The Old Ball Game

This last week has been very fun filled and was gone in a flash! I thought that when August was over, things would slow down, but that hasn't been the case so far. I am having a hard time lately juggling fun, family, friends, work, running (I am not counting that in the fun category, even though it is) and necessary things like grocery shopping and errands and chores (and eating. Who has time to eat as much as I do?). But that doesn't mean I am not doing some of each of those categories anyway!

I found an old end table on the street and did a quasi DIY project. 

My version of DIY: paint it white. Voila. 

Note the other half finished painting project next to it. That is done now too.

I went to A's vs Red Sox game (with my friend, who is a Sox fan). 

I am still a Giants fan but it was fun. 

Do you like this guy's "shirt"? 

 

Running, running, running...

This is the French Trail I talked about before. 

Total this week: 52 miles.

 

I harvested. 

This week: round zucchini, scallop squash,tiny tomatoes. 

I went to the Giants game. 

We saw a double rainbow. It was awesome. 

The Giants lost. It was not awesome. 

 

I went for a long run and then ate this.

Okay, I am joking, kind of.

I did make carrot cake with butter cream frosting.

So, maybe I only ate half of this.

I will eat the other half tomorrow.

 

These ladies came over to help me make (and eat) the carrot cake. 

While we waited for it to bake, we went to visit the goat next door. 

 

I packed my lunch for today. 

White bean chicken chili, edamame, carrots/celery and hummus, 

grapes, plum, salad. 

I am very hungry. Every day. All the time.

(not pictured: craisins, almonds, and the 5 cups of coffee I will also have before lunch)

 

How was your weekend? Do you pack your lunch the night before / the morning of / not at all? Have you ever seen a shirt as sweet as that guy's shirt?

Glass Boys

Glass Boys by Nicole Lundrigan

Set in a small town in Newfoundland, this story starts with two young brothers. When one is killed accidentally by a neighbor, the remaining brother, Lewis, tries to put the incident behind him, but he can't help in blaming the man who killed his brother. As he gets older, he keeps a close eye on the man and his family and their lives end up becoming entwined more than Lewis could ever realize.

Full of small town strife, sibling rivalry, hatred and love, this book really causes the reader to become involved in the character's lives. She creates people that you know and ones that you don't want to know. Her characters are real, although they are not necessarily all likeable.

This book reminded me of the small town that I grew up in. There is the sheriff, who knows what everyone is up to and is involved in everyone's lives. There is the shopkeeper, the bad boy, and the farmer. I know these people. I remember times at the river like they have and boys like these boys.

However, this book has a dark side that I have not been privy to in my home town (and don't really want to be privy to). There are some mean people and some sickos and you spend a good part of the book wishing they would just go away. However, they don't. Not all of them.

I would recommend this book. It was an intriguing read and it was kind of disturbing at times but it never kept me from continuing to see what would happen next.

I gave it three stars on Goodreads.

Check out other reviews of this book here:   Chaos is a Friend of Mine --   Read React Review --  Comfort Books --  Cmash Loves to Read  --  Booksellers without Borders NY  --  Leafing Through Life  -- Pieces of Fate  --  My Life in Not So Many Words --   I'd Rather Be At The Beach 

Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Have you ever experienced small town living? If you don't like one of the main characters in a book, can you still enjoy the book? Would you be able to forgive the person who hurt/killed one of your family members?

Currently: September

Current Book - Looking for Alaska by John Green

Current Hot Celebrity - Mila Kunis. I think she's adorable.

Current Drink - Coffee. Way too much of it. 

Current Excitement - I went to the A's/Redsox game the other day, got to watch the batting practice on the field, got to sit in row 5 above the A's dugout and got a photo with one of the players! It was so cool. I mean, hey, I am still a true Giant's fan, but I will take a photo with any of the players! 

Current fashion trend - Boots. I wear these all the time. Now I need black -- I want these.

