Pep Talk

One of my favorite bloggers-I-don't-know-personally likes to give her legs pep talks before big races.  It works for her, so I'm going to try it.

Me: Hey legs.  I know you ladies are tuckered out from all the running and biking, driving a stick shift, and teaching all day.  But, we're almost there...and then you can have a big long break (of about 2 weeks).

Legs: Yeah, you're working us pretty hard...but what happened to all the running lately?

Me: About that...I'm tapering you silly girls!  Letting you acclimate to the training, recover, and get ready for the big day.  Where were you when I was reaing those running books and magazines?

Legs: It's dark under the covers...and we can't read.  Double whammy!

Me: So, are you ready for Sunday?  Knee...are you going to stop being so fussy?  You're the main reason I haven't been running so much lately.

Knee: Who me?  If you want fussy, I can show you fussy!  Why I ougta...

Me: Alright, just calm down.  We're all friends here.

Knee: Calmer than you are.

Me: This conversation seems to have deteriorated.  We've got 26.2 on Sunday and we have to work together on this one.  And it's going to be cold and rainy and...challenging to say the least.  

Legs: We got it, Duds!  Don't worry about it.  Go to sleep, already.  We'll all be just fine.  Now are you going to cover us up in pants on Sunday or do we get to have a view of this thing we're doing?

Me: Pushy, pushy.  We'll see if you two can behave between now and then.  Good niiiight...

Hybrid of a Different Color

I'm following the Un-Road Trip Blog these days.  Boaz is chronicling his journey across the US without the use of a gasoline-drinking car.  Many companies are giving him access to alternative vehicles.  That includes the Hammacher Schlemmer cooler-mobile (a cooler on wheels...you sit on it and go up to 14 mph), electric cars, and pogo sticks.

This rowbike has got to be one of the stranger things I've seen.  While it's combining two of my favorite activities, it just looks bizarre.  Picture blatantly stolen from unroadtrip.blogspot.com.  Check out the blog for a full report.

Sweet Deals

Woot.com.  A deal a day on electronics.  Today...a flip video camera.  Too bad I won't get it in time for the marathon.  I can't tell you how many people I saw filming their finish on Sunday...at least 3...which is 3 more than I expected.

April Tunes

Here is the latest batch of songs that have been in my ears in the last month.  Of course, I had to include some new Dylan, and I chose the songs that have more mainstream appeal from the new album.  Songs 1, 2, and 4 come from listening to the KEXP Song of the Day while 7 came from the Dinner Party Download.  "The Funeral" and "After Hours" were the soundtrack to some recent YouTube videos I saw, probably with bikes in them.  Songs 8-13 have been on recent episodes of "Scrubs," some of them were new to me while the DCFC and Radin are favorites of mine (especially when one of my students strums the former on his guitar).  I also really liked this version of Hey Ya...it almost seems like a love song.  And, however many years after seeing Elizabethtown and loving the version of "Same In Any Language" from the close credits, it is finally available for purchase as a single.  It's listed as being performed by a band called Ruckus, which I believe is just the name of the band in the movie, played by the My Morning Jacket guys.  The other songs...who knows where I came across them, but I hope you find something you like.

Can Someone Explain The Economy To Me?

My credit line just increased from $6,000 per month to $13,500 per month.  Does this make sense to anyone?  I pay my bill in full every month...they can't think I'm stupid.  Why do they do this?  I know someone out there knows.

If You're Sick...

...don't try to do anything where you could make a mistake that you might regret.  This story might be confusing, but I'm trying to protect identities.

Here's what happened:

Someone emailed all the ADs about Athletics (a higher up person).  It was about swimming and had an attachment.  We don't have swimming, so I deleted the email.

A few hours later I get another email that said "Swimming...Wrong form."  The text of the email said something like: "So-and-so saved the old file instead of the new one and so I attached the wrong form. I'll make sure that I talk to so-and-so  and they know how to save things properly."  FYI: so-and-so is one of her employees.

I saw this email and immediately thought to forward it to my colleague who has had some interesting experiences, as I have, with this higher up person (same one who emailed my boss back in the fall reprimanding me for a student who called their office...which I did not know was wrong).  In my fog, I REPLIED instead and wrote: "I can't believe they emailed the whole state and threw the employee under the bus.  What is wrong with this person?"  Ooops!

