Spring Break at Huntington Beach

We took a long weekend at the end of the kids' spring break to head over to the beach for some R&R. Thanks to a great deal on hotwire, we enjoyed our stay in the very swanky Hyatt at Huntington Beach. We traveled with some good friends and had adjoining hotel rooms, which made for some very fun nights visiting together after the kids all crashed. Each evening, our kids would jump on their scooters and their kids would load up into the stroller and we would all walk downtown for dinner. I love not having to drive while on vacation!

The kids had a great time playing at the pool (it was a little too cold for my taste, but kids are crazy and will swim in anything). The hotel had some very nice fire pits at all of the pools, which were good for warming up after a swim, and for roasting some marshmallows to make s'mores one evening!

Joel and I love being at the beach, and could spend all day there (well, until we start to get a bit thirsty). The kids chased the waves and played in the sand while Joel and I tossed the football around for awhile.

One afternoon, we decided to rent one of those 4 passenger bikes to cruise up and down the boardwalk. Even Joel agreed that pedaling that thing was a seriously good workout, and that's really saying something coming from a super-biker like him. Between that and an absolutely perfect 10k I ran along the beach on Saturday morning, we managed to burn off some of the calories we ate and drank!

I had purchased some groupons for a whale watching tour, and we all enjoyed the boat ride. But unfortunately, we weren't lucky enough to see any whales. Lots of pelicans and a couple of sea lions, but no whales. Bummer...

It was very nice to get out of town for a few days and have a much-needed and well-deserved break from school, work, and the everyday pace of life. I really love those days when the hardest decisions to make are beach or pool, beer or wine, tacos or burgers... That's the life!

Kiss Me I'm Irish 17k

The weekend after Joel's race, I had a little fun run of my own. I had signed up for the Kiss Me I'm Irish 17k out at Westgate in Glendale with my friend Colleen.

For some reason, going into this race, I had a hard time taking it seriously. I think since it wasn't an actual half marathon, I wasn't giving it the respect I should have. But it was still over 10.5 miles, so I probably should have treated it more like a real race. (By this, I mean I shouldn't have stayed up late the night before drinking cosmos and eating BLTs for dinner at Skunk Creek Flats.) My lack of respect definitely made the first 3-4 miles painful. But I warmed up and got into my running bliss zone and really enjoyed the last 6 miles a lot.

The course was very nice, and the event was well run and organized. Joel and the kids came out to cheer me on, and Colleen's husband and kids came out to the finish as well. The very best part of all, of course, was our adorable St. Patrick's Day-themed running outfits. How insanely cute are those socks?? (Please ignore the fact that Colleen is glowing while I'm sweating like a sow.)

The run really was a lot of fun, and I'm excited for the next one. Unfortunately, I don't have another race on the schedule yet. I need to find one soon!

Desert Classic Duathlon

Last weekend, Joel completed his first duathlon out at McDowell Mountain Park, and I had the exciting opportunity to watch the race! Joel was expecting to finish in around three hours, so I brought a chair and a book and planned to spend the morning relaxing in the desert. Well, I had so much fun watching all of the action unfold, I never even cracked my book!

The race was a 3.65 mile trail run, followed by a 19 mile mountain bike ride, and then another 3.75 mile trail run. The athletes lined up at the start line and were released in waves. There were two waves of professionals (one male, one female), followed by four additional waves (two male, then two female). Each wave started about 2 minutes apart, and the pro men were finishing their first leg of the race before the last wave even started! The pros were just amazing to watch. They were so fast and efficient, and they all had some seriously chiseled bodies! I felt a bit like a walrus watching these athletes. 

At first, I was a little hesitant to try this race. It's a very small field, and I always worry about coming in dead last at races. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...I just don't want to be worrying about getting swept by the sag wagon.) But I think I was sufficiently excited and enthused just watching that I know I'll have to give it a shot next year! How can running and riding through the beautiful spring desert be anything but fun?

 Waiting at the starting line...

 The pro women fly across the starting line.

