Pages So Far This Year

In hopes of avoiding a long end-of-year summary post, I've compiled some reviews of the physical books I've been reading so far this year  (I divide my books between audiobooks and physical books).  Major Themes: book club & sci-fi.

	Title	Author	Review
1	Lolita	Vladimir Nabokov	Book club book. So many reviews have been written on this book.  So, I'll keep it to what I would have told myself if I could have beforehand:  If you *LOVE* language and speak/read French, the linguistic gymnastics in this book may be so enjoyable for you that you will be willing to put up with the odious plot.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that the literary-linguistic crack in this book outweighed the horrific story. (My negative opinion of the story's presentation did change a bit after Reading Lolita In Tehran.)
2	By Men or By The Earth	Tyler Coulson	Ordered this book used (out of print) because the idea of a corporate lawyer quitting his job and walking across the country was too close to my fantasies for me to do anything else.  Other reviews commented that he never really *found* what he was searching for, which is true.  But I don't think that makes this book less enjoyable.  I probably liked it partially because I could relate to several of the legal world topics & devices he deployed.  However, I was also entertained and educated about through-hiking the US east-west (for reference, my friends currently doing the PCT found this idea completely abhorrent, and after reading this book, I agree with them).  This is a very honest story of a sometimes mundane adventure of a man and his dog.
3	Salmon Fishing on the Yemen	Paul Torday	Book club book. Very enjoyable comedy of errors reflecting banalities of government, politics, and every day life.  Light.  Easy.  Funny.  A classic tragi-comedy.
4	Mote in God's Eye	Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (1974)	Cheating because I didn't read this one this year, but when I went back to my lists it wasn't on any of the years where it should have been.  Not sure when I read it, could have been 2014 or 2013, definitely after I read Ringworld in 2012.  E & I both enjoyed it and we ordered the rest in the series, so it has some momentum.
5	Gripping Hand	Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (1993)	As noted, E and I enjoyed both MIGE and this one was well-received too.  The world and story migrated a bit in the intervening 19 years, and we both agreed that the characters in GH seemed to be more filled out than those in MIGE.
6	Outies	Jennifer Pournelle (Jerry's Daughter 2012)	Anthropologically, the strongest in the MIGE series.  All the races/peoples are so foreign that it's just great to read as a pure observer.  The story was coherent and fun, although it was clear that the writer was not the original author.
7	Reading Lolita in Tehran	Azar Nafisi	Book Club Book. A mixture of English Literature exploration and the story of Iran from 1979 until the late 1990s as told by an American educated woman who taught literature.  The book focuses primarily on Lolita, Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and Daisy Miller, but throws in references to other well known works as well.  For me, reading the sections written about books I'd recently read was very entertaining and thought-provoking.  Trying to make sense of the points she was making re: Daisy Miller (which I haven't read) was a bit more meta.  I want to read Daisy Miller now, and yet, my perspective on it is pre-configured.  I would only recommend considering reading this book if you haven't read (and think you may want to read) any of the 4 books mentioned above if you are the kind of person who does not mind seeing the movie before you read the book.  This book was hard work, and it was emotionally draining.  I couldn't help but empathize while reading about the day-to-day lives of women oppressed by a political regime that treats them as second class citizens, which meant I was feeling frustration, anger, futility and sadness throughout the read.  The metaphors built upon other literature were also very mentally difficult -- academically, in terms of "literature" this is probably one of the more difficult books I've ever read.  It did make me appreciate Lolita in a more holistic way than I did before I read it, so that was a positive outcome.  I'm very glad I read this one, but I'm also glad it was a book club book, as I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much without knowing there were others reading along to whom I could complain about the difficult stuff.
8	The Last Time They Met	Anita Shreve	I needed some lighter fare, and Ms. Shreve delivered.  A classic star-crossed lovers tale, told primarily in reverse chronological order, slowly unwinding the mysterious interactions from the final meeting of the lovers to the first.  Well done and very descriptive.  Lazy and slow.
9	Old Man's War	John Scalzi	A great tale in the Heinlein tradition.  Tight, fast, plot driven, clever, and fun.  Thought provoking.  Immediately upon finishing the book I asked E to order the rest of the series.
10	The Martian	Andy Weir	Very, very, light Sci-Fi.  Feel good, fun, enjoyable, and a quick read.
11	Children of the Sky	Vernor Vinge	I have to give it Vernor Vinge.  The world he built for this book is beyond impressive.  The idea of sentient entities divided into packs vs. singletons vs. chaotic choirs is fun and fascinating.  The plot is good and clever, too.  If I had to do it again, I wouldn't wait so long since reading A Deepness In the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep before reading this one.  I'd closed both of those out in 2012, and found that I needed to go back to my reviews & wikipedia to refresh and remind myself of the world in order to fully appreciate this one.
12	The Ghost Brigades	John Scalzi	Book 2 in the Old Man's War world.  If you liked the first, you'll probably like this one as well.
13	The Last Colony	John Scalzi	Book 3 in the Old Man's War world.  I want more.
14	Zoe's Tale	John Scalzi	Book 4 in the Old Man's War world.  The story of Book 3, told contemporaneously with Book 3, but from the point of Zoe, the main characters' daughter.  Bordering on Young Adult in terms of tone and presentation.   As I was reading this book, Scalzi announced his $3.4 M 10-year book deal.  The NYT Article indicated that E & I are typical Scalzi readers: While Mr. Scalzi has never had a “No. 1 best seller,” he said, “he backlists like crazy.” “One of the reactions of people reading a John Scalzi novel is that people go out and buy all the other Scalzi novels,” Mr. Nielsen Hayden said.   Yup.  We're on that train and very much enjoying the ride, currently.

