Birthday Meal Pics

My mom and I have several meals together to celebrate our birthdays in October. On my mom's birthday (October 12), we went to brunch at Olivia on South Lamar. It was so yummy and the day was just beautiful. Here we are.

In the restaurant...

And trying to find our 'good side' outside on the patio. I think this one is the best. Doesn't my mom look great for 55?

To celebrate my birthday, we went to the Grove wine bar. Here we are getting ready to leave.

The weather was also beautiful that evening. We enjoyed sitting on the patio eating our yummy food and trying some flights of wine that we had not tried before.

Chad and I with our multiple wine glasses. Cheers!

Like riding a bike...

...except I don't fall off of it and fracture my arm.

I guess you never forget how to swim. Getting into the pool again felt pretty good. The last time I was part of a team training for anything swim related was seventeen years ago. In the last 17 years, I can count the number of times I've swum laps on my two hands. I really don't like having the smells of the pool on my body, because inevitably I will still smell the pool on my skin long after my hot, soapy shower.

I didn't get back into the pool with an easy distance, either. This morning I swam 2400m. I even crafted a see-how-it-goes workout. 400 free, 200 breast, 200 free, 100 breast kick, 100 free kick, 10x50 free on :55 (it amazes me how slow my freestyle has gotten), 10x50 breast on :55, 100 free kick, 100 breast kick, 200 cooldown (free, back, breast, free). My heartrate was up for a little while, and I can definitely feel that my arms are going to be sore. My stroke technique is still there. I can still turn at the walls. I still have an awesome breaststroke pull-out. I wish I could swim faster, but I guess I can't expect to be as fast as I was in an instant.

Hopefully this is not a random workout and I can start a new swimming habit again.

And, yes, I can still smell the pool stench on my body and in my hair. Ugh!

Thrill the World Austin!

Dancing Thriller was so much fun! Thanks to Erin's post about a week ago, I found the link to the official Thrill the World website and learned the dance using their online videos. Poor Chad had to suffer listening to Thriller about 20 times over the last week while I subjected him to my dress rehearsals.

I got to the Long Center terrace early (as recommended) and put on my zombie make-up and 'grim reaper' dress.

Here's the before (with make-up) -

And the after -

The organizers were pumping Thriller through the speakers all morning for people to practice their moves. There were folks still learning the 'spoken cues' so we had to sit through several rounds of the super slow and the slow version with the cues. The official dance here in Austin was done without any cues, which means that most people were going to have to know the dance without any help. Thankfully, I had done my homework :).

Erin got there and danced a few of the rehearsals without the cues. Here are some shots of us rehearsing.

Booty Bounce -


Zombie March -

and Roar! -


Scare!

Can you see us? Erin's hair makes it easy to spot her :)

The whole process for making this official was really well organized. We all had to sign in as official dancers. We had to wear wristbands. They had to dial in to the official teleconference and record the teleconference as it was in process. The video of the event included part of the teleconference and the countdown. Around the world we all dialed into the teleconference to sync up with the official time. At the end of the dance, we all had to sign out. I hope that we set the world record for our 880+ crowd in Austin.

Thanks very much to Chad for recording our official dance. This isn't the official recording (that was done from the balcony above to our right). Please enjoy. It was so much fun!

Here is the link to the photos from the Statesman online. Very fun!

Here is the link to Statesman Video.

TGIF - Party Time!

Birthday weekend has arrived! I've modified some plans for the weekend, but I think it is going to be very fun regardless of the specific plans that we make. It is all in your state of mind, right?

Tonight we are going to stay in and order our favorite pizzas from Austin Pizza Garden. We have Eastern Promises in on our Netflix, so we'll watch that and drink wine. Hopefully we'll also have an early bedtime. I love my sleep!

Tomorrow will definitely include the Thrill the World event (dancing Thriller at the Long Center)...come and watch...be there by 12:30 to see us dance at 1:00. I've decided on my outfit and makeup and am really excited about it. I'd also like to go to the farmer's market and watch the UT game. We get to go to dinner with my mom.

