Wednesday, August 31, 2011

AFC Half Marathon Recap

I had been looking forward to this race for months! Not only was it my 2nd half marathon ever, it was in the cool and beach-y town on San Diego...one of my favorite places.

Having trained in Phoenix ALL.SUMMER.LONG I was confident that I was well conditioned and prepared. The nervousness I felt at my first half was gone and it was replaced with excitement and a goal to speed up my time, and not JUST cross the finish line. Now as I mentioned before, I was also happy I didn't crap my pants, barf or pass out. Goal achieved.

We left for SD earlier than planned as the beach house we were renting was available a night earlier, so we left Phoenix about 7:30 Friday night and rolled into town at about 1:30 am. This left us with a WHOLE extra day of vacation and the chance to get to Expo without stressing about the annoying ass traffic or where to put the dogs if we weren't able to drop them off at the beach house first.

We slept in, had a late breakfast....

Carbo Loading at it's finest

And then we headed to the Expo. It sucked. I'm sorry San Diego, but your traffic on a Saturday afternoon is fricking STUPID. And who puts an Expo right next to the airport? With one way in, and one way out? I was super irritated on the drive there.

I am NOT impressed San Diego

And then I got there, and I was happy. But then the Expo turned out to be pretty bonerific. They only had a handful of vendors and weren't giving out any free swag. Lame. Whatevs.


Yessssss

We layed low the rest of Saturday and hit Trader Joe's so we could cook dinner at the Beach House...

Hey, where's the pasta?





We hit the sack early (I had a glorious night's sleep in the guest bedroom...Wade + Lindsay + Queen Bed = Hell...I know, romantical right? We woke up at the ass crack of dawn (this is fun, right?) 3:45 so we could drive to Balboa Park and get on a bus to be chauffeured out to the start. Cars were not allowed at the start and one of the freeway's was closed (again, those Ass-hats in San Diego) so we arrived super early and had plenty on time to sit between two GIANT rows of port-a-potty's. So gross. We kept ourselves entertained by people watching....runner's are certainly an "eclectic" group.

Sure hope Officer Dangle used his Glide today!

The race started on time, the weather was PERFECTION, and the majority of the course was scenic, well laid out and had good footing. A few parts around the airport were full of potholes and had some pretty nasty crowning. I kind of expected this being in such a large, traffic filled city. There was plenty of water and watered down Gatorade that tasted just like water, blech! The first part was downhill and I gained some speed and time on that. 

Psh, I was like totally right behind him.

I took my Shot Blox around mile 7 (I think) and kept on going, on pace...and then the last 2 miles sucked ass and were uphill through downtown SD and into Balboa part. I was pretty tired the last couple miles. I got my medal, took a stupid looking picture and went to look for Wade and Kara.

Awkward, Table of 1

My goal was to finish in 2:05, 15 minutes off my first half. I came in at 2:05:39. I was a LITTLE disappointed that it wasn't a teeny bit better, but considering that lame ass hill at the end that slowed me down, I'll take it. This little Phoenix Pixie ain't used to all those hills. Note to self, more hill training. I felt kind of nauseous after I got done. I think it was the humidity. I didn't feel hot the entire run (hello training in 90 degrees for the past 2 months) but I was realllllly sweaty and smelly when I got done. Cute huh?

Kara, me and Wadester

My awesome hubby KILLED it. He amazes me. He finished in 1:43:43 and felt great the WHOLE time. I am a very proud wife. And Kara, she's of course, awesome and pretty bad-ass....she did really great as well. And her cute little boy Dom, and her hubby TJ were waiting at the end for us. Anddddd, we had a lot of fun. We celebrated with beer for lunch and wine and pasta for dinner. 

Dinner with our Favorite Neighbors!
Ok, end of story.




Tuesday, August 30, 2011

SD...bite by bite

One of the super awesome things Wade and I have in common....yup, we LOVE food. Good food. We love eating out, trying new restaurants in new cities and sharing in the "experience" of dining out (unless it's shitty than that totally is not cool, duh).

We managed to eat and drink our way through our trip, and it was mighty delish if I do say so myself! 

A few of the places we ate and drank at: The Fishery, Osteria Romantica, George's Ocean Terrace, The CrabCatcher, Zen 5 Sushi, Green Flash, Cass St. Bar and Grill, Woodstock's Pizza and Enoteca Adriano...





Yummmm, me hungry now.