Gettin' It Done

Pleasanton Ridge -- Exposed climbing, but beautiful.

My clients have been *very* needy the last couple of weeks.  The Monday holiday crammed 5 days into 4 this week.  So, on several days, I worked, fit in short breaks for a workout and meals, and continued to work until 11:30 PM or later.  It's been a long time since I had to do that for several days in a week when I was otherwise at home and not overly scheduled (read -- the late nights of work were *despite* my best efforts, not due to my schedule being too tight or otherwise conflicting with work).

In workout news, I had a great week.  Possibly the best week in at least 8 months.

Mileage:  40.87.
Percentage sub 9:30:  9%.
Walking: less than 10% (unless you count the hiking on Saturday's long run, but I don't, uphill cardio counts by effort, not speed).
Yoga: 75 minutes in the studio on Friday (still sore)
Tabata:  7.  Only 4 more to make-up.

Saturday's day out at the Pleasanton Ridge Trail with a group of local running ladies was too much fun.  I can't believe how lucky I've been with the friendships I've made with local runners thanks to the Internet and social media -- it's definitely one of the best things that's happened to me in the last several years.  

It's not fair that 2 of these ladies are moving from the area and I just barely got to know them.

Most of the trail looked something like this (photos thanks to Cat)

The climb was much more difficult than I expected (this is one of the things that happens when you rely on super organized folks to do all the planning and you just show up -- after getting lost, of course).  So, rather than the planned 12 mile trail run, I watched the time and tried to settle for 9 miles of trail hiking and running where I could.  I left the group at around 4.5 miles to turn back solo because I was worried about getting back in time for my afternoon plans.  Ha ha.  The joke was on me.  I got lost on my way back.  After a few wrong turns, I finally found a single track steep "short cut" detour down an extra hill I'd climbed and back to the main trail.  Thankfully, the way back was primarily downhill, so even with the unexpected detour, I made it back with 9.59 miles total, realizing I could just wait for the 10 mile group and join for brunch.

Trail Run?  Trail Hike? Whatever. It was a great way to get in a good solid cardio workout while spending time with friends.

 On Sunday, I ignored my sore quads to join a different running friend for a mellow 7 miler.  We gabbed the whole way out and back, and afterwards, I felt the long-absent twinge of complete and utter end-of-a-high-mileage-healthy-week good leg and hip exhaustion.

Overall, I'm feeling very good about my slow ramp-up in fitness over the last several weeks.  I've got two upcoming events:

1. Pace a friend at the Seattle Rock 'n Roll half marathon on June 13.
2. The Corrigan Sports Sunnyvale 10-Miler on June 28.

I'm still looking for a few more Summer runs to use as motivation for training, so if you're local and you've got any suggestions, send 'em my way.

Vancouver

Vancouver is a breathtakingly beautiful city.

We spent a week there while E attended and spoke at a conference and I worked remotely.  My clients were mellow -- so, I could get out and about to enjoy the city at least a couple of hours each day.  In addition to last weekend's hike, I walked and jogged along the sea wall and through Stanley Park almost every day.

I caught the last day of the Cezanne exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

 

Totem Pole in Stanley Park.

View of Downtown from Stanley Park.

Lions Gate bridge from Stanley Park.

Beaver Creek Lake in Stanley Park.

 

Baby Ducklings!

Seriously, Baby Ducklings.

Dorkiest hat competition in front of the lighthouse.

