Way too busy to blog

Hello followers, that is if I have any, I've been swamped with school work and haven't been able to blog. Since my last entry I ran in the Nike Women's Marathon with a time of 4:53. Not great but I finished it. As usual I ran with my camera and took several shots, but due to too much knee pain I didn't take many. I also came down with a fever after the run that prevented me from celebrating at the victory party.

Now I am completely consumed with papers to write, readings, and projects. I'll be completely done with all of this right before Thanksgiving and will update you on everything complete with photos.

The only other big thing to happen to me was receiving my Christmas gift early, a Nikon D90 digital SLR camera! It arrived today complete with a Nikon D90 for Dummies. What a great gift to receive at such a bad time, in the midst of all my project and paper deadlines. Doh.

Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon and Stuff

Ah, I'm so behind in my blogging because of classes and tutoring and marathon training! So, here's an update of it all.

SJSU

• Number of classes-4.
• Number of units-14.
• Days I tutor-2, from 8am to 2pm.
• Number of papers written-14.
  
• Number of demos for science class-1. Conductivity of solutions. How neat is that?!
  

Training

• Total mileage-255.8 miles!
• Blisters-lost count after 20. :-(
• Bloody ankles-2.
• Races-2. SF Half and San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.
• Best quote heard on a race to racers in front of me-"Remember, this is your hobby not your job-smile!"
  
• Ice baths-8. That's 80 minutes of sitting in ice water!
• Days until Nike Women's Marathon-6! That's next Sunday, October 18th!
• Total raised-$1,735! Thanks to all who've donated.

I completed the Rock 'n' Roll half in 2:11:33. Not my fastest time (2:04:07 in SF Half) but a great run regardless. Live music played around every mile keeps us all smiling, laughing, singing and clapping. Some tunes had a nice running cadence beat to them, too. The best part aside from running my my favorite running buddy Victoria, running into several TNT captains and Coach Tim, having a TNT cheering section, seeing my family support me in front of my brother's apartment along the race path, a great chorizo breakfast at my brother's apartment, the ice bath afterward the run, is the fact that I was not sore at all. I didn't hurt at all after the 20 miles the weekend before and the race. How awesome is that?!

Because of my awesomeness there is something I have developed, a nervous-stress-not enough sleep-eye twitch. Thankfully I'm going to have a short break from school after the race for a little R & R. My next stop, Yosemite! Now I just have to plan the trip. Any tips of where in Yosemite to hike or stay? Let me know. It's my first time visiting.

Photos:

1. Conductivity of solutions. Practicing at home
2. Me in my bath tub immersed in icy water. Eight times people.
3. Me and Victoria running at the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll half at mile 5. Photo taken by Jennifer Ibarra, TNT mentor and runner.
   

Running and Eating

I know, I know. It's been a while since I last posted anything here. I didn't go anywhere, really, I just haven't had time to blog or snap photos. Here's why: reading, writing, class, tutoring, class, reading, writing, tutoring, class, some more of the same and running when I can fit it in. Well, I'm back to write and post a few photos.

If you look above this blog you'll see a slide show of the 18 mile training run in San Francisco on Sept. 12th. This was a run to remember because there was rain, thunder, lightning and in some parts hail! The rain washed away some of the chalk marking showing up where to run in Golden Gate Park but my group and I managed to find a way out back down the Great Highway and around Lake Merced.

The team ran 20 miles this pass weekend along the beautiful Monterrey coast. Was I there? Nooo. I was a good girl and attended my Mainstreaming (Special Education) class from 9 am to 4 pm that day. I did run 20 miles yesterday, though. Captain Mike Z. lead the make-up run for four TNTers along the Los Gatos Creek Trail starting from Campbell Park. When I arrived at the park at 6:15 am a small TNT cheer team showed up. Coach Tim, Captain Steve S., and mentor Ilya showed up to send us off. Coach Tim ran with Monica, Latoya, and Lindsay part of the way, too! How awesome is that?! And Captain Rich H. was there to run us in at the end while Cap. Mike rode his bike up and down the trail supplying us with water. What a great team! Thanks for all your support guys!

