August 17, 2015

And We're Off


The week was full of staying at home and doing things like laundry, stopping mail, and giving away most of the garden harvest in preparation for upcoming travel.  Turns out, when I'm singularly focused on minimizing the upcoming chaos and eliminating it entirely from the days before we leave, I have plenty of time to dedicate to walking and running.

Without any perceived effort, my mileage was over 30 for only the 10th time this year (30.53).  I also managed to get back into the yoga studio, which resulted in 3 days of ridiculous soreness.  Perhaps I'll be able to get back on the mat in less than 9 weeks next time and recovery won't be so painful. (A girl can dream...) 

Thanks to the local running club, I was introduced to a new running buddy and we put in a good low 10 min/mile getting-to-know-each-other 3 miler followed by some hill repeats Thursday AM -- this is *much* better than what I would have lazed my way through solo.  I'm looking forward to joining her for more runs whenever I'm home in the coming months.

Friday, after a short 2 miler, E and I took off for Europe.  We landed Saturday AM and somehow managed to push through until after 9 PM local time before heading to bed.

Pulling into Frankfurt main train station from the airport train
Our hotel -- The Steigenberger Frankfurter (Hbf)
I'd been to Frankfurt years ago to visit a friend who lived here, but I'd never really been as a tourist.  It's a very walkable and cool town.

That being said, between the foreign stuff and the jet lag, we had a bit of a surreal day.  Our hotel room wasn't ready when we checked in, so we walked around a bit, accidentally making our way through an apfelwein festival (which, in our punch-drunk state struck us as just about the most stereotypically German thing imaginable).

We opted out of the various apple and pork-tastic treats, opting instead for a pilsner and some people watching from outside the festival followed by a much needed late afternoon snack for E (I'd had breakfast on the plane) and coffee for both of us.

Apfelwein festival
From there, we walked around town a bit, puzzled by an explained parade, eventually ending up at an outdoor pub for a relaxing pint while watching soccer in German.  We stood in line for the tower, but the line wasn't moving and we were exhausted, so we headed back to the hotel, printed our tickets for the next day's train and headed out for an early dinner.

Unexplained parade

With Goethe, in Goetheplatz
The recommended restaurant wasn't open at 6, so we stopped for a glass of wine and were treated to a surprise musical performance.  Apparently, we were in town the same night as one-night bar hopping music party that was quite popular with bachelorette parties (where all the women dressed identically except for the bride), so that made for some extra fun and different people watching.  We lamented that we'd likely be asleep when the good stuff happened, but we agreed it wasn't worth it to try to stay up.

Random 6 piece band with vocalist and german rapper.
The dinner recommendation was totally worth waiting for -- I may not crave German food, but you know what Germany is close to?  Several countries whose food I love.  Like, Italy!

So, for our first meal out in Europe this trip, E and I enjoyed a deliciously authentic dinner of Northern Italian food, including the best octopus dish either of us have ever eaten, and wonderfully tender and perfectly sauced homemade pasta.  The servers and owner and I were all equally thrilled that when it was obvious that we didn't speak German, everyone agreed that we'd prefer Italian instead of English.

They even comped each of us an extra glass of wine when I explained that the only reason we weren't having espresso after our meal was that we really needed to go back to the hotel and sleep, as we'd only just arrived that morning.

Unfortunately, even with the wine, neither of us slept particularly well, and I woke Sunday AM with a horrid headache.  Gamely, I headed to the gym around 9 AM to try to shock my body into waking up, but eventually after a fairly lame workout, I had to admit that either I'd forgotten just how much jet lag sucks, or getting older *really* sucks, and my jet lag is getting worse with age.

At noon or so, E and I boarded our train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg and, because we love us some European train travel, we were amused to find that the German version was slightly different from our French/Swiss train adventure.  There was no ticket drama, as the tickets could be printed from the website with a scan code that just worked on the train.  The barcar payment system also had no problems, and, in keeping with stereotypes, it had several beers on tap as well as revelers clinking their glasses with "Proust" in their VfB Stuttgart scarves on their way to a game.  Unfortunately, unlike the French train, we'd miscalculated as this train was out of food -- oh well, you can't win them all.

