Breaking with (one week old) tradition...

I ran today.

I was going to not do squat all week and then have a killer weekend of brutality on the elliptical and the trails because that pattern worked out so perfectly last week. But it was gorgeous out today. And I had a hankering to run. And after deciding (in a totally delusional state late last night) that I need to run this race, of course I headed on over to Moeser.

yes, I always use this picture when I talk about Moeser...

because it very wonderfully displays what a total b*tch of a hill it is.

I would have looked like this today, but I had on yellow shoes.

And I've finally wised up to the fact that although black is slimming, 

it is really hot ...especially at high noon on a sunny day.

So instead I wore my hootchie-mama-on-a-hot-day outfit...

which, incidentally, keeps me honest about using my core for stability

because it is just a sports bra and booty shorts.

If I don't solidly engage my core, it is a beyond scary sight.

Thankfully, I now have a tan.

Even though I only had time to bust out one trip up and down...stretching things out at the top to equal 3 miles, I figured I was getting a jumpstart on 11 months of potential training. Nothing like being prepared, know what I mean?

And in other news...

Miss C has now entered The Dress Phase.

After 3 and a half years of violently shunning dresses, it is now all about the dress. If it isn't a dress, it doesn't get worn.

The nice thing is she is not slowed down or at all changed by the dress. Well, a little slowing down might have been nice, now that I think about it...

She still will climb anything and everything.

And even in a dress, she still ignores me.

There must be a dress ready to go at all times. She even must sleep in a dress. Not a nightgown...a dress.

I'm not even going to get started on the new situation with tights.


Did you ever have a favorite kind of clothing or article of clothing as a kid?
– In sixth grade, I wore this hideous acrylic argyle sweater just about every single day. Every. Single. Day. Much to my mother's dismay. I even had my school photo taken in the thing...because I forgot it was Picture Day and was, of course, wearing my favorite hideous sweater. I should see if I can scare up that photo...

Do you ever not work out for days on end in the hopes that your next workout will be awesome because you're so well rested?
– I am that delusional, yes.

September So Far...

Since I returned from my Nuun Hood to Coast Relay adventure (you can find the postings here), life has been very full. Not that it isn't usually rather full, but with a brief family vacation (to be blogged about at a not-too-distant future date) sandwiched directly in between the Nuun trip and my husband going out of town for a bit ...and then school starting for all four of my kids within days of his return... see what I mean? Oh, right...and my oldest child became a teenager!

Here is a bulleted summary of September so far...

• Big G became a teenager on Labor Day. The weekend was fraught with him pissing and moaning about not having his birthday party right then...he likes things the way he likes them and when he likes them. But his friends all had plans that weekend, so he had to wait. We celebrated as a family with an egg-free, gluten-free, dairy-free cake that I nicknamed "Leadbelly" because the thing was so freakin' heavy...and flat. It did not rise one millimeter. It tasted good, though...sort of like solid vanilla pudding. We had to improvise with the candles... 8 plus (fire hydrant) 5 = 13. Thank goodness we had that fire hydrant or you might've thought the poor kid was turning 85.

• The following weekend I hosted a sleepover party for five 13-year old boys. They ate pizza and played Munchkin (yeah, better click that link because it's probably not what you're thinking). Then they ate "Son of Leadbelly" cake and watched Zoolander (they went to our local video rental place and selected this one...so interesting seeing the variations in tastes amongst 13-year old boys...one wanted to get Tomb Raider but another said, "No...they're not big enough," a comment that was lost on my innocent and somewhat immature son). I am kind of a bitch-mom when it comes to sleepovers...I enforce a bedtime. For these guys it was midnight. At 11:30, I told them it was time for lights out, cell phones away, and voices lowered. They didn't really follow that directive until I announced it was 11:50 and started singing "Kumbaya". For real, I did. This led to a chill moment in which a brain among them had the opportunity to come up with a brilliant idea...

Hey, guys!!! Let's go run around the block in our underwear...at midnight!!!!

Genius.

Did I let them? You betcha. Our neighborhood is very safe (remember: The Gate) and the block is very small (4 houses on a side). They were instructed to be quiet(ish) and to wear shoes. It took them all of 3 minutes. Big G did not participate. He gave the whole idea the stink-eye. And as the other boys ran out the door, G exclaimed...