The person wrote me back and said "I didn't email the whole state.  I just thought everyone should know that the employee messed up and I looked like a fool.  I guess that's the danger of email...one missed keystroke.  And there's probably a lot more wrong with me than that. And I'm guessing you meant to email your principal, so I'm doing it for you."

For one, I could care less about the email going to my principal and I think it's funny that they think they have power in that way.  I wrote back, apologizing for my email but I also wrote: "I'm glad you know how I feel about this.  You did not look like a fool.  Obviously, from my email, it's easy to make a mistake and I don't think anyone would think twice about it if you had just said 'please use this new form.'  It's a simple mistake."

They wrote back saying: "I have no response except good grief."

Oh man. I feel a little sick to my stomach that this happened, but in some ways, I just don't care.  It's not okay to reprimand or badmouth or throw a colleague under the bus in front of other people.  Period.  Not that I am the queen of professionalism here, but you just can't do stuff like that.  And I don't care who knows it.  I still think it's pretty crappy what that person did to a colleague.

So, there go my chances to be President of the USA.

UPDATE: Here's the response I got from my boss: Wow.  I think we need to give you a raise.   Good grief! J

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's the response from my sports colleague: I am now dumber for having read through all these emails. J – way to stand up for the little guy.  You are like the Erin Brokavich of ADs.

At least I get to work with some people who crack me up.

Catch Up!

My mom emailed to ask me what would be on the iPod for the race.  Actually, I never race with an iPod.  Well, one time I wore it on my arm because I ran to a race, raced it, then ran to work.  But it is true that I do not listen to music while I race.  Honestly, I only started listening to my iPod while I run because the YMCA had no music at all...which was great, except the drone of treadmills could drive someone insane.  I stuck with the iPod because I have so many cool podcasts to listen to.

I do have about 18 hours in the car this weekend.  On Friday, I'll be driving to Medford, OR (which is about 6 hours away).  Then on Saturday, I'll finish the trip with 3 hours to Eugene.  Here's some of what I'll be listening to.

The New Bob Dylan CD!  On first listen, I really like it.  I'll comment more at a later date and when I've listened a few more times.

Dinner Party Download - This is a new podcast for me.  It is basically 15 minutes of interesting tidbits that could win you friends at your "weekly dinner party."  Who goes to a dinner party every week?  I'm sure some people do, but I'll lucky to get one every year.  This is a fun podcast...there's a joke, a song at the end, and it is truly interesting stuff.

The Dirtbag Diaries!  There's a new episode!  I might give in and listen on my easy run tomorrow, but I'd love to save it for the ride.

Fresh Air - I'm really bad about keeping up with this podcast.  I don't save every episode, but 

On Point - You know how I love this one.

Slate Political Gabfest - This makes every Friday a lot better.

Stuff You Should Know - This is another fun podcast.  I learned about living off the grid and how junk mail works today.  Both depressed me.  I want to like the sister podcast Stuff You Missed In History Class, but I just can't listen to the women who do that one.  

On the way home, I'll probably have my sister with me.  I'm sure we'll catch up on Wait Wait..., This American Life, and the NPR live concerts of Neko Case, Avett Brothers, Mates of State, Blind Pilot, and The Decemberists.

Sixty-six

That's my number for the marathon!  #66.  Of course, I immediately thought of all the cool things about it.  6*11 is pretty good, as 6 is a perfect number and 11 is a prime.  It's in a song and used to be on a map.  66 is also a triangular number, or a "bowling pin number" as my colleague says.  That means that you can make a perfect pyramid or bowling set up with 66 people or pins.  That is sweet.  I also love the two digit number...I've never had one in a race as big as this.  Actually, I don't really know how big this race is.  Last year, 1742.  In 2007, 1498 finished.  So, it's a small, bitty race.  Actually, I thought it was bigger...maybe 4000 or so.  I think it will be closer to 2500 or 3000 as there are 7000 participants in the half, full, and 5K.  I'm totally content to run a small quaint race.  More post-race food for me!

Apparently, you can go to the marathon homepage to track me on race day.  Eugenemarathon.com

I'm getting nervous.  And sick...I'm going to try to heal myself right now.  Feed a cold?  I'll pretend that's the saying...

