I'm still chuggin' along on this challenge, but my mileage isn't improving. I'm trying to at least get a four mile run in on the weekends and they aren't too bad. I've been looking at this one trail I was close to last year, but I'm unfamiliar with it. I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and risk the run.
It on the Fort Ord Bureau of Land Management property. It takes you from the outskirts of Salinas to Monterey. Some of the trails hit Laguna Seca Raceway! There are mountain bikers always on those trails and I hear them discussing if they should go through Laguna Seca or other routes. One of these days I'm taking my Surly CrossXcheck for a spin through those trails . . . or maybe just grow some and run there!
I think it'd only be a 10 to 15 mile round trip. If I plan it right, I could make my own little half marathon out of it. Take a small pack with some water and grub and take my time with it . . . I'm kinda liking the idea!
Looks like I might have a fun run this Saturday! I'll post on how it goes ASAP.
GD
p.s.
too excited now to check! run smiley :)
Formerly of experiences of Ubuntu n00bism. Now random postings on learning barefoot form.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
9/11 and Day 100
Today is September 11th and I'm pretty sure there are THOUSANDS of people writing their own personal accounts of what their day was like. And I am fairly certain my day was nowhere near as straining as a lot of those.
What I remember of that day was having gotten out of the shower, I turned on the radio to listen to some talk radio program. I think it was local show before the syndicated shows began. On that morning they had just had a blurb of an unconfirmed report that a small plane may had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York. Me, being the cold-hearted bastard that I am, didn't really put much thought into it.
As I'm driving into work though, the local news station gets taken over by a nationwide news broadcast stating that a commercial airliner had hit one of the Towers. I didn't want to believe it because I knew that would mean something a bit more important than an airplane malfunction. I didn't want to think the T word . . . not yet.
I got the lab and on entering asked if anyone had heard about the plane crash. Nope. I set up the rabbit ears on our rinky-dink lab tv and tuned it to one of the three stations we recieved that wasn't in spanish. It was KSBW, our local NBC affiliate. It was a live, distant, aerial view of one of the Towers smoking from a fairly large hole of where the plane had struck. Everyone in the lab was silent listening to what the reporters thought may have happened. Pilot or mechanical error, or the possibility of . . . the T word.
EVERYONE exclaimed the exact same thing as if we had rehearsed the line thousands of times when we saw the second plane enter the picture. "OHMYGOD!"
I will never forget that image and everyone in that room. We were all shocked. It may have been 3000 miles away, but we felt that plane hit that tower. We knew what it meant. The T word now had solidity. It was an actual term in our everyday language. Terrorists. There is a color chart stating the threat level of possible Terrorist Attacks in the USA. I don't know if it's still in use today, but I remember we'd go from level yellow to orange a lot for a while.
One funny thing to note, though. I know it should be somber time, but we've grown to become wary and the government has used that as an excuse to plant their boot on our backsides to do what the government wants to do . . . sorry.
I got sidetracked. But a funny thing happened when I was listening to the radio several days later. Maybe weeks or months later, I can't quite remember. What I do remember was that there were a couple of radio dj's talking and one of them talked about how he had been in the station on the morning of the 9/11 attacks. They were scheduled to have a psychic reader do her weekly 30 minute call in program on their show.
From what he said, she walked in completely oblivious to the shock and fear everyone at the station was in after the Towers had been hit. Here was a psychic, a sensitive, and she didn't know what was going on.
I usually changed the station or switched off the radio whenever she was on anyway.
And that is my account of an extraordinary day that I pray doesn't EVER get repeated in any way, shape or form. Anywhere.
Now back to our irregularly scheduled blog post.
It's Day 100 of my 30+ Day Running Challenge!
Last time I posted was on Labor Day, a bit over a week ago. And it's been quite a week. Monday through Wednesday were all flat runs. I was pulling my hair out because I didn't know if I would have time to do all I had to do for Saturday's event (which I'll get to in a minute). I had scheduled Thursday and Friday off to hopefully be able to accomplish that. Which I barely did.
