Ummmm. Hi.

Hey!

So, I'm still funkish.

I've had a couple of really good runs...

1. Newport Back Bay with Snork and K, my PCRF friend Jordan's girlfriend. 10 super easy pace miles a week ago last Saturday (so long ago!). Followed by 6 miles on the treadmill for 16 - it was FINE.

2. Then, a few days later, I ran 8 miles with 4x1600, goal pace 9:05. Actual splits 9:05, 9:01, 8:53, 8:40. <-- I KNOW.

3. Thursday night, I ran 18 miles, easy pace, after work. Not ideal, but we were leaving soon after work Friday for our weekend road trip, so I needed to get this done. 

4. Saturday morning, Rose met me at our hotel at 6am for 6 easy miles. She's the best running friend ever. Great run, we stopped to pet a horse (pony?), hiked up a giant hill, and ran back to my hotel. I don't get to see her often, so this was rad. 

So. Yeah. I don't know. The runs have been good. But I skipped one last week. I should be running tonight, but I didn't, and I'm saying it's because I'm tired from the weekend. It throws off my schedule for this week, but I'll figure it out.

Modified PFTW: 

Wednesday: 9 miles, Yasso 800's <- gross.

Thursday? Friday?: 9 miles easy

Saturday: CDM 5k

Sunday: 22 miles

I'm just kind of over it, I think. The running is fine, I feel fine, I just don't feel like doing it. Super lame. Bah. Just 25 days left, I guess, then I can be as laaaazy as I want. For awhile.

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Backtracking, part 1 - last weekend (last LAST weekend, before Memorial Day), #2 participated in the local Junior Games - like a giant, districtwide field day. #2's events were some ball toss and..... the 800!

It was A BILLION DEGREES AND I AM NOT EVEN EXAGGERATING.

This is a for real screenshot from my phone.

I didn't even know that was a thing. 

I don't know anything about the throwing stuff, except that she got a ribbon, and seemed to have good form? I don't know. 

Her 800 event was in the middle of the day - 1 pm - and she was tired, hot, cranky, and not well hydrated. But, she came in about 5th overall.

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Backtracking, part 2. Big Sur is freaking beautiful. San Francisco is HILLY.

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Backtracking, part 3. Remember how, last year, Gabby was bald? And then, in grew all these beautiful golden brown curls?

I guess she didn't like them....

Grrrrr.

I don't care. You won't make it.

You guys. The race pace 4 miles I was totally freaked out about yesterday?

I totally killed it.

And I didn't die.

And I didn't feel like I was close to death, either.

Goal pace: 10:28.

Actual pace: 10:18.

Splits: 10:48, 10:26, 10:23, 9:37 <------ 9:37, wtf is that?!

That is all. Go have a beer. I'm declaring this week over, because it sure couldn't get better from there.

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OC blogger meetup at the Irvine Farmers Market Saturday morning - email me if you'd like to meet up, we'd love to meet you!
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Friday Funny.... OMC, indeed.


....Gabby's ANC number came back REALLY super low this week (meaning, her immune system is REALLY depressed right now), so we were pretty much homebound this weekend anyway. No Carmageddon here.

Have a great Friday!

I swear, it's like this happens once a week....

Plan for this week:
Monday: Suck Less Program
Tuesday: Ellipti-madness - 45 minutes
Wednesday: Yoga, Suck Less Program
Thursday: Ellipti-madness - 45 minutes
Friday: Suck Less Program
Saturday: Ginormously long hike, like, 8 jillion miles. Or, maybe 10. Hopefully.
Sunday: Rest

What's missing from my half-marathon running plan?

Oh, that's right. Running.

The Ankle is still being a punk. I didn't run last week *unless you count the .25 glorious miles on the running store treadmill while I tested some new shoes*. It's still being crafty, and randomly sends shooting pain into my foot while I'm walking innocently through Disneyland. That's not cute, Ankle.

