Long run sorrows on tax day

View from my run today

Today turned out to be a pretty sucky day. I accidentally slept in late and didn't get started on my 16 mile run till 11:30, luckily it was cloudy and still cool outside.  This is the longest I have ever attempted and I was SO excited to do it now that I own a beautiful Garmin forerunner 110! Unfortunately my knees, which never bother me started to KILL me around mile 11, also I could feel that terrible blisters had formed between my big and second toe and it really hurt.  Finally I couldn't take it anymore and started walking at mile 14. Not sure if that was a good choice because then I chose to walk the last 2 miles home barefoot since my blisters hurt so bad! Hopefully my 18 mile run next Sunday won't be as painful!

I did some damage at the roadrunner online store

I am in love with my new Garmin

 
Of course when I got home I remembered that taxes were due today and I had forgotten to mail in my check, so I quickly got that together and made it to the post office at 4:45. Just cutting it a little close...geez.  Running up and down stairs is not exactly my ideal post long run activity. I prefer my usual ice bath. After the post office though I was able to foam roll and ice my knees and now I feel much much better.

The good part of today though is that I am exactly 1 week away from starting training with my new job at Virgin America! I am beyond excited! I'm going to be living with another girl going to training in San Francisco. I can't wait to start this new chapter in my life!

Unemployed no more!

I apologize for the delay in my good news, but on Monday I was offered a job with a great airline as a flight attendant!!! I couldn't be more excited for this great opportunity! It's hard to believe that it has almost already been a year since I graduated from college, spending 4 months in Europe definitely made the time fly by! The last few months of unemployment have been relaxing, but BORING! I can't wait to be busy again and meeting lots of new people. Training starts April 25th in San Francisco.  There is even a 4 mile bay loop trail right across the street from headquarters! How cool is that. I can't start slacking on my marathon training now. I think buying a garmin for myself is an appropriate way to celebrate the new job... and maybe some lululemon too!

Time to start adding in extra work outs so I'll be in tip top shape for my uniform fitting! Now if only I could fast forward to April 25th. Until then I guess it will be long days of running, shopping and laying out in the sun to get a little color!

Bursting with excitment

I can barely hold my excitement in. My flight attendant interview went AMAZING! I literally had over a month to prepare for it and I did everything I could think of to prepare. You know, stalk people on fb that have the job, go shopping, make flash cards like a loser and talk about it 24/7 to anyone who has a set of ears. Thank you thank you to everyone who said I would be perfect for the job and would do great, I totally think you're right! :) There were about 22 other people at the interview. We started off with a fun ice breaker/ team building activity, then they did a presentation on the company, the job, the perk, and what not (the company is amazing btw, I am in love) and we ended with a one on one session with one of the recruiters.  I was hardly nervous during my one on one because I felt so happy and every single question they asked was one I had prepared for and rehearsed a million times.  It took about 4 hours total and I don't think I ever stopped smiling. Now all I can do it wait, I should hear something in a week or 2. Keep your fingers crossed! But who I am kidding, I got this one in the bag! hehe

After my interview.

In running news, I signed up for another marathon, even though I havn't even run one!  I couldn't say no though to running the Las Vegas strip at night, I love Las Vegas and I have been needing an excuse to go too. My sister signed up too so it will be a fun trip. The only thing is that the full has a 4:30 time limit, so it looks like I need to turn up my speed workouts because I WILL be finishing in under 4:30!

My nice and super speedy marathon runner friend Rebekah sent me over an amazing training plan for the marathon in June. I can't wait to start it tomorrow! I am going to try to a sub 4:30 in June if I can but if not I still have 5 more months to train for Vegas and get faster.

Even though I am broke and unemployed, I reallyyyy want to buy a Garmin! I am thinking I should wait until I hear about the job though, then it could be more of a present to myself! Eeeeeeeeee, can't wait to share the good news with you guys in the near future!

