New Obsession

I am obsessed with this song. I love the instrumentals, especially the xylophone. I love the crescendo and the surprises throughout. Love. The lyrics are so simple, but powerful.

I also addicted to Real Housewives shows, even discovering Real Housewives of Vancouver online. I saw Jeana from Real Housewives of OC at the movie theater of all places.

I am also addicted to something embarrassing to admit, but I love Ice Loves Coco. It's nice to see a reality TV show that's not all about cat fights.

More interviews

Here are a couple of other quotes/podcasts/articles:

http://www.walkjogrun.net/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/10/Run-a-Marathon-On-Every-ContinentTalkJogRun-Episode-16 

http://www.vocus.com/invocus/media-blog/tweeting-amidst-the-masses-part-i/

http://www.spryliving.com/articles/ramp-up-your-fitness/ 

http://rev3tri.com/qa-with-pro-triathlete-kelly-williamson/

Ragnar SoCal Relay

I participated in my first Ragnar Relay. It was a 203 mile relay down southern California. I got up at 3:30am on Friday morning to park my car at the finish line and then a group of us drove up to the start, arriving at 6:30am. We had two vans total that would each run three legs totaling about 15-20 miles each. I ran 15.5 miles. We had to drive to each of the exchanges for the next person to run. It took a total of 33 hours. Here is a summary of what I ran: First leg: almost 5 miles in blazing heat at 11:30am. It felt like running in the Arizona summertime. Second leg: 6.6 miles at 12:30am in freezing cold temperatures. I ran through a golf course in pitch black. It was a new moon so we had no light, but a headlamp. Runners had to wear reflective vests, headlamps and flashing lights. I was the only runner around and ran through a golf course with the sprinklers on and then ended up climbing up a mountain at 1:00am. It took me 20 minutes to go one mile. I thought...this is just plain stupid. I am climbing at 1am and freezing and super tired. Third leg: Up Torrey Pines hill for 4.2 miles. It was 1.8 miles of a straight climb up and I got lost, so I ran a little extra than I should. We all ended up in Coronado at the beach. It was 12 people total and I got maybe 4 hours of sleep in two days. And after all the salt, I am sick to my stomach.

Welcome to Hollywood #42

I did a race in Hollywood this Easter weekend. It was a tough, hilly course with a killer hill from mile 10.5 to 12.7. I saw only a handful of people jogging up it. Everyone else was walking. I was disappointed in my time because for the first 8 miles I was actually making much more of a decent time than usual. In March I did a 10K and 15K and at the 10K and 15K point in this race, I was 10 minutes ahead of my finish time. But that last hill killed me. It took me 15 minutes/mile to walk up the hill. I did get to run down Hollywood Boulevard along the Walk of Fame and the Sunset Strip.

There were a few problems with this race:
1. They ran out of cups and they just had to give us water by the handful.
2. The finish line was suppppperr crowded. They had a fancy step and repeat on red carpet set up for runners, so everyone wanted finish line photos.
3. They had shuttle buses running for runners, which ended at 9:30am due to traffic. So this left a huge amount of foot traffic for everyone. Just to walk back to the cars took forever.

I did get to go on a party bus after the race, however. It was better than a limo! It had music pumping, lights all over, TVs, a reader board. Very classy move!

After the race, I walked to the nearest LA Fitness, which was just down the road from where I parked my car. I ran into, literally, a former soap opera actor there working out. I then headed to Universal Studios for the entire day and rode lots of rides and saw the backlot, lots of sound stages, and Wisteria Lane where they film Desperate Housewives. I then saw an actor from American Reunion and another TV actor walking around the City Walk.

Sunday I went to see my uncle and had Easter dinner with friends. It was beautiful weather and a lovely weekend.

#42 half marathon done!

Here's another quoted article:

http://www.spryliving.com/articles/6-most-common-cycling-mistakes/

Will Run for Chocolate

I did a race this weekend called the Hot Chocolate 15K, which at the finish line had trays set out for runners full of bananas, Rice Krispie treats, apples, marshmallows, pretzels, etc. with warm, liquid hot chocolate poured into a little tray for fondue. We were also given cups of hot chocolate courtesy of Ghiradelli. What a nice way to end a race. Unfortunately, I was having heart problems during the race. I've been having heart trouble lately with heart murmurs, which started back up during the race at mile 0.8, which is a long way to go from the finish line. Two guards came over to see if I was okay because I was clutching my chest. It felt like my heart was going to leap out of my body and in just jogging, my heart rate almost hit 200 bpm. Not good. So I walked the hills and stayed slow, but finished because I wanted my chocolate.

I also jumped on the Hunger Games bandwagon and read the book and saw the movie. Loved it!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was very social for me, which was pretty epic. (Epic is my new favorite word.) I normally spend that day at home. But this year I did a race--in a storm straight into a head wind. That night I went to dinner with friends who were in town for a triathlon, which incidentally, was cancelled due to the weather. I then went out with a couple I know and we ate corned beef and cabbage at an Irish pub. The next day I was supposed to also have another race, which was also canceled due to weather. I tried talking to the man about the weather, but clearly he didn't listen.

Another typical man.

#41

I spent the weekend visiting my parents in Phoenix and also completed my 41st half marathon. Naturally, my time was awful, but it was the easiest half marathon course I've done in Arizona. I'll do it again next year and hopefully be in much more stellar shape to pull off a PR.