Random Sunday thoughts

I just want the marathon to be over! The past few nights I've had trouble falling asleep with worries about the race. For example, where will my family be? Should I just tell them not to come at all, as it's such a pain in the neck to spectate? What should I wear? What if I don't have enough gels? What if I don't come in under 4 hours? Do I even care? It's my first marathon -- I shouldn't care! But I do!!! And on and on and on.

Today I ran 7 miles and it felt fantastic. I ran the first 4 at a 7:57 pace, which is speedy for me. As the marathon is one week from today, I chose to slow down, and ran the last 3 miles at a 9:00 pace. After doing P90X yesterday (Shoulders and Arms, and then Ab Ripper X) and today (Chest and Back) my whole body is feeling nicely fatigued.

So the plan for this week is to run 2 or 3 times, maybe one 4 miler and two 3 milers. (Boys can leave the room now, ok?) So I'm about to start my period, and I really want it to come soon, as dealing with THAT during the marathon is just not my idea of fun. (Hope that wasn't TMI. The boys can come back now.)

We're hosting Christmas at our house, so I've been doing a little shopping to spruce things up. Got two pictures for the dining room at Z Gallerie, and now it looks like a grown-up room. Also got a red polka dot table runner from Pottery Barn, and I've been moving decorative things around in the kitchen. Now I have to decide what to serve for Christmas. I really don't want to serve meat, but I'll be feeding a house full of non-veg people, and I think it would be unkind to do all veg for such a traditional meal. I'll keep you posted on this one.

Final note here. There's a recipe in "eat, drink, and be vegan" that I've been making for about a month now. Every time I make it, it's gone in minutes and I'm not the only one who likes it. The cookbook calls it Goddess Garbanzos. Basically what you do is take a can of garbanzo beans, rinse and drain them, then chop them in a food processor till they're crumbly. Then you treat them like they're tuna fish, and add anything you would normally add to tuna. I've been adding vegan mayo, some Annie's Goddess Dressing (hence the name), some chopped celery and red onion and apple, a little lemon juice, and that's it. We eat it with crackers or just by the spoonful, and it's really really good and really really good for you (as long as you use a light-ish hand on the mayo or dressing).

You can expect a LOT of writing in this pre-marathon week. It'll be interesting to see how it all goes...

Win-Win

Right now Tim is putting up the Christmas lights.

Later I will be wearing my sexy Santa costume.

We have been married nearly 20 years. Coincidence? I think not!

Looking ahead to 2009

The marathon is still a week and a half away, but I'm already looking past it to 2009. I work well when I have a focus of some kind (most people do, right?). This year my focus was boxing camp for the first half of the year, and then the marathon for the second half. So here are my ideas for 2009:

Emphasize kettlebell training and maybe get AOS certified
Run 1000 miles (20 miles a week is a nice target)
Emphasize CrossFit or P90X or some combination of the two
Run my first ultra (???)
Figure out a way of eating that I can stick with for life

I can tell that I'm ready to broaden my horizons to include more than just running. But for now, I'm going to continue to taper (30 miles this week, 10 miles next week) and keep thinking happy thoughts about the marathon.

Runner video

Found this on Half Fast and thought some of you might enjoy it:

Photos

We had a great time at the Kings game, except for the outcome of the game. Here's Tucker with one of the King's dancers in the tunnel under the stadium:














Here's the four of us on TV (my brother in law took this picture of his TV -- it's easy to make the camera when you're under the basket!):














And here's my wonderful sister Michelle, Tucker, me, Brendan, and Austin as we check out something on Youtube:

Lovin' Santa Cruz

We're in Santa Cruz for a few days with my sister and her family. How fun it is to have family you'd choose to be related to, you know? I've done ZERO exercise the entire weekend, although Tim went running today, then he and the kids and Brian (my brother in law) went surfing, and then Tim and Austin and Brian went mountain bike riding. At least some people in our family are active! Two days off in a row is probably about the best thing I could do right now. Plus time spent with my little sister and her husband and my niece (age 7) and nephew (age 4) is priceless!

Yeah, I ran.

I was feeling trapped by my kids schedules. So I did 5 miles. The body is tired, but the mind is way happier now. :)

Laughing out loud!

I LOVE these guys! Have you seen their Mother's Day video? Priceless. Enjoy!


P.S. My other two favorites are "Douche Off" and "Double Dragon" both of which you can find on YouTube.

