ABC of Me!!

  I was so excited to get tagged by fellow 2Chixrun26 to do the ABC game !   (Felt like one of the cool kids). So here it goes.....

Attached or Single- attached to my wonderful husband Jason :)

Best Friend- See above 

Cake or Pie- typically chocolate cake but I'm really craving fruit pie lately

Day of the week- Saturday usually tends to be a great day...no stress!

Essential Item- Chapstick! I'm an addict.

Favorite Color- I would say purple, then I'd say yellow, or maybe red. So I'm not sure.

Gummy Bears or Worms- neither. I'd prefer chocolate to anything gummy.

Hometown- currently living in Hollister, CA but originally from Morgan Hill, CA

Indulgence- wine 

January or June- definitely June. Not a fan of the cold.

Kids- 4 kids and 2 grand kids.

(This was taken 2 years ago)

Here is Abilene and Braelynn 

Life isn't complete without- my family.

Marraige date- September 15, 2002

Here we are gettin' hitched....

(Sorry for the crappy, blurry pic:)

Number of Brothers/sisters- I have 2 older sisters.

Oranges or apples- hmm...probably oranges. 

Phobias- my family teases me mercilessly over my fear of escalators. Crazy, I know.

Favorite Quote-     

Reasons to Smile- when I get to hang out with these two....

Season of Choice- probably summer but I also love fall.

Tag 3 People- The Pavement Princess  ( www.thepavementprincess.com )  Lindsay in Training( http://lindsay.blogspot.com ). Kate Moving Forward ( http://katemovingforward.com ) 

Unknown fact about me- I HATED any sports or physical activity when I was younger. I was the girl that would cut PE class. In college I took fencing. Now I love exercise! 

Favorite vegetable- asparagus and homegrown tomatoes

Worst habit- my husband says its organization, or lack of. (I am a secret slob, closets and drawers are the worst)

X-ray or Ultrasound-  ultrasound

Your favorite food- pizza and cold beer

Zodiac Sign- Pisces but I don't follow that stuff. 

Well, that about about sums up little random facts about me! 

Side note: my stupid iPad Blog app isn't letting me link to the 3 bloggers I choose but go check them out. I've "met" them all thru Instagram and so go check them out! Thanks to 2Chixrun26 for tagging me. (Check them out on Instgram as well :)

Capitola Half Marathon

 It's been a crazy couple of months. Haven't blogged in awhile because...well...my father in law passed away. It just seemed so weird to blog about running and healthy eating while we were dealing with such a serious, heartbreaking and personal issue. He passed away 2 weeks ago of pancreatic cancer and we had the service on Wednesday.   I might talk more about my thoughts on everything in a future post. But let me also catch you up on the latest. 

While we were helping with my father in law, fitness was very difficult to fit in. Chaos was the norm for about 2 months. We did try to run and hit the gym as much as we could.

This was along the Truckee River in Reno. Very pretty.

And this is on Mother's Day- 6 miles with my sweetie.

I had the crazy idea a couple of months ago to sign up for a half marathon to take my mind off things and have a healthy outlet for everything. So I signed up for the Capitola Half Marathon.   Well....things got worse with my father in law and the training really didn't happen. This past week was really very heart wrenching with his funeral on Wednesday and then our pastors funeral on Saturday. Ugh. Very draining. 

So against our better judgement, my friend and I decided to go ahead and do the half marathon anyway. No training, no fueling, no tapering. Even had wine the night before. It would be a beautiful day and if we wanted to walk, we would walk. What the heck. 

We left for Capitola at 5:15 and found parking easily. It's a pretty small race ( too lazy to check how many people were in it...sorry not sorry) and the crowd seemed small when we got there. As we were waiting for the start I recognized Skinny Runner! OMG!!! The race was about to start any second so I quickly went over there and got a pic with her.

(Now cursing that I didn't put some make up on.  She's so pretty!) 

Then I went over and grabbed my buddy Maribel who follows her blog as well and got another picture.

SR was so sweet and encouraging and it was fun to chat with her.  (Of course I now refer to her around my house as my new BFF, with my husband rolling his eyes.)

As it turned out it was really a beautiful day. Perfect weather, run along the ocean, time to chat and catch up with a friend. It was just what I needed. Maribel's foot has been bothering her and I hadn't trained much at all so we walked a bit. ( I was a little embarrassed when my new BFF saw us walking as she passed us on her way back) 

Here are some pictures from the route.

If there is ever a race in Santa Cruz or Monterey/Carmel I will run it because it is so gorgeous over there. I will definitely do this race again. It was a bit hilly so I don't think I would do the full over there but I would do the half again. 

A few other announcements in a pictorial:

My daughter turned 21 and we made her a "drunk Barbie" cake. This is her with my 16 year old:)

My son and daughter in law welcomed my second granddaughter (yes I'm a grandma).

Braelynn Hope was born May 11 and she is perfect.

Here is her big sister Abilene .....

One more of little Braelynn. Life is precious.