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Grind

Yup, It's Monday. I had a whole week off and honestly, it was wonderful. Typically anytime I take time off, I get emails, or a client calling for something...but this time...it was so quiet. And I really, really appreciated it.

But today is Monday. And I'm back.

I'll post some SD pics up later today after I uncover myself from all these emails and to-do's on my list!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Oh It's Just Thursday....

We cruised to La Jolla....

...We acted all touristy and went to the Famous CrabCatcher for lunch....



...And dined on Lobster and Crab Legs....


....with 2 Lemon Drop martinis (each, whoops)...

....We went to the beach, and of course, got ice cream on the way back....


...Now, I'm sitting on the patio, enjoying a Stone Pale Ale from our little adventure yesterday (more to come on that).



Perfect Thursday. Perfect Day.


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Life's a Beach...

I know, I suck. I've been FAR too busy being a beach bum to post on my lil blog.

We arrived at 1:30 am Friday night/Saturday morning and have been busy doing the following:

Napping, Beach Cruisin, Half Marathoning, Beer Drinking, Seafood Eating, Sunset Loving, Spa Going, Dog Walking fools.....

Cruisin...

The race went smoothly, was a beautiful course and we were both satisfied with our end results. Another one under the belt. I was happy to not shit my shorts, pass out, or fall down the hill at the beginning. Wade was pumped to make the 2 mile hill at the end his bitch. Hey, we're all different, right? Race Recap to follow.

Off to drink wine and eat cheese with my most favorite person ever. Cheers!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Wow, I am a Maroon.

Pretty excited about this... I decided to go ahead and partake in this super awesome little Sweet Swap hosted by Stylish, Stealthy & Healthy and Second City Randomness, two super cute Bloggers!


Basically, we all submit our names, they make random assignments, we bake our favorite sweet and mail to the person assigned too. How cool is that?

Lil problem. I am NOT a baker. I prefer to cook, make messes, drink beer or wine and do 6,462 other things in the kitchen...but not bake. It's far too methodical, measured and precise for my messy and unfocused little self. But I am all about trying new things, and going outside my comfort zone.

Sous Chef #1 and #2

Second lil problem. I was assigned to bake for a vegetarian, which I am not! Yikes. I had planned on making my favorite Lemon Bars, but had to scratch that to find something to accommodate my victim taste tester. I found and modified a recipe for vegan lemon bars, made them, tasted them (like 16 of em) and was pretty happy with my results.

Yup, there sure is tofu in there.

I drove my happy ass to the post office to get them sent out and as I sat in the parking lot, it dawned on me that anything made with tofu would probbbbbably need to be refrigerated. IDIOT aka Maroon aka Moron. I don't know why I say Maroon, I just do ok? Seriously, sometimes I worry about myself. I immediately took the Lemon Bars to my office to be consumed by the hungry vultures and told myself it was no big deal. I had other things that needed to get done, like going to lunch, actually working and being tortured (more on that later).

I did manage to make a total disaster area out of my kitchen...

Where's my housekeeper when I need her? Oh wait...

So back to square one. I have another of my my original favorites that I can modify fairly easy and bust out and ship before we leave for Cali tomorrow!!!


Il'l let ya know if I eff this one up or not. 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

3 Thing Thursday

Dear Blog World,

I am new around these parts.. Thank you for welcoming me with open arms. In an attempt to let people know who I am, here is me showing you who I am, and the reason I am the way I am, one week at a time....

1. Horseback Rider
Yup. I am a cowgirl at heart. One of my first jobs at age 16 was at Saba's Western Wear. I wore Wrangler's and boots and sold lots of sweet cowboy/girl attire. I got my first horse around the age of 5 or 6 and traveled all around the country to compete. It was an amazing experience and "hobby" as a young girl. I think it taught me responsibility, how to lose gracefully and how to win without becoming supercilious. Looking back now, I truly am grateful to my parents for supporting me and giving me a reason to stay out of trouble (that was much later in life) I don't ride anymore, but it will always hold a special place in my heart...And yes, my Mother used to hide money under her mattress so my Dad didn't know how much she spent. Dedication right there...

Nerd Alert Circa 1998.

2. Lover Of All Things Pink
 I am woman, hear me roar. Pink cell phone cases, lip gloss, water bottles and accessories galore. I draw the line at tacky, but Gosh I sure do love that color. It makes me feel girlie and feminine and bad-ass all at the same time when I rock my bright pink Nike Lunar Glides and matching shorts....pink = awesome.


