Three Things Thursday: Awesome/Not Awesome

1a. I've been super exhausted lately. Last night, I think I went to bed and was passed out by 10pm. Awesome.

1b. Until I woke up, sweating and heart racing, at 3am, because I'd been dreaming about running from zombies. Not just, like, jogging through the woods from zombies. Like, with my entire family - all my kids, my parents, my brother and sisters, all of us. IN A SMART CAR. I don't even know. It was stressful. Today, still exhausted. I feel like I stressed out, all night. Not Awesome.

2a. Disneyland Half Marathon is this weekend, and with that, comes Becka and A!!!! I love when they visit, and so does Gabby - she's been counting down the days until they get here. Awesome.

2b. wtf.

Not awesome.

3a. I got 400's back on my schedule this week. I LOVE 400's. Awesome.

3b. That's what I thought Sunday when I saw that on my schedule. Turns out, I like them a lot less when I haven't been doing ANY speedwork. They're fast. And hard. It was not awesome.

The laziest laze that ever lazed

The "Plan" for last week...

Monday: Cross training
Tuesday: 7 miles, 1 easy, 1 @ 10:00, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:45, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:30, 1 easy
Wednesday: Into the Wild OC Trail Run!
Thursday: 6 miles, 10x400
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cross training
Sunday: 8 miles

Things I actually did:

Wednesday: 5 mile trail race
Thursday: Shopping
Saturday: 6.2 easy miles with Will

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My days of lazy are dwindling down, I know, and a whole new marathon training cycle is closing in. So I guess I decided to take full advantage of the "No Plan" Plan while I can. Also, I'm really lazy.

Plan for this week, maybe:
Monday: Dinner with friends
Tuesday: 7 miles, 10x400
Wednesday: Cross training
Thursday: 7 miles, 5 easy, last 2 hard
Friday: Cross training
Saturday: Maybe a 5k?
Sunday: Disneyland Half with BECKA!

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Two excellent purchases I made this weekend:

Add caption

And part of our Disneyland Half costume....

I KNOW.

Purchase I did NOT make....
TaTa Tamer my ass. False advertising, I say.


Sunday morning I spent trying to find a fall 10K. As luck would have it, I took #1 shopping later that morning, and my favorite local race company was offering 20% off their fall races outside Whole Foods! I've been wanting to run Make Room For Santa for a few years, it just never worked out for me, until now. With the discount, it was a steal. (Related, I've updated my Come Run With Me! page up there ^^)

INTERNET! FIX ME!

Last night, I'm sitting innocently on the couch (which is broken, thanks, kids, and currently being held up on one corner by MY COOKBOOKS, I know, don't laugh, I swear "new couch" is on my to do list for this weekend), when I decided I was thirsty, or something. Maybe I wanted ice cream. Who knows. Anyway.

I stood up, and BAM. Searing pain.

From where, I hope you're wondering?

My big toe.

Specifically, running along the side of my foot, radiating from the base of my big toe.

Here.

And then it went away, so I didn't think about it again.

Then, this morning, I woke up, and just MOVING my toe hurt. After I walked around for a minute, it was okay.

These are the facts:
It seems to hurt worse when my foot is flexed.
It seems to hurt specifically when my foot is flexed AND my toe is flexed - as if I'm pushing off on that foot. So basically, when I'm MOVING. (this does not bode well for 10x400's tonight)
It has not hurt at all, ever
I have not introduced anything new - no new shoes, socks, etc.
The pain kind of radiates from where I'm pointing ^^, then sort of down underneath, ending at the top part of my arch. Does that make sense?

You guys. What is happening to my foot??? Is my toe going to fall off?

Into the Wild OC Trail Run - Recap

Things I learned tonight:

Sand is REALLY HARD to run in


Small races really ARE my favorite

Trail run finish lines are THE BEST EVER.

I've been wanting to try some trail racing for awhile, but with marathon training taking over my life the last 6 months, I just didn't bother. Yeah, I ran on some trails a couple times, but no real training.

I wanted to find a low pressure race, inexpensive, and low mileage. What if I hated it? What if I sucked at it? I hate to invest a ton of time and cash on something new.

So when I found Into the Wild OC Trail Runs - 8k race, at a park on my way home from work, and for only $35 - I was on it.

