Wow! That's Acupuncture?

I tried acupuncture for the first time tonight. It was great!!

I really didn’t know what to expect. I figured you laid on a table and had super skinny needles stuck all over you. I heard it was really relaxing and that it cures what ails you.

Most people wouldn’t expect having a bunch of needles stuck in you your skin would be relaxing but it was! I started out laying on my stomach on a massage table. My head was resting in that weird doughnut pillow.

I was happy just to be able to lie down for awhile. I have just been exhausted lately. Then she starts placing the needles along my spine. I didn’t feel most of them at all. I only felt a small quick prick on a few of them. 

She said, “Ok, we just let them sit there and cleanse you chis for about 15 minutes.”

The next thing I know she’s coming back into the room, I had fallen asleep and there was a big line of drool hang from my mouth and about to drop onto the carpet!

Oh my goodness! I couldn’t believe it. But then I realized I had even been dreaming!

But the craziness hadn’t even started yet! She took the needles out of my back and had me flip over. I had told her how my right knee had been sore. So she put needles around my knee. Then she put electrodes on the needles and started shocking me with little electric pulses. It felt great! Who would’ve thought!

Then I smelled what I thought was incense. Then my knee got nice and warm. Like deep inside and right where the soreness was. 

I said, “I don’t know what you’re doing but it feels great!”

“I’m using Moxa. It’s a herb. It pulls out what ever is causing you trouble. “

I opened my eyes slightly and I saw a huge cloud of smoke barreling up from my knee! There were many separate large ribbons of smoke sailing straight up into the air. I visualized the soreness and whatever might be causing it “going up in smoke” and floating away. 

While the pins were in my knee, she placed another one right next to my left ear. She said, “That’s for hunger.”

I thought, “Dang lady, I don’t need help being hungry! I have a great appetite!” 

Apparently, placing a needle there suppresses appetite. She told me she could put a ‘pellet’ there instead. A pellet is a very short pin that is inserted and left in for up to a week. Cool. I’ll try it.

So I left feeling great I was even going to go for a run which I hadn’t been for several days.

I had a great run and my knee didn’t hurt the whole time. Nice.

I have another appoint for next week. I’ll get a new pellet then. :) 

Yoga Dog

Yoga Dog

Those of you who have been reading my blog know I like to exercise with my dog Heather. Well I discovered she likes to do yoga with me. Consider the pictures above: 

Heather jumped up and gave me kissing while I was in my triangle stance. Then she tried to play with her toy (I was using as a knee cushion) as I stretched my quads. Then as I was ending in the ‘Happy Baby’ pose she came in again for another set of kisses. 

She’s my Yoga Dog! :) 

Isn't it too Early in the Season to Need a Crash Pack????

Well, I haven’t blogged much lately because I have been busy getting out. Which is the ironic thing about blogging. If you don’t get out much you have a lot of time to blog but not much to blog about. Of course if you are getting out a lot you may have a lot to blog about but no time. Funny; ain’t it?

The rain’s been letting up so besides running, I’ve been able to get out on a ride on the weekends lately. My friend Barb is getting out with me. She is my most dependable riding buddy. She almost always is up for a ride. Even if the weather is ‘iffy’ she’s up for getting in the saddle as long as it’s not raining, gusting winds or below freezing. 

We started off with a 10 miler ride just to break our saddles in easy. Then after that we  thought 20 miles would be just right. One weekend I plotted a relatively flat route. So I knew we’d knock of 20 pretty easy. 

It was so great to be out. I took us out west first and we had a stiff head wind for several miles. The first half of the route not only was windy, but the roads were in bad condition and we had to cross a couple railroad tracks that are in serious disrepair. But it’s all part of biking. 

Our route turned us south just before the half way point and we not only had a nice tail wind now but also some nice downhill. So I made the most out of that. I love the down hill and seeing how fast I can go. Must say I didn’t get as fast as I may have later in the season but it felt great!

A couple miles into this leg of the route I was flying downhill and I saw another biker coming up from the opposite direction. He was off his bike and pushing. From a distance he looked  liked he was pushing a recumbent bike. As I approached, I saw a tire strung over his handle bars. ‘Oh shoot!’ I thought, ‘He’s blown a tire.’ Then it occurred to me; I don’t have any tubes that’d fit a his tires. Then I remembered that even if I did, I didn’t have a pump. 

Now that is smart. I carry two extra tubes, you know, just in case I blow two tires on a ride. But what good are they if I don’t have a way to fill them with air? Duh. 

I slowed down just the same to see I could help him with anything. As I came close, I realized he wasn’t on a recumbent and he didn’t blow a tire. He was touring and he had a good sized trailer hitched to the back of his bike and he was walking up the hill. The tire over his handle bars was simply a spare. 

We waved to each other as we passed and I picked up speed again. 

When I got to the bottom of the hill at the intersection of Black Rd and HWY 1 I waved at the guy on the corner selling fruit. He smiled back at me. I crossed Black Rd then pulled over to wait for Barb and have a drink. 

I kept my left foot clipped into my pedal and unclipped my right foot and stood flat footed  on my right foot. 

I grabbed my water bottle out of its cage with my left hand and reached for my phone with my right hand. That’s when my handle bars pitched suddenly to the right. Which threw the balance of my bike hard to the left. Both my hands were full and I was trying to figure out how to grab my bars quickly when I felt the bike swing to the left past the point of no return. And from a standing position, my bike fell over and took me with it. 

I can’t imagine what the fruit stand man must have thought. One minute I’m standing there; the next I’m in the road with my bike on top of me. Great. I look up and Barb is just crossing the intersection herself wondering why in the world I’m on the ground!

She rolls up, “What happened?”

“I tipped over.”