Where's the camera?  

And yes, he got it all on video. Including a mooning. And no, the video will not ever be published. Unless one of the boys decides to run for office as an adult ;-)

The good news: they were exhausted by the excitement and rigorous exercise and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

• Working out...

Running 3 days a week... short/short/long...2.25 mi/2.25 mi/6 mi the first week and 4.2 Moeser miles/2.25 mi/8.64 hilly trail miles (with the lovely Roserunner) the second week. I have done nothing this week. Nada.

Elliptical happened 4 times in those two weeks and not at all this week. Between 30 and 50 minutes at HR z2 for the longer sessions and z3-4 for the short ones. 

Climbing was extra special :)  I had the opportunity to go into the climbing gym before hours with my instructor/friend and we were the only ones there. It was so fun to just take our time and climb without ever waiting for a route to free up. All was quiet except for our personal conversation...without wondering if anyone was eavesdropping ;-) I had taken a break from climbing leading up to Hood to Coast because sometimes it tweaks my alignment and I didn't want to risk anything before the relay. Starting back up has been challenging due to the busyness of life the past two to three weeks, but finding the school-starting-again groove will definitely get it happening again...and I can't wait.

A killer two-and-a-half-day migraine has put a little damper on exercise things this week. It's almost over so hopefully tomorrow will see some sweaty action. 

• I posted a giveaway. I love my Endorphin Warrior bracelet and am fortunate enough to be able to offer one to a lucky winner of a random drawing. Enter here to win your very own with a keyword or phrase that speaks to you.

And that concludes the initial September So Far summation.

Stay tuned for more random bullets in addition to a post on what I found to be a successful nutrition/fueling plan for the relay, a compilation and review of the products I received and used during the relay, and a post giving more details on my elliptical training. Who knows when I'll get around to any of it...but it is coming. 

Just so this blog doesn't get SUPER boring and stagnant...

...here's a post...

It will lack cohesion. It will ramble. It might be boring...but it WON'T be stagnant.

Let's tackle the fitness end of things first...

Tonight I ran for the THIRD time this week. Watch the f*ck out. Getting serious, y'all. After my two pain-free runs on my flat, chill loopty-loops, both being 2.25 miles in length, I decided to challenge myself tonight...yep...Moeser...

This is how she looked tonight from the top at around ten minutes after 6.

I started OCD-style at the very bottom...right next to the Golden Gate Adult Superstore ('couples encouraged!'). Ugh. Why did I include that link? Now I will get alllllll sorts of interesting google searches in my analytics :P And I RAN all the way up that puppy. ALL. THE. WAY. UP. And in keeping with the OCD-ness of the workout, instead of stopping at the usual OCD turnaround telephone pole, I continued running until my Garmin showed me "1.5" so that I could ultimately claim a 'long' run of 3.0 miles even.

I felt GREAT. I didn't even want to stop at all. I even ran (sort of) down the hill, too. This proved to be fairly disastrous. No, it didn't hurt my hip...I went super slowly and carefully, with awesome form and a quick, light step. It was more the fact that by the time I got back to my car at the bottom of the hill, my had-4-kids-at-an-advanced-maternal-age bladder control had demonstrated how it is less than stellar. Yes, like a good blogger I took pictures of the enormous mess that was my shorts...I even texted it to a good friend. But given that she hasn't responded to that text, I'm thinking that pissed-in-pants pictures cross the line of not only good taste but perhaps friendship as well. So you are spared.

To keep the AwesomeBall rolling, I jumped into the car, changed my shorts and drove to the gym where I planned to spin out a quick turnover 30 minutes on the elliptical (a somewhat delusional prep plan for the downhill portions of my relay legs). Somehow that easy spin-out contained a new elliptical 5K PR (super meaningful...I know) without me even trying. 19:49 for a 5K...man, still wishing that this machine translated directly into road speed. *sigh*

Throw in a little climbing that is amazingly helping my core and overall strength ... dudes, I even have biceps now... and that was the fitness week that was. It was an easy week. Remember...life is kicking my a** right now and we're taking whatever we can get :)

Now on to kid stuff...

Lots going on.