Current Favorite Blog/Website - www.runningintheusa.com -- If you haven't used this site yet to find races, you should! Also, ultrasignups for Ultras.
 

Current Garden Item - I have zucchinis! 4 different kinds. Here are three of them. 

 

 

Current Love - The short work week! 

Current Food - I made a whole chicken in the crock the other day and it's delicious! It was so easy. Just put an onion in and then rub the chicken with spices and leave it for 5 hours. When you come back, voila, chicken! I even made stock with it as well!

Currently Pondering - Fires in CA near my Parents. Supposedly they are out finally.

Current Indulgence - Popcorn, and lots of it! I have been a popcorn eating machine! Today's favorite way to eat it? With butter and nutritional yeast. And lots and lots of salt. 

Current Mood - Hungry. Is that a mood? 

Current New Find - French Trail. It's a beautiful, redwood filled trail that is just the right amount of ups and downs. You can also easily do a shorter or longer loop (anywhere from about 3 miles to 8), so it's good for all levels of runner/hiker!

Current Outfit -  

 

Pardon me. I did not comb my hair that day.

 

Current Peeve - I had to remind three runners at the SR Marathon who were blocking the whole path that it was "hard to pass them when they were running three abreast". Those were my exact words. After I said, "on your left" about 6 times and they didn't get over so I had to run around through the bushes to pass. I had some more choice words, but I kept it cool and remained polite. 

 

Current Song - Till I Collapse by Eminem. It makes me run faster! Also I think about the first part of the song when I feel like giving up/slowing down: 

 

'Cause sometimes you just feel tired,
Feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that s*** out of you and get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse. 

Current Triumph - My brother has started running! He emailed me and said he would like to do a half marathon together. Hurray! I am so excited! Speaking of my brother, today is his birthday! Happy Birthday Bro!

 

Current TV Show - Parenthood. I am sad to say that I am caught up now. When does the new season start!? I need me some Braverman! And what about Grey's? Do they all die?

Current Wish-List - A tiger tail, an entry in the Boston Marathon, more hours in a day, extra motivation. 

Currently Delaying - Running. But I sure do end up getting a lot of other things done on my to do list when I am procrastinating running! 

Do you have any good crock pot recipes? What website do you use to find races? What's on your current wish list?

In Running News

Happy Labor Day! I hope you get today off and are enjoying it! I have finally gotten some errands done that have been on my To Do list for ages! This weekend I also participated in the Mommy Run Fast Labor Day Virtual 5 and 10 mile race. Laura, of MRF, is a Texas runner, spin teacher and mom who has some great recipes! I especially love, and have made several times, her Garbanzo Brownies and her Apple Oat Cookies. You can find all of her recipes here.

On Saturday, I ran the 10 miler. I did two loops around the lake, which is a little over 3 miles. That, coupled with the 1.5 miles each way from my house to the lake equaled out to a nice round 10. I procrastinated this run and did not do it until about noon, but luckily the day was not too hot. However, the lake was crowded with people, which reminded me that I need to go earlier if that is where my route is. I finished this run with a time of 1:22:45, which is an 8:17 average. After the race, I went to a baseball game and ate nachos and beer. Post race carb loading is the best!

On Sunday, I ran the 5 miler. I went with a friend to the lake, walked around once with her for a warmup, then ran around once and then ran back home to complete 5 miles. I finished in 41:31, which is, you guessed it, an 8:17 average. You can't get much more consistent than that! I did not take any photos either day, which is too bad, because it was beautiful out!

Also, I found out my registration date for Boston. It's September 14th! Here's hoping that there are not already 25,000 people in line ahead of me. You probably already know how they do the registration, but in case you don't, they let people who qualified by 20 minutes or more go first, on the 10th. Then, those who met the standards by 10 minutes or more go on the 12th. Then on the 14th, anyone who met the standards by 5 minutes or more (me!) get a chance. If you qualified by :01 - 4:59, you get to register on the 17th. However, if all the slots are filled by your registration date, you don't get in. So, keep your fingers crossed for me that there were not a lot of really fast people this year.