She Is Beautiful-Pinkest 10K Race

 Today I ran the The Pinkest 10K in Santa Cruz. I first heard about the race from my friends and when I heard about the "pinkest" I just assumed it was for breast cancer. However this race benefited the Walnut Avenue Women's Center (domestic abuse counseling). 

I had never done an all girls race before and really wasn't too excited about it. I never really have been drawn to the whole "pink", "girl power", etc. stuff. But I had a great time!! The website is pretty cliche about running so we can "eat more chocolate and drink more wine" (!?!?) and racing for the "cute shirts" or to "impress a cute guy". (Ick!!) So I wanted to run with my running buddies but the website almost made me not sign up after I read that nonsense. 

This morning I really was lagging due to a couple of bad nights of sleep but I picked up my friend Maribel ( and yes she DID sign up for CIM!!!) and we were on our way.

They had parking about 2 miles away with lots of shuttles to the start. ( Parking was a bit expensive at $12! ). We got there right as the sun was coming up. 

Gorgeous.

The start/finish was at the lighthouse.

They had lots of fun signs throughout the course and at the start. 

We took a quick pic when we got there.

The 10K started at 8 and the 5K started at 8:15. We did our bib pickup that morning but you could have done it early on Friday night or Saturday morning. 

Waiting to start.

The course was an out and back mostly along the water and was well marked. 

They had maybe 3 water stops with pottapottys.

My goal was to run the whole course without stopping ....and I did I! Yay for me:)

My time was 1:06 with a pace of 10:40. I would love, love love to run a 10K under an hour but I'm super happy with my time.  At the finish line we ran into our other running buddies. And we picked up our shirts (which I assumed would be pink but were white.  Interesting). And walked around the vendors before we grabbed a shuttle and went to breakfast. 

And took one more picture and you can barely see the surfers out there but they were all over the place.

I will definitely run this race again.  I really love running near the ocean and love running with my friends  so I will throw on the pink  and enjoy every  minute of it.  Today really was good for my soul.

Signed up for.......CIM!!!!!

 Well.....I did it. 

I signed up for my second marathon!!!! Not only that, but I talked my husband into signing up, too. I also have a couple of friends I'm working on (Maribel, Terese! I'm talking about you guys!) 

The whole time I was running CIM in December I knew I would try again. It was such a fiasco with the weather and my shin splints (you can read about it here). I knew I had to do it again. 

So that's the big news.   

I've also really been working on my diet this week. I'd like to lose 10 pounds. I have tried to not weigh myself much this past year for several reasons.  I found I was obsessing over my weight too much. The number itself was becoming too big of a deal. And last year I was doing Crossfit so I really just wanted to get fit. Toned. Awesome. Well....I didn't get that awesome so now I want to lose a few.  I'm kinda sick of just doing things half-assed so I'm putting it out there that this is my goal. 

So far this week went well. Monday and Tuesday I walked on my lunch hour with co workers 2 miles each day.   On Thursday I went on a great 4.5 mile trail run with the hubs, it was gorgeous!

It ended up being hotter than I would have liked. It was upper 70's when we left. And I should have brought some water. We had never been out here before and it was beautiful. Especially now with the hills all green. Enjoy these pictures now because this summer my California shots will be all brown and dry. 

Thursday evening I went to the gym for Pilates. She added some light weights and  it kinda tweaked my shoulder a bit. I got up at midnight for some frozen peas and Ibuprophen. Feels a little better this morning. 

Sunday morning I am running She.Is.Beautiful Pinkest 5k & 10 K

I will be running the 10K with my running buddy, Maribel. This is a girl only race. It benefits a local charity Walnut Avenue Women's Center which helps women with domestic violence counseling. 

The race is in Santa Cruz and the weather has been awesome so I'm looking forward to running along the water. They encourage the whole "wear pink, etc"but I was hoping to wear my Green CIM shirt.. Oh well....pink it is. 

(Seems weird not to wear green on St. Paddy's day)

I've also been working on my diet. Ugh. The dreaded diet. Last year I heard about the Paleo Diet for the first time and to be honest I just hated the idea. Seemed just like Atkins. Also wasn't too found of giving up all grains, and beans, etc. I hated the name as well. Gads....who wants to eat like a caveman? Anyway.. Now I see the benefit of giving up some gluten. I will probably never give up my morning cereal (with...yes...real cowsmilk! ) 

So this week I started cutting back on the gluten and cutting out the sweets. So far I'm ok. A little grumpy. And I noticed a headache at the start of the week. 

More on the dietary changes on a future post. Still trying to figure it all out. And to be honest I still struggle.Every. Day. 

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

 So I decided to run my age on my birthday like all the cool runners do. I just had to add a decimal point in there ;)

There was no way in hell I could do 46...so 4.6 was a nice little compromise. 

I actually ran with my husband and while he allowed me to stop the Garmin at 4.6 (for blogging purposes) he made me keep running to complete 5. He is a very strict coach. 

