R & R

Last week was scheduled to be my highest mileage week before starting the big taper for the Firetrails 50 mile race, which is in three weeks (eek). As I have mentioned before, things have been busy at work and it's been hard to fit any miles in at all, never mind a large amount of miles, so I was kind of looking forward to getting this week over with so I can start to return to a normal weekly mileage again.

However, I was also excited, because it would be my highest weekly mileage ever. It was going to be a 60 mile week.

But it wasn't in the cards. On Monday I started getting a cold, so I took the week easier than planned. I ran a 10 mile run on Tuesday in the city; it was a beautiful clear day. I got up on Thursday morning for a nice and early (and dark) 10 mile run before work, which I am really loving. It is really (really!) hard to get up any earlier than I already do, but man, the run in the dark and the silence, with the lack of cars, and being part of the early morning city activities (delivery, street cleaners, sleepless elderly folks out for their morning stroll) is really special.

On Friday I came straight home from work and got in my PJs and went to bed. I actually think I was asleep by about 9 o'clock. That is, after I drank about 248 liters of liquids! I tried it all; juice, tea, water, theraflu and soup. I was determined to get rid of this thing!

I got up Saturday and met up with Broski for a run in the Marin Headlands. There was a 50k we were going to run, but Broski works in the wine industry and they are in the middle of harvest, so we couldn't take that long of a run. The forecast called for rain around 8 am, but it was supposed to move through really fast so we figured it wouldn't matter if we got a little wet. We started around 6:30 and it was kind of misty/foggy for the first half an hour and then it just started pouring! It rained on us for roughly the next 3 hours (out of 4) and it was an interesting run to say the least. There were not a lot of great views but the rain also kept all the weekend hikers off the trails. We had them nearly all to ourselves. On this day, my cold was not too bad; and being in the woods made it easy to do a couple farmer's blows from time to time! I ended up running about 23 miles, which was longer than planned but the loop we took ended up being longer than we thought. We rewarded ourselves with a burrito before going our separate ways. I never say no to a burrito. Plus, isn't the saying, "starve a fever, feed a cold...a burrito"?

I got home, took a shower and got back into bed. It was kind of nice to finally have a relaxing weekend! I watched Midnight in Paris (which was a pretty good movie). I finished Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (which was entertaining) and started another book. I got some laundry done. I watched the first season of House of Lies. Yup, I watched a lot of TV, ate, drank and relaxed. It was great!

Sunday I slept in and was feeling much better, so I met up with some friends for brunch and a walk and then went for another run around the neighborhood. Ironically, after Saturday's rain, it was perfectly clear and warm on Sunday. However, my legs were pretty tired and my heart wasn't really into it, so I cut it a little shorter than I had planned.

I would like to say I reached my goal of 60 miles, but I didn't. Sometimes life just gets in the way! However, I did get in some good mileage and some good rest, as well as having a great weekend with good friends. Now, let's bring on the taper!

How was your week? Did you get everything done that you wanted to do?

Read More

Sick Leave

My plan this weekend was to drive to my parents and stay the night, since I had a race on Saturday morning in their area. Everything was fine until Thursday, when I felt horrible. I was achy and hot and cold and tired. Remember the yoga and weights I did? I thought maybe I was just sore from that. But it didn't get much better, so I decided to go up to my parent's house early, since I wasn't going to get anything done. Soooo...Road trip!

I arrived Thursday evening and got right on the cozy chair with my blanket. It's so nice having Mom around when you are sick, even if she doesn't do anything. Just her presence is enough. She used to feed me chicken noodle soup and orange juice when I was a kid, but this time I was so hungry! Remember I mentioned that? And the not being motivated feeling? Well, now you have it. I thought it was feed a fever, starve a cold, but I was confused; it's actually starve a fever, feed a cold, so I guess I had a cold? Whichever I had, I ate a TON of food!

