Browse Category: go beak go

Sugar High

img_5790a.jpgI had a sugary day on Saturday. In the morning, I met up with Marie and Cole at the Spectrum. While we were having some breakfast at The Corner Bakery, there was a baking demo going on in front of the ferris wheel. Fortunately for us, they were giving out a variety of samples with girls walking around with trays of treats. So, by the time we finished breakfast, Cole, Marie, and I had some brownie, chocolate cake, vanilla cake with strawberries, and cookies. Yum. With Marie having some shopping to do, I became the Baby Sitter Extraordinaire once again. It was a beautifully sunny day and fun hanging out with the little guy. We visited the puppies at the pet store and bought some little wind-up toys at the toy store. What fun!

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Later in the evening, Johnny had his housewarming and he had a pretty good turnout. His new apartment is much bigger than the studio with two bedrooms and a pretty big livingroom. Knowing that we’d be having a late night, I packed up the X3 with dog food, the dog, toothrbrushes, and running shoes. We were basically going to have a little slumber party in Santa Monica. At the party there was plenty pizza and sugar of all kinds. I started with some tasty kanom krok and mango with sticky rice that Johnny brought from Wat Thai and then some almond jello. Then as if I didn’t have enough, David brought some ice cream and these tasty Dibs that I just HAD to try.

So it was a good thing that I brought my running shoes because I really needed to run it all off. We all got up and ran along the beach. Since my foot is still recovering, Koa and I only ran 3 miles while Johnny, Joy, and David ran 5-6 miles. It was nice to be outside and running again. In my first week back in my running shoes, I managed to run a total of 6 miles this week…not bad. If I take it easy with the mileage increase, I should be back on-track very soon.

a good night’s sleep

dsc_6343a.jpgThis morning I woke up at around 8:30 am wide-eyed and fully rested. I don’t think I’ve felt like that in months. I’m used to dragging myself out of bed all groggy and achey as if I had slept only 15 minutes. It actually doesn’t matter what time I get up…it’s the same icky feeling regardless of whether it’s a work day or a lazy Saturday morning. But today was different. I was able to do the classic sit-up-in-bed-and-stretch as I listened to the birds chirping outside. It was awesome. Why can’t I wake up like this everyday? All I know is that I was Miss Motivated today. I finished 6 loads of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, paid all the bills, sifted through a pile of papers that had accumulated over the last 3 weeks, answered some work emails, went grocery shopping, AND went for a run! Holy crap…who IS this girl?!

Speaking of running…after my 4-week hiatus from training, my foot is feeling about 80% now. It’s just good enough to take a quick test-run today. I ran around the hill once and felt really good. I admit I only went one mile but it’s a start. Fortunately I wasn’t as de-conditioned as I expected. I think I could have done another couple miles but I didn’t want to risk re-injuring my foot. I also noticed that I was rolling over on the lateral side of my foot quite a bit but it didn’t seem to bother my ankle. Perhaps I’ve built enough strength in those muscles through four weeks of limping and compensating. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how I feel after a couple more weeks of running that way. So, I revised my training schedule and I have exactly 15 weeks left before the half marathon. I should have just enough time to be ready but I can’t afford any more injuries. I suppose the next thing for me to do is head over to the running store to snag myself a new pair of kicks. I guess I’m long overdue. I forgot that my current shoes finished my last full marathon with me. That was back in November 2005. Sheesh.

So…Brother, Joy…I’m back! Hopefully all is well with my broken wheel. Magic Kingdom, here we come!

Almost but not quite…

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After our Cinco de Mayo fiesta complete with nacho cheese, carne asada, and margaritas, Brother and Joy got up early this morning to run the PCRF 5K. I decided to sit this one out but it was fun to watch them anyway. Koa even got to come along to check out the sights, sounds, and smells. With his red headband on, Johnny finished just a few seconds slower than last year’s time so no there was Personal Record this year. Joy finished her very first 5K today under 30 minutes – pretty impressive. They even received a little medal at the finish line this year. Nice job, runners! You’re 3.1 miles closer to our Half Marathon!  Here are the photos.

stupid foot

It’s been a week since my foot started hurting and it hasn’t gotten any better.  I didn’t think it would affect my spirits like this but I’m totally bummed out.  I guess running really is important to me.  I just thought it was something that kept me healthy but it seems to be something that also keeps me sane.  I considered going to the gym to do something less painful but I haven’t been able to get myself out there.   I even took the day off to see the doctor and to stay off my feet to see if either would help.  Of course the doctor didn’t give me much hope.  He basically said to buy new running shoes, rest, and take ibuprofen.  I guess the only good news is that it’s not broken.  I got x-rays done this morning.  So, Brother, I probably won’t be joining you this Sunday on the course.  *sigh*  Stupid foot.

What a pain in the foot

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The bright spot indicates pain in the 2nd joint. My pain is under the 1st  metatarsophalangeal joint.

I developed a dull arthritic-type ache in the ball of my left foot just under the big toe joint earlier this week.  This weekend it got worse. I tried to run on it this morning and ended up having to turn around after going down the street. I’m able to walk on it but it’s quite painful. So, I started hobbling around like an old lady but now it’s giving me ankle pain because of the way I’m compensating. *sigh* This totally blows. I’ve been training for a half marathon and I’m supposed to run a 5K next weekend.

I looked up the symptoms and I think I’ve figured it out. I have metatarsalgia, which basically means “ball of the foot (metatarsa-) pain (-algia)”.  It looks like it’s caused by all the running I’ve been doing.  Running is a high-impact sport and the big toe usually bears most of the weight and also does the “push-off” phase of my run.  Great…just what I needed. This better be temporary cuz I’ve got a half marathon scheduled on Labor Day!  So, we’ll see if resting this week will do it any good. I’m crossing my fingers.

20 Weeks Left

duckies.jpgWe’ve got 20 weeks to go before the half marathon. I ran my four-mile long run today after a week of travelling and no running. I thought I’d be going super slow today but managed to finish with a 10:15 pace including stops at the street lights. Here’s the route I took today. I intended to do an “out and back” but surprisingly the ducks had enough water to swim around in the river so I kept going.

Spring has definitely arrived because the sun was pretty strong towards the end of my run. Pretty soon I’ll be seeing little ducklings swirling around in the river. Can’t wait! Let’s just hope there’s a little more rain in our future. The riverbed was looking pretty dry.

I took the photo on the left last spring. These ducklings were looking more like teenagers.