Six Days, Six Nights, the Sling and Sydney

As a get away for my birthday we decided to head to Sydney for a whirlwind week of sight seeing.  Day 1 we arrived after our 14 hour flight at 6am Australia time.

Luckily the hotel - the Shangri-La La La (okay I added the last two La's) let us check in early where we proceeded to sleep off some of our jet lag. 

The view from our hotel was pretty spectacular - it was a straight shot of the Opera House and the Circular Quay (pronounced Key, who knew?).

We ventured out into The Rocks which is where our hotel was located.  The Rocks is a cool Sydney neighborhood established during the early colonial days in the late 1700s, it was known for attracting sailors and the nefarious businesses that cater to sailors. 

They've done a great job of renovating some of the old sandstone buildings. Sydney is a city where old and new seem to be fused together.  Instead of tearing down a building they'll just build a skyscraper behind it, or next to it, or on top of it. Which made for some great photos - which I need to cull out of the 500 photos I took. 

But I digress. So our first day we walked for a few hours around the neighborhood - stopping at a local pub to have a tastey Tooeys (see left photo inset) and fish and chips.  I took a ton of pictures, got the most beautiful flower arrangement, accompanied by the best gift of all - a surprise video of my San Diego friends sending birthday wishes my way. 

It was most definitely the best birthday I've ever had, spent with the best husband I've ever had. 

Watch Out for that Tree!

As a long distance runner you're always prepared for the inevitable injury that pounding the pavement for hours at a time can bring.  Plantar Fasciitis, shin splints, giant blisters, lost toenails, aching knees.  Luckily for me over the years a few blisters and a sore lower back have been my only running related injuries.  Although I have tripped a couple of times and scraped my knees, my injuries have never been anything that a little neosporin and few ibuprofen couldn't heal.

So with only 2 weeks left until my 5th marathon I was totally unprepared for a non-running related injury. 

I got my motorcycle license a year ago and although I passed the safety class I still don't feel comfortable on a bike.  So when a friend offered me to ride his son's 80cc dirt bike on some dirt roads with no traffic I thought it would be a good "safe" place to practice.  I was wrong, I hit a tree, I broke my clavicle. 

Luckily that was all I hurt.  After being thrown to the ground I was thinking three things:  s**t,  I just broke something and I won't be running the marathon on June 6.

It's hard not think that with one wrong turn I just wasted 6 months training for nothing. But I'm trying to remember that I had some great runs, ran faster than I ever have before and recovered faster. I know that 8 weeks in a sling means starting over, but I can't wait.  Hopefully I'll be more appreciative of every run, I'll be better prepared to achieve my goal, and most of all I'll be watching out for those trees. 

20 Days - 20 Miles!

Saturday was our longest training run before the big day - 20 miles around Mission Bay.  I felt good for most of the run until mile 18, I started slowing down and feeling every painful step.  2 more miles seemed like a lifetime. 

Luckily my running pal sensed me going to the dark side and started telling me why mile 18 was the best of all.  The fresh air, the yellow flowers, the cool breeze, he told me to listen for the cheering fans and the big band waiting at the finish. 

It worked, I picked up the pace and felt like I could actually make it to the end.  As we ran towards the finish I thought could actually hear the fans cheering, and to my astonishment I could.  The people who had finished the run earlier were waiting at the end, cheering us on, they put their arms up and we ran under through the ribbon "finish line".  The best part - they had a cooler with otter pops!  Best otter pop I ever ate. 

After 4 marathons I feel the most prepared for this one, I know it won't be easy but if I can pick up the pace at the end I may make my 5 hour goal, and while I won't have time to stop and smell the flowers just thinking of them will make me smile.

23 Days! There are no limits

If you've never listened to WNYC's Radio Lab you're seriously missing out.  I actually enjoy my daily commute on the days when I have a new podcast to listen to. 

It seemed that the last podcast was produced just for me - it was all about pushing yourself to your limit and how much the body and brain can endure. 

As I prepare for my 20 mile "training" run this Saturday, 21 days before the marathon, I'm inspired by Julie Moss collapsing and then crawling the final yards to finish her first triatholon and the cyclists who bike across the country as fast as they can.  I'll be doing my best to trick the voice in my head that tells me I'm exhausted and keep pushing on.

30 Days - Like Waves Crashin' on the Beach

People ask me how I can run long distances, my standard answer is "you put one foot in front of the other".  I have a difficult time explaining that the long distance runs are the easy ones.  The half marathons that you've paid $80 for, told all of your friends your going to do, thought about and trained for months, those are not so hard.  It's all the runs in between that are hard. 