There's this place on the drive up that started as a Farmer's Market type store that sold whatever fruit and veggies they had in season. Now they have all that, plus candy and tortillas and nuts and pickled things and dried things.  So I stopped and bought a few of each ($0.99/lb for brussels sprouts) and ate most of a two pound bag of dried apples on the drive. I also stopped for a Frappuccino. Once I got home at ate some coconut peanut brittle, a piece of Mexican bread (Pan Dulce) and then dinner. What the heck! I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I am usually not a fan of sweets. At all. Or bread. But these ones are red!

Pan Dulce -- This one is called a Concha

Friday was spent pretty much the same way and so I was wondering if I would feel well enough to run on Saturday. Luckily by Friday night my temperature was down and I decided to play it by ear the next day, but was leaning toward running the race. I know, I know, I need to take care of myself, but I was feeling fine Friday night and was banking on feeling even better the next day.

Saturday dawned bright and clear.

I felt good, so I decided to run. Race recap will be coming in a few days! 

What was your mom's go-to meal/drink for you when you were sick? Do you have a sweet tooth? Have you ever had Mexican bread?

Read More

Is Your Comforter Your Worst Enemy?

I admit to being a neat freak. Sometimes. It's strange. I like to have certain things in certain places. However, other things I am not as worried about. For instance, I am not really germophobic. Don't get me wrong, I wash my hands after I use the bathroom and I don't *usually* touch the doorknob afterwards, but otherwise, I am lax. I sometimes use the 3 second rule.

I recently talked about how I pretty much live in a hotel most of the time. This girl, with her comment about comforters on my post, reminded me about an article I read in Conde Nast a few years ago about the dirtiest places in a hotel. You may think it's the toilet, but you would be wrong.

They tested one 5 star hotel, one mid line hotel and one low end hotel. You would be surprised; the 5 star hotel was not necessarily cleaner than the low end hotel. Here are some of the worst offenders (germ wise).

The ice bucket.
The remote control.
The phone.
The door knob.
The alarm clock. 
The desk chair.
The comforter.

These items were covered in E. Coli (fecal borne) and other bacteria which causes yeast infections. While I can see why the desk chair may have fecal material on it (even though I don't like to picture it), I never really considered the comforter before reading this article. It makes sense though. How many hands, faces and butts have touched that comforter in between washes?

I suggest wet wiping the obvious ones - phone, remote, clock and door handle and taking the comforter off the bed all together or at least folding it down so it doesn't touch your face while you sleep.  If the chair is fabric, put a towel down. I wouldn't even use the ice bucket. And above all, wash your hands.

Okay, now that I have grossed you out, let me add this. They say that even after these findings, the average hotel room is CLEANER than most people's houses and definitely more sanitary than flying, since you are confined in a limited amount of air space with so many people.

Just some food for thought.


Are you a neat freak? Are you a germaphobe? How often do you clean your bathroom? Do you ever stay in hotels? Do you wipe anything down or do you just use it?

Read More

In Which I Discover an Allergy

I had the misfortune to discover an allergy late in life. 

I wrote this when I was in Uruguay a few years ago.

"We went to the beach one day and everything was fine. The next day we got up and were preparing to leave when I started to itch. I had peed in the dark in a bush the night before and thought maybe I had squatted in some poison oak or something, but soon a rash had spread all over my body. Next the rash kind of dissipated and in its place was just swollen redness. We went to the doctor who gave me cortisone and told me to stay out of the sun. Apparently I had used a lotion or soap which in addition to the sun had given me some sort of allergic reaction. Who knew! To the right is a photo of my misfortune." (original post here)

I had no idea why I had swelled up. I was devastated becuase the doctor told me to stay out of the sun. I love the outdoors. The last thing I needed was to have an allergy to the SUN! However, I tried my best to stay in the shade but was hopeful that that was not the issue.