We arrived in Heidelberg to check in to yet another hotel where our room wasn't ready, so we did some walking in the rain to a delicious late lunch of Indian food. 

That's a mountain with foggy clouds and rain.  Happy August!

One of E's speaking engagements was at 5 PM on Sunday, so we walked through the stereotypical German modern industrial city to the youth hostel that was hosting the conference.

First time he's given a presentation at a youth hostel.
Footbridge across the Neckar River (E's commute)
Exhausted, we went out to dinner with some other folks from E's company in the old town.  Again delicious Italian, but this time in the Tuscan style.

Castle in the background, as seen from an old town square.  Lovely to walk around and enjoy the views.
We took a taxi to dinner but in our jet lagged state couldn't really manage to find one to get back.  We also moved too slowly to catch the bus, comedically noting its approach while looking at the map at the stop, yet somehow none of us was assertive enough to flag it down.  So we walked along the river for about 2 miles back to the hotel before finally collapsing into a deep and wonderous jet-lag killing sleep.

Today, I woke bright-eyed and headache free.  I'm looking forward to getting in some good runs, walks, and hikes this week!

August 10, 2015

Family Fun

Yet Another Delicious Tomato-heavy Summer Dinner
Sister came to visit with my niece and nephew last week.  They are so adorable.  I would post a picture to show you just how adorable they are, but she is very careful about rarely publishing her children's photos online and asking friends and family to do the same, so I can't.

For work, so far, this August is *slow*.  Like crazy slow.  Since the beginning of the month, I've been getting roughly the same amount of emails in a full workday that I received in each day's busiest work hour in June (last month of the quarter).  

I'm not complaining.  It's been several years of full throttle work and it's nice to have an unexpected break.  It's not even the week before Labor Day yet! (A large percentage of my clients or opposing folks on deals go to Burning Man, so I can always count on a slow week prior to Labor Day.)

On the running front, this week was nothing impressive.  I continue to struggle to find time to fit it in and/or be motivated, but I cleared the doctor-approved minimum of 20 miles for a total of 24.74 miles, with much walking.  In terms of high-effort, there wasn't much, but I did huff and puff my way through a 3 miler with Sister while she pushed her 40 lb 4 year-old and 20 lb toddler in the double jogging stroller.  She ditched me on her way up one of the hills for an extra effort -- I'm blaming it on the fact that she's 6 years younger...  When I caught up, I offered to let her go ahead to finish at a faster clip, but she said, "No way!  How often do I get to run with my sister?  I'm sticking with you."  Sister is right -- time with family when you live far away is *way* more important that having the best workout you could on any given day.  

In that theme, I traded in my planned Sunday AM 9 miler out to the cemetery to visit Dad for a 1.84 mile walk around the neighborhood with Mom.

E and I went back to my home town on Saturday to have a celebratory birthday dinner with Mom and Brother.  We went to Peruvian food and it was delicious -- Mmmmmm... ceviche.  On our drive home, a childhood friend and her husband waved us down on the street (literally, an arm hanging out of the window while they passed us honking).  So they came over to Brother's and we all caught up.  It was such an unexpected and wonderful surprise -- I see them a couple times a year, but it had been 9 years since Mom had seen them and at least 2 or 3 years since Brother had seen them.  After the late night, I slept in and opted to walk and talk with Mom instead of going for a run -- It was definitely the right decision.

Overall, it was a great Summer week.  It's been a long time since I've seen Brother, Mother, and Sister in the same week.  Actually, it had been a year since last year's Summer celebratory dinner (where we were all together as opposed to this year, when it was in the same week, but not all together).  I wish we all lived closer.  

August 3, 2015

The first week

I had a birthday last week.  It was a fairly important one.

It put me in a pensive mode.

I've been thinking about aging, and life, and my goals, and whether I'm happy with where I am.  The first week of a new year in my life.  Firmly in or on the cusp of what they call "middle age."  In general, I've decided I'm actually quite happy.  Happier than I have any right to be.  When I think about the millions of potential lives I could have been born into and lived, I feel very, very grateful for this one.