Sunday will involve whatever...maybe some pumpkin carving, planting fall flowers, sleeping in, enjoying the beautiful weather...followed by our dinner at Zoot. That is one meal that we're splurging on this weekend.

Monday on my day off, I'm definitely sleeping in. I'm going to try to run. I'm also probably going shopping to spend a gift certificate that I have. No massage for me Monday...I had to schedule for Tuesday. Really, I can do nothing and it is perfectly relaxing and can have a perfect birthday. There is a good chance that we will not go out to eat with the in-laws on Monday because Chad's mom is experiencing excruciating back pain and it doesn't seem to be resolving. They also can't find a specific cause for the pain other than some inflammation, so there is no telling when she'll start to feel better. It's okay, though. I don't expect to be taken to dinner on my b-day.

Also, I'm so happy that the weather has turned and that it is so gorgeous outside. This time of year is so beautiful. I'm lucky that my birthday is almost always this pleasant in the weather department.

So whatever you're doing this weekend, have an extra glass of whatever you're having to drink for me...Cheers!

Here comes my birthday!!!

I'm starting to get excited. My birthday is almost here! Last year was the worst birthday ever. My birthday was on Saturday and I turned 30. It should have been a wonderful weekend. How did I ring in my 30s? On the floor of Chad's bathroom, puking my guts out all night long. See here, here, or here if you don't remember.

My birthday is next Monday. Tentatively, I have the following plans -

• Friday - movie at the Alamo, wine drinking
• Saturday - sleep in, walk/run, possibly Farmer's Market, possibly Thriller dancing, watching UT football, dinner with Mom (who knows? maybe @ Mr. Natural)
• Sunday - sleep in, walk/run, who knows what else, fancy dinner at Zoot with Chad (Farmer's tasting menu with wine pairings...mmmm)
• Monday - I have the day off from work - approved vacation day! Sleep in, maybe a massage, lunch with Chad, dinner with in-laws at Olivia (maybe, because Chad's mom is having back problems and we may not be able to go out), otherwise - a low key evening with Chad.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

MIA - with time on my hands

I would say things have been really busy lately, but mostly I have just been living life away from the regular routine that I had been in since April. St. George and its corresponding vacation weekend came to an end two Sundays ago. My legs continued to ache, hot spots on muscles, tendons, and just overall fatigue plagued me most of last week. Evenings presented new opportunity for fun, family time, and just overall flexibility of life.

The flexibility of life is so much fun...I had forgotten what that was. Seems like once you devote your energies into training for a marathon, you somewhat self-righteously give up a certain amount of flexibility in your life. Most runners I know are slaves to the schedule whether they will admit it or not. Their life is about eating, working, running, family obligations, and sleeping. There is little time for much else. It is amazing when you drop one of those five things how free you can feel (except the eating and sleeping of course).

Last week we went out to dinner with family in the evening. We watched TV. I went on a walk. We slept in on Saturday. We shopped. We drank wine. It was great!

Sunday was my mom's birthday (which when I get around to it will get a post of its own). We enjoyed brunch and the early part of the afternoon with her. I spent the rest of the evening preparing for my business trip.

I typically only expect to travel twice a year for meetings...January and June. When I took over the job from Molly, she mentioned that sometimes I might be helping with a Q4 meeting, but last year did not involve me traveling anywhere. When I found out that I would be expected to travel to LA this week, I was somewhat excited about it. I would be helping with the logistics of the meeting like I normally do, but instead of staying 5-6 days, I only needed to travel 3 days. As an added bonus, I would get a chance to go to our corporate office and meet some of the people that I know through email only. It was so nice to put faces with names.

Monday I flew to LA and arrived early into LA. I checked into the hotel and took a cab to the office to pick up a projector and some boxes and to meet a few people. The rest of the evening was pretty low key. Tuesday was a full day of meetings. I was 'working' from 7:30am until about 11:15pm when our final dinner/activity was over. Some of our folks continued into the night playing cards, but I just could not stay up as my body clock still felt like it was 1:15am.

