Thank You Mrs. Roosevelt

The LA Rock'N'Roll Half Marathon is this Sunday.  As is the case with most races you have to pick up your bib at the expo a day or two before the race.  The problem is this race is in LA.  And so is the Expo.....downtown LA to be specific, at the Convention Center. 

I've never been there before. 

I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how, and when I was going to get there.  I have tickets for the matinee performance of "Riverdance" so my time is limited Saturday. 
Several of my running buddies planned on riding the Amtrak or MetroLink, or some other form of public transportation to the convention center on Saturday, but I'm afraid to do that due to my time constraints.

What I really wanted to do was go to the expo on Friday.  I had decided I was going to leave work early and drive on over there.  But as usual things don't always work out like we plan.  Turned out I needed to stay at the office until 5. 

The problem is I'm so afraid to drive to LA after work.....alone.  Afraid that I will be there in the dark.....alone.  Afraid that I will be driving around aimlessly trying to find the place.....alone....in the dark and dangerous big city.

I really can be a wuss.  And once I get something in my head it can kind of take over my ability to reason.  And I am a little bit of a control freak.  And this feels very much out of my control.

I had decided that I would just have to go Saturday morning because I was just too darn afraid to go Friday evening.  But that causes me stress too because it could conflict with my theater plans.  What to do, What to do.....

Finally, after much angst and inner battle I came to the decision that I needed to put my big girl panties on and go.  I mean come on, would they really keep the expo open until 7pm Friday night if it were that dangerous?  And really, I've printed maps, directions, I have gps on my iphone, and I have a Garmin in the car.....how lost could I possibly get?

So I did it.

And have lived to tell it.

It was fine.  I found the convention center very easily, right off the freeway, and parking was a breeze (although....as I was driving to the parking structure I did hear a rabid pit bull or rottweiler barking incessantly but I never did actual see it).

When I walked into the building I was sorry I didn't have more time to explore.  I would have liked to check out the architecture, was wishing it was still daylight outside so I could see the exterior.

I got my bib, technical tee shirt, and swag, felt so safe and comfy I even toured the expo.  Even bought some stuff!  A new water belt that feels so comfortable.

And:

I just had to have this....love it!

I stayed until they turned the lights down at 7 sharp.  Found my car right where I had left it in the structure right away.  Only missed one or two turns on my way to the freeway to go home (thank you Garmin).  Was a little freaked out because at one point I'm driving next to a train or metrolink and that was a little disorienting for me.....and there's this weird yellow light that flashes "train, train" in the left turn lane which seemed distracting to me......but I resisted the urge to turn left into the train.

I'm so glad I overcame my fear and went.  Driving to LA I thought of a quote by Eleanore Roosevelt "You must do the thing you think you cannot do".

The entire quote is:  “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living

I'm glad I bite the bullet and did this.

Thing #22, drove to LA Convention Center, alone, knowing it was going to be dark soon.

FUZIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running Buddy Alicia and I arrived in wine country early this evening, in preparation for the Napa to Sonoma half marathon on Sunday. 

Driving up we talked about our favorite place to eat in San Francisco, Fuzio.  We discovered it with Helen C and Pam in 2009 while in town for the San Francisco half, and have joked about flying up sometime just to eat at Fuzio and then go to Ghirardelli Square for Kara's Cupcakes.

And then I had an epiphany.....why not drive over to SF and eat there for dinner?  Well I can think of several reasons why not.  #1 I've never driven the streets of San Fran.  #2 I'm afraid to drive the streets of San Fran.  #3 I don't want to drive the streets of San Fran.  #4 San Fran has A LOT of one way streets.  #5 How am I ever going to get parked in San Fran.  #6 it would require driving over the Bay Bridge and I don't want to do that either.

But the food at Fuzio is so good......

And I have committed to doing 51 new and possibly uncomfortable things this year.

And it is now July.

So.....

Dang I am lousy at the holding the phone and taking a picture of myself thing

Thing #9, Drove over the Bay Bridge, (was very, very, cool)

Thing #10 Drove the streets of San Francisco (was very intimidating, but we got through it with the help of my trusty Garmin and only had to go around the block like 2 times).

Amazing how doing the thing that really scares you can be so rewarding.....well and we did get to have a delicious dinner that we've talked about for 2 years now!  Lots of yums, mmmmmmmss, and this is soooo goods, were heard at our table.

We did not get cupcakes though, I am not brave enough to drive that deep into San Fran. besides, I think they have a location in Napa..... 

Tomorrow we pick up our race packets and do a little exploring....I think I'll count "explored Napa" as thing #11.

On The Rocks

I bought my refrigerator almost 12 years ago.  And the sucker is still going strong (knock on wood).  When I purchased it the store was having a sale....all fridges over a certain dollar amount qualified for a rebate on an ice maker.  Basically the ice maker was free....although I think I had to pay for it, and then receive a check in the mail...I don't really remember, since it was almost a dozen years ago, and frankly I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night so......