E made dinner for my birthday -- Caprese from our garden with truffle oil and caviar.

My Junior Attorney took me out for Persian food lunch.  So delicious!

The almost blue moon view from our Thursday night gathering of friends who come to us and BBQ was gorgeous.

A college girlfriend invited myself and another college girlfriend over for deviled eggs and farm fun.  It had been 17 years since the three of us had last seen each other.

The host has gorgeous chickens.

Her egg storage had over 300 eggs.  We barely made a dent.

Baby Goats are the cutest things!
In my pensive state, I didn't do much high effort running last week.  Total mileage for the week was 26.38, most of it walking, although I did fit in a 2 mile run with E, which is always a bit more high effort than I expect since his legs are so much longer than mine.  I did a bit of gardening and quite a bit of enjoying healthy food at home.  The lack of running effort is about to change, as my spreadsheet informs me that it's now 7 weeks to my target 10K -- so, there will be *some* quality workouts in the coming weeks, if only out of necessity.

And with that, 1 week of a new year of my life is done.  Voila.

July 26, 2015

Summer Celebration -- The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Nice tomato harvest.  Not so nice phone-camera shadow...

So, Saturday, I cleared out the tomatoes from the garden and the haul wasn't bad (see above), but it wasn't *anything* like what I'm used to seeing this time of year.  I'd been blaming the crazy overcast May, June, and even minor rain in July, but finally, on this harvest, moving between the plants, even without sufficient weeding, I could tell that something was fundamentally wrong...

Uggghhh... Apparently, our automatic drip system timer died.  Who knows how long ago.  We tested it when we put the plants in, and a few times since, but we haven't really tried it much because it's been so loyally perfect.  Since 2008.  When we bought it.  And now?  It's silent.  The timer can click (which means, open the gates, water should flow) but nothing happens.  After a few minutes of trouble-shooting, I was hopeful that I'd missed something that E could find.  But no.  We came to the same conclusion.  This unit had a good 7 years.  And our garden has not been getting timed water for who knows how long - possibly 8 weeks.  (But don't worry, we still deliver cherry tomatoes to folks when it is important.)
 
Date night with E2 & P at the Grove.  More cleavage than I planned...
 A new timer has been ordered.  Plants that are dried beyond expectation have been watered.  And, for the second year in a row, we went to the Santa Cruz Shakespeare comedy that happened to be playing around my birthday. 
The beautiful SC Shakespeare redwood grove.  Last year for this venue.
Oh, Man.  This production was awesome.  Seriously.  If you think you don't like Shakespeare, as my Shakespeare professor at Cal said -- go to a good production of Much Ado About Nothing -- if you don't like it, you are right -- you just aren't a Shakespeare person.  But I dare you to try to be that person, it is so hilariously enjoyable.


You say birthday cake, I say deviled eggs with caviar.
Meanwhile, I have several friends who ran the San Francisco Marathon and the Big Basin 50K and I was proud of each of them.  Also, E2 and I went and cheered in person for Wharf to Wharf, which was interesting, in that we were somewhere between mile 1 and 2 and it was *very* crowded and folks were slowing down due to back-ups.  This race had previously been on my *to-do* list, but now, after seeing the crowds so long after the start, I'm not sure.  I may be happy to just cheer from the sidelines and deliver goodies to my neighbors.

One lunchtime harvest this week.  No complaints.
In other news, Summer is awesome.  The garden puts out great stuff.

In my complacency, my weekly mileage was a horrid 15.66 on my feet, including much walking.  For the folks who are wondering, yes, I do plan to do a 5K and a 10K in the fall.  I've been fitting in some random decent tempos and intervals, but really, I suck.  I did add 11 miles of biking and another couple of sets of calisthenics to the mix this week (including 20 minutes this AM -- 3X10 pushups, dips, abs, yoga, etc. -- it's gonna hurt tomorrow).

Essentially, I'm relaxed.   Happy.  About to go grab a new book and go to bed.  Ready for whatever next week brings!

July 22, 2015

Summertime...