Two Cowbells and a Bike Bell

Wow!  What a weekend.  You know it's been great when you can say you've used the cowbell twice and had necessity for a bike bell.  

On Friday, I dragged myself to Berkeley.  I mean, I really wanted to go, but Friday was just one of those days where I was lucky to still be standing when the whistle bell slew.  After not being able to run all week, I awoke on Friday feeling like I had slept in a gutter with someone with a cold.  The low of the day was when I realized I had made one hundred packets for my students but with every other page copied...not all of them.  I realized this while I was giving a test and my student teacher was in LA and after I passed out about 25 of the packets (on many different topics for the students' final projects).  So, I had to send out an emergency email to the faculty to get someone to cover my class while I put copies in.  I was feeling horrible about the waste of paper, but it had to be done.  Then, as I was handing out the packets, I didn't have enough of the right packets for the kids.  I sent out another desperate email...but this email went only to myself!  That's the kind of day it was...I was sending emails to myself for help.  I almost didn't go to Berkeley.  But then I remembered that I would get to see a track meet with legit runners...and I had to get myself in the car.  I knew it would make my day.

So, I sat in traffic for 90 minutes, but found a parking spot near the track without really trying and was off.  I had two jackets, two blankets, crazy creek chair, camera, binoculars, hat, and gloves and of course, the cowbell.  And, it was awesome.  The Chico State guys were sitting behind me (there to watch former teammate Scott Bauhs), commenting in such as way that made it all worth it.  They were so pumped to see Magdalena Lewy Boulet's husband and son.  Then there was this exchange:  Chico State Guy: Why aren't I doing guest commentary.  Flotrack Guy: I've got Peter Gilmore as the guest commenator.  When you run a 2:12 marathon, you can do it.  

So, why was this meet so awesome?  A killer college women's 5K dominated by a redshirt from UC Davis followed by Shannon Rowbury beasting out a 5K in 15:12 with flashy diamond earrings on.  It was a small field of about 8 or 10 women, but she had no one even close.

There was steeplechase, one of my favorites.  And Scott Bauhs ran a great 5k, even though he didn't win the race.  I was obsessed with Desiree Davila during the 10K.  She wasn't the winner, but she ran 77s the entire race...with the exception of about two laps and the last one that was a 71.  I love her!  And then, there was Sam Chalenga who ran a ridiculous 10K in 27:28, which is an American Collegiate Record (he took it from Galen Rupp) and Rupp ran 28:28 this weekend up in Eugene.  Chalenga is looking fierce this season.  He also looks about 12.  

Other highlights: I was sitting behind Sara (Bei) Hall's parents.  They were talking all about the Boston Marathon and Ryan's run (not to me, but one of Sara's college friends).  Shannon Rowbury was about 10 feet away from me...I was going to congratulate her on her race but she started talking to a friend.  And, it's always a good day when you're not the only one ringing a cowbell.  Meet video are here.  Flotrack is awesome!

The bike bell?  On Saturday, I took the cruiser out for a joy ride during my lunch break.  The place where I work won a bike by logging the most bike-to-work miles among all the stores in the country.  My boss actually would bike 10 to 20 miles out of her way on the way to work to guarantee the win.  Anyway, this is a crusier from the New Belgium Beer Company in Colorado (by the way, if anyone in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Oregon, Wisconsin, Arizona, or Texas wants to try to win the bike for me on New Belgium, I'd love it).  The bike we have is so sweet!  It's got wide handlebars, a cushy seat, and a bell.  It's totally perfect for the sunny California Saturday.  I biked to Borrone's, ringing the bell the whole way, and smiling, of course.

Cowbell occasion number two?  Can you believe this was a two cowbell weekend?  I drove down to Carmel today to catch the finish of the Big Sur marathon.  I arrived at the finish line just after my friend Eddie C finished THIRD!  He was bummed (as I) that I did not run alongside him, ringing the cowbell over his head, like I did when he ran Boston.  After he got his massage, he was able to follow the sound of the bell to find me and then we saw his lovely wife finish the race.  They both ran PRs on a very, very challenging course; one that they both said is harder than Boston.  It was great to get to hang with them for a bit as they live in Flagstaff and I live in Cali.  Ed is my former co-worker, co-coach, and carpool mate from my last year at FHS and if there's ever an opportunity to work with him again, I'll take that job.

