18 miles and an escape plan!

One of the great things about this training is that I have had the chance to explore areas on foot that I have only driven, areas I never thought I would go and areas that seemed insurmountable. In preparing for my planned 18 miles this weekend, I tried to find a course that would be beautiful and have plenty of pit stops, if needed.

I was helping some friends out with a Garage sale in Pasadena (near the foothills off Altadena- just North of 110) on Sat. I knew I wouldn't be able to come back and work on Sunday but thought, wouldn't it be cool to walk back up and check in! On top of that, my good friend Gabriel lives nearby and when he stopped by the sale on Sat, he said that he would join me for a mile or so if I did come back by the next day.

So I took a look at Google Maps and found that from my house to the garage sale was approx 9.2 miles. If I added in walking down the street to my friend Gabriel’s house, that added in an extra 0.5miles or so. This plan was starting to make me nervous. I had never done 18 miles before and definitely didn’t want to plan to do more my first time. Then my husband said he would be around that afternoon and I could call him to pick me up if I needed. I thought- What a great idea! Granted, I didn’t want to give myself the option of calling him before I hit 18 miles- but having that freedom meant I could go where I wanted and call him when I needed. What a gift!

Originally he had offered to go part of the way with me- but suggested I find a route that was a figure 8- so he could walk part way and then be dropped back off at home while I continued. There really aren’t that many places around my house I still want to explore- so the figure 8 idea - while well intentioned- wasn’t gonna fly for me today.

For some reason it takes me forever to get ready to walk. I always have the best intentions of leaving before 9am- but between putting on my gear (this time I forgot to powder under the lycra pants that I wore under my knee braces), packing my "power pack" (I was told it wasn’t a "fanny pack" since a.- I don’t wear it on my back. I wear it on my tummy and b.- it has bottle holders with insulation to keep them cold. It is MUCH more than a fanny pack) and stretching. I get so distracted as I am getting ready with all the things I feel like I need to do. I will have to make sure I pack up my power pack and layout my stuff before the marathon or I will be late to the starting line!

So I got out the door at 10 mins to 10am. And what a gorgeous day to be walking! The sun was out, but not too hot, there was a slight breeze and I was feeling fine! I took Huntington Drive all the way down to Sierra Madre/ San Marino Dr. At this point I had drank a little of my Gatorade (which I remembered to freeze the night before!). On the corner there is a BofA and I had a check with me I needed to deposit, so I paused my Nike Plus and stretched out my calves while at the ATM.

I guess its just Murphy's Law that every time I pause my Nike+ it stops my whole workout. I think its real progress that I don't freak out anymore. Before I would be upset at my Nike+ and think my whole workout was ruined, because my Mini me would not reflect the total number of miles I woudl actually complete, etc. Now, I just take it in stride (all puns intended) and start a new workout, so as to not have too long of a pause between them. Then I add up the totals at the end for my own edification. This was at 6.5 miles.

I continued up San Marino/ Sierra Madre towards the foothills. There really isnt any sidewalk on that street, so I went into the wide grassy median and walked in the middle of the road, beneth the trees, looking out for dog poop. It was getting warmer now, it was after noon and I knew I was getting closer to my destination: Garage Sale central. I was also feeling like I might need to go pee.

I hadn’t drank a lot of Gatorade yet, but I did have 8oz of "Joint Juice"- which is my Glucosamine supplement- before I left and it was catching up to me. I made it to Colorado, then Walnut and realized my Chiropractor's office was right there. I had the code for his office park door and knew there was a bathroom inside, so I went there. Incidentally- it is 8.7 miles to my Chiropractor from home (in case I ever wanted to walk there again).

Leaving my Chiropractor's I continued up Altadena. I was in the home stretch. Soon I would be seeing friends (as if at a finish line) selling their wares at the garage sale, and walk up triumphantly! I texted my friend Gabriel who was going to meet me nearby when I crossed the intersection of Altadena and Paloma. He says "Stop at Paloma, I am almost there". I write back "I don’t want to stop where are you at?" He texts, "Call me" so I do. I turn around and walk back down Paloma and see a figure walking toward me with a dog.