E and I hosted some new friends for a dinner party tonight.

It's always fun and a little intimidating to host new people.  I got more dressed up than normal (which meant I was dressed down for most women in my situation, but still).  I spent time thinking about and preparing the meal.

In fact, I was quite proud of the menu, even if I did burn the bagel chips to the point of "throw-'em-in-the-compost" 

You might think that slicing and basting with olive and roasting bagel chips would be easy...
In my excitement to prep for dinner I forgot to set a timer.  By the time I smelled them, the bagel chips tasted like charcoal...

Thank goodness the rest of the meal was wonderful!


This! This is Summer!


Gazpacho (75% from the garden). Grilled okra (huge hit, first time we'd made it), shishitos (grilled, from the garden, huge hit) & eggplant (from the farmer's market, need to work on the marinade recipe). Sliced Cherry garden tomatoes (always a hit, plus we fed Guito as entertainment with one). Smoked salmon, caviar & capers (we're so Californian, we warned them at arrival and offered to grill sausage if they needed more animal protein, so I guess we aren't *that* stereotypically Californian). Goat gouda (double gold Californian gouda competition winner from our local farmer's market, always a huge hit), manchego (who doesn't like Manchego), & d'Affinois (if you like creamy cow cheese, this will keep you happy). Chateauneuf Du Pape (nice guest move!  We were very pleased and honored with what they brought.). Good olive oil, balsamic & fancy salt (all 3 of these are required at every meal in our house). Sliced baguettes (thank goodness I bought that baguette even though I didn't *need* it since I thought we'd still have the bagel chips...)

July 19, 2015

Thanks, Internet

A few years ago, while training for CIM, I realized I needed to find a local running buddy to train with and, thanks to some Internet stalking, I became running friends with Jen.  Through her blog and her IRL interactions with other local folks in the running community, I made several new running friends.

These running friends are awesome -- they arrange group runs, post-race food and fun, relays, and more.  I have literally never attended any event planned by folks in this group and not had a good time.  Unfortunately, two of them are in the process of saying goodbye to the area before they move far away.

I am very sad at the impending departures.  But, I remind myself that I wouldn't even have these friends if it wasn't for the Internet, so I'm trying to focus on gratitude, not disappointment.

I'm grateful the Internet introduced me to great people, *and* I'm grateful that one of them planned a trip to Alcatraz before she left.  The weather was perfect, and Jen, Jess, E, and I had a wonderful day.

Not a bad view!

Also, E and I attended the EFF 25th anniversary.  If you care about the intersection of privacy, human rights, and technology then you should be aware of the EFF.  Some refer to it as "the ACLU for the Internet" or "the ACLU for Technology."  Either way, they are a great organization, representing important legal causes, and I was honored to be part of the celebration.

One of the EFF Founders, John Perry Barlow, took the stage and spoke of how proud he was of the EFF, his "4th child." 

Yes, Grateful Dead fans, that John Perry Barlow

25 years!

I'm loosely affiliated with the EFF, professionally, but every time I attend an event (always due to an invitation via the Internet), I see folks in both the legal and technology communities that I respect, and also, I learn something new.  This event was no different.  

My weekly mileage total was 33.27, which is not bad at all, for the year.  Thanks to the time in SF, however, I spent much more of these miles walking than normal -- only 15 of the week's miles were actually running.  3 of the runs included quality segments, though -- 3.25 miles including 8 X 1 min hill repeats; 2.5 miles with E at 9:40 pace; and 8 miles this AM with MB, a friend from Seattle who was in town and emailed me (over the Internet) asking if I wanted to keep her company on her last "long" run before the San Francisco Marathon next week.

July 13, 2015

Summer!

I *LOVE* Summer.  The childhood sense of freedom and fun and running and sun and swimming and reading without school to interrupt is a feeling I look forward to each year.

My own sense of Summer isn't tied to the calendar.  Rather, there are several markers I look for and when enough of them have occurred, the weekends feel like I'm on Summer Vacation.

The heat is a big one.  And we haven't had much of that so far this year.