So, this morning (Wednesday), I had some time to myself before my flight. I was able to get to Hermosa Beach where I enjoyed a simple breakfast of fruit, muffin, and tea overlooking the ocean. Nevermind that the fruit was a huge bowl of fresh sliced strawberries, the muffin was an oatmeal raisin muffin that had to be baked by The Muffin Man himself and the weather was a perfect 70 degrees and clear. I have not had a morning like that in a while. Fabulous. I walked up and down the boardwalk/sidewalk through Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and up to almost El Segundo. I knew when the power plants started to loom in the foreground that my scenic adventure needed to come to an end. The walk was glorious. I saw surfers, beach volleyball players, lots of people walking their dogs, and beautiful beachfront homes. If I ever have a chance to stay awhile, Hermosa Beach will be a place I'd like to come back to to just chill out and decompress.

I'm arriving back in Austin this evening and looking forward to the rest of October. I hope to stay in non-schedule mode for a few more weeks before I really decide how to start training again. My body is starting to feel better. My mind is certainly more quiet than ever. I'm in a good place.

Fixed!

I've been so frustrated with my computer! My work laptop has been working great...I can do my work, get the internet, and do everything I need to do on it. My personal computer has been acting up. I had some kind of bug on my computer that completely messed up my internet browsers (both IE and Chrome were not working) and I have been completely frustrated for the past 3 days.

Today I renewed my pc protection software, ran a scan of my system, clicked a few other buttons...voila! My internet browser works like a charm! Technology that does not work properly can be so frustrating.

Tara made the St George photo essay!

http://thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=G3&Date=20081004&Category=PHOTOGALLERIES10&ArtNo=810050802&Ref=PH&Profile=1006&Params=Itemnr=20

St George - this time around

Some of you might have looked our finish times up. Mine was 3:48:39 or something really close to that. Did I make my A goal? no. Did I make my B or C goals? no. Am I disappointed? somewhat, but not because I didn't make my goals. I'm disappointed that I was unable to run well because of the pain in my calf. I am, however, glad that my calf issues (strain, pull, whatever you want to call this injury) occurred on a horrible weather day. If my body was perfectly healthy and mother nature gave me a bad day, I might wonder how much faster I could have run.

It rained the entire race. It is the first time in the existence of St. George that it has rained. There was also a strong headwind the entire race. My shoes were waterlogged from mile 1. I knew at about mile 4 that my left calf muscle was not going to cooperate with me, so I took two Advil at mile 6. I knew I was still in the hunt for at least one of my goals, so I tried to keep Tara in my sight to judge my pace. After the hill at mile 7 and a slow mile 8, I gave up on my 3:30 goal and focused on keeping a decent pace. I saw an ambulance at mile 9 and seriously contemplated getting in to avoid the pain of what was to come. Tara easily got into a steady rhythm and somewhere between 9 and 10 I lost sight of her. I was off pace at miles 9-12 and I was thinking more about quitting. My calf was definitely flaring up and starting to cause me significant pain. The Advil never really kicked in. At the half, I was on pace for a 3:40 finish (my C goal), but I knew that I didn't have it in me to finish the second half as fast as I had already run. Again, I contemplated the DNF. By this point the rain was coming down in sheets, the wind was blowing harder than ever and we made the bend to start the major rolling downhills. I thought that my legs might feel a little better with the downhill and that it might be easier to keep pace.

I was wrong. The downhill sections were like sledgehammers on my legs. My right leg began to flare up as well, probably from compensating for the other leg. The pain was excruciating. I gave up on all my time goals and just decided to keep moving forward. I didn't think I would even finish. I thought I might go into a full cramp in either leg and need medical assistance. I had no idea how bad it was going to hurt. I was happy with my decision to give up my goals...I just wanted the pain to go away and still get my medal for finishing. I saw Amy at the tough uphill at mile 18. She looked like she was focused and Mark (who was running with her) slowed a bit to chat with me. I think they might have felt sorry for me because of my leg, but I was A-OK with my race plan from that point. I wasn't in the ambulance and only had 8 miles to go.

