Hello Muscles

While marathon training is logistically easier for me than tri training, it’s certainly not EASY!  Case in point: my legs/buns/abs are very SORE today.

Tuesday after my hill run (aka butt workout) I decided to do 30 day shred + abs.  Wednesday morning, my hammies, buns and abs were sore!  Wednesday post-work I met Jen at the track for speed intervals and by the time I was done legs were toast.  This morning, I got out of bed and said “hello muscles.”  My buns, legs in general and my abs/back are quite sore today but in a “I kicked ass” kind of way.

Member that post I did on mental training, a week or so ago.  Well I’ve really been workin’ the mental game and I think its working.  Yesterday at the track, my plan was to do 5 x 800’s (three of them at a hard effort and two at a medium effort, more like tempo effort).  SUCCESS!  My goal for the first 3 800’s was 4-5 minutes, which is between an 8:00 and 10:00 min mile—knowing that I’m probably not at the 8:00 min mile level yet and knowing that I can run faster than 10:00.

800 #1—8:50 pace

800 #2—9:15 pace

800 #3—9:05 pace

800 #4—tempo pace 10:27

800 #5—tempo pace 10:30

Total miles, including warm up/cool down and rest interval (2:00 minutes): 6.15

Afterwards, Jen and I discussed how track intervals no matter what speed you’re running them at are hard.  Yes, indeed.  I think I could have pushed a little harder on the last two 800’s and gotten closer to 10:00, however, this is 12+ hours later and not right after doing 3 hard effort 800’s.  Jen really helped me keep my mental game positive and when I was wheezing and looking down after hard effort #3—she said something like “get out of your head, you ran strong and confident.” I got out of my head and sucked it up!

Next week I think I want to throw in some 400’s since I think I can push it harder for those.  If you have a favorite speed workout, please share, I’m still pretty new to track workouts and would love ideas.

Score so far for the week:

Alisa’s positive running- 2

Negative attitude toward running - 0

Also, yesterday there was a break in the rain---hooray!  Although it's back today---BOO!  We were treated to stellar views yesterday morning of Mt Hood, the sunshine and the layer of fog over the foothills. Anyone else have a hard time dressing this time of year?  I'm in the cycle of over and under dressing for the weather.  I think that's why I like 65-70 and sunny---shorts and a tank top DONE.

Morning view

Afternoon view with some cloud cover

Running with Family (Goofy Week 4)

This weekend was fun filled!  My sister and brother in law were up from the Bay Area.  We wine tasted in the Gorge and my sis in law and I ran a 5k on Sunday (her second and a BIG PR for her--yay).

Running Recap:

Tuesday: 4.5 mi Bridge Loop with Jen---it had been waaaaay too long since we did a run together.  It was great, I foresee more regular running in our future!

Wednesday: 6.5 miles  This was supposed to be 6 miles at the track but I had the worst stomach issues that day.  I actually almost skipped my run altogether but decided to go after wallowing on the couch for several minutes.  I decided to just run but about 2 miles in I felt better so I sped up a bit and turned the run into a tempo (2 easy, 2 @ 10:15, 2 easy).  As an extra cool down I took Zoey out for .5 when I finished.

Thursday: Blissful rest and a fun happy hour with friends.

Friday: 9.1 mile long run.  I had hoped for 10 but I ran home and it turned out the way I went it was only 9.1 miles.  It wasn't a great run but it wasn't terrible.

Saturday: Fun wine tasting and hanging out with family.

Sunday: Run Like Hell 5k with my sister in law---I was pacing her/just along for the ride.  She's been having some knee issues but had told me she really wanted to beat her first 5k time (which was 2 weeks ago).  I didn't want to push her too hard but I knew about halfway through that we could totally beat her time.  With about half a mile to go I asked if we could speed up a bit, she said okay and did great!  We easily ran a negative split and we smashed her old PR by 2 minutes and came it at 32:59.  Running with family is own of my favorite things to do.  I've run two 5k with two of my sister in laws and I'm incredibly proud of them both.  There is nothing like sharing your passion with those you love.

Total Miles: 23.21 (down from last week but I'll take it)

Pictures:

 Multnomah Falls

 

Brothers...Mr. Pi and Mr. Pi's younger brother

 Wine tasting 

 Winery on the Washington side of the Gorge

 View of the Columbia from the Washington side, the fall colors were gorgeous

 

It had been POURING and then right before the 5k started the sky went BLUE

 

Plastic bags to protect us from the elements

 

Start line, this doesn't begin to show all the fun costumes we saw

Here's to another successful week of running.  I'm also going to get back in the pool this week too.  My Tri Club has started up there weekly coached swim sessions and it's already on my calendar to go. 

The Hype

Now that I’m back in training, I’m trying to resist the race “hype” factor.  I don’t know about you but I often find myself scrolling through race reports and making lists of races/events I want to do.  Most of the time this isn’t a bad thing; I’m a goals oriented person and I like to have things are the horizon.  However, sometimes I get wrapped up in the “hype” and don’t really think about what I’m getting myself into.  Right after I finished Barb’s Race, I made a list of all the things I wanted to do in 2011.  Some of the items on there were for “redemption” and some were new challenges. Then, I fell off the wagon and got pre-occupied by being a new home owner and essentially didn’t think about racing or training until mid-September.  BUT the minute I sat down and created my training plan for Goofy and especially after running the Nike Women's Half last weekend, I started thinking about the rest of the year.

I went back to the list I’d made and started looking at the notes I’d written down and the new races I’ve discovered since I made that initial list and before I knew it, I had a list of  50+ races/events.  Now comes the fun part, narrowing the list and figuring out what fits where.  In times past, I would have created a spreadsheet and listed all the “must do’s” and when their entry fees increased and just started plotting my way through the months getting wrapped up in the hype of racing and the adrenalin rush of just registering for races.   This time around, I’m going to try a different approach---hopefully a less selfish and more fun one.  Of course, I still have a list of “must do’s” but instead I’m going to call them “would love to do’s—sometime, when the timing is right.”

My plan…create my list of things I’d really like to do in 2011 and sit down over some beers or wine or dessert or something equally as yummy as all of those and talk this through with Mr. Pi.  Last year, we both had major races we were training for, him the 50k and me the 70.3.  This left little time for us to do much else on the weekends other than train.  I really want to prioritize a few weekend getaways and time for us, as well as training.  This time around, regardless of what’s on the schedule for the spring, summer and fall of 2011, I’d like to try to have a bit more balance.  While I certainly want to take my training seriously, I think what sometimes happens is, I take myself too seriously.  I lose sight of what I really am—I am a motivated athlete—what I am not is a professional athlete.  I’m never going to be winning races so there is really no need to take myself so seriously.  Yes, to do a 70.3 or marathon or century ride or any of those big goals it takes training and dedication---BUT I think you can train and be dedicated and still have time for other things.  Sure there will be some weekends when the “other things” will have to take a back seat but I think you can plan weekends accordingly.  Maybe I’m being naive.

In my ideal world, many of the things on my “would love to do” list would also be things that Mr. Pi would love to do and we’d be training together for some things.  But since I know Mr. Pi isn’t going to want to do a 5k swim, at least one of things on my list is something I’m going to be solo (or at least I don’t think he’s going to want to do a 5k swim--honey, you up for it?).  

How do you balance other things in your life with training?  What in your life takes a back seat?  What absolutely DOESN'T take a back seat?

So, Mr. Pi, in my attempt to be less selfish and a better wife, let’s put a date on the calendar to go through our race wish lists and you can tell me how crazy I am.  Sound good?

Nike Womens Half Marathon 2010 Race Report (week 3 of Goofy)

Week 3 of Goofy Training went really well.  I'm working on getting over my mental hang ups about pacing etc.  I did start to encounter my weird foot pain, which I have self diagnosed as Morton's Neuroma.  Basically, I need to stop wearing heels at work and find lots of comfy flats with a wide toe box.  I'm in comfy flats today and my awesome old lady compression stockings from Discountsurgical--they are hot.  I'm only going to wear heels if it's absolutely necessary and hopefully not for long periods of time.  I'd rather be able to keep running than wear cute heels.


Brief recap of the week before I get into my Nike Women's race report!


Monday: I was going to run long but took the day off instead.
Tuesday: 4.5 hilly terwilliger miles --felt fantastic!
Wednesday: 3 mile tempo run --- working on getting over my mental hang ups.
Thursday: 5.5 steady state run -- really windy but I got through the miles along a new route and felt good at the end, minus my foot hurting.
Friday and Saturday: I took off.
Sunday: 13.1 Nike Women's Half Marathon---almost a PW but it was totally worth it and was probably the most fun I've ever had at a race!
Total miles: 26.1 (mileage is getting up there)

Nike Women's Race Report

This is my second year doing Nike Women's and it's a race I really enjoy.  It's not a race I would ever do for a PR but it's a super fun and scenic race to do with friends.  A group of us including Marya and J drove down from Oregon to California.  Eventually we met up with Kristen and her sister but that was later on Saturday.  The drive down was LONG as per usual but the car company was great.


Friday night we spent at my Dad's in Sacramento and were treated to one of my favorite restaurants in Sac--Greek food...mmmmmmm!  Early to bed on Friday as we were all pretty tired.

Saturday morning we were up and off to SF.  Once we got there we picked up our race information (beating the crowds thankfully!) and found our names on the wall!

Mine was way up there this year.

S's was on the building crack.

A few folks went sight seeing but S and I decided to go shopping instead.  Pretty soon we'd exhausted H&M and some other shops and decided to head back to the hotel.  I started to lay out my race stuff.  Bright pink bibs and bags for the half marathoner's this year---the full marathoners got a really ugly green bag (yet another reason never to do this race as a full).

Awhile later the sight see'ers came back and we ordered take out pizza for dinner.  This has to be one of the best decisions ever.  It was soooo much better than fighting restaurant crowds PLUS I got to eat dinner in my PJs and watch the Giants game.  Later than evening Kristen and her sister arrived.  Kristen had just done a century ride!  I'm totally in awe of her, century ride and then a half marathon---crazy!  She told us about her day and pretty soon it was time for bed.  Alarms set for 5:00 we were off to dream land.

Sunday morning came early---as race mornings usually do.  We got dressed and had the luxury of hanging out in room until close to race time as we were only a couple of blocks from the start.

Good morning world.  Kristen, S and I had matching Tiffany Blue outfits.

We made our way to the start line and holy cow---where did all these people come from?  Last year, I remembered it was a little crowded but not too bad.  This time it was wall to wall people!

Start line of the 3rd largest half marathon in the world.  It took us a good 20 minutes to cross the start line.

Miles 1-4ish aren't all the exciting.  The course winds it's way through the city and down to the embarcadero and along past touristy places like Pier 39, Boudin Bread and Ghiradehli square. 

Around mile 5, the hills begin.  From last year, I remembered the long almost mile long hill at mile 6 but I had kinda forgotten about the short steep ones.  I also didn't remember it being so crowded.  This year there were a few places where the road narrows, I definitely felt a bit claustrophobic.  Almost to mile 6 (I think) we stopped for a bathroom break.  The lines were ridiculous everywhere b/c of all the people and I think we were stopped for at least 10 minutes.  But, it didn't matter, we weren't running for time, just for fun!

I think this was near Fort Mason.

Again, near Fort Mason with the Bridge in the background.

All 5 of us!  There were actually signs indicating that this was a good spot for a photo op.  We didn't have any trouble finding someone to take our photo either, so many people were along the side of the road also taking photos.

Another pic of the bridge and the CROWDED race.

 With all the uphills come some awesome downhills.  One notable one is along the great hwy where it really opens up and you can see the Pacific Ocean.  It's beautiful but at the same time also annoying b/c you can see the finish line and you still have to do a few miles through Golden Gate Park.  In the park at the chocolate mile we got to see Audrey though---she was volunteering and cheering away!


Pretty soon we were at the finish!

Pink finish line banner.

AND...what we came for our Tiffany's!

Bundled up in our dry clothes and space blankets with our Tiffany blue boxes in hand.

Here is the necklace up close.  It says "I run to be."

Honestly, this race seemed to really fly by even though we finished in like 2:52 (officially)---my watch said 2:40 (I stopped it at the bathroom).  It was sooooo much fun to have a group of awesome women to run with for 13 miles.  While I didn't like the crowds this year, the course is scenic and the swag (not just the necklace, you get all kinds of food at the end and the shirts are cute---sorry didn't take a photo of them) is awesome.  I'll be putting my name in the lottery again next year.

While we were out enjoying the hills of SF, Mr. Pi and Zoey were also running.  Zoey finished her first doggie dash 5k in Chico with Mr. Pi.  I think it was a PW for Mr. Pi but he said it was lots of fun.  Zoey got a finishers necklace too---though I doubt this one was Tiffany's!

After an eventful weekend, I'm happy to be back at home.  Congrats to all the racers this past weekend, there were several of you!

Hit me with your best MENTAL training plan!

First, I want to announce the winner of the C-YA lightning bolt giveaway.  Random number generator picked Kristen!  Kristen, since I’ll be seeing you on Saturday I’ll just bring your lightning bolt with me---congrats!

Now onto mental training and my lack of it!  I’ve been thinking lately about how mental running can be.  Sure, without physical training most people can’t go out and run long distances or even more than a mile or two.  But training plans are all about the miles and paces.  There usually isn’t a section on the mental part of training.  I was talking with a friend who I run with occasionally and she told me that I have “major mental hang-ups.”  I was slightly offended when she first said it but then I got to thinking about it and realized hmmm…she might have a point.  I often find myself out running feeling good and then looking down at my Garmin, seeing a faster than I THINK I SHOULD be going pace, freak out and my breathing gets all labored and I have to take a walk break to calm down.  Is this the equivalent of a mental turned physical fight or flight response?  Would I have kept going strong at a XX pace had I not looked down and freaked out?

When I first started running back in 2000, I was strictly a treadmill runner, I never ran farther than 4-5 miles, I never took walk breaks and I always found my “zone.”  I was also a MUCH faster runner.  I remember getting on the treadmill, warming up at a 6.0 (10 min mile) for 15 minutes and then bumping the tready to 6.6 (9:05 min mile) and zoning out, covering the stats on tready with my towel and just running.  About the time I’d start to get a little tired, I’d uncover the stats, wipe my face with the towel, set the treadmill at 6.8 (8:49 min mile) and go for another ½ mile no matter what.  Sometimes that meant I’d run 4 miles total sometimes as much as 5 miles total, depending on when I got to that “slightly tired” phase.  I barely do speedwork at a 9:00 min mile now.  What was it about those days---how was it that I always found my zone and that my speed was always consistent?

Yesterday, I did an experiment.  I set my watch on the total time screen instead of the screen that shows pace/distance/etc.   I also didn’t go out with a set distance just a route in mind that I figured would be “about” 3ish miles.  I wanted to do a tempo-ish run.  Before leaving the house I had planned to run comfortably/easy to a certain street, at that street I’d pick it up a bit and then when I hit X street I’d go back to comfortable/easy.  I think I was still too much in my head about pacing but I think it was a little better.  Turns out my “easy” pace is about 10:45-11:15 min mile and my “pick it up pace” is about 9:50-10:15 pace.  I had the Garmin set to .25 interval catches so I look at my splits when I was done.  Granted this was a short run but if you had asked me yesterday before running, I would have said my “easy” pace was an 11:30 or 12:00 min mile and my “comfortably hard” pace was a 10:30-45 min mile.  It may very well be the case on a longer distance that those hold true BUT for shorter distances I think I’m faster than I think I am.   

So, keeping the afore mentioned in mind what is the best training plan for mental training?  I’m willing to do almost anything to get my head in the game so bring on all the creative and potentially silly sounding things you do to mentally train your brain to run at the paces you want to run. 

Spectating Portland Marathon & Week 2 Goofy Recap

Week 2 of Goofy Training is in the bag.  The week ended with a wonderful day of spectating the Portland marathon (yes, in the rain).

My running for the week wasn’t great but it was decent.  I won’t lie, I’m totally not ready for my half this coming Sunday down in SF.  Good thing I’m only planning to do it for fun and haven’t set any time goals!

Tuesday—4 slow miles (11:52 avg)

Wednesday-Speedwork!  Yes! I did it!  I only had time to get in 3 x 800 instead of 4 but it was a start.  I hit the 800’s right where I wanted (between 4-5 minutes).

800 #1—4:40; 800 #2—4:32; 800 #3—4:21

Thursday—I was supposed to swim and do weights but I was Amy-sitting so I took a rest day.

Friday—Nice post work run on the Terwilliger hills 5.5 miles (11:35 avg) and marathon expo to pick up RoadBunners bib!

Saturday—This was the week failure.  I had 10 miles on the schedule but when I woke up it was pouring rain.  So I did some house chores, copious amounts of laundry and Mr. Pi and I watched Harry Potter movie 5 (order of the phoenix).  By the time I finally got out the door for my run I didn’t have time to do 10 miles and pick her up from the airport.  Oh well.  I did 4.5 miles at a quicker pace (10:40 avg) and called it good.

My mileage this week was supposed to be 25 but instead I ended up with only 18.2—sad really.  Oh well, moving on.

Saturday night was spent cooking dinner for the marathoner and chatting about all sorts of fun stuff.  Hooray!

Sunday morning came early and was very wet.  We got our marathoner all ready to go and dropped her at the start line.  We parked ourselves in a spot where we knew we’d see our runners twice, once in the first mile and again around mile 5.  Andrew was first to come by looking strong in his first marathon and then RoadBunner came next looking like a strong experienced marathoner not getting caught up in the hype of the first few miles.  We took a few pictures but none of them turned out great and some of them got accidentally deleted.

After we saw both of our runners we went to the nice warm car and drove out to mile 18.  At mile 18, things were still soppy but the runners didn’t seem to be letting it affect them too much.  Both of our runners, Andrew and RoadBunner, were in good spirits.  I hoped in with RoadBunner for just a couple of strides to make sure she didn’t need anything from her “special needs” bag.  After cheering our hearts out and ringing our cow bells, we packed up and headed for the finish line.

Note to the Portland marathon: Your finish line area is terrible!  It’s a confusing mess and totally spectator unfriendly!  There was fencing up around most of the finishing blocks which made it really hard to spectate and the finish line street was blocked to all non-runners---lame!

Anyway, we parked ourselves along the fence and waited for our runners.  Andrew looked good but not particularly happy.  RoadBunner smiled for me and looked like the experienced marathoner she is, calm, collected and at ease.

I won’t spoil RoadBunners results since I know at some point she’ll do a race report but I will say she beat the time she said she didn’t want to go over.  Andrew on the other hand, is blog-less so I can spoil his rockin’ first marathon time of 4:27!  His lovely wife, Lisa, was one of my partners in spectating crime yesterday---she sometimes read this—Lisa, if you’re reading, thanks for being awesome company out there, you’re a spectating pro now.

Just looking at this makes me cold.  I had on SEVERAL layers of clothes, the top ones were all wet. Poor teeny RoadBunner is in shorts  and VERY soaked.

In other awesome running news, my sister in law, ran her very first 5k on Sunday!  So very proud of her for completing the C25k plan.  She’s coming up to Portland on 10/23 to run one up here too.  Yay for spreading the running bug.

Test Lab Thursday: PUMPKIN

Fall is definitely here in the NW, the nights and mornings are awfully chilly and the cloud cover has settled (which means, I have to work hard to fight the urge to sit on the couch with hot chocolate every night).  While most everyone that reads this blog knows that I'm a summer gal all the way---bring on the sunshine and 80 degree days---there is one thing in particular that I LOVE about fall--PUMPKINS!  I love pumpkins, always have.  I've done a post about my love for pumpkin before but I didn't include recipes in that one.


For the test lab this week, I thought I'd share a few pumpkin recipes.


Pumpkin Stuff French Toast
This one I stole from the Kitchn Blog which had recently posted it from Bon Appetite.  Oh man, this was delicious!  If I made this again, I think I would only make one stuff sandwich instead of two.  Neither Mr. Pi or I could finish both stuff pieces---too much yummy goodness.  His comment was that the bread was a little dry so I think I needed one more egg and maybe some more milk in the batter.  I made mine with banana also in the "stuffing" it was delicious and didn't take away from the pumpkin at all.  It was almost like pumpkin pie stuffed in between two pieces of french toast.  I highly recommend making this recipe for a yummy fall breakfast.  I didn't make the potatoes that are shown in the photo but they look good too---however, I'm not sure I would have had room in my tummy.


Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
I made this one up on the fly (though I'm sure I'm not the only person to think of it).  We had some leftover pureed pumpkin from the french toast that I wanted to use up.  I love oatmeal at work in the mornings.  I tend to make up a batch or double batch and then portion them out for work mornings.  To my regular cooked quaker oats I added the following:
1)  Bunch of cinnamon
2)  Dash of allspice
3) 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree
4) 2 tbsp brown sugar
5) Dash of vanilla extract


It was quite the tasty treat yesterday morning at work.  The only thing I don't like about my new concoction is that it doesn't look very appetizing, wonder what I can do about that?!  I also thought it could have used a bit of crunch.  Next time, I'd consider adding a bit of Kashi cereal or something on top for a crunch.


A few other pumpkin favorites:


A go-to favorite of mine that I haven't yet made this fall is pumpkin turkey chili.  


A Thanksgiving hit with pumpkin other than the pie! Vegetarian stuffing in a pumpkin---it's delicious and pretty.  I actually don't even like stuffing but this one is delicious!


Last year, Mr. Pi found this recipe for a DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte that gives Starbucks a run for its money.


And how could I not list, Pumpkin Bread!  This recipe is one of my favorites for pumpkin bread because it's moist.  Last year, I experimented with the recipe a bit.  Instead of 1 cup of oil, I did 3/4 cup of plain yogurt (mine was 1%) and 1/4 cup oil.  I bet it'd taste great with an applesauce switch too, then, it'd be two fall flavors in one!


There you have it a few fall Pumpkin recipes.  Yum!

McSpeedy

I’ve got to channel my inner Pi family speed because I have my first speedwork session of marathon training tonight.  It’s no secret on this blog that I’m not speedy and I don’t do a lot of speedwork.  I’m actually nervous about my run tonight.  Why is it that speedwork makes us nervous?  Regular running doesn’t.  I’m starting off relatively easy with 4x800 with 400 jogs.  I know I can do this. (right?)  I’ve got some new tunes downloaded and a flexy goal of 4:00 – 5:00 for the 800s, which I know I can totally do.  Guess I needed to write down my own pep talk. 

I’ve really been loving my new schedule.  I know it’s only week 2 of training but I’ve been jazzed about running.  I think part of it is taking time off after Barb’s race and, to be totally honest, marathon training, even Goofy training, doesn’t seem nearly as complicated as Barb’s training.  That’s not to say it’s not hard---it is---but mentally, having a schedule of 4 running days and some cross training doesn’t seem nearly as difficult as 3 x swim, bike, run per week.  I know I don’t run the mileage some of you do but I’m slowly building it up.  In fact, my peak weeks are 40 and 41 miles.  I’ve never run that far in a week before! (Previous weekly PR was 35 or 36 I think.) I’m trying not to look too far down the plan.  I think that’s something I learned with training over the summer.  When I’d look at my peak weeks for Barb’s race training, I would get really overwhelmed.  I had better and higher quality training weeks when I was focused on getting through that week.  I’m taking that same mentality into Goofy training.

Alright, pep talk over.  I’ll definitely report on my speedwork.  Look out for tomorrow’s test lab Thursday---it’s all about recipes—yum!  And speaking of, test labs, my GIVEAWAY is going to be open for another week, it’ll close next Wednesday 10/13—don’t forget to enter HERE.

Getting back into shape

Training for the Goofy Challenge in January in Disneyworld started for me last Monday.  Let's just say it's a good thing I have 15 weeks to get back into shape.  It's always a bit frustrating to me how quickly one can lose fitness.  Two months ago I did a half ironman and now running 8 miles is hard.  I'm back on the running train and will be slowly getting back into shape for my crazy adventure in January.  I'm expecting any PRs that weekend, it's purely one of those things I'm doing as a challenge to see how far I can push my body.  So far, I've slept better and felt sore (in a good way)--I'd call it a successful week.

Week 1 of training went well, I hit all my miles and felt great on my run Friday after work--there is something nice about running on friday afternoon after a week of work.

Tuesday:  3 miles around my new 'hood + 45 minutes of weights/abs

Wednesday: 4 miles also around the 'hood (was supposed to do hill repeats but that didn't happen)

Thursday: long swim 2450 yds

Friday: 5.1 miles on Terwilliger with new tunes...felt fantastic

Saturday: two really LONG walks with the doggie

Sunday: 8.2 miles (6.2 with Amy for her last hurrah before surgery--2 miles solo)

Total: 20.3 (which is nothing compared to what the coming weeks will hold but a great way to slowly ease the body back into running)

Amy's "run to save the shoes" 10k was a blast.  Our running group hasn't really been doing a lot of running lately as we have all been training for different things or taking some time off.

Here's our good lookin' group

I made race bibs but I didn't have time to "laminate" (i.e. tape them) so I passed them out as finisher certificates

After running we were treated to yummy Mexican brunch at the Fenavo's...otherwise known as Amy's kick ass neighbors.  We had a yummy soup called Posole, it had cabbage, lime, onion and hominy---it was delicious.  We also had a tortilla, egg, beans and cheese dish that I didn't catch the name of but it was also delicious.  For dessert, yes, this was a three course brunch---was homemade rice pudding (arroz con leche).  I left so full I wasn't hungry again until 7:00pm.

Nope, it wasn't good or anything!

My post wouldn't be complete without some photos of house projects, since working on the house has become a fun and time consuming hobby.  These are from when my Dad was still here, he and Mr. Pi built a gate on our wrap around porch so Zoey has a fully fenced yard to roam.

First post down

  Half the gate built

Full gate built

Finished gate, painted to match the rest of the porch

Goofy training week 2 has begun and it's also the week of the Portland Marathon---which I will be spectating.  Yay!