After watching the sea planes every day, we decided to take a tour on our last full day.  It was awesome.

Creative use of the GPS watch.

The conference center -- E spent a week trapped, but with amazing views.

Sulfur processing plant.

Lions Gate Bridge from the top.

Gorgeous Views North through the Howe Sound.

Vancouver from the South.

Aerial view of Stanley Park, Downtown, the Harbor, and the Burrard Inlet.

Update: Quick weekly workout summary to keep me honest -

1. total mileage 34.58, quite a bit walking (63%) due (i) getting lost; (ii) battling congestion and a cold that kept threatening to turn into something more serious; (iii) needing to recover from intervals by walking due to (ii); and (iv) choosing to hike with E over scheduled workouts.

2. Total tabatas 3/6  (now 4 behind, gonna need to double up a few more times)

3. Very little core/yoga other than tabatas, but did do some light stretching

4.  Today's long run just wasn't happening.  So I called it at an easy 2 miles, gardened, and did chores and pushed to tomorrow.  Another day.

Over 40

Not my age.  Yet.  But trust me, it's looming.  I'm actually kind of looking forward to it.  For now, this number celebrates the first time this year where I managed to get my weekly mileage over 40.  Woo hoo!

A big reason why I managed to get it up there was that E agreed to go on a hike with me today to close out the week.  We're in Vancouver for some work stuff, so this AM we headed out to the Capilano Pacific Trail for a good multi-hour trek.

It starts at the beach in West Vancouver.

English Bay

So Arty.

After a couple of miles that are relatively flat, you start to climb through the woods.

No real drought danger in Vancouver.

At one point, you cross under a road where the overpass, creek, and graffiti make for quite a pretty view.

The trail stops at Keith Road and you have to walk along the road (to the right) until the trail restarts.  E and I failed to read the map correctly and added a nice 0.5 mile detour through the hills of a fancy neighborhood before we figured it out.

Finally, at the top of the climb, you cross the Cleveland Dam.  The views of the reservoir and mountains are gorgeous, but the chain link fence and reflected glare made taking pictures with my phone impossible.

On the other side of the dam, the downspout and river (which runs along the side of the majority of the trail) are also gorgeous, and easier to photograph.

Google promised that there was a Chinese restaurant, a Sushi restaurant, a grocery store and a pizza joint near the dam.  The Chinese restaurant was closed.  The Sushi restaurant was closed.  The grocery store was more of a convenience store.  So, we threw away the dietary restrictions and shared a pizza after 5 plus miles of climbing for our late lunch.  As E's mom suggested, there may need to be an intermittent 48-state geographic limitation on dietary good behavior (Also BC oysters!  There's just no way to say no).

The week was great, workout wise. 41.68 miles including 36% walking/hiking and 14% sub 9:30/mile.  Long run was 9 miles in the mid 11s.  3 mile tempo averaged 9:27/mile - sad, but true that I hadn't strung 3 miles together to average sub 9:30 in a long time, so I was happy with that.  Speedwork was 8X3 minutes in the high 8s and low 9s with walk/jog recovery.  I hit the yoga studio again for another 75 minute heated core and asana class. (Again, I was sore for a few days afterward - it's shocking how many muscles yoga uses that I apparently don't use otherwise.)  And, we fit in 4/6 tabata, so I'll have a couple of make-ups to do this week.

The bar is high with this one, so I'm not sure I'll be able to top it this coming week, but I'll do my best to try, at least on a couple of axes.

Keeping House, Housekeeping

This week was remarkable for its peaceful banal normality.  Another 7 days at home without travel.

For the first week in a long time, I don't recall feeling chaotically rushed at any specific point.  I had enough time to think ahead.  To plan.  To get ready.  And, if I'm honest, as a result, I was more present and effective than I ordinarily am in the active moments. 

There was work, of course.  And plenty, but not so much as to overtake the basics of each day's motions and prep for the next day.

The extremely healthy food/drink pattern continued with home-cooked dinners M-Th.  Then, we were the annoying people limiting restaurant choices for Friday and Saturday with very tolerant friends.  Saturday AM, we drove to SF for brunch with folks who flew in from out of town, and both E and I exercised impressive restraint (if I do say so myself) in resisting the delicious smells of chorizo, carnitas, carne asada and other Mexican defiance of modern nutritional abstinence teachings.

We easily fit the stuff that we often scramble to do: Shopping. Gardening. Dishes. Laundry. The second load of laundry revealed a plumbing problem: gurgling toilets, backflowed dirt into bathtubs, standing water in one bathroom.  And of course, there was more laundry to be done as a result of cleaning up.