The top four guys.  

Notes: the runner on the left finished first and his dad was in the top three in his age group.  The next runner was with Ed for most of the race, alternating breaking the wind.  I guess he's a triathlete...you can tell by his clean shaven legs.  And then there's Ed, sporting his Cortland gear! The final runner on the right was named Jesus, I think.  Why didn't he win?

Reunion!

This was after two beers.  Can you tell?  Actually, that's how Ed usually is.  

It was great to get to watch a marathon finish today.  I got a little teary at times, watching people push through to the end and hoping that I'm crossing the finish line next weekend.  I've popped the ibuprofen and taken an ice bath as well as had some throat coat tea.  I'm pretty sure I'm getting sick.  I think it's time for bed actually...

If You Do, Wear a Helmet

I subscribe to a lot of blogs in my Google Reader.  Too many to handle, really.  But, I have trouble letting go of any blogs because I read such cool stuff all the time.  Here is a sweet video posted by the people at Horny Toad apparel.  I really can't believe what this guy can do on a bike.

Here's what the Toad people wrote about it:

We like bikes here are the Toad, but, Danny MacAskill obviously reeeally likes bikes. What an amazing collection of street trials riding. This was all filmed in Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby. It’s always fascinating when someone shows a passion for something so much so that they are able to master it to a point of jaw-dropping awe. You’ll see, take a looksee. Errrr does it need to be said that you should not attempt this at home.

It Could Always Be Worse

A standard read when I was young was "It Could Always Be Worse."  You probably have to be Jewish to know about it.

From one of my favorite running bloggers: she is running Eugene and got hit by a car on her bike this week.  Regardless, she will still smoke me.

Iowa or Bust!

Today, I got to dress up a window at my weekend job.  We had one male mannequin with his shoulder bag all packed that we pulled from the floor to put in the window.  From there, we decided we would make a traveling scene.  My boss asked me to grab a female mannequin from the back.  Immediately, I decided I would ignore her request, and make it a scene two men who were going a-travelin'.  Lucky for me, there was only a male mannequin in the back, so my dream would come true.  

We brought the already dressed-for-travel guy up front and started dressing  his partner.  I decided they would be traveling to Iowa to get married, so I layered him in a blue shirt, one of our brand new button up shirts (that I love), and put one of our oldest vintage vests on him.  I'm not sure what he was borrowing, but I was pretty proud of myself.

I like to think that I was going along with my two new friends to be their witness.  Yay progress!

Happy Earth Day!

Yes it can!

The Triumph Elm in Chicago.

Sweet!

This is not a haiku.

Disaster?

I was one step into my run today when my knee started hurting.  I have no idea what went wrong, but I stopped running immediately, barely past my driveway, and did not ride my bike to school today.  I'll be off the bike until after the marathon, I think.  My knee is still hurting today around school.  Yikes!  

This does not bode well for Homestar Runner.

People

I get an email every day from "Very Short List" with one thing that is cool out in the world.  It could be a show, a website, a book, music, a video...whatever.  Today, I got an email about a website called The 50 States Project.  Here's the deal:  50 states, 1 photographer in each state, 6 assignments throughout the year.  On March 1, the photographers turned in their photos for the assignment called "People."  On May 1, they will turn in the photographs for the "Habitat" assignment.  There are so many amazing pictures in the People gallery.  The one I've included made me laugh out loud.  It's worth checking out the series.

Just My Luck

Of course, on the morning of the Boston Marathon, on a day when I don't have to teach until 10:25 am PDT (well after the elites will finish), I just found out that I have to sub from 8:15-9:10.  If I had known, I would have called in sick.  I hate to say this, but those kids are going to get about 20% of me this morning.  I'm so excited that I get to teach 55 minutes of 9th grade English...like literally, teach them stuff.  Ugh!

Goucher looking good.  Men just went off with Hall sprinting to the lead.  What is going on?

And Nike is making a terrible mistake by not making their arm warmers available to the general public.