Half marathon Monday

Today I completed my first solo half marathon, OMG.  I didn't run much last week because my calf was bothering me so I decided that I would compensate today. I did a loop a few miles away from my house that I pretty much just made up.  I did it once, felt great, stopped by my car to grab a bottle of water and gu, also my ipod had died so I grabbed my iphone for music. I had never taken gu before and I had no idea how thick and goopy and gross it was. YUCK. It helped though and I powered through the last 7 miles no problem. I finished in a not very impressive 2:25 but I was excited just to finish the 13.1 miles all on my own.  I finished up with the coldest ice bath and my feet were so cold and I thought they were going to fall off!! I can already tell though that I am less sore than normal, which is great!

 No, not nakey, I have short and a sweatshirt on!

I need to buy a foam roller so I can roll at home, not just at the gym. I hope they make a pink one!


My friend, the lovely Samantha tagged my in seven random things so here you go....

My senior year of high school I got to read the daily bulletin over the PA system every Tuesday. I thought I was so cool that everyone in school was forced to listen to me. (over 2400 students and teachers). We read the daily birthdays at the end and my school had a lot of Hispanic students with hard to pronounce names, luckily my  bulletin buddy Chris who is Hispanic would always read the birthday but on the days he was absent I would have to do them and butcher the heck out of all the names, it was so embarrassing. I wanted to die.

I have parallel parking anxiety. I could not parallel park a car if my life depended on it. I used to try but I would just get a panic attack pretty much and give up. I would rather park and walk a mile away then try to fit my car into a parallel spot no matter how large it is.  When I am in the car with someone else parallel parking their car I get really nervous and refuse to help them, I usually just close my eyes till it is all over. I am really strange, I know.

When I was younger I raised swine to sell to the country fair. Yes, real live pigs lived in my back yard. At time I thought it was the coolest thing ever, looking back I was wondering why on earth I wanted to raise a pig to be sold for bacon. Oh yeah, I got mad money when I sold those porkers, hehe.

I do not like beans, any kind, besides green beans, which is more than a vegetable than a bean. I just don't like that at all, on anything or anywhere. It drives my sister crazy and she's always trying to get me to try them. No thanks.

In high school (my favorite 4 years of life besides college) I used to get up at 5am so I could go fake tanning and then go to Starbucks before school started with my friend Erin, could I be anymore obnoxious? And I am NOT a morning person at all.  It's really too bad tanning beds lead to skin cancer, I love them so much.

I was a cheerleader, oh yes. Even though I don't consider myself the typical cheerleader type. Only for a semester though. I went to private school for one semester of high school then transferred back to public school... I don't know. (Seriously, I LOVED high school, I would go back in an instant)

                                    

My sophmore year of college at Santa Barbara City College I lived in Isla Vista on Del Playa Drive, oceanside. As in, I lived on a cliff 100 ft from the ocean. Samantha and I fell asleep to the ocean waves, it was magical. It was a once in a lifetime experience to live right on the ocean. Becides being so magical we had to deal with the the grossness of iv, way over priced rent, sharing a 3bed 2 bath house between 6 people, crazyness 24/7, oh the isla vista lifestyle. 
                                                

The lovely Samantha and I on our backyard patio. Oh hello there Pacific ocean

Also, my flight attendant interview is on Thursday which is in 2 days! I am so so so excited! I know that I can do anything I put my mind to and I can't wait to see what the future holds. Eeeeeeeeek! I don't think I am going to be able to stop myself from smiling the entire time.

Back to watching the bachelor and studying airport codes for my interview!

Skinny ghost

My sister will probably murder me for posting this picture on the internet, but I am far too lazy to crop her out of this. Whoops. Hi Linzay, I love you!

Christmas morning circa, my guess 2003. First thought, oh my god is that a ghost? Luckily I don't get that pale anymore, eek. I came across this in iPhoto and I couldn't help but notice how SKINNY I look. Can I look like this again please? Minus the I just got out of bed and i'm wearing no make-up look.

Like our matching Abercrombie pajamas? We used to be beyond obsessed. I can't get over how funny this picture is. I am sure my sister will disagree.

I'm off to go get my running gear on and hopefully do a nice 7.5 miles. Ta ta.

The year of amazing-ness

I am aware that we are well into February but I wanted to write down some goals for 2011

*Land an amazing big girl job, this may be happening as soon as next month :)

*Run a full marathon, I am already signed up for the San Diego Rock and Roll! I hope I don't dieeeee. My goal is really to just finish but I'm hoping for a time around 4:40 maybe?

