Confession(s)

I live in Arizona. It's hot. Waking up at 5:00 am every.damn.morning to throw myself onto the nasty concrete streets got old.

Confession.

The treadmill has become my friend.

Who am I?

Oh ya know...just driving to go run. Makes sense.

I blame working out at the gym in the mornings, and being on a schedule to meet someone at a specific time...if I wasn't already there, then maybe it wouldn't be so tempting to hop on that treadmill and fall into an easy and comfy pace and the luxury of having a water bottle, Pandora and a bathroom all within reach. The past few weeks have been sprinkled with far less outdoor running (minus San Diego) and way to much indoor running.

I mean having giant commercial fan blowing on my back and plenty of people watching to push my through my runs makes it kind of awesome, right?

Confession.

It makes me feel guilty. Like I'm not a "real" runner. Which is really really stupid. But I miss the streets, the coyote encounters, the hot air balloons just above the desert floor and the fact that I actually run faster outside than inside.

So I took it the streets today. No excuses. No reasons. No expectations. And I was slow. And sweaty as fuck. But I felt 100% times better after 5 mile shitty miles than I do after 5 treadmill miles.

If I want to get fast, I need to run fast. And in order to run fast...I need cooler temps. I need natural hills. And I need the pressure of not looking like a total douche walking and not running from the cars passing by. 

I gave myself permission to use the treadmill on the 2 days I train with Naydine, because it's easy and it makes sense. But once September hits...watch out streets, I'm comin for ya.

Will Ride for Food

{Whoops....forgot to post. From Friday}

At the recommendation of our friendly neighbor upstairs, we hopped on our cruisers and headed down to the Hippie-filled town of Ocean Beach to check out a restaurant Guy Fieri visited on Triple D called Hodads. He told us it was about a 2.5 mile ride, easy peasy.

It was 5.25....with a HUGE hill both ways. Lil off. On a single speed beach cruiser, it felt long.

I earned my burger. OK, not really, but hey, the little jaunt was a nice one. It's been chilly the last 2 days so it felt nice to ride in the cool beachy weather. It's out last day here so we wanted to do something fun and off our beaten path.

I am not a big burger person (or a red meat person really) but I was game to check this little place out and Wade is a HUGE burger guy, so I kicked my prissy burger attitude to the curb and rolled with it.  It was on point and I got about 1/2 way through my burger before throwing the napkin in. It was stacked high with beef, onions, a bacon patty (yup), lettuce, pickles, cheese, tomato and mustard/mayo.

Washed down with a cold beer.

Yum.

I'm going to go lay down and be fat now.

A Sunny Tuesday

We woke up to BEAUTIFUL weather, overcast this morning and a sunny breezy afternoon!

• 3.25 mile boardwalk run

• 12 minute HIIT workout...on the beachfront patio

• 1 mile dog walk

• 9.5 mile beach cruise to La Jolla

I'd say it was an active Tuesday! We also squeezed in a Mexican lunch and a couple of cold beers with limes....and a little shopping.

We are heading to Del Mar in a couple hours to have early dinner and drinks with a friend, and tomorrow.....we are going to be beach bums.

AFC Recap, 2012 Version

AFC Recap from last year here.

Well. I did it. And it SUCKED. OK, not really.

I'm not going to type out a full play by play because let's be honest...does anyone actually read that? And oh ya, I'm still on vacation!

I was slightly worried going into this race for a few reasons:

1. It was hot. 72 degrees at the start line. And in San Diego, that's hot. And this course is hilly
2. My left knee/muscle thing I have had issues with in the past felt a little off.
3. Being sick a week before the race left me feeling less than confident. (I know, so stupid)

Rockin our Lulu Gear

It was hot. Like all my clothes were soaking wet hot. It was a combo of sweat/water I dumped on my head at every aid station/people hosing down runners from their hoses.

Being an AZ girl, I wasn't too worried about the weather. And I did fine. I drank water at EVERY station (which I don't always do) and plugged along at a comfortable pace. Once I realized how warm it was I settled into the run and just tried to enjoy myself. But holy moly was it hot. I could feel my skin burning. No escaping it either. No shade. No breeze.

And I did. Races are so fun. 13.1 miles goes by so fast. So many people to watch. Signs to read. High fives to give. I knew I wasn't going to PR and I was totally good with that.

That hill at the end was just as ugly as I remembered.

I was crusty and wet at the finish line. But I was smiling. I felt good. No pains. No aches.

I rode my shiny new cruiser the rest of the day. Grubbed on the beach. Oyster Shooters. Had a few beers.

Ended the evening with some delicious pizza. More beers. More cruising.

We are moving rental houses today...rough experience with the one we are in but all things happen for a reason. This reason is, the new place is ONE house back from the beach/boardwalk in Mission Beach. I'm so excited I can't even stand it.

Wade and I have a date tonight at one of our favorite San Diego restaurants, George's. I brought a fancy new dress and I might even wear wedges vs. flip flops.

Off to the beach.