In a typical week in our life, there would not have been space for this wrinkle.  The ripple effects would have been far and wide.  Instead, we just called the plumber, stayed home and waited for him this afternoon.  Booked travel for several upcoming trips.  Paid bills.  Sorted some of the guest room's detritus into piles to go to Goodwill, the used bookstore, recycling and the trash.  I even fit in Japanese lessons most days in prep for this Fall's trip to Japan.

Perhaps the best part of this week was reading in bed next to E every night before sleep.  This is always on my top ten list of favorite things, but depending on the day, it's a serious contender for first place.  So that was pretty cool.


On the workout front, this feeling like I had "just enough" time treated me quite well.  E and I completed all 6 of the week's tabata workouts in the mornings before we headed out.  My total mileage was a respectable 34.6, for my 2nd highest mileage week this year.

The volume was nice, but I was more pleased that 9% of my mileage was sub 9:30/mile and only 14% was walking.  Yes, these numbers still need some work, but they are better than anything I've posted so far this year, so I'll take them.  If I could hold those percentages and get to 40+ miles/week, I'd be more than thrilled.  The biggest reason why I am happy about the week, fitness wise, is that in addition to the ridiculously healthy eating, I pulled off all three of my target running workouts (in addition to several easy runs):

1.  1 mile w/u; 1 mile @ target half marathon effort (9:28/mile); 1+ mile c/d
2.  8X2:00 @ sub 9/mile (AVG pace 8:52/mile) with 2 minute jogging recovery plus w/u & c/d
3.  10 mile long run (in the heat today)

I even made it  back to the yoga studio for a 75 minute heated asana and core class.  (Yeah, I was sore.)

Nothing miraculous.  Nothing amazing.  But this week was solid.  And I am happy about it.

I hope to continue with this workout pattern, slowly increasing my mileage and improving the quality of my workouts over the next couple of months.  Also, ideally, I'll keep a bit of this calm and relaxed readiness that I've cultivated this week, and be able to take it into busier times in the coming weeks.

Dietary Good (Nay Awesome) Behavior

Roasted Beets, Goat Cheese (we just can't shake the cheese habit), and sauteed dandelion greens with shallots and garlic.

This is a typical dinner for us these days.  By the end of this 6 week commitment, I fully expect to have obtained super-human powers of some sort.

The Little Things

So (crossing fingers) at the moment we've got a very rare 19 consecutive days at home on the calendar, and we enjoyed seven of them last week.

Gorgeous Flowers from a Colleague

Since we were home, I was able to walk through the door every day and enjoy the beautiful bouquet that was sent to me by a very thoughtful colleague to celebrate the 5th anniversary of my law firm.

E and I started 6 weeks of *very* particular healthy eating (lots of Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids with a goal of 25-35% of calories from fat, essentially no alcohol, very limited animal fats and dairy, seafood every other day or so, heavy on the low glycemic index veggies and legumes, with a goal of no more than 35% of calories from carbs, and a general preference for foods that are low on the inflammatory response spectrum).  As of tonight, we'll be one week down with 5 to go.

The hardest thing to give up?  Cheese.  Hands down.  We're still eating small amounts of it, but nothing compared to the approximately 4-8 oz. per day we used to eat.

The best part?  Researching and trying new recipes.  Last night I made a crowd-pleasing dinner of scallops with sauteed leek strips topped with pesto over quinoa for guests.  They didn't even know that they were being fed a super-healthy meal.  Huzzah!

In garden news, the beds are weeded, amended, and the tomatoes are in, as is the watering system (we had to order new parts, patch leaks, add emitters where needed, etc.).  I still need to program the watering system timer and put in eggplants, squash, cucumbers, and any other non-tomato plants, but I should be able to finish that this week.  Then it's my favorite part of the year.  Just waiting, adding supports, and pruning until first fruit.

At the beginning of the season despite all the work, the garden never really looks like much.

When tomatoes drop rotten fruit, the seeds ferment, stay in the soil, and after the rain in the spring, they sprout.  This year, in one particular bed, I had at least 10 volunteers back in March.  I culled and selected the 3 healthiest and now I have 3 tomatoes that are well over a month ahead of the rest of the transplants.  Should be fun to see what varieties they actually are.

Volunteers!

Last weekend, I had a friend in town, so in addition to going to the movies and a party, we wore our Cal hats on a walk around the Stanfurd Dish.  It was a great way to get in some hilly miles and catch up.  We even got a Stanfurd professor to document our Cal gear.