But Saturday, thanks to Jen, I drove out to Richmond for a fun race in the heat.  I'd registered for the 10K, but when I hit the end of the first lap I needed a restroom break.  So, I dropped down to the 5K, finished early, and waited for Jess or Kate (who were doing the 6 hour endurance challenge) to come through so I could accompany them on their next loop.

This meant I got to see Jen finish the 10K.  She ran hard, and I thought she was 3rd woman overall, but I must have missed one, as she ended up 4th.  She did, however, take first in her age group.  Actually, my time wasn't official since I changed races, but according to my Garmin, I ended up 2nd in my age group in the 5K, which was pretty cool.  Plus I got to do the second loop of my non-standard 10K with Jess, and I was next to her when she yelled, "Hey Kate.  26.3 miles!"  Just another day, another marathon, for Jess and Kate.

Check out that age group medal!
Sunday AM, I ran 2 miles with E in more heat, and then did another mile cool down on my own.  Total mileage for the week: 20.92.  Woo hoo, over 20.  Now to start actually training for my fall 5K and 10K...

Back to Summer.  Other things that pique my Summer Sense?

Eating collections of random deliciousness outside and calling it dinner.

Why yes that is leftover veggie burrito, cheese, olive bread and tomatoes for dinner.

Late night sunsets.

View from our backyard.

 The Farmer's Market bounty.






And yes, it's not healthy, but it's true: that first sunburn of the year.  Thanks to the Dirty Dozen running event on Saturday, I have slightly tight skin and my body knows its Summer.

Happy Summer All!

  

July 6, 2015

Electronic Angels?

Almost immediately after posting my last blog post, my laptop went on strike.

Everything slowed down.

Lots of spinning circles.

Emails took forever to send, often requiring me to reboot the machine and open only my email application in order to get them out of the drafts folder and into the sent folder.

The hard drive was spinning at 100% despite essentially nothing being accomplished or run according to the task manager.

I limped along in this frustrating state when I could and my phone when I couldn't until Thursday afternoon, at which point, I decided that the Universe was telling me that I actually *had* to observe the July 4th holiday.

So, I set my out of office, sent some warnings to some folks who might otherwise expect that I would be responsive, and headed up to the mountains, where my cell coverage was so spotty that I couldn't really even check email on my phone.

I had 3 days of nothing but real world direct interactions with humans (other than some texting with my family).

I did the super-hilly-intense in the heat and humidity 3+ mile loop from the cabin every day.  I jumped in the lake.  I read 3 books.  I slept 10 hours a night.  It was glorious.

I was, of course, a bit concerned about returning to the real world.  I couldn't continue in this electronic dark after the holiday weekend, no matter how much I may wish to do so.

So, I ordered a new computer that arrived today.

Interestingly, while my old machine was still broken and slow last night, today it appears to have recovered.

Perhaps the electronic gods just wanted to make sure I got a good vacation (and I did need to buy a new laptop, so that's not upsetting even if the old one isn't truly dead).

Weekly mileage: 15.42.  All in the heat, hills, and humidity.  Most of it super slow, some walking.


June 30, 2015

East Coast Road Trip

E & I had planned to spend the 4th of July holiday in Georgia (immediately after the GA fireworks law made fun legal!).

At the last minute, E was sent out to Boston for a work thing, and then we thought through the logistics of him flying home for just a couple of days and flying back out and it really didn't make any sense, *especially* because we had people like grandparents, uncles, friends, and a corporate office visit we could fit in between Boston and Atlanta.

So, here's what we did while working remotely and driving in the rented Chrysler 200 over the last week or so:


Apparently, on the east coast, there is this thing that happens where water falls from the sky.  Even in June.

This is a friendly perspective on the storms we encountered on approximately 30% of the driving.  We feared flooding.
Anyways, we had a great time catching up with folks in all locations on the map, in a few hiding from the rain, and in all working remotely from hotels and cars (full disclosure, I almost never drove, I was more of the asleep, working, or "entertaining" member of the driving party).

