it and then it got on the trail and followed us for a little bit. A few miles later we were both spooked when another runner came up behind us but we were soon relieved to see that we had a human, not a coyote, following us.


I've seen many, many coyotes here in SoCal--I've even seen them on my street in my condo complex. It's kind of sad that we're invading their environment and then when we come upon them, we get all offended like they've invaded our space. After looking up coyotes on Wikipedia, I found this kinda scary information:

Coyote attacks on humans are uncommon and rarely cause serious injuries, due to the relatively small size of the coyote. However, coyote attacks on humans have increased within the past 5 years in the state of California. Data from USDA Wildlife Services, the California Department of Fish & Game, and other sources show that while 41 attacks occurred during the period of 1988-1997, 48 attacks were verified from 1998 through 2003. The majority of these incidents occurred in Southern California near the suburban-wildland interface.

Anyway, Diana and I had a great 9.5 mile run. By the time we got back to the start of the trailhead, there were tons of runners and bikers entering the canyon. But at 6:45am, it was just us and the coyotes.

Gym Review: Laguna Niguel 24 Hr. Fitness Agassi Super Sport

My running has been right on track this week--so far I've put in 16 miles and have run four nights in a row. Last night Sabina met me at the fancy new 24 Hr. Fitness Agassi Super Sport gym in Laguna Niguel. It's super expensive to have a membership there, but we wanted to check it out and they let us. This gym was super nice--granite counter tops in the bathrooms, beautiful outdoor pool and spa, large bathrooms, a stretching room, lots of equipment, TVs everywhere, etc. After scoping out the place, we found a treadmill and elliptical machine next to each other (which was nice also--Sabina could do her thing on the elliptical machine and I could run on the treadmill and we could still be side by side and chat through our workouts). Our machines had TVs on them, which really excited me at first, until I realized that there weren't very many channels and you have to have headphones to hear them and I didn't have any headphones with me. The treadmill I was running on was very soft to run on and it definitely felt like a step up from running on the old ghetto treadmills at the poor man's gyms I normally have to go to.

Sounds good so far (except for the expensive part), right? Well, as great as all of those things above are, this gym had one fatal flaw: It was HOT! The gym had a really high ceiling (it used to be an OSH hardware store), but no fans! Even though the other gyms I go to have fans caked in dust, some air does get through to you. This gym was just unbearably hot after working out in it for only five minutes. I ran much slower because of the heat--my first two miles were at a 9 minute/mile pace, then for 1/2 mile I slowed down to a 9:30 minute/mile pace, and then for the last 1/2 mile I slowed down to a 10 minute/mile pace (yikes!). I just cannot run when I'm super hot.

So, together Sabina and I agreed that this gym gets two thumbs down simply for being way too freakin' hot. Oh well, we couldn't afford the insane membership fees anyways!

I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.

Oy vey...less than three weeks until my race. And how much running have I done in the past three weeks? Hardly ANY! It was just way too cold to run in Ohio and Colorado. It wasn't too cold to ski though, or play with the super cute ski patrol dogs at A-Basin:


So, I've got a lot of work to do in the next three weeks to get ready for this race. And maybe some praying, chanting, meditating, hoping, knocking on wood, rain dancing, etc., to make sure that I not only survive, but succeed, in this race. I got right back into the running groove on Monday night when I ran a good five mile run outside in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Hills. Last night I ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the La Paz gym (I met Sabina there). The first two miles I ran at a 9 min./mile pace and then the last mile I ran at an 8:30 min./mile pace. Tonight is another five mile run outside and then tomorrow Sabina and I are going to check out the fancy new gym in Laguna Niguel and I'll run three miles there. Let's see if that gym is any cleaner and cooler than the ghetto "Active" gyms I have to go because I have the poor man's gym membership. I'll write back with a full report.

Excuse

This is my mom's road and why I haven't run in Ohio:

My Bologna Tastes Better Than Your Bologna

Happy Holidays All! I'm in Ohio right now, enjoying the holidays with my family. Ohio is different from Southern California in almost every way possible. I might as well be on Mars because Mars is about as different from California as Ohio is. Right now I am sitting in an old farmhouse that is surrounded by acres and acres of plowed cornfields. There is no trash pick up here, no cable TV, and no dishwasher; however, there is an indoor toilet, which is an improvement over where I spent a few nights last week--at our cabin in the woods of Western New York.

[Carrie in Ohio...need I say more?]

