When Brittni was here for the marathon, we visited the cactus garden in Balboa Park. If you want to see other cactus pictures from an earlier trip, see this post from a few years ago.
My favorite:
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Q: Where Have You Been? A: Running.
I completed my first half-marathon this past Sunday. I ran/jogged/trotted/old-man shuffled for over 13 miles.
I got to run with my best friend from college, Brittni. She flew to San Diego from New Orleans for the weekend to participate in the race. She was sweet and encouraging, and stayed at my (sometimes brutally slow) pace the whole way. She told me stories to keep my mind off the pain and the tiredness of my legs. She helped me finish without walking more than a few steps (due to some, um, stomach issues). She helped me sprint through the finish line.
I couldn't ask for a more supportive friend :).
Maybe in a year or two, after some more practice on my part, we can run together again at a faster pace!
There was pain. But I trudged through. I was slower than I wanted to be, but I finished the race.
There were so many hurdles for me to get to the point of jogging for 13.1 miles. There were injuries in training that went away, and there were injuries that lasted through the race. There was learning to win the battle with my mind.
I survived, and I pushed my body to its limit. I pushed my mind to its limit (as evidenced by not being able to form complete sentences for hours after the race...:)...). I may not be the fastest, but I sure did finish.
For me, even though I was slower than I wanted to be, I achieved something HUGE. And now I have a foundation I can build upon. I didn't have that 6 months ago. I was starting from scratch. 6 months ago, I couldn't even run a mile without huffing and puffing and quitting because of a stitch in my side. Now I can say to my friends "Hey, want to go run 5 miles?" on any given day of the week, and I know I'll be able to finish out the run strong.
At the expo, Saturday before the race:
Brittni and Younhee rockin' out...:)
I hope you enjoy the photos from the race, and kudos if you made it through reading my rambling words!
Hanging out in our corral before the race:
I got to run with my best friend from college, Brittni. She flew to San Diego from New Orleans for the weekend to participate in the race. She was sweet and encouraging, and stayed at my (sometimes brutally slow) pace the whole way. She told me stories to keep my mind off the pain and the tiredness of my legs. She helped me finish without walking more than a few steps (due to some, um, stomach issues). She helped me sprint through the finish line.
I couldn't ask for a more supportive friend :).
Maybe in a year or two, after some more practice on my part, we can run together again at a faster pace!
There was pain. But I trudged through. I was slower than I wanted to be, but I finished the race.
There were so many hurdles for me to get to the point of jogging for 13.1 miles. There were injuries in training that went away, and there were injuries that lasted through the race. There was learning to win the battle with my mind.
I survived, and I pushed my body to its limit. I pushed my mind to its limit (as evidenced by not being able to form complete sentences for hours after the race...:)...). I may not be the fastest, but I sure did finish.
For me, even though I was slower than I wanted to be, I achieved something HUGE. And now I have a foundation I can build upon. I didn't have that 6 months ago. I was starting from scratch. 6 months ago, I couldn't even run a mile without huffing and puffing and quitting because of a stitch in my side. Now I can say to my friends "Hey, want to go run 5 miles?" on any given day of the week, and I know I'll be able to finish out the run strong.
At the expo, Saturday before the race:
With sweet Brittni at the cactus garden in Balboa park:
Hanging out in our corral before the race:
32,000 people ran! Can you believe it!?!
My sweet friends, Irit and Younhee, from lab.
Sprint to the finish! Gotta love Brittni!
Wait, if I'm over the finish line, why am I still running??
The whole gang with our finisher's medals!
Whew. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad it's over...for now!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Scarves
Time for some pupper pictures.
I'm in a funk. Blog funk-definitely. Life funk-maybe? Nothing helps both of these funks like some puppies.
Dad is leaving San Diego tomorrow. Ralph and Dad got along so well, I think they are really going to miss one another. I bet money Ralph will remember my dad, even if he doesn't see him for another year. I've never seen Ralph bond to anyone else like he did with Dad.
Ralph could totally be in a magazine:
Ed doesn't like posing. But look at that FACE. He gets me every time with that mug.
Bandannas are a traditional accessory for big dogs, especially retrievers. Since they were only $1 at Wal-Mart, I thought I'd try them out on the puppies.
Yiiiikkkeees.
"Gimme that, Ralph."
"MOMMA! GET IT OFF ME!"
"Chomp"
"Despair"
"Nom"
I love my sweet boys.
"How YOU doin'?"
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Safari Park
Hi Friends!
This past week I went with Amber, her mom, Shaza and Steph to the Safari Park (formerly the Wild Animal Park), and we had a great time!
There were so many neat animals to see!
Exotic ducks.
Exotic pigeons (really).
Creepy African owls that look like robots.
Below are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:
(I feel like this giraffe and I have far too much in common.)
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Catch Up
Hi, Friends.
It's been a very long week. Lots of long days at work, and not time for much rest at home have made it a rather dull week in terms of blogging material.
I do have some photos I've snapped over the past few weekends that I'd like to share. There really isn't much rhyme or reason here, I just wanted to post something to let you know I'm alive and well.
Dad and Tony have been working out in the garage almost every weekend together. They seem to enjoy working on cars, though perhaps Tony more than my Dad some days...
We've had lots of rain recently, which is a great thing for all of our plants, but it requires more upkeep for our front yard's lawn, and all of the random weeds around our driveway.
Boy, do we have avocados. Tasty ones.
The jasmine plants have bloomed, and our entire front yard is lovely and fragrant.
The trees and plants are vibrant, and the birds are singing...
And Ed has his bone.
"Om nom nom nom"
"What? It's good!"
It's been a very long week. Lots of long days at work, and not time for much rest at home have made it a rather dull week in terms of blogging material.