After doing some intense Google-Fu, I've pretty much narrowed down The Ankle situation as Peroneal Tendonitis. And looks like rest and an ankle strengthening program is the way to go.

Curse you, Ankle!

So, I'm icing. And stretching. And not running. I'll rest it again this week. And see what happens.

Last week, I hit all of my plan - Suck Less Program, 3x's; ellipticalled in place of running, 2x's; and I counted 3 hours of Disneyland Friday, 5 hours walking around Dana Point Saturday, and 5 hours at Disneyland Sunday as my Saturday elliptical.

Anyway. Saturday night, I walked out of a running store having spent more on a single pair of shoes (+ orthotics) there than I ever have, in my entire life, INCLUDING my penchant for Coach and Michael Kors. Madness.

Bye, bye Brooks....
But boy, are they pretty... and PINK!

And, someday, maybe I'll even run again and use them.

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Is it normal to be jealous of your 12 year old?

Yesterday, #1 ran her first 3 mile "training" run with The H. 3 miles, 28 minutes.

It's like she's a natural. I was a little jealous.

Then, this morning, I packed up #1... and dropped her and her friend off in Dana Point, to take a boat here.... to spend a week. On an island.

Yep. I'm jealous.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods... there is a rapture on the lonely shore.

I treated our last camping trip, to Carpinteria State Beach back in May, as a test trip. It was close to home, close to town, had real, water running bathrooms, showers. I figured I'd break us in slowly.

Since it went so well, I took Snork up on her invite to Mammoth over 4th of July weekend. Snork was meeting some dirtbiking friends. We were just touristing.

So, I rented a tent, again, from REI, because I'm not quite so committed that I was shelling out a couple hundred bucks to own one yet, when I can rent one for $45 for 3 days.

But a few days before we leave, a mutual FB friend of ours (well, FB friend of mine, RL friend to her) tells Snork she has a tent she'll give me for free - giant, 3 rooms, we could practically LIVE in there. I'm so stoked.

I am also paranoid, and like to be fully prepared for anything. So despite Snork's laughing at me, I did not cancel my REI rental tent.

So we left the day before Snork did, spent the night in Fresno, and toured Yosemite the next day before heading to camp. Meanwhile, Snork is picking up our magical new (free) tent on her way up from camp. Promising, even, to have it all set up nice and pretty for us when we get there.

Cell service in Yosemite is pretty spotty, but I start getting texts from Snork, like...

"Did you cancel the REI tent?"

"hey, do you have a tent?"

"did you cancel the tent????"

"CALL ME"

"But did you cancel?? CALL ME!"

Turns out, the tent picking up was unsuccessful. There was a bag. There were stakes. There was a footprint. Alas, there was no tent.

Moral of the story: Do not laugh at your friends' preparedness, even if it borders on paranoia.

Camping this time was a bit more... rustic, than last. And by rustic, I mean, 40 minutes from the closest "town", up a dirt hill 20 minutes into the mountains, no water, no cell service.

The upside to this, was the blanket of stars we saw all night. It was kind of mind-boggling, coming from LA, where it's a handful of stars in a night, to this.

Being a dirtbiking trip, there were plenty of bikes around, which the kidlets kind of dug...

Baby made friends with Riley, whose name is burned into my psyche forever, thanks to Riley's owner screeching for him every 10 minutes while Riley wandered through neighboring campsites....
It was super, super dusty - far worse even than the windy beach camping. This was not sand, this was dirty, grimy dust. And it flew. And was everywhere. So it was tough to stay... clean, and not FEEL dusty. I watched Mr. Snork molest his feet with baby wipes for a good 10 minutes....

Apparently, ones feet must be dirt free prior to putting on dirt biking boots.

Ahem.

We toured the town of Mammoth, which is cute, and houses.....
Yep. A Coach outlet. It was pretty exciting. I was hesitant to even go in, you know, with the dusty and all, but I did, and it was glorious.