3.  Middle Sister
 I am the middle child. But in most cases, I am not your "typical" middle child (as "studies" show). I was not attention starved or not paid attention to. In fact, my childhood was quite the opposite. My parents were amazing, supportive, patient and absolute saints for dealing with the 3 of us, really. I was friends with BOTH my brother and sister, more so with my brother growing up and being so close in age and today I can call my sister one of my best friends...but we all had and continue to have special relationships with each other. There aren't too many people who I can 100% be myself around, act like a spaz, and they never think anything of it Now don't me wrong. I was and can still be bratty and loud and crazy and spastic...but I chalk that up to me just bein moi!

Team Awesome (my wedding 11/2009)


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Busy Busy...

I haven't blogged in 3 days, yowzers! Here is a recap of what I have been up too since last Friday:

Friday night:
Me + pizza + movies = awesome. Nuff said.
Saturday:
12 miler with my girl Kara, drive to Tucson, dinner and dancing with friends.
Sunday: Slept in (heaven), late breakfast, drive home from Tucson, costco trip, QT with the Hubs
Monday: UGH, I spent ALL day painting, cleaning our rental condo. Being a landlord is SUPER annoying.

So now it's Tuesday, I have lots on my list of To-Do's before heading out of town Saturday. I am in "Taper Mode" right now, so my training is pretty easy this week.

Monday: Was supposed to do yoga, but spent 77 hours cleaning and painting
Tuesday: 4.5 mile run and weight session
Wednesday: Track workout (3 miles of 5k pace intervals, 30 rest in between)
Thursday: 3 mile easy run
Friday: Yin Yoga
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: RACE DAY!

XOXO

Friday, August 12, 2011

I'm Carb Conscious

Ya, not so much...but those are the exact words out of Wade's mouth last night as he shoveled THAT into his mouth:

Move along people, no carbs here.

I almost DIED with laughter. Don't get me wrong, he's eats like a champ at home as I prepare and cook almost all our meals (with love I might add, natch). His main fail is lunchtime. Yesterday was pizza and wings at Oregano's aka the Best Place of Earth.

You see, we were discussing food and running and health and he was "poo-pooing" my salad saying he needs to eat meat and REAL food. Typical man. I prefer to eat something delicious and healthful, and that doesn't leave me feeling like I need to be carted out Willy Wonka style. And really, what IS the definition of "real food"?

All I ate was gum, swearsies.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE pizza and beer. I die for it. I really really could eat it everyday and not feel bad about it. BUT, as with anything...it's all in moderation.

Just me and my Nimbus

So this morning our conversation was this:

W: "I need to eat clean today"
L:   "Oh really, why is that?"
W: "Didn't you hear me last night? I almost threw up"
L:  "Oh yikes, that's not good...I wonder why?"
W: "Ya, it must have been all the crap I ate yesterday, my body did not like that"
L:   Smirks....

I feel like my body does better when I feed it good nutritious food. A daily diet chock full of veggies, fruit, lean protein and copious amounts of water. Of course, I am no dietitian and we are all different in terms of works for us but I think it's pretty simple....just like your food should be.

We ate at Rhythm and Wine for date night. We had never been here before, but have been to their sister restaurant several times and always liked it. Cute decor, live music, LARGE wine list and good service! The menu in my opinion was just OK though. They had several selections, but not too many options that were actually healthy. I chose the Calistoga House Salad (baby green, fresh roasted turkey, sun-dried cherries, slivered almonds, Chevre, Penne Rigate with Zinfandel Balsamic). It was REALLY good. Perfect size and a lot of flavor! I washed it down with a couple of brews and some fresh warm house bread. I left a happy camper. Wade had the carb Scottsdale's Best Burger (WHY do people think it's "the best", I mean really) and based on his night last night, I think it's safe to say he won't be having that again!

Yup, licked the plate.

Happy Friday...off to drink a beer and be lazy and awesome, all at once. Gotta get up early tomorrow!












Thursday, August 11, 2011

CHEEEEESE.

I got my teeth cleaned today. Most people hate the dentist...I LOVE it.

Don't mind my wonky eye and greasy hair...

I did my usual early run (gotta avoid too much swamp ass around these parts) of 5.5 miles. I did just OK, but my pace was slower than I hoped for. My legs were sore. Again. Oh well.