We'd hoped for an awesome Pacquiao v. Mayweather fight, but despite the very loud cheering and enthusiasm of the crowd, afterward, we all agreed that it was sadly, a very over-hyped and past-due non-event.  Oh well.  We still got to hang out at a friend's party.

In running/workout news, a couple of weeks ago, thanks to the suggestion of a friend who's an athletic trainer, I started an 8 week Tabata program.  So, 5-6 days a week, E and I get up and, post coffee, we do the 4 minutes of intervals (8 X 20 seconds on 10 seconds off) together before we start our days.  It's been a nice addition to the workout regime to shake things up a bit.  Last week I took an easy recovery week. So, in addition to Tabata, I fit in 17.69 miles, all but one set of 10X1 minute speedwork very easy, including 10ish miles of walking and hiking.

Next Running goal?  Pace a friend at the Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half in 6 weeks.  After that, ideally, I'd like to actually race a half marathon or 10K sometime in June or July.  I'm definitely open to suggestions if any local folks are already registered for races and would like some company.   

Kickin' Back

Friday, mid-afternoon, E and I snuck out for a weekend combo of date night, family catch-up, and the SLO half marathon.

The views from Highway 101/1 near Pismo are gorgeous.

California.

We took the drive (ugghh, Friday bay area traffic) to catch up, relax, and start to reconnect.  I read us some articles from Vanity Fair to add to the entertainment, including a hilarious exposé on Dinesh D'Souza -- always interesting to get some insight into the crazy of your country that you don't really know.

After checking in to our date night hotel, we headed to the bar patio for a glass of wine (which meant we could stare at the ocean and continue to unwind).  One glass turned into 2, and we decided we couldn't be bothered to go anywhere else for dinner.  So we sat and chatted, and ate, and sipped, while watching the beautiful sunset.

Seriously. California.

We went back to the room with plans of putting on bathing suits and heading out to the hot-tub.  But much like walking somewhere else for dinner, it just seemed like too much trouble.  So we spent the rest of the evening lounging in the hotel room and went to bed.

Saturday AM, I really didn't want to get up when my alarm went off.  But I had my standard day-before a race routine to do, so I was conflicted.  Except it was raining!  And I wasn't that conflicted.  Boom, extra rest day.

And boy did we rest.  No work at all.  I visited a friend and caught up, E&I had lunch with views of a different beach (the rain stopped by noon), we went to the expo, we checked into our near-the-start motel, and we lounged in bed and read before meeting my Aunt for a delicious dinner of Japanese food.

Going into the race, I wasn't exactly in a great place.  I hadn't really done much in the way of hill training or quality efforts and my weekly volume since Oakland has been an average of 23.08 miles with quite a bit of walking (thanks work!).  The weather called for an oh-so-awesome 18 mph headwind on the second half of the race, and the elevation profile is a doozy.

So, after doing some research (holy moly Gallowalking is more controversial than I can comprehend), I decided that this race was a perfect opportunity to try Gallowalking.  I knew I could finish the race, but I really didn't want to blow up (like I did at Kaiser), so I figured forcing myself to take some walk breaks earlier than normal was probably a good idea.

Despite putting in earplugs at 11 PM or so, sleep was fitful and full of nightmares of missing the start, which is always super annoying.  How many times do I need to wake up and check again that my phone is actually set to get me up at 5:45?

After waking one last time at 5:30 AM (hello, runners, not *everyone* is leaving the motel to go the race at the same time as you, do you really need to *slam* your door?), I fell asleep one last time to be woken at 5:45 by my phone (see, it did work).

I walked about 0.75 miles to the start via the portajohns, taking coffee from the hotel room and then stopping for another coffee at a cafe on the walk.  It was in the mid 40sF and I was in a short sleeve shirt and capris, but I run hot, so I figured mo' coffee, mo' better, and no complaints about the cold.

We started on time and I ran the first mile, blind, knowing I was going to stop to walk a minute, so if I went out a bit too hard due to the downhills, no big deal.

M1 running: 8:55/mile

Hmmm...that's actually bordering on a big deal at my current fitness with all of the hills and the wind.  So I took a nice solid 1 minute walk break and headed out for a more reasonable 2nd mile.

M2 running:  10:00/mile

Perfect.  Except, unfortunately, I needed a pit-stop.  So, approximately 3 minutes later, after walking through the aid station and waiting in line for the bathroom, I was back on the course.

S3 (segment) running:  0.75 @ 10:20/mile

If you look at the elevation profile, you can probably see why it seemed like a good idea to drop in a walk break here.  So I did, for less than a minute.