“Did you scratch your bike?” (Barb is a true biker). I got up and examined my bike, which is barely two months old by the way. Not a scratch on it. 

“Wow. How embarrassing!” I say. 

“You alright?” Barb asked.

“Oh yeah. I just tipped over. Didn’t feel a thing.”

So I throw my leg over my top tube and get ready to take off when I hear Barb said, “Oh man, you’re bleeding!”

“What?” I look at the back of my calf and sure as heck I have a row of puncture wounds from my chain ring with fat bulbs of blood growing and about to run down my leg. 

Well, thanks to Barb. She takes our her crash pack. (No I don’t carry a crash pack either). Using her supplies I clean up. But the wound just wants to keep bleeding. So I finally give up and just put a band aid on the worse part of it. I figured I couldn’t bleed too much between there and home.  So I just got on my bike and rode home. 

I told Barb I would pack myself a crash pack when I got home. This wasn’t the first time Barb saved the day for me. 

Later that night my husband was checking out my leg and let out a whoop! I didn’t ice my leg or anything when I got home since it never hurt. I didn’t fall hard or fall at high speed. So I assumed it was fine. But as we examined the spot later we discovered there were actually two rows of punctures and a lot of bruising. It looked like I took a major spill. One that could only come from a high speed dramatic wipe out. 

That would be cool. But no. If people asked me what happened, they’d expect me to tell an exciting story of speed and daring. But I would only be able to tell them about standing stock still and tipping over like a sleeping cow. *Sigh*

I Have the Best Dad!

I have the best dad in the world.  One reason he is the best dad is because he still loves me even when I tease him! We come from a fun loving people. So I know he appreciates good hearted teasing.

So when he finds out I was teasing him about being able to monitor Mom's heart rate from my laptop (which is TOTALLY believable in this day and age) he will not write me out of his will. But know I inherited his sense of humor. .....and be proud.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Garmin Connect -
Click the link to see my bike ride with Barb today. Beautiful weather too!

20 with Barb

Barb and I went out for a 20 miler today. Our butts were sore from Saturday's ride. But they'll be broken in soon! :) Click the link to check out the route.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for Untitled

Run with Heather in the field today. Click the link to see the route.

Biking Season has Started!

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for Untitled

The weather finally cooperated and my Biker Buddy Barb and I finally got out. Click the link above to see the route and get the stats. :)

Running with Mom

I just discovered something that really makes a run go by fast. 

Call your mom.

I thought I’d give my mom a call while I was doing my warm up walk. So I started the Nike app on my i-phone and placed the call. 

My Nike app coach said, “Pausing work out.” 

Apparently Nike doesn’t think you should run and talk on your cell phone at the same time. But, it’s not like I’m driving. So I hit the “Resume” on the Nike app and, yeah, it let me continue my call and run at the same time. Cool!

My i-phone came with the coolest set of ear buds I have ever seen. They have a mic and volume control one the right wire. So you can answer phone calls and turn up and down the volume on your i-pod without taking your phone off your waist band or out of your pocket. Sweet! 

So I could walk without holding the phone to my ear the whole time. 

Our talk went so well I just kept walking and time flew by. I realized I was going to run out of time to run. So I started running. 

I thought, what a great idea! Everyone knows if you can’t talk when you run, you’re running too fast. So this was a great way to gauge my speed. So I kept talking. And after a short time, I had to talk in short clips. 

Mom said, “You sound kind of out of breath.”

“Yeah, I’m running now.”

“You’re running??” 

“Yeah.” 

“Well be careful!”

“Talking to you is making the time go by fast! Hey Mom. You can tell the people at your exercise class that you ran with your daughter tonight! Ha ha!”

I heard my dad in the back ground. I heard Mom tell him, “She’s running.”

“What!?” my dad shouted. “She’s running on the phone??”

“Yes,”  I heard my mom say. “She sounds pretty tired. So I’m trying to make her slow down!” 

LOL! I love my parents! I giggle every time I talk to them!

So if you’re not in the mood to run, grab your hands free set and call your mother. You’ll get a good workout and you’ll get brownie points from your mom! :) 

Muddy Runner

As usual, while I was wrapping up at work tonight I was thinking how nice it’d be to just go home and veg. Read a book, watch TV, craft, what ever. I wasn’t in the mood to go home, change and get out in the dark to run. But let’s be honest. I feel that way most every day after work. 

But I knew once I started running, I would LOVE it! 

Also, I was thinking the field may be dry enough to run in. I know we all have missed running in the field by our house. Especially Heather. So I was excited to check it out.

I got home and Kris had already started prepping dinner. I ran down the hall heading for the bedroom, “I have to change fast before I lose momentum!”

Heather trotted after me. She knows the routine. Mom and Dad comes home and one of them take her out for a run. She was wagging her tail and was smiling from ear to ear. As she saw me changing she got more excited. She knew Mom was on the job tonight. 

She’ll jump on Kris and I with both front paws if we act excited or tap our chest and say “Up! Up!” So I thought I would try something cute. I looked at Heather and cheered: “Who wants to go running tonight???! Raise your hands!” and I threw my hand in the air. Well of course Heather sees I’m excited so she jumps up both paws in the air and taps my chest. Too cute! 

So we head out straight down the road to the field. 

Heather has been wanting to run in the field every time we took her out. But for the last couple weeks we’ve had too much rain and the field has been flooded or sopping. We’ve even had the audacity to walk her past the field on the sidewalk. She’d whine and look longing toward the field. But no, we had to stay on the sidewalk. 

But not tonight. When we got to the field it looked pretty dry. So we did our normal routine of making Heather sit at the top of the dike and I give her a ‘stay’ command as I walk to the bottom and up the other side. I wait a couple seconds and I give her the ‘come’ command and that’s her cue she can run the field at leisure. 