 

 When the pro men came off their first run and transitioned to their bikes, they ran along their bikes and then took a flying leap into the saddle, fitting their feet into their biking shoes as they pedaled along.

 I have serious leg envy.

 Here goes Joel off on his mountain biking leg!

 See above re: leg envy. She was the first woman and seemed to be well ahead of her closest competitors at each transition.

 Heading out on the last run... he was feeling pretty worn out by this point.

 Less than 4 miles to go... see you at the finish line!

Done!!!

Proper Manners

I know I’m late to the party, but just this week I started watching Downton Abbey. I’m only one episode into the first season, and even though I’m watching it on my tiny little iphone screen, I’m already hooked on the show! In case you’ve been hiding out on a deserted island for the last few weeks and haven’t heard all of the buzz, Downton Abbey is a British period drama set on the estate of an aristocratic family during the years leading up to the First World War. The show explores the drama of the family as well as the estate’s staff. In the first episode, we were introduced to Mr. Bates, and I think he may already be my favorite character.

He is the valet (which I’ve been saying wrong all these years…it rhymes with mallet) to Lord Grantham. Mr. Bates was wounded in the Boer War and stoically suffers with a lame leg, but Lord Grantham is pleased to employ him anyway. (Who wouldn’t want Mr. Bates serving them daily?) Certain staff members are put out by his disability and resentful of his connection to Lord Grantham, and will therefore do anything to get rid of him. Some have even gone so far as to physically knock him down in front of visiting dignitaries.

But Mr. Bates is proud and honorable and never repays malice in kind. Even when he has the opportunity to expose these staff members to save his own position, he does not. He is a proud and perfect gentleman!

Watching Mr. Bates has made me think, though. I do not conduct myself with those manners. Not in the least. If someone does something unjust to me, I waste no time in finding someone to tell all about it. I relish the telling, in fact! Sure, I’m a nice person. I can be very nice. I’m perfectly pleasant to strangers, and I behave very well with my friends. But I can have a serious attitude with people who are bugging me. Just yesterday I found myself shooting daggers when a coworker treated me in a way that I perceived to be unsatisfactory. If my kids looked at me like that, I’d send them to the corner. Mr. Bates wouldn’t behave like that.

So not only is Downton Abbey going to provide me countless hours of pleasure during my treadmill time, but it is going to help me with my manners. From now on, when I find myself getting irritated, I’m going to think WWBD? What would Bates do?

Paying My Dues In The Mountain Biking Club

I should be paid in full for at least a few years, I’m hoping.

On Sunday afternoon, I was trying to decide between taking a nap and going for a quick mountain bike ride. I reminded myself that I usually regret taking naps, because I can’t sleep very well that night, but I never regret a great workout. So I gathered my gear and hit the trail. I was about two and a half miles in and feeling really strong. I came through a wash crossing and started climbing up a hill that I’ve made it up before. (I’ve also failed to make it up the hill before many times, but I’ve always been able to get off the bike easily enough and walk it to the top.)

Well something went wrong this time, and despite reliving the moment in the slow-motion instant replay of my mind dozens of times since, I can’t quite put my finger on the exact thing that went wrong this time. I started to lose my momentum about ¾ of the way out of the climb. As I tried to get one more revolution out of my pedals though, I lost my balance and toppled over to the left. Luckily, there was a nice cholla cactus to break my fall. If that had been all that happened, I would have dusted off, got back on my bike, and finished the last five miles of my ride. Unfortunately though, as I went down, my right leg fell onto the large front chain wheel.

You know…the big round thing with lots of pokey spikes all around it? Yeah, it pretty much drilled into my leg, right below the knee. I caught one brief glimpse of the torn flesh and exposed fat and knew I’d need stitches. Luckily, it wasn’t bleeding too fast, and it wasn’t on a part of my body where I had to look at it very much. I was able to avert my eyes, stay calm, assess my situation, and then call Joel. I always ride with my phone, and I was so thankful that Joel was in an area of the house where he actually heard his ring. I told him I’d wrecked and I was hurt pretty bad and would probably need to get stitches. I asked him if he’d drive to the trailhead to meet me in a few minutes. Once I knew he was on his way to save me, that helped me relax a bit. But I knew I still had a two mile ride to meet him. So I removed the larger chunks of cholla, picked up my bike, and got back in the saddle. Thank goodness it was a downhill ride back! I had a couple of spots to pedal through, but for the majority of the ride I was able to coast, which was way easier than walking would have been.

