Christmas means presents !

Yes, yes, we went to church, too. But I can't take photos at Mass.


the "off list" gift. nicely done Susie.


The rookie chef (the print says something about cooking with wine, or while drinking wine)


Just wondering if any of these is a jigsaw puzzle.


Susie's thinking of doing her own blog. you go girl.


Steve's new Kenworth chapeau.


Ann's new biking sleeves. Yes, just the sleeves.


Susie's new slippers, and those are festive xmas sox she has on. you go girl.


Scott's new bad-ass drill.

Boys fighting over the toys. (tools)
It's not the holidays without a little squabble.

Did I say it was Christmas ?

That must mean Marilyn's cookies are baked and decorated and ready for consumption.


Steve prays to the beef gods for medium rare prime rib.


This is a festive photo of the uneaten green jello.


Happy Holidays from the Cookie Chef.


The fruits of her labors.


Green beans, Tori Spelling style. aka, wrapped in the elixir of life. NO, not the rum, the BACON !
although, that rum did spice up the egg nog nicely.

Dedicated Runners

Well, we spent a few days in Wapato, WA for the Christmas holiday. And the drive over the mtn. was fine, but there was a ton of snow in Wapato. But that doesn't mean the training stops... oh no... We grabbed the snow shovel and on Sunday we went to the high school and got a little exercise as we shovelled off a lane all the way around the track. Great ! we are now all set to run the next day. UNLESS a freezing rain occurs during the night, making all un-snowy surfaces more like an ice rink... rats. But that doesn't mean the training stops...oh no... we got a little running in, finding the footing to be a bit safer in the snow so we ran next to the nicely shovelled lane. And hey, look, is that Gina running? yes, she gave herself a little Christmas present. No, she shouldn't have, but it was Christmas, afterall. Give a little.

Seattle Half Marathon Report

I love requests !! thanks Pam.

So, you might recall a month or so ago I was hoping for a finishing time of "anything BUT 1 hour 47 minutes and odd seconds" . The last several years have all been that. So, long story short (you wish) I ran a 1:46:26. Yahoo ! good for 2nd place in my age group. That is the highest I've placed in this race.

It's been a while and we've had some even "better" weather recently, but you might recall that this Thanksgiving weekend was, as usual, WET & COLD. But WETTER & COLDER THAN USUAL. Lesley and I arrived at the race in typical ATR style.... very early... the better to warm up and pee a hundred times. But it was so WET & COLD we sat in the car for the most of the time. It was trying to snow out and I wished it would. Better snow than huge freezing rain. But freezing rain is what we got.

Coach Lesley ran the race with me to help pace me. Thank God, cuz at mile 8 I was ready to take anytime OVER 1:47. She did not let that happen. We started out at just under 8:00 pace trying to not go out too fast but I do need to "bank" some time in the first half of the race before it gets too hilly. The rain subsided, in the I-90 tunnel. :) actually, it was ok along Lk. Washington, but the rain returned by Madison Park, and the hills. Gina was hanging out at 23rd Ave. I saw her just after fording a stream. So much for the "keep the shoes dry" efforts. This spot is the only place on the route that the Metro buses are allowed to cross the runners' path. As Gina waited for us she witnessed the ingenious system that is used. Pylons and crime scene tape, that we've always seen but wondered why it was there. Remind me to tell you about it.

I missed my buddy Carmel in Interlochen but she may have been seeking shelter under a tree. And all the fans in rain gear were anonymous. What a trooper for being out there, though. Thanks Carmel ! As we ran along parallel but beneath the freeway we saw big showers of water pour down from the cars above going thru puddles. Thankfully we did not get one of those early douches.

About this time I was fading, but Coach was having none of it. I was wearing my billboard T-shirt "Coach Lesley.com" so couldn't let the brand name down. She pretty much verbally drug me thru the past couple miles. In the finish line photos you can see her eyes directed towards the clock, WE HAD TO BEAT 1:47. And we did, even my gun time was 1:47:56 .

We waited a couple minutes hoping to see Karen Buttram finish, figuring she'd be right behind us, but we were so chilled to the bone that standing still was not an option. We did cross paths a few minutes later at clothing pickup and got to trade a few comments on the day. Blaspheming the weather gods.

As I mentioned, 2nd is the highest I've placed in this race. (the weiner was 4 or 5 minutes ahead of me) I'm usually in top 10, closer to 10, but my theory is those faster 50 yr.olds took one look at the weather, knew it would hamper their times, and went back to bed. You snooze, you lose.