After fueling up with some delicious stuff...

I headed over to Irvine Regional Park, to find the packet pick up area. Heads up, if you're running Race 2 in the series, there were no signs for where to go - but head to the zoo. You can't miss the race area. Picking up my bag, race tee, and bib was super fast and easy, and there are real bathrooms in the parking area.



I was running with Julie, and her foot is semi-injured-ish, so we lined up towards the back.
With a cowbell jingle, we started through the start line, down a bike path, before we hit the dirt.
I've never been to this park, so I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out, a LOT of the trails were loose gravel...
and beachy like sand.

So less than ideal for running.
There were a few climbs...

...but nothing super crazy. We ran through some open scrub brush areas, some woodsy type areas, straight up beach sand, and then back out to the bike path for the end of the loop.

The course was well marked for the most part...

not that way!

The only sketchy part was through a sand field, but I think it was my fault - should have just followed the ties, not watched for the white arrows in the sand (duh).

The scenery did not suck


At the end, we passed everyone in our sights, including the dude who wore his camelback (why!? There were three aid stations!).

It was pretty much the most fun ever, and I'm totally in love with trail racing. I mean, while I was running, I'm pretty sure I told Julie I was never running this race again, with the sand and gravel and tiny boulder fields, but runnesia tells me otherwise, I'm really excited to try this again in a few weeks. I don't think the hills were anything unmanageable, and I think racing it a little bit might be fun.

TL;DR, the race was really well organized, the course well marked, trail runners are the nicest people in the world, and the swag was RAD.

awesome tech tee AND a keychain medal!

If you don't mind slogging through some sand, highly recommend.

Stuff I'm going to do, hopefully, and a thank you, with some preaching on the side

Plan for the week....

Last week:
Tuesday: 53 push ups, 170 sit ups, 2x30 sec wall sits, 3x30 sec plank; 3x1600 - goal pace 9:00, actual 9:00, 8:58, 8:47. 800 RI, 6 miles total.
Wednesday: 192 sit ups, 60 push ups, 2x30sec plank, 2x30 sec wall sits, 10 min arms.
Friday: 1mi warm up, 2@10:00, 2@9:45, 1mi cool down. Actual: 10:51, 9:58, 9:59, 9:41, 9:40, 10:30.
Sunday: 10 miles hilly.

I totally forgot to do my third day of cross training! Oops.

This week:
Monday: Cross training
Tuesday: 7 miles, 1 easy, 1 @ 10:00, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:45, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:30, 1 easy
Wednesday: Into the Wild OC Trail Run! I am SUPER excited about this
Thursday: 6 miles, 10x400 (also SUPER EXCITED about this, I love 400's!)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cross training
Sunday: 8 miles

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The aftermath of The Steroid....

She's pretty unpleasant this week. Also, she's eating pepperoni non-stop. It's weird.





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Regarding Friday's video post....

First, thank you for all the kind thoughts. Honestly, before I posted it, I had a gchat conversation with someone, that kind of consisted of me cracking up at the video, and the hilariousness of it.

I really didn't intend for it to be sad, or whatever. I forget how NOT commonplace this is for most people.

Margot posted last week about being sad, and being cool with being sad.

This is kind of the thing, with me. I know I downplay a lot of this stuff - I get a lot of comments and emails about how "well" we handle things.

Really, I assure you, I have moments where I certainly DON'T handle things well. Sam posted last week, about hating autism. I know, it's like a no-brainer, of COURSE you hate autism. I hate cancer.

I don't want to put words in Sam's mouth, so just speaking from my perspective, it just becomes a part of your life, like going to the grocery store. It just IS. But sometimes, there's a bad day. Sometimes, I don't WANT to go to the uckfing grocery store. Sometimes, driving home, I melt down for a few minutes, with no catalyst - just because.

But overall, there's just not a ton I can do about it. So being sad, it just won't change anything, except then in ADDITION to the kid with cancer, I'd have a headache from crying. Not worth it.

What I CAN do, and hope I've done semi-successfully, is put a face to pediatric cancer.

A few weeks ago on Facebook I posted a link to an article about "chemobrain" in pediatric cancer patients.

I've bitched and complained about The Steroid over, and over, and over.