One stellar moment of my run today...I ran past the "Psycho Bike Lady"  and she actually MOVED over! I think she was running her mouth and talkin smack, but I had my headphones on and just kept on truckin. I don't have time for you, lady! Plus, I think she was wearing a fanny pack, so that just made her 10 times more stupid in my book.

The hubs are I are going on a date tonight...he's heading up to our cabin and I'm headed down to Tucson to visit my BFF and cause some trouble. ;)  I'm especially excited because I will be chauffeuring around an old friend visiting from Alaska. PUMPED! We haven't decided on where we will be dining (and I don't know if he actually knows about my plans) but I hope it's somewhere tasty!

 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

12 Days Out!

Happy Tuesday Lovas!

Here is a quick overview of my training for the week.....I have 1 long runs left, 1 full week and one taper week left to bust my butt!

Monday - Flow Yoga
Tuesday - 5.5 mile run (+ strength or plyo)
Wednesday - 3 mile hill run
Thursday - 5.5 mile run (+strength or plyo)Friday - Rest or Yoga
Saturday - 12 mile run (race pace, targeted at 9:40)
Sunday - Rest or easy run

Total Mileage: 26 miles

I have the vacation itch in a bad way. I dream of sinking my little toes into the sand and getting out of town for a while. I feel like a genius for planning a race around vacation, I get the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned. Who's the smart one now?


Insert Cold Beer Here


Also, for anyone interested, my girl Reese's just posted a good read on training for her upcoming Chicago Marathon using the Run Less, Run Faster method. She's pretty cray cray if ya ask me for doin this, but her blog is hyster and she's ricing ass. (But don't enter too many times cause I want to win)

Monday, August 8, 2011

Namaste, yo

According to my super nerdy "training spreadsheet", I hadn't been to my all time favorite yoga class in 6 weeks.

Whoa.

I suppose I have been too busy getting in 2-3 strength training sessions each week that I ditched my Monday afternoon class in favor of pumping iron and adding in cardio cross-training. Now don't get me wrong, I HAVE practiced yoga in the past 6 weeks...just not with my favorite teacher, Adam. The class typically pulls in 8-10 people, many of those faces I recognize each week, some not. But today was different. Today there was 3. Yup...just me and 2 other girls I flow with on a somewhat regular basis. They both happen to frequent the same wine shop down the street as I do.

As we all sat on our mats and Adam stood in front of us, one of my fellow yogis pipes up and says "can we talk in class today".

So today we talked. We giggled, we acted silly and Adam also pushed us into some strange and challenging moves that we have yet to be pushed into. He also busted out his guitar and sang an original song that we so fondly refer to as "The Marshmallow Song". It's a Christmas jingle that sounds well, marshmallow-y. It was the perfect theme song to my final pose. (Savasana/Corpse pose is the bomb, I'm especially good at it cause I just have to lay there and play dead)


I left class today feeling my typical sense of "Zen" that yoga so famously does to most people....that quiet that always washes over me after I bow my head and clasp my hands together at the end of class. But I also felt really happy. A different happy than my usual. Silly. Connected. I made a promise to myself to attend my favorite yoga class every Monday. Stick to my nerdy spreadsheet.

Super Dork. Yup, I do this.

No excuses.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Great Music Debate...

Happy Saturday!

I am constantly reading articles on blogs and in magazines on one's debate on running with or without music. Here's my thought on it....WHY would I punish myself and be stuck listening to my heavy Darth Vader breath and the monotonous thudding of my own feet? Why not skip, dance and head-bob through my run with tunes that will motivate me, push me, challenge me and cheer for me all at the same time? I am guilty of singing LOUD on a lonely desolate street when a great song comes on, sometimes I even play a little air guitar....doesn't everyone do that? No? Er, ok then...

So here's how my run when down this lovely Saturday morning. I checked my beloved iPod last night in my pre-run ritual before going to bed. Full battery in the trusty iPod, check. Garmin plugged into charger, check. Blistex SPF30, 1 stick of gum, sunglasses, 2 Shot Bloks, and Body Glide lined up on my kitchen counter (so I'm slightly neurotic, whatevs), check. My outfit, shoes and socks lined up in my closet, check and double check. My neighbor and running buddy dropped off our frozen Gatorade's along on our route and we were off. We typically run the first 1 miles or so together, talking and warming up. Wade always takes off first and Kara and I plug along behind him. Today I hit the PLAY button on my trusty iPod and to my horror, I heard nothing. Silence. I think I screamed on the inside just a little bit. Of course, because it was 4:45am and dark I had to wait to get to a streetlight to see the blank screen.