*Run at least 30-35 miles a week

* Run a sub 2:00 hour half marathon, I need to find one or two to sign up for soon! Suggestions?

*Lose 20 pounds, it's not really about the number but I have gained a good amount of weight in college and in Europe and i'm not too happy about it.

*Spend less time on my computer and phone (my sister knows how bad this issue is)  Is there a rehab for this? Sign me up!


Today my BFF (read: NOT) the treadmill and I spent an hour and a half of quality time together. I decided I need to start doing some hill training since the hills in races always KILL me.  I ran 3.75 miles of running at 5.7 for a song then running at an incline (1.5%-3%) for a song. Then I did 45sec hills at 5% incline. I'm not gonna lie, it was hard! Then I walked another 3.25 miles at a 3% incline.  The treadmill and I may becoming friends... maybe. Then my real BFF, the foam roller and I spent some quality time together. My muscles needed it.  I may attempt a long run of 10 miles tomorrow. Eek! Who am I kidding, I can do it!

My mom and I made pizza for dinner tonight.  My half is the one with turkey pepperoni. Yum yum!

I'm no wine snob, I love me some cheap $5-8 wine from Trader Joes, but Newman's Own wine? Really? Don't they make salad dressing? That's like Kraft making wine. I don't think I will be trying it in the near future, or ever.

Good for you

I have yet to get my run on yet today. It is looking mighty freezing out right now so I am waiting till it warms up into the 50's or so. Yes, I am a wienie, I know. (Plus, Regis and Kelly is on and how could I say no to that?)


So in Napa there isn't too many exciting places to run.  A few weeks ago I starting running along the river trail that is right by my house.  It's 1.2 miles long so it does get kind of boring after running back and forth for an hour. I think I'm going to start doing my longer runs once a week somewhere else.  Other than the boring-ness it's great! I don't have to worry about crossing traffic, mapping out a route before hand and there is no way I can get lost on my way home (It has happened before, oops). And I know exactly how far I ran! 


Not too many run this river trail, mostly walkers! The other day I passed this women in the start of my run, then turned around passed her again, turned around and passed her again. On the third time she looked at me very impressed and said, "good for you!"  I couldn't help but smile and say thank you! But she's right! Good for me! Hey, I may not be the fastest runner, but not many of my friends ran an 8 miler the other day or are able to say they logged 30 miles last week. I also love that I am able to see the same smiling walkers as I run back and forth.  Yesterday these two cute old lady's yelled they loved my pink shirt and they would say "There she goes" every time I ran by them. It was cute.


Right now I am really loving running. I really feel like I am finally becoming dedicated and it is paying off big time.  It also makes me look and feel great. I often find myself running and smiling now. The river trail people probably think i'm some sort of crazy.  I didn't mention earlier the people who look at me like, "how have you past me 3 times and I havn't walked the trail once...what's wrong with you?" I smile at them too!


I need to bring my camera this week so I can show you my happy running place.  For now though here is a picture I found on the internet. I think this from a few years ago when they just contructed it, becuase it does not look near this nice in person.

Funny side note, actually not funny at all. A while back ago a homeless man stabbed someone on the river trail. So please pray I never get stabbed by a homeless man while running. I wouldn't like that.


Also, today is my sister's first day at her new job! She is super excited, but a little nervous, so go wish her good luck!


She is also featured as SkinnyRunner's cat lady blogger today so go check that out! Woo hoo Linzay!

Happy Valentines Day!

My Valentines day was pretty uneventful. Figures since I'm single.  I went to the gym, ran some errands, tried to find a shirt for my interview and made dinner with my Valentine, my Mama.  My spin instructor today was totally in the Valentines day spirit, she handed out hersheys kisses and every song on her play list was about love. I'm not going to lie, it kind of wanted to make me vomit. She also admitted that the last song she found on her husbands baby making playlist. I kid you not. TMI for sure.  Since it was raining outside I tried to run on the treadmill but I only got to about 3 miles. I think i'd rather run in the rain, more to come on that tomorrow.