Friday, no one had camp. We needed to do something fun to keep our minds off the fact that a DVD was jammed in the car's DVD player and was going to probably cost an absurd amount of money to extricate and repair. We started off with pancakes. My kids have pancakes a LOT. They are the norm here. So to make them seem more special, I made Mickey Mouse-head pancakes...

Yes, served up on a Jimmy Neutron plate. 

We then headed across the bay to Sausalito and the Bay Area Discovery Museum...located at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge in Fort Baker. It was foggy but not cold...

My charming sons attempted to steal the donation money...

...unsuccessfully.

And then we proceeded to this summer's main attraction...Clifford the BIG Red Dog...

He is ... BIG. And red.

Miss C really dug this set up.

While she tried to bring some order to the chaos of a children's museum by stacking the bones...

 I mused at how progressive things are on Birdwell Island...

And then she had to pee. But being 3 years old means that when you have to pee you don't have to pee. Instead, you just hop from one foot to the other, rub your knees together, remain in frenetic motion... God forbid I should scoop her up and simply carry her off to the bathroom...her screeching would summon protective services :(

Almost immediately after this picture of her trying desperately to not pee in her pants was taken, 

she begrudgingly agreed that a visit to the bathroom was a good idea. 

Whew.

After playing on the outside exhibits for a little bit,

she spaced out.

This usually signals a meltdown is imminent and so we headed out...

and had lunch at In 'N' Out...much to everyone's delight!

Big G needed me to photo this very unusual french fry.

I said it looked like a fishbone. He said no.

Whatever...

On Saturday, we picked up the car. The DVD had been extricated, but there are no guarantees that it won't happen again...although the mechanic did observe the unit functioning properly several times post-extrication. If the unit is a goner, they tell me it'll be a grand. Which is not so grand.

And then my son became a cyborg...

Legos taped to the head = cyborg

Did you ever tape stuff to your head when you were a kid?

And no, he wasn't a mean or destructive cyborg. The little gizmo wouldn't stay taped to his head long enough to do any damage to anything but his own hair.

Hope everyone had an equally entertaining weekend! Now it's on to Monday!!!! Yay!!!!

Why last night was more like '89 than '93 ...

Last week I pulled a Pat Riley. I was making some big talk about a Three-peat. And much like Pat Riley's hopeful-three-peat team...the '89 LA Lakers...we didn't quite get it done. No tears were shed, though. We were killed by the clock. Places to go, things to do independent of running up and down Moeser. Like everyone who fails when attempting a big goal, we have a really good excuse reason.

I never get tired of seeing the elevation profile when I run this motherf*cker...

note: up twice and then some :)

RoseRunner and I decided that actually running all the way up two times plus charging up the bitchiest part of the hill a third time constitutes badass rockstar status, and we look forward to next week when we will be like the '93 Chicago Bulls. I'm not sure which of us will be Charles Barkley and which will be Michael Jordan...maybe she'll be both and I'll be Scottie Pippen or Phil Jackson. Or just a fan waving a giant foam finger. I can't decide. Most likely we'll just be us...two people who like running up insanely steep and long hills.

 You can see my effort in this...

And as I was scrambling to keep moving upward and onward without my heart exploding out of my chest, she was chatting away and doing awesome butt-kicks. She is such a strong runner; it is super motivating for my old(er) lady self :) This time we saw other people running, too! There was a group of 4 guys seriously motoring up and down. We, on the other hand, took the down part nice and easy.

Here is an overlay of the experience...skyrocketing heart rate accompanying hill climbs...

My hip seemed to handle the load pretty well. It is sore and stiff today, but I can walk and sit with minimal discomfort. I am glad it's a no-run day, though :P Today will be heavy on the stretching and rolling. Tonight will bring the elliptical and some rock climbing. I still need to incorporate more actual running into the routine to get ready for this half-marathon in 7 weeks. I am trying to figure out what the minimum requirement is for a successful, uninjured and non-injuring 13.1 miles. Any guesses? Any advice?

And because this post needs a good picture, here is Miss C's demonstration of how to properly eat chocolate chip pancakes...

Fun Five

One.

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Dinner last night was at Fenton's (did you see the movie Up? well, Carl and Russell's fave ice cream place is a local spot...Pixar is very close by). Sundaes all around...I took a 'pass' knowing that at least one kid would not be able to finish. Three people had vanilla ice cream. Three people had whipped cream. Two people had marshmallow topping and two had chocolate fudge. One person had peppermint ice cream, and one person ate all 4 maraschino cherries. I was the cherry-eater. Yeah, dessert for dinner. Sometimes you just have to say, "What the heck?"