One of the biggest and most burdensome differences between the OC and Northwest Ohio is that Cali is warm and Ohio is cold! There is no possible way I would be able to run a half/marathon if I had to train in Ohio. It's flat as a pancake here, but running outside is just brutal. So, I haven't ventured out yet. My mom got a free treadmill from a couple who was foreclosing on their house, so I ran a mile on it the other day, but that's all I ran because I was contracting the cold my sister brought back with her from Colorado.

When I was in NY I went skiing, but since they only have hills there, and not mountains, I didn't really get all that great of a workout. I am going to try (no promises!) to go outside and run this week...arg. Another problem with running outside here is that there is nothing (seriously, nothing!) for miles and miles and miles so basically I just have to run down the same road forever with only dead cornfields to look at. It's very depressing and not motivating at all.

So, when I have been not running, I have been bonding with my family, which so far has included Christmas dinner, movies, and visiting our Amish neighbors in New York. The topics at Christmas dinner this year were especially interesting and included discussions about which local butcher makes the best tasting bologna and which local county fair has the highest number of broiler chickens on show each year.

The First Great Eight

Finally, I had a great week of running! Since I last posted I ran 4 miles around Aliso Viejo with Sara and then this morning I actually got up and was out the door at 6:05am to run 8 miles (22 total miles this week). It was so cold out and dark and I really didn't want to crawl out of my warm bed, but I figured that if I couldn't get out and run in this weather, then I'd have no chance of getting motivated to run in Ohio's weather when I'm there during the next few weeks. I felt great during the run and it was nice to see the dawn of a new day. Also, I'm glad running 8 miles didn't feel like a big deal to my body, especially since I have not run 8 miles since before my marathon (yikes!).

I Would Run 500 Miles

Last night I ran 3 miles at the gym and then I repeated that again tonight. I ran my fastest 3 miles ever: 24:18. I know, for all you "real" runners, that's not that fast, but it sure is a huge improvement for me considering that last year at this time I could barely run 3 miles in 30 minutes. I wasn't planning on running so fast today, but I was running on a treadmill next to a guy (who I saw running last night at the gym too) and, well, I guess I wanted to "beat" him. He had his treadmill set at 6.3, which is a 9:30 minute/mile, so I set mine at 7.5 and ran an 8 minute/mile for the first 2+ miles and then I slowed down a bit (7.1) and finished in 24:18.

Both last night and tonight I ran with my iPod. One guy running two treadmills over from mine was totally rocking out with his iPod. He was lip syncing to his music and dancing and waving his arms around like he was at a live concert.

Rock on!

Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Undela Undela Undela la la...

Ask Me Again Ten Years Ago

Last Saturday, instead of running (arg...), I went up to LA and went out with some new old friends: Britt, Janelle, and Heather. Britt, Janelle, and I went to high school together a million and half years ago and ten planets away from Los Angeles.

Anyway, we had a great time and our evening ended at Winston's Bar in West Hollywood, which was jam packed. Once inside, we managed to get someone to snag our photo:

Guess who that someone was?? Come on...guess! It was BJ Novak who plays Ryan Howard on The Office! Dunder Mifflin gave him 'The Hottest in the Office Award.' So...here's the story: We were hanging out and I saw BJ behind me and kind of recognized him (at first I thought he was Milo Ventimiglia from The Gilmore Girls), but I didn't want to do that whole "ohhh...who are you? you're famous, right?" thing, so I didn't say anything. But then he started talking to me and asked me to take a picture of him and two of his friends using his camera phone. It's clearly been too long since I've been spoken to by a guy who wasn't a close friend or family member and I didn't realize until a little later that the photo request was most likely just an icebreaker to get my attention (photos do not turn out well when taken in a dark bar using a camera phone). Anyway, after I took a few pics for him, he took the picture of us girls above and then we chatted for a bit (what do you do? where do you live? how old are you? what time do you have to be back in heaven? blah, blah, blah...) before he and his friends went back to their table and us girls left. Although he didn't come straight out and tell me that he was BJ Novak from The Office, he did tell me that his name was BJ, that he was a script writer/producer, that he was 28, that he knew Milo from Gilmore Girls, that he was with a friend who was a comedian (BJ is a comedian also), and that he was with friends from Harvard. So...all of that, combined with the fact that he actually looked like BJ Novak, convinced us all that he indeed was the real deal.

I'd say us girls from the cornfields of Northwest Ohio have come a long way...we're certainly not in Kansas anymore!