I do have some photos I've snapped over the past few weekends that I'd like to share. There really isn't much rhyme or reason here, I just wanted to post something to let you know I'm alive and well.
Dad and Tony have been working out in the garage almost every weekend together. They seem to enjoy working on cars, though perhaps Tony more than my Dad some days...
Boy, do we have avocados. Tasty ones.
The jasmine plants have bloomed, and our entire front yard is lovely and fragrant.
The trees and plants are vibrant, and the birds are singing...
And Ed has his bone.
"Om nom nom nom"
"What? It's good!"
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Family: A Retrospective, Part 2
Hi, friends.
It's been an especially rough week. 2 big group meeting presentations (which are always stressful and I can never give myself enough credit for actually doing a good job), bad news about a fellowship that I had put an incredible amount of time into, a stressful collaboration that is requiring me to be far more agressive than I am comfortable with being, a 5 day experiment that looked promising at the beginning, but tanked at the 11th hour, and gave me no data, and finally on the way home from a long day at work on Friday, a semi jack-knifed on the I-15, and I sat in traffic for over 2 hours.
But, there were some positive things this week:
I ran a total of 11 miles this week (3.5 miles twice and 4 miles on Friday, all without stopping to walk) with my girlfriends at work. This is the most I've ever run in my life, and I survived.
This week is the 3 year anniversary of my small group. I've only been in the group for about a year now, but it's really awesome to hear how community has changed my girlfriends lives, and how it's changed my life. I can't wait to start our new series, Crazy Love, this weekend!
Monday is Tony's birthday, and during my lunch break one day this week I went to Sears to get his present. Nothing says love like manly tools. Don't worry, he doesn't read my blog often enough to ruin the surprise, and he won't know what kind of tools I bought him :).
Needless to say, I am utterly exhausted. No tossing and turning for 30 minutes before I fall asleep. No waking up in the middle of the night to one of Ed or Ralph's puppy dreams. Pure exhaustion envelopes me around 9 PM every night, no matter where I am.
------
When I was little, I used to have a terrible time falling asleep. I was scared of things unseen, like the aliens and monsters that lived in our basement who would come upstairs at night to scare me. This resulted in an awful time for my parents. Dad, who I wrote about in my last blog entry, would sleep on the floor beside my bed, and to help me fall asleep, we would play the "capitols" game, whereby he would name countries of the world, and I would recite back their capitol cities. This shouldn't be a surprising tactic, given that my dad is a history professor. Then, after a bit, he would sneakily crawl out, being careful to avoid the squeaky boards in our hallway.
My mom's technique was to use soothing imagery to help me fall asleep. Our favorite "place" was lying on rafts on a lazy river (we got to pick out new colors for the rafts every time), feeling the warm sun on our faces. Approaching our favorite, pink speckled rock, and lazily sunbathing. Truthfully, when I'm so stressed out I'm not functioning, I still go back to our place.
I'm so glad for my mom, and the joy she brings to all her friends and family, especially me :). I think the photo above of my mom sleeping is one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. Though, I guess we must all think that our mothers, particularly when they were young, are the most lovely of all women.
It's been an especially rough week. 2 big group meeting presentations (which are always stressful and I can never give myself enough credit for actually doing a good job), bad news about a fellowship that I had put an incredible amount of time into, a stressful collaboration that is requiring me to be far more agressive than I am comfortable with being, a 5 day experiment that looked promising at the beginning, but tanked at the 11th hour, and gave me no data, and finally on the way home from a long day at work on Friday, a semi jack-knifed on the I-15, and I sat in traffic for over 2 hours.
But, there were some positive things this week:
I ran a total of 11 miles this week (3.5 miles twice and 4 miles on Friday, all without stopping to walk) with my girlfriends at work. This is the most I've ever run in my life, and I survived.
This week is the 3 year anniversary of my small group. I've only been in the group for about a year now, but it's really awesome to hear how community has changed my girlfriends lives, and how it's changed my life. I can't wait to start our new series, Crazy Love, this weekend!
Monday is Tony's birthday, and during my lunch break one day this week I went to Sears to get his present. Nothing says love like manly tools. Don't worry, he doesn't read my blog often enough to ruin the surprise, and he won't know what kind of tools I bought him :).
Needless to say, I am utterly exhausted. No tossing and turning for 30 minutes before I fall asleep. No waking up in the middle of the night to one of Ed or Ralph's puppy dreams. Pure exhaustion envelopes me around 9 PM every night, no matter where I am.
------
Mom, sleeping: mid 1970s, New Orleans
When I was little, I used to have a terrible time falling asleep. I was scared of things unseen, like the aliens and monsters that lived in our basement who would come upstairs at night to scare me. This resulted in an awful time for my parents. Dad, who I wrote about in my last blog entry, would sleep on the floor beside my bed, and to help me fall asleep, we would play the "capitols" game, whereby he would name countries of the world, and I would recite back their capitol cities. This shouldn't be a surprising tactic, given that my dad is a history professor. Then, after a bit, he would sneakily crawl out, being careful to avoid the squeaky boards in our hallway.
My mom's technique was to use soothing imagery to help me fall asleep. Our favorite "place" was lying on rafts on a lazy river (we got to pick out new colors for the rafts every time), feeling the warm sun on our faces. Approaching our favorite, pink speckled rock, and lazily sunbathing. Truthfully, when I'm so stressed out I'm not functioning, I still go back to our place.
I'm so glad for my mom, and the joy she brings to all her friends and family, especially me :). I think the photo above of my mom sleeping is one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. Though, I guess we must all think that our mothers, particularly when they were young, are the most lovely of all women.
Mom, early 1970s, New Orleans
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)