We went to the beach at June Lake. The water looked pretty chilly, which was confirmed by the shivering children who kept playing in it. I grew up in Florida, where we do not swim in fresh water (gators, yo). But this water... was clean, and clear, and had fishies, and snowy mountain top reflections, and was perect. If it were 20 degrees warmer, I'da been all over it.

#2 likes to show off that she is completely unfeeling, so she frolicked in the lake like it was a bathtub. Which, let's be honest, after 3 days in the wilderness and no running water, it essentially was.

I was shocked - shocked! - by how cool it was still in the middle of summer. Day times were warm, but the second the sun started to set, it dropped down to Hella Cold. And stayed that way until mid-moning. The Sierra Nevada's? That isht is cold at night. My gas station hat from Gorman came in handy....

We watched July 4th Fireworks at Crowley Lake... Baby tossed pebbles into the lake where people were trying to fish...


#1 and The Niece made questionable fashion decisions...

And, as it does, the sun set over the lake.

If I were a better planner, I'd have had batteries for my camera and could show you said fireworks. But trust me when I say, the $25 was worth it, and it was spectacular.

We did some hiking around camp, up the mountainside, which gave me some time to play with the macro setting on my camera....


The drive home, on the eastern side of the Sierra's, was... interesting...
Eat? No thanks.

We left camp early, around 7 am... when it was about 45 degrees. Which we were dressed for - sweaters, jeans, hats, the works. The 395 runs along the western edge of Death Valley. Shockingly....

Didn't really feel that bad. Obviously, it's hot, but... it's a dry heat? Anyway, when we got out of the car to run into CVS for drinks, we looked... ridiculous.

All in all, I'd call it a success. No one hated it, we mostly enjoyed it. The biggest complaint was that the vault toilets were icky (and, legitimately, they were.... Baby even told me one time, "This is NOT a potty. This is a trash can." Even she knew.).

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when it's the only one you have"

Things I learned about camping.

1. SoCal campsites are apparently a hot commodity. I.E., don't attempt to book Joshua Tree sites 5 days out. Nor any other site.

2. If you DO wait until 2 days before camping to actually book a site, you must stalk the ReserveAmerica website until you find something. Do not hesitate. It will be booked while you check with your people. As soon as you see something come available, TAKE.IT. If you luck out, like I did, you might get a rad spot like Carpinteria State Beach.


2a. Take it so long as it meets your basic requirements of (a) a bathroom, and (b) no bears.

3. If you're new to camping, and just testing the waters, REI rents tents, sleeping bags, and other camping gear. And, when I wasn't really sure I NEEDED a 6 person tent, my friend Brian was kind enough to set one up for me. Right there, in the store. Which further cemented my love for REI.

4. Weather forecasters in SoCal are liars.

4a. On the off chance that they DO get something right, like, say, a gale-force wind storm on the beach, it's probably best you check the forecast, just in case.

5. The beach sounds like a steallar idea until a freak windstorm turns sand into weaponry.


5a. Wind also makes it REALLY tough to pitch a damn tent.


5b. Wind is now considered our Least Favorite Element.


6. Giovanni's on the corner of Carpinteria Ave and Linden Ave has pretty decent pizza. We settled on lunch here after walking the enirety of the "downtown" area, and my request for Mexican being denied. Hmph. They also have this super rad soda that I want to marry.


7. Candy stores make Baby hyped.


8. The pretty, pretty sunset makes beach camping, wind and all, worth it.


8a. So do headlamps.


9. S'Mores are a very exact science.


10. When I grow up, I want to live here.

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”

I heart spring.

In Florida, it's not such a big deal. There's kind of only two seasons - sucky (cold), and suckier (hot). In SoCal, at least, there's a hint of a change. Days are sunnier, everything is green. It's lovely.

This was our first Easter with just the kidlets, and no cousins around to share it with... so I decided to start our own traditions. We had small baskets for each of them - filled with goofy stuff that they like. No eggs were hidden, no bunnies, no ham. Just us.