Since it had been so long since we had been there and I knew she had really been missing it, I half expected she’d be too excited to stay until I got all the way to the top of the other side. But I was wrong. 

I climbed up to the top of the opposite side of the dike and turned. She was sitting exactly where I left her. She waited patiently until until I yelled, “Ok Heather! Let’s go!!”

And boy did she fly!!!! It was such a beautiful sight!!!! She just flew like a cheatah and bounded like a gaselle all at the same time. She had the biggest smile on her face. She just imenated pure joy!!! It was the most beautiful thing I remember seeing! Wonderful! 

And then I started running. Oh it felt so good! I knew it would. How much better this was than sitting at home! Oh, I felt good! I had spent a solid 10 mintues warming up on the way to the field. So my whole body was ready to run. The night was perfect. Overcast and cool. So it was soothingly dim out there. I really felt like I was out in the country instead of down the street from my house. 

Quiet, hardly any street lights. There’s something calming about running in the dark. 

Squish!!!

Oops. I couldn’t see that the patch of fire road I was running on was still soppy and pooled with water. My shoe filled up with muddy water right away. Darn it! So I started running toward the inside of the field where there was grass. It should be more solid there. 

Aw yes. Solid ground here! OMFPH!!! I was suddenly on my hands and knees. Apparently one of the work trucks had driven through this part of the field and left a deep dark grove in the wet ground. 

Oh well. The good news is that the ground was still so moist that it was like falling on to firm pillows. It’s the most comfortable fall I’ve ever experienced! In fact, I could have laid down and had a nice nap! But that wouldn’t be very prudent. Especially since Kris was back home going through the trouble of making dinner and all. 

So I picked myself up and carefully picked my way through the rest of the soppy part. I was shortly on firm ground again and kept running. By the way, Heather was unphased by my little mis-hap. She was bouncing along as usual. 

I had two more miles to go and the time flew by! I swear that when my sport band told me “ONE HALF MILE TO GO,” I was disappointed. The endorphins were pumping full force. My body was heated up and running smooth. Sweat was dripping down my face and I fairly tingled with pleasure! I was running the whole time with a broad smile on my face! But, I knew I had to wrap it up. 

So Heather and I headed for home. I don’t even bother to put the leash on her any more after we leave the field. She listens so well I can just let her run ahead of me. I’ll call up to her to ‘stop‘ when she reaches the street corners and she’ll wait for me to tell her to go again. It’s so nice!!! She is the best running partner I’ve ever had!

When we got home Kris met us at the door and I immediately started telling him how much I enjoyed the run. 

He smiled and said, “You ran in the field today.”

I looked down. I had mud stains on my knees and I could hardly see my shoes underneath all the mud! Oh well. It was worth it! 

Life is good! :)

New Name

Well, you may have noticed the new blog name. 

I have never had one single person say, “Fat Girl Running. That’s a GREAT blog name!” In fact, any feedback I got was along the lines of “Fat girl running? Why’d you choose that name??”

After two years, I finally decided it was time to re-think the title when my tutor at the Apple store came out and said, “Fat Girl Running? That’s a terrible name for a blog!”

The reason I chose that name was that I am not a typical runner. I am short, thick and very slow. I thought Fat Girl Running would capture people’s attention and get people interested in trying things that they want to try but have otherwise been inhibited.

I explained this to the Apple tutor and he repeated, “Terrible name for a blog.”

Sigh. OK. 

So I consulted with my husband who incidentally was the first person (two years ago) to tell me he didn’t care for the name of my blog. He suggested I title it something that would be flexible for varying topics since I don’t blog solely on running. He suggested ‘Up and Down the Hill.’  I agreed. 

So there you go. But running is still my primary interest on this blog. So I thought a sub-title was appropriate. So the offiial new name of my blog:

“Up and Down the Hill: Musings of an Unlikely Runner.” 

Running Free

Usually Kris and I run on opposite days. It works great because Heather gets a good workout everyday. But today our running days fell on the same day. Kris has been getting home before me lately. So he and Heather were already well into their run by the time I got home.

I changed from my work clothes as fast as I could. I was hoping to get out soon enough that I could find Kris and Heather on their route. I grabbed the door knob to head out just as a sweaty Kris opened it returning from his run. 

Heather ran for her water bowl while Kris and I greeted each other. After quick, ‘How are you doing?’  and ‘How was the run?” I said, “See you in about an hour.” and tried to get out the door. 

Well, Heather heard this and came running. She still had her flash collar and leash on from the run she did with Kris and she was trying to follow me out the door! She was ready for more! Good gracious!

I left her at home. We exercise her a lot and we didn’t think she needed a double work out. (Ceasar Milan may disagree). 

I can’t remember the last time I ran without Heather. It was different running with out having to keeping track of her. It was a little free feeling. I just ran and didn’t have to think about anything. Which meant I thought about a lot of different stuff. But I did miss having her with me. 

I’m finding that the 10 minute warm ups are much better than the 5 minute ones. I had a great run. I ran a lot longer in one stretch which means I did a lot less walking. This got me thinking about my knees. 

I had mentioned in my previous entry that my knees had been hurting and it may have been because of my extra weight. However, I suspect my mindset was driven by the unusually high level of stress I’ve been dealing with lately. When I get depressed or stretched to my limit in some way, I get more sensitive about my weight. Too bad. 

Anyway, not only have I increased my mileage, but I am not taking walking breaks as much. I used to program a workout into my Garmin that would alert me to run for a certain time and then walk for a certain time. 

When I started to really feel good running I stopped using the Garmin and just ran free style. I ended up running more than usual. So on top of running longer distance and taking less walk breaks, I have also been running on cement much more than dirt lately. This is because the field we like to run in is just a nasty bog with all the rain we’ve been getting. 

