Brand New Ending
Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.Marcus Aurelius

Heading down south in a few hours. The PCT 50 miler course has been changed we will be running a loop of the SD 100. Perfect good training for me and Andy since we will be running SD 100 in less than a month.

Have a great day.

Please send me positive vibes Saturday. Oh, and thanks for all the positive vibes last Saturday during Miwok 100. You all helped me through that tough race.

For those of you who are signed up for PCT 50 miler here is the new plan.

ok , boys and girls. It looks like we’ve got us a race this Saturday.

Due to the crash of a military helicopter on the PCT trail, the Forest Service has officially shut us down. They have closed off the PCT from Boulder Oaks all the way up to Dale’s Kitchen. I was not aware of this earlier, but the two marine pilots unfortunately did not survive the crash. I am sure all of your well wishes and prayers go out to their families. The craft was loaded with munitions, one of which exploded today from the heat, triggering a fire and sending the munitions search team from the area. There apparently is a fair amount of munitions that needs to be recovered.

So, thanks to the efforts of Paul Schmidt, and the kindness and flexibility of the folks at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, the SD County Board of Education, and USA Track & Field, pending my getting a whole bunch of paperwork completed and approved within the next 24 hours, we will be staging the PCT 50 on the SD 100 course at Cuyamaca. Same time. Different place.

There are a tremendous amount of logistics which I will need to sort out between now and then, but for the present anyone who was planning on setting out at 5 a.m. will still do so. All others will start at 6. Same sign in procedures will apply. I will figure out appropriate cut offs. I still need to get you off the course by 7:30 p.m. I will advise you of cut offs at the race start.

This will now be a single loop course—the exact same loop run twice for the SD 100. If you’ve never run Cuyamaca, it is a great place to run. So I think you’ll enjoy it. For a map and other details, i.e., crew access, please go to the SD 100 website: http://members.cox.net/sandiego100/

I also have two favors to ask:

1. If you know other runners entered in the PCT 50, please try to contact them and make them aware of this change. I’m hoping to reach most everyone this way, but there will always be some out there who will miss the call.
2. If you can carpool to Cuyamaca, please do so. The park has made this request. Start/finish area will be at the Cuyamaca School Camp location, same as SD 100. Again, check the SD 100 race site for directions, etc.

Thank you all for your understanding. I hope to see you all on Saturday.

Best regards,

John

Meeting difficulties

There are two ways of meeting difficulties. You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them. Phyllis Bottome

Took Rocky out for a 4 mile run along the Quarry lakes/Alameda creek trails.
He loves the ducks out there. But they were all in the water because it was so warm.
I leave tomorrow for Andy's , we are running the PCT 50 miler in San Diego. I just found out it might be cancelled because a military helicopter crashed on the course. We will find out tomorrow if it will happen or not.
If it is cancelled I will still want to do a long run somewhere on the PCT or AC course. I will decided when we find out.
I hope the military guys are ok. I will go online to read what happened.


Crossfit 3 rounds of
25 squats
25 sit ups
25 push ups

You Always Have Three Choices

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally.
Eckhart Tolle

Today I ran 13 miles on Mission Peak with Julia it rained a little, but turned out to be great running weather..Cloudy and warm, we had a blast as always.
Horse heaven trail.
On the Top of Mission Peak
Julia heading to the monument on the top
Me at the top

crossfit. Easy workout.
Tabata..
Sit-ups and Squats.

Rejoice or Complain

You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses. Ziggy

Waiting for the start of Miwok 100k comfy, happy and warm.
I never thought we would have this type of weather for Miwok 100k in May. I have run it a few times and I think it rained a little once during the race but it was still warm.
Smart choices I made before the race
#1 tape my feet that I have been having issues with the last couple of weeks ,and go back to wearing injinji socks. #2 Wear my Arcteryx gortex beta ar jacket. It saved me twice now in bad weather.
Bad choices I made during the race #1 not eating enough ate 6 shot bloks and a hand full of potato chips for 40 miles.
#2 not drinking enough because I wasn't thinking clearly due to the cold.