P.S. Just so that this remains a running blog, I'll state that I ran 4 miles at the gym tonight in just over 34 minutes, which I think is my fastest 4 miles to date. I ran for 1.5 miles at an 8 minute/mile pace and then eventually slowed down and finished at about a 9 minute/mile pace.

Where do you get off comparing your hands to my hands?!

Well...I've been doing a lot of things lately (working, grading, etc.), but not a lot of running. I'm horrible, I know. If I don't kick it into gear soon then I'm going to be slow as molasses during the half marathon race.

One thing I did recently that didn't involve running was make my debut as a hand model! My company needed some new photos for some new marketing materials and I was the female part of the photo shoot. How cool?!

[Photo by Dan Snipes]

Any hand modeling I do needs to be done ASAP because eventually, my hands are going to look like my Mom's (from left to right: Mom's hand at 49, Anna's hand at 18, and my hand at 25):

Besides hand modeling, I've also been eating a lot. It's part of my daily routine now: Get up, eat a cookie, shower, brush teeth, eat brownies for breakfast, and drink hot chocolate. Chew a piece of gum to freshen breath. Two minutes later eat cake for lunch. Recharge in the afternoon with some chocolate truffles. Skip running to stay inside and eat more cookies and maybe a cupcake or two for dinner. Hook up IV with sugar water to me so that I can have a constant supply of sugar in my body during the night. Repeat in a similar fashion the next day. In support of this new diet, I hosted my 2nd Annual Dessert & Coffee Party, which was attended by my very wonderful friends, who brought some very yummy desserts. Mmmm...mmmm!

[Sabina, Michelle, Nicole B., & Me]

[Felicia, Me, & Maria]

I should state that I have done some running. Since I last posted I ran 4 miles at the Mission Viejo gym and attended an hour long yoga class with Sabina, ran 6 miles outside with Diana, and ran another 4 miles at the Aliso viejo gym.

Here lies Carrie. She had two loves and lots o' shoes.

Last Thursday I went to a shoe shopping party at the new DSW at The District in Tustin with Sabina, Alanna, Nicole D., and Janet. And although I just refinanced my house (can I get an Amen?!) and I shouldn't be spending money, I found an awesome deal on a new pair of running shoes and I had to get them. Although online they are listed for $75-$80, I bought them at DSW for only $45 (including tax)! I hadn't bought new shoes since before my marathon (since last April, actually) and so I really needed a new pair. Sabina reassured me that it was okay for me to spend the money the next day by stating that buying running shoes is like buying toilet paper: I may not absolutely need the shoes right now (I mean, I'm not walking around barefoot), but soon I will need them when my other shoes completely break down, and so it's best to buy the shoes now when they are on sale. And so you should also always buy toilet paper when it's on sale, whether you need more of it right now or not, because eventually you will. Or something like that. I don't know. I have new shoes though and I'm happy about them! You can ask her about her toilet paper-buying philosophy.

They're New Balance, again, and look similar to my current shoes. I wore them for my runs last weekend and they felt great:-)
...the fact is, sometimes it's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun... (from Sex and the City)

Stella's Got Her Groove Back

I just got back from a 3.5 mile run outside around Laguna Niguel and I felt great! I felt good during the entire run and finished strong. I felt like I could just keep on running. Whew!

But All I Know Is That Everything's Gonna Be Alright

O vey! Running has been rough on me lately. I don't know what my problem is. During my last two runs I felt very sluggish--my legs, lungs, and heart did not want to participate fully in the exercise. Last Saturday I met Sara at her house in Irvine and we ran about 3.5 miles and then walked another 1.5-2 miles. We ran down to the Back Bay Trail in Newport Beach and then circled back to her house. As always, it was nice to have a running partner. Sara is great to run with and talk with I'm so glad that we can catch up on chit chat and get in our exercise at the same time!

On Sunday I ran 5 miles around Aliso Viejo and Laguna Hills by myself. It was a beautiful afternoon and I ran on part of a street that I've never run on. My route was Alicia>Pacific Park>Aliso Creek>Aliso Viejo Parkway>Laguna Hills Drive (that's the part I hadn't run on yet)>Paseo de Valencia>Alicia. I think I know why I hadn't run on Laguna Hills Drive yet--it's uphill! I survived though and got to run for a little bit on the Aliso Creek Trail while I was over that way.

