Ramblings of Events

I've been quiet on the blogging front.  Not because I'm not running but I've lost my blogging mojo.  I still have lots of ideas while I'm out running but to sit down and take the time isn't happening right now, and that's ok.  The important thing is I'm running (hurray!)  I have the day off today and thought I'd post a couple race reports and happenings.

Today is the third day of rain in Phoenix. First of all, it hardly rains and when it does, it spits for 10 minutes, everyone complains about traffic and how people don't know how to drive in the rain and then the rain stops.  I'm getting in gardening and composting and now run around with buckets collecting rain water. I need a 50 gallon or bigger rain barrel with a spout at the bottom to really being able to harvest and store the rain.  After arriving home yesterday, I dumped my rain buckets by the citrus trees and noticed the rain stopped and went out for a run.  It's so wonderful running after a rain. Everything is wet, clean and smells good and with the weather being cool I can run a decent pace.

I'm training for Ragnar Relay Florida Keys on January 6-7th.  Starting in Miami and running all the way to the keys, this is going to be an awesome race. I'm not sure how much of the water I'll be able to see while running because I think there is a cement barrier between road and water but I'll be able to see the water while in the van.  The group I'm running with has two teams and at first we were equally matched. Changes in the runners means they are faster than us and start 30 minutes later.  I sandbagged my time about 15 seconds per mile/pace so I'm hoping our team has more sandbaggers and we can hold off the team from passing us.

Two weeks ago I ran the Cave Creek Luminaria 5K race. I have never been as late for a race as I was this one. I took the wrong roads to get there and arrived at the starting line with 2 minutes to spare. Considering I like to be at a race an hour before, that was seriously cutting it close for me.  The race started at 5:15pm and when the sun went down, you could see he course lined with paper bags, candles glowing inside. I finished in a surprising 22:18, was 5th overall female but got third in my age group.

Last weekend was the Sally Meyerhoff Foundation 5K race.  Sally Meyerhoff was an elite, local athlete who was killed in a cycling accident March 8th, 2011. Her family created an organization to raise fund to help striving, elite runners towards their goals.  "The Sally Meyerhoff Foundation is committed to helping distance runners and triathletes pursue their dreams that Sally was so passionate about. This may include travel expenses, running gear and entry fees, just to name a few."  Sally always wore pink socks and cheetah print when she raced and in honor of her, many people also pink compression socks, me included.  The race was an old fashioned, timed race, where the bottom of the bib was tore off and turned in at the finish line. With 1000 people on the narrow canal, the race start was slow but eventually thinned out and I picked up my pace with a Garmin finishing time of 23:13.  It's still hard to believe that Sally is no longer with us but her slogan "Be Relentlessly  Positive" will stay with us forever.

Back in April 2010 my then 16 year old cat, Nugget, was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.  I considered doing a radiation treatment called Radio Cat, but decided against it. Nugget did very well on the twice a day pills which he gladly took using a pill pocket until this summer.  I took care of my parents cat during the summer, which stressed him and he had digestive issues. Even after returning the babysat cat to my parents Nugget didn't bounce back, quit taking his pill and eating. I had a tough decision to make and had the vet come over October 13. Nugget was 17 years old and although people say that was old, I thought I had another 5 years with him.  I made a donation to a local, non-kill shelter, AAWL, in his name.

On Sunday I went to the AAWL shelter and adopted a four year old female cat named Kalihari or Kali for short.  She's very sweet and purrs SUPER LOUD. I'm keeping her separate from Sundae, my 11 year old, for a couple more days.  Kali is adapting great to the new house.  Sundae isn't sure at all about the changes and has taken to sleeping under the bed and hisses through closed doors.  Despite Sundae's reluctance, I'm pleased with the integration of Kali into our household.

I'm off now to eat some hot, freshly made cranberry bread I made this morning. Yum.

Happy Running!