Thursday I decided to run Toro Park again after a fairly long hiatus. I guess I was afraid of the trail as that is where I last got majorly worked over and fucked up my foot (pulled my foot and had plantar fasciitis for months after). I am happy to say that it will be a regular part of my schedule because it beat the living shit outta me.
I've described the trail on here once before. Let me remind you. I'm working on getting better and with this daily run thing, it's getting more comfortable, but not better. Toro Park will get me better. Where as Manzanita Park is steep hills and you know you're going to get worked over, Toro Park appears benign.
But it's not!
You go from 140 feet to 380 feet in about a mile and change. It's not much at all if you're used to it. I'm not. It's a constant climb, no breaks. Coming back down is cake . . . until it's not. You can only bomb downhill for so long before quads and calves start complaining.
I am soooo looking forward to running this trail again. I want to get to the running condition I had when I was running it relatively easily again. I think a combination of running the Toro Park Howling Windmill Trail (it's what I call it . . . TPHW for short) and the Toro Park Estates trail (TPE) will help me get there.
I'll be at the TPHW tonight. Can't wait!
GD
p.s.
fingers are cramping from too much typing to check. run smiley :)
What I remember of that day was having gotten out of the shower, I turned on the radio to listen to some talk radio program. I think it was local show before the syndicated shows began. On that morning they had just had a blurb of an unconfirmed report that a small plane may had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York. Me, being the cold-hearted bastard that I am, didn't really put much thought into it.
As I'm driving into work though, the local news station gets taken over by a nationwide news broadcast stating that a commercial airliner had hit one of the Towers. I didn't want to believe it because I knew that would mean something a bit more important than an airplane malfunction. I didn't want to think the T word . . . not yet.
I got the lab and on entering asked if anyone had heard about the plane crash. Nope. I set up the rabbit ears on our rinky-dink lab tv and tuned it to one of the three stations we recieved that wasn't in spanish. It was KSBW, our local NBC affiliate. It was a live, distant, aerial view of one of the Towers smoking from a fairly large hole of where the plane had struck. Everyone in the lab was silent listening to what the reporters thought may have happened. Pilot or mechanical error, or the possibility of . . . the T word.
EVERYONE exclaimed the exact same thing as if we had rehearsed the line thousands of times when we saw the second plane enter the picture. "OHMYGOD!"
I will never forget that image and everyone in that room. We were all shocked. It may have been 3000 miles away, but we felt that plane hit that tower. We knew what it meant. The T word now had solidity. It was an actual term in our everyday language. Terrorists. There is a color chart stating the threat level of possible Terrorist Attacks in the USA. I don't know if it's still in use today, but I remember we'd go from level yellow to orange a lot for a while.
One funny thing to note, though. I know it should be somber time, but we've grown to become wary and the government has used that as an excuse to plant their boot on our backsides to do what the government wants to do . . . sorry.
I got sidetracked. But a funny thing happened when I was listening to the radio several days later. Maybe weeks or months later, I can't quite remember. What I do remember was that there were a couple of radio dj's talking and one of them talked about how he had been in the station on the morning of the 9/11 attacks. They were scheduled to have a psychic reader do her weekly 30 minute call in program on their show.
From what he said, she walked in completely oblivious to the shock and fear everyone at the station was in after the Towers had been hit. Here was a psychic, a sensitive, and she didn't know what was going on.
I usually changed the station or switched off the radio whenever she was on anyway.
And that is my account of an extraordinary day that I pray doesn't EVER get repeated in any way, shape or form. Anywhere.
Now back to our irregularly scheduled blog post.
It's Day 100 of my 30+ Day Running Challenge!
Last time I posted was on Labor Day, a bit over a week ago. And it's been quite a week. Monday through Wednesday were all flat runs. I was pulling my hair out because I didn't know if I would have time to do all I had to do for Saturday's event (which I'll get to in a minute). I had scheduled Thursday and Friday off to hopefully be able to accomplish that. Which I barely did.
Thursday I decided to run Toro Park again after a fairly long hiatus. I guess I was afraid of the trail as that is where I last got majorly worked over and fucked up my foot (pulled my foot and had plantar fasciitis for months after). I am happy to say that it will be a regular part of my schedule because it beat the living shit outta me.