S4 running: 0.31 @ 12:22/mile

I think this is very interesting.  Even with the walk break, I was *really* struggling to get to the top of the hill.  Given everything I'd read, I decided to drop in one more walk break to the apex, this one, only 43 seconds (but man were they gloriously pleasant).

S5 running: 0.6 @ 10:43/mile

This is the minor drop after mile 3.5ish and back up the hill 'til I felt my heartrate climb again.  When it felt smart to do so, I opted into 1:30 walking uphill to the apex so I could start running well on the downhill.

The rest of the run is more or less a give and take between walking when I felt my heart-rate/effort skyrocket; taking in fuel; and doing my best to push on the downhills and flats.  One of the more interesting side-effects of this approach is that while I felt like I made an even effort throughout, due to the course profile, I actually finished the last 6.9 miles almost 12 minutes faster than the first 6.2 (some of this can be attributed to the pit-stop, but at most only 3 minutes).

Oh, one other bonus?  The headwind of 18 mph after the turn-around.  That was an unwelcome surprise!

Interval	Time of Day	Chip Time	Chip Pace	Gun Time	Gun Pace

10K Split	8:06:10AM	01:20:34	12:58 min/mi	01:20:59	13:02 min/mi
Finish	9:14:55AM	02:29:19	11:24 min/mi	02:29:44	11:26 min/mi

(Garmin: 13.24 @ 2:29:22 ~11:17min/mi)
 
So, I guess the big take-home is, yes, if you walk early and often, you will be able to save energy and finish strong (my last 0.37 miles was at 8:57/mile pace).  But, really, let's be honest.  I totally took it easy here and just wanted to fit in a good long run.  I hadn't trained to race, so I wanted a good run, but I didn't want it to hurt too much.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out (9:57 AVG for the last 6.9 miles?  That's just fine, thank you.).  Effort-wise, it felt relatively comparable to Oakland, but in Oakland, I didn't have to be smart, I just got lucky with the course and weather, hence why, despite roughly the same lackluster training, it was 7 minutes faster (although not a negative split at all).  In SLO, I was approaching smart, but I'm sure I could have done some things better.

C'est La Vie.

Wishing you a lovely, relaxing, mellow, kick-back week.

Best Prescription Ever

I adore my medical doctor. She's awesome.
 
A few years ago, she gave me a prescription to take 24 consecutive hours off of work every week. How great is that? She made an excellent case for the fact that for my overall health this was, in her professional opinion, the most important medical advice she could give me. I haven't followed it religiously, but I have tried. And it's given me permission to pull back or make great work-life decisions when I otherwise might not have done so.

I've been very impressed with her knowledge of me as a person and her ability to give me "medical" advice that helps me justify making smart decisions to manage my stress levels.

After saying hello and settling in to my annual appointment last week, the first thing she asked me was, "What do you do for exercise?" I explained that over the last few years I've settled into a situation where I am committed to 20ish miles minimum per week. I don't care about the pace, but I get them done. I fit in yoga, core, etc. where I can, but the miles are my baseline. (And yes, I need to get back in the studio, on the mat, and generally more balanced, but it hasn't been happening lately, if I'm honest.  I'm working on it.)

She smiled and explained to me that my pulse and bloodwork made it very obvious that I worked out regularly. More importantly, the last few years of bloodwork make it I appear that I have some genetically pre-disposed indicators of potential problems, but the bad data is so minimized by the good data generated by my athleticism, that she gave me the best prescription I've ever received from a doctor:

"So, you *have* to keep up your mileage. It is absolutely protecting you. Today, your risk is significantly lower than average despite what appears to be a genetic pre-disposition towards some risks."

How great is that? My doctor just gave me permission to blow off work for a workout. Or commit to train harder. Or draw good work-life boundaries. Whatever you want to call it.

My doctor rocks.

In other news, this week was mellow. Lots of work. 30.6 miles including quite a bit of walking plus 3 miles in SF with my husband today, on dead legs after a slow sub-12 8 miles on Saturday, wearing my Desi-autographed T-shirt from the NY Mini 10K, much faster than I would have otherwise done. Thanks Rabbit (and I'm hopeful that's a good omen for Desi)!

This coming week brings the BOSTON MARATHON (yeah, I'll be getting up early tomorrow to cheer on Desi, and all the others) book club (Readling Lolita in Tehran), lots of healthy meals, and the SLO half. My latest plan for the half is to take it easy, run the whole thing, but do it nice and easy and enjoy it. 

My Love Affair

My husband and I ended up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and then in Washington, DC in the last week.  This was due to work.