Great new workout

Yesterday I finally received The Kettlebell Way volume 2, The Empire State. It's done by Anthony Diluglio of Punch Gym and Beth Chamberlin an actress on a soap opera (Young and the Restless maybe?) and a certified kettlebell instructor.

So I did the workout this morning and I love it! It consists of 9 rounds. Each round is 3 minute long and includes an upper body exercise, a lower body exercise, and a core exercise. There's a time bar on the side so you can see where you are in the round (although in the first round it's almost impossible to see the blue of the time bar against the backdrop, so I thought it wasn't working!).

This workout is a nice complement to The Kettlebell Way, volume 1 (which is that same thing as AOS Providence). Since there's a core exercise in each round, it works your core more intensely than volume 1. It's not quite as cardiovascularly demanding as volume 1, but I solved that by doing 30s of swings in each 1 minute rest break.

So now I'm off to do a 5 mile run. I'm already tired so this should be an interesting 5 miles. At the beginning of the week I was dreading the taper for the marathon. Right now I'm thinking I'm going to love it!

(30 minutes later) I've decided to scrap the run. My body is tired, and as I look back at this week's training, I can see why. I am all for pushing through stuff and mental toughness, but today the smart play is to not run. (Except if I feel like running later today -- we'll see!)

Dreadful news!

My sister called me today and told me that SUGAR CAUSES WRINKLES!

(let's let that sink in, shall we?)

I've always joked that the minute I find out the sugar causes wrinkles is the minute I limit my sugar consumption. On the whole my diet IS pretty good, but I definitely indulge as long as my clothes are fitting and I'm feeling good. But this news? Yikes! No more running millions of miles to make up for millions of fun size candy bars? Oh the agony...

If you are a basketball fan...

...me and my family will be at the Sacramento Kings vs. Portland Trailblazer's game on Friday night. We have FLOOR SEATS right under the basket! This is a once a year treat, and last time we did this, the game was vs. the Phoenix Suns, and I got to toss a ball back to Steve Nash during the pre-game warmup. And one of the Kings players nearly landed in Austin & Tucker's lap as he fell out of bounds right in front of us. I LOVE the intensity of live sports, and it's especially fun when it's this up close and personal. :)

And if you're a music fan, I have a new song that's just captivating to me. It's called "Brighter Than Sunshine" by Aqualung.

P.S. Lest we sound like crazy people who will blow thousands of dollars on a basketball game (I know they exist, but they are not us!) the floor seat tickets belong to Tim's company, and he gets them once or twice a year. Face value of the tickets? $1000 per seat. (I almost choked when I saw that the first time we used them.)

Melange

RUNNING

I tried recording a video AGAIN and still no sound. Oh well. So the 20 mile run went well. There were some things that worked in my favor:

stubbornness
beautiful weather

And some things that worked against me:

a headache that wouldn't go away
lots of See's Candy the night before the run (one of these days I'm going to have to start eating like a grown-up person!)
not enough fuel (I was starving at mile 17 and couldn't do anything about it)

But all in all it went well. By mile 15 I was feeling tired, so I thought about Julianne and Aron who were both doing their 20 mile runs on Saturday and that helped me to feel less alone.

I have a neighbor who's training for CIM with a group called Sac Fit. They had a long run WITH AID STATIONS on Saturday and I didn't know about it. How cool would that have been??? Apparently those who aren't group members can pay a small fee and run the training run with the group. That's something I'll definitely check into next time.

So now it's time to taper. I was reading up on that last night, and I think my plan is to run 40 miles this week, 30 the following week, and ??? the week of the marathon. (Guess I have some more reading to do!)

Today I did Art of Strength Providence and then did a 7 mile run. Running's a lot harder after a good kettlebell workout!

TRAINING

I have the BEST clients! In the interest of privacy, I don't write about them much, but I truly love the people I get to work with. I got permission to share a funny comment with you. I was showing a client burpies (squat, jump back into plank, do a pushup, jump forward to squat, jump up). Her response? "Good god, those look dreadful? Do people pay others to do those for them?" I could not catch my breath from laughing so hard!

Does everyone have the Val Slide? If not, it's a great piece of equipment. I've been using them more and liking them more. (I guess that's true of lots of things in life -- the more familiar you are with something, the more you like it, right?) Today Valerie posted a video of some great ab exercises. You can check it out here.