I meet up with Gabriel and Nikko and double back up the street and arrive at the Garage sale which is incredibly quiet... actually its done. Its put away. The car is in the driveway. I am too late to get kudos and accolades from my friends. Well it is 1:10p. 10.5 miles.

I walk up to the door and knock and the organizers are in there counting money. They congratulate me on the distance I came just to check in on them and thank me for the time I spent yesterday selling. I feel good :)

So I go back out and walk with Gabriel to his house, sit down for a couple mins, he gives me some of his left over "Accel Gel" and we sit for about 15 mins and drink some water. Its nice to rest for a moment. I don't think the walk would have been half as enjoyable without knowing the rest time was coming and enjoying the shade of the back porch, some cold water and time with my friend.

He leashes his other dog, Hannah and we say goodbye to his partner and head back out, towards home. He catches me up on all the latest, come cool séance work he has been doing at the Pasadena Playhouse, the drama of Paranormal investigation and tells me the best houses to look at in Pasadena are on San Pasqual (one of his 3 favorite streets in Pasadena).

We walk south, out of the foothills, past Colorado, past Del Mar to San Pasqual. I hug my friend and pet Hannah to say goodbye and continue the rest of my journey alone. San Pasqual doesn’t disappoint. It is a beautiful street, lots of trees, wide road, amazing homes with beautiful details. The type of neighborhood I never think I could afford, but love to visit. I admire the other families walking by and the open house- trying to get a glimpse without actually going in.

The street ends at Hill, right at the Cal Tech campus. I have never been to Cal Tech and really haven’t been on a college campus in a long time. I forgot how independent they make me feel. How quiet they are with nature the only interruption of people studying. There is a serenity here that I didn’t expect existed in the middle of this city. It feels like this is the birth of science here.

Since I have never been, I am little afraid I will hit a border on campus and not be able to get out, so when I see cars passing, I head to that street. Its is California. At this point I have had my first Powerbar Gel. I was starting to feel a little hungry, tired, kind of worn down and had already eaten my power bar "gummy" gels. Those are great- not quite as much as the gel packets- but just enough to feel like I am doing something for the fatigue.

I took California all the way east, past Pie and Burger on Lake, past Euclid, Marengo and then turned left and headed down Arroyo Parkway. Now at this point I am starting to watch my mile count. I know that to get all the way back home would take me FAR more than 18 miles. I don’t want to be a hero today. Besides, my husband said I could call and he would pick me up if I reached a point where I couldn’t go on.

I began thinking about eating- I was getting hungry as I walked down Arroyo Pkwy. What if I was able to hit 18 miles, at a sushi restaurant, then call my husband and have him meet me there and have a late lunch! That would be perfect! I passed by one on Arroyo- 16.7 miles… What about the one on Fair Oaks? – 17.2 miles! Dammit! This plan wasn’t going to work. So I kept pushing on, consuming another powerbar gel to take away the hunger and what I knew would be an impending headache if I didn’t.

I took Fair Oaks to Monterey and then took Fremont to Huntington. I got myself on the left side of the road as I walked back, planning for my pick up. I was almost at 18 miles as I passed the Starbucks. Soon I would approach the $0.99 cent store. I looked at my iPod and say- 18 miles (once I added the 11.5 showing to the 6.5 I had got earlier). I grabbed my phone and texted Gabriel- “I DID IT and now I am calling my husband.” I called him and said, “I am on Huntington, on your side of the road. Please come get me! J” And I kept walking.

Ultimately I did 18.75 miles by the time I climbed into his truck on the side of the road. He took me home and I unraveled my gear and found I had achieved a MAJOR rash on both calves and behind my knee, this time. (Not sure why- though the lycra pants weren’t fresh and clean like last time and I did forget the powder.) I think this is heat rash, but I am not sure of that either. My legs are incredibly sore now, but I did the best stretch I could and plan to do another before I go to bed.