All of this could certainly contribute to my knee pain. 

So, I think I’ll start using my Garmin again. I also might take my weekday mileage back down to 3 miles twice a week with two 2 mile walks on the off days and another 3 -4 mile run on the weekend until I build up more. 

That should help the knees and keep me on my distance target of 500 miles this year. 

I checked my current mileage for January and I’ve already ran just over 35 miles. I just have to do six over the rest of the week and I am on target for 500! 

Easy peasy!

To Eat or Not To Eat

My knees have been bothering me. Everyday. I haven’t ran since Tuesday and my knees still hurt. I don’t like this. I don’t want to  be stuck at low mileage for my whole life. But I don’t want to damage my knees either.

I’ll admit, I suspect if I got rid of only a portion of my extra weight  my joints would be less stressed and I assume I’d have less pain. But I don’t dare mention this to my husband because he doesn’t like me to talk about my extra weight.

My husband is a rare breed. He wants me to be happy as I am. He doesn’t want me struggling and straining to be different than I am. Boy do I appreciate that! He knows ‘dieting’ is extremely charged for me emotionally. He doesn’t want me living in a struggle.

He is constantly reminding me, “You are sexy and healthy as you are.” He says, “When you can’t climb peaks with me and ride centuries anymore then we’ll talk. But until then don’t worry about it.”

What about when your knees start hurting?

I have said it before and I’ll say it again. I am so against dieting. Have you ever met a person who lost weight and kept it off for a significant length of time? I haven’t and I bet few of us have.

I feel like I’m being punished when I’m on a ‘diet’. Like I don’t get to eat yummy food because I’m fat. Skinny people get to eat yummy food because they don’t get fat. That doesn’t seem fair. I’m angry that I can’t eat all the ice cream, candy and french fries I want without gaining weight. What kind of messed up world do we live in?

I suspect my attitude is skewed toward food. I don’t get drunk, do drugs, gamble or participate in other harmful activity as a way to escape stress. I have suspected for a long time that food is used as a way to relieve life stresses. It fun and enjoyable to eat!

I think I use food as entertainment and rewards sometimes. Like on Fridays after a hard work week, I’m not looking forward to getting home so I can veg in front of the TV  or computer. I am looking forward to having a big dinner with ‘fun snacks’  afterwards. I love food! As in there are times that I MUST have candy or someone is going to die.

Something else I have noticed with food is that if I eat sugary or fatty food I want more of it. This is well established as fact in general. The more you eat sugar and fat that more you want it. Again, we live in a messed up world!

Usually I would say, if you work hard, eat healthy the majority of the time and you are healthy don’t worry about it. Enjoy your life! I DO NOT  want to be that girl that never eats a french fry or God forbid be afraid of carbs!!! I am so tired of that! Girls like that get on my last nerve. Eat a damn apple! It’s not going to hurt you!

But if my weight is impeding my running, should I try to lose weight?

I hear people saying, “Eat what you want, just not too much of it.” Not sure I can do that.   I eat big and if anyone suggests I have eaten enough I bite their arm off!

I love running and I love eating. Will I have to give up one for the other?

Warm It Up

I decided to try something a little different this week. My goal this year is to run 500 miles in 2010. In order to make this goal I am running 12 miles a week. That will actually cause me to over shoot my goal. But I wanted to build in some room for missed runs.

I’ve been running two 5ks in the middle of the week and a 10k on the weekend. I’ve noticed my hamstrings and knees are hurting after my weekend run. Not liking the idea of cutting back on mileage or messing up my knees, I decided to try spreading the mileage more evenly over the week.

So I decided instead of 2 5ks (3.1 miles each) I’d do 3.5 miles two days during the week and a 4 miler on the weekend. That way I’m not jumping my mileage up so much on one day. Sounded like a good plan until I got back from my run tonight and realized that I miscalculated. If I do 3.5 twice a week and a 4 miler on the weekend, I’ll actually be shortening my weekly mileage by a whole mile each week! (I don’t add too well).

So from now on it’ll be 4 miles three times a week.

But tonight’s run was a nice 3.5. A down side to longer runs during the week is that I have to spend more time running after I’ve already spent the whole day at work. I figured it’d take me about an hour to cover a good 3.5. But many people hit the gym after work for an hour long cardio class. So I figured I could do an hour on the road.

Unfortunately I’m working 10 hour days right now which means I’m lucky if I can start running by 7pm and by the time I get back, change out of my running clothes and eat, it’s time for bed. No ‘down’ time.

However, the stress relieving benefits of running make it worth it to go out after a long day of work. So I did. I managed to hit the road at 7pm and told my hubby I’d be back in an hour or so.

I am a serious multi-tasker. So I decided to call my mom while I was on my warm up walk. Well our conversation was going so well two miles had passed before we hung up. Oops! I thought for sure if I had done my regular 5 minute warm up and ran my regular pace, I’d take an hour to cover 3.5. (I run very slow!) So walking two whole miles I thought would cause me to take well over an hour to finish. Oh well. The point is to cover the mileage. Not speed.

So I started running resigned to the fact that I’d be out there awhile.

Well, I felt great! My body wasn’t sluggish and my muscles weren’t stiff. I dare say I was running a little faster than usual. Also, I was running for much longer stretches at a time. How could this be?

All the experienced runners will tell you, ‘It’s the extra long warm up. Duh!” Of course! My muscles were so warmed up and ready to go that they perform better. At the end, I tried sprinting as much as I could. I ended up clearing the distance in under 50 minutes. My overall pace was not much slower than my average.

So what was the lesson learned tonight?

Your warm up is your most valuable investment in your workout. I’ll be sure to ‘spend’ more on it in the future.

Nice Holiday!

Today we had Monday off of work and I woke up to a rain storm. I love rain and I miss the thunderstorms from my mid-west childhood. So I was thrilled to have a rainy day off.