Anyway, when they delivered the fridge, they installed the ice maker, but couldn't hook it up, as my dwelling was not equipped for such modern technology.  I've since moved a couple of times...and the last couple of dwellings have been equipped, but alas I'd since lost the items necessary to complete the hook up.  So all these years every time you open the freezer you see the ice maker just sitting there with an empty bin under it, unable to produce ice.  All these years we've had to be very careful to keep the arm up so that the pump wouldn't burn itself up attempting make the glorious ice.  There have been a number of occasions when I've heard a strange noise and upon investigation have found that someone has been negligent and let the arm fall thereby forcing the pump to work itself into a frenzy.

All these years we have filled ice trays, emptied ice trays, bitched about ice trays being empty in the freezer, spilled water putting trays in the freezer, pulled half frozen trays out of the freezer spilling the water on ourselves and the floor...well you get the picture.  We've been living a hard life.

A couple of months ago out of frustration at pulling yet another empty ice tray from the freezer Denny suggested we go to Home Depot and get the items needed to step into the world of luxury.  So off we go.  As we were standing in front of the display of tubing and connectors not knowing where to begin we were actually approached by a Home Depot employee...did we need help?  After I picked my jaw up off the floor we explained what our "project" was.  This guy knew exactly what we needed.  Not only did he lead us to all the necessary supplies, he gave us step by step instructions on what to do.  I must confess, I couldn't believe our luck.

Our treasure has been sitting on the counter ever since.  I hinted several times to Denny to go ahead and hook it up.  Of course I made the mistake of telling him before he did it to be sure to put something under the valve and run the water for awhile first cause god only knows how long that waters been sitting in that pipe.  That, I guess is where I made my mistake....I tried to "direct" how to do it.  Now he had an excuse (in his mind) to not do it.  We've filled, empty, spilled, and bitched about ice trays ever since.  

Sunday I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to do it myself.  Pulled the fridge out of it's cozy stall and wiggled my way behind it.  After my torturous hike Saturday morning, my right knee is a little sore, and feels alotta swollen inside.  The quarters were cramped.  I was afraid if I sat on the floor wedged in behind fridge I might get stuck in there, along with the dust bunnies.  Luckily I had absconded with my niece's little step stool a couple of months ago, and that was just what I needed.  She was visiting a few weeks ago and saw it in the corner and asked her mom "did you give Aunt Cece my step stool?"  (hahah, wanna arm wrestle for it shorty?).

Of course by now it's been quite sometime since the expert Home Depot guy gave us instruction.  What I have now are little bags of nut thingies, little brass tube like thingies, a filter, and several feet of tubing.  I can't possibly remember how all this was supposed to be used.  So, drag my butt out from behind fridge, fire up computer and google it.  I also didn't really know exactly where on the fridge the water tube was supposed to go.  And I kept thinking maybe I shouldn't even do this, cause lets face it, the fridge is getting old.  I was having a hard time ignoring that little superstitious voice that says as soon as I do the fridge will break.

The Internets is an amazing thing.  You can find the owner's manual of a 12 year old refrigerator.  Amazing.....unfortunately it didn't include any information regarding ice maker.   But I did find a site where some guy posted a question about how to hook his up.  After getting past the rude comments like "times are tough, fill up the trays", I did find some helpful comments.  So back to behind the beast.  Drain the old stale water from the pipe, hook this to that, and that to this, check for leaks, wipe up water.  Tighten everything.  Wipe up water....tighten....Check for leaks..........

And now wait.

And wonder. 

Did we burn out the motor at some point in these last 12 years?

Will it work?

Take a nap.



I present:

Now That's a beautiful sight!

I'm keeping the fridge out of it's little cozy about 8 inches for awhile.  I want to be sure we don't get any leaks.  But so far so good. 

Thing #8, hooked up an ice maker to the water source.



I'll take mine on the rocks please.



What is that noise?

This morning our group met up with another running group.  A third group consisting of boot campers joined us also.  There were more than 40 runners total.

The plan was to run an 8 mile trail run.  Many of us had never ran these trails (myself included, thing #7 completed).  Someone familiar with the trail was to run ahead and mark it.  I was a little concerned because I am a slower running.  Was concerned that I would be the last person back, and would be running alone.  Luckily Missy came just as we were starting out so I knew I'd have a buddy to run with. 

