New friends and feet

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all you moms of children, with or without fur!



My day started off very early this morning. The alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. because Boomer and I had a running date at 6:00. I made the date with Stacey (Run Bitch Run) so we could show her what Garin is all about, really. I tortured, I mean, showed her a good time, I think. The poor girl rode 84 miles yesterday! Yet, she hung in and we ran some of my favorite single track trails together, covering 10 miles. She told me she had 10 miles on her calendar so I gave it to her. It was a beautiful cool, clear morning. We chatted and laughed our way through all of the miles and complained about our sore boot-ays as we climbed some of the hills. If you think her blog is funny, she doesn't disappoint in person. And she is just as pretty too. ;) I truly hope she will make the drive up here again soon. Well, maybe after her Ironman in June.

I came home to flowers and this nice card from Boomer: (you must click on it to read it)

The inside says, "you are my best friend."


Then it was time to get pampered. Sara treated me to a pedicure at Pinkie's in The Livery shopping center in Danville. I hardly ever bother getting pedicures for myself because, well, why? My feet get beat up from all of the trail running I do. I'm constantly trimming my toenails so they don't affect my running. And those cute little sandals that show off your pretty painted toes? I don't wear them too much.

They offered us champagne but we declined and had water instead. Sara was nice enough to buy me some cookies which I brought in with us. We (I) ate those while getting my pedicure. The leg massage felt great after the run this morning, that's for sure.

Here are my gorgeous toes waiting to dry. It should take me about two days to get them thrashed. Yes, I've been told my bunions could walk away on their own if they wanted. One more reason I don't wear cute sandals very often. But, my toes sure look pretty for now.

After our pedicures we drove into Downtown Danville and walked around, mainly looking for a nice place for lunch that wasn't just serving brunch. Lots of people out and about, even with their dogs. After an hour or so, we ended up driving right back to back to The Livery and eating at Luna Loca. I had a vegetable burrito. It was very delicious! It actually had vegetables in it, not just rice, beans and grilled peppers. It had broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peppers, onions, some cheese. I was so happy we ended up eating there.

I came home and took a much deserved nap. Keith just cooked me dinner. Now I will take Boomer for his after dinner walk. A great day indeed. ;) The only thing that could have made it better is if I could have seen my mommy but one of my brothers took her to see Wicked.

I'm finally back to working my usual three days a week. Thank GOD! I can get back to my normal running life. Woohoo!

Until later.............

One word

I received this as an email the other day but I thought it would be fun to put it in my blog. If you feel like you want to participate by copying and pasting to your blog, feel free!!! The only requirement is you have to respond with ONE WORD!! The first thing that comes to your mind, put it down. Have fun!

Where is your cell phone? Purse
Your significant other? Keith
Your hair? Messy
Your mother? Rocks!
Your father? Estranged
Your favorite thing? Bed
Your dream last night? Overslept
Your Favorite Drink? Water
Your dream/goal? Fun
What room are you in? Living
Your hobby? Running
Your fear? Cancer
Where do you want to be in 6 yrs? Here
Where were you last night? Shopping
Something that you aren't? Thin
Muffins? Yummy
Wish list item? Housekeeper
Last thing you did? Slept
Your pets? Spoiled!
Friends? Important
Your life? Awesome
Your mood? Groggy
Missing someone? No
Drinking? Coffee
Smoking? No
Your car? Murano
Something you're not wearing? Socks
Your favorite store? REI
Your favorite color? Pink
When is the last time you cried? Clueless
Where do you go to over and over? Garin
My favorite place to eat? Mexican
Place I'd like to be right now? Jamaica
Dream job? Not!
Item of clothing you wear way too often? Ball cap
Item you could not live without? Lip balm

Boomer Update

Boomer likes to lay out on the front lawn and watch all the birds and cars go by. This morning he is pretty much back to his normal self.

Keith was kind enough to take his temperature for me last night while I was at work. I called the vet and they said if he didn't have a temp over 102, probably no need for alarm. She knows Boomer's history and the running he puts in. His temp was 100.1 so we just let him rest. Last night he met me at my car as I pulled in the garage which is always great! He is eating, drinking normal. Today no limping. I actually slept in because I didn't figure I would need to walk him before I go to work.

I think he would have enjoyed a walk but I will walk him this evening.

Thank you everyone for your nice comments and concern about my little boy. Just like us human runners, sometimes we pull a muscle, he can too. It's not the first time. He runs like a maniac all over the trails and mountains.

Until later.............

I really love single track!

As I promised myself yesterday, I got my butt out of bed and out of the house early this morning so I could get a short run in before work. When Boomer and I got to Garin, the fog was just beginning to lift. I could have gone over to the Alameda Creek Trail and put in more miles but I have decided it's well worth the extra little drive to get my dose of single track therapy!

The single track trails are getting very skinny right now.

This cow's nose was the sweetest color of pink. Someday, I WILL kiss a cow on the nose.

Boomer was moving very slowly last night. He looked very depressed. When he would get up from laying down, it looked like he was in pain. When he jumped on on the bed he plopped down in one position and didn't want to move for anything. I debated about taking him with me this morning. He was still walking kind of slow and he just looked sad. I'm not sure if he pulled a muscle, a tendon, a ligament, etc. After I put my socks on and picked up my keys, he obviously wanted to go. For the first time ever, he wouldn't jump up in the back of my car though. I picked him up and put him in. I decided if I just walked around this morning and didn't run, it would be okay. I kept an eye on him and he seemed fine once we got there. He jumped out of my car okay. We ran a little over four miles and he kept up with me without a problem. Maybe he was just stiff. He was running around Sunol a ton yesterday with Bella. He had to hop around the hills there because the grass was so tall. He'll be able to rest all day, today and tomorrow. Hopefully it's just a little muscle soreness from yesterday. It would SUCK if he couldn't run with me all the time.