My Work Here Is (Almost) Done

The hard work is over.  I have nine more runs to do, only two of which will include any kind of quickness.  Basically, my work is done.  Today's half was good.  It was similar to San Diego in that it's along the coast, which means very little shade.  It was hot.  Not as bad as SD, but hotter than most April days in Santa Cruz (or all of coastal Cali for that matter).  The surfers were out and the best part of this lollipop course was the loop part, which was on a did trail around a peninsula above the ocean.  My only words were "Wow" as we saw the snaking line of runners on the circuitous trail.  With the sun about 40 degrees up in the sky, I have rarely seen such a beautiful sight.  I ran true to my race plan.  I wanted to go out for the first mile at race pace and then settle into race pace + 20 seconds.  I did that, with the exception of mile 2, which was faster than mile 1, despite the fact that I swear I slowed way down.

Tomorrow is the Boston Marathon.  I am getting up wicked early to get my easy run in and then pedal to work in time to watch the start (at 6:30 my time).  I only know 2 or 3 people running this year, which is lower than in the past, but I'm so excited for this year's race.  Kara Goucher has been a favorite of mine for a long time, at first by association ("Running with the Buffalo" put me in Adam Goucher's camp), and then outright.  Despite the fact that Ryan Hall and I don't see eye to eye on religion's influence on running, I'm looking forward to his race.  It was fun to watch him last year running London, and I expect nothing different tomorrow.  For those of you in New England, you can watch it on WCVB-TV or their website.  Outside of NE, watch on Universal Sports.  It's no secret that my goal is to one day qualify for Boston.  It's been a dream of mine that I can remember actively thinking about in high school, but probably was planted earlier.  My parents both ran it a bunch of times (much faster than I could ever hope to attain) and I've had many friends and heros fly by me at miles 9 and 22 (my usual spectating spots).  I'll spend the next two weeks trying not vomit as I think about the potential in Eugene.  I'm pumped to be healthy enough to run my first marathon and I hope Boston will be in my future.  I'll be getting inspiration tomorrow for sure.

Here's a video that I'll watch over and over in the next two weeks (as well as "Spirit of the Marathon" and all the Olympics/Tour de France/Trials/NYCRR YouTubing I can do...oh, and I'm going to the NYRR distance festival that's in Berkeley this Friday).  This video is amazing.  I mean, I do want Bearsley to win, but if you're a runner and you don't get goosebumps watching this, maybe your goosebump abilities are broken.

Ummm...what's Ring Road?  Parents?  Help me out.  Not called Boylston Street?  When I look it up, it seems they are one and the same, but Ring Road is kind of the carraige way like road in front of the Hynes Convention Center.  I need more info here.  

There are so many things about this video that are bizarre.  The quality is horrendous.  And the motorcycles are totally in getting in Beardsley's way.  Then there's a horse on the corse.  This would never happen today.  

And while Kara and Shalane and Sell and Hall and Joanie and DRitz and Rupp and Shorter and Salazar and all the rest (Lance too, of course) inspire me all the time, I am perhaps more inspired by my marathoning friends and family.  My parents, ADH & EH, AS, EH & EC & JC & ML & MF (yeah Flyers), CKB, JP & KS (and all the other blue jays).  I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but I probably wouldn't be on the verge of 26.2 without them.

Special shout out to the four Framingham Flyers who participated in the Scholastic Mile today.  Phineas is the only one I worked with.  I'm so impressed with how good he and the team has become over the last few years.

Lucky Numbers

Maybe I'm just a numbers person, but every time I pick up a race number, I try to think about what I like about the number.  Maybe it's  the number 3542 and I'll think 7 times 5 and 7 times 6 or 7(500+6).  My number for tomorrow's half marathon is 714, which is awesome on its own, but sit's the house number for my uncle, aunt, and cousins in Colorado.  When I went to pick it up, I had to find out my number at one table and then go to another table to get the number.  The girl (and it was a young girl) wanted to write it on a post it for me to take on the 10 foot walk to the number pick-up table.  Obviously, I don't need a post-it to remember an address to which I've written many a letter.  

It got me thinking...do other people think about their number like I do?  And then I thought, how do they assign numbers?  I've been looking at last year's Eugene Marathon results (more on that in a bit).  When sorted by bib number, it seems as though it's based on when you register and last name.  Eugene did assign someone the number 13, but not 666.