You guys, I complain about how unruly and unpleasant it makes my 5 year old, but just read about some of these actual, FOR REAL effects of the Dex:

• Patients exposed to dexamethasone had lower vocabulary, reading, mathematics, verbal memory and cognitive flexibility results as well as poorer emotional regulation
• they may be at risk for early-onset dementia and early aging decline
• [Dexamethasone therapy] has impacted how well they respond to and regulate stress
• association with the development of avascular necrosis of bone

The other treatment she received the day Friday's video was shot, was intrathecal methotrexate - this is delivered directly to her spinal fluid via lumbar puncture (the "procedure"). From that same article:

Children and adolescents suffer verbal learning and memory declines within 72 hours of receiving chemotherapy

It is unknown whether they recover from cognitive adverse effects

I'm not fundraising right now. I'm not angling for anything. But this stuff pisses me off, and apparently, the way I cope with being sad and angry is by trying to do things. Sam runs and starts a movement, Margot listens to Radiohead. I get fiesty about articles describing significant cognitive impacts.

None of these are right, or wrong, they just are.

I guess that's all I have. This isn't incredibly coherant, just some rambling.

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“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances

Yesterday was procedure day for Gabby - lumbar puncture, tons of chemo, and the steroid is back.

Every time she has the procedure, she asks for no "silly medicine".

It gets good at 50 seconds in.



If I didn't laugh, I'd lose my mind.

WIAW. Kind of. But not really.

I am kind of perplexed by What I Ate Wednesday, and how it's posted on Wednesday's. I mean. Do you take pictures of the previous Wednesday's food, and save them for posting next week? Do you take random pictures of food all week, and post what you think looks best? I don't get it. Also, I would never actually do it properly, because I love food, and there's no way I'd be futzing around with it taking pictures before I ate every time.

No way.

Anywhos. Things I've Eaten and Took a Picture of in the Last Week or So......

Mmmm. Froot Loops.

Pizza. It's my favorite. I think I could eat this every single day forever.

Cool Lime Refresher. Not enough rum.

Quinoa tabouleh

Quinoa tabouleh is super easy.

 

Cook your quinoa - I always make a cup (dry), and it's PLENTY for us plus leftovers.

 

Let the cooked quinoa cool. Good idea to make it ahead - I try to remember to do it in the morning.

 

Chop up a boatload of fresh parsley, a bell pepper, one full bunch of green onion, one large cucumber (peeled and seeded).

 

When quinoa is cooled, add the vegetables, salt and pepper, and mix. Add about 1/2c lemon juice and 1/4c olive oil - eyeball these until it looks right to you, and taste it to adjust accordingly.

 

That's it.

 

Best served with heated fresh pita bread, trust me.

 

 

This summer nonsense can eff off.

For the last 3 months, while the rest of the country has been whining about The Hot, I've been sitting comfortably in SoCal's "hot" - 75* and sunny, cool in the mornings and evenings. Downright sweater weather at night.

Until last week.

I forget, every year, that summer comes to late SoCal - once everyone else starts cooling down, and I start seeing things about crisp mornings, and get all twitchy to plan some fall mountain getaway, SoCal decides, phawk, that's RIGHT. It's SUMMER! And suddenly it's a bajillion degrees, and even humid. HUMID.

It's so unpleasant.

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Plan for the Week!

Last week...
Monday: 4 miles; 3 mi easy, last mile fast (well, 9:20, fast for meeeee)
Tuesday: Cross training - sit ups, push ups, plank, wall sits, some yoga
Thursday: 6 miles; 6x800. Hard.
Saturday: Cross training - push ups, sit ups, plank, wall sits, yoga, 15 minutes arms (with weights!), stretching
Sunday: 8 miles; first .9 easy, sprint last .1. <--this felt really, really good.

Monday was my first run since SFM, and it felt not easy. My legs felt bleh and heavy and it was unfun. Thursday, also hard, but 800's are just hard for me. Sunday was magic - watched the men in the Olympic Marathon finish 16 miles in about the time it took me to finish 8. That's fantastic.

This week...
Monday: Cross training
Tuesday: 6 miles with 3x1600 <--this is not what I had in mind when I mentioned "easy August".
Wednesday: Cross training
Thursday: I'd like to meet some friends at the Run Like a Girl Fun Run hosted by a local Road Runner Sports. I have a training class at work that day, and hopefully I'll be out in time. Otherwise, 6 miles tempo <--also not on my "easy August" plan
Friday: Cross training
Saturday/Sunday: 10 miles, hills, gross


Next week...
Into the Wild Trail Run Aug. 22nd. Fingers crossed it's not a billion degrees.

