Am I Tough Enough?

Calvin did indeed receive his purple belt today. I took pictures but am too lazy to post them tonight. All I did for exercise today was Karate, which I don't usually even count as exercise, so I tapered well. I ate my pasta and am ready to race tomorrow. This is gonna be a weird race. I've never done a relay type event like this. Maybe there aren't too many of them for a reason. I will let you know. It's supposed to be in the 80's while I'm running. Normally, I wouldn't mind, but it has been so cold lately, I'm not used to the heat. Oh well, I get to run and I love to run.

Calvin's Birthday

Today is Calvin's Birthday. Happy Birthday!!! He is 10, which means I've been a mom for 10 years, which seems impossible. Calvin said that for his birthday challenge, he plans to open 10 presents. Why didn't I think of that? I think I will add that to my challenge. He also wants to watch 10 good movies.

Calvin is also getting a belt change in Karate today, which is a big deal. He will go from orange to purple. Great timing to have a promotion on your birthday.

Since I have a race this weekend, I am trying to take it a little easy this week. I went on a run Tuesday with Phoebe and had to pull her behind me until I finally just took off her leash. I figured it wasn't worth the frustration and she actually did really well. I normally try to run somewhere with her where I don't have to worry about a leash, but due to time constraints, I had to run from my house. Phoebe is a great trail running dog, but not so good around the neighborhood. She once did 30 miles with me.

Yesterday late afternoon I went on what seems to have become my Wednesday night run. Last week I got snagged by some barbed wire on this trail, and was a little worried about tetanus. It seems the 48 hour "lock-jaw" period has passed. I still should go get a current tetanus shot, I know. I like the longer days, it makes working out after work so much easier. I love this trail, it's really overgrown and I have to keep finding my way back to the trail. At dusk the moon was rising on one side and the sun was setting the other direction. Beautiful.

I haven't been willing to admit it, but my knees are bothering me again. I just had some acupuncture and that usually helps quite a bit. I am trying to lay off the hills just until this race Saturday. Actually, all I run is hills, so, never mind. The good news is that my left foot feels better after getting some deep massage on that leg and foot.

I felt great at master' swim this morning. I think the tapering leaves me with a lot of excess energy. My friend Kristine said my sprints looked "effortless" and I was going fast. That made me feel good (thanks Kristine). Something clicked with me about my stroke today, one of those "ah ha" moments. I plan to go out to red rocks for a little hiking and bouldering this afternoon if I can finish some work first. I just found out my "office queen" is leaving on an adventure. I don't know what I will do without her, truly, but want her to go explore her life. I am sad and happy about this, and a little freaked out.

Okay, I'm not very good at blogging and pictures yet, but I'll get there. The pics are my kids and we are hiking on Figueroa mtn and shoppping for bunny costumes. Abigail is modeling my potential bunny stuff, but since then many people have come forward with great ideas, anyone???

Today we spontaneously celebrated Calvin's birthday, which is really March 30th (yes, another Aries), but he will be with his Dad, who is frantically trying to plan some kind of party for him with my help. (my help??) Yeah, well, I think you're gonna have to try that on your own this time.... Anyhow, the impromptu party was great and super fun. Cheesecake, mmmm.

I did run this morning and now it's raining, can you believe it? No one told me about this. It rained last week, what's going on???

 

 

 

 

Lisa and Other News

I have consulted the birthday challenge guru and have received some excellent advice on how to structure this 24 hour challenge. I think I will start on Friday the 6th at 4:00, with the intention of finishing at 4:00 the next day. This way I can do the bouldering and swimming on Friday, maybe a little wine tasting, get some sleep, then start the bike early Saturday. I will be able to start the "bootleg" run at a decent hour so all my fabulous friends can join in.

I am really pleased that my friend Lisa, from Houston, will be joining in the fun. For those of you that are not familiar with Lisa, she is always up for a challenge. She did a half ironman last July with hardly any training and finished. She is super amazing. She has also done a couple of marathons this way. This is why I know that she will be right there with me suffering.

Today I went out to Red Rocks off Paradise Rd for some bouldering. I forgot that when the weather is nice, and a weekend, you might as well call it "My Big Fat Red Party Rocks". I was just out there 2 months ago and it was clean (relatively) and quiet, but now, it's totally trashed. Very disappointing. I was nervous about the kids going barefoot and the kind of people that were around us. I'm not really protective of my kids in this way, but these people were kinda scary. Anyhow, I got some training in and that's what really matters, right?

I'm super stoked about the legs I got for Are You Tough Enough? race (March 31st). I got 6 and 8, which are both on dirt and hilly. It also means I will have to ride my mountain bike between the two, while #7 runs. The last leg (8) is down the dirt road on Refugio to the bridge over the river. This is one of my favorite training runs, so it's perfect. Yeah!! See, I knew those pigs were good luck. My legs (of the relay) combined are only about 15-16 miles. No problem.

I'm heading out for a run right now. I never made it to the track last night since it was raining. I tried to simulate the workout on the treadmill. Ugh. I am really bad at training indoors, it feels like I'm being punished. I can see people walking by the small garage window, it's awful. If only I could get the kids to take up running.