Me having fun ;)
I must say I had very few issues other than not eating and drinking. I did almost pass out a few times because I bent down and got up to fast and was already low on food. Low blood sugar level I'm sure.
Smart thing I have been doing lately, that has been working well, every 3 hours I take 2 grams of L-Glutamine powder and Ribose powder and 1 100 mg pill of Co-Q10. I use the Jarrow formulas brand the rep from Jarrow asked me to try this during HURT 100 this year and it has worked great during every race and long run. No really bad energy issues even if I'm not eating but most of all no muscle fatigue.
It was a pain at first but now i mix it together ahead of time and have the pills in the bottle and keep a little scooper inside the bottle.
During the race I could tell alot of people were in trouble on the out and back section. Alot of people were barley moving and seemed to be out of it. I felt great all the way to the turn around. I saw Andy in that section and he was having a bad day. I felt bad and wished I could catch him so I could run with him. Which I was trying to do all day catch him.
I made it to the turn around and on the climb out started having a few issues and felt slow. Once to the top, I just ran walked as much as I could and knew once I got to Bolinas AS I was home free ;)
Julian and me at the finish.

I was so bundled up most of the race I didn't talk a lot with runners. I just blasted my ipod and focused on getting through the race.
The runners I did talked to all seemed to just be focused on getting done too.

I was alone a lot after Pan Toll aid station. I was moving well because I was passing runners.
I was happy to make it to TV AS. My goal now was to finish without having to use my light. I hooked up with my friend Julian from Colorado who didn't have a light so we decided to stay together to get to the finish.

The whole race, it was so foggy you never really had an idea where you were at on the course, it was very trippy.
Happy to say I finished in 14:36 my slowest finishing time there. But it really wasn't about time it was about digging deep and being uncomfortable. Running 62 miles is not meant to be easy if it was everyone would be running Ultras. It is about our mind and learning how to not give up and pushing through being uncomfortable for 14+ hours. We all know as runners that we don't want to do anything stupid. So we make our own choices during our races.
I am proud of all who started and if you didn't finish it doesn't matter we all were brave warriors to be out there no matter how long.

Time to rest up this weekend I have PCT 50 miler this weekend. It will be most likely 90 degrees there. It's all Andy's fault I'm running that race ;) At least my sweetie is going to run with me the whole race :)


Cleaned up and ready to go home ;)
Crossfit wod...

"Twenty-One"

Complete the following for time:

• 20 push-ups/1 sit-up
• 19 push-ups/2 sit-up
• 18 push-ups/3 sit-up
• 17 push-ups/4 sit-up
• 16 push-ups/5 sit-up
• 15 push-ups/6 sit-up
• 14 push-ups/7 sit-up
• 13 push-ups/8 sit-up
• 12 push-ups/9 sit-up
• 11 push-ups/10 sit-up
• 10 push-ups/11 sit-up
• 9 push-ups/12 sit-up
• 8 push-ups/13 sit-up
• 7 push-ups/14 sit-up
• 6 push-ups/15 sit-up
• 5 push-ups/16 sit-up
• 4 push-ups/17 sit-up
• 3 push-ups/18 sit-up
• 2 push-ups/19 sit-up
• 1 push-ups/20 sit-up

time 12:17

The Three Complaint Rule

Practice the "three complaint rule". When it comes to complaining, you are allowed to complain about something three times. After that either change your attitude, change your behavior, accept the situation or move on (and stop complaining).
Lucy MacDonald
Rocky and Andy running Friday, last training run before Miwok 100k which by the way we both finished. I will post my story tomorrow, but for now I just thought you would let you know we made it through.
I followed this saying I complained 3 times about the weather and then stopped. I let everyone around me know, we were all very lucky that we have strong bodies, and minds and that we can push through running 100k in bad weather.
Congrats. to all the finishers, and everyone who was brave enough to start the race. It was hard and we all had to battle with the demons in our heads to make it through.

You Are Capable of More Than You Know

You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give. Edward O. Wilson

It's Miwok taper time so that means Rocky gets more attention from me..Not that he doesn't enough, but during taper time we spend more running time together because I'm not rushed ;)
Rocky is very excited because he is going to have a special visitor tomorrow.
In this picture I am telling him all about it but I told him I can't tell him who :(
It's the person we love the mostest,
I can tell you Andy Kumeda my BF.
Rocky hasn't seen Andy in a month so he will go crazy when he sees him.
We are running Miwok this weekend so he will b up until Monday. This will be one of the few races that we will be at together that we will not be running together. I paced Andy last year and he was bummed about his time. So I told him not to run with slow poke me this year and get a 100k PR. So he will do awesome. Me I hope to beat my fastest Miwok time. Don't ask me what it is, I gotta look it up.