Despite close of quarter pressures, lots of work, time zone ridiculousness, and lack of sleep, we saw and experienced several things that were awesome on this trip, including:
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile walking trail of bricks tracing several historic Boston landmarks.
The Freedom Trail -- Charlestown Bridge

Boston Harbor, from the pier at the end of the Freedom Trai.

Sunset, from the top of the Prudential Building, over the Charles River (Citgo sign!)

Richmond, VA -- This always to tyrants (the abuse of power).
We stopped for the best brunch I've had in years at The Magpie in Richmond.  Seriously.  Southern food meets French/Modern but in a location/decour that has very believable authentic older family member influences such as a stuffed magpie, and repurposed sewing machine treadle lamps.  Did I mention this was the best brunch I'd had in years?  Yeah, brunch.  In the south.  Biscuits (with Manchego, here).  They know how to do it.


Near RVA capitol, a monument to the group who filed the first lawsuit that eventually consolidated to Brown v. Board of Ed.


Note the cars -- this is a huge fireworks building.  Also, no smoking.
 A colleague in North Carolina noted, "South Carolina is perhaps the most lawless state in the Union."  I have no insight into whether this is true or not, but they do have quite a supply of fireworks for sale.

Happy E before buying fireworks to take to the lake.
 And there you have it.  Our week involved much driving and interaction with folks far from home.  It was great to see each and every one of 'em.  I'm thrilled to add DE and VA to my states tally.

In terms of workouts, this week is essentially a complete write-off.  I fit in 18.06 miles total (clearly not much walking) including several interval workouts: 1 min hills at home, some heat intervals in Sacramento, some incline intervals on treadmills, and finally, early this week a technical, hot, but gorgeous loop around this lake in NC:

Bond park lake. The south is a constant reminder that our drought in CA is real.  Nothing is this green where I live.
At one point on this loop, there was a "fitness course."  You know the gig.  Pushups.  Dips.  Hops.  Kicks.  Weird stuff.  Since I'm not truly training for anything I was actually free to opt in.  So I did.  My shoulders and biceps and triceps would like to have a word with me tomorrow.  But while I was torturing them, I got to watch a local kid do hill repeats with his coach timing.  HE WAS FAST.  I told him so on my way out, but I don't think he thought my opinion held any weight.  Regardless, I had such a fun time watching him and doing just one more dip, pushup, etc.  It's so fun to realize that you can do the functional equivalent of someone with youth on their side, simply by doing your best that hot, humid, hilly day.  And I did.  I'm hopeful it will pay dividends.  

And with that, I offer best wishes to all for a great 4th of July holiday.  I've got lots of work and travel and other obligations coming up, but I'm going to be balancing things (full body workouts on trails that aren't scheduled, work that means no sleep, too much celebration, etc.) against 10K training for some fall racing.  It feels good to have some speed goals in the works.

June 21, 2015

Happy Father's Day

Summer squash, cukes, hot peppers & the first tomato -- not bad for first harvest.
 
I remember when my dad was dying (like literally, the last few days of his life, while he was in the hospital and we all hoped this wasn't the final stay), a few things happened that were so funny that everyone in the room laughed.  And we didn't just laugh a little bit.

That laughter in the face of impending death was full-on body-racking tear-jerking belly laughter.  Midway through one of these shared laughter-fits,  I remember being shocked that this was possible.  I was feeling some of the most intense joy and mirth that I'd ever felt.  Right there, in the middle of the worst pain and sadness I'd ever felt.

Today, I woke with a desire to call my brother.  I wanted to thank him for being such a wonderful father.  I'd just dropped his daughter off for camp yesterday and she'd been our guest last week, so I had firsthand knowledge of what a great job he's been doing.  But before I called, I logged into Facebook.  And, I was met with a wall of happy fathers and children.

So. Much. Exuberant. Celebration...   So wonderful.  But also: ouch.

Staring at the screen, I knew there were folks who agreed that fathers should be celebrated, and yet, if they were like me, then this day would also bring their own personal losses painfully in focus (and some wouldn't even have the benefit of brother-fathers or others they can call).

It struck me that this emotion was just like the almost absurd laughter the week my father died.  Humans are capable of such a crazy range of simultaneous emotion, and sometimes, the big feelings in one area open the doors to the big ones in another area.