The run was lonely at first but once I broke up the run into four parts and got into the rhythm and pace I did well. I find that breaking up a long run into manageable portions make the run go by faster and doesn't wear me out mentally. But lets get down to a very important aspect of running, something Mentor Jen loves, eating. Everyone runner knows the sooner you're done with a long training run the sooner you can eat, you know, for recovery purposes, and eat I did.

My husband has had a hankering for dim sum lately and his cravings were finally satisfied after my run.

From the top left hand corner going clockwise are the first items we chose off the dim sum carts. Tender marinated chicken feet, so delicious; bean curd, a.k.a tofu, stuffed with vegetables; tripe marinated in ginger, garlic, and dressed with jalapenos, has a great snap to it and a tremendous flavor; steamed pork dumplings; steamed BBQ pork buns; and shrimp stuffed eggplants. But wait, there's more.

Okay, not that much more but two extra dishes. A plate of Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and a large bowl of rice porridge with 1,000 year old eggs, a fermented black egg. It was all washed down with hot Jasmine Tea and as Alton Brown would say, it's good eats. Now I regret not ordering honey walnut prawns and a sweet beans for dessert.

As every long distance runner knows, your stomach is like an endless pit after a training run. I hate to admit this but I actually ate two Taco Bell tacos two hours later and ate a bowl of seafood pasta from Frankie, Johnnies, and Luigi's for dinner. Not including the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, oranges, and banana I ate directly after the run. Or the bowl of oatmeal and banana I ate before the run, and the great deal of water and other fruits I consumed throughout the remainder of the day. I feel gross just thinking about the amount I ate but it was so worth it.

Now back to reading and homework.

A Healthy Labor Day Dinner

Today, of all days, I didn't feel like eating a traditional Labor Day meal. I said no to hamburgers and hot dogs, no to potato salad, no to carne asada, no to grilled chicken, and a big fat no to anything laden with overly sweet barbecue sauce. No to soda, no to salty chips, no beer, and no to manufactured processed boxed foods; basically no to anything artificial fat filled and artery clogging. To be honest with you, it's not that satisfying.

For years my husband and I would go to friends homes or my families places and eat all of the above. Of course my family will add extras like hot links, refried beans, Spanish rice, at least three different kinds of salsa and guacamole, grilled green onions and corn, and plenty of corn tortillas to go around, which isn't bad at all-in fact I really love my family's take on it-but it does becoming a little boring and passe. Especially when it's a lot of the same food for most family gatherings. So this year my husband and I decided to do Labor Day the way we like to eat, fresh and healthy.

Our meal began with sliced organic orange tomatoes with a slice of mozzarella cheese with a hint of salt and balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes are so sweet that I ate an entire tomato by itself! This is a great dinner in itself with a great piece of toasted or grilled bread topped with basil or an organic baby green salad.

Yummy grilled zucchini and yellow squash marinated in olive oil and salt. I can never get enough of this summer squash. Also great in a sandwich. Grilled eggplant is a great substitute too paired with marinated grilled red bell peppers.

The always delicious salmon powdered with lemon pepper and olive oil. Add a little lemon and I'm in salmon heaven.

I cannot deny my Mexican roots and not eat grilled corn whenever the grill is out during the summer. I bought white corn on the cob and husked it all.

I don't grill corn with the husk on. I like my corn grilled, I think you can taste the sweetness more this way than boiling it or steaming it in it's husks. This way you don't need to add any butter. Mmm, I can still smell the sweet corm on my table.

We did eat our meal with white rice, not the best carbs out there but it's what we have on hand and my husbands favorite. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the fact that I forgot to snap a picture of freshly steamed rice. I'll take one the next time if you really interested, though.

All in all with our portions weighed out and using FitDay.com to calculate our caloric intake, this meal was under 700 calories. Not a lot and not a heavy meal for a really tasty and nutritious meal.

I hope your Labor Day was great tasting too! Now get back to work, or school. :-)

New Shoes!!!

It's time I retired my running shoes. They're filthy, starting to tatter, blood stained, the insoles giving up their support, plus the tread is wearing out having over 317 miles on them, I'm shocked I waited this long.