As I rode up to Joel, I’m sure he was thinking I was a big wuss, since my wound was on the back of my leg and he couldn’t see it. But as soon as I passed him and he saw it, I could hear him groan. He said “I’m going to have to take you to the hospital. You know that, right?” Yeah, I knew it.

So we loaded up the kids, called my dad, and I started searching on my phone to make sure the hospital we were headed to accepted our insurance. Joel was very calming, and I have to say, I was very brave. I was chatting with the PA while she was taking my medical history. When I told her I only had one kidney, she asked if I had any restrictions because of the donation. Joel told her I only had to avoid activities that might damage my remaining kidney. She kind of raised one eyebrow and asked “You mean, like mountain biking?” Well, to be perfectly fair, I only damaged my leg. My kidney was perfectly safe. And it would be at a much greater risk of damage from diabetes. So I told her I was really doing it a favor!

She took great care of me and had me fixed up in no time. It’s still pretty sore, but I think it is getting better. It is only really painful when I straighten my leg and the tension stretches the skin around my stitches. The worst part is that I’m basically restricted from any cardio for the next 10 days or so. And this sucks big time. I really feel like I was on the way to busting through a new plateau with my running, and now I feel like I’ll be starting way back at square one. I know I’ll bounce back quicker than I’m dreading, but it is so disappointing to think about losing the fitness that I worked SO damn hard to gain.

As you can see though, it gets a little bit better each day. Hopefully I’ll be back in the saddle in no time!

Disney Pin Display Board

My mom is the crafty one in the family, and the tacky glue gene seems to have skipped right over me. Whenever I need something, she's my go-to gal to get it sewed, assembled, crafted, or what have you. But I managed to put together this little display board on my own. I'm tempted to take it over to my mom's house so she can fix it to look a little nicer, but I'm happy enough with it right now. It's better than hiding my pins away in my jewelry box, like I've been doing for the past few years!

I started collecting Disney pins about 5 years ago, and I pick one out each time we go to the park. I've also been given some adorable pins by friends and family members when they return from Disneyland.

I think they are the perfect souvenir and collectable. They are small, easy to store, inexpensive, and able to capture personality traits and interests in one tiny deocration.

I started collecting Pirates-themed pins when Elliot started kindergarten. (The kids' school mascot is the Pirates.)

I picked out the Grumpy Xtra Stout pin when I started drinking beer.

I got the Mickey Jedi pin when the kids each did the Jedi Training Academy last summer.

Other pins in my collection feature assorted favorite characters or elements of the parks. Chip and Dale were my favorite characters as a kid, and I love the vintage Disney stuff too!

I even started picking out pins for the kids on our trips, trying to get ones that capture what their interests were at that particular time. I said I'd give them their pins when they got a little older, but I fear it will be difficult to surrender them!

Now we are just 43 days away from our next Disneyland trip (according to the kids' countdown calendars), and I can't wait to see what sort of pin I pick to represent this visit. And now I have a cool place to display it!

I Need Some Motivation!

I'm in a bit of a slump right now and just having trouble mustering my desire and pouring it into my workouts. It's not that I don't want to exercise...it's more that I'm feeling some burn-out. I'm eager to branch out and try some new things, but until I get through my next race, I feel like I need to commit the majority of my time to running.

So I'm injecting my afternoon with some motivational pictures. After postponing this morning's run until after work (because, let's face it...it's much easier to leave work to go for a run than it is to leave bed) I'm doing some mental warm-ups to get me in the right frame of mind for a good afternoon workout.

These are some of my favorite motivational pictures from around the interwebs. Hopefully there is enough running propaganda in here to get my legs moving!