A Look Into My World

Too many thoughts are on my mind - too many thoughts so intertwined . .

Over 90° fahrenheit for 4 days in a row. It hasn't happened in this city for 25 years - it said so on the news - and the news is always right, right? People here don't have A/C - maybe Bill Gates does - and people who live in fancy neighborhoods. But even most of them likely don't. Why would you in a city that's usually between 45° and 65° F all year round? When it's been 92° outside, it's also 92° inside. You try to open the doors and windows early to let a breeze through and then close up the house to keep it cool. Inevitably, when you have 3 active children, the door opens and closes all day long and it gets hot inside. It's hard to sleep - even with a fan on. And then you still wake up all night long. It's crazy.

I haven't typed a blog in a week and my fingernails have grown so long it's hard to type.

I mentioned in a previous post that my birthday was last week. We drove down the hill to have a picnic at the beach the night before to celebrate. I even made BBQ ribs - yummy. The kids and I picked blackberries the next day and made a pie. It's still a little early for blackberries - they're more plentiful in August. The kids were very diligent, though, and found some berries up behind the house. Blackberries are like weeds here - they grow everywhere. I don't like cake a whole lot so pie was a great birthday dessert. I think the most favorite part of my birthday was coming home from the gym. I took my 8-yr-old with me and we walked up to the gym to run on the indoor track. When we got home, my 5 & 10 yr. olds had decorated the house with ribbons, balloons, and hand-drawn banners. They were so excited - it was really cute. My 10-yr-old even opened up itunes, found a song I had just purchased from itunes, and added it to my playlist (Collide, by Howie Day), and had it playing when we walked in the door.

I've been running at the gym a lot since it's been so hot, and since I haven't been sleeping well, it's hard to get up and outside early when it's not so hot. Last Wednesday I got inspired reading about DGC's treadmill PR. I headed up to the gym and did a 10k workout. I can't really call it that 'cause I took a break in the middle. I did the first 5k @ 7:30 pace. Then I walked for a minute. I did the next 5k starting @ 7:20 pace and evenly cut it down to just below 7 minute pace by the end. I was sooo excited. It helped tremendously that Peter Gabriel's 'Salsbury Hill' came on my ipod right at the end - I was getting pretty tired. I remember telling Joe a week or two ago that the good thing about a treadmill is that you can't cheat on a workout - it forces the pace.

The next day was my birthday when I had my 8-yr-old at the indoor track. I intended to run easy. The track is something like 20 laps to a mile. The laps go by so fast, and the track is banked, so it's kinda fun. But you almost can't help going fast - especially when other people are on the track 'cause it's like roadkill during a race. However, I was sore from the day before, so I was planning on taking it easy. I forgot I brought the rabbit with me. The rabbit's name is 'Sydney' - named after the 2000 Sydney Olympics when they announced the city as the site several years prior to 2000. We should've known then and there that the child would love sports. Anyhow . . . she'd stop @ the drinking fountain on the track - when she'd see me approaching, she'd get a big grin on her face and bolt around the corner, taunting me to chase her. I'd try to catch her 'til she'd tire, take a water break, and repeat the process. It was a great 3 mile fartlek workout. I took Friday off, and ran an early and easy 5 on Saturday. I took the kids to the lake for several hours Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because it was so hot. Sunday I had a 12 mile run scheduled. I headed out just before 5 am. The first 6 miles were great - I even got to see one of the cruise ships come into the bay and run through the sprinklers in the park. At 6 miles I suddenly got tired. I stopped to stretch and walked a bit. I ran a little more, then decided I'd had enough. I walked a half mile home, and ended my run at only 8 miles. I brought in the Sunday paper and went to sleep. I spent the next day and a half with nausea, a BAD headache and sensitivity to light. I'm not sure if it was a minor migraine or just too much heat and sun. It was no fun.

I was able to lift weights and run an easy 4 on the treadmill again last night and then we took the kids to the pool and my husband snuck in a few laps while we played. The 2 mountain bike duathlons he had scheduled this summer were both canceled, so now I think he's training for a triathlon instead. I think I'm jealous. But truly I have more running goals that I need to meet before a tri. I just really want to swim more and I have a hard time with it. I think I need a coach. Maybe after our vacation next month.

After all this time on the treadmill, I've become fascinated by it as a tool for training. I've run on treadmills before - in fact my college degree is in exercise physiology and I'm a certified athletic trainer - just not doing anything with that knowledge to earn money right now. (It sure comes in handy sometimes for training, though.) But other than the fact that the treadmill has umpteen hundred functions and settings for use - I'm noticing other stuff. I never expected to have it help me with pacing - and I do much faster workouts than when I'm on the track or the road. I have the perfect opportunity to practice my chi running when I'm running in one place. (If you ever see the book, it's a great read.) I can stare at myself in the mirror and watch my form. When I set the treadmill on the lap program, I can focus on something different every lap - stride, posture, footstrike, etc - it makes it go by pretty fast. I never think about that stuff when I'm on the road. I don't think I'd survive if I didn't have my ipod, though. It amazes me the amount of multi-tasking that goes on there - running without falling off, listening to my ipod, watching the tv up ahead of me while still not falling off, reading the closed-caption while I'm watching the tv, and then focusing on my form and my pace and gawking at all the other people around me on the other treadmills as I stare into the mirror. It's really fascinating.

More life at my house . . . the Tour is over - great year . . . the Mesa Falls marathon has an updated website - I'm getting excited for it just reading the course description. I've enjoyed looking at the badwater webcast - thanks to Angie's link the other day - another year in the books. The temperature finally cooled off today - to 85°. Trail passes to Mt. St. Helens are a hot commodity. I just finished a challenging read - really made me think about society in a different way. And while I'm doling out trivial details - for dinner tonight . . . chicken breast cooked in minced garlic and olive oil, tilapia - marinated and pan fried in lime juice, garlic, salt, cilantro, and sugar, boiled purple cabbage, and gluten free spinach-rice pasta tossed with finely shredded sheep's milk cheese. Bon appetite!