Best part of the day.... the hot tub and then 5 hours later boarding a plane for Maui.
Worst part.... for the first time in 12 years Gina did not race. Damn those feet!

For those of you with # fetishes, here are the mile splits.
Gotta love that Mile #11. It saved the day. I'll spare you the Heart Rates details.

8:36.8 (minus 20 seconds to start line)
15:35.9 (miles 2 & 3)
8:01.6
8:06.8
7:51.8
8:19.9
9:05.7
8:10.4
9:02.3
7:16.8 (must have been down hill)
7:57.9
8:38.5 (mile 13.1)

Remodel

While we were gone, Brian and Randy got a lot done.. even though weather conditions were lousy. On the 19 degree day, they had to dig the ditch to lay some new foundation, or whatever they call it. They were going to pour cement into it. Randy said it was like digging thru permafrost.

We felt bad for them... brought them some maui chocolates to enjoy.

We've got another 2 feet added to the house. WOW ! Expansion-city.

Of course, they left on Friday saying "think about a cathedral ceiling" . Just to get Gina's panties into a bundle. She has thought about it, even tried drawing some plans, but it just is not going to happen. Not needed. They think it would make for a great " TV room " . It's the bedroom. And that change would impact the pillars, and this whole remodel is about the tub and pillars ! :)

And I love catching them in the cell phone act. All contractors " Man your Phone" !

And our new roommate, Charlie Brown. Isn't he cute? I got him for Gina's birthday. She's a big fan of the C.B. Christmas show. He had to room over at Val & Kathy's house for a month, as Ifound him but had no where to keep him secret. Every inch of our house is used for storing all the stuff that came out of the remodel side.

He makes us smile everytime we look at him. I think everyone should have one , the more smiling the better.

Turkey Day in Wapato

A few photo-licious moments. To complement the delicious meal.

And as usual, they are not in proper order cuz this blogger just cannot figure out the upload gig, or to cut and paste. Sounds like a new years resolution.



Marilyn drinks to celebrate Scott doing the dishes.


Susie foils the camera operator.


Another picture of Scott doing dishes. It really must have happened.


The beautiful snow on the drive home.


Steve polishes off a bit more turkey. He's looking for leftover skin to make a heartattack sandwich.


Gina gets a few miles in, indoors. Thinking of Ashley.


Donovan makes an appearance !


On Wed., Slots & Griggey get a nap after making pies, stuffing, etc.


Gina claims to have made this fine piece of pottery.


Ann comes out from behind the lens. I didn't get the memo on "to wear a blue or grey shirt"

And So It Begins

The before photos.


the new pantry is the dining room. our stash of wine, gatorade, chips, water, rice, salad dressing, and more wine, are good. oh, and the earthquake backpack. :)


a last minute sweep by the designer/planner extraordinaire


tub / storage area. this tub never say the light of day, for obvious reasons and that yellow shower curtain came with the house.


i will miss that loverly cheap pink tile, and the "crappy" toilet, and slow sink faucets, "why is the water brown?"


love the cabinet doors that never closed, and how about that earthquake proofing rubberband on the water tank?

Injury Update

You may have noticed that there hasn't been mention of my running buddy lately. Gina has a bad case of plantar fasciitus (sp?). OK, she's been having some foot pain since January but she fought thru it to train for the half ironman. And she was on her way to a good birthday half marathon, but after the pride race the left foot felt REALLY BAD. So bad that she stopped her training. OK, stopped running. She is still spinning and erg-ing. And on race days she goes to the gym and puts in a workout of comparable exertion.

She finally got in to see the rundoctor.com, the dude who diagnosed my foot ache and gave me the drugs for my foot problem. Of course he prescribed the same stuff. Said it was classic P F ( i don't want to misspell it again) She has been icing religiously, taking the prescription ibuprofen and rubbing the 'clear' on her feet. And wearing the splints each night, and part of the day. She thinks it's getting better. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Hey !

I thought this was a running blog, enough with the costume pictures.

In case you're keeping track of these things... I ran in the Dawg Dash 10K. 48:00 good enough for a 2nd place finish. Someone named Norva (?) aged up and kicked my butt with a 46:29. I hope she's happy this year cuz we all know who is aging up to the 50's next year...... Karen Buttram, speaking of upcoming butt kickings.

Val, Pam and Kathy all ran the 5K version. Val 23:05 was 2nd in her group by just a few seconds. She chased an 11 yr old to the finish line, but by chip time she beat that kid by one second. see the teensy tiny photo.