During the last 8 miles, I made a pit stop in a port-o which probably cost me a couple of minutes. I also made friends with a lady named Allison who had been walking when I caught her. She looked like she hurt as much as me, so invited her to jog with me. We ran together from 19-22 and distracted each other from the pain of the race. We also matched with our super cute pink and black outfits! don't know how I got through all of the pain to finish, especially in such a good mood. I enjoyed receiving cheers from the crowd starting at mile 23. I high-fived the kids in the street, even the littlest ones. The high school bands played songs that I cheered to. I finished with a smile on my face.

Please don't feel sorry for me and my time. I'm incredibly proud of a 3:48 finish with a potty break, strained leg muscles, strong headwind and rain. It was the most painful marathon day I have ever had, but I can definitely take some good away from the race. I now know a new pain threshold that my body can handle, that can only make me tougher in the future. 3:48 is a sub 9:00 pace average, something that many women dream of doing. I can't complain that 3:48 was my time on my most miserable, painful marathon day ever. I love that my body endured that race. I love that my mind outlasted my muscles, even with all of the negative thoughts. The last miserable marathon day for me was Austin 2005 (the hot year) and I ran a PW of 4:14. I beat my personal worst by 26 minutes and was in much more pain this year.

Thanks for all the support this summer throughout my training. My little blog-reading family is great, and I thank you for all of the well wishes that were sent.

The wonders of technology

It is totally amazing to me how road trips these days differ from the ones we took when I was a child. I am currently blogging from my laptop computer, getting a live internet connection from my blackberry...this in the front seat of a hybrid vehicle getting 51 mpg through the Nevada desert. We're listening to a CD that I burned of some fun road trip/running trip songs that I downloaded from iTunes.

Times sure have changed from the cars of the past, listening to the radio or perhaps a tape if we were lucky, with no knowledge of the cd, cell phone, laptop, much less the internet or the wireless internet. Damn...we are so lucky to live in this country.

So...we arrived in Vegas safely. We're now on our way to St. George. My leg is feeling a lot better than this weekend. Chad says hi.

Revvin' your engines?

We giggled about this dinner last night...What would it sound like if two Toyota Priuses pulled up at a red light and wanted to drag race?

Chad and I always joke about 'those sneaky silent cars'.  We're going to be driving one tomorrow.

Race Prep - 212b and 214b - Travel Documentation and Final Packing

212b and 214b are continuations of courses 212a and 214a.

212b - Travel Documentation - In course 212a you double checked your reservations with the airline, hotel and rental car companies. You also verified times, addresses and reviewed maps of the area. Course 212b involves printing any travel documentation you need from the computer (boarding passes, maps, reservation confirmations) or at least writing down the confirmation numbers, phone numbers, and addresses of necessary reservations. We have been to St. George before (twice in my case), so I technically do not need a map anymore. However, I do have back-up directions from the airport to remind me the highway number and exit number of the hotel.

214b - Final Packing - Hopefully you have already gotten a good start on your packing. Hopefully the clothes that you plan to pack are clean and perhaps you have started to gather some of the necessary items for your trip. Finish packing as soon as possible the day before your trip so that you have some time to unwind before bed. Set aside your last minute toiletries and clothing to travel in so that you are organized and ready to leave when it is time.

Make sure you have necessary cash for your trip as well so that you are not rushing to the ATM on your way to the airport. Yeah, yeah, there are ATMs everywhere, but do you really want to worry about finding an ATM when all you want to do is relax and prepare for your run?

On a personal note...Chad and I both made a major dent in our packing for this trip last night. We (he) is notorious about waiting until last minute to pack and often has to stay up late the night before we travel. Not this time! :)