So, I went to Runners Revolution and picked up my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS! There I happened to run into Jen. It was great catching up with one of my running mates and didn't realize how much I missed her and the rest of the Team. I don't have class or tutoring this upcoming Thursday and I hope to make it to the Buddy Run at 6 am. So peeps, bug me!

As you can see my new shoes are pristine and gleaming. My old ones looked like that once, before Rancho San Antonio, and other dusty parks. I won't be long before my new ones look like the pair they're replacing. With this comparison looking at me whenever I walk into my apartment, I'll make sure to wash my shoes after a dusty run in the future.

Now to break in my new shoes! With my Achilles chafed skin wound healing nicely, and not wanting to aggravate it more, I put on the thickest running socks I own to cushion it- my Team In Training socks!

Ahh! That should do it, and it did! I ran eight miles at Campbell Park with little pain. The first few steps did hurt but quickly dissipated. Soon enough the plantar fasciitis acted up and my foot went a little numb. After several more minutes of stretching and loosing up my laces my little aches went away. Or my pain tolerance has gone up. Either way I know that I must roll my foot more often now that my runs have reached double digits.

Next weekend 18 miles at Lake Merced! Whoo-hoo!

Autumn

Welcome to Theme Thursday! Today's theme is beginning. I hope you like where my interpretation goes.

Autumn has many ways of indicating it's here. The air turns crisp, the days grow shorter, the leaves turns to brilliant colors in many places around our country, unfortunately the Bay Area doesn't see much of it. Empty classrooms are filled once again with students excited to see their friends to show off their new clothes and gear. The college bound, like myself, are a little nervous about the curriculum.

According to science, the beginning of autumn is Sept. 22, 2009; 5:18 P.M. EDT. For me, the beginning autumn is not signified by the start of school, the turning of the leaves, nor the cooler weather. No, autumn begins when Starbucks starts offering their fall special, and my all time favorite flavored coffee, the Pumpkin Spiced Latte! Yummy!

Nothing makes me happier than sipping on hot coffee while reading or surfacing the net. Oh, but the joy of sipping a hot pumpkin flavored coffee makes me happier. No matter how disorganized my Multicultural Foundations class is, or how many times the course syllabus contradicts itself (I found five so far), and the daunting number of pages that must be read over the course for this class alone, Starbucks' Pumpkin Spiced always melts the stress away.

Now I'm sitting here at the library with my class readers out, ready to read 75 pages of racism, social injustice, poverty, and activism in the classroom and I'm so glad I have my coffee.

Yes, 75 pages of double pages! Now that's a lot. Now if I put my camera away and finish my readings.

If you haven't clued in yet, I love pumpkin. With that said, autumn also begins with pumpkin pies are being sold in the supermarkets. And as a mid-afternoon snack I cave in and have a slice of pumpkin pie. I did not pair it with the PSL. :-)

Runners Brain + Math = Doh!

The results of this equation are at the end of this entry via photos.

The alarm goes off when the whole world is snoring in a deep state of slumber way before the sun rises, and here I am getting out of bed. As soon as I'm standing my husband of four and half years whose back was towards me rolls to my side and clasps onto my pillow. I need to get ready to make up the Team In Training Coach led run I missed yesterday due to class.

Fully dressed to run 16 miles, I eat my instant oatmeal and banana. My fuel belt it fully loaded with my favorite GU, Outrageous Chocolate and Tri-Berry, along with Lemon Gatorade. Out the door and at Campbell Park before 7 am. Ten minutes worth of stretching and I'm off.

Along the trail I run to Willow Glen and back to Campbell. Five miles done, great, 11 miles to go. Here is where things become a little tricky, by mile six on my way to Los Gatos the back of my foot above the heel is being scratched and burns. The top of the sock falls below my ankles leaving my bare skin exposed the high back of my shoe. Now to run ten miles while my shoes rub the skin off the back of my feet. Ugh. Ignore the pain. It's not there. Listen to the whistle, is what I tell myself.