Last night as I headed out for my run after work my iPod died.  It took everything in me not to get in my car and drive home.  I was hungry, I was tired, and more importantly the only person who would have noticed that I didn't run was me.  But when you start thinking "I can skip this run", then you start thinking you can skip every run.  And pretty soon you're sitting on the couch watching back to back Real World episodes until you've seen them all (not that I'm one to get sucked in by really bad reality tv, no, no, not me). 

And really I should clarify, once I'm running I love it.  It's motivating myself to take that first step that just plain sucks.  For me putting my shoes on takes way more effort than a 5 miler.  But once I'm out there, listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, in this beautiful place I'm so fortunate to live in it really is easy - I just put one foot in front of the other, and repeat.

41 Days - Hills, Big Hills

I didn't see this trio at my race today - in fact I know this will sound odd, but I didn't see anyone running in a red one piece bathing suit. 

LJ and I arrived at the La Jolla Half Marathon in time for the obligatory porta potty warm up.  This is where you stand in line for a 1/2 hour stretching and bouncing around trying to warm up while you wait with 6500 runners for one of 20 porta potties. 

After the national anthem the gun went off and the race was on.  It was definitely one of the most challenging races I've done, riddled with hills from start to finish, both big and small.  Thankfully I had run every part of the route, so I knew what to expect.  I knew that if I could just make it to the top of the hills a beautiful Pacific ocean view was always waiting for me on the other side.

I run most of my races alone, and I've gotten pretty good at keeping my mind occupied and using it as a way to push my body beyond what seems physically possible.  But today I never felt alone.  There were many people along the way that helped me get to the finish line and I'd like to thank just a few of them.  The 5 year old kid at the bottom of the Torrey Pines Hill yelling "come on guys, you got this, you can run that hill", the friendly woman in del mar who instead of sleeping in - stood in the alley making sure we didn't trip on the hidden speedbumps, the woman holding her 2009 triple crown medal telling us to remember why we were running, the SUPER hairy guy who inspired me to run faster to pass him because his sweat soaked pants were falling down, the two ladies ahead of me with the shirts that said "these shirts are filled with awesomeness", the paramedics and police helping the two people that had collapsed on the side of the road, and most of all - my friend LJ, she finished THE GIANT HILL ahead of me, and I could swear I felt the positive vibes she sent my way to help up the hill because all I could think of was "I bet she's already done with this freakin' hill, I want to be done with it too!"

41 short days until I'll be wishing I was running a few hills instead of running 26.2 miles - but I can't think of that right now, I'm just going to sit back, have a steak and a beer, and admire the trio of runners on my shiny new medal.

43 Days Left - No Dead Ends

I've found in running that there really is no such thing as a dead end.  Dead ends usually lead to a shortcut or even better a dirt trail and even better a dirt trail with a great view that's also a shortcut. 

The other day I was running my usual route up the hill towards La Jolla Cove and saw a fellow runner turn down a dead end road.  I figured he lived on that the street (lucky bastard), but as I finished my hill climb I saw him reappear up ahead of me.  All this time I was missing the most amazing trail that hugs the La Jolla coastline because I never thought to turn down that dead end road. 

Which leads me to why I'm even writing this post on what was my dead end blog.  A few weeks ago my friend Jenn invited me to attend the I Am Bossy's San Diego (No) Book Tour get-together.  The "what" you ask?  Yes, that's what I said too.  Jenn said "you have a blog, and you're funny (thanks Jenn!) and you should come with me".  "But I don't ever write in my blog" says I.  "Doesn't matter, lurkers are welcome" says J.  Jenn's enthusiasm was contagious - how could I not go? 

Basically it was a get together of a group of creative, smart, people (with sexy shoes) who have two things in common - they are bloggers and they love Bossy.

Maybe it was the margaritas, but it really energized and inspired me.  Maybe, just maybe people will want to read the thoughts I feel compelled to get out of my head, and if they don't maybe I just want to write them down anyway.  So thank you Jacquie, Christina, Matthew, Debbie, Kelly, Melanie, and our wonderful hostess Jenn, of course my pal lurker Jenn for leading me down the trail with an amazing view down a road I thought was a dead end. (we'll just have to wait and see if it's a shortcut too). 

Next up - Katy and Jenn get ready to run the La Jolla Half Marathon on day 41!