The wind soon kicked up and a full on storm was raging. That's when my husband decided to take the dog to Bishop's Peak in San Luis Obispo for a hike. He invited me but I wanted to stay home and take advantage of the rainy day to read the latest Harry Potter book.

Besides, I hiked 6 miles on Saturday and took the dog for a walk in the rain just yesterday. (My bike ride got rained out and I wanted to get some exercise anyway). So I thought I deserved a break.

I had the time of my life curled up on the couch with the cats reading. Then the house shook and everything loose in the yard started blowing around. I looked outside and everything was absolutely grey. Then the power went out.

No worries. That just meant I didn't have to do laundry, or cook or run the dishwasher. So I went back to reading. The wind continued to blow and the rain came down in sheets. I remembered my husband and dog were climbing a mountain.

I called my husband not sure he would get reception and he answered on the second ring. I half expected him to tell me that it was too stormy to climb when he got there and he decided to stop in a dog friendly pub for a pint instead. But no. My husband said they were almost at the top and they were both doing fine. I could hear the wind blowing in the background.

My husband was in his element. He was fine. Dog was fine. I curled back up on the couch and kept reading....

Hi Dad!!

How'd you like the RSS feed? Tasty? :)

Madonna Mountain

Kris dropped Heather and I off at the bottom of Madonna mountain today for a hike while he ran errands in San Luis Obispo (SLO).

For those of you who don’t live on the Central Coast of California, Madonna mountain is actually a large hill (though its real name is Cerro San Luis or San Luis Mountain and is one of the ‘Nine Sisters’ along the coast) situated between Los Osos and San Luis Obispo.

Heather and I were going to hike the Lemon Grove trail around the mountain and then meet Kris at the pet boutique downtown. It was Heather’s birthday the day before (I had forgotten!) and I wanted to get her a special treat.

When we pulled into the parking lot at the trail head it was packed. Lot’s of dogs, hikers and mountain bikers. But the mountain was big enough for all of us. We only passed a few other people on the trail. The trail (actually all the trails on the mountain) was hilly!! I climbed a lot!

But I had an advantage. I put Heather’s backpack on her and put both our water bottles and my tube of sun block in it. So I was hiking light and she was weighted down. Which brought our paces closer together. She was pretty slow at some points.

After a particularly steep climb we stopped and I gave her some water. She actually drank it! Surprise surprise.

Once we got around the mountain and joined the main trail back to the parking lot we ran into a lot of other dogs on the way up.

One couple had a little fluffy dog and I thought, ‘This is an awful big hill for that little dog to climb.” But I doubt its owners were going to hike the whole thing. I stopped and asked if our dogs could say ‘Hello’. The lady asked, “Is he a nice dog?”

What a stupid question! No. My dog is mean and I just wanted to stop and let her eat your little dog for a snack after her long hike!!! Duh!

“No, SHE is very friendly!”

“What bred is she,” the dumb lady asked.

I said, “The shelter said she’s a chow/border collie cross.”

“Oooh,” she said as if she was trying hard to be polite, “What a lucky find at a shelter.”

This lady’s energy was bothering me and now I was suspicious that she’s a dog snob and wouldn’t think to get her fussy little dog from a shelter.

So I said, “Oh they have all kinds of WONDERFUL dogs at the shelters. You’d be surprised at what you can find.”

She just smiled wanly and I said, “Well have a good day.” And I started back down the hill as the bitch continued up. (The lady I mean. Not the dog. The dog seemed sweet.)

When Heather and I got to the bottom we jumped on the trail that led to downtown SLO. We stopped so I could see if Heather needed another drink. It had been a long time since our last water break and I knew I was parched. But in true Heather fashion she wasn’t interested at all.

We walked into town and met Daddy who had finished his errands and was enjoying a couple beers at one of our favorite pubs. Then we took Heather to the boutique and picked out a new (girly) collar and a birthday bone. She met lots of nice people and I think she was happy to be back on flat land!

Long story short, we ran two more quick errands on the way out of town and spent the rest of the day quiet together at home. (By the way, when Heather got home she ran to her water bowl and drank it dry!! Go figure!)

Caution: May Contain Content Considered Gross by Some Readers

Ok, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I like simplicity. So when it was time to repack my gym bag I tossed in the nearest gym clothes I could get my hands on. Which in this case was a pair of grey bicycle shorts and one of Kris’ blue running shirts.

So what that I would be wear bike shorts to my weight workout? It just shows people at the gym that I do more than just lift weights. Perhaps, I’d show them I am a MULTI-SPORT athlete!

Well I ended up showing a little more.

I showed up half an hour early so I could get a decent run on the treadmill since I have missed some runs this week. (I am still on target to meet my 500 miles in 2010 goal). My knees are starting to hurt and my hamstring injury is starting to flare up as my weekly distance increases. So I thought I would just walk. But I couldn’t help it I had to run. I can’t stand just walking. (The endorphins aren’t half as good!)

So by the time I started working with my trainer, I had worked up a good sweat. Great! Except I noticed in the mirror the color of my grey shorts was uneven. Odd.

I looked closer and saw that I had the worse case of swamp crotch I have ever had! OMG! I think the padding in my bike shorts just soaked up the sweat rather than wicking away it like my running shorts.

I guess this is why you wear biking shorts for biking and running shorts for running.

Needless to say, I was mortified. But I am not one to ‘freak out’ over these things. After all, the gym is the one place where the more you sweat the better.

Besides, statistics show that at any given place only 1% of the people in the immediate vicinity actually notice you. So if you think along that line, if you are in a group of less than 100 people, no one (statistically speaking) notices you! There were only about 80 people in the cardio room at the time. So my chances were good no one knew I was there.

