Thursday, September 30, 2010

WHEN YOU LOVE LIFE, LIFE WILL LOVE YOU BACK!

I have busy weekend back to back 50k training runs starting tomorrow on the
Ohlone 50k course. I made this little picture video of last weeks 10 mile run with Rocky and 20+ mile training runs with Jerry and Mike. There are also pictures from the Muir house.

Update on Baby calf Liberty. The owners Virginia and Jim are going on Vacation and they have no one to feed her 3 times a day so they have decided to adopted her out to their 2 Grand sons. She will be moving to Modesto by the end of the week. I went by to see her today which will most likely be the last time. I will check to see if she is still there after my run tomorrow.
I am happy for her since she seems so lonely. She will be spoiled I'm sure. I am just happy I saved her and now these two boys get to enjoy her and take care of her and watch her grow. Just like I did when we had cattle, sheep a pig and a horse.
Ok off to work enjoy ;-)

Monday, September 27, 2010

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."
John Muir
Busy and fun weekend ;-)I ran 20 miles on Diablo in the heat with my roommate Jerry. We had fun except when I got a bladder infection ;-( guess I wasn't drinking enough water, it happens.
We planned on going to the John Muir house after our run.
We headed to the John Muir house after the run got there and found out it was a no fee day. Lucky us. It was really cool to visit his house and walk around where he once walked around. I even hugged John Muir's favorite tree. I suggest anyone who loves nature to go visit his house. He did alot for the places I love to run , Yosemite ;-)
Sunday was Rocky's big day. The plan run/hike 10 miles from Sunol to Fremont with me and Mike. Mike and I would run back later after we ran home with Rocky to pick up my vehicle in Sunol.
Rocky did awesome even though I would never suggest taking your dog out in the heat. I knew we would be done before 1pm and I brought lots of water and let him set the pace. I kept him wet down and he drank a lot of water.
I wasn't drinking because I wanted to make sure he was fine.
He made the 10 miles in a time of 4 hours not bad at all for those little legs. Rocky made me proud ;-)
Mike and I headed back up in the heat of the day it was hot!!! Made it back to Sunol in one piece thank GOD!!!
I decided to take Mike over with me so I could show him Liberty the calf I saved.
We got there and met Ben, Virgina's son he was going to feed Liberty and asked if I wanted to watch, I said of course. He brought the bottles out and said do you want to feed her?? I said yes and was so excited, it tuned out to be an awesome day with an awesome ending.
She is getting so big and I just love her. I will be happy to see when she gets a mommy hopefully soon so she can be a happy baby ;-)
Thanks Ben for letting me feed baby Liberty it meant a lot to me ;-)

Enjoy your day friends ;-)

Friday, September 24, 2010

Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.

Yay it's getting warm again. Tomorrow it's suppose to be 90 ;-) lucky me since I'm training for Javelina 100 miler. I will also be running a rim to rim to rim in the Grand Canyon on Oct. 9. It will be fun ran it last year and just loved it!

Yes I was actually falling in this picture I set the timer and ran back and fell ;-)






Make sure you order one of these rockin HTFU jackets they come in men & women's sizes.
They will be awesome for Winter can't wait for mine to show up. They only have a limited supply so go online
http://www.htfu.com



Sunday, September 19, 2010

SLOW DOWN..............................

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going to fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.

That's what I was doing when I was running Thursday and came across this baby calf who I rescued, her mother died within hours after giving birth to her. She has a name and it's Liberty, I made a difference. I could not get a hold of the rangers out of Sunol so I called my wonderful friend ranger Neil, who is on sick leave.

If he did not answer I was going to carry Liberty down off the peak and to my house until I was able to get a hold of someone.

Neil answered and called the rancher Jim who didn't answer but Neil left a message. He told me to leave she would be fine, and she would stay near her Mom.

When I got to the road Neil called and said Jim called and was on his way.

I was happy since two weeks before I found a dead mama with a baby half way out they didn't make it. My little Liberty would be fine.

I headed to work and after work went to the Ohlone college farm area and saw baby Liberty just fine in a pen.

Virgina, Jims wife and also owner of the cows and Bulls on Mission peak and the surrounding area emailed me to thank me. We wanted to meet each other so I headed over in the morning with Rocky. They were very grateful. It made me feel good. I have known Jim for several years he always sees me running around but I had never met Virginia. These people have 450 cattle out there and really truly care about all of them.
I'm just happy I was there to save that little one ;-)
Rocky seems to be on a roll these days he did back to back long runs 7 miles up Mission peak Saturday and 8 miles on road & trail Sunday.
I may be running a 5k with him Saturday if they allow dogs, emailed the RD just waiting to hear back.
I'm now in training mode for the Rim to Rim to Rim run in the Grand canyon next month. I am also planning on running Javelina hundred next month.

I went for a physical yesterday, I go back in two weeks to go over my blood work.
I have my first appointment with my fascial stretch therapist today. Looking forward to that.
My hamstring seems to be fine. I am thinking with fascial stretch I will be better then ever
Ok it's time to finish getting ready for work, I have a new group of Get fit students to train today, it's the first day of the new class woo hoo.......