Last but not least, the winner of the book giveaway is... Steph The Book Worm. Thanks everyone for participating! Steph, email me your address so I can send the book your way!

Santa Rosa Marathon

My realistic goal: finish this race.
My satisfied goal: get a PR (and hopefully sub 4)
My hopeful goal: BQ

To BQ, for my age group, I would have to run a 3:35 or less. According to my fast half marathon time, this is doable. But that race was nearly three months prior to this one. It meant I would have to run under an 8:12 pace the entire time. However, I didn't want it to be THAT close, so I thought I would shoot for a 3:30, which is an 8 minute per mile pace. I have to be honest with you though; after the last few weeks of training that I have had, I was not hopeful. I have been tired. I have been unmotivated, I have not been doing speed work and I have been running about an 8:45 pace for shorter runs.

I did not feel ready. I was ready to be happy to come in under 4 hours.

My strategy was this, and I often use this one to "trick" myself: I would start off at the right pace and if I got tired later, I would slow down. I had to try at the beginning though. I got in line right behind the 3:15 pace group and I thought in my mind that if I could only stay in front of the 3:30 group, I would be okay.

The race started and we were off like a shot. The beginning of the race was difficult. It was on a creek path with only a width of a few people and everyone was trying to get ahead and find their pace but there was no room to do so. As I was trying to get my pace, I passed under an overpass and my parents and uncle were up there, cheering me on. It felt great to have spectators, and to have someone to be accountable to, even though they would never say anything bad if I didn't make my goal. Still, I was running for them, as well as myself.

The first few miles I had trouble finding my pace. I wanted to stay under 8, but to not get too tired along the way. Mile 1: 7:43, Mile 2: 7:18 (otherwise known as the "what was I thinking" mile). The next few, I found my pace and kept at it for a while. Mile 3-6: 7:40, 7:38. 7:45, 7:48. After mile 6, I took two chews and used the bathroom. This is reflected in my pace, which was (Mile 7:) 8:00. After that, the next 6 miles were around (Mile 8-13) 7:50.

The course was a figure eight loop on the creek path that went around once for the half marathoners and twice for the marathoners. This was both good and bad. Good: my parents got to see me three times: once at the start, once at the middle, and again at the end. My brother also came and he got to see my 8 times, as his place was in the middle where the eight crossed over itself so he biked back and forth to cheer me on. Bad: I had to run the same route twice.

So I went around the loop once, saw the Parentals, waved, and started on the second loop. This loop was a little bit harder. I was wavering around the 8 minute mark, but still keeping it under. However, it wasn't much under, and I kept thinking, "DON'T let the 3:30 group pass!" Mile 14-24: 7:54 average. The good news was, at this point, I had hit no wall. I had taken two chews at mile 6 and then two more at each 3 mile mark after that. I had had water at all the stops, but only a sip or two. Around mile 19, a girl caught up to me, said she liked my pace, and we ran together for a couple miles and talked. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The other thing was that half of this path was a hard packed dirt and gravel path. I wore my Saucony Kinvaras, which don't really have much of a sole. By the second loop, and especially by mile 18 or so, I was really dreading the dirt sections!

At mile 25, I slowed down a little. Mile 25: 8 minutes. At mile 26, my legs started to feel really tight and it was hard to keep up the pace. At this point though I kept repeating my mantra about the 3:30 group over and over. Just stay ahead of them! I may have mumbled, "keep going, keep going, keep going" under my breath (or out loud) several times. Mile 26: 8:06/mi

Taken by Dad - seconds before the finish line

Then I got to the last .2 miles and there was Dad, taking photos of me at my finest. I think I even managed a smile before rounding the final corner and totally chicking this dude right at the very end. My mom even has the pics to prove it.