Two.

After eating sundae remnants, I met up with RoseRunner and did hill repeats. Ha. We ran up a hill and then repeated...once. So up the hill two times. Doing something twice = repeat.

this one...it's my favorite

Next week, we're shooting for a three-peat. You know what that means? Yep...three times.

Three.

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I climbed with Tarzan again this week. And we got in trouble. Well, actually he got in trouble. He was doing dangerous things, and the gym manager ran over and spanked him...verbally. It was pretty freaky. He was 'speed' climbing, and I could not keep up with him on belay. There was way too much slack in the rope. If he'd fallen, he could very well have cracked his head open...for real. Meanwhile, my instructor-turned-friend was over to the side beating on her chest and silently doing Tarzan yells to the point where I was stifling laughter so hard it hurt.

Four.

My longest workout in months occurred on Wednesday. Two hours of nonstop cardio, HR zone 2...or maybe zone 3. I'm so old that the HR thing gets me kind of confused. It felt pretty amazing, but I sure wish I could run outside for that long. I really miss being outside! Away from Gaggy Perfume Lady next to me on the stairmaster who started coughing and sputtering extensively mid-workout. I was trying to figure out if the coughing was from her own perfumery or because maybe...ummm...I was the one who was stinking? Well, if it was me, I surely got karmic payback when Patchouli Girl hopped on the elliptical next to me at the very end of my workout. Who the f*ck wears patchouli anymore? Stoners back in the 70's used that potent biz to cover up the smell from all their pot-smoking. I'm guessing that I now probably know who has access to weed should I ever need to score some.

Five.

Today is the last day of school. This is the first time I can recall being excited about it since I was in school myself. I usually dread having all the kids home all day for days on end. Days turning into weeks. Weeks turning into months. Whining refrains of "I'm bored." Bickering ceaselessly. When I put it that way, it starts to sound so unappealing :P  Okay...the good parts... no homework! No need to get to school on time! Leisurely days :)  

Now I just need to come up with some fun activities that four kids between the ages of 3 and 13 will all enjoy. Lots o' luck is what you're saying, I know. 

Looking forward to another kick-ass weekend and wishing one for all of you as well :)

My husband is away, and I'm allowing my children to stay up too late watching movies with inappropriate language...

...because I wanted to mess around with PicMonkey and make some frivolous collages.

Collages of myself.

Not even collages of my super cute kids.

What a narcissist.

Top, L to R: Canadian Henley Sr. Lwt. 2x 1989, MRA 4x practice 1997. 

Middle, L to R: Canadian Henley Sr. Lwt. 2x 1989, PanAm Games w/ Fidel Castro 1991, People Magazine 1991. 

Bottom, L to R: Head of the Charles Lwt. 4+ 1990, Lake Merritt Sprints 1x 2001.

Clockwise from top left: CIM 1996, HTC 2011, Moeser 2012, my hallway 2012, waterfront parking lot 2012, CIM 1997.

I really should have been washing dishes or tidying toys or something else, but this was far more mindless. Sometimes mindless is good.

The movie? Men In Black. I had forgotten how many 'bad' words there are in that movie.

Ooops.

We did have the talk about not using those words ourselves, especially within earshot of small children (like Miss C and friends at school and their siblings) and people in positions of authority (like parents and teachers). Those instructions may or may not be recalled by Q-man...he's the loose cannon in the bunch. Time will tell.

If you want to make some of your own collages...narcissistic or otherwise...this PicMonkey link is pretty awesome. They are super easy to make and upload easily onto your blog :)

This is about as close to 'crafty' as this mommy gets.

Do you ever do 'crafty' things? Any plans for the looooong weekend? 
– my big weekend plans revolve around entertaining myself and my children, weathering their spats, reheating pizza, wiping butts, and monitoring the kids' use of 'language' learned while I was slacking tonight. 

2012 Zazzle Bay to Breakers Race Recap: The good, the bad and the ugly...times 3

**Warning: there is a photo of a naked person in this post. 

'Parts' have been pixelated and are small, but I'm warning you anyway**

Update: The person in the photo found my blog while searching the internet for naked 

Bay to Breakers photos and has left a comment.