Okay, so "traditions", is kind of a strong word for what we did. I mean, it could be a tradition, eventually, but for now, it was just "stuff we decided to do, and then realized it was Easter".

Anyway. We went hiking out at Joshua Tree. It is a bit of a drive from the OC, clocking in at just over 2 hours, but it was well worth it.

Kidlets did some mild rock climbing...

And the desert wildflowers were blooming like mad. I won't bore you with all of them, but.. the cactus are my favorite.


There've also been a variety of other awesome things going on....

For starters, I did make it to gym last night, and through both running AND yoga.

I've eaten lunch out of things I brought every day for the last 2 weeks - with the exception of someone buying pizza last Friday.

I am back to pre-cruise weight. I'm pretending this is awesome, even though it irritates me that 3 months of work was wiped out in 3 days, and took another 3 weeks to reverse. Curse you, unlimited free food!

The weather has been super great for hiking, so I've been able to go out the last 2 weekends, and intend to do the same this weekend as well.

Green Day/AFI are coming in a few months... I am considering taking #1 to go. Admittedly, I just really want to go myself... and #1 provides an excellent excuse. I'm a bit concerned that my interests are now overlapping my kid's, becuase.... I cannot possibly be old enough for that to happen yet, can I?

“It's your life. Live it with people who are alive. It tends to be contagious.”

Back in December, we #1 had a few requests for her birthday (Jan. 2nd).
1. Go to Big Bear
2. Go to a ramen restaurant, and
3. Fro Yo

Right.

So, we compromised and agreed to do ramen and Fro Yo for her birthday, and Big Bear for The H's birthday.
Magically, insane storms dumped like a gazillion feet of fresh snow in Big Bear in the week prior. Good for the snow, bad for the traffic. And the people heading for the ski resorts. Snork's Pretty Neighbor's husband told us to go around the other side of the lake from where we normally go, and it turned out to be perfect. No traffic, pretty open spaces, less people, and great hills.

We actually came prepared this time, to play in the snow... and I cannot express what a difference it makes to play in snow boots and snow pants, vs. sneakers and jeans. Seriously. We actually enjoyed it this time, and didn't almost die from frostbite.

Snork was awesome enough to have picked up some snow pants for #2 in some thriftshop, and thankfully, they fit! Win!

The H originally bought just one 2-person sled thing, and looked at me all side-eyeish when I suggested we ought to buy more. Despite his protests, I picked up a second single person plastic dish thing. Which turned out to be a good thing, 'cause... dude. Hiking up hills covered in snow is not easy. So two sleds, and all.that.stuff.... it was a lot of stuff.

This was Baby's first real trip to the snow, so we weren't sure how she was going to take it. Seems like she loves it! And, really. Could anything be cuter than a Baby all decked out in snow gear?! Doubtful. I'm not sure why I refuse to follow other peoples footprints, because this is the scenario that takes place every.single.time:
Oh, look, footprints. They look pretty deep. Wow, that's about up to my knee. I ought step around and try 6 inches to the right. Shoot, now I'm thigh deep in snow. Awesome.
The girls had a game plan, apparently, and took to crawling up the mountain. Baby, as usual, had to exert no effort at all. I'm not sure how she has this power over people.

Anyway. The Snorks joined us up in the mountains. Mr. Snork is apparently, somehow, also completely whipped by my Baby. At one point, I caught him carrying her UP the hill, because "she put her arms up". Yep. Okay.
We determined Snork and I on a sled = fail. Alone = win. Mostly. Until Snork's sled kicked her off.
Snowball fights, sledding, snow angels. It was a pretty successful couple of hours.



We left after a stupid, overpriced, crappy lunch in the Village... next time, I'll stay on the other side of the lake. Traffic sucked coming back down again, but then there's this...
And by 6 pm, we were back home, in the palm trees, and tee and jeans.

So Cal :)