We’ve learned to deal with work demands relatively well.  We don’t get real weekends in the labor movement sense (see last weekend, or this Saturday, when other than chatting on the phone with one of my best friends in the AM and a lunch people watching with E, the rest of the day today was *all* work (or taxes)).   

We've traded the majority of those free weekends people seem to have as I drive by on my way to do what it is I do (or fly far away) for a different path.

Last week, on a Wednesday, E & I found ourselves in Washington, DC, with the cherry blossoms popped a week early.  How cool!   

These blossoms are absolutely gorgeous!

We both agreed to take several hours off in the middle of our work days to enjoy the spectacle together.  We took the metro to the Smithsonian station.  We walked along the national mall, laughing at how all the lawns were being industrially modified with plastic coverings and tractors and digging and gravel for the upcoming cherry blossom festival.  Also, almost all the viewing pools were empty (Lincoln memorial reflecting pools -- full of nothing but orange safety cones).  Even so, our walk to the Washington Memorial, then to the WWII memorial, and finally to and around the Lincoln memorial and back along the Patomac with all of the gorgeous tress was so enjoyable.

And this is something we can do because we *can* work on the weekends.  We both pushed several hours of work out of our way so we could enjoy the walk and views.  We'll pay for it later (and we did, this weekend, in fact), but the flexibility was appreciated.

But do you want to know what the best part of this experience was?

E reached out and took my hand on our way up the steps to the Lincoln memorial.  No discussion.  Nothing verbal.  This was a big deal.  Silently.  We each had our own reasons.  At the top of the stairs, slightly winded, we let go of our hands just as the couple who’d climbed the steps in front of us, a blonde woman and African-American man, stopped and stared.  

Lincoln Memorial

They were both obviously emotionally moved at the beautiful monument to equality.  He pulled out his phone to take many photos of the thin granite sky-lights, the huge statue, the stairs up, and the national mall in the distance.  She re-assuringly held his left shoulder while he did so. 

 

It was beautiful, and I felt a little too voyeuristic in how much pleasure I took from observing their moment.

Yet, at that moment, I was consciously so very proud to be an American and deep, deep down, I knew that’s why E grabbed my hand on the way up the stairs.  We are both of this place.  And it is a grand, wonderous country.  It is one of many excellent things we are lucky enough to share.

And, this, my friends, is one of the millions of reasons why I am desperately, madly, and fully in love with my husband.  I feel very, very lucky to be in love with and committed to someone who knows me, loves me, and shares so many of my values, appreciations and, yes, my country's culture and heritage, diverse and complex as it can be.

On the running front, this week was nothing to brag about.  Mostly walks instead of runs due to work and travel obligations.  But movement is movement and the total mileage still hit 17 or 18 miles.  Not ideal 2 weeks out from a half marathon, of course, but sometimes, you just have to take what you can get.

Choices

I don’t really have any female friends or colleagues who have anything close to my life.  If you accept that gender norms/roles/experiences are a non-trivial thing, then, by definition, I also don't have any other friends who have anything close to my life. 

Take Easter Sunday, for example. 

Many of my female Facebook friends were busily posting pictures of their children’s Easter basket or bunny experiences, Passover fun, family hikes in Yosemite or enjoying the surprise snow in Tahoe.   

I, on the other hand, had set an alarm to get up early and run 6 miles before cleaning up and closing the luggage to head out for a multi-day business trip with E.

I woke, made and drank coffee, and checked the flights – 30 minute delay on the first one, actually ideal, giving me a bit more in my AM.  I headed out, finished the run, returned home, showered, dressed, wrote checks to pay bills, left a note for the housekeeper re: plants and pets, and we headed out.  I called our airline for the 4^th time in 4 days because our flights and mileage upgrade just didn’t seem to be snaking its way through the system properly.

Upon arriving at the airport, we spent another 15 minutes at the check-in counter, and then another 15 minutes at the gate, each time patiently explaining the mileage upgrade situation that seemed to not be going our way.

Eventually, the gate agent assured me she’d done everything she could, I thanked her, and we headed to the restaurant, to order take-out for the cross-country flight.

As we waited for our orders, E said, “So, this mileage upgrade treated us *worse* than if we’d just tried to upgrade on status.” Calmly, I said, “You don’t know that – I have no idea where we ended up on the actual upgrade list.  The gate agent fixed it, so we could end up still getting upgraded.”  

 E, disbelieving, pulled out his phone, updated the list on his app and laughed – we were listed as #2 and #3 of 3 open seats in business class.  