Final time: 3:27:27 / 7:53 pace (official)

At the end there was a band and pancakes and wine, naturally. I mean, we are in Sonoma county after all.  But I decided to forgo those in exchange for a huge bacon and avocado omelet at the Omelette Express with the Fam.

Do you hit "the wall" when you race? Do you make hopeful and/or unrealistic goals that you sometimes end up achieving after all? OR Do you underestimate yourself sometimes?

Don't forget to join up at Jills for Fitness Friday!

Then and Now: August

August is a month of family and friends and times spent outdoors! I have had most weekends filled, and it's been exhausting, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have been lucky to see several family members not once, but twice in one month, when we often don't see each other more than the once a year at Christmas. I also cooked a lot, ran a lot and read a little. So, lets see how it adds up against last year, shall we?

The Who: 

My favorite comparison is this little lady.  

Her birthday is in August, and I've been lucky to spend both of them with her!

Last year I spent time with co-workers in MO, I went to baseball games in St. Louis with Dad and I hung out with family and friends at home. 

This year, it was more family, including a wedding where the boys got kilted up. 

Then there was lots of hiking with H and good times in Santa Rosa with family after the marathon.

 

The What:

Foods and Recipes: 

Last year I made my favorite easy blackberry cobbler from fresh picked berries. This year it was zucchini chocolate chip muffins from my garden haul. I ate three the first day. I just noticed I post a lot of desserts and not so much "food". I swear I am actually NOT a sweet junkie!

Running miles: 

2011: 94 / 2012: 132

Last year I was training for the City of Roses Half and the Women Run the Cities 10 miler, where I met up with Lisa in MN for the weekend, so I logged a good amount of miles. This year I logged slightly more, mostly because of the two long races I did, not because my regular runs were that frequent.  

Races: 

2011: 0 / 2012: 4

Over half my miles were run in races. There was the Run With Jess Virtual Olympics, Suz's Wounded Warrior Virtual Half, The Skyline 50k and the Santa Rosa Marathon, for a total of 80 miles of racing!

Books: 

2011: 6 / 2012: 4

This month has not been a huge reading month for me. As the photos and numbers above show, I have been doing other things. That's okay because soon the fog will set in and I will have plenty of time to read! Last year's favorite read was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Did you know I had seen dozens of versions of movies (my favorite of course: The Muppets) but had never read the book!? This year's August favorite was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chomsky. It was a quick, easy read about a high school boy and his trials and tribulations and was narrated in letter form, which I find very easy to follow.

The Where: 

I have been loving where I am living lately. In 2011, I was in Missouri and it was great, but it was hot. All those miles I put in were in 90 degree heat with icky humidity. This year, I have been very lucky to be near the sea, where the breezes are cool and the water is blue and it's rarely gotten over 75 degrees. I love it. The best place to spend an August is in the Bay Area! 

San Francisco, Santa Cruz, St. Louis, Dog Rock (CA)

I am sad to see the summer go, but I gladly welcome September, and am looking forward to Autumn! Hello apples and boots and books! I can't wait!

Where was your favorite place that you went this month?  Do you find that you are more or less active in the summer?

Weekend Activities

Last weekend was a crazy busy one. The last weekends of summer are upon us and everyone is trying to cram everything in while they can! I had two great days with family and friend filled events on each one.

Friday night included drinks out with friends at the Pier 23 cafe in San Francisco.  They were giving away free samples of Air, which is a beer mixed with carbonated water. It was gross. I was not compensated to say that.

Saturday started early with a really nice walk with a friend in the morning. After that, it was my grandma's 80th birthday party. She is my father's mother. My father is one of six kids, each with kids and some of them with kids! In addition to that, there were several cousins, step this and thats, in-laws and other friends of the family. I think all in all we were maybe 50, maybe more. It was held in the North Bay Area, in a park where there was a fabulous view of the city across the bay. We ate WAY too much food, but I did it in the name of carb-loading. A perk of being a runner? Everything is in the name of "carb-loading".