Crossfit wod today was not timed just a mellow workout. Got a massage yesterday so don't want to mess my neck up again since it was tight.
300 sit-ups
100 squat
50 Kettlebell swings
50 push press

Be Conscious of Your Attitude

Be conscious of your attitude. Work extra hard at keeping your attitude positive in all kinds of weather, through all the challenges of life. Catherine Pulsifer

Today did a short run..I usually take Mondays off but ran 5 miles yesterday so I ran 3 miles today just to keep my legs loose. But they felt tight today. Maybe the tabata squats yesterday.
I'm getting a massage today before work. Need to have him work on my right Hamstring and IT band.
Did Tabata abs and Tabata push-ups today.

I wanna go into Mi-wok feeling good. I will run Mission Peak tomorrow morning no more than 10 miles that will be my last long run for the week. I will run 3 miles Thursday with Rocky and that's it for the week until Miwok 100k.

I hope everyone's taper is going well.

Essence of Life

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you are going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus. Oprah Winfrey
This top picture was taken at the Big Sur expo. This is a blog follower friend punkrock runner. He is a running machine :) running a lot of marathons week after week. I hope to get him to come over to the darkside where he belongs. He's already racing every weekend, I think he needs to start running Ultras.
Had a great long run yesterday we were out for 7 hours. Ran with Mike, Ben and Matt.
It was a beautiful day. I did get blisters again!!! same spot as the others that just healed :(
They do have plenty of time to heal before Miwok.
This is the gang on top of Flag hill in Sunol
The wild flowers were so cool..They were popping like popcorn ..

I am excited Andy will be arriving Thursday night..Rocky and I can't wait.
We are going to have fun.
Well I'm backing to doing a tabata workout today. I will follow crossfit oneworlds workout tomorrow.
I took a month off from going to my box. Just didn't have money and could only go a few times this past month cause I was out of town. I still always do the workouts at home or do my own. There is no excuses to not do crossfit it can be done anywhere anytime.

Hey girls if you want to get a skirt go to www.skirtgoddess.com
and enter promo code "hotstuff" from now until May 4th you will relieve 30% off anything you buy from atalanta athletic wear.

Positive Mental Attitude

Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can't be done. Bo Bennett

Friday's 20+ mile run along the Ohlone trail
Mission Peak with Monument peak in the background
My favorite tree
This is the cool dome house I stayed at while I was in the Big Sur area working at the marathon expo.
Hey girls if you want to get a skirt go to www.skirtgoddess.com
and enter promo code "hotstuff" from now until May 4th you will relieve 30% off anything you buy from atalanta athletic wear.

Our Choices

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J. K. Rowling

Today I woke up planning on running 20 miles. I was getting ready and Rocky looked at me like take me take me. I thought I am going to be running 20 miles tomorrow and 31 on Sunday. Plus I am leaving at 7am tomorrow and won't be back until Saturday at 8pm.
I will be working the Big Sur marathon expo. Also today was nice and cool so I thought run him 5 miles, then I could run 5 on Mission Peak and come home and do crossfit.

We had a very good time he was super happy to be out in the cool, overcast weather.
I have such a busy weekend so I really needed to tire him out. Next week end I have Mi-wok 100k so it's getting crazy.

My wod was pretty tough today here it is.

Wod 4/23/09
3 rounds for time of:
400- m run
50 -push-ups
50- kettlebell swings
50- squats
50- sit-ups

my time: 17:21

Be Conscious of Your Attitude

Be conscious of your attitude. Work extra hard at keeping your attitude positive in all kinds of weather, through all the challenges of life. Catherine Pulsifer

So I ran 6 miles today and all I can say is it was slow ;) I think one more day and bigger shoes will do the trick. They are still healing those darn blisters.
I dropped my car off for an oil change so just ran on the road.

The road hurts anyways.
I am planing on running 20 miles tomorrow morning. I will see how it goes.
I have been only doing tabatas as my WOD. my feet are sore so by Friday I will be back into harder wods.
Today did, sit-ups , push-ups and lunges.

Have Patience with Yourself

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.
Saint Francis de Sales

Ran Leona Divide with Andy Saturday we did great. It was hot and I got bad blisters but we beat are time by 30 min. I think from last year.
They changed the course this year and I think it was a bit harder.