I may be getting a set of ropes from Art of Strength. I've been intrigued by Anthony's Ropes Gone Wild routines for quite some time, and I think in the next month or so (if I can figure out where to have clients use the ropes) I'm going to get a set. The movements look fun and I think they'll be a great addition to anyone's training routine. You can check out the latest info on the ropes here.

COOKING

We had friends over last night for dinner and I used the pressure cooker to make butternut squash risotto -- YUM! I don't know if I'll ever get tired of that dish, and since I know how to make it, I don't have to worry about that at all! Also I made homemade chocolate chip cookies, and Jesse (the bf) was so appreciative of that -- it made me feel great. (We also had grilled chicken breasts, Caesar salad with homemade dressing and croutons, the risotto, the cookies, and as an appetizer, Tucker's "Yummus" and carrots.)

Cookus Interruptus has two new videos, so if you haven't checked it out yet, now's the time to do so.

TRAVEL

We had plans to head to Utah for snowboarding this weekend (and for the first part of next week) but there's no snow. :( So we're heading to Santa Cruz for a long weekend of fun. My sister and her family live there and I can't WAIT to see them!!!

In February Tim and I are going to Maui (without the kids!). January will be a month of better eating, for sure, as I've been to Hawaii fluffy and I've been there lean, and although it's fun either way, it's even more fun when you're feeling great!

READING

I'm almost caught up with the Southern Vampire Mystery series, which makes me sad. But the client who recommended those books also recommended a book called "Bitten" by Kelly Armstrong. I just started it last night and I'm completely captivated. It is really fun to be diving back into fiction after such a long time away.

Ok, time to get ready for my next client. Have a fabulous Tuesday, friends!

20 miles!

Ran 20 today -- hooray!
Recorded a video about the run -- hooray!
Video has no sound -- boo!

Tired now. May try again tomorrow.

Melange

• I'm not a big shopper. Shopping as a pasttime strikes me as incredibly boring. But today a friend asked me to handle an errand for her, so I was at the mall for the Phase 1 grand opening. It was fun seeing the cannons with confetti, the cutting of the ribbon, and the marching band. And I found a new favorite store that is NOT a book store (surprise!) It's called Lush and they have amazing fresh handmade soaps and cosmetics. I got a couple of bath bombs (like fizzy bubble bath, I think) and an Amazonian massage bar, for some grown-up married fun!
• I tried Irish oatmeal in the pressure cooker this morning. 3 minutes at high pressure with natural pressure release -- NICE! Tonight it's Jambalaya (at Austin's request). I've found a recipe using the pressure cooker and bought the shrimp, Andouille sausage and chicken. And yes, I'll be eating something else. :)
• My last two runs have been really good ones and fast (well, fast for me). Today I ran 7 miles on legs that were already tired from kettlebells and from a fast 12 mile run yesterday. The point was to run when tired. Tomorrow's a rest day. Then 20 miles on Saturday -- my last pre-marathon long run!

Comment appreciation!!!

I'm trying something new with comments. Like I've said before, I SO appreciate that anyone takes the time to read what I write, and when someone takes the time to comment, it's like the frosting on the cake! So not acknowledging comments feels rude, like not writing thank you notes. And it seems like it takes me forever to write back with the way I do it. So here's the new system. I'm going to reply to comments in the actual comment section. So I've already gone back and replied to the last few posts and will continue working my way back (as well as staying current) until I'm caught up. So if you stopped by and asked a question or something, chances are there will be a response and a heartfelt thank you in the comment section.

More about pressure cooking and cooking success

I hope those who are interested got a chance to check out the sites I recommended. You should especially bookmark Tracy's site and check it often. Just today she wrote a post called "Try it you'll like it -- Pressure Cooking 102".

So before trying a pressure cooker, I was quite fearful of using one. I'm also afraid of deep frying stuff (which is why even at the height of my "I have little kids and I make everything from scratch" phase, I never made donuts -- 300+ degree oil plus toddlers seemed like a recipe for disaster!). After impulsively clicking to purchase my pressure cooker, I figured I had to use it at least 10 times to try to get comfortable with it. The first time I was nervous as it came up to pressure. But then it just seemed ... well, safe. And actually I feel like I have a very fun kitchen playtoy. Plus it feels a little magical in how fast it cooks stuff. So now that I'm past the fear, it's actually really really fun!