I got in the shower, cleaned up, and rewarded my efforts with a drive to Little Toyko (downtown) and a sushi feast. Good protein and carbs. Healthy and delicious. Plus I felt I earned the hell out of it.

Yahoo! Go Games

Today was the closest thing I got to another run in during the sales conference. We did a thing called "GO Games" where they broke all 850 of us into 85 teams of 10. Then they gave us a cell phone and had us do an activity that was across between the Amazing Race and a Scavenger Hunt. We had cell phones provided that we downloaded our next clues from and answered some trivia on as well as digital cameras to take pics and video answers to some of the clues. We also interacted with actors who were playing specific contacts at different locations in the hotels. It was really fun!
It was also really exhausting in the heat (90+) to be running from one place to another. So I brought my iPod with me and my running shoes and thought I could calculate how far we ran as we did all the activities!
Well- the lesson I learned during that experiment is that inactivity pauses the Nike+ sensor. So when we ran from one place to another it counted the distance- but when we stopped for more than a minute without intentionally hitting the pause button, the sensor paused itself! Since I didn't know that, I didn't unpause it, nor notice this till after 3 hours- and presumably a few miles. The end result on my sensor was 0.14 miles... BOOOO! Well- at least we had fun. Plus- I was actually able to run and keep up with the other people on my team who appeared to be in much better shape than me!

WTF with this Nike+ online system?

One of my biggest joys and biggest motivators is my Nike+ sensor for my iPod and the online system. I love my mini-me avatar and my screensaver, which shows her running around and dancing. She has little thought bubbles that congratulate me on my latest recorded run- saying things like "With running in my corner, I can do anything!" and "I feel unstoppable after my 3.23mile run!"

The screensaver (and online tool) also shows me a summary of the number of workouts I have recorded (19 to date!) and miles total I have done since I started using the sensor (54.53miles) and my average pace (16.51 mins/mile).

All this stuff is awesome! And I know I have previously mentioned how, when posed with the question of: Workout without the sensor or Don't workout- I am likely to pick the later, since I know it will COUNT. Count for something! After all- what the heck am I doing this for? Doesn't it need to count for something? HA!

So when I log into my Nike+ tool and it tells me I am 3 miles behind in my weekly workouts (I have loaded my training schedule from the "Non Runner's Marathon Training Guide" book) I get a little peeved. Who the heck does it think it is? Just cuz I skipped Monday, I made up for it today! So I did 3/4/3 on Tues, Wed and Thurs- instead of Mon, Tues, Wed- why doesn't it see that? UGH. Only flaw, really, in the whole system that I can find.

Bottom line, I bailed out of training for a little bit today at lunch (luckily I had a different person presenting) so I could still make my 5pm meeting at work and my 6pm meeting in Burbank. I feel accomplished and proud that I have kept this as a priority. I am a little concerned how I will do this when I am in Portland/ Oakland next week (traveling for biz) but I am sure I will figure it out, one day at a time.

Today after the run (which I ran to 3 of the songs on the playlist-same ones as on Tues) I feel pain my my arches, heels and my calves are tight. Guess its not the best idea to sit down in a class for 3 hours after a run.

Oh- in case you were wondering, my left knee is still swollen. I am on a pretty regular Advil and ice regimen at this point. The only reason its worth mentioning, is that the right knee is starting to swell, too. So I wasn't sure if the other had gone in size? But no, the right knee has just gotten bigger. OH JOY!

Also news of note- I lost 2 pounds as of last week- which means 1 pound total since the start of this. But the really good news is I had been eating Ben & Jerry's Brownie Batter ice cream throughout last week- and STILL lost the weight. So I guess my metabolism is starting to speed up and wants to get a little leaner as I go. I am all for that! GO METABOLISM!