Even so, I couldn’t help but wonder what I looked like from behind. If it was as bad as the front, I’m sure I looked like I wet my pants!!!! Ugh!

By the way, if I was 5’ 10” and skinny, and a guy nudged his buddy and said, “Hey, look at that blonde chick over there. She looks like she peed her shorts!” His buddy would look over and say, “Yeah. She’s got nice t*ts.”

But when you are short and thick, the buddy says, “Yeah. That’s gross!”

Which is a shame because I actually have fabulous breasts!

But anyway, I was glad I wore one of Kris’ shirts because it made me feel covered up. So I could focus on my workout. Which I nailed by the way. I was surprised I did so well because I took a whole week off. But maybe I needed the rest.

So I survived my return to the gym after a week’s hiatus. I got in two good workouts, (running and lifting). So, you know, even in the swamp life is good!

To Run or To Bike?

Well I was supposed to run my 10k yesterday to keep up on my mileage to reach 500 miles this year. But I haven’t been feeling good since Thursday and I was out of energy all day yesterday.

I was scheduled to do a bike ride with Kris today. So I was wondering if I could double up on the workouts today so I can stay up on my running goal without missing a ride.

Well being over tired to begin with, it didn’t make sense to me to double up when my body seemed to be asking for rest. Run and bike on the same day? Not today I think. So I had to pick a priority and running won.

I loaded up the dog and off we went for our weekend ‘long’ run. I packed about 32 oz of electrolyte water for me and about 12 oz of clear water for Heather. Don’t scoff that I packed a third of the amount of water for Heather. Trust me. We have ran enough together for me to figure out that the girl doesn’t drink!

I swear, I don’t know how she does it. She will run for miles and when offered she’ll often not partake. She’ll drink a lot when we get home. But she doesn’t like to drink much on the road. That is unless it’s hot out.

I was beginning to wonder why I even packed her a bottle today. I felt so HEAVY and slow! I was just plodding along. And I kept thinking how much water weighs and she’s not likely to drink it anyway. I knew this was going to be a long uncomfortable run.

I just did the best I could and walked when I needed to and ran as much as I could. The point was to cover the mileage so I could count it for the year’s goal. I didn’t have to cover it in a certain amount of time.

Finally, just before the halfway point I decided to stop to adjust my shoe that had been bothering my right foot the whole run. I decided while I was stopped I might as well take a good slug of my drink. When I was done I decided to grab Heather’s bottle and see if she would drink.

I reached behind me to yank the bottle out of my waist pouch. I couldn’t reach it. I slid the pouch around to my front and discovered it was empty! What the? Obviously Heather’s water wasn’t too heavy or else I would have noticed when my load lightened up.

I decided to offer her some of my electrolyte water. There was nothing in it that would hurt her. Though I wouldn’t recommend a steady diet of the stuff for dogs. So I offered her some and of course she didn’t want any. Ok. Let’s go.

For certain pieces of the route I would drop Heather’s leash. She is really well behaved. But I keep her on the leash if we’re running on or next too the busy streets and if there are other people around. Even though I know she behaves; other people don’t and some people get nervous when they see a loose dog. Besides, it’s really not responsible to take your dog in public off leash.  

I’m always surprised when I’m out with Heather and people move out of her way or cross the street to avoid walking past her. If they read her body language it is clear that she wants to say ‘hello’ and is of no threat. But I don’t think the average person or the average dog owner is very versed in canine body language.

Heather is always disappointed when someone doesn’t stop to say “Hi”. You can see it in her face. Maybe if you don’t know her, she looks scary with her dark coloring and shaggy hair. She smiles constantly. Maybe people are mistaking that for a grimace???

So while I was running toward the entrance to a multipurpose trail and saw another lady walking two little dogs, I called up to Heather so she would stop before she reached the lady without me. Of course she stopped and waited for me. I picked up her leash and we started jogging together  toward the trail.

I could see the lady keeping an eye on us as we ran toward the entrance of the trail. We were going to reach the entrance at about the same time. She moved her dogs all the way to the far end of the trail and kept looking out the corner of her eye.

What was she worried about? Maybe her dogs are aggressive and she’s trying to keep them away from Heather? Or maybe I just looked a little spooking in my running gear?

I always wonder what I looked to people on the street. I wear lycra pants or shorts and running shirts should be form fitting and mine certainly are. So I imagine people can see all my rolls through my clothes. (I’ve mentioned before how I feel like I look like the Michelin Man’s little sister in my workout clothes.) And I can only imagine the hypnotizing power I possess as I run down the street, my fat rolls undulating up and down my body.

On top of that I usually wear a hat and my sunglasses cover half my face. So I recon it’s even hard to tell if I’m a guy or a girl. And when people see my short wide frame they probably wonder how I can run at all. Like bumble bees. According to the rules of aerodynamics, the bumble bees shouldn’t be able to fly at all. But you know, us wild animals have their own spirit and we must do what we will do.

So as we jogged past, I smiled and said, “Hello there.” And she smiled back and said, “Hi”. So you know, we’re cool.

There’s always a lot of people on the trail so I had to keep Heather on the leash. We passed a couple other groups with dogs, a speed walker, a couple bikers, and another jogger. One of those skinny, built to run joggers.

By this time in the run I was feeling much better. Probably because I had lost some weight by losing the water bottle, my body was super warmed up by now and with half of the 10k behind me, my endorphins were pumping full strength!

Heather and I came in at a moderate pace. Better than I expected based on how I felt going out.

So I took her in the house and of course she drank her whole bowl of water in one gulp. I kicked off my running shoes and grabbed my biking shoes and told my husband I was off to find my water bottle.

I had a suspicion of where it’d be and sure enough it was there. I thought I must have dropped it while running on grass because I didn’t hear it hit the ground. And there it was just waiting for me.