Tomorrow's half is not meant to be a race for me, but a chance to practice hydrating and fueling in a race setting, trying out the potential race outfit.  Right now, it's 78 degrees here and it's expected to be at least 80 tomorrow about 86 on Monday.  That is wicked hot.  Thankfully, it's quite cool here in the mornings, so I think we'll be okay from 8-10 tomorrow for the race...probably no more than 60.

About Eugene...in looking at last year's results, it seems that most people run the first half faster than the second half.  And the people who are finishing around the time that I plan to, seem to have run the first half about 15-20 minutes faster than the second half (1:40s for the first half and then finishing around 3:40).  What's going on in that second half?  Now, the course has been changed slightly since last year, so maybe it won't be an issue anymore (as the elevation profile is unchanged), but I'm still a bit worried (even the top finishers ran the first half faster than the second, although the difference for them was less than for the 3:40 group).  I have two weeks to obsess about my race strategy.  Lucky me!  If you have any thoughts, let me know.  I've signed up to run with the Clif Pace team, so that's good and I'll have a pace band ready.  I also am totally prepared if things unravel and I just need to "Finish Strong" (as we say at school).

T-minus nine workouts.  Giddy-up!

Monday The 13th

Woke up one hour late (did not hear my alarm at 4am or 4:30).

Got to school 25 minutes before first period (had to sqeeze in a long-ish run, shower, breakfast, and bike ride).  Had to stop sweating, remember what I needed to teach today and set up a junior class meeting.

Taught the wrong lesson (I switched yesterday & today...good thing it doesn't matter)

We had a crazy kind of schedule today (in order to do a 3-more-weeks-finish-strong-pep-talk) so i never knew when the periods ended.  And when I thought it was time for 4th period, it was really lunch.

I found out I had to sub 5th period while I was teaching 2nd period.

I tried to go into my office, apparently hadn't opened the door wide enough, and walked into the door...in front of a whole class of 9th graders

I was going in my office later on and somehow, I knocked a clock down from the wall above me.  It just narrowly missed my head.  Again, this in front of a whole class of 9th graders.

I remembered some more files that I lost in my hard drive FAIL and got really sad.

Thank goodness for Adam Samberg videos.  And my students teaching me "FTW" means in texting and what the skanky leg dance is.  Well, maybe I didn't need to know that last one.  Oh, and ran wicked fast this morning...and I wasn't even trying.  So, it's not all bad.

This Is Just To Say

I have not 

hung out with you 

in quite sometime

And you are 

probably upset 

about the glaze of dirt 

and pollen 

that has formed on you

Forgive me

my bike is more appealing

it can go places you cannot 

and I love the wind 

against my face

My homage to William Carlos Williams

Charles River Dreamin'

When I was home last week, I went into Boston to have lunch with JP (yay) and see my favorite sites.  I went to Boston Common, my old Whole Foods (for some delectable chocolate caramel matzah that they do for Passover), and my old/new boathouse.

We used to row out of an ice rink (that is empty when it gets warm).  A bunch of years back, the club started raising money for their own boathouse.  It's finally done and already in use.  If there's one thing that will get me back to Boston in a hurry, it's the lure of CRI.  I miss being on the water

The view looking east-ish, towards Cambridge.  Look at the dock!  Look at that launch!

The boat storage.  This is the entire first floor of the building with huge doors that open up on either side to get the boats in an out.

The other boat storage.  this one is a glass building.  So pretty.

We/they finally have the fake dogs for the docks so the geese don't make a mess everywhere.  That's legit.  I think I can say "we" as it's one of the organizations that I continue to support every year. 

Ahhh...this place is cool.  It reminds me a lot of the ark at Congregation B'nai Shalom (anyone?).  If their membership doesn't go up once people see this, then that's just crazy!

Beach Games

What if my boss was like Michael Scott from "The Office? These days, I have two bosses: my school boss (TD) and my weekend boss (JD).  Today, the weekend job gang was having a beach BBQ as we are closed on Easter.  Of course, I was in.  After the miserable gloom of Saturday in Boston (40 and rainy), the Pacific was calling my name.  My students don't need graded papers, do they?  Now, would it be like that episode of "The Office" where our boss had us play games to figure out who would get certain positions on staff?  Well, I think she wanted us to compete by running and going in the water, but it was chill-ay!  It was a beautiful day in my neighborhood, but as soon as you go over the hills, that's where the cold air hides.