Breakfast was cinnamon rolls, my valentines day present to myself. I threw away the last one, I need to stop eating these. They are just so good though.

Like my cute v-day plate?

Dinner was shrimp, baked potato, asparagus and red wine. Yummy, yummy, yummy.


I am SO glad Michelle went home on the Bachelor tonight, highlight of my Valentines day for sure.

Rolls of yummy goodess

Today was a good day, 5 miles this morning, the last a super speedy 8:00. It was really windy and cold outside. I hit the gym up tonight too, one of the perks of being unemployed, you have PLENTY of time to workout. I took a power pump and then a turbo kick class from Judy, she is awesome and always kicks my trash. Almost 3 hours of working out, not too shabby.

I don't have any pictures, but I made a yummy veggie burrito for dinner with a side of brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts are def my new favorite veggie thanks to my sister. I may or may not have eaten 2 cinnamon rolls before my run today. They were delicious and worth everything single calorie I had to burn off. I froze the rest so I can't eat them.


I may have another job possibility. I hate to say it, but unemployed is pretty boring. Having NOTHING to do or no where to be all day gets old, and I only have like 5 friends. Sad sad, atleast I have blog friends! It also makes me excited for things like teen mom. This should not be the highlight of my day. Luckily today the highlight was cinnamon rolls. I may just start working out 4 hours everyday so that I can always have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Something tells me that isn't a good idea though. I think eating too many will only add rolls to my body. I think the rolls should with the cinnamon, not me.

"this aircraft is equiped with four emergency exits..."

These words and other like vocabulary will hopefully be in my near future! In my recent job search I decided to mix it up and apply to a few flight attendant jobs. Well, after a quick phone interview I was offered a face to face interview next month as a flight attendant! I am super excited and really hope I get the job! I am confident that I will get it and that it will be a career I will be very happy in.
This was taken at Wine Steals in San Diego, we were celebrating my sister's roommate Matt getting a new job and I was super excited about my interview. Please excuse my lack of make up haha

I am back to Napa now after two weeks of loveliness in southern California. I will miss my sister and the warm beach weather. Now I am back to the life of running, sleeping and unemployment (but hopefully not for long.

Today I went to bootcamp and ran 5 miles, it is a lovely day out.

Friday four mile fun run

My speedy sister Linzay and I went on a 4.5ish mile run this morning in Balboa park. By the time we got over there around 10am it was already around 83 and it was hot hot hot to be running in. Apparently I am no longer allowed to run with music because I head phones would not work and I really didn't want to carry my iphone around with me like a boom box playing my favorite jams. Before we ran back to the car Linzay and I took some sweet jumping pictures.




Happy Friday! Since I don't have a job right now, Fridays are just the same as any other day but they still make me happy and excited for the weekend!

Mile 10, let's do it again, mile 10 let's do it agian!

Workout
4.5 miles outside with my sister

I was hesitant at first to do a recap of the Carlsbad half marathon since I was so disappointed in how I did, but regardless, I finished and I guess we are all bound to have bad races here and there.sitting in the car before the race

Morning of I had a cliff bar and a piece of toast for breakfast and coffee. I was feeling good and wasn't nervous at all. We got to Carlsbad without any problems, went to the bathroom, sat in the car a little bit longer and then walked to the start line. My sister, Christine, Dave and Brett all went to wave 2 while Katie and I walked back to wave 3 so that we could hang out with the 2 hour pacer. Right before the start line I turned on my ipod and it froze. Great, but I can restart it, right? Wrong, my ipod buttons don't always work, today included so away it went in my pocket and I was just going to have to sing out loud and ponder silently for 13.1 miles, super duper. Since it was right before the start it kind of threw me off and messed with my concentration.

For the first 3.5 miles I had a steady pace of about 9:05 and stuck with Katie and the pacer. I was bored out of my mind though and already wanted to quit, I could also feel blisters forming on the arches of my feet.

At mile 4 I decided to slow down and leave the pacer and Katie because mentally I just wasn't feeling it. Mile 5 and 6 I didn't see the markers but I had turned back to the finish so I knew I was at least half way. I was getting really tired at this point and my pace was getting slower and slower. I was drinking water at about every station, I tried the ultima energy drink they had but it was absolutely disgusting so I stuck to water after one sip of that.

