#49

I got up at 5am for a half marathon fairly far north. I finished and it was my 49th. It was a tough course of a steady incline for half and steady decline for the other half. I then headed up north to Downtown Disney.

#50 coming right up.

Iceland Marathon

I flew to the land of the midnight sun to run/walk a race. Due to my illness that has affected my muscles, it was a very challenging marathon--one of the hardest I've done. Mile 10 and on was a severe struggle. I got to the point where I walked .1 mile and jogged .1 mile. At mile 24, a bee decided to mate with my shirt which made me run so that helped for .5 miles. But I finished over an hour longer than my regular time. Que sera sera.The race took place on Culture Day with bands all over the streets of Reykjavik and fireworks at 11pm when it wasn't even fully dark yet. Reykjavik is a small town, much smaller than I imagined.

I did visit the Blue Lagoon--these gorgeous hot springs full of milky blue water. I ranked it among the top 5 things I've done in my life.

Iceland

I am in Reykjavic, Iceland at the moment. I am with the same people who pop up at all the races. The tour guide from Antarctica is here. Someone I ran the Antarctica marathon with is my roommate. As usual, a few of the same people, different place. It's a big group of 100 this time.

I'm very jet lagged and got sick on my flight from JFK to Reykjavic. I did try arctic char for the first time and not being a seafood person, I liked it--which is saying a lot because I really don't like seafood. But the judges on Top Chef say it's delicious and I can officially concur.

#47 and 48

I ran my 47th and 48th half marathons this past weekend in Orange County and LA, less than 24 hours apart. I use the term "run" lightly.

Saturday: I got up at 4:45am to drive to the race start. It was a tough trail run in 90 degree temps. My legs cramped the rest of the day.

Sunday: I spent the night at a hotel 30 minutes from the race site, which was in Santa Monica. I arose at 5am to drive. I'd always wanted to see the Santa Monica pier and this race traversed right through it. We also ran along Venice Beach and muscle beach with homeless people yelling obscenities at us. Plus, I ran through a smokey area and told another runner, I think this race gives new meaning to "runner's high" if you know what I mean...

I then drove to San Diego and visited my friend's psychic--she swears by her. I am a skeptic, but this lady knew all kinds of things about my past. I told her of my difficult year and health issues and she said the following: next year will be phenomenal for me. 2014 will be a year where I will get back whatever I put out. 2015 I will have knee surgery because of all my running and I will sustain an injury that will affect me for the rest of my life (ouch!). 2016 I will have a baby.

What? I told her I don't even like kids. She said she sees it happening.

Good news: Apparently I'm still alive in 2016, just without a working knee and a mini-me.
Bad news: No man. So I'm not sure how this baby thing is going to happen.

I then drove all the way to Arizona for a couple of meetings and then drove all the way back to California the next day, less than 24 hours apart.

Tomorrow I leave on a long trip. So much travel.

Getting Caught in the Rain

As I feel my muscles atrophy with my illness, I'm still making a valiant effort to keep up with my running. I spent the weekend at a cabin with my parents and tried to run 20 miles of which I made it about 14. I could barely run from the pain. But then it got worse. The clouds opened and I got dumped on. I think I've been dryer taking a shower. My dad drove a car in front of me as I tried to run and handed me towels, although it certainly didn't keep my dry and just made more material to dry.

Running is hard and keeps getting harder each day.

#45 and #46

I did my 45th and 46th half marathon this weekend.

I dragged my body out of bed at 4:00am to drive almost two hours north to the race site--a beach run that offered a completely flat course and cloudy skies. It was a small race of only 50 and quite lovely. As you can see from my bib number, I got quite a few laughs and comments. What luck. I eventually unpinned it and attached to my running pants and covered as best as I could with my shirt. I ran an extra five miles after the race as a training run...covering 18 miles that day.

I then drove one hour south and to stay the night near my next race in Orange County. Less than 24 hours later, I dragged my body out of bed once again. I parked my car at the race site only discover I was at the gate of Coto de Caza, home of the Real Housewives of Orange County and a super exclusive gated community. And when I say gated, I don't mean you push a button and a gate opens. It was heavily guarded with one guard for visitors and one guard for residents, along with a police officer monitoring the entrants and plenty of security cameras surrounding the gates. "I wonder what it looks like beyond those gates?" I thought.

I got my answer. The race was a trail half marathon that went into the community and I discovered how the other half lives--and it is pretty spectacular--like out of a movie. I felt like I was in a film about Miami drug lords with their McMansions and perfectly manicured gardens and beautiful models lounging next the pool laying in expensive chaise lounges. The estates/palaces/compounds (I don't know what they are called) looked the size of hotels and the pools and guest quarters looked plucked right out of a resort.

The race itself was small and held a pack of top-notch runners. I immediately felt out of place listening to them discuss how one was trying to break 1,000 marathons, one was going for the Guinness Book of World Records for most marathons run in a year (he was up to 137 at the moment.) Me? I was out for a jog. I pulled out my iPod and heard a girl who just recently completed running seven marathons in seven days say, "I could never run with music. Only purists run without music." Whatever.

Needless to say, I came in second to last. One girl finished after I did...and she was listening to music.

Time for ice.

Happy 4th of July!

I celebrated the 4th of July by going to the beach with friends and watching fireworks on TV. However, I missed one seriously good show. Apparently, all fireworks went off all at once in the bay, totally by accident. That's a major oops. And it made national news in every news outlet across the country. People were upset and I don't know why. How many times do you actually remember a fireworks show? Me? Never. They all run together in my mind. But I guarantee that is one show people will remember for the rest of their lives. Congrats to the lucky ones who got to discover what it is like when an entire show goes off all at once. I've always wondered what that would be like.