As to what I've been making, I'm a recipe follower, at least till I'm comfortable with making something. So I got the book "Pressure Cooking for Everyone" and I made their minestrone (page 34) as my first pc dish. It was easy and absolutely delicious. Next I tried Risotto with butternut squash and sausage (page 115, but I left out the sausage) and again, it was absolutely delicious. I've made risotto before and it's a pain in the ass to babysit so I've only made it twice, but with a pressure cooker, it's so easy that we'll be having it more often. Then I made Mexican chicken in soft tacos (page 79), doubling the vegetables in the recipe. Again, success!

I got on the Internet and was searching for a pressure cooking video that made it seem less scary, and that's how I found Co0kus Interruptus, a hilarious internet cooking show. Tucker and I have been watching the videos, and on Friday night he made some delicious hummus from Cynthia's recipe.
I encourage you to check out more of the videos on the site.

Finally, I'm making some headway in my quest for eating more real food and less manufactured food-like stuff. I brought left over minestrone and carrots and hummus to the TKD tournament on Saturday which worked great. On the drive home, I stopped at Subway and was about to buy a protein bar at the little snack area, when I realized, "I could have a sandwich!" So I had a veggie delight sandwich that was way healthier and more nourishing than the $3.49 (!) protein bar I almost bought.

Now really finally, tonight I made a really yummy pre-dinner snackey thing. It's kind of a mock tuna salad where you chop up canned chickpeas in the food processer, then add in some chopped apple, chopped celery, choppped onion and then some vegan mayo and a little Annie's Goddess salad dressing and some salt and pepper to taste. Tim and I had this with crackers before finishing the very last of the minestrone. (Austin opted out of both of our choices and made himself some Top Ramen -- sigh.) :)

7 Randoms

I am NOT feeling motivated today. Ran 8 on tired legs from yesterday's 10. Yeah, I was that slow girl trotting down the road, but hey, I got it done and it counts, right?

Jacey tagged me to list 7 random or odd things about me. So here goes:

1. I have some food oddities (doesn't everyone?). As a little girl, I would leave the room when my parents and brother put English muffins in the toaster, because the smell made me nearly throw up. (Now I can tolerate the smell, but I still don't like it.) I do not like ice cream. Just don't care for it at all. But I have an unnaturally strong love for cookie dough, brownie batter and frosting from a can!

2. If I had to give up all makeup items except for one (and I didn't have to count lotion or moisturizer as an item), I would choose to keep mascara. I think mascara makes an amazing difference in how I, and most girls look. (Side note here -- I am a complete hand lotion addict, and probably put it on at least 5 or 6 times per day.)

3. I do NOT like using plastic utensils and will ask for "real" ones at places that only have plastic ones out. Recently a friend told me that she only uses plastic because the real ones are never washed good enough. So if you see me eating salad at a restaurant with my fingers, you'll know why...!

4. I LOVE mobiles! My mother gave me this Flensted mobile a few months ago, and now I'm hooked. We have 3 other Flensted mobiles in our house (the original one in my office, this one in the entry way, this one in Tucker's room and this one in our room) and if I didn't think it would be too much, I'd get more!

5. I do not believe in astrology, but years ago when I read Cosmopolitan magazine, their annual "Bedside Astrologer" said that my sign (Capricorn) gets better looking as they get older -- they don't really come into themselves until later in life. I LOVED that and have always remembered it. So astrology is bullshit, except for that! :)

6. I got my belly button pierced when I turned 40 and kept it for 3 years. At that time my kids were 8 and 6, and the neighborhood kids didn't know what to think of me. I was the mom who served edgy snacks (apple slices dipped in 7Up [the citric acid keeps them from turning brown]) and had a belly ring! (No, I did not and do not wear belly shirts, but we live in an area where it gets to 100 degrees and hotter in the summer and we have a pool, so that's how they saw it!) For whatever reason, I checked last night to see if I could still put an earring through the hole. Yep, it's still there if I opt to get edgy again!

7. This year I set out to run 1000 miles, which I did 10 years ago when I was 37. Well, I passed 1000 a couple of months ago, and just hit 1300 yesterday, so now my new goal is 1500 for the year. This is a good goal because it's both exciting and nerve wracking (because it's gonna be tough!).

According to the rules, I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but I've run out of computer time, so if you would like to play and think this would be fun, consider yourself tagged, and be sure to let me know that you're playing so I can find out more about you!!!

Pressure cooker interest

I'm so excited that I have friends who are interested in pressure cooking too! I should have listened to Tracy a year ago (or maybe longer) when she tried to convince me to get one. Better late than never though, right?