Missy was literally putting on her watch and situating her bandanna as we started out running.  During the first quarter mile she mentioned she didn't think she was going to like this run.  A little too remote for her....too much nature....said she doesn't like creepy, crawly things....said she doesn't even like to see a lizard.  I thought this was hilarious....maybe we'll see a snake ;)

The trail is tough, much of the beginning was up hill, so steep that we had to walk.  On several occasions I heard Missy mutter "f*ck".  I hate to admit it, but I think the fact that she was hating this run so much made it easier for me.  After about 2-3 miles we started feeling a little less tortured like maybe we'd be able to complete this run.  At one point a man was running in the opposite direction.  After he passed Missy asks "Did you see that?"  I said "I think I did....what did you see?"  She said "He had a prosthetic leg", "Yeah, that's what I thought I saw too".   A couple seconds later she says "God Dammit"  (I am lovin this run!)  She says "That's a sign from God".  Personally, I saw a man with a prosthetic leg (just sayin), although we were inspired to put forth a little more effort after that....well for a little while at least.

We kept following the orange arrows painted on the trail by the fearless leader.  Eventually those arrows lead us down some very steep terrain.  At least we were going down right?  And we kept going down, and down, so steep, had to carefully walk down, afraid of falling on my ass.  And still we kept going down, and down.  Eventually it flattened out a little, faithful orange arrow pointed to go around a fallen tree on the path, and then under another fallen tree, Missy muttered...I think that was poison oak.  I looked around but didn't see anything there. 

We heard voices up ahead....I think we are around mile 4, finally we see the people we were hearing...they are part of our group.  They are saying we've come the wrong way.  There is talk of poison oak, seems Missy was right, when we went around and under those trees there was poison oak there.  Did I touch it?  Did it touch me?  Dang, I don't know.  Julie says do not touch your skin, pour water on it to rinse it.  I am torn between wasting what little water I have left on the slim chance that I did come in contact with the dreaded plant, or saving it to stave off dehydration (now who's the drama queen).

We wait and soon pack leaders come up from the right, yep, they hit a dead end.  Fearless Leader took a wrong turn a ways back and we've been going the wrong way for awhile.  Quite awhile.  We have to turn back the way we've come.  Back under the tree and around the other tree, this time being super cautious not to let any vegetation touch me.  And then it hits me....oh no....all that ridiculously steep downhill that we just traversed....are we going to have to go back up it?  Yep.  I tried to keep myself from thinking about how long we went downhill.  The thought was so overwhelming I'd be tempted to just sit down on the trail and give up.

Several times I had to stop and catch my breath and allow my heart beat to slow down.  Last thing I wanna do is have a stroke out here and have to be airlifted outta there.  One of the boot camp ladies was having a tough time of it.  Nina, Missy, and myself stuck with her, keeping her motivated to keep moving, don't give up, we can do this.  (I'm actually very surprised that the boot camp leader wasn't there making sure all her ladies made it out ok, but that's just my opinion). 

Finally we climbed up outta there and came to a fork in the trail, found a new orange arrow, boot camper Angela looked at me and said "I'm just gonna head to the car now".  Huh?  How do you know where the car is?  She thought the trail not marked with the orange arrow was the path back to the parking lot.  I had no idea, she could very well be right....heck if it were, I'd go back to the car too.  But I am at the mercy of the orange arrows.  Nothing looks familiar to me.  I have no idea how to get back to the car.  I'm not willing to veer from the orange arrows.  I convinced her to keep going.  Unlike with Missy, I was not enjoying the discomfort Angela was experiencing.

As we rounded a corner, I kept hearing a sound....what kind of animal is that?  Sounded like it was coming from the ravine to the left.  Dang, it is loud.  Is is a bull frog? Some kind of bird?  Dang it is sooo loud.  Pterodactyl?  Round another corner, and we see it....Ooooohhhhh......a house on the hill....with half a roof.  Imagine the sound of pulling nails out of wood.  Very, very large nails, from very very large wood, the kind a giant would have.  That's what the sound reminded me of (after seeing the half a roof).  But maybe it was the sound of a pump or something....at least it wasn't a warthog. 

Finally we found the last of the group waiting for us at a bridge.  They gave us the option of taking the short 2.5 mile trail back to the cars or we could do the 5 mile trail.  Missy said she wanted to do the 5 miler, but since we all wanted to do 2 she would sacrifice and just run the 2 miles back. 

Missy and I were so excited to be so close to the cars we practically ran the whole way back...well except for the uphill parts.

We all celebrated being back from our little adventure.  Pictures were taken, stories were told.  Missy asked if I had heard that wildebeast in the ravine (dang, I'm so sorry I missed seeing her face when she heard that!).  Travis did impressions of John (we all so miss John, hurry back from vacation man!).  Margaret made it back safely, with her sense of direction (or lack of) she must have gotten in the middle of the pack and stayed there for dear life.

Driving home I kept thinking, dang I think I'm itching....I should have doused myself with the water.

Thing #7, ran through Powder Canyon, not knowing which way to go, following orange arrows along the way.