I should have run 3.5 miles on Monday; I have no excuse for not doing that. None at all. I'm a slacker; that's my excuse. Well...I did get up at 5:20am to go running with Diana, but she wasn't up because her baby was fussy, so I went back to bed and then even though I got home early to sign my loan refinance docs (which I wasn't able to do because they were wrong!), I still didn't make the time for a run.

Tonight, I'm going to get back into my running routine though! I received a free Runner's World magazine in the mail yesterday compliments of Elite Racing (they are the company who organized the marathon I ran earlier in the year) and it got me all pumped up. Let's hope that I have more energy for my run tonight than I did for my runs last weekend.

Oh, and the title of this blog is a line from Alicia Keys' new song, "No One," which I just love. Everything is going to be all right!

...I Don't Worry Cause
Everything's Gonna Be Alright
People Keep Talking
They Can Say What They Like
But All I Know Is That Everything's Gonna Be Alright...

Pura Vida!

Lo hice bien a casa de Costa Rica después de tener unas maravillosas vacaciones allí con mi hermana. Teníamos un tiempo de diversión explorando el campo, comiendo el alimento, y vinculación.

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I took a week off from running to explore the Costa Rican countryside with my little sister, Anna. We had a blast! Anna and I have spent everything Thanksgiving together since I moved to California; it's our tradition now and we really look forward to it. Next year, we're thinking about taking a Mexican cruise. Anyway, I obviously didn't get any runs in (although I did see other tourists out running in some of the small towns and I talked to one local waiter who asked me how much MP3 players are at pawn shops in the US because his broke and they are expensive in Costa Rica), but I still did get some exercise walking, hiking, zip-lining, and swimming.

If you know me, then you know I love to go hiking. I especially love hiking uphill. It's all about the challenge! We didn't climb any mountains in Costa Rica, but we did forge through some pretty rough and wet terrain:

One of the most fun things that we did on the trip was go on a zip-line canopy tour. I highly recommend it. The zip lines were fun, the rappel was pretty cool, and the Tarzan swing was wicked, to say the least.

After all of our adventures in San Jose, Arenal Volcano, Monteverde, and all the horrible roads in between, we ended up on the Pacific coast at Manual Antonio where we relaxed on the white sands and went swimming in the warm waters.

All that sun was baaaad for my pathetically white skin, despite SPF 45 and so I retuned from Costa Rica last Sunday feeling like burnt toast and looking like a lobster. People as white as me should be banned from beaches. Here's the photo documentation of both of our sunburns at dinner in our last night in Costa Rica:

Since I was so roasted toasted from the beach and also since I had to dive right back into work and teaching (and unpacking, cleaning, meetings, etc.), I wasn't able to get back to running until this morning at 5:40am when I met Diana for a 3.5 mile run. I am hoping to get some nice runs in this weekend, despite the cooler weather that is in our forecast (cool for SoCal at least). Stay tuned...

Oh, if you'd like to see all of my pics from Costa Rica and read the story of our trip, click here.

A Run Through the Night

It's that time of the year. The evening breeze is chilled, the slight rustic smell of dying leaves wafts through the air (even in SoCal!), and the sun sets before I freakin' leave the office at the end of the day. Yes, Daylight Savings Time is over:-( And so, I have begun to run outside, after work, in the dark. Luckily, I live in a populated area and the places I run in and around are very well lit. On Wednesday night I ran 3.5 miles around Laguna Niguel...down Alicia to Aliso Creek to La Paz to Pacific Park. I felt great during the run and am very glad to be back into the routine of running, even if it means I'm back outside in the dark.

I skipped out on my Thursday run and instead had dinner with Sabina and watched "The Office" with her. Ack...I'm down 2 miles.

Tomorrow morning I'm waking up before the crack of dawn to go running with Diana during the opposite end of the dark. We're planning on a six mile run and it should be light before we finish for bagels and coffee at her house.

And then...on Sunday...I am going to Costa Rica for a week with my sister!!! I won't be running while I'm on vacation, but I will be hiking and zip-lining and swimming and playing with monkeys.

One more thing: You may have noticed a few changes to the header of this blog. I am no longer running in the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon and am instead running in a race closer to home, the Surf City USA 1/2 Marathon in Huntington Beach. I'm hoping to recruit a group of friends to run in the 1/2 marathon with me or to run in the 5k race at the event. Instead of racing through the streets of Phoenix on the 13th of January, I'll be gliding down the ski slopes at a resort in the Rockies.

Alright, I'm running out of steam for the day and week. My wit is nil. Check back here in a week to see what sort of non-running adventures I had in Costa Rica with Anna.