Finally I hit mile 7, I was still going pretty slow, but I was a little happier since I was over half way.

Mile 8 there was a pretty big hill, there was actually some more hills before this that really surprised me since the website had said it was supposed to be flat, not so much. I actually walked a few times, unheard of for me during running. Granted it was only about 10 seconds at a time but I literally had NO motivation at the time.

Miles 9, 10, 11, 12 went by fairly fast considering my snail pace. The 2:10 and 2:20 pacer had passed me at this point and I knew there was no way I was going to PR from my first race. I was so disappointed and was being really negative, bad I know. My favorite part of the whole race was when at mile 10 two guys behind me starting screaming " Mile 10, let's do it again" over and over. That sorta pumped me up, but I was still dying. The mental factor really takes a toll on your body.

Finally I hit mile 12 and I knew I could do 1.1 more miles. I wish I could say I sprinted that last mile, but mentally I had already given up and no longer cared about my time, I just wanted to finish, whether it was going to be sooner or later, later in my case.

I saw the finish line and picked up my pace.

Final time 2:35:07 11:50 pace blahhhh

my 6.6 split was 1:08:32 10:23 pace

Oh well, at least I didn't quit. I am definitely going to have to work on not being so hard on myself because there is NO WAY I am going to finish the San Diego Rock and Roll full marathon in June with that attitude. I could blame my poor performance on the no music thing, which was a factor, but it was mostly me being so negative the whole time.

After the race I picked up my free bag of food and then went to find my sister and friends so we could head to pizza port for pizza and beer!! BTW my sister did amazing and finished in 1:48:52 woo hoo!! She is way to speedy for me. I try to run with her but I can never keep up. Maybe in a few months. I'm picking up my running big time so that I can dominate the full marathon in June, let the fun begin!

finisher medal and really cool race shirt. picture is from skinnyrunner.com I was too lazy to go get my stuff and take a picture. SR ran the race too but is way to fast for me so I never saw her.

post race fiesta at pizza port

oopsie

i've obviously neglected the blog big time. whoops. I've been wanting to switch over to wordpress and get a new url since I am no longer in Europe, I haven't been able to think of anything catchy yet though

Some highlights of San Diego so far


1. Ran Carlsbad half marathon, didn't do as well as I wanted, my ipod froze right before the startline, it was fab.. not


2. Got this amazing blood blister from the race, my sister says it look like ahi tuna, ew


3. Bought these sweet new running shoes so that I wont be getting any hideous blisters again any time soon


4. Got my second parking ticket of the month, sweet, I love throwing away money

5. Speaking of throwing away, my dumb half broken ipod got thrown away, luckily it was still there when i went dumpster diving.

6. I was able to go to my sister class at the SDSU gym she teaches, it was a tough class, I was definitely sweating!

More to come soon!

Words with friends and biking

Workout:
7 (again easy) miles on the bike
20 min abs

I have a goal to do more ab work from now on. I hate doing it and I never do. Even if I just start doing a few more planks a week i'll be happy. No pain in my quad in the past few day! Yay! The whole time while I was on the bike i just played word with friends on my phone, time flew by. It was great. Besides the fact that all my words sucked and were about 14 points each.

Meet my wonderful mama Cooky.



We went out to dinner tonight since I am driving down to San Diego tomorrow and I'll be gone at least a week, she's sad so we had a little date.

I had this yummy, yummy salad.


I have still yet to pack, but tomorrow morning bright and early I will be heading to sunny San Diego for my race Sunday and to see my sister Linzay! I can't wait for the sun, beach, lots of college friends and all around fun! I may never come back to Napa. Maybe someone will magically offer me a job while i'm there. Ya...right.. like that would happen. However, the 9 hours of driving by myself isn't going to be too lovely. I need a driver.