My favorite part of the party? My cousin made us color coordinated name tags. I was wearing a yellow shirt. By saying that, I just realized that I didn't get any photos of myself that day.

After the party, I raced to get to the race expo in time to pick up my bib. Then I went over to my brother's house and he made us a hearty carb loading Mexican Fiesta with fresh veggies from his garden! We had steak, fresh made salsa, black beans and rice! It was delicious! And I was so busy visiting I didn't take any photos of that either!

I got up early on Sunday morning for the marathon where I ran my buns off. My family was there to support me and luckily the course was conducive to their being able to see me several times. I will do a real recap in a couple of days, but for now, just check this out!

Holy crap; I am so excited. I don't think it hit me until I was writing up this post... I mean... WOO HOO!

After the race, I had a great brunch with my family at the Omelette Express, did some grocery shopping, watered the garden, made my lunches for the week and then passed the heck out! I feel like I need a vacation from my weekend!

How was your weekend? Are you trying to cram it all in at the very end of summer? Have you ever been to Sonoma county?

So L.A. and a Giveaway

So L.A. by Bridget Hoida

Have you ever been to LA? Then you know the drill; there are people with big everything: houses, cars, sunglasses and boobs. Yes, boobs. You know what I am talking about. So does Magdalena de la Cruz, or at least she thinks she does. Magdalena hails from Northern CA and she moves to LA when her brother tragically dies in a climbing accident that she feels responsible for. She and her husband have hit it big selling expensive bottled water to the rich, and they move into a huge house and try to fit in with the Southern California lifestyle. Magdalena buys the big car, wears the big sunglasses and gets the big boobs, yet she is still not happy. Her marriage starts to decline and she seeks the solace of a bottle of gin.

This story is about her mental state and how she attempted to find her true self amidst a city full of materialism and people who seemed to care more about looks than love, herself included.

I enjoyed this book as a quick and easy read and something to pass the time on a Sunday. I read it in one day, as it was easy to follow. Even though I kind of disliked the main character, I found that the story moved quickly along. I found the character very shallow, although at the same time I did see that she was struggling to get out from under that self absorbed attitude at times. I cannot say that I related to her, although I am from the very area that she came from in the beginning, and a small town to boot, so we should understand each other.

However, we have all wanted to be liked in one situation or another. Whether you are in an all male work environment and you start watching football so you can join in on the conversations around the water cooler, or if you are a girl, trying to impress a guy, so you wear a certain outfit or act a certain way, we all understand that need for acceptance to a certain degree. So in that case, if I change the situation around a little, I can relate to her to a certain extent. But she takes it a little too far, and loses who she really is in the meantime.

So I had mixed emotions about Magdalena: I felt sorry for her; I hated her; I understood her; I wanted her to find her true self and to stop playing games.

As for the book, it made a good point about how we need to accept ourselves for who we are because trying to be someone else only gets us in trouble.

I gave the book a three out of five on Goodreads. I would recommend this book as a fun, quick and interesting read.

Now, for the fun part! One lucky reader can win a copy of this book! All you have to do is go to the author's website and leave me a comment telling me one thing you learned from it. It can be anything you want. If you are not a winner, you can still buy the book here. Contest ends August 31 at midnight PDT. Winner will be announced shortly after.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review. You can see a schedule of the other blogs on tour here.

Have you been to L.A.? If so, what did you think / if not, what do you imagine it to be like? In what way have you ever tried to impress people around you?

Capture the Colour

My buddy Lindsay over at My Life as a Foreigner thought that I would like to be a part of the Capture the Colour (hey that's how they spell it, so I am going to follow suit) contest. And she was right! She is a fun Canadian girl, living in Denmark, who loves to read and travel and take pictures. Plus she has a Danish boyfriend who let's her take pictures of him sleeping and post them on her blog. Who would NOT get along with her?

