Just Plodding Along

Lately I have been doing about zero running and a lot of other stuff. Walking, biking and lifting weights have been my exercises of choice while my hip gets better. Yesterday I went for a 3.5 mile run and my hip started hurting again after 9 days off. And I got mad. What the heck hip. I gave you time off. I have stretched and rolled and sticked and laid off pounding into the ground with high mileage. What is your problem? And then I decided to shift focus. I have been focused solely on running for so long that I have taken on a T-Rex body type. My legs are fairly strong but the rest of me......is just kind of there. So maybe some cross training is what I need and instead of running 6 days a week I should cut down to 3 or 4 and focus on lifting weights, body weight training, yoga, and other exercises to be more well rounded and stronger overall and perhaps that will help me be less injury prone. Makes sense in my mind anyway. The other focus should be on continued weight loss to ...

For memorial day my parents came to visit and it has been fun city. Lots of eating, shoe shopping and more eating. Perfect vacation. Vacation fun in pictures: A visit to Total Wine where we found the best vodka ever: Whipped cream. Buy some, mix with orange soda and thank me later. Birthday shoe shopping: fun new shoes for me! Lost of eating out and a gelato stop that resulted in a coupon for free gelato next time. Yippee Visit to the Titan Missile Museum  Fun not pictured: Trip up Mount Lemmon Grilling out Graduation celebration dinner A trip to Sam's club to stock up on bulk items like I have wanted these forever and now I have them. Must label everything. A great couple of days! Don't forget to try for some Nuun .

So one million years ago I posted a blog about how I found Nuun on sale, lost my mind and bought hundreds of bottles (no I am not known to exaggerate or be dramatic....ever). And I was skeptical because it was these tab things with minimal calories that was supposed to taste good and re-hydrate you. And in my mind calories= delicious tasting. But these are like 3 calories, this can't be right. Well the rumors are true. Nuun is awesome. But come on do I really need that many bottles in my cabinet. No So that is where you all come in. GIVEAWAY. I will send you a sweet two pack of Nuun (lemon lime and tri-berry) to try. Rules & Stuff: ~Leave me an comment stating why you want to try Nuun or why you already are a fan. ~Re-post on your blog/ Facebook about it/tweet for extra entries. ~ You have until Midnight Friday June 1st to rock my world with your entry. ~I will randomly pick a winner and announce on Monday June 4th. Disclaimers & Stuff ...

1) I am totally ready for a marathon (as long as there are 12 hours of down time including a good solid 8 hours of sleep in the middle of the race). Pizza helps too 2) When planning to run two races in a row picking the hilliest most difficult race possible is probably not the greatest idea. 3) If your hip hurts before you start running 26 miles in 2 days it will still hurt, maybe even more, when you are done and hills do not help. 4) Always, always have baby wipes with you for after a race. You never know when you will be stranded on the side of a road for awhile unable to shower and still wanting to remain friends with the people who have to ride in the same car with you. 5) True friends let you wear compression gear to breakfast and don't bat an eye. 6) They will also let you drag them to race expos and drive your tired ass home for seven hours afterwards. 7) That even when I am tired and sore I can still crank out 13.1 miles and have a great time doing it. ...

After hitting the expo on Saturday afternoon at the Santa Anita Race Track for the Pasadena 1/2  me and my race support crew friends headed to the hotel so I could shower and put my compression socks on the wrong feet. Once I hit the bed it was over there was no way I was going back out. The Palos Verdes 1/2 wore me out and I was a little worried about running the next day another 13.1. Wait the R is on the left foot....something seems off  Luckily J & B were understanding and just let me hang out in the room and stuff my face full of pizza.  After some more HGTV it was sleepy time at 9p.m. The alarm went off at 4:30 on Sunday (May 20th) after laying there for a bit cursing myself and gingerly moving my limbs I got up and changed for the race. The hotel we stayed at (Rodeway Inn) was only about a 5 minute drive from the start. I got there around 5a.m. for the 6:30 start. I wanted to get coffee but there was nothing on the way so I was forced to run witho...

On Saturday (May 19) the alarm went of at 4:30. I rolled out of my bed at the Moonlite Inn Redondo Beach and headed to Palos Verdes area to catch the shuttle bus for the Palos Verdes Half . After parking at a parking structure at a mall I grabbed a bus and headed to the start. The start was in a beautiful area. I got there so early they were still setting up so I just sat around and soaked in the beauty.  I met some great locals and chatted for awhile about the area. Everyone was very friendly. There were probably around 2000 people for both the half and the 5K. It never seemed too crowded.  The race got underway at 7:01. And the torture began. I had checked out the elevation profile but the amount of hills (constant) did not really register until I was actually running. Killer hills This was the hardest race I have ever done. I was also a little worried about my heart (yes the doctor said I was fine) but still the thought of what if something goes wrong...