The whistle is new to my running regimen. It's an ordinary whistle with a ball inside that I hope to never use to ward off attackers. But the ball, is bounces inside the whistle with every stride. It sounds like I'm running with a rattle. There's no way I'm sneaking up behind anyone. Dogs in the surrounding neighborhoods bark as I approach and pass their homes. You can hear them barking several yards away. People walking or running their dogs look behind them to see where the rattle is coming from. A couple of dogs whimper and a few lunge for me. Some passersby leer and seem annoyed. You try running so many miles listening to this.

I'm tired and need to use a restroom bad when I reach mile ten. Luckily I know a little league field is quickly coming up complete with restrooms. I rejoice and smile with the little sign points to the field. I stop my watch and go. Hmm, mile 10.48, I'll need to turn around soon. This is where the Doh! part of the title comes in.

The math here is simple. I ran five miles, two and half miles out and two and half miles back is five, subtract from 16 and you're left with 11 miles left. Divide 11 by two and you have five and half. From Campbell to Los Gatos I need to run out five and half miles and turn around. Easy, add five to five and half to get ten and half. I need to turn around at mile 10.5, at the little league field, but that's not what I do.

No, I continue south bound deeper into Los Gatos. Pass the little league field, crossing Highway 17 on a bridge painted with murals from the local children, pass Los Gatos High School and towards the Lexington Dam. Why did I do this? Because I added 5.5 to 6 rather than 5. Why? Runners brain. There's a point when a runner is tired and stops thinking other than running and finishing. That was me. I ran an extra mile after my turn around point. Of course I realize this when I turn around. Now I'm in for 18 miles. Wah!

I cut corners where ever I can which is hardly anywhere. I stop at mile 16 and walk the remainder two miles. I am not going to run 18. My bleeding heels, back of my feet, whatever you want to call that part of the body hurts. My legs are sore and my knee is bothering me. And the heat? It's climbing. Yesterday it was in the 90s by 10 am, today it's a lot cooler but still warm. I'm tired and just want to go home.

After completing my 16 mile run and two mile walk I immediately call my husband. I was suppose to call him when I was done but told him to call me if he didn't hear from me by 9:30 am. I left my mobile phone in the car. By the time I call it's nearly 10:30, an hour late.

I go home and before I prepare myself for an ice bath I show him my boo-boos. Take a look for yourself.

Yep, it hurts.

How was I able to run 10 miles and walk 2 miles like this?

As of today these shoes are retired. They are blood stained and surpassed 300 miles.

Not looking forward to this...

because it hurts! My husband heard me howl at the other end of our apartment.
I've retired these socks too!

Missing My Team

Today was my first of three Saturday classes. A Special Education class that runs from 9 am to 4 pm. Because of this class I've missed a coach led run this morning, a 16 miler! After receiving and ready the syllabus for the class I noticed that our next meeting will be on September 26th, my last coach led run for Team In Training. The last run is our 20 miler!

I cannot skip this class and I cannot join the second section because it's taught by another instructor. The only thing I can do is go to class and run 20 miles by myself on Sunday. No one to run with, no water stops and no one to greet and applaud my efforts. I really do miss my Team.

My class did save me from running in 90 to 100 degree heat this morning. Another plus is a forecast of an 80 degree high tomorrow meaning a sweet cool Sunday morning. I think I'll start my run at 6 am just to make sure to avoid the sun and the heat.

Kudos to all my teammates that did run in the blazing sun and heat today and ran between 16 to 18 miles. You guys rock!

So Hungry!

I have forgotten what being a college student is like. You lug around your heavy books and laptop everywhere. You cannot leave your belongings alone either, hence packing everything away and lugging it with you whenever you want to get a drink of water or use the restroom. Trust me it blows. Without a refrigerator to keep your lunch or food cool you must carry an lunch bag or, like everyone here, buy all your meals while hauling everything with you.

In a open university with a very public library you cannot afford to leave your belongings alone. Students and very random sketchy looking people roam the floors and between the bookcases. No one can be trusted. This fact alone makes me rethink bringing my laptop. I'd like to leave my desk for a bathroom break without worry. In just the two short hours I've been at the library I've seen three students walk several times with all their belongings to purchase a bottle of water and to use the restroom. I'm starting to rethink bringing my laptop to class. On the other hand I'm not sure how I'll type up my writing assignments during my free time.