On things like this, he and I are so different.  I just assumed I’d done what I could and the rest was in the hands of the service professionals, I was certain the gate agent had done her best.  If it didn’t work, it didn’t work, and I was cool with that.  E, on the other hand, was grumpy, suspicious, and constantly updating the app, certain we would get bumped from the upgrade we’d already spent the miles on after we’d finally managed to make it manifest.  He wasn't wrong.  They did appear to have done everything they could to have made this experience fail for us up to this point.

Ignoring E’s suspicion, I canceled our lunch order with the server, but not the wine, and as it was delivered, we smiled, toasting our hopefully good, if high effort, fortune.  

And then, we actually were upgraded at the gate, we got on the plane and I enjoyed the free food and booze in business class while clearing my non-emergency email from the week and finalizing my timesheets for all clients for March.  Because that is what has to happen at the end of every month if you run your own business, and if you have more business than you can handle, the things that get pushed to the weekend are the things for your own business, not your clients'.  

After an airport layover dinner, we landed in the town we're visiting for business, and arrived at our hotel around midnight just in time to hit the sack.  In other words, my “glamorous” Sunday was anything but.

I regularly think about perspective when perusing social media.  I could have snapped a photo of a business class meal and wine, a gorgeous view from a plane window, and just posted those two snapshots to Facebook.  And that would tell a certain story of my life.

But I’m not living just the moments those photos would have shown – I’m living everything in my life, just like everyone.  I’m living the life where I had to call the airline every day for the last 4 days before departure to get that upgrade, even though we'd supposedly purchased it with miles.  I'm living the life where at 8 PM one night this month, despite promising to make dinner, I looked up from my computer and snappily demanded that E order pizza because I wasn’t yet done with work and I couldn't see when I would be done and I JUST needed a break.  I’m living the life where I spend time scheduling laundry like no-one’s business (seriously, we discuss when laundry will be done as a very serious item on the todo list *every* week) even though we have no children because when you travel and work out regularly, clean clothes are much more complex than if you are predictably home – in fact, I bought E an additional 12 pairs of underwear this month just to extend our ability to go between laundry loads so that we wouldn’t have to cancel our attendance at some social obligations in San Francisco later in the month.  

I’m living a life where we get on a plane and I realize we never booked the rental car we need at our destination (since this trip was thrown together out of need at the last minute), so we log on the in-plane wi-fi and make that happen.  Yay, plane wi-fi.  But boo, needing it to be functional.  The plane is just another remote office these days.  

Most noticeably to me, I’m living a life with absolutely no children other than the occasional friend’s kid or niece/nephew.  If social media is to be believed, this means I’m missing out on all of the most important moments that almost everyone else in my cohort is currently experiencing.  On the other hand, I spend very few nights away from my husband, despite the fact that he and I both have to regularly travel for work.  

My life, like most, is messy and complex and tiring and, when viewed from a certain rose-colored lens, VERY cool.  I get lots of great meals, adult time, a reasonable amount of workout time, mentally challenging work, travel to cool places, and uninterrupted time with my best friend and partner.  But it comes at the expense of all sorts of other stuff that I’m missing out on, not the least of which is motherhood, which is regularly referred to as "the most important thing a woman can do."  I don't believe this (or I would have done my best to make this experience part of my life), but I do wonder about the pressure on those who have decided to go down that road.  As an outside observer, I can't help but wonder if the pressure to make it "the most important thing" you can do as a woman may actually make the whole experience a bit more bittersweet and less enjoyable.  As an extra-outside observer, I think it's very telling that I don't feel internal urges to have a child, but I do occasionally feel jealousy of the shared experience -- the fact that I *don't* have a child is just yet another detail about me that separates and differentiates me from so many of the women I encounter.  I am mildly sad that I have less in common with my cohort than they have with each other -- it's lonely.  But it's fine.

In short, my life is just a life, full of beauty and bullshit and choices like any other. I worked and hustled my way through Easter Sunday with my ass in hard-earned business class (as opposed to bought), so that I can share more experiences and time with my husband and best friend while running my own business. My current reality is the life that I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to actively work to instantiate over many years, and while, of course, it's not perfect, I'm supremely grateful for it.

On the running front, this week was super low-mileage due to work (big surprise) and recovering from last weekend's half: 24.21 miles, probably 25% walking, and none of it fast.  I did, however, return to the yoga studio for a 1 hour unheated power yoga class (and was sore for 2.5 days afterwards) -- wow, I have lost a *ton* of yoga fitness.  Here's to hoping I get back in the studio sooner rather than later...