Then about a year after that, I was in Pensacola lying on the beach, when something bit me on the foot. I looked down to see a fire ant dining away on my instep. I killed him with one fell swoop of my hand. About 5 minutes later my palms started to itch. I looked down and my hands were swelling up. My chest started to itch and I looked down and there it was again, the redness and swelling! 

I have never had an allergy to anything. Give me nuts, dairy and gluten! Give me poison oak and mosquitoes!  They don't faze me! I am invincible! Not only am I invincible, but I am unaware of what one should do upon discovering an allergy. So, Mr. Lovely drove me to Publix, where we proceeded to buy about 40 different kinds of anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy medicines. Mr. Lovely even bought Claritin (which I ended up giving away to someone with "that kind" of allergy). 

But the winner was Benedryl. I took two of those and a cold shower, fell asleep immediately (this is the downfall of Benedryl) and woke up non-swollen and a lot more comfortable. 

I have been bitten a few times since and I have swollen up pretty badly. But now? I know what to do when it comes. I carry Benedryl around with me in my wallet, just in case. I don't freak out like I did in Uruguay. I don't need an IV. And I am so happy that I am not allergic to the SUN!

Do you have any allergies? When did you discover them? Was it scary? What did you do? 

This post is part of Karen's Flashback Friday blog hop!  

You can see some other hops I may participate in HERE.

Read More

Belly: The Update

Well, in two days, we should be out of India and....NO DELHI BELLY!!! Yay! I am probably jinxing myself.

I actually wrote the above three days ago. Right after I wrote this, we went to lunch. About 6 hours later, I was having a very close relationship with the toilet.

I miss my mom. When I used to get sick as a child, she would settle me on the couch with an orange juice, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a blanket, a cold washcloth and the Star Wars trilogy. Three days ago I got sick around 7 o'clock and had to catch a train at 9 o'clock. It was hot and dusty and we had to take a rickshaw to the train station. I had to carry my 40 lb backpack and I was sweating and hoping I would not be sick, but at the same time, I was glad the rickshaw did not have any doors, just in case.

We had a 16 hour train ride, a 2 hour layover, another 6 hour train ride, 5 hours of sleep and then 13 more hours on a bus. I think that whole time I ate 12 crackers, 5 cookies and half a sprite. We finally arrived in Kathmandu yesterday and this morning I had my FIRST REAL MEAL. It was delicious. I even had coffee. Its the little things you really appreciate.

However, now, as I type this, Mr. Lovely is in bed with the same thing. Luckily he is in a place where he can stay in bed and not have to go ANYWHERE. We are planning on going trekking, but it can be pushed back a couple or a few days. I went today to get all the permits and pay the park fees, do laundry and get any last minute items we may need for our trek. Kathmandu is much cleaner than any of the India cities. I am glad. Very glad. I only hope the food is cleaner too.

Read More

Sicko

Whew! Well, I must have ate something bad, becuase I was pretty sick for a little while...Luckily, thanks to the F word and Mr L, I was put up in the Lima Sheraton for a few days, which allowed me to get better in style.

Then I met up with Chris and we headed up to Trujillo, which is the jumping off point for the ruins of Chan Chan. Chan Chan is an all adobe city, which is reputed to be the biggest adobe pre-Columbian city in the Americas. It was partly pile of dirt, partly cool old fortress.

Next we headed to Ecuador, where we are now. First stop, the city of Cuenca, where they make Panama Hats (go figure, Panama Hats are NOT from Panama). We went to a National Park and did some hiking, it rained on us a bit, and we sampled the local fare (really good buns!!) Then we took the bus to Baños, where we are now. Baños is the city of hot springs and massages, so we went to the hot springs (it was closed) and then got a massage (only 17 dollars - Ecuador uses dollars so it really seems like my money is going faster...is that weird).

Next is the city of Quito, where we will visit the ecuator and then head north to Columbia. Our trip (feels like it) is nearing the end....we only have a little over a month left!!! It will be strange to be back in the States, doing NORMAL stuff again...will I be able to handle it!!?? We shall see.....

Read More