Coronado Bridge Run

While on a business trip to Cali last week I ran in my first official Run. The 22nd annual Coronado Bridge Run happened to fall the same weekend, and it looked like a fun opportunity. 8000 entrants ran the 4 miles from the convention center, over Coronado Bay, ending on Coronado Island in the smallest National Park on record. It was fun stretching at the starting line, watching all the conference attendees in their suits weave their way amongst us with odd looks. The bridge was intimidating, especially the incline. Here's part of the bridge from a distance, it curves around another quarter of its length off to the right. The pics are worth clicking on to get the full image. It was pretty hot in the sun, and I was worried about getting over the bridge, so ran at a fairly easy pace. By the end I was glad I did, it took more effort than I'd expected, but I was glad to have made it over without stopping. Here we are heading up the on-ramp to the bridge. Once on the bridge it was clear it wasn't the angle of the incline, but the length of the overall hill that was tough. Well, tough for me at least, my triathlete friend running with me didn't seem to have a bit of trouble, and was incredibly encouraging throughout. He even took this spiffy action photo of meThose tall buildings are the beginning of the convention center area, where I spent most of my week. The race results were a little jumbled, as my friend and I crossed the exact same second yet were listed 10 places apart, but officially I was 2169/8000. Don't know how much this says, since the winner did the 4 miles in 20 min. flat and the last person was an 82 year old woman. Still, I had a great time, learned some interesting ways to stay refreshed while running, and will definitely sign up for another run soon.

Prepping for travel -- knitting, that is

As some of you know, deciding what knitting project to bring on a trip is of the utmost importance. It has to be small but long-lasting, entertaining but not attention-requiring, and easy to drop and pick up at a moment's notice. Socks fit this perfectly. These socks kept me company on a prior trip, and I'm almost done with them. I knit them both separately, then put them on the needles together so they could be exactly the same length with no wasted yarn.

Thanks to Windy for holding the needles down so I could take this picture. She didn't want her photo taken but was willing to suffer for my picture. I have to get them finished very soon so I can use the needles for the next pair.



So on to the next sock project! A fabulous sock addicted friend who travels a lot herself hooked me up with the COOLEST sock pattern I've ever seen. It looks like a tree growing up around your foot and leg. It inspired me to dye some yarn for the socks, and I'm ready and excited to get traveling so I can start knitting them.

I like to protect my yarn ball so it doesn't get all smooshed and ravely being stuffed in bags and such. But the normal "yarn bra" always ends up compressing the ball in a messy way towards the end. Well, I had an epiphany, and put the bra on sideways and threaded the yarn through a hole in the mesh. The yarn is much more secure and I think will work very well. Here's the yarn I dyed for my next socks in the sideways yarn bra.

I love the whole world

I love this new commercial from Discovery Channel, featuring all the shows they produce. It always makes me smile.
I love the whole world.

Personal Triumph

Five years ago while I was in chemo, my oncology nurse suggested I try walking the Huckleberry Trail with the dog for some exercise. She told me where the trail starts behind the mall, and cautioned me to only walk as far as the big bridge (maybe 10 minutes?) and then turn around no matter how good I felt. And she was right. At the bridge I was very tempted to go further, but heeded her advice and was literally trudging back up the mall hill and went straight home for a nap.

I just came home from my first run on the Huckleberry. I started at the base of the mall hill -- I've biked up it, no way was I including it in my run. I ran to the first bridge past Merrimac and back, 3.7 miles. I've never run hills before, it certainly adds something! I'm glad no one was around to hear, because the last hill made me start cheering myself on trying to get past it. And I did!

I saw a male & female cardinal doing a courting ritual on the path. They would hear me coming and fly about 20 feet ahead and start up their dance, again and again. They looked like they kissed at one point. Very cute.

Tattoo Part 1

Sat. night I got the first part of my new tattoo inked. It's a series of autumn leaves blowing in a gust of wind. I've wanted a hip tattoo for a while, and was trying to decide what exactly I wanted when I stumbled upon a note I'd written about 8 years ago with the idea of a blowing leaves or snowflakes tattoo. Autumn means a lot more to me than winter, so it was an easy choice.

Shaun only had time to outline 3 leaves and shade the first 2. There will be 7 total, curving around my hip towards my back. Each leaf is from a tree that is special to me in some way. So far I have:

Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum)
Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Tree)
Quercus alba (White Oak)

Yes, I'm a complete dork and know the latin botanical name for each one. I still remember the identification quirks for each one from college ecology, too.

I love the vibrant colors and shading of the leaves. I can't wait to see what the next ones look like. Here's a closeup of the shading:


The way we're designing it is fun. Shaun drew each leaf individually, and I flip it around on my skin until it's where I want. While he's working on one leaf I lay there and think about what colors to use for the next one. The tattooing isn't bad, except there was a ticklish spot he inked that made it hard to lie still. Now I know how a dog must feel when you scratch its 'giggle nerve' and it starts to pat its foot.

I'll post up more pictures once it's finished, I just had to share what I have so far.

Self improvement is tiring

I now have 3 months of successfully running 3 miles 3 mornings a week completed. Completely coincidently now that the 4th month of the year is starting, I'm going to increase to 4 mornings a week. With the improvement in the weather I'm taking the dogs walking/hiking in the evenings more. I'm eating healthier--many days at lunch I wonder why I always run out of spinach in my salad, despite the laughably tall pile falling off my plate. Of course, I usually put something interesting (like a lean cuisine pizza or the meat/cheese of a turkey sandwich) on top of it. I'm dancing more, camping, and gardening again. During the week I keep up pretty well with everything. But lately on the weekends I've just crashed. I still do stuff, but I feel so dragged out I end up laying around reading for hours. It's like all the motivation and will power I have during the week evaporates for those 2 days. The problem is that it comes as a shock, I feel like I want to do stuff, but just never summon the effort needed. Hmm...maybe if my 4th day of running is Sat. morning it will gear me up for the rest of the day.

Jungian collective disinterest?

I just flipped through my regular online life -- the series of email accounts, facebook, and friends' blogs that I normally stay current with. I noted that nothing was happening on any front, despite not checking them for a few days. A few months ago all of them were updated frequently. Facebook was entertainingly updated each time I logged on, and I nearly always had at least one email to reply to. Then we all seem to have mutually lost interest in our online lives. No one really updates their blogs anymore (myself included) or chats through facebook like we did. I wonder why it happened? Did we all suddenly get bored with ourselves, or too busy to bother? Was it a collective domino effect, with each person's lack of posting influencing those who normally read it and used to post themselves? Maybe we all kept each other going, and with the first stumble we ground to a halt. Maybe the same theory will work to bring us all back up to some semblance of regular posting. Y'know, I think it's probably a reflection of the fact that none of us are really internet-obsessed bloggers. The former frequent posting was a lark, a fad that ran its course. But just in case it's not, here's my own little attempt to get things moving again. I did always enjoy reading the irreverent tidbits everyone shared