Except for the fact that by suggesting it to me, it caused me to have to go back and look at all of my photos in order to find the perfect one, I was very excited that she alerted me to this contest! If you know me, you know I have a lot of photos to go through! I didn't go through ALL of them, but I did find some fun submissions for the contest. Here they are! PS, whoever wins gets 2000 pounds to spend on travel! That's a ton of cash (get it? ton? I crack myself up)!! Wish me luck.

Here's the thing. At first I though I would just submit photos that I liked which were mainly of the color that they were looking for. This would mean I had tons of photos to pick for the blue category due to lots of photos of water and sky! But the judges didn't just want a mostly blue photo. Or a photo that everyone has already taken, like of a yellow flower. For example, the blue judge wanted "clever use of blue...your take on the word blue...a splash of blue that captures the attention of your viewer or any other interesting non obvious way of using blue..." This made it harder, as most of the judges noted the same thing. So, in case you were wondering why a certain photo isn't mainly X, that is why!

BLUE:

Venice, Italy

This shop full of color really caught my eye. I love rows, bins or buckets of things all lined up!

GREEN:

Gokyo, Nepal

If those clouds weren't there, you may be able to see Mt. Everest. The feeling at the tops of these mountains is indescribable. 

YELLOW:

Jodhpur, India

 This man in the Mehrangarh Fort with his white clothes and contrasting bright colored turban caught my eye.

WHITE:

Sao Luis, Brazil

This unexpected storm on an otherwise beautiful day kept us indoors for only a short while. 

RED:

Ushuaia, Argentina

Known as the "most southern city in the world", this place is cold even in the summer, but it's snow capped mountains, great hiking paths and beautiful vistas like this one are worth the long trip down there. Plus they have penguins.

You still have time to enter as well! I know some of you photo buffs may be interested: Jess, Nilsa, Kate, Jill, Raquelita?? Any takers?

What is your favorite color to take photos of? What color catches your eye the most in a photo? If  you look through your old photos, what do you have the most photos of?

Virtually Eight

This month, I participated in a few virtual races. I didn't really join in on the contests and the photos and stuff because this month ran away before I got a chance to blink! However, I did run and while I was running, I though of the host and about the reason I was running. Jess hosted a great Virtual Olympics, where you got an official scorecard and you ran these distances. 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500, 5000m, 10,000m, 26.2 miles. Suz hosted a great Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) virtual run, where you could run any distance you want. She also raised a bunch of money to go the WWP!

I took this opportunity to do my 12 in 2012 race #8. I knew that since this month was going to be busy, plus I was going to do two actual races over 26.2 miles, a virtual race would be just the ticket. I needed it to be on my time and to fit in with my other (large) races, birthdays, weddings, and other summer fun. So this was perfect.

The day of the race dawned perfectly. It was sunny but not too hot. I picked my favorite route, which goes through the neighborhoods of Montclair, Temescal and Rockridge and around Lake Merritt. My first few miles were uphill, and my time reflects that. But I wasn't stressing, because I knew that the downhills would come later. The next couple of miles took me past the library, the ladies with their strollers, and the kids on bikes. Once I got to Temescal, the weekend BBQ folks were just setting up for a long day's fun.

Mile 1 - 5:  9:12, 9:13, 8:35, 7:47, 8:14

The next five miles were pretty darn consistent! This may be due to the fact that most of them were a net downhill, but not a huge one, only about 100 ft, so it's not too hard on the knees! 

Mile 6 -10:  8:14, 8:43, 8:08, 8:14, 8:24

Lake Merritt

The last few miles were mostly flat, and around the Lake. By now the Rasta guy (his car, hat and clothing are red, yellow and green) was out, eating his late morning burrito. I kept a pretty steady pace for mile 11, 12 and 13, of around 8 minutes, but then the last .2 (yes, I did an extra .1) is uphill and so it was a bit slower.