So I snatched it up, secured it in my bottle cage and turned around and biked home. My bike ride today was a whopping 2.98 miles. But technically speaking, I both ran and rode my bike today. J

Good Dog!!

Wow! Another great run tonight. I still can’t believe I love running!

I am so not built like a runner. I only started running a couple years ago to keep up my fitness during biking’s off-season. I told myself I would put my nose to the grindstone and just tough out a couple runs a week for the few winter months and be done with it.

How surprised I was to end up loving it!! Even tonight I got home late for work and I wasn’t looking forward to having less time in the evening for relaxation. But I wanted to run. It was so worth it. Even though it meant getting back late and not having much time before bed.

It was great! I ran well and the night was gorgeous! Perfect temperature and the stars were so bright! And even an hour afterwards the ‘afterglow’ is still burning strong.

And then the icing on the cake is that Heather really made me proud on the way home. We were walking back through the neighborhood. I don’t have her on the leash anymore. She behaves so well now that I just carry the leash with me.

Heather was trotting several yards ahead of me when I saw her perk up her ears, look across the street and trot faster. I looked across the street and saw a guy I’ve seen several times walking his two large labs. They were heading our way and of course I didn’t want Heather to bolt across the street to say “Hello”.

So from several yards away I yelled, “Heather! STOP!”  and she stopped.

Then I yelled up “Heather! SIT!” and she sat.

Then I yelled, “STAY!” and she waited for me.

I didn’t hurry up; in fact I didn’t change my pace the whole time. I just kept my casual stride as I called commands up to my awesome dog who obeyed perfectly and immediately.

I walked casually up to Heather and took my time attaching her leash and then said “Ok, let’s go!” And she jumped up and walked with me the rest of the way home.

All in front of our neighbor guy. Who incidentally was working hard to keep his excited dogs from running across the street to see Heather. Let me tell you, I was a proud mama!! J

We practice what I call ‘remote commands’ when were in the field. And I was so glad to find they work under ‘real’ situations. There is nothing like having a well trained dog! (She got many treats when we got home).

We both had a nice run tonight. Heather decided to nap next to my running shoes when we got home….ZZZzzzzzz

Happy New Year!

If you have been reading my blog you know my husband fueled my running interest by getting me a Nikesport band for my birthday a couple years ago. It really opened up running for me. It was such a great motivator. You can set a goal (you racing against yourself) or join a challenge (you racing against other runners on the Nike site). Soon running just became fun! Then it became a necessity.

My husband also started running. He used a Garmin to track his running. I liked the extra features the Garmin had so I got one too. So I joked about having two tracking devices. (One on each wrist). What a dork!

Well, Kris expressed interest in having a Nike sportband this Christmas. So of course Santa brought him one. :) So now he's a dork too! :)

He got on the Nike site and found the Challenges. He signed up for the 210 in 2010 challenge. All the runners who sign up for this challenge strives to complete 210 miles in 2010. No problem. That is only 4 miles a week! Seriously, that is a breeze now. So I signed up!

Then Kris found the 500 challenge. This challenge is to complete 500 miles in 2010. Wow! How cool would that be to say you ran 500 miles in a year! 500 sounds like a lot! Let's do the math: 52 weeks in a year into 500 is 9.6153846153846153846153846153846 miles per week. That's less than 10 miles a week.

THAT IS TOTALLY DOABLE!!!

So I signed up!

So, I figured out that if I run 2- 5Ks during the week (which is about what I do already) and a 10k on the weekend, (which I haven't been doing) I could get in 500 in a year and even have a little wiggle room for a couple missed runs. Sounds good.

Right now I am meeting two nights a week with a trainer at the gym. In March when the time changes I'll be riding two nights a week and long rides on the weekend. I was off my bike most of last season due to an injury and I just got a new bike. So I don't want to miss riding again this season. I wonder if I can keep up with the running goals and the riding. I am already prepared to drop the trainer appointments because I know something has to give when I add the riding.

But I am really hoping I can keep up running and riding at the same time. I thought I might do another century this year. But wonder if maybe I should focus on one large goal at a time.

So far this year I am on target to make my 500 mile goal. But it's only Jan 4th. Stay tuned to see how I do. Who knows, maybe I'll even beat Kris to the 500 mile mark!!! Wish me luck! :)

PS. We found another challenge "2010 in 2010". Challengers run 2010 miles in 2010. I'd like to see who wins that one!

Great Book

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars A perfect cross between 'Alias' and 'Gilmore Girls'. Loved it and couldn't put it down! Good book for young ladies to read. Strong female leads without high school smut. Perfect! View all my reviews >>

Moon Over Jill

When Heather (the dog) and I went out on our run today the wind was biting cold. I hate being cold! But I knew I wouldn’t be cold for long. Besides, tonight was a short run.

We went to the field where we usually run at night after work. I found that if I run after my training session at the Y I have better runs. Probably because my muscles are so warmed up at that point.

Tonight was a great run! Though rather than being a result of an extended warm up, I think the quality of the run was more due to the night itself.

The sky was so clear the stars were twinkling! Also the moon was a sliver. And to be running in the fresh crisp air propelling myself by my own energy, in the dark just me alone was spectacular!

I would recommend it for anyone!

Back in the Saddle - Part 1

Finally, I was cleared for unrestricted bike riding from my physical therapist. My hamstring injury was 80% healed and riding was not going to hurt it. In fact, at that point it should be therapeutic. Yeah!

So my riding buddy Barb and I planned a 50 miler….with hills. It was my first long ride in months! I was really looking forward to it!