It's a cable car :)

The Lead-Up

The Good

My training has been going so well for the past several weeks. I've been consistent and diligent. My cardio base is getting really solid. I've put in some amazing hill runs with the idea of going into Bay to Breakers feeling like the Hayes Street Hill ain't no big thang. This was accomplished :)

The Bad

My left calf was feeling sore and super tight for a few days but only during running and walking down stairs. I had to extra-minimize the amount of running I was doing. No amount of rolling, Sticking, icing, or massage seemed to be making a difference, but I kept doing those things anyway. Additionally, something had been feeling 'off' in my mid-back and hip/pelvis. Things were feeling inflamed. I chalked this up to hormones...because they are a great scapegoat.

The Ugly

Awesomely, there was no lead-up ugly :)


The Day Before   


The Good

This year's expo was easy to get to on public transportation with a three-year old, easy to find, easy to navigate and appeared more interesting than last year's by a long stretch. But I didn't do any exploring.

Happy girl on her first trip on BART

The Bad

By the time I found the bib pick-up area, my number on the board and the line for my number, aforementioned three-year old was pretty done. Granted it was lunch time, so no expo exploration other than a quick trip to the Nuun booth to say 'hello.' The meltdown began as I tried to exit the premises. Must touch all the balloon sculptures. Cannot walk. Carry me, mommy. Somehow we made it back to the BART station in one piece. But the trains were loud...

sooooo loud, mommy

The Ugly

Transferring trains was most upsetting. She didn't want to get off the train even though we were going to get on another one. She let the world know she was not happy with this arrangement by cleaning the floor of the platform with her body while hollering, "don't wanna get off! don't wanna get off! let me onnnnn! let me onnnnn!" It would have been comical...but it wasn't.

But I had the bib, we made it home, we got lunch and were able to relax. Whew.

And the next day was...

Race Day!!!

The Good

Things were great right off the bat! Of course, because of the title, you know they didn't stay that way.

I didn't oversleep. My pre-race prep at home went off without a hitch. Parking at the train station was easy. I was on time for the train and even ran into some good friends while waiting :)

Nothing like seeing costumed runners at the crack of dawn waiting for the train!

I got a boo-hisssss for looking like a 'serious runner.' I assured the hecklers that it was, indeed, a costume. And anyway I had the samurai hair-do and a sparkly headband on... the combo = costume. At least to me it does.

I was so busy chatting with my buddies that I didn't take anymore awesome costume pics...but there weren't a whole lot this year anyway, or so it seemed. However, right as we parted for our respective corrals, I had the first naked runner sighting...

You can biggify this if you really want to...but I did pixelate the 'parts' 
...nothing we haven't seen before...
fortunately, this year was not as cold as last.

There were LOTS of naked guys this year as compared to last...probably a function of the nicer weather. But there were very few women despite the mild temperatures, just LOTS of guys.

The scene at the start was your typical giant race starting line zoo...

I tried taking pictures but was having a hard time with the camera...as evidenced by the next two photos...

I put the camera away with the intention of taking it back out after the Hayes Street Hill. Also, as I mentioned before, there just didn't appear to be that many cool costumes at this point, which might have been due to the fact that I was in Corral A and with the faster runners. Or maybe I was just oblivious.

Best Points of the Day:  I felt amazing going up the big Hill. I wasn't fast, but I was strong and steady. I credit this to all the Moesers I've been running. To top things off, my hip was feeling GREAT. When I crested the hill ahead of my previous time while feeling fantastic, I had high hopes for improving on last year's finish. 

Shortly after I flew down the short descent from the summit that precedes a mile or so of fairly flat terrain, I felt that sense of elation and optimism quickly fade.

The Bad

Within moments of hitting the 'flat' stretch right around the 3-mile mark, the stiffness I've been having in my left calf flared with a vengeance. I kept thinking it would loosen up, but by Mile 4 the stick of rebar that had implanted itself in my lower leg extended all the way up and into my hamstring. I stopped to the side and attempted to stretch and massage it out...to no avail.