I've described the trail on here once before. Let me remind you. I'm working on getting better and with this daily run thing, it's getting more comfortable, but not better. Toro Park will get me better. Where as Manzanita Park is steep hills and you know you're going to get worked over, Toro Park appears benign.
But it's not!
You go from 140 feet to 380 feet in about a mile and change. It's not much at all if you're used to it. I'm not. It's a constant climb, no breaks. Coming back down is cake . . . until it's not. You can only bomb downhill for so long before quads and calves start complaining.
I am soooo looking forward to running this trail again. I want to get to the running condition I had when I was running it relatively easily again. I think a combination of running the Toro Park Howling Windmill Trail (it's what I call it . . . TPHW for short) and the Toro Park Estates trail (TPE) will help me get there.
I'll be at the TPHW tonight. Can't wait!
GD
p.s.
fingers are cramping from too much typing to check. run smiley :)
Monday, September 03, 2012
Day 92: LABOR DAY!
It's labor day and I'm looking forward to a FLAT run today. Oof!
Two days in a row of running Manazanita Park. I mean, I COULD go today since I'm at work and the park is on the way home . . . maybe I might go. I still have a few hours to decide.
What's putting me in mind of actually running it is that these last three days have not been ideal as far as following the 4 hour body recommended diet. Friday, Saturday AND Sunday have been horrible, horrible cheat days! It was only supposed to be one day!
But . . . I've given myself the excuse that it was my birthday Friday and that I might as well make a full weekend of it. Since I don't like drinking myself into a stupor any more, I may as well make it carb hangover instead of a alcohol hangover. Either way, I was going to regret it.
And today . . . not so much regret.
I don't feel to bad about screwing up the diet. The end goal is to reduce the bad food intake and I have to say that I did fairly well compared to what I would have done a month or so back. So I'm making psychological changes as far as food is concerned. I kept the bad stuff barely tame because I remembered how I felt last weekend and I didn't want a repeat. Though I did enjoy myself.
Friday and Saturday were good. Yesterday was another matter.
There was some excitement at work that involved one of the test facility supervisor to lose it and have a nervous breakdown. He completely flipped out and scared five grown men to run up to our lab and hide out. He wasn't threatening anyone, he just freaked everyone out with his paranoid rantings. He thought some of his employees were out to kill him.
Some more shit happened where he shattered a toilet, messed up some of our trials and then proceeded to jump onto the back of a tractor trailer ladder and hang on for dear life for about 6 miles and run from police once it stopped at an intersection.
We always joked that this place would get to us and lose it . . . we just never really thought it would happen to anyone.
Live and learn.
Why do I bring this up? Because now we are having to shift schedules around to accomodate the absences left behind our once former colleague. I had Friday off because there was no way in hell I could come in on my birthday. But Saturday and Sunday I was here at work. And today, too.
I didn't get a chance to plan Saturdays meals well, so I had relatively bad food from the taco truck for brunch (no breakfast, so lunch was breakfast/lunch). Manzanita Park run. Dinner was shrimp cocktail, Mexican style! Relatively healthy, except for the Clamato. But awesome.
Sunday started out bad. Stopped by McD's and grabbed their number 2 (sausage muffin/egg/cheese, hash brown and medium OJ). Lunch was taco truck carne asada tacos and a glass bottle Coke. Went to Manzanita Park for the run (felt ok). Went to the daughters football game to support her girls for cheer (they improved). The Steinbeck Cubs blew out the poor Watsonville Jr. Wildcats 54 to 0.
Dropped her and the boyfriend off at her moms and headed home because my parental units had said they were going to take me out for a birthday dinner. And they did take me out . . . to the back yard. We had a barbeque. And boy . . . did I stuff my face! My moms home cooking is deadly for me. There was rice, mashed beans with Cotija cheese, macaroni salad (gobs and gobs!), and avocado salsa (Oh. My. GAWD!), chicken, carne asada. And the weird item, beef shish kabobs. But they were tasty.