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

PROBLEM SOLVING..............
The way to remove darkness from a room is simply to turn on a light.
In the same way, to rid yourself of any difficulty, concentrate on the solution rather than the problem.
Life is full of surprises so we must just go with it and be happy we make it through another day ;-)
I love this horse Oreo she is funny, she loves drinking out of my water bottle, I stop to visit her, her mama Honey and the old horse silver a few times a week with Rocky on one of his 3 mile routes, we are always sure to bring apples for all of them, although Oreo is pretty damn bossy and usual ends up eating a couple of them.
Hey if anyone knows what kind of skull this is let me know. I'm thinking cow? But looks different then ones I have seen.
I'm getting a massage today woo hoo.
I also found a Fascial stretch therapist in San Jose who I have an appointment with on Tuesday.
I learned of this from my friend Dr. John Vigil he is a chiropractor in Nevada and does this work on his clients.
He stretched me out before Rio del lago 100 and it really helped. I had no issues or pain until mile 75 and that was in one session. So I think adding this into my routine will help for sure.
There are I think 7 people in California who are trained in this Therapy here is a web-site to find out more.
http://www.stretchtowin.com/
Ok time to get ready to go for my massage. Have a great day ;-)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

FOCUS ON NOW............
Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you are going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.

Sometimes life has a different plan and you have to roll with it.
Seems my life is having many different plans lately.

I felt pretty good coming into the race, got a massage and had been rolling out and doing trigger point on my hamstring.
I even had Dr. John Virgil do fascial stretch therapy on me. My legs were ready but was the rest of my body?

I felt great pretty much most of the way started getting a bladder infection at mile 35 I knew it was coming on and I thought great, I don't need this ;-(
I of course am always prepared for one in case. I had cranberry juice and was flushing it out by drinking tons of water.
Kathy D'Onofrio paced us from mile 55 to the school. We wasted a lot of time changing shoes and washing our feet. I think I should of just kept my shoes on that I was wearing but changed like I always do.
But for some reason my feet were more swollen and my shoes felt tight with my think socks.

We got to cavitt school around 11:40 I think we still had plenty of time to get to the next cutoff. I sat down and felt a warm gush yikes, I just started my period so I ran to the bathroom grabbed some paper towels and shoved them down my skirt.
I started having cramps really bad. The hamstring was doing ok. But my neck and shoulder were bad. I had both John and Kathy work on it.
We headed out with John I was moving ok not as fast as I would like to. At some point I got in my head that there was a cutoff at Willow creek and I thought there was no way way we could make it.
By the time I got to Hazel Bluff my hamstring started hurting I was moving slow and getting cold. I forgot my warm jacket at the school and had a thin on on.
I became very sad maybe because my hormones were out of whack with me being on my period. I never have had my period start in the middle of a race before. It usually starts after I finish.
I got to willow creek and was really cold and knew it would be colder going to the turn around. I decided to stop thinking I wasn't going to make the cutoff eiher which they extended and I would of made it since they were going to let everyone finish who made the cut off at mile 67. I was told later.
Andy asked if I wanted him to stop too, I told him to go on without me.
I wish that aid station allowed crews, because Kathy would of got me going. I know Andy was dealing with his own issues and didn't push me to go on but really it wasn't his job.
Looking back I could of kept going but I was so whacked out about not making it to Hazel bluff in time, in reality I had plenty of time. Also m
being really cold didn't help matters.

I still had fun no matter what!!! And each time I fail I become a better person I think.
I made it to mile 80 which is a long way.
It was a bad day for a lot of people but we went as far as we could and were smart enough to stop when we needed.

Getting a massage tomorrow which I need. Still working on getting my hamstring 100% its almost there.
Have a great day!!

Monday, September 06, 2010

Each Day is an Entirely New Creation - Enjoy it!

I will never under estimate what Rocky can do!
I decided that Sunday I would see if he could make it to the top of Mission Peak .
It has been at least 2 years since he has been to the top.
I use to take him at least twice a week when I first got him. It then became once a week then once a month. I could tell he didn't like going because if he was off leash he would run back to the car.
I officially stopped taking him the day he would not even go through the gate he put on the breaks and that was it.
I have taken him on the short loop which ends up being 5 miles, we do that like once a month. He's fine with that.
Since I have been living 1 mile from Mission Peak for the past 15 months I take him for a 2-3 mile almost every day.
Last week he ran 6 miles which impressed me, so I thought it was time to see if he could make it to the top.
Rocky is 8 years old and in the past has had some leg issues from jumping.
I have had him on glucosamine, MSM and fish oil. I really think it has helped his overall health.
I thought for sure on the hike/run I would have to carry part way. Boy was I wrong he did it by himself. Mike lead the way Rocky in the middle and me in the rear. We saw Mr. Half Dome Rick who wrote the book on Half Dome. He was training for a Half Dome hike. we hiked a mile with him, it was great seeing him.
Rocky was no slacker he moved well. He only made once stop at the garbage cans below the summit for a rest in the shade.
He moved up those rocks so well I was really impressed by him, it is a struggle for most people and with his short legs he managed to pull himself up and over the big rocks.
I had tears in my eyes when he reached the summit, how could I ever think he couldn't do it. He tough me a lot that day about pushing through, something I forgotten about.
He made a lot of friends at the top where we relaxed and enjoyed his Mount Everest summit aka Mission Peak.

I am running Rio del lago 100 Saturday and I will think of Rocky and I will push through to the finish!!!
Rocky made it up in around 1:35 and down in 35 min. running/hiking time. Total time from start to finish 3 hours. We hung out at the top for close to an hour.
I plan to start taking him up once a month. Just a side note I took him up the Ohlone college side which is more of a gradual incline and has more shade and just a short gravel road section.
Rocky's paws get trashed up the front side from the long gravel road.
Today he even went out for a 2 mile run/walk and he seemed fine.
Oh and when we took him up it was the first time I was able to have him off leash on a trail and he followed. He was also able to run down the whole way ;-)

Give your pets a hug and don't ever under estimate what they can do!