I feel the most loss for Dad just at the same time that I'm so happy and joyous for all of those around me who are celebrating the dad-is-still-here-and-great things.

So, before I called brother, in hopes of comforting others in (or near) my boat, I selected a fun photo of Dad and posted it with a promise of virtual hugs for anyone who needed them.

In honor of my dad, I'm sending a big huge bear hug to anyone who could use a hug this father's day. {{HUGS}}
The response was impressive.  Many of my friends and Dad's friends and fans liked it -- they'd all been recipients of his hugs, which were the best.  But, also, acquaintances and friends with fathers/husband-fathers who have passed (some of whom I didn't know about), single mothers, and people with difficult relationships with their fathers liked it.  It was clear that even in my small FB circle, there is quite a bit of pain in the middle of the father's day celebration, and I felt honored that Dad had given me an opportunity to acknowledge it and offer big bear hugs.  Who doesn't want a bear hug to soothe their pain? 

What really gave me chills was the comment from the acquaintance on FB who asked if I knew who was in the Barney suit.  I did not.  It was a family friend, very close to Dad, a father, who'd passed just last year.  At times like these I just can't help but feel that Dad is still with me.  I had literally thousands of photos I could have selected to send my FB message of big bear hugs from Dad to those who need them, and yet, somehow, I chose this one, which obviously resonated with Barney's family.  I love it when I feel like Dad is obviously with me.  And today, I do.

In other news, Niece Week destroyed my workouts.  And it was totally worth it. 

Looks like she'll be taller next year.
Weekly mileage: 14.73, most of it walking with niece.  Instead of running, I did a full day of SF fun (Beach Chalet, California Academy of Sciences, Japanese Tea Garden) with Mom and Niece, plus some street soccer kick/pass time and walks with the Niece to lunches, dinners, pedicures, and Jurassic World at our local theatre.  I wouldn't trade the time with her for anything.  But I am excited about my upcoming commitment to quality and speed with more cross-training for the rest of the Summer.

June 14, 2015

Return to Seattle

View from our hotel.
5 years ago, I ran the Rock 'n Roll Seattle half marathon with a friend. This weekend, I returned for a rematch with the same friend. She ran a 45 minute PR! I paced her and was shocked to see the last few intervals all well below 10 min/mile, including one at 9:00/mile. She is fit! And I had a great day running in perfect weather in a gorgeous city celebrating her impressive improved fitness.  We agreed to return in another 5 years!

The week's total distance workouts were 28.1 miles.  I tapered a bit and focused on quality, doing 19% sub 10 min/mile, plus an unexpectedly insane 75 minute hot yoga workout on Thursday, followed by a Friday off to fly, the race on Saturday, and a Sunday full of easy walking to brunch.

I feel great.  Such a fun way to spend a weekend. 

Also, I love how Seattle always seduces me with its perfect weather (except for the winter months when I lived there with E in 2011).


This weekend, the weather was beyond perfect.  Highs of 70 on race day and 75 the other days.  Clear skies.  The mountain was out:

Mt. Ranier, From The Plane

For today's brunch, CC took me to West Seattle.  Did you know there was a beach in Seattle with volleyball and partying like a Californian coastal extravaganza?



 Yeah.  Me neither.

But there is.  And when the weather is nice you can view the space needle from afar, by the beach.
The Seattle Rock 'n Roll is a great race.  A bit crowded (my garmin claimed we finished in 13.5 and I believe it due to the dodging and turns), but the weather is great, the course is picturesque and the people are wonderful.  If I had to do it one more time, my only modification would be to show up to the start later.  They allocate 1-2 minutes per corral and we were in corral 20 or so.  There was no need for us to be there 30 minutes before the start.  Showing up at the start would have been more than fine.

June 7, 2015

Just Getting On Base

Lately, I am not swinging for the fences in any area of my life.  Instead, I'm all about doing the best I can to score some points and preserve my energy for the next at bat. 