I'll be at a Tae Kwon Do tournament in Santa Rosa all day tomorrow, but will try to write on Sunday. In the meantime, there are two fabulous resources for pressure cooking:

Food and Thought: Tracy Reifkind's weblog which contains excellent instructions on making all sorts of wholesome delicious food, including lots of pressure cooker ideas.

The Veggie Queen: This is where I got my pressure cooker (at Tracy's recommendation). Jill knows everything about pressure cooking, and if you order through her, she's just an email away if you have questions -- how great is that?!

Have a fabulous weekend, friends!

Butternut squash risotto

Tim's working from home today, and I decided to experiment again with the pressure cooker (aka my new best friend!). I love risotto, but standing in front of the stove babysitting it for 30 - 45 minutes is not my idea of fun. But in the pressure cooker? 90 seconds to cook the squash. 6 minutes for the risotto. And the result is one that any restaurant would be proud of!

In response to Aron's question about if you need something special to do pressure cooking -- yes, you need an actual pressure cooker. I got a 6 quart Fagor Duo pressure cooker from The Veggie Queen's website (I put a link to her site in my "Finding my cooking groove" post) and I love it.

I'm beginning to understand why Tracy says she loves her pressure cooker so much. Yep, I think I'm becoming a believer.

Pressure Cooker success!!!

I found a recipe for minestrone in my new cookbook. Rather than simmering for hours, this recipe called for cooking the mix of vegetables, liquid, and seasonings for 10 minutes at high pressure, releasing the pressure, then adding in some zucchini and pasta and cooking till the pasta was done. The soup was wonderful! The veggies, especially the carrots, were fully cooked, yet fresher somehow than if they were cooked for hours. The flavor was delicious. And it took 45 minutes, start to finish, to make. (25 minutes of that was prep time, which would have been shorter if I'd been more focused.)

Vote!

Image originally posted at Cake Wrecks.

P90X shoulders and arms

Did this DVD tonight with Tim. I'm gonna be feeling it tomorrow!

Tagged!

6 things I value:
What's on the inside.
Family and friends.
Kindness (the most underrated of all virtues).
Optimism.
Good health.
Courage.

6 things I don't value:
What's on the outside.
Pretentiousness.
Arrogance.
Self pity.
Wastefulness.
Laziness.

6 people I'm tagging:
Irene
Colette
Katie
Eileen
Julianne
Leslie G.

Thanks Kim for tagging me -- this was fun!

Finding my cooking groove

I'm starting to cook more regularly for my family. This has not been easy. For years nobody was home at dinnertime -- both kids had gymnastics practice, and it was easy for me and Tim to throw together a salad or just get fresh fast food (a la Chipotle, for example). But the bigger issue was that I got lazy and out of the habit of planning for dinner. Now I'm ready to mend my ways.

Last week I cooked 5 nights out of 7, and the 2 nights I didn't cook, we were at a family dinner one night, and the other night we were all scattered different places. That, my friends, is a VERY successful week.

Today I was going to use my brand new pressure cooker (purchased based on Tracy's recommendation from The Veggie Queen) for the very first time, but I chickened out. Although it came with some recipes, I couldn't find one I was sure my family would like. I did, however, have stuff on hand to do a chicken curry. (I pulled my part out before adding in the chicken at the end.)

Tomorrow night we have the water polo banquet, so no cooking for me. But Wednesday I'll be embarking on my first pressure cooker adventure, with the help of a cookbook I bought at Barnes and Noble tonight. (When in doubt, buy another book right?)

Finally, speaking of books, I'm obsessed with a fiction series for the first time in years. I used to like reading fiction, but about 5 years ago I nearly gave it up completely. It just seemed stupid and pointless and I really didn't care what the made-up characters were doing next. (Depression may have had something to do with how I felt about reading for pleasure.) (I did read every single Harry Potter book, though!) Well, over the last few months I've been reading the Southern Vampire Mystery series (starting with Dead Until Dark) and I love them! (One of my clients introduced me to them and I'm so grateful!) I just finished book 5 tonight, and picked up books 6 and 7 when I got the cookbook. Whatever will I do when I have to actually wait for the next book???

Trying to find the humor

I'm irritated and angry at something that I KNOW I will laugh at someday. It's just that today is not that day. Why am I angry? Because I have to comfort my younger son, who burned his finger. Why is his finger burned? Because he and his brother were using a lighter to caramelize some Laffy Taffy they got on Halloween. Who the heck caramelizes their candy??? Apparently my kids do!