KILL ME.

I have NEVER run without my iPod. Not even a mile. Not gonna lie, I freaked out a little bit and debated turning around and going back home like a big baby. So I pulled my head of out my ass, put my big girl pants and told myself "you'll be fine". And ya know what? I was FINE. I had some time to myself, just me and the empty streets. I actually watched the sun come up over the desert, and the hot air balloons slowing rising up with it. It was peaceful and serene for the most part. However, I got a little bored at times. I looked over my shoulder more than once thinking some creeper was behind me, only to discover it was my own feet pitter-pattering along the pavement. And oddly enough, I kept my headphones on. Why? Who knows, it made me feel complete or something nutso like that. I crossed paths my husband at mile 10 and begged him to give me his. And he did. Reason 1,760,252 that I love that man. He was listening to Justin Timberlake (uh huh) and the second that music hit my ears, I was off. I ran my 2 miles under 9:00/mile. Which for me at miles 10-12, is fast.

Moral of the story. Check your iPod that morning to make sure it has juice. And if it doesn't, it'll be alright.

Promise.

P.S. it wasn't my battery, it's just straight up dead. Perfect.

RIP (source)

Thursday, August 4, 2011

I'm a New Woman!

So since my little scare the other day and spending a day feeling like the Girl In A Bubble, I have completed 2 runs and a nice and schweaty strength sesh and guess what, I'm all good. Here is what my strength session consisted of:

3 x 15 Calf Press on Leg Machine (no extra weights added)
3 x 15 Walking Lunges (each leg 15 lunges/set)
3 x 15 Plie Squats with 10 pulses at end of each set, 10 lb plate
3 x 10 One Legged Squats, 1 10 lb plate
3 x 12 Barbell Curls, 30 lb barbell
3 x 12 Incline Butterfly, 10 lb hand weights
3 x 15 Cable Rope Overhead Tri Extensions, 25 lbs
3 x 12 Ab Crunch Machine, 20 lbs
3 x 12 Hanging Leg Raise Machine (no extra weights added)

Goals after seeing this on "paper". Up my reps to 15-20, keeping weight the same and eventually increasing weight.

On another note....3 times now, this crazy woman on a bike has tried to play chicken with my and my husband while running in our neighborhood...and we don't even run together! We have HUGE shoulders and plenty of other bikers are courteous enough to share with us as we cross paths. I got a little pissed off and went all WT on her today and YELLED really loud as she almost hit me. Whoops. But I kinda felt better.

Some people are so effin rude, I swear.

Source

I won't say what my slightly more brazen husband did to scare her when she did the same thing to him....

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Meet Sadie

Aka Mini Shepard, Midget Dog, Best DF (dogfriend), Smalls, Teeny, Mini....

How was my pace Mom?
 
I know, I'm a total lunatic. 

Girl In A Bubble...

So halfway through my run yesterday morning, I stopped and retied my shoes. I never do this, but my new Brooks have felt quite a bit looser on my feet than my last pair of Nike's. I cinched em pretty tight around mile 3 and proceeded with my run thinking the whole time "damn that's tight". I got home and did my usual ritual of drinking water, mopping the gallon of sweat of my body and stretching. About 30 minutes later a sharp pain in my ankle hit me like a ton of bricks! Of course I didn't say much to Wade (I try not to be a whiny beotch), but grabbed an ice pack and thought I'd be good. Of course, it got increasingly worse and I'm sure the fact that I was freaking out the whole time didn't help.

"What if I can't finish my training"
"What if I injure myself further"
"What if I can't run this half"
"What if I can NEVER RUN AGAIN"

*Cue dramatic Lifetime movie music here

Being the Medical Specialist I am and having a degree in Google Searchology, I discovered it was my tibialis anterior tendon ( <--- fancy eh?) that was strained. I asked my Chiropractor friend if tying my shoes too tight could have done it and he said "absolutely, just ice it and be less stupid from this day forward". Great advice, although I can't guarantee the less stupid part, I mean who ties their shoes too tight? I iced, Aleve'd, Icy Hot'd, and even wore my compression socks all day...even to the grocery store, sexy.

Hey, at least I wore sweats!

I woke up this morning feelin 99% better...I'm going to run on the treadmill today vs pavement to give it a lil more cushion.

Anyone else had a scare close to a race? I'm SO paranoid to get hurt or sick. Yikes!

"Wanna hug it out?"