I actually went out with girlfriends in a limo on Friday night, staying out past 1 AM enjoying champagne, a drive to sausilito, a delicious dinner, and dancing.   So that gets me mad social points despite essentially doing nothing else social this week other than BBQ and an impromptu brunch with friends who came to us.  Lesson learned? The best way to wait for someone's late flight is circling the airport in a limo while sipping champagne with friends. 
Our night out included a timeless San Francisco Institution
In addition to our monthly books, one of the members of book club suggested that we may want to do an online course on Science Fiction and Fantasy.  I love the idea of developing a stronger knowledge of this literary form, and I hadn't read most of the required reading, so I signed up.  I'm 2/3 through the first set assignment: The Lucy Crane Translation of Grimms' Household Tales.  If this week is any indication, the reading is likely to be several hundred pages a week.  Doable, but a bit more than I typically read (with my eyes) outside of work.  Thankfully, the writing assignments are 270-330 words each week, and we only have to peer-review 4 submissions each week, so that will not take much time.  The trick will be to figure out how to either (i) get the books each week and fit in more reading time at the gym; (ii) justify even more time at the computer reading the online versions; or (iii) cheat and go for audiobooks.  Unfortunately, despite it being the easiest solution, I'm guessing I won't find audiobooks to meet my goals here.

Side Note:  Ashenputtel (the German Cinderella) is a *much* darker story in the Grimms' version than the one you probably know.

In other news, the low-travel plan for June changed, and E's now traveling for 13 days in the next 4 weeks, while I'm traveling for 14.  Flights have been changed, more hotels booked, driving routes calculated and recalculated.  And, of course, I still need to book a rental car.  Not surprising.

More travel?  Yes, please.  I had to drop a race, and we'll have to host less BBQs, plus find a way to deal with the laundry and time zone madness, but overall, I'm excited for both of my trips.

Work has been *very* busy.  I took on several new clients and projects in May.  I've been paying for it with late nights, some weekend work, and insomnia.  I woke at 3:45 AM last Thursday and couldn't go back to sleep.  So, at 4 I plodded to the computer and worked uninterrupted for 3 hours.  The good: work stress levels dropped.  The bad: had to cancel the PM yoga studio session, I was too exhausted.

More work?  Hmmm... I guess I said yes.  And I guess the main thing I gave up was sleep.  Perhaps I can find a way not to do this one again.  

Japanese studies so far have been less than half of what I'd hoped to do.  My online progress report at japanesepod101.com informs me I've done 19 lessons for 16 hours 29 minutes of total study.  I've maybe done an additional 5 hours of time away from the computer.  Keeping this rate up is unlikely to make a huge difference.  But, like most of the stuff I make space for, it's better than nothing.  If I were to choose a big pie-in-the-sky goal with Japanese, it would be to know the kana before I depart for this trip.  If I can do that, I'll consider everything else a bonus. 

More Japanese?  Ideally, yes.  But if not, then at least I'd like to keep it at this level.  One change I could make is to swap out Japanese for audiobooks in my running and chores.  The problem is, language study is even *more* mentally demanding than audiobooks and will slow down both my running and chores.  Right now, I'm not willing to make this change, but perhaps the last month before we leave?

Work-out wise, I'm also just doing fine. I hit my target mileage (35.48) for the week, and did okay on the quality workouts (9% sub 10 min/mile including 6X1 min @ 8 min/mile and a decent 8 miler with the local running ladies today).  I made up a few tabata and then missed enough to be worse off than where I started last week (current status: 6 to make up).  And, as I noted above, the yoga studio session was cancelled due to lack of sleep.   But I just booked this week's session, so that optimism has to count for something right?

More workouts?  I'd love to, but at least for the next month or two, I think just aiming to keep it roughly where it's been is ambitious enough.  I'm looking forward to a visit to Seattle and the Rock 'n Roll half this weekend, where I'll be pacing a friend.  After that, I have no races on the calendar.  So perhaps I will be able to find a local goal race to work towards in July or August. 

The garden is limping along, but it really needs some attention, so hopefully I'll get to that this week as well.

And there you have it.  Lots of singles.  No home runs.  But I'm playing the game, and doing my best to enjoy it.