Mile 11 - 13.2: 8:04, 8:08, 8:22, 8:55(.2)

Total Time: 1:51:35 / 8:25 pace

It was no PR, but it WAS a nice relaxing long run around the morning time neighborhoods, which is one of my favorite things to do! My second favorite race was the 100m. I did it a few times just to get the feel of it  and all I can say is, MAN is it short! I would just be getting going and the 100m would be over, just like that! My time: 24 seconds, which would be a 6:50 mile. I don't think sprinting is my strong suit. I mean, I ran a 5k at a 7 minute pace so it seems like a 100m would be faster than a 6:50.

So, for the 12 in 2012 running challenge, we are Eight down, Four to go!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have a lot of exciting weekend things planned. I know I do! Saturday I am going to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday and then Sunday I will be running the Santa Rosa Marathon. Am I ready? No. Will it be fun? Of course. I will see my family, which is always fun. I will try not to drink too much, which will be hard (hey, it's wine country!) My brother is going to set me up with a carb load meal, and I will run my buns off no matter what. Please just keep your fingers crossed for me that it is not too hot!

What are your weekend plans? Is this weekend the last weekend of summer for you? Do you have a specific meal you eat the night before a big race?

Check out Jills for more Fun Fitness Posts!

It's Causal

I have had a lot of questions lately about what form of transportation I use when I go into the city. I sometimes take the bus, sometimes the BART, but mostly I use the Casual Carpool (you can also take a boat if you are so inclined). People can understand the bus or the BART, but the looks I get when I tell people that I use the Casual Carpool are priceless. I mean, didn't all of our mothers teach us not to get into a car with a stranger?

In case you are not familiar with it, it is an informal carpool starting from several places throughout the Bay Area and going into the city. There is no prior arrangement; if you are driving, you go to a corner and wait for people; if you are a person, you go to the corner and wait for a car. When the car has three people, it goes into the city. In the afternoon, they go back to where they came from. The benefit of this is twofold for the driver. By having three people in their car, they get to go through the toll booth in the carpool lane, which not only saves them time (possibly an hour or more during the worst part of rush hour) but also saves them money. It used to be that if you had three or more in your car, you got to go through the toll booth for free. Now it is $2.50 instead of $6.

It sounds great, right? Except I have had people ask me some interesting (and valid) questions such as:

How do you know where to go? There is a list of sites where people meet. It's usually on a corner where the bus stop is, so if you cannot get a car, you can catch the bus at it comes by. That is what I do. If the bus is coming at 7, I go to the corner around 6:45 and wait until either a car comes and fills up or the bus comes. Once you are in the vehicle, be it bus or car, the drive itself takes the same amount of time. However, the car is cheaper. Which brings me to....

Do you have to pay to ride? Oh, now this is the hot topic of the month! Since this is technically informal, aka no rules, but we all want it to continue, there has been no clear black and white answer to this question. Also my friend and I just had a discussion about this. The loose rules are: the driver can ask for a dollar or two and the passenger can choose to give or not AND the passenger can offer a dollar or two and the driver can accept or not. I will tell you that as a passenger, I offer 9 times out of 10 and they accept 7 of those times. So, I pay 70% of the time, but it's only a dollar as opposed to $4.20 for the bus. However, my friend says she never offers as a passenger and that people who want you to pay them will have a little sign, which I have never seen.
 
Do you always ride with strangers? Yes. But, if I go around the same time of day, I often see the same drivers, so you get to know certain people. Usually, these are people in my neighborhood, as the carpool site is only a few blocks away for most of us. So, they are my neighbors.

Do you talk when you are in the car? This is another informal "rule". Supposedly, and I don't know where I heard this, if the driver talks to you, you can talk, but if not, you should keep quiet, as you don't want to distract them. I would say that maybe 20% of the drivers want to talk. Most stay quiet and we listen to NPR. Seriously, there are a lot of NPR fans in the casual carpool group.

Has anything bad every happened to you?  No, but there is a forum where you can post warnings about bad drivers or rude people or whatnot and it does happen. However, it is not a very big forum and the casual carpool has been around for a few decades, so I think that the bad things are minor. Also, you are allowed to skip a car, for instance if a man pulls up in a two-seater, I may give it a pass. Drivers are allowed to refuse passengers as well. I have never seen this happen though.

So, there you have it. The ins and outs of the casual carpool. Tomorrow I will be talking about Riding the Bus. Just kidding. I will probably talk about that next week.FYI for you excel nerds like me: by using the CC, even if I did pay a dollar each time, I would save $16/week! That's a glass and a half of wine at the airport! Or a new sweater at Target! Or...3 burritos! Thanks Casual Carpool!

Do you have a similar program in your area? Have you ever gotten into a car with a stranger / done a ride-share? How do you get to work/school each day?

Tuesday Training (7)

I know, you are thinking...how many gosh darn weeks ARE there in this training program? Well, I can tell you that it has been approximately 17 weeks, 1 day, 13 hours and 17 minutes. Approximately. The good news is this is the last you will have to hear about training for a while. The bad news is that the next week will probably be full of race recaps instead. Sorry. I do have a few non running related (what!?) posts in the works for both this and next week though!

But first, I had fun with last weeks "you might be an ultra runner". How about just plain old "you might be a RUNNER"? Here are a few that pertain to me. You can find a lot more here!

One of my all time favorite trails: PCT!

 You know you're a runner when...

-          you have more running clothes than regular clothes in your laundry pile.

-          you smirk when non-runners ask you, "So how long is this marathon?" (remember this post?)

-          your runs are longer than your commute to work.

-          you go into Starbucks more often to use the bathroom than to actually buy coffee.

-          you no longer make fun of fanny packs because your running belt looks very similar to one.

-          you get an invitation to a wedding and you automatically think about what race the date will conflict with.

-          you're always hungry.

-          you know where your illiotibial band is located.

-          you spend more time researching running routes than tourist attractions when traveling to a new city. (I have a list here)

-          you know where exactly one mile from your front door is (in any direction). (and get made fun of for it!)

-          you get jealous when you're driving in your car and pass runners.(or when I am walking!)

Now, on with the training show! 
Week 1 - 4
Week 5 - 8
Week 9 - 11
Week 12 - 13
Week 14 - 15
Week 16

Week 17:

This last week has been better than the week before, not so much miles wise, since I am technically in taper, but motivation wise. Funny how that works. Now that I am SUPPOSED to run less miles, I want to run more. It's all mental.

Monday: REST -- walk 2 miles
Tuesday: REST -- walk 3 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles easy run with a friend (no Garmin) / walk 3 miles
Thursday: 8.5 miles @ 8:44 pace / walk 2 miles
Friday: hike 4 miles / walk 2 miles
Saturday: 11 miles @ 11:00 pace (hills/trail run) / hike 5 miles **
Sunday: 4.5 miles @ 12:00 pace (hills/trail run) **I cut this one short because I left a pot of beans on the stove accidentally. I kid you not.

Total Run miles: 26
Total Walk miles: 12
Total Hike miles: 9

I love hiking and walking as "cross training" and luckily have a friend who is willing to go with me. We have been walking or hiking 1-2 days a week after work and this week, we also got in a weekend hike, which was fabulous. It's been a great chance to catch up and get some exercise at the same time!

This last week is a low mileage one and I have to admit, I am kind of glad for taper this time. Madness there is not. Happiness there is. Thank you Yoda. Now all we have to do is get through this weekend without falling apart and then...well...then we will have to see! Most likely, then I will run.

Do you usually go crazy if you don't run or do you like a break from time to time? Do you have a go-to hiking/running/walking buddy? Can you relate to/add to any of those "you might be a runner if"s?