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Semi (lies, totally) related to Friday's post, I'm semi-considering RnR St. Louis.

In what can only be described as the stars aligning:

• Only 2 Evan Dando shows have been announced.
• One of those 2 shows is in St. Louis on Oct. 18th.
• RnR St. Louis is Oct. 20th.

I know I recently swore off RnR forever, AND that I said I wanted to take training a little easier for awhile, but..........

So tempting.

I don’t get bored watching the tube

but holy bejesus, the Olympics are KILLING me.

They're on so, so late, and there's so much filler, and for REAL, what was that indoor cycling velodrome thing the other day? WHY?

I mean. I was super gung-ho about the whole deal before it started. I don't think I realized it was going to air until midnight every single day, and that NBC would stretch out all the good stuff so I was forced to not get enough sleep by staying up way past my bed time everydayeverydayeveryday.

Rude.

And the men's marathon is being aired here at, like, 3 or 4 am Sunday.

That's really early.
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For the first time in, like, 2 months, I've been following my PFTW.

Since I started tapering for Seattle (BACK IN JUNE), I kind of took my training schedule as a suggestion. Was I tired? Eh, let's skip that run. Does my shin feel wonky? Maybe. Adios, speedwork. Too hot out? Later, gator, long run.

It did not make for an easy return to 800's last night.

I did them, and I didn't die (clearly, but it was questionable for a few minutes....). Glancing back through my plan, it looks like my 800 pace now is a bit faster than it was the last time I was told to do them.

Not fun. Not fun a tiny bit.

1 mile warm up, 6x800 @ 8:40 pace, 400 RI, 1/2 mi cool. Actual intervals: 8:42, 8:42, 8:42, 8:36, 8:36, 8:30. 

It felt really, really hard. REALLY HARD. I know, I know, speed work is not supposed to be easy. But man. It wasn't a good time to be me. Also, my quads feel sleepy. Is that a thing?

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Do you know where I snagged the title of this blog today? No? Google tells me (shocker!) it's a Lemonheads song!

This is relevant today (I mean, don't be confused, Evan is relevant every.day.ever), because rumor has it, a fall tour is being announced any moment.

Well, that was the rumor yesterday. Which prompted a flurry of emails amongst a small group of people, typed entirely like this:

OMG DID YOU SEE THIS??!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a little overkill on the caps and !!!!. Maybe.

I don't want to brag or anything (lies, I kind of do), but Evan and I are pretty chummy, thanks to the Twitter machine.

Oh, hey there, Becka.

Man, I love the internet.

Gab's Wish Trip Day 2: Animal Kingdom/1900 Park Fare/Magic Kingdom

{Yeah, I know this was a MONTH ago. I'm slow. Did you see my previous post about being lazy?}

Part 1: Give Kids the World Recap

Friday, while I attended our GKTW Orientation, The H took the girls and a cousin to check out the resort...










We picked up my brother-in-law (and father of said cousin) and hit Animal Kingdom first...






With the Magic Pass, we were able to get through Kilimanjaro Safari, Kali River Rapids, Everest, Festival of the Lion King, some of DinoLand USA, and Dinosaur, within a few hours.

AK isn't our favorite park, but I am a tiny bit in love with FotLK. As in, I could watch it every day. It never gets old.

WARTHOGS!

This....
Delicious. White Chocolate Elephant cupcake from the Kusifiri Bakery outside of Kilimanjaro Safari.

Gabby, running, to make her ribbons fly

After AK, we headed over to Magic Kingdom, and dropped of the BIL, while the rest of us headed to Grand Floridian for dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

With Cinderella

  And Prince Charming

  And Anastasia

I LOVE THIS PICTURE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

No idea what is happening here...

  After dinner, on to Magic Kingdom....


It was around 6:30 (and still a billion hundred degrees....) by the time we got in the park, and managed to breeze through Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Carousel, Tea Cups, Laugh Floor, and Space Ranger Spin.

Wow, I look pretty intense for just being the driver.

I think we left the parks around 11. Exhausting.