So we started out and I felt slooow. I had been working out three days a week with my physical therapist and two days a week with my personal trainer. So it’s not like I was going in after several months of sitting on the couch. So I figured I just needed to warm up. That, plus the wind was really bad that day. On top of the wind, we were planned a route with a lot of hills. (I was ready to ride after being restricted for awhile and I didn’t want to take it easy).

About an hour into the ride, Barb called for a drink break. I was ready!

I took a huge slug from my water bottle and asked Barb, “So how you feeling?”

“Man!” She said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I feel so sluggish. Like I have rocks in my pockets!”

So it wasn’t just me! I think it was the terrible wind. It was one of those days when the wind is in your face no matter which direction you’re headed! What weird physics law allows a head wind in every direction????

So we plugged on. We were heading out into wine country; the scenery was so nice. At one point we needed to cross a bridge over a riverbed. My husband had warned me that the section of road might be being worked on and he thought it might be closed. It was a holiday. So I thought we’d take the chance anyway. We wouldn’t change the mileage of the route much if we got to the bridge and had to turn around. So who cared? Might as well try.

So we turned onto the road that crosses the riverbed and I could see about half a mile up the road blockade. I suddenly felt a little annoyed. For some reason, I wasn’t in the mood to turn around. So I thought, ‘Let’s see if anyone’s there. If not, we’ll just walk the bikes across the dry river bed to the road on the other side’.

So Barb and I rode up to the blockade. We saw four workman about a quarter mile past the blockade and they had already seen us. I said to Barb, “Let’s go see if they’d mind if we walked our bikes through. Maybe if we ask nicely they won’t mind us going through.”

“Ok,” Barb says. So I walk my bike up to where the workmen are (thinking Barb is following me.)

As I approached I smiled and gave a little wave to show I wasn’t coming with any attitude. I chirp, “Hi! We were wondering if anyone would mind if we walked our bikes through the riverbed?” This is when I noticed Barb had stayed back at the barricade. Thanks Barb. Perhaps she didn’t feel as confident as I that they’d give us clearance to pass through.

They seemed to pause a beat too long before answering. One guy gave me a long odd look as he pinched the top of his cigarette between his thumb and fore finger and took a long drag. I remember thinking, “Do people still smoke these days????”

They were staring at me like they were trying to figure out what I was. Like they hadn’t seen my species before. I started to feel conspicuous standing there in all my spandex glory. (I look like the Michelin Man’s little sister in my biking spandex. NOT flattering at all!) They were probably thinking I reminded them of some one but couldn’t put their finger on it.

One guy said, “Well, I don’t think you’ll want to do that.”

“Yeah,” workman #2 said, “There are big trucks flying though the riverbed right now.”

“Yeah, like that one right there,” workman #3 said pointing behind him to the riverbed.

I looked where he was pointing and he was not kidding! There was a semi cab attached to a flatbed loaded heavy with materials and it was literally ‘flying’ through the riverbed! I’m pretty sure the tires were not touching down. I didn’t think a truck that big could move that fast! And the truck was so big it would be hard for the driver to see us in the riverbed.

“Yeah,” I said, “I don’t think I want to tangle with that!”

“Besides, you wouldn’t be able to get up to the road on the other side. It’s all block off right now.”

I nodded my head. “Good to know. Well, worth a try. Thanks for the information guys.”

We stared at each other for another few seconds.

“Well, take care guys, don’t work to hard!”

They chuckled and all four wished me well on my way. I turned and as I was walking away I heard workman one exclaim, “The Michelin Man!!!”

Workman #2: “Oh yeah!!!!

“Yeah!” workman three said, “I couldn’t put my finger on it. But you’re right she looks like the Michelin Man.”

“Not the Michelin Man,” workman 4 said as he took a big pull from his cigarette, “But maybe his little sister.” …….

At Yunagi's with my awesome husband on our anniversary!!! I would marry him again in a heartbeat!!!!

Animoto.com

Physical Therapy Rocks!!

I haven’t blogged since Bay to Breakers not only because I’ve been so busy but I have been struggling with my injured hamstring. The lack of healing irritated me so much I didn’t even want to ‘blog’ about it.

Here is a recap: I injured both my hamstrings skiing in February. Did the typical, rest for awhile and get back at it. The left hamstring healed just fine but the right one didn’t.

I went to my primary physician and he told me to stay off it for 4 months. What??? I don’t think so. So he compromised and said try two months and then start back slowly. Which I did. And the pain came right back. Finally went to an orthopedic doctor who put me into physical therapy. First let me say PHYSICAL THERAPY ROCKS!!!! With only a week into therapy I was feeling much better. I’m already back on my bike full-force and I’m running with a lot less pain.

However, the Dr. wasn’t exactly honest about what physical therapy would be like. He said, “You need stretching, strengthening, and massage.” But what I heard was, “blah, blah and MASSAGE.” Sounded great! But when I got there it was: stretching, STRENGHTENING, and massage.

Seriously, three times a week I spend an hour and a half doing strength training and get ten minutes of massage. And let me tell you it’s not the spa massage that I prefer. Instead of a low lighted room on a nice warm table under soft clean sheets that smell like lavender; I’m on a vinyl covered table in the middle of a crowded noisy room where a million people are clanking weights and it smells of sweat and liniment. Yippee.

But that’s ok. Because it’s working great!! Today I took Heather (our dog) out for a run in the field near our house and ran for almost an hour (interspersed with walking breaks of course) and I felt great! Then it started to rain and I felt even better!

I didn’t feel any soreness until the very last bit. Then I got home and did a really good stretch, had a satisfying (yummy) vegan dinner. And now I’m sitting on a tennis ball to simulate a post-run massage. You know how I like a good massage!

Life is good!

Just finished watching "Milk". I learned a lot of new info. Humans are nuts. (well that info isn't new) I recommend the movie.

Heather loves to sit near me when I eat popcorn. Kris knows why! :)