Until later.............

Sunol with Sara

Sara asked me if I would take her and Bella to Sunol Regional Wilderness Park this morning. Uh, HECK YA! I would never pass up a hike with my daughter and her puppy, or the opportunity to see this park this time of year.

Wildflowers are everywhere!!

Not all photos are perfect but when it's the only one I took of the two of us, it gets shared anyway.

The Alameda Creek before turning up onto the Canyon View Trail.

No, she's not a trail runner YET and she doesn't always appreciate me taking her picture. Give me a little more time to work on her.

Boomer and Bella coming off the hill after giving some squirrels a good chase.

Standing in the shade, trying to catch their breath.

Our final view of the creek on our way out:

I don't work until 11:00 tomorrow so I will be heading out early in the morning (not being a PU$$Y) for a short trail run with Boomer.

Until later.............

One surprise after another

If you paid close attention to a few posts back, you would have known I was looking forward to a trail run with Christy Sunday morning. What? You don't remember? Humph! Well, to my surprise, HSE Lori asked if she and her little Mikey could join us. So we all went to Garin. Very happy to hear from her and Boomer was thrilled to have someone to play chase with. We took this photo before Christy turned around. She ran the day before and only wanted to run five miles.

It was raining, off and on. Since I had been on the coast all day Saturday, it didn't even occur to me that it had been raining over here in the east bay hills. Surprise! It did, and there was a LOT of mud. Here is my shoe:

And Lori's:

Lori and I were planning on running 8-10 miles. This route would have taken us off the muddy fire road and into some nice covered single track trails. Perfect. At the 3.75 mile mark, she asked me about a message I had received on my phone earlier. At this point I reached in my pocket to check it. Surprise! My phone wasn't there. Crap! This meant we had to backtrack on the same muddy fire road we just came up so we could try and find it. I thought for sure it was going to be in the deep wet grass and ruined. We got back to the picnic table where we had taken the photo and there it was, right where I dropped it. Thank God the grass wasn't too deep. My phone lives on. Lori and I got in a little over seven miles. Better than nothing.

Then, I got off work today at 3:30 and it's overcast but warm (72 degrees) so I called my husband and asked if he would like to go for a hike. Surprise! He said yes. ;)

Garin is beautiful in the late afternoon:

I thought this guy looked very unique. I wanted to kiss him but he didn't have that loving feeling look in his eyes, so I decided against it.

A little bit later, Keith and I are rounding a corner and I was talking about a previous time I was here and saw some bunny rabbits. I told him I had to get Boomer's attention quickly so he didn't see them and try to catch one. Right about then Keith says, "whoa, stop!" I thought he saw a bunny rabbit. Surprise!!! This is what he saw:

That ain't no bunny rabbit! It's the biggest snake I have ever seen. He was FAT!

Thanks honey, you saved me and Boomer from the big fat snake.

If you enlarge this photo, you can see Mission Peak on the far left side, that little tiny point. Santa Cruz mountains in the distance.

And this photo enlarged will show you the beautiful San Francisco skyline.

Boy, I really do love where I live.

I'm scheduled to work every day except Wednesday this week so I'll be squeezing in a run whenever I can. I may have to be happy with little 3-5 milers.

Until later.............

Volunteering at Miwok 100k

I spent 12 hours in the rain yesterday, volunteering at the Miwok 100k.

(Miwok 100K Trail Race - Official Website)

I was up at 4:00 a.m. and out of the house at 5:00 a.m. for my hour long drive to Mill Valley. My first assignment, after arriving at 6:00 a.m., was to get the numbers of all the runners as they came into the Tennessee Valley aid station at mile 11.9. I'd say it took about 1-1/2 to 2 hours for all 322 of them to come through. Now they were all on their way and would not be back until mile 58.4. So, after the last runner came through, a few of us went to The Dipsea Cafe for brunch. I had a pear, walnut and brie omelet with a very nice buttermilk biscuit. Quite yummy!

Welcome to the Dipsea Cafe!


When I got back, I changed into some running pants and went out to check a very small loop of the course (3.75 miles) to make sure there were enough pink ribbons for the runners to see when they came back through.

Here's my view of the ocean: (Nice, huh?)


Here's what I looked like all day:


This is why bright pink ribbons were VERY IMPORTANT:

Below the fog and not raining for a very short period:

Oh, here comes Rick (365me) at mile 58.4:

And......... there he goes:

I was taking the numbers of the runners again and waiting for a few of my friends to show back up. After Rick, Andy Kumeda showed up. I asked him about Catra. He assured me she was back there. I was still waiting for Mike Bohi who was supposed to be picking up Victoria to pace him. Right before I was getting ready to leave, I looked up the trail and heard Victoria's voice. However, Mike was not with her. She was running with Suzanne (sp). Apparently Mike had to drop somewhere. I'm sure we'll find out what happened. At this point I heard 52 runners had dropped from the race. I sure as hell don't blame any of them. Some people say they wouldn't have made it through 90+ degrees at Diablo? I wouldn't have lasted very long at all in the conditions yesterday. I guess we all have our limits.

Okay, there was some sunshine in my day. Hal Koerner, (an awesome ultrarunner, Western States winner, etc.) pulled up in the parking lot. He tethered his doggie to his waist and headed out for a short run. I was completely star struck. The aid station captain, Stan Jensen, grabbed my camera and asked Hal if he'd mind standing next to me for a picture. He was very nice as he agreed to do it. Alas, my work there was done.

Until later.............