A new meaning for my name

Years ago I read a baby name book where it gave the meaning of Leslie as "from the dark hole." Niiiiice, right?

Tonight at a family get together, my niece (who's pregnant) had a baby name book. This book says that Leslie means, "feisty, beautiful, and smart."

Ummmmm, I guess I have a new baby name authority. I LIKE my name now!!!

Helen Klein 30K, 50K, 50M race report

I left my house a little before 6:00 this morning and drove to the junior high school where the race was to begin. It was pitch black and I followed the bright light to the gymnasium where about 250 people were getting the pre-race briefing from Norm Klein, the race organizer. As excited as I was to be in a crowd of ultra runners, I felt like a poser. I kept looking at what everyone was wearing -- was I wearing the right stuff? I saw runners in everything from singlets and shorts and garbage bags to full waterproof outfits (there weren't many of these). Most people were in shorts. I wore CWX tights, an Adidas long bra top with an Under Armor long sleeve t, and Tim's waterproof golf jacket (wearing it made me feel like he was hugging me the entire way which felt soooo good!) plus a hat (a MUST in the rain). What I wore worked well for a run where it never got warmer than 59 degrees and it rained the entire time.

Talked with a few people, including the daughter of the founder of Running Times. (Her dad was running the 50 mile race!) Took my goody bag to the car, (I didn't check it out till after the race, when I discovered that it had great stuff, such as 12 gels [no exaggeration!] and a huge pack of GU2O [to mix with a gallon of water!] then became best friends with Dan, who had a waist light that made the 1/4 mile trail walk to the start possible for me!

The first mile took around 13 minutes due to construction on the levee and a detour with twisty single-track mud trails. Once we hit the levee I found a comfortable pace (maybe around 9:25 or so) and held there. My feet were soaked through by mile 3 and there was really nothing I could do about it. Decided I was going to run my own personal 40K (24.8 miles), and chose to add the miles on at the middle, as finishing and then going back out sounded super hard emotionally, as well as physically with the difficulty of that first mile (which was also the last mile, of course).

It was SO FUN having other runners to talk to! Met a guy who ran with Catra at the Mt. Diablo 50. Chatted with a group of guys where one was helping the other two to run the 50K. I considered running the 50K, but that would be like eloping (this race) then inviting people to your wedding (CIM in December) so I decided against it. After about an hour of chatting with fellow runners, I turned on my iPod and listened to my SF Half playlist, and then to the latest Phedipedations podcast.

One thing that was way different about being part of an ultra race is that the aid stations are COOL! You know how in regular races you can get water or an electrolyte drink and maybe a gel? Well, at THIS race, the aid station food list looks something like this:

Fig Newtons
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Boiled potatoes with salt for dipping
Jellybeans
Crackers
Rice Krispy treats
Bananas
Flat Coke
Flat Sprite
Hot soup (at the later aid stations)

As Norm Klein, race organizer said, "If Safeway doesn't sell it, we don't have it, and you don't need it!"

The last 5 miles felt tough but doable, and doing an out and back course was so much better than my long runs where I do the last few miles within a mile of my house (the pull to just stop and go home is strong when you do that!). Even though I added a 10K onto my race, I did not finish last, and ended up passing maybe 10 or 12 of the 30K runners in the last few miles, which was a confidence booster for the marathon. I finished in 4:09 covering 25 and 1/4 miles and I KNOW I could have run another mile to do a full marathon. Today is the first day I actually believe that I can do CIM in December!

Before the race started, I was told that today was Helen Klein's last official race. She is an ultrarunning legend and she and her husband put on this race. Today Helen ran the 30K. She is EIGHTY FIVE YEARS OLD! I was there when she crossed the finish line, and I had tears in my eyes as I clapped and cheered with all the other people who got to witness this amazing finish.

After over 4 hours of rainy cold, the shower at home felt marvelous, but I couldn't truly warm up for quite some time. And feet that have been soaked for hours take a very long time to de-prune, in case you're wondering! I laid down for 30 minutes this afternoon, and then was up and making cookies to take to a big family dinner tonight. Now I'm back in my pink giraffe pj's and about to curl up on the sectional for a little TV before a LONG night's sleep!

25 miles -- DONE!

I RAN 25 MILES TODAY!!!

(That SO sounds like a lie, but it's true!)

Will post a full race report later. Time now for some warmth (it was 59 degrees and raining the entire time), food, and rest.