It felt better to run than to walk...so that was good :P but every time I tried to push my HR over 145, the wooden deadness of my leg would transform into shooting, searing pain from my Achilles tendon up to just under my buttcheek. I kept things slow and steady and every so often made an effort to crank it up a notch... but it just wasn't happening. My struggle to survive superseded the desire to photo any more of the event...big-time blogger let-down :(

source

I should have worn a pirate costume because I felt like this guy. 

He even has the wooden leg on the same side.

The Ugly

Running downhill and witnessing everyone around me open it up and blow by me as if I were standing still felt so lonely. 

Also, this is when I saw all the naked men's butts. Butts, butts and more butts. Lots of butts. 

Feeling fit and powerless is really frustrating. Finishing a race and not feeling tired just flat-out pissed me off.

And the kicker...

Getting passed by goddamned Gumby at the finish line was quite the tragi-comic moment. About this piece of the experience, I am rendered speechless. 

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I'm borrowing this photo from rachelhop.com. She took it last year. If I had seen Gumby right there behind me...well, it wouldn't have made any difference. I was already stumping along as best I could :(

The finish stats are as follows:

Time.... 1:14:01  (9:56 pace)    4 minutes slower than last year 

In the top 22% of overall finishers, top 11% of all female finishers, and top 11% of women in my age group. Not as good as last year...which does bum me out a little...but it could have been worse. Finishing upright and with no residual injury is always a good thing. And it was kind of fun...sort of. If running with a wooden leg is ever fun.

And look what they gave me for my efforts...

I started laughing so hard.

And no, I didn't drink it.

One lump...or two?

Or maybe they're more like humps...

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After my ambitious and successful workout week capped by my happy birthday celebration (with hoopty cake!), I awoke Monday with a vicious migraine...which I didn't mention in yesterday's post...denial :(  I think I've said before that when I get a migraine (usually once or twice a month) it will last for 2 days. There's nothing I can take or do once it's there except ride it out. Needless to say, I was pissed. I really wanted my awesome last week to serve as a springboard into my training plan. I think the migraine was at least partially responsible for my 5-hour sofa-rafting on Monday.

I was able to somehow rally that evening to go meet one of my climbing partners. It felt good to get off of the sofa and out of the house. I even ran into my oldest stepson at the gym! It was nice to see him...we don't see each other often enough. Anyway... my partner and I climbed for roughly 90 minutes after which I decided to muddle my way through a little bit on the elliptical. Those 30 minutes were probably the clearest I felt that whole day. Take-away from the experience: working out almost always makes you feel better.

When yesterday started off with Day 2 that same nausea-exhaustion-migraine and no hope of holing up in the house all day (I had volunteered to serve as a driver/chaperone for Miss C's preschool trip to the Little Farm), I actually cried. Then I did what I do... I soldiered on. Once home after the field trip, I passed out on the sofa for two hours before I needed to go fetch kids from their schools. I started fretting about my workout while on this drive. "Hills" were what the schedule called for... "6 x hills". For the next couple of hours, I worked out a rationale for bailing on any sort of workout. Then I convinced myself that some StairMaster work could sub in. (Recalling yesterday's take-away). Then I realized that I really wanted to just be outside in the fresh air...but I knew that I didn't have the mental capacity to go up and down any hill "6 x" last night.

Instead I opted to run a hill twice. It's a hill near my home. Quick and easy to get to; long and hard to run. In the past I've  referred to it as 'Honey Badger Hill'? That's because you need to just not give a s*it that it is really f*cking hard and just do it anyway.

Granted it was a run/walk...with walking a good bit less than half of the first trip up and a good bit less than a third of the second trip up. But I did mostly run it. Approximately 4 miles with a 700+ ft. climb over a mile each time up. (See images below). Even with some walking, I'm calling this workout "badass."

Two humps for me, please :)

because I don't know how to take a stretch of uphill on my Garmin read-out and make a mirror image, I must give this image credit to Patrick Mahoney.

one mile up, one mile down, one mile up, one mile down

 

The Striptease Run

Yesterday I had the great fortune to run with a really fast runner...the fastest marathon runner I've ever personally met...who is also, and most importantly, really nice and very, very funny. This runner is so unbelievably gracious that she agreed to:

1. come to my neck of the woods to run and
2. run at my pace (which probably felt like crawling backward over rocks to her) and
3. listen to me run my mouth pretty much non-stop (I don't get much adult interaction) and
4. help me work on my Nuun Hood to Coast Relay team application...she appears in some clips as well as shot some of the footage.