I do remember that student's that drive to campus and miraculously find a parking spot use their vehicles as a locker. But many students come via bus or light rail and don't have any such luck. I fall into the latter category. I don't want to drive to campus nor do I want to purchase a parking permit for a hundred some odd dollars. Paying my student fees, which comes close to three grand, and having to pay my PT bill which is another $1200, and being offered a free VTA (bus and lightrail) pass, I'll save my money and catch the lightrail to campus. Besides, the money I save on parking and gas will go towards the purchase of a $7 dollar sandwich. This is where I have to admit, I don't want to buy.

No, I'm not being cheap; I'm just being cautious with my money. I'll feel a bit more comfortable buying sandwiches once I start receiving my severance checks but until then I have no choice but to purchase my sandwiches and coffee.

Hm, it looks like I'll have to go grocery shopping for food that won't spoil and coffee.

Well, it's not that bad. Really, it isn't. My classes are in the evenings and I'm only on campus early to receive a TB test and to have the results read. If it weren't for that I'd be at home eating, watching TV, and attempting to read my assignments. Good news, I finished reading my assignments last night and am working on my writing assignment here at the library. Without food, or water, or my favorite magic potion, coffee. It won't be like this next week. It won't.

Oh, the sun has moved higher into the sky and my little nook by the window in the library on the seventh floor is now bright! Too bright for the likes of me. Sitting by the window is great except when the sun shines down on me and makes me hot. I'll have to find a different window facing the opposite side of the sun. Perhaps this is a good time for lunch. Or maybe not. I'll wait a little while longer before I have to go downstairs and buy lunch and coffee. I don't want to wait in long lines carrying my heavy laptop and heavy class reader.

Boo. I think my age is starting to catch up with me.

Caffeine Headaches

Since I stopped working I've also stopped drinking coffee, or I should say espresso. Soon came the caffeine headaches. With no coffee maker in the house and no horrible instant coffee I learned to numb my brain by watching daytime television. No, not soaps but anything on TLC or Discovery. This worked until I started class this week.

By attending night classes I realized that I absolutely need coffee to stay alert. Ack. I should have bought and drank my coffee earlier in the day, like, before 3 pm instead of drinking it at 6 pm. As you can see by looking at the time this was written and posted that I am still wired. This is bad and good.

Let's start with the good, shall we. I am quite alert and can start some of my many readings. I can stay up and watch Conan. (I'm usually in bed by the time he starts at 11:30 pm.) I can do what I'm doing now, blogging, and I can start on some of my writing assignments. So basically I can get some of my work done.

Now for the bad. I'm going to bed really really late which means I'll wake up really really late the next morning. Going to bed late also means going to bed once my husband has fallen asleep. How is this a bad thing you ask-he snores! By being in bed asleep before he joins me I avoid hearing his snoring. Going to bed at the same time I can avoid it before it really kicks in. There is no way I can avoid it tonight since my hubby went to bed 3o minutes ago. Ugh.

Let me tell you what happened yesterday. I drank a cup of coffee around 3 pm and wasn't able to fall asleep until 3 am. It was a combo of caffeine keeping me up and hearing my husband snore. Guess what time I woke up. Go ahead, take a guess. I woke up at 10:30 am today. I never sleep in that late, but since I'm not tutoring yet I didn't need to wake up. But what time am I going to go to bed tonight since I had a cup at 6 pm?! What time am I going to wake up tomorrow, or should I say later this morning? I'm a bit scared. Luckily I don't have any classes tomorrow and can sleep in. But what about Thursday and next week when I start tutoring for the AVID program at 8 in the morning?

I have one more night class this week on Thursday. Class starts at 5 pm so I'll be drinking my cup of coffee way before that. I think I'll drink it soon after lunch. Think that will work? Let's hope it does. I'll figure it out by the end of next week.

Missing Track For...

