6 Things and other random thoughts

Kai tagged me for 6 things, so here are mine.

1. I am trilingual.  I can speak English, Spanish, and Tagalog (Filipino).
2. I haven't eaten any pizza in several months.  Before that, I ate pizza at least once every couple of weeks. Surprisingly, I don't really miss it.
3. Places I have traveled to for family reunions: Guam, Philippines, Australia, CA, NC, MA, and Las Vegas.  Going on vacation with 30 or 40 relatives is always an adventure. 
4. My first "real" job was as a social worker for the state department of public welfare.  Oh, the stories I could tell you.
5. I have always loved writing letters and sending cards.  I'm the type of person who still sends "snail mail" whenever I can.  In this day and age of voicemail and email, I think it's always nice to get something in the mail that isn't a bill or junk mail.
6. We have three dogs: one beagle and two daschunds.  We rescued all of them and now they live like royalty.

    

I'm tagging anyone else who wants to play along.

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We went to see "The Dark Knight" and I agree with Viv and Jess.  This was probably the best movie I've seen in a long time, and Heath Ledger's best performance.

Yesterday was my 5 miler.  I started later than I planned, but still got out there and SLOWLY got it done.   I have to admit that I didn't think about having to train in the desert during the summer months when I signed up for this half.   But once I get through August, these early morning runs will get much easier.

I finished knitting one sock of my next pair.  It's been awhile since I've knit a pair of socks for myself, and I need to replace the pair that Xenia took from me while on her way to see the Wizards of Blogland.  So these are for me.  I can't begin to tell you how vibrant the colors are in this yarn.  It's so gorgeous that even Mr. Running Knitter said the yarn was beautiful (in all my years of knitting, he's never said anything about how the yarn looks).  I am using Wollmeise yarn and the color is called Pfauengague.

Hope everyone has a great week!

ARR 5K Race Report

Today was 5K number 4 of the ARR (Arizona Road Racers) Summer Series.  It was still dark when I left for the race, but already 89 degrees and very humid.

I got to the race fairly early, picked up my number and chip, and set off for a warm up mile.  I'm still building back up my mileage after the PF, and I knew with the heat that I shouldn't exert myself.  So I decided to just do the best that I could, and the goal for today was to finish.

I was already sweating like mad when I met up with Karen and Lisa  after my warm up.   Soon after that, we lined up for the start.

We lost sight of Lisa shortly after the start (she went on to get a new PR today so congrats to Lisa!).  We started pretty fast, and even though I told Karen she could go on without me, she stuck by my side, let me set the pace, and pushed me along when I needed it.  Thank you Karen!  :) 

The heat caused us to walk a little bit more often, and though it wasn't a PR day, I'm still pretty happy with my time.  The best part: no foot pain!

5K
38:54
12:33/mile

 

Karen, Lisa and me sweating glistening after the race.  
Notice that I made sure my white under armour top matched my black under armour shorts.  I knew Viv would be proud of me.

MizFit had the great idea of freezing a protein shake and then taking it with you on the go.  So last night, I froze a protein shake and left it in the car during the race.  By the time I was driving home, it was perfect.  Not so much frozen anymore, still cold enough to quench my thirst, and it gave me the important nutrients after an intense workout.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

More Socks and Week 3 again

I know I said I wouldn't post about what I'm knitting, but I couldn't wait to blog about these socks.  I think they came out gorgeous and are probably the prettiest socks I have knit yet.  They are not for me, and the lucky recipient has no idea they are for her, so I think it's OK to post them here.  The pattern is Socks of Kindness and the yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in color way Red Rover.   The yarn is great to knit up and I'm really happy with how these socks turned out.  I'm definitely knitting up a pair of these for myself.

 

Here's a close up so you can see the pattern.  Isn't it beautiful?

 

I'm repeating week 3 of the 100 push up challenge again.  Yes, this is my third time doing week 3.  Hopefully I'll be more satisfied with it this go around.

I went for another run on Monday.  We had another monsoon storm on Sunday night, so Monday morning was a cool 75 degrees but very humid.  I did 3 miles - slow and steady, and no foot pain.  Yay!  :)

Hope everyone is having a good week!

I had no idea

Yesterday, I went to a local running shop to pick up the Strassburg Sock in the hopes that it would help with the PF. Since I was there, I thought I may as well be fitted for shoes and see if the ones I have fit me right. I was never fitted before because I was told by more than one person that flat feet equals motion control shoes. Well, not only was I wearing the wrong shoes all this time, I was wearing the wrong size as well! After trying on a bunch of different pairs, and running outside in all of them, I settled on a pair of Asics. I also picked up a Pro-Stretch to help out with the PF.

We had a big monsoon storm here last night, which led to cooler temperatures this morning (75 degrees). So I went out for a couple of miles in my new Asics. No pain and the best run I've had since having dealt with the whole PF thing.

I have not blogged about my knitting because I'm working on a few gifts for people that I know read this blog. But I will post pics after the gifts go out in the mail.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck to everyone who is racing!

To run or not to run...

My foot was acting up again this morning, so instead of going out for a run, I played it safe and decided to make today a rest day.  On Sunday, I went out for a slow two miles and had no pain at all so I know the foot is on the mend - slowly but surely.  I may have to move a couple of my weekly runs indoors to the treadmill.  That run on Sunday morning was at 5:45 AM and it was already 90 degrees. 

 

 

    I decided to do week 3 of the push up challenge again because I didn't feel like I was ready enough to progress to the next week.  The big jump in push ups from week 2 to week 3 really did me in.  My arms are still sore from yesterday but I'm already starting to see some development in my triceps.

 

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Check out this book giveaway!

Just a quick post to let everyone know about a great book giveaway.  Trish is giving away 14 books to up to five people (YES - 14 BOOKS PER PERSON!).  You have until Saturday July 12 to enter!

Running Knitter is running again!

My new running shoes came today and I promptly put them on and hopped on the treadmill. It's been a long 2 1/2 weeks without running and I couldn't wait to get out there again. I knew I had to start out slowly and resist the urge to run longer - even if I wasn't having any foot problems. So, my run was a slow, steady, and short 1.5 miles. More importantly - no pain! I even ventured outside in the 108 degrees and did a tenth of a mile outside. It felt so good to be out there running again.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!