While I did have my hair done samurai-style, what most differentiated this run from other runs was neither the hairdo nor the big-ass hill that we mostly ran up...

Camera is not tilted for effect...and that hill was long!

No. It was the striptease.

Yeah, you read that right.

As in clothes coming off.

See? I'm no liar.

More than once, too.

We met up about a mile from the foot of the big-ass hill, whereupon I informed her that she would be helping me with my little project. I'm all about the surprise factor :)  We ran the straight, flat bike path as a warm-up. My husband tried some filming in this section...it didn't come out all that great.

Then we turned the corner, and that's where RoseRunner said something like "HOLY SHIT!" as she looked up the face of The Beast. (Note: that thing between Mile 1 and Mile 2 is The Beast).

I must say, having company and conversation up that thing makes it infinitely easier. Infinitely. And it was a lot of fun showing her around a place she had never been. There's nothing quite like a relaxed lunchtime run through a very pretty area on a very pretty day. 

Oh...you want to know more about my project? 

Nope.

What's that you say? If I loved you, I would?

Still, my answer is "no."

I'm such a tease.

Another Day, Another Hill...

...and today is rockin' just like Monday :)

In keeping with my get-as-ready-as-possible-given-the-situation-at-hand (i.e. startlingly little running or exercising of any sort) training plan, this morning I repeated Monday's double workout scenario. After meeting with my physical therapist yesterday, we agreed that I am not going increase my level of fitness by this Sunday, all I can really do is get my body prepared to handle what's coming at it in it's given level of unpreparedness. Did that make any sense?

Today, I mixed things up a little.

The gym was the logical place to begin since it is right around the corner from dropping the kids off at school, but here's where I get all crazy... watch out! First, I did 10 backward minutes on the elliptical. Second, I ran on the treadmill. I know... so confusing. Last time I did it the other way around.

I discovered what many before me have already discovered...the elliptical is an excellent warm-up! When I was done with my 10 minutes and jumped onto the heinous road-to-nowhere, I was not nearly as bored treadmilling as I was on Monday...mostly because I was able to start out faster than an 11-minute mile. I was ready to go and cranked that puppy up to a brisk 7 mph at some incline...that part I haven't figured out entirely yet so I just pushed that ^ a couple of times. I am way to lazy to do the math but I do know that it is faster than a 10-minute mile and slower than an 8-minute mile so I'm good with it. I felt great at that pace for 5 minutes and then every minute I made it faster, running the last 2 minutes at 8 mph. I felt great and this is still my run fast song :)

A little walking cool-down, a little more backward ellipticalling, and a session on that cool, arm-burner...the hangboard.

Time to tackle a hill!

Monday was Moeser Lane...when I told my p.t. I was using Moeser, she started laughing hysterically.

"Only YOU would go after Moeser! Only you..." as she stood there shaking her head.

Today in the interest of mixing things up, I went a quarter-mile north to Potrero. Potrero is a bit shorter than Moeser...but it's got some agonizing steepness...

See those houses on the diagonal at mid-picture? 

That is where the steep part begins. 

The foreground is a gentle incline but looks almost downhill in comparison.

So...yeah...it's kinda steep...

...for a ways.

Even when you're nearing the top, there is still a slight incline...

and the neighborhood is chock full o' super interesting bush shapes!

On the way back down, I noticed this sign ^.

I don't think Moeser has one which may indicate that this section of Potrero is steeper

than any portion of Moeser... :)

I swear it looks like the road just drops off.

While Monday's hill is longer and runs through a section of open space and had the statue of the boy fishing with barbed wire, today's hill running exclusively through a residential neighborhood showcased some stunningly sculpted bushes and one of the awesomest displays of lawn ornamentation I have ever seen...

It's Cupid sitting in the fountain.

The wolf is howling.

The whole thing is in the shape of a heart! It took me a minute to figure that out :P

And technically I guess it isn't 'lawn' ornamentation since there's no lawn...

but the rocks are red and sparkly white so that's got to count for something.

I'm now on the hunt for more wickedly gnarly hills to take on in my quest for fitness and spectacular garden accessories!

What is the most interesting yard display you have ever seen?