Pam Banks won the "UW Women's Basketball Team Alumni Who Never Train" division. Although she did it in stealth style. Somehow didn't make the results sheet.

Kathy Hastings won the division for good(and good looking) sports. And followed that up the next weekend in the Pumpkin Push. Another 5K.

This time I just wanted to be near Val and her 7:30 pace. It worked out well. She led me up the hill. I passed on the downhill, looking to catch old Judy Fisher. And I say old with the deepest respect. I can only dream of running these paces when I'm 63 years old. Anyway at some point Val told me to go for it, "sprint!" she says. Excuse me, what do you think I'm doing?

A different little girl (well, 13) was near us at the start. She declared she wanted to run a 21:00. We backed off. And sure enough she did it. 5th overall.

And where was Karen? oops, motivated by hearing the starting gun while still in potties, she ran a super fast race thru the costumed crowds.

In addition to the previously mentioned spin class today I had a tough track workout. Made extra fun by the nice weather melting the track. Nothing like 5# clumps of clay stuck to your shoe when trying to nail that 1200. All the 5K and 10K races are done. Now less than a month to get ready to run long and fast. I have some long tempo runs coming up. Anybody wanna run 10 quick ones on Saturday?

Spinning Freaks

Long gone are the days of Halloween parties with excessive drinking, eating, and dancing....
and thank God there were no digital cameras and blogs back in those days.

Now we go to the spinning class as a reason to don costumes (and if i can get the photo feature working I'll upload but it's fighting me right now)

ahh, there we are.

OK, Val, we know "twins !" it's just easier thinking of one costume.

And now that I have finished dinner, I should qualify the above statement. There might be the occassional excessive drinking and eating (rarely dancing). It just doesn't happen on Halloween.

Pride Race at Seward Park

So, in the 5K last weekend, which if I must toot my own horn again (and why else have a blog but to toot?), I won the women's overall title. Anyway, during the race, we turn up a hill, I hear a women's voice behind me, I think, great, there goes my lead... she is joking with folks, talking, but never passes me. The guy does, easily. The uphill loops around and then comes back down, I managed a sneak peak and the chatty one was no closer, whew. Then when I got back to the flat, I pass the dude who passed me on the hill. I told him to pretend he was going uphill. He admitted to an error in pacing judgement on the hill.

So, today in the email I get this photo, which was taken just before the hill starts. Now I can see just how close Female #2 was to me. egads.

Oh, and no, that's not an apron. Normally I can get my extra shirt tied a little better. That darn thing was all over the place. tres embarrassing.

Gina was 5th overall, but for sure 1st Masters. (I don't count as Masters this time cuz I won overall.... toot toot toot) Do we know how to pick the races or what? Thanks to Lesley(rower Lesley) and Peggy for inviting us.

It I was Too Tired I'd be a .......

Here was the plan for today's run:
Friday: 14.0 miles (2 @ 9:00, 4 @ 8:30, 4 @ 8:00, 2 @ 7:45, 1 @ 7:30, 1,0 very easy)

here's what I managed:(we, Ironcoach Lesley ran with me)
9:02, 9:12, 8:41, 8:23, 8:27, 8:37, 7:47, 7:40, 7:53, 9:04((side trip to fountain, was really 7:50), 7:55, 7:41, 7:23, 4:36(half mile cool down, not mile)

pretty close to hitting the marks, thanks to Lesley pacing. Except for the 4 @ 8:00 that all seemed to be under 8:00. All is good, but once I stop, it's tough to get started again. The back/leg issue chimes in and announces that momentum is ok, re- starts are not.

Since then I have managed to ice, hot tub, shower, go to post office, wash the car, read the paper and watch Tigers win ! It's happy hour now.

The answer is: a bicycle !! (too, 2 tired, get it?)
my oldest and favoritest joke, and I know the folks in T.O. are rolling in the aisles, having heard it now, repeatedly, for oh, at least 15 years and still think it's funny. Come on, let's hear the ha ha's now...

Today was a fine five miler. nice and easy. right at the 9:00 pace. a bit of hills for good measure. Which reminds me... yesterday the PT (his name is Dan D. great guy, great pt, never says "well, stop all activity for 2 weeks" cuz he knows it won't happen) SO, Dan thinking about my non-firing glutes, says "when was the last time you ran the stairs at Golden Gardens?" Ashamedly, I said "never". Gawd, who does stairs voluntarily? Well, except my 71 year old friend, Carmel, who is hiking the trail of St. James in Spain, as we speak. I didn't even think to ask if the 30 steps up to our house count?