I went to the Whole Foods in Pasadena the Arroyo store talked with the manager there. I will be working a couple days a month there when I'm down visiting Andy. They are not hiring now, because Summer is our slow time, but in September when she hires again I most likely will be working there.
I got really bad blisters at Leona my feet swelled and I wore thick socks. They are nasty and painful. I managed to run with Rocky this morning and they felt ok.
I will run tomorrow for a hour and Thursday and Friday I am running 20 miles both days. I ordered new shoes in a bigger size should have them then.

Had another dentist appointment today. I had 10 cavities to fill. I told doctor Dolly to do them all today. She thinks I'm crazy but knew I could handle it. I have one more appointment next month. A polishing and temp. crown put on. Can't afford a permanent one until next year.
Andy and I went to the wiener dog races Sunday in Huntington beach. It was fun to watch the owners are really into it. We will enter Rocky in July ;) We are busy next month so can't enter him. They have them each month there.
I will be working the atalanta athletic wear both at the Big Sur marathon booth Friday and Saturday so stop by to say hi.
Crossfit wod today:
Tabata
sit-ups
squats
kettlebellswings.

My Destiny, My Choice

My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.

Embrace the New

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Rocky at his favorite place Mission peak.
Today Julia gave me a Brazilian wax..It's more painful than a tattoo and more painful than going the dentist. She gets mad because I shave and if I only left it alone and waxed every 4 weeks it would be less painful and there would be less hair. So she says ;)
My goal is one day to laser the whole damn area.
Guys usually have to worry about this stuff. I know you girls know what the heck I'm talking about.
I'm sure this is just way to much info. for everyone. But it's my blog and about what I do ;)
I'm lucky Julia is my best friend...LOL.

Yesterday was very windy at least it was nicer today. Went to the dentist today I go back next week for the rest of my work for now. It will cost 200 next week after that I will wait until January to finish up the rest.
I'm running Leona Divide 50 miler with Andy Saturday so wish us luck.
I also have meeting with someone tomorrow while in Pasadena so send me positive vibes that goes well ;)
Tell you more later.
I leave tomorrow after work to Sierra Madre..I'm excited!! Sad Rocky can't go because I'm flying. :(

Moving Forward or Standing Still?

Look at your past. Your past has determined where you are at this moment. What you do today will determine where you are tomorrow. Are you moving forward or standing still?

This is what I call my playground. That is Mission Peak, I can't count how many times I have been up to the top. To many! I love this place it is so beautiful, it's crazy how I lived in Fremont all my life and never went up to the top until I took up trail running in 98. I become obsessed with going up to the top every day.
I was afraid to explore more, of what beauty this place had to offer.
I decided one day to start from Stanford av. instead of Ohlone college. That was pretty daring since back then I was afraid of the cows and if I heard the coyotes I would cry thinking they would get me. I always made sure I was down by dusk because a wild animal might get me.

So the day I decided to go up a different way, I always thought I might get lost out there..but I just followed the trail to the top. I made and I didn't get lost. I started going this way and loved it. It was harder.
I noticed another trail off to the right and thought I will go that way one day. And I did..Pretty soon I was wondering all around.
I bought a book on Eastbay trails and decided to start exploring all the Bay area trails, a new one each week.
All along I was doing this alone. I had no running friends back then. Sure I was afraid but I was being brave.
The scarred little girl was coming out of her shell.
A couple years later I became the first person to run100 miles on the Ohlone trails.
There has been just two others who have run 100 miles out there. I have run 100 mile training runs 12 times on The Ohlone Mission Peak trails.
And way to many 100k, 50m, 40m and 50k training runs to count on those trails.

I guess my point is as woman we don't have to be afraid we just need to be brave and go do it.
Had I not learned this I would never have attempt a speed record Yo Yo trip on the JMT or logged 21 days on the trails mostly alone in the Sierras. Oh and lord knows I would of never spent 96 days out on the PCT trusting and hanging out with complete strangers.
Sure be smart and trust your intuition. I do! It's ok to let go and be out on the trails alone. Some people are held back by thier own fears. And will be stuck.
We need to all get out and live!


Crossfit wod
Catra's chaos
run 1 mile-50 squats
run 1 mile- 40 push-ups
run 1 mile- 30 walking lunges
run 1 mile- 20 burpees
run 1 mile- 10 handstand push-ups