But I tell you, that salsa was incredible! I ate so much of that stuff, and I couldn't stop! I almost put it on top of my cake and ice cream. Dude, I was rollin' from that dinner table after. And to add insult to injury, I wiped out a six pack of Sierra Nevada Torpedo's. No bueno.
I woke up a bit groggy, but no real hangover. I guess I had enough food to stabilize alcohol absorption. Though I do have to say I am feeling a bit of the carb hangover. Stomache isn't settling too well today. I don't have to worry about bad food for this week until next Sunday.
Can't wait!
GD
p.s.
too stuffed to check. run smiley :)
Two days in a row of running Manazanita Park. I mean, I COULD go today since I'm at work and the park is on the way home . . . maybe I might go. I still have a few hours to decide.
What's putting me in mind of actually running it is that these last three days have not been ideal as far as following the 4 hour body recommended diet. Friday, Saturday AND Sunday have been horrible, horrible cheat days! It was only supposed to be one day!
But . . . I've given myself the excuse that it was my birthday Friday and that I might as well make a full weekend of it. Since I don't like drinking myself into a stupor any more, I may as well make it carb hangover instead of a alcohol hangover. Either way, I was going to regret it.
And today . . . not so much regret.
I don't feel to bad about screwing up the diet. The end goal is to reduce the bad food intake and I have to say that I did fairly well compared to what I would have done a month or so back. So I'm making psychological changes as far as food is concerned. I kept the bad stuff barely tame because I remembered how I felt last weekend and I didn't want a repeat. Though I did enjoy myself.
Friday and Saturday were good. Yesterday was another matter.
There was some excitement at work that involved one of the test facility supervisor to lose it and have a nervous breakdown. He completely flipped out and scared five grown men to run up to our lab and hide out. He wasn't threatening anyone, he just freaked everyone out with his paranoid rantings. He thought some of his employees were out to kill him.
Some more shit happened where he shattered a toilet, messed up some of our trials and then proceeded to jump onto the back of a tractor trailer ladder and hang on for dear life for about 6 miles and run from police once it stopped at an intersection.
We always joked that this place would get to us and lose it . . . we just never really thought it would happen to anyone.
Live and learn.
Why do I bring this up? Because now we are having to shift schedules around to accomodate the absences left behind our once former colleague. I had Friday off because there was no way in hell I could come in on my birthday. But Saturday and Sunday I was here at work. And today, too.
I didn't get a chance to plan Saturdays meals well, so I had relatively bad food from the taco truck for brunch (no breakfast, so lunch was breakfast/lunch). Manzanita Park run. Dinner was shrimp cocktail, Mexican style! Relatively healthy, except for the Clamato. But awesome.
Sunday started out bad. Stopped by McD's and grabbed their number 2 (sausage muffin/egg/cheese, hash brown and medium OJ). Lunch was taco truck carne asada tacos and a glass bottle Coke. Went to Manzanita Park for the run (felt ok). Went to the daughters football game to support her girls for cheer (they improved). The Steinbeck Cubs blew out the poor Watsonville Jr. Wildcats 54 to 0.
Dropped her and the boyfriend off at her moms and headed home because my parental units had said they were going to take me out for a birthday dinner. And they did take me out . . . to the back yard. We had a barbeque. And boy . . . did I stuff my face! My moms home cooking is deadly for me. There was rice, mashed beans with Cotija cheese, macaroni salad (gobs and gobs!), and avocado salsa (Oh. My. GAWD!), chicken, carne asada. And the weird item, beef shish kabobs. But they were tasty.
But I tell you, that salsa was incredible! I ate so much of that stuff, and I couldn't stop! I almost put it on top of my cake and ice cream. Dude, I was rollin' from that dinner table after. And to add insult to injury, I wiped out a six pack of Sierra Nevada Torpedo's. No bueno.
I woke up a bit groggy, but no real hangover. I guess I had enough food to stabilize alcohol absorption. Though I do have to say I am feeling a bit of the carb hangover. Stomache isn't settling too well today. I don't have to worry about bad food for this week until next Sunday.
Can't wait!
GD
p.s.
too stuffed to check. run smiley :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)