Here is the scene from Half Moon Bay:

Here's Ms. JD, so proud of the hole she dug for the grill.  This is when the sun was still out.

Here's JD's soon to be hubby.  He was our grill master!  He is also proud of his grill hole.  You need to put your grill in a hole in order to keep the wind from spoiling all the fun.  You can see how much clothing was needed eventually.

JR...fresh off his lent of no meet.  The open faced double patty.  Mmmmmm...  JD's burgers were darn good.  I had two myself.  But not at the same time.

I don't have pictures of AP's dog, that she put in a jacket, so as to look human, so as to fool the Park Rangers, who don't want dogs on the beach.  I did request that next time, she have one of these on hand (click on the picture to go to the website):

Yay for coastal living!

My Downhill Is Uphills

You know how people say, "Things are going downhill" and that means that things are getting worse.  As a runner, that's so hard to understand.  I had a disasterous week...most of the trouble coming whenever I ran uphill.  The downhill is totally easy...in fact, that's when my mood improves.  Here's one thing I've learned...I don't do well when I travel and try to run (I'll keep that in mind for Eugene).  I don't know what it is about the uphills in other states (Mass and GA both own me).  I like to believe that the hilly course I run out here is pretty burly.  The roads I run are coveted for cyclists and I often get cheers of encouragement or thumbs up for the climbing I'm doing.  So, why does Whitney Street do me in?  That's bogus.

So, here's how the week went.  Monday: bad run--could not run the tempo or the distance that I wanted, Monday night: red eye, Wednesday: bad run--again, no tempo, short on distance, Thursday: okay run...still had to walk up some hills, but I ate up the hills on my repeats (what gives there?) and a wild turkey did strut right out in front of me), Saturday: great for 17 miles...tough for the last six,  Saturday night: flight home...arrived at 12:45 am PDT on Sunday, Sunday: fairly quick four miles, despite the soreness.

Other lessons learned?  Just keep moving forward.  I'm not dwelling on last week.  There were plenty of places to make mistakes.  Not enough sleep, red eye, hydration malfunctions, and the like.  All in all, I had only a brief meltdown durant-running.  It was on Church Street and very, very brief, given the meltdown that could happen on your third failed run in a row (I think I got emotional about seeing my high school behind my old temple's building).  But, my long, long run on Saturday went well, given the fact that it was so cold that it felt better to stop running sometimes and warm up.  I felt good for about 17 miles, felt so-so for the rest, felt fine after it was over, had no problems sitting on a plane for way too long (exit row and the cutest 17 year old ever...we talked college and high school and essays for half the trip), and my usual Sunday "shake-it-out" run was easily.  I've also learned that maybe it takes marathon training to make me a better 5K and 10K runner.

Oh, and to top it all off, my water bill was higher this month, despite all the graywater I've been saving and using to flush the toilet.  My explanation: my roommate has asked that I don't "let it mellow," if you catch my drift, so more water in general is going down the drain than usual.  And I haven't totally mastered the water-in-the-bowl flush.  I'm sad about this.  It's really hard to make a difference environmentally.  Especially when you don't get the support you'd like from others.  Boo!

T-minus three weeks.  I'm off to the beach!

Change Comin' On

My first exposure to Bob Dylan was ten years ago.  And ten years later, and Bob Dylan can still nail my emotions like few other artists (although I did change the words to one song to say "feels like my soul has turned into oatmeal" instead of steel...it just made more sense for a 19 year old).  And in three weeks, Dylan's putting out a new album!  I've already got mine on pre-order.  I know the recent albums pretty well as I've listened to them all right when they came out (although the mix of "bootleg" albums confuses my mental timeline).  Recently a friend was asking me about the chronology of some albums, and as much as I like Bob Dylan, I have no idea off the top of my head of the order any of his records.  I tend to remember things if I can picture hearing it/seeing it/learning it (I can't remember anything about my field hockey career that I don't have a picture for or any baseball statistics that I didn't witness personally, but I can tell you all about imaginary numbers because I can see the stuff on the blackboard when I learned about it in ninth grade).  