Science Methods. Tonight's class is a five hour long lab where two current science teachers instruct/coach/answer/counsel/demonstrate for us future science teachers. In Science Methods I'll learn

1. The nature and purposes of science and science teaching.
2. Science curricula, present and future.
3. Teaching skills and strategies.
4. How to promote, evaluate, and assess student active learning.
5. Classroom management, discipline, seating, safety, etc.
6. Teaching English learners, multi-cultural classroom instruction, sensitivity issues, motivational techniques, etc.
7. Your role as a professional science teacher.
   

to meet all California Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs). (More acronyms!) With it comes a lot of reading and writing and lesson planning and it's with other science teachers!

Tonight we went over a salt water-fresh water ice demo (which will melt the ice faster, salty water or fresh water? Do you know?), an intro to science teaching (how students perceive a word differently without the use of a model or specific instruction or definition, especially new science vocabulary), setting up class rules and procedures without using the words Don't and No (a little hard to do but you spin the rules with a positive outlook), and learning how to implement the Ticket to Leave the class (journal entry about what was learned) by doing it at the end of every class session.

This was a lot of new information to take in for the first class, and I have to admit it was fun, and it's going to be a lot of hard work (the syllabus is 17 pages long!) and I'm so ready for it.

EL, ELL, ESL, etc.

Walking around my alma mater earlier in the day was a bit trippy. I wanted to write a blog entry describing how I felt walking here and there. Something about the effect of walking the same grounds exactly ten years ago as a freshman wondering how tough college was going to be and pondering what and where I'd be after graduating. One thing is for sure, I never thought that I'd be back to earn a teaching credential to teach high school science. I can go on and on on how young the students look, how much certain areas on campus changed, which buildings I took classes in and which building I never stepped a foot in, etc., but I won't. My first night class of three was held today and completely intrigued me, who are California's English Learners and their corresponding programs?

English Learners (EL), English Language Learners (ELL), English as a Second Language (ESL), Limited English Proficient (LEP), Fluent English Proficient (FEP), Re-designated Fluent English Proficient (R-FEP), Cross Cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD), Bi-cross Cultural Language and Academic Development (BCLAD), and there's seven more. There's more acronyms for English Learners and their appropriate programs than FDR's New Deal. Seriously! They're all different names to label students on how little or how much English they know. But why so many labels? All to determine different English teaching styles and programs to receive federal funding. Good thing or not? Hmm, I'm not quite sure yet.

I'm intrigued but at the same time flabbergasted at all the nonsensical acronyms for testing students and labeling them. It's great that there are many programs to teach non-native English speakers English but there aren't programs for poor speaking native English speakers. Remember the whole controversy over Ebonics? Poor inner city blacks speaking their own version of English, does that ring a bell? What about them?

This is just a little snippet of what's to come for my Literacy and Language Development for L2 (English) Learners class. Simply put, this class will certify me to teach students whose primary language isn't English. There's a lot of reading involved in this class and a lot of writing assignments. Is it crazy to say that I'm actually looking forward to it?

Tomorrow: Science Methods.

Bust

Running at Rancho San Antonio Park Reserve did not happen this morning. As Victoria and I drove pass the full lower parking lots and the full first upper parking lot we knew all the other parking lots were full. This park has become very very popular over the pass couple of years, but no parking at 6:40 am! What the heck? I drove from parking lot to parking lot for 20 minutes and didn't see a single TNTer. We gave up hope of finding a parking spot and bolted to Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

There was plenty of parking at Quicksilver and no shortages of hills. There was no flat area for a nice warm up like Rancho provides, nope. First step onto the trail is straight up a hill. What a great park for hill workouts with no one in the way!

I have to admit that tackling a hill head on for two curvy miles was tough so we promptly turned around after encountering the abandoned camping grounds at mile two. I'll do better the next time, Quicksilver is my new trail running park.

An abandoned building in the middle of the hills; site of the English Town camp.

A view on the way down from the camp English Town.

Running Rancho

Well, I've been out of work for three weeks now and I have not been able to wake up in the mornings. Not even for my buddy runs! I did manage to wake up at 6 am last week, the time I'm supposed to start running, and I did and catch up the ladies in my group and ran six miles. This week, not so much. Sleeping in feels good and I'm getting in as much as I can before I start tutoring and attend my classes next week.