You are my sunshine

Workout
5 super easy miles on the bike
15 min abs
15 min chest and triceps
15 min walk with Lucy

The sun is shining in Napa and it is a gorgeous day and ALL I WANT TO DO IS GO ON A RUN. But I can't. Even my walk with Lucy made my quad dull up with pain. :( My workout at the gym was pretty lame and I may go back later to do some more abs and because I just like being at the gym.
Lucy always looks so strange after coming home from the groomer, at least she doesn't smell anymore. We met a nice Black lab named Marty on our walk. I need to start walking the dog more often, maybe I can meet single men that way.

Off to go ice then pack for sunny San Diego! Yippie!

On the floor

Workout (yesterday)
8.75 miles bike
20 min treadmill ( walking on incline)
15 min weights back and biceps
15 min elliptical
plus a whole lot of time stretching

So most of my work out yesterday was spent on the floor stretching. Super lame. Before I got the flu my left was quadriceps was bothering me time to time when I ran. I took it easy and even gave it some rest from running despite my training. It got another about 4 days of rest too when I got the flu. I've been stretching lots, yadda yadda yadda but right when I started to run on the treadmill yesterday it starts to hurt again. It's not a sharp pain but dull and doesn't seem to go away.

After doing some research it looks like I may have my first ever injury. :( Google suggests that I have a quadricep strain. Runners often get them because they are over using their calves. So I've been stretching, icing, resting and praying it doesn't hurt come Sunday because i'm sorta supposed to run 13.1 miles.

I'm going to try to stick to biking the next few days, maybe try to throw in a few miles but lots of stretching and icing too. If I really do have a strain rest is supposed to be the main cure, so im hoping that I can 80% rest now and then 100% rest after the rest and still be okay.

I just dropped little Lucy loo loo off at the groomer, hopefully she'll come back nice and pretty and smelling nice!

Maybe I should have gotten a flu shot

No running or anything for me the last few days. I've caught the flu bug. It's been horrible. I don't even think I have even had the flu since I was like 10. 1 week till my race in Carlsbad.

Be back soon.

Dear nike plus, we're over.

Workout: 11 miles? 12 miles? No clue exactly, about an hour and 50 min though.

Today during my run I almost threw my ipod and smashed in into the road. My nike plus and/or ipod wasn't really working. I had been running quite some time now and was waiting for my favorite part, when nike plus lady says, "half way point" well it never came, I finally looked at my ipod, I was already at mile 6, past half way point, oh well. Next, while my ipod was locked, my workout kept getting paused, then resumed, irritating to say the least. I finally had to give up, turn it off and just time the rest of my run and estimate the miles, I'm thinking I did around 11.5. Longest run in quite some time now and it was be my longest before my race. I'm feeling really good about this race and hoping I can finish around 2 hours or less. Back to Nike plus, I need to get a job so I can buy a garmin. I won't even talk about the time nike plus thought I was an Ethiopian running 4:47 miles for 10 miles straight.

I promise I'll have a post with pictures soon. I should have took a picture after me running today. I had mascara running down my face from my eyes watering from the cold and my jacket sleeves had snot all over them. Super gross. This is how I know I am starting to know I am getting serious about my running. I will go out into public looking haggard and probably like i'm dying just to get in a long run.

I had sushi today for the first time in so long, like 4 months, sushi didn't exist in Europe. I really like the healthy rolls. Ones that include cream cheese, avocado, fried, or spicy are my favs. YUM

Do you like sushi? Favorite kind?

I don't see how people can hate sushi, it's just so yummy!!

Happy 2011

Workout: 3 miles 27 min

Is it really already the new year and I have yet to post anything? My New Years was alright, I have never have been a fan of the holiday. Too overrated and too much hoopla. Anyways, I should have stayed home. At least I didn't spend a dime.


New year, same old story. The gym is packed. I have to push and shove to get a treadmill. It looks like I will be sticking to spin, turbo and power and do my running outside. Speaking of running, tomorrow I am going to go for my last long run before the race on the 23rd. I am going to shoot for at least 11. Hopefully the leg pain I was feeling today during my run won't return.


Last night I got together with some friends from high school for a girls night. We got some drinks and hopped around downtown Napa. It was a good time, were hoping to make it a weekly thing since all of us are unemployed, pretty pathetic. I worked on my resume yesterday though and it's looking pretty amazing thanks to the help of a very nice man I met on the wine train last year.


Off to watch Grey's! :)