Tomorrow is a day off from exercise. Except for some glute drills. And Friday looks fun ! I'll let you know how it goes. 14 miles, at incrementally increasing speed.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, we've got some colorful trees across the lake. And the cutest little cheez spreaders, thanks to Joan.

Kind of an unreal story out of NYC today. I say it's the job of all celebrity wives to say "NO" when the guy wants to be a pilot. For Halloween, ok. For real, no.

I'm thinking that building is about 10 blocks over from Herman and Dyan's bldg. He is G's cousins' uncle, who we met in Vegas. Also the same neighborhood as the guy who blew up his building rather than give it up in divorce proceedings or some such story. Gotta love NYC.

Glutentag

Today's run was supposed to be an easy 8 miler (apologies to those in TO). And it was, but as I spent most of the morning, like most mornings, reading the daily news online from several cities, and various blogs, I must keep up on Floyd's defense stategies.....OK, OK, I frittered away the morning. And I had a noon time PT appt. So, I had to beat feet to make the mileage in time. But it was a good run in beautiful weather.

So, the PT still thinks there is much tightness in those variously numbered and lettered joints of the spine. S1, L5, T10... whatever. He wrangled with my back for a while. Then we worked on some of the strengthening exercises, and gosh darn it all if I just do not engage my glutes, that pesky left cheek, especially. So, the back muscles are doing all the work.... Not for long !

If anyone's looking for me, I'm off engaging my butt muscles.

Jeez, this blog is starting to sound kind of racy, and I don't mean in a running sort of way.

Man Vol's

Check out this onion from our organic farmer friends.

Here is your trusty blogger, catching late season rays and acting, like, totally cool.


Today has been very busy. We went to the gym for a brief workout. Then home to watch numerous games. MSU-UM , Stanford-ND, UW-USC, all at the same time. And the Tigers waxing the Yankees ! how sweet was that? I'd better go see if there is rioting in Detroit. Now we've got the Dodger game, Cal, WSU, and our today favorites, the Man Vol's of Tennessee. ( I always hate it when I hear of the Lady Vol's) This betting pool we're in has made football fools of us.

Yesterday we did a 13+ mile run. Not sure of the actual mileage. Ran the bike route from Seward Park back to home. Can't believe I never clicked mileage markers on all the times we rode it on bikes this summer. Oh, well, it was just an easy 13. Picked that route cuz it has a fair number of hills.

Tomorrow there is a run at Seward Park, a 5K. We need to do 5 miles so it should work in nicely, a little 2 mile warmup and the race. We'll meet some friends, maybe do breakfast. Take a break from football.

Happy ANN i versary, belated, of course

So, last night I woke up thinking... WOW ! I think the blog is about year old. Scary when thoughts of the blog wake you up. I'm sure you've had the same feeling.

I checked my trail of blogs and sure enough, Oct. 2, 2005 was the inaugural blahhgggg. Interestingly enough, that is the same date Gina and I use to track the number of years we've been Running Crazily together. 22, fyi.

Anyway, so now I'm truly proud that on such an august date (October, I know) , I posted a photo of my feet.

The Agony of de Feet

bunions, no toe nails and now bruises... what I need is a pair of pillows with tread.

Today we were at the track. A pacing drill. 2 miles at 8:00 , 1/2 mile easy jog, 2 miles at 7:55. Bet you didn't know running was such an exacting sport. I pretty much hit those numbers. 8, 7:56,8:01, 7:51 just not in the right order.

The plan for the next month has a bit of speed work in it. We will race the Seattle Half Marathon at the end of Nov. and my goal is to get off the 1:47:xx mark. I'm very consistent in my race times. It's always 1:47 something. I'd prefer to be faster but hey, a 1:48 would at least be different. :)

Baseball playoffs.... St Louis is at the Padres. Either way, friends are happy. Maureen and Barb, from Vegas, have a nephew (Brad Thompson) who is a relief pitcher for St. Louis. And Bev and Diane are definite Padre fans. (and neighbors of Aileen now) But they are all at the game today. Well, poor Barb had to stay home and work. Sorry about that. And Padres lost. Sorry about that.

Now lets go Tigers !!!

Special props to special people

Mary K Capon, 16 years old today. Sweet and beautiful in France. Happy birthday!
How's the party going?














Ichiro. 'nuf said.
this is the photo every Japanese tourist to Seattle tries to get before the ushers shoo them away.












Wally and Carmel, my driving co-volunteers at Bailey Boushay House.
Gotta love your co-workers.











The umpire.