So, tomorrow is an On Your Own Run and I plan on running at Rancho San Antonio at 6:45 am. Yep, I need to wake up early. Ha, I'm setting up two alarms for tomorrow morning! I'm determined not to miss this beautiful run. In fact I made plans to pick up my running buddy Victoria at 6:25. It was the only way I can get her to run with me that early on a Saturday morning. It's also a great way to get my butt out of bed tomorrow, too. Running buddies are great for many reason, don't you think?

The group plans on running seven miles up and over a giant hill that climbs up 400 feet in one mile. Yeah, it's crazy awesome and I can do it with a camera in my hand snapping away. I'm freakin' great. Just kidding. Nah, I am. All I have to do is wake up early.

Check out the photos tomorrow. Sleep well and wish me luck. :-)

Shadows

It's Thursday once more and I that means Theme Thursday! This week's theme is shadow. I scoured my photographs and found a few of my favorite shadows. I hope you like them.

Arches along the walkway at the Mission Santa Barbara. I can easily picture Spanish monks and the Chumush indians walking here in the late 18th century.

Under the shadow of the Arch in Washington Square Park in New York City near NYU. (How much do you miss this park, Jen?)

Trinity Church emerging from the shadows in lower Manhattan in front of Wall Street. Alexander Hamilton is buried here.

Under the shadowy dome of The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

One by one my husband and I follow my siblings onto a boat one mild wintry morning at Lake Tahoe.

Sledding underneath the shadows of tall pine trees in the Sierra Mountains in northern California.

This being a blog about running I had to insert two photos of my shadow running and my friends.

Running at Campbell Park for my weekly 6 am morning run. (This photograph was taken later in the morning at mile seven.)



Here are a couple of running shadows through the Heritage Rose Garden along the Guadalupe River Trail that runs through downtown San Jose.

Happy Thursday everyone!

With My Free Time

I bake of course. My father-in-law has this pear-apple hybrid fruit tree that bears a ton of fruit. I receive bags of pear-apples, my mother receives bags of pear-apples which she shares with her father. Now, this pear-apple hybrid fruit looks like a small green apple, tastes like a cross of pear and apple, and when you cut into it looks like a small squat pear. It's not bad at all, but what do you do with so many of these little fruits?

After being laid-off and waiting for my teaching credential classes to start (next Monday by the way) I have a lot of time on my hands. Not wanting these ripe little fruits to go bad, and becoming a little tired of eating them, I decided to bake a pie for my mother's birthday. I wanted to bake her a carrot cake but was told by both my brothers not to bake her a cake. They had ordered a "Princess cake" that cost a lot of money and we were going to have that. I said OK and backed down just a little bit. They didn't say anything about pies. Too bad my mother doesn't like this little fruit, oh well.

So I followed and improvised an apple pie recipe I read in an old recipe book my mother gave me. (OK, so I borrowed it for a banana bread and a zucchini bread recipe and never gave it back. Hey, she wasn't using it and hadn't used it in many moons.) Two hours later and it was done. It just needed to cool.

I drove to my parent's home where my siblings and I were meeting to take our mother out for dinner. When I arrived my mother was in her comfortable shorts and tank top lounging on the couch watching TV. "Now that's how you celebrate your birthday," I said with glee, "doing absolutely nothing!"


She raised an eyebrow and asked what I had in my hand. "It smells good. Apple?"

"Hmm, not quite. It's apple-pear pear-apple pie," I replied. My mother made a face. "I made it so you know it's good and you have to eat it," I retorted as I walked into the kitchen.

"Do I have to?" she whined.

"Yes. Now get dressed we're going to take you out to a Japanese restaurant."

My mother sighed and slowly got up.

After dinner we sang her Happy Birthday and cut the "Princess Cake" only because it was covered with a green marzipan. It was a beautiful cake but a little too sweet for many of my family's taste. Next we cut into my pie and it was gone within minutes, except for my mother's slice. Her excuse, "I'm too full. I'll have it tomorrow morning with my coffee." Uh-huh was all I can say. But seeing her defend her piece of pie and hiding it from my father I knew she would eat it the next day. My father then eyed the other slice I saved for my husband.