Tamara's 25th and Things 5 and 6

Last night we celebrated Tamara's 25th birthday.....Quarter of a Century Baby!  and I managed to complete things 5 and 6.  Thing 5 was attend a teppanyaki dinner show.  I know, I don't know how I managed to live this long and not do it before, but it's true.

I've said that my 51 things do not need to take me out of my comfort zone, but if they do, all the better.  This was mildly uncomfortable.  Sometimes it's hard to go to a place that you've never been, knowing that you are going to experience something so new to you (sounds a little lame when I type it out like that, but for me it is true).  I experienced a little angst in deciding what to eat.  Dang I've been to new restaurants before and it's been no big deal, but this really seemed like it was going to feel so foreign to me.  As usual the anxiety was all for naught.  Food was great, had miso soup for the first time....geeze, I really have lead a sheltered life!  So thing #5 is, saw a teppanyaki dinner show.

Ahhhh, but what about thing #6?  As you know I am vehemently opposed to double dipping.  Trying miso soup for the first time at a teppan restaurant would be double dipping......catching a little bit of rice in my mouth thrown by the chef would be double dipping....assuming I had actually caught the rice, but after 3 trys the guy gave up.  Now eating eel....well that's just so far out there for me I'm counting that as thing #6 despite being at a sushi joint!  I would have never ever in my wildest dreams think I'd eat eel.  The only reason I did was because my little niece Tami was sitting next to me and she was eating it!  When I asked what she had she asked if I'd like to try it.  "No, that's ok, thanks anyway" I told her.  Tamara and Kristal over heard me.....and said "Do it!, it would be thing number 6!", and proceeded to chant "six, six, six, six".  So I did it.  I'll do practically anything with enough encouragement.....well maybe not anything.....

Things # 5 and 6 done, 45 to go.

Happy Quarter Century to Tamara!

Sacrificial Lambs and Abandonment Issues

There are occasions on our runs when someone has to be the sacrificial lamb.  When I first started running, 5 or OMG 6 years ago (has it really been that long?), when training with Julie Payne (pronounced P-A-I-N there's a reason that was her last name) she would at times pick one person to "help" that run.  That was the person we considered the sacrificial lamb.  If she picked someone to torture, we knew we were pretty much in the clear, could maybe sneak in an extra walk and possibly slack a little....as long as she didn't glance back and catch you.....and if she did, then watch out, cause you then risk becoming the lamb.

We are no longer in a formal training class, we just run with a group of friends, but recently on our last two runs I have been that sacrificial lamb.  On Saturday Missy decided she wants to partake of the 1/1.  So Helen C., Alicia, and I start running with her.  Problem is Missy (over achiever that she is) has a time goal.  Starting out Alicia was the lamb, while Helen C. and I ran behind them....at one point Alicia looked longingly back at us (I must admit that I was kinda laughing inside).  Later in the run Helen C became the lamb.

At some point I ended up the lamb.  I don't know how it happened....and I think Helen and Alicia had planned it (next time I will be more careful).  At mile 4 ish they shout out (cause of course they are behind us since Missy is pushing me to run faster than my comfort zone) "We are going to turn around now...we don't want to do 10 miles".....what...WTF?  are you two really abandoning me?

I did manage to complete the 10 miles, but by the time we got back Helen & Alicia were long gone, thanks biatches gals.

Fast forward to tonight, Margaret has decided to run with us.....uhm...yeah....Margaret is a kick ass runner....damn....how are we going to slack now?  I am struggling in the beginning, breathing ridiculously hard and feeling like crap for the first mile or so (as usual).  Missy and Margaret are in the front (whoo hoo, we found our sacrificial lamb (Missy)).  True to form, I am complaining about how difficult it is for me. 

Margaret keeps looking back.....

While she is a serious kick ass runner, Margaret is one of the most geographically challenged people that I know .  She can get lost running in the park.  We tried to convince her to stick with the fast runners (whom we consider "elite"), but no...she is determined to run with us slackers, claiming that she does not know the route,  (secretly I'm thinking Julie P, has commissioned her to push us).   We managed to get separated from Missy and Margaret at an intersection (yeah baby!).  Missy kept running.....but wait, Margaret is waiting for us on the other side.  Crap.  I was planning on walking once we got to the other side.... or at the very least reducing the run time and increasing the walk time, but with her waiting, I'm ashamed to slack like the lazy bum I am.

Uhg, light turns green, us slackers run across, and Margaret waits for us to catch up and then starts running.  Again Helen and Alicia hold back.....  I end up the sacrificial lamb........yet again.

I finished the run with Margaret, and ultimately Helen and Alicia weren't too far behind.  But Margaret did push me out of my comfort zone, just like Missy did on Saturday.  Looking back on it...it's not such a bad thing to push the comfort zone.

Makes me think of a T.S. Eliot quote:  Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

Baaaaa