So let me fill you in on all the birthday details. I celebrated first on Wednesday at one office I work at and went to lunch with everyone. And then again on Thursday at my other office. There I got lunch and a new Coach purse! (It's our little tradition- everyone gets a new purse for their birthdays-love it!!)

On Friday- (my "real" birthday) I had the day off work and celebrated with the family.

Errands with Kid#3:

Cake made by Kid #2-completely made by scratch -no mixes!! The frosting had 3 

sticks of butter-yikes! But it was phenomenal!

After dinner with Kid#2 :

The next morning my husband and I headed for San Jose for the rest of the celebrating. 

We had a bunch of gift cards so we headed for the mall. If you know me at all you know I HATE shopping.   I hate looking, I hate trying stuff on, I hate all of it.  I had recently cleaned out my closet and it was really pathetic. Like only bare bones essentials in there  (which means scrubs and running gear ). 

My purchases were not very exciting and I'm afraid it did little to fill my closet but it was a start.  I think I bought 2 shirts and a pair of shoes for work. Eh. I guess I'll have to go back out again. 

Anyway, after the jaunt to the mall we headed over to  Burke Williams Day Spa for my 2:00 massage. Whoop!!! That's right....a little pampering was just what I needed to recover from all that shopping.

I love a good deep tissue massage. I love when they ask how the pressure is and I say fine...then they keep telling me to make sure I let them know if its too much. Ha! I will never cry uncle...ever. I may whimper, flinch, even cry, but I will never give in. I loved every second of it. 

I then walked over to  the Hotel Valencia right next door where the hubs had already checked us in and before his massage. 

Here's some pics of the room:

The view is out onto the patio where they have the bar to the left and restaurant to the right. Last time I stayed here for a girls weekend we watched a wedding out there. Very pretty.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner. We had 4 other couples joining us at 

Maggianos for dinner. 

I wore my new birthday shoes from my daughter:

(We took more pics of the group but I don't know if they all want to be plastered on the blog so you just get me and the hubs;)

We had the absolute best time. It was a great evening filled with great friends, good food and alot of laughter. Feeling very blessed to be surrounded by such great friends. 

Taji 100 -DONE!!

 Yesterday I completed the Taji 100. Basically, the challenge was to run/walk/elliptical 100 miles in the 28 days of February. It was a $20 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project and logging the miles with Daily Mile. 

First of all, I was so impressed with the incredible runners that logged more than 300 miles in the month. Very impressive. I am still such a novice runner that I am in awe when people are logging in 20-30 mile training runs. I muddled through the challenge with many miles of walking.  

Five days of the month I was sick so that left 23 to run/walk the miles. On Mondays andTuesdays  it is always harder for me to work out. My schedule is packed on those days with work and kids so I ended up walking 2 miles on my lunch hour those day. Thanks to my co-workers that (usaully) happily joined me. It was also a catalyst for them and they have started working out more. And one of their husbands has started working out as well. Interesting dominoe effect.  :)

So yesterday I needed to run 9 miles to finish the challenge. I was going to run some on Wednesday after work but watching a movie with my huscand won and I saved it all for the last day.  I had been picturing the month as a progessvie increase in miles and hoped that I would be up to 10 runs at the end but I never really increased passed 5 miles. So needing to run 9 was a bit of a jump for me. 

I talked my husband into joining me . Thank God because I love trail runs but I'm so scared of seeing a mountain lion that I love having him with me;)

We went to Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear County Park in south Santa Clara County. The weather here has been gorgeous with the highs in upper 60's to low 70's and I was really looking forward to going with the hills all green and beautiful. This park is 4500 acres with 35 mile miles of trails. It has a lake and camping. The trails are for hiking, bikes and horses. Very nice facilities. This is also where our local running club South Valley Running Club  runs on Saturday mornings. (I am not a member but I'm hoping to join this year----really! I am!)

So we dropped the little one off at school and hit the trails.

Coyote Lake

beautiful views of  the valley.

nice trails 

If you've never been to Northern California-most of it looks like this. Rolling hills with Oak trees. SoCal  has the palm trees :)

And here is my husband who always patiently waits for my slow ass to catch up with him. I 'm usually about a quarter of a mile behind him until I hear  something rustle in the bushes , get scared of a  possible mountain lion and then hurry up to catch up...where I find him standing like this waiting for me. ( And extra points to him for not rolling his eyes when I'm taking pictures. )

Had to wear my Taji shirt to finish!

Of course, after we were done we were starving and had to refuel  (and celebrate) with some tacos and beer:)

We ended up with 11 miles. 102 miles total for me for the month. I was pretty proud to jump in mileage at the end. My hip has been hurting lately and I was pretty sore at the end but today I feel pretty good. Now I am really motivated to sign up for a half . I also really , really need to work on cross training and strength training, in addition to the exercises the PT had given me for my hip. 

The Taji 100 was a really great experience for me. I will fill you in on the final stats when they send them out next week. It really helped me to stay on task and be consistent. I really learned to just fit in any miles I could at any spare time I found in my schedule. It reminds me that if it's important to us we will find the time for it.