My mother absolutely loved my pear-apple apple-pear pie. My husband also loved the one bite he had before accidentally dropping it. He was so angry with himself I swear he was ready to punch the wall. The only thing I can say to calm him down was to ask for more fruit to bake him an entire pie for him. I was given another bag of pear-apples the next day and I finally managed to bake it this morning. It smells so heavenly.

Coaches' Order

Running without my running buddy is hard sometimes. There's no one there to joke with, no one to rant and rave with, to keep our spirits up, and to help pull each other at the end of a long run. Yep, it's hard. Running by myself is even harder when a coach pulls you aside and gives you a very slow pace and forgets to tell you're running buddy.

"Gabby, you're pace should be 10:30 but I'm going to have to start off at 12 minutes a mile."

"What?! Are you sure?" I question back in disbelief.

"Yes, this is for your own good. Every mile decrease the pace by 15 seconds until you hit 10:30 minutes a mile. Trust me, you won't be tired at the end of your 14 miles," my coach says with a smile.

I snap a few photos of my running group and head out with the fast runners only to be left behind in the dust, literally. None of them are following the coaches pace he gave them and he forgot to give most of them their paces! Here I was, the last one in my running group, basically walking the first few miles in the heat, by the drying stinky sulfurous marshes of the Baylands Park. (An entire region of the Baylands are used to produce salt. When the water evaporates the only living creature/bacteria that lives in the saline water dries up and stinks the whole place up.)

I don't know what was harder, running slowly by myself or seeing my group run by me and finish before me. I did though, I stuck with the pace Coach Hao gave me and I wasn't happy at all. When I finished both Coach Tim and Coach Kris asked what was wrong with me. "You didn't smile once out there. Are you OK?"Coach Kris asked with a concerned look on her face.

I explained what Coach Hao had said and the only thing she kept saying is, "that's too slow for you."

Word got out to Coach Hao and he promised to pick up my pace. He was just being conservative with my time. He then told Victoria what had happened and told her that we must run together and maintain our pace. There's an order that made me happy.

It's Garlic Time!

This week's Theme Thursday is Festival.

In late July my wonderful husband starts smelling like a vampire repellent. It's on his breath, in his skin, and it pours out of him for days. He just stinks! He ate it with his fries, with mushrooms and escargot, it was in his sausage sandwich, in with the calamari and shrimp scampi even in his ice cream, and no piece of bread was spared. He and I ate all of this at the 31st Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Eating is the number one reason to go to any festival, and the Garlic Festival is one of the places to go. But instead of eating ourselves silly we went for a noble reason-to volunteer for the Marrow Donor Registry. I don't know the exact number of new registrants because I lost count after 60! And that was halfway our five hour shift! As a member of Team In Training, fighting blood cancer is my game so I'm a registered as a marrow donor.

As a treat for volunteering we treated ourselves to garlic everything and a few ungarlicy things.
My husband and I were so happy and gluttonous to eat everything in site I forgot to snap photos of the crawfish and deep-fried battered garlic cloves. :-( Here's what I did snap.

My husband and I have gone to this festival on and off for the past six years. The food is always great, the arts and crafts are fun to look at and the weather is always hot, but we were a little disappointed this year. With the bad economy come the price hikes, but did they have to downgrade the food with it? The mushrooms and escargot vendors are now cooking thier food without seasoning! Sure you can get seasoning and salt on the side but it doesn't taste the same. And $7 for a small bowl of calamari in garlicy marinara sauce with one little slice of garlic bread? You pay too much for too little overcooked rubbery calamari. I was really disappointed. In spite of the price increase on everything we still ate and ate and ate.

I come for the free garlic ice cream! It tastes like sweet mild roasted garlic. On a hot bright sunny day, this cold sweet is really refreshing and worth the long wait in the line.

Regardless of how much he eats or how little I eat, we're both not great people to hang out with after the festival. Just ask my parents. :-)