So, if I grew up with Bob Dylan from the early days, I'm sure I would remember which albums came when.  But, "Blood on the Tracks" springs to mind my sophomore year dorm room, sitting at my gigantic desktop computer, with headphones on...listening and relistening until I knew all the words.  But I was also listening to new variants on the same songs, which messes up the timeline even more.  I do not picture the year of 1975, when the album came out, when the feeling was that "there is no politician that can move anyone to hope" (Peter Hamill New York 1974).  Can you imagine that time?  Of course, I'm speaking to those who did not experience it.

The artists that I tend to enjoy the most are those who change with the times (and I'm fine with their voices changing along with it).  Dylan's new album includes a song whose title I stole for the title of this post and the song totally hit me.  You can listen here.  There's a new interview with Dylan that is linked to on that page and his comments highlight why he is still relevant to me.

BF: But the new album is all about love--love found, love lost, love remembered, love denied.
BD: Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.

If you're hurtin' for some Bob Dylan, go to his website where you can hear a clip from any song on any album).  Pretty sweet.  That makes me wish I had a job where I sat at my desk in the office, so I could have this soundtrack playing all the time.  I know there are a great many people who cannot listen to Bob Dylan...complaints about his voice are the most frequent.  I like someone who can belt it just like the next person, but if I need to commiserate with someone who I think has really seen it all, I go to The Master. 

Inspired

Four weeks plus one long run to go.  This is when you start to get antsy.  When you start to wonder when the bomb is going to drop on your running and send things downhill. 

I don't have motivation problems around running (just around grading some school projects), but before I run, before I go to bed...as much as I need, I watch and read things that inspire me to keep running.  I look back at my old race results, read running magazines, and watch commercials starring my motivators.  Some of them are...

Deena Kastor.  Granted, she has a whole team helping her, but she is a model for how to come back from an injury.

Kara Goucher.  Check the latest Runner's World.

Lance Amstrong.  I used to have this poster and it was one of my favorites.

Bernard Legat.  This guy is just great.

Blown Away

It is darn windy here today.  My laundry was blown all around the yard.  We had to play Apples to Apples inside at lunch (we had 10 teachers playing!).  My bike rides were very hard.  My legs are tired from working so hard.

I told by bike obsessed mentee that I wanted advice on buying a fixie.  Next thing I know, I have a Google Doc of every part I should get with price and website.  How sweet is that?

My school will not have to make any staffing cuts for the next year.  Whew!  No cost of living increase, but the state of California is not including one in their distributions to school, so 

My California refund came today!  I never thought I'd see the day.

Can interests rates get any lower?  I'm getting 1.5% on my savings while still paying 3.8% on my school loans.  Gross!

And a few fun links for you...

1. Heads up guys and gals, this Saturday (April 4th) is World Pillow Fight Day! It’s a great and fun way to release and relieve the stress of the week. I’m thinking that world peace would be a reality if we did this every weekend, followed up by a cold beer and a hug. 

Check to see if there is a pillow fight in your area at www.pillowfightday.com, or make one of your own!

2. The un-road trip.  Going across the country without a car.

3. Rube Goldberg that I hope my students never see.  Love the pi poster though!

Punk'd

Ha!  After being burned so many times by April Fools jokes that I was looking for something to do today.  Our students are asked to complete 100 PE hours a year.  I think that my 16 mentees have a total of 96 for the year.  Anyway, here's what I put out to all the kids today and they totally took the bait.  It was awesome!!!  It's payback to the Fool Gods for that one year when NPR tricked me into believing that people were going to be able to keep their zip code if they moved, just like a cell phone number.  I ranted about that for a good 20 minutes.

Dear Students:

As a result of so many Huskies not completing their mandatory 100 hours of physical activity, the Board has decided to institute required Gym Class to replace IL [study hall].  In true Summit fashion, we are leaving the decision for the sports up to you.  Due to the limited budget and the state of the economy, we are limited to low-cost high-caloric burning sports.  Please rank your top five of the following sports from 1-5, with 1 being your first choice. 

Thanks,
Ms. D, Athletic Director

 

______  Indoor (dry land) Swimming

______  Medicine Ball Drills

______  Wrestling (Thumb and other)

______  Structural Beam Obstacle Courses 

_______  Ballroom Dancing

_______ Marching Skills

_______ Step Aerobics

_______ Step Aerobics en Espanol

_______ Magic Card Shuffling and Dealing

_______ “Dumpster” Diving

_______ Ninja Training

_______ Indoor Croquet

_______ Write-In: