Friday, September 30, 2011

Run far, or run big.

You see this sort of thing at packet pickups.
Dear Diary,

13.  I was very encouraged by the run I had in Denver last weekend.  I thought for sure that I was going to crash and burn, since I hadn't been doing very long runs for a while. I forgot to mention this in my race report, but that was the fastest I've ever done a 50K.  I PRd the distance by a bit over 30 minutes.

12. It's official-himself is in for the Boston Marathon! So vacation 2012 will be in Boston, in april. Woot!Of course, I will not be in the marathon. But, I get a vaca, and I don't even have to run 26 miles to do it.  And all because I sleep with a Boston qualifier.

11. I lost my wallet in Denver.  Damnit.  Now I have to take a day off to go get another driver's license and other credentials.  You know why this happened, don't you?  Because God is punishing me for being too lazy to wait at the DMV to renew my license plate.  Which I also haven't done.  Shit.

10.  SO between crewing for himself, and running 31 miles in the heat at Denver, and losing my wallet, I'm behind on a lot of stuff.  It's amazing the stuff you can't do without a driver's license.  Like, for instance, I have to go see kids that are in jail at times.  My work ID only has my first name on it, sothey ask to see my ID.  I tried telling the guard coyly, It's just Misty.  Well, he bought it.  Mostly because he's seen me there before.  But next time I won't be so lucky.

9.  Another thing I did right Sunday: I wore 100 SPF sunscreen for 7 hours straight.  Not a hint of sunburn or splotchiness.

8. Tonight Himself the Baboo and I ran just under 6 miles around the neighborhood.  So the story is this: when Sweet Baboo needs to keep himself from running too fast, he runs with me.  (When he reads this, he's going to protest and deny that's not what he meant, but it's okay.  I'm glad to have a purpose.)

7.  At the kiddie jail:
  • Me: So tell me where you think you should be.
  • Kid: At home.  I should be at home.  I was doing very well well there. 
  • Me:You're here for multiple probation violations, including cutting off your GPS device, burglary, and you recently overdosed and tested positive for opiates...all within the past four weeks.  Tell me how that's 'doing very well'?
  • Kid: You're going to think whatever you want to think.
  • Me: Is any of that information wrong?
  • Kid: No.
  • Me: So I 'm still not hearing how you're "doing well".  
  • Kid: You know what, you're all about the money.  That's all you care about--money.  That's the only reason you're here trying to put me in rehab.  

OH, YES. I'm all about THE MONEY.  That's why I work with children, which pays less in any field than working with adults.  I'm a greedy bitch, I am
But you know, I get a toaster for every kid I put in rehab.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

6.  I'm feeling kind of doughy lately. Maybe it's a good thing that my dry cleaner lost my size 6 skirt.  I don't know if it would fit right now.  Still, I am pissed about that skirt.  From now on, I check every ticket before I walk out when I drop stuff off.

Found this looking for toaster images.
How cool is this?  I might put
someone in rehab for this.
5.  But the doughiness.  May, or may not, have something to do with a dangerous new habit I have of making popcorn in butter.  That's right.  IN butter.  instead of oil.  Eep.

4. So, just as soon as I pitched the hissy fit about my lost wallet, (#11) and dug out my passport to go buy ANOTHER driver's license, what do you think happened?  I bent down at work to pick up a small bag from WalGreens taht was poking out from under my desk, and guess what was in it.  That's right.
Which means two things: Not only did I not LOSE my wallet in Denver, I didn't even TAKE my wallet there.  I could have sworn than I did...ah, well.  All's well that ends well.

3. I did get off my butt and run Wednesday and Thursday.  I'm sort of on track for this week, for a 50-mile week.  Sunday is one of my marathon cooking days, so I have to run a lot Saturday and Sunday morning.
2.  One week to MIL, and TWO weeks to Seattle!!!  WOOOT!

1.  It's very whooshy out today: 22 mph winds.  I hate running in this.  And something tells me it's not a wrap-skirt day.

...



Monday, September 26, 2011

Bear Chase 50K, Bear Chase Lake Park, CO. (Race Report)


Dear Diary,

Yesterday, I did the Bear Chase 50K in Colorado, near Denver. 

The Good: Very well organized, top-notch friendly, hard-working volunteers, RIVER CROSSINGS that breathe life back into your poor, tired, hot legs and feet (twice!) big-assed medal, nice finish-line party.  It is a great trail run for anyone doing their first 50k.

The Bad: Hot . It was hot.  Did I say it was hot?  If I didn't: it was HOT.  They said it only got up to the 80s, but for running on a trail that's hot enough.  About 2/3 of the course is unshaded, so it gets hot out there.  It's not terribly scenic. 

At 6:49 I kissed Sweet Baboo and wished him a good race, and then at 6:50 sharp, we were off. 

First off, the course is very much like the Palo Duro 50K, in terms of difficulty, except that the trails are a bit more runnable (less rocky, and a bit less technical.)  If you are familiar with Palo Duro, which is my favoritist 50K ever, then you know that you run a 10K loop, and then two 12ish-mile loops. 

The biggest exception is that this race isn't quite as scenic as Palo Duro.  It takes place on a man-made recreation area, in the middle of which is a gold course and a square, man-made lake. 

The first loop is a 10K, and it's nice, and almost completely shaded, and flat, and you think, wow, this is going to be a cakewalk!   

There is a tiny moment of worry and doubt when you notice the sign for loops 2 and 3 point towards a large hill, and you see a line of people snaking up the side of the hill, but you immediately put it out of your mind, because you are on loop1, and remember, if it isn't happening now, it doesn't exist

You come in to the start/finish, where you have a bag o' stuff, if you're like me, lose the arm-sleeves and grab the sunscreen, and head out onto the second loop where, eventually, you become one of those people snaking up the side of that great big hill. 

There is a cool part of the course where you have the first big climb (about mile 12 on the first loop and then mile 24, I think) and when you come up over the top of the climb the skyline of Denver is in view.  It's kind of a strange thing to see in the middle of a 50k trail run, but also kinda cool.

At east aid station, someone would run out and ask what I needed, and take my bottle, and then by the time I got there, it was already filled up with ice, which is one of the main advantages to an urban-type trail run.  They never, ever ran out of ice.

In miles 14ish and 26ish you run through a small woodsy section and there are three river crossings.  You can't jump these; you're going to get wet.  They're only about 12 to 18 inches deep, however, and slow-moving, basically what we call creeks in Alabama, not rivers. 

The first time you just sort of natter to yourself and think, I hope I don't get blisters.  But then there is the second time you cross through these.

Oh.  My. The second time.

Sometimes toward the end of the first full loop God decided to hate on me, and turned on the heat.  The back 2/3 of the big loops are out in the open, with no shade, and it started heating up fast, and there is a little over 4 miles between aid stations in the middle of which is the "big" climb on the course.  When I headed out onto the second loop I took my bandana and loaded it with ice at each aid station.  I had been making excellent time, but no more: my pace had been in the mid 12s and it soared during the second loop.  I am a firm believer in the "run as you feel" mentality, so I didn't push it.

On the 2nd loop when I got to mile 26, when I got to the first river crossing, I stopped and sat down on my butt and let the cold water envelope me from the waist down.  And peed.  That wasn't planned by the way, it just happened.  But the sitting, it was fantastic.  I did it again, twice, (not peeing, just sitting) with each crossing.  Renewed, I bid a sad fareware to the cool water and then headed out to the next aid station at Fox Hollow.  I was pretty satisfied to feel that I was well-hydrtated, and my legs were definitely back online.

After Fox Hollow is another sharp, short, but still disappointing climb, and you run a long section through a grassy plains area, much of it near a highway. It is fully exposed and you are hot.  But, like most of the course, it's runnable, and the rivers had awakened me, along with the knowledge that I was less than 5 miles from the finish. 

Plus, at Fox Hollow, I had two small cups of icy mountain dew, and taken two gels that themselves had caffein in them (that I had with me) as well as a Stinger waffle.  It took a short time for those to work their way into my bloodstream, and I eventually came back to life and started passing people. Mostly men.

You know, I always feel bad for men when I pass them.  I just do.  Usually, they are super fit-looking men, in their 30s or 40s, with close-cropped hair, muscles, and spandex. They have on their zensah leg sleeves, small, efficient and aerodynamic waist belts with fluid, and you can tell they work out.  Everything about them screams aerodynamic.  Everything about them shouts efficiency.


And then *I* trundle past them like a large pack mule.  I usually have a very large floppy hat on, and a back pack full of my crap; I usually have gels, sunscreen, asthma inhaler, various pills, maybe a towel, some TP, maybe a snack or two, some lipstick - shutup - and I'm wearing a bandana loaded with ice, an ipod, and large, round sunglasses.  AND I'm carrying a handheld bottle. Plus, I'm doing some sort of slow shuffle jog when I pass these guys.  I usually just say "hi" or "nice job" or some other inane thing, answer a comment about why my tattoo has a horse on it, and then I'm on my way.  But I do feel bad.  Not bad enough not to pass them.  But bad. 

Big-assed medal. Or breastplate.
I had some waves of nausea at one point but I tried this trick that Sweet Baboo found out about: I grabbed an alcohol prep pad and waved it in front of my nose, and the nausea when away. 

But the last mile or so I became rediculously consumed with passing more men, so I sped up quite a bit and in that heat got a little wasted again.  So then I came into the finish, where of course Sweet Baboo had been done for over an hour.  Holy crap, it was hot . "Do you want any pancakes?" 
Uh, no.  Do you want me to throw up on your feet?

I got a big-assed medal, seriously, this thing could be used to stop bullets.
Eventually, we headed out, and accidentally stumbled upon--accidentally, I swear--a Popeyes chicken place. We got home about 10:30 last night, and I'm whooped. 

I want to give a shout-out to Jennifer, who gave us a place to sleep and fed me the night before, how awesome of her!  She also did this race, and finished, too.  I met her at my failed Bighorn 50 mile attempt. 

All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend. 

Next Up: The Point Defiance 50k, in Puget Sound.

...

Friday, September 23, 2011

6 reasons to hate me, and 6 to tolerate me, and one neutral.

Dear Diary,

 
13.  My fall clothes are unfathomably baggy.  When I put on belts, the waists pucker up like a paper bag.  I absolutely have to take them to the tailor.  It's ridiculous.

 
This is what an agorophobic 19-mile run
looks like.
12.  I'm having some slight twinges of agoraphobia lately. I did a 19-mile long run last week without ever being more than 2.5 miles from my house.  Beat That.

 
11.  My vacation days were approved for the trip to Seattle.  I only have a couple vacation days, the rest I'm comping by working a couple saturdays.  I found some walking tours on the Frommers web site that look like fun.  (and, there's always the original Starbucks, the holy grail of caffein addicts everywhere.I also found a podcast audio tour of the Japanese Gardens.

This will be a relaxed vaca with just me and the Sweet Baboo, with that 50k in the middle of it.


  
10. The water's too cold to swim there.  I haven't been open water swimming in ages, and I miss it. 

 
9. My mother in law is coming soon for a week.  Have I mentioned my MIL and what a peach she is?  You hear all sorts of horror stories about MILs, that they meddle, they're bossy, etc.  Not mine.  She's restful and relaxed, and just goes with the flow. 

 
8. Seaman Jon, who is no longer a seaman but just Jon, returns home in November. He has been in jail for the past ten months.  I won't go into any more detail than that.  But at least I can stop worrying, and hopefully, he will get on with his life and head in a positive direction. 

 
7.  It's fall here.  The heat wave is over.  The mornings are crisp and cold.  The afternoons are warm and breezy.

 
6.  My oldest son turns 27 soon.  Twenty.  Seven.  I also noticed that I'm meeting parents that were born the year I graduated from high school.  Yeeikes.

 
5.  Sweet Baboo uses his Starbucks card.  A LOT. It gives him discounts, after all, over using any other form of payment for his quad-venti-nonfat-halzelnut-100-degree-latte.  He uses it so much that twice a month he gets a coupon for a free drink, any drink, which he then gives to me.  So at any given time, I have coupons for free drinks sitting in the side pocket in my car, and I can pull over and get my double-tall-nonfat-salted-carmel-100-degree-mocha.  For free. 

 
4.  I'm trying the 2-week Special K challenge. I know, crash diets are ridiculous.  I'm just doing it to make up for the two weeks of crappy eating the month before.   Of course today I'm carb loading for the Bear Chase 50K on Sunday.  Or something.

 
3.  While in Seattle, we're hoping to be able to make it up to Grouse Mountain (thanks, Becks!) for a hike to the top (the Grouse Grind) and to do something called "ziplining" around the top.
 
2.  I'll be ditching WW after this next week, once I've copied over all my favorite WW recipes.  I wrote them a letter telling me why.  They sent a fairly non-commital response. (Are you sure you checked the Frequently Asked Questions?)  yes, I'm sure.
  • a) I bought four old WW cookbooks with the old points values in them online, at Amazon. 
  • b) I downloaded three apps.  iTrackBites - so far, so good; and GoMealsHD.  I have to use the second to calculate the calories, fat, and fiber in my meals, and then I use the calculator in iTrackBites and record it.  They don't say "points," because that would be a trademart violation, so they call them "bites".  I am also loking at iWatchr. 
  • c) I will have the AllrecipesPro app, which I adore.  I'll be loading in recipes from the cookbooks into that, because it also calculates calories, fat, and fiber as well as allows you to do menu planning, in which it dumps all the ingredients for the meals you plan to make into a shopping list.

 
1.  I'm also having some problems with depression lately.  It comes and goes.  Thankfully, I can run.  When I run, it goes away.  So does a Chinese super buffet.  But that's another story.

 
...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Baboo and Ian head to packet pickup.
Drop bags just ahead.
Dear Diary,

13. This past weekend I crewed himself at the Wasatch. I avoided cluttering my mind with details until we were on our way there, and then started studying The Book. The Book is a binder that Himself put together that had all our plans, information about each leg, driving instructions to each leg, his own pace charts, and information on what he might need at each aid station.

It also had the profiles for each leg in it, and Oh. My. God. Here’s the first three legs – the first 25 miles of this race:







Ian (on the left) is a veteran 100 miler.
And he still does them.  He's sixty nine.
So, what's your excuse?
 
12. I did a few things differently in crewing this race.

After dark, I socialized less and napped more. I drove immediately toward each aid station, parked a half mile away, and set my alarm for 30 minutes ahead of his projected arrival time, and get an hour or two of sleep.

When my alarm went off, I’d drive to the aid station to see him. I almost missed him at Brighton, when he had really picked up the pace, but otherwise, this worked well.  I didn't drive directly to the aid stations, because they are crowded as it is with people hanging out for hours, and because it's easier to nap in the dark without all the cowbells.  This way I was fresher and more clear-headed.

On the way to Brighton Lodge during the day.
Just in case you thought it was flat.
So, essentially, I spent my weekend chatting, driving, napping, and eating a jar of Nutella that I had convinced myself I bought for him.

Shhhhhhh.

11. Himself finished in about 33 hours or so. I was told that 60 people dropped out of this small race, or about 25%.

10. I bought myself a cheap cowboy hat, which will go nicely with my red belt and red cowboy boots. Now I need a red hat band.

9. I enjoyed this race immensely, because it was more “ultra marathon-ish”.
Wasatch had about 200 racers in it, total, and well-behaved crews. It was easy to get to and from each aid station. People cooperated, and helped each other. You saw lots of the same people you see at other races. It’s a family.  Like most ultras.

Leadville is an ultra that has become a circus full of people shouldering each other out of the way (not MY friends, obviously).  Now that a large corporation has bought it, it’s noisy, crowded, full of large groups of spectators standing in the way of the crews and runners and generally being a nuisance. People were staking out large areas for their (one) runner and informing anyone, while glaring, that this was their space.  I tried to set a good example by helping crews for new runners.
When informed that a space was "saved," I smiled brightly and said, “Well, we don't mind sharing!” And pointedly ignored their frustration.  You simply do not get bitchy and territorial at ultras. It Isn’t Done.
In case you wondered, stuff like this
is why we do stuff like that.  

8. For part of the time my companion was Ian, who picked up Sweet Baboo at mile 50 and paced him to the finish. Ian has done a whole bunch of these runs, and has been doing them for decades, including Western States. He knows everything. I asked lots of questions.

Facing East, just before sunrise.  I was
listening to "Waking Up" by OneRepublic
.
7. They had a very awesome tracking system that predicted arrival at the next aid station, and for the most part, it was dead on. It was incredibly helpful. I just had Sweet Baboo’s 3G ipad and used it to access the Internet in all but one aid station to predict when he would show up.

6. At the end of the trip, I had settled on my Next Big Thing.  More on this later.  Meanwhile, I'm reading "Relentless Forward Progress", the Kindle edition, if that's any clue.  Another clue: it's in  October 2012, in Arkansas, and will be part of my, “Thank fuck, graduate school is over” celebration.

5.  I miss my mom.  But on the other hand, I'm pretty sure that she would have tried to talk me out of some of the stuff I've done by now.  Or maybe she would have just taken pictures.  Or both.  My mom was quirky that way.

Good morning, Wasatch.
4. This week at work, I found out that a court official, who is not a mental health clinician, did not agree with a diagnosis and treatment recommendation I made and is holding a grudge against me because I didn't give her the result she wanted me to give.

All together now: Big.  Fucking. Deal.

As you might guess,  I lost little sleep over that.  In fact, I was all, "hey, I pissed off a JPO, don't I get a T-shirt or something?"  For the record, JPOs and public defenders are usually on completely opposite sides of what they want.  Nobody always gets what they want.  What makes this so amazing is that this official, this "professional," is actually holding a grudge.  Whatever.

Himself, when he was chilled at mile 75, and had to be
put in the warming tent.
3.  Catching up on stuff you don't care about: I'm having good results on the work on my skin.  Perhaps a little too good.  It is the antithesis of dry at this point.

2.  More stuff you don't care about.  My project for September is to organize my pantry.

1.  Himself wrote his race report, so I'll let him tell the story.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Why I'm Pissed at Weight Watchers

...and what I'm doing about it.

Dear Diary,

I'm thinking of dumping weight watchers. It used to work so well for me; I stuck to the plan, and the pounds fell off. But then their patent expired on their Points calculation, so like a greedy pharmaceutical company they had to screw with it and make it 'new'. Now they have Points Plus, and neither the Sweet Baboo nor I have lost a pound since. WTF?

WHY did they have to screw with a good thing? Oh, wait, I know. Because the new Points Plus is essentially a patent extender. You don't even have the option of going back to the old system, even if you're a paying customer. and some of it doesn't make sense; according to WW fruit has NO CALORIES now, which is just crazy. Fruit is full of sugar! Yes, it's better to have fruit than a sweet roll, but for someone with a high intensity level, a calories IS just a calorie, and I was already good at making sure we had plenty of fiber.

I am thinking of just Sticking it out on my own, by collecting everything I can on the old Flex Points system.

1. So far, I have bought some of the older WW Cookbooks, used, at Amazon.

2. A journal and points calculating spreadsheet here: http://www.stellamama.com/MyWeightWatcherspoints.xls (but see number 4, below.)

3. An online calculator of how many points you're allowed.

4. I paid .99 for an app called Bites Tracker that lets me track things offline, using either Bites Classic or Bites Plus (bites meaning points here).

They're such asshats. But they have underestimated me. Not only am I Lazy, I am Cheap. Is this likely to be a lot of work? Probably, at first. But I figure it"s worth it. Once I've loaded all our favorite 'older' weight watchers recipes into AllRecipes Pro, then it will be easier.

Monday, September 05, 2011

Hell yes, I'll take your free stuff! Thursday 13

Dear Diary,

13. It became September this week, and finally on the 5th we had a nice, cool day. I'm so stoked waiting for chilly mornings to go out running in.

12. On Saturday, I ran 18.5 miles, the longest road mileage that I've run since, well, MAY. I could not believe how much my legs hurt. I thought for sure that was it for the weekend, and I was saying, what the hell happened to my base?

11. For my Saturday run, I started out on just a simple 5 mile out-and-back that runs north-south, but you can see where I turned east and ran up certain streets about a half mile up, and then back, adding a mile each time. This added some more hilly stuff to my run, so that the profile looks like this:


So yes, it was hilly, and ow, my legs hurt. Plus, it was getting crazy hot. Like, gross hot. Gross as in, UGH, I'm GROSS. Don't look at me. Where's the shower? I spend the rest of the day tired and grumpy about how slow this had been. (12:47 moving pace)


10. Then on Sunday, I ran the Dam To Dam 10K. There's a guy here in town who has 5k and 10k races about monthly, and the procedes go to a youth running program. It was a bit hilly, and the wind was blowing fast and hard in your face as you ran uphill. Yay. I had to walk the uphills. I forgot my Garmin, so I had no idea how I was doing, I just whined and hated the wind the whole way. My time was 1:07, which isn't my best, but it's certainly not my worst, considering the day before.

9. Sunday, being as it was the first Sunday of the month, I fired up the crockpots, and oven, and made seven meals. Each meals feeds us twice, so that's fourteen meals I won't have to cook. Into the freezer they went. I used the app for Weight Watchers to do this, but if you don't do WW, you could use the AllRecipes Pro app too. If you don't do apps, I think the All Recipes website does the same thing. Both of them you pick recipes, add them to your file, and then ask them to add the ingredients to your shopping list. So, I picked about nine recipes and did that. WW doesn't do as good a job as AllRecipes does, but I use it anyway because it tells me how many points everything is. But AllRecipes combines the ingrdients, and WW doesn't. So you get a list that looks like this:

  • Black pepper, ground, 2 tsp.
  • Ground black pepper, 1 tsp.
  • Black pepper, 2 tbs.
  • Ground black pepper, 2 tbs.
  • Salt, 1 tsp.
  • Salt, 2 tbs.

and so on. Whereas with AllRecipes Pro, you get this:

  • Ground black pepper, 5 tbs.
  • Salt, 1.3 tbs.

8. I got an email from someone from Sony asking me if I want to test and review one of their mp3 players. More on this as it develops. Remember my motto, Hell yes, I'll take your free stuff.. I also got a request to preview and review a movie called, " my run". i think that movies is something I coukd related to, just because he's a middle-aged guy who takes up long distance running.


7. Labor Day, we labored. As in, Sweet Baboo cleaned out the garage (poor thing, he fantasizes about a nice, neat garage but between me and the kids, it's stayed pretty un-clean.

6. And, thanks to lots of help from Sweet Baboo, we are one step closer to my goal for 2010, which was to turn #2 bedroom into an exercise room.
Behold:

Right?

I'm all, take that, agoraphobia. Take THAT, crappy frigid winter days!


5. I know that there are a lot of mixed views on treadmill running, but the secret is to tip up the ramp just a little bit, which shortens your stride, and is easier on your shins. Also, ignore the "speed" showing on the display readout. It's meaningless. Just run as you feel.

I still remember fondly one winter where I went out into the garage and ran for 45 minutes to an hour while watching part of a chick flick several mornings in a row. I loved being able to the bathroom whenever I wanted. Memories!

Now I don't have to go into the garage.

The treadmill does fold up out of the way for a trainer, if I so desire (probably I won't.)

4. Monday I also put a bunch of stuff up for sale on Craig's list and Ebay, hydration belts, a weight bench, bike stand, and so on. Whatever doesn't sell I'm going to foist onto the grown children who live here in town.

DreadPirate and Me at Leadville 2011.
3. Thursday, I leave with Sweet Baboo to crew for him at Wasatch. He is doing the 100 miler out there. He showed me his profile of the race (OMG) and said, oh look, here's where you can pace me. The profile he showed me was horrifying enough without the added text ...small pebbles, much like running on ball bearings...baking hot...no, I told him, I will better serve you by crewing for you.

Besides. It's humiliating to have your ass kicked by someone who has already run 80 + miles.

2. Last night I went to a meeting of the planning for a new 50K in New Mexico: The Mount Taylor 50k, planned for October 2012. Coming soon.

1. I am going to be a pacer at the Duke City Marathon. I am going to do one of the slower pace groups. I was just complaining to Baboo last year that there are no pace groups for slower runnerrs, but I never realized that it was related to Boston Qualifying times. What about the folks that are just trying to beat the cutoff? I picked the 5:30 group, but I also told them that if they could't find someone for the 6 hour group, I'd do that too. That time is dear to my heart, as it was the first time I tried to beat at my first marathin in 2006. My time that day was 5;59:52. My PR for marathon is a 4:47 now, at sea level, on a cool cloudy day, on a flat course (wisconsin). Anyway, I am totally excited about this opportunity.

I am posting this from my ipad, on the road. Sorry for any formatting problems.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Mundane homebody stuff

Dear Diary,

13. I decided to do a 50k in Washington State.  It's near Puget Sound.
Sweet Baboo will be gone the entire month of November, and I've never been away from him that long.  So, we're spending a week together in Seattle, a relaxing vaca, just the two of us...we have not taken a vaca, more than a weekend together, just the two of us, in over four years. I've never been there. It's the birthplace of Starbucks, you know. And REI.

Seattle is like Mecca for coffee drinkers. Except that we don't face west; we just do a face plant in a cup of coffee. And many of us do it five times a day.

12. The 50k is the Defiance 50k. It will give me my Washington marathon.

11.  While Sweet Baboo is in San Antonio, I will be making a brief trip there.  Just so happens there is a Rock'n'Roll marathon there in November.  We got married in San Antonio.  Ma Baboo lives there.

10. I went for a run saturday. It felt like shit. By mile 8, my lower legs ached like I had just ran a marathon. I don't know why that would be. I am taking a lot of antibiotics, ordered by the dentist oral surgeon. Maybe that has something to do with it.  Then Sunday I ran 16.5 miles, until it just got too hot to run.

9. I am finding myself drawn more and more to youths and young adults with high-functioning autism. Moreover, there is a dearth of practioners who work with these folks in this area. It's just something I'm investigating right now. More on this as it developes.

8. My project this year is to fix my skin. I have abused it so. I bought a reallly good starter kit from a local aesthetician but I've discovered that the products themselves arre not what is working so well, it's that I'm using them, faithfully, and in a particular order. I found similar products at Sally's Beauty Supply. It's the best place for someone like me, who is cheap AND vain.

7. So, I am researching such things as glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicilic acid, hydroquinone, and the like. Reading FDA and other things. I got a kindle copy of "The Beauty Bible" and am doing reasearch.

6. Along with fixing my skin comes avoiding the sun, at least this summer. So, I've getting up at dawn, to do 6 to 10 mile runs. Sunday, I got up at 4, to do a 20 mile run.

5. I grilled a heeyooge steak this weekend from a local meat market. I split it with Baboo, and the dog got the bone. The dog then ignored me for the rest of the night as this was the first steak bqone she's ever had. Baboo, however, did not. Lurking under this vegan exterior, unknown to him, was someone who could could cook a serious piece of meat.
Yes, it's true.
I am the grill whisperer.

We bought a little kettle grill a couple weeks ago.  It's taken a while to get used to using one again, but here I am.  Last month, I just thawed out several large packages of meat and fish grilled them all.  It seemed like a bad idea to let those coals go to waste.  So then I froze stuff in waxed paper and ziplock bags.  Then, for the rest of the month, I would occasionally take out some grilled something and heat it in the microwave.  I think I may do this for the rest of my life.  I don't know why I love grilled things as much as I do, but I do.

4.  I'm also doing something called the Bear Chase 50k in September.

3. Watched three interesting movies this weekend, "Snowcake" "The Pledge," and "Perfum, The Story of a Murderer". Both weird, in their own way. Both interesting, on their own way. Two had Alan Rickman in them, playing very different parts.

2. I take fish oil capsules every day.  Today I was so busy reading email I forgot to swallow one of them, and then bit down on it.  TRUST ME, DO NOT DO THIS.  Just swallow them.  Bleh.  Ptooey.

1.  I now know that I cannot take Amoxicillin, she said, scratching her knee.  And her hand.  And her back.


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Moved.

 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...