Training Log-Almost there! 29.8 this week

Less than 1 week left until my first half-marathon. This week I ran a total of 29.8 miles -- 8.2 miles, 9.6miles and 12 miles. I was pretty sore immediately after the 12 mile run. The run itself was fine except the last 3 runs I have had this horrendous bilateral shin pain for the 1st two miles. After I stop and stretch the remainder of the run is fine. I figured out it is from not enough calf stretching prior to my runs. I guess this month has built some muscles. and with that comes tightness.

I am confident that I will do fine on Saturday. I know I can run 13.1. If I continue training like this I can do a full marathon in no time. I can actually see myself doing one.

Training log-10 miles today, 26 this week

This week I ran 26.15 miles. I did 8.15 miles, 8 miles and then 10. Tonight I did that 10 WITH hills. It was the most I have ever run. My heart rate stayed at about 180, a bit high and anaerobic but it confirmed that my perceived effort is right on track. I felt pretty good the whole time until the last 3/4 mile which felt longer than the entire run. It was dark and I was beginning to lose my head. The stop signs were far to suggestive. Then I turned the final corner and sprinted to my car. I did it! I just ran 10! I felt I needed to run 10 at least once to feel like the 1/2 marathon was a reality. What was even better was James ran with me. We chatted a lot until the last few miles. That was fun.

Back to training- 1/2 marathon

Now that I have returned to regular life I am training for a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles). I had thought about it and kept up with running over the winter but really committed to it after watching the runners in Edinburgh. Today I registered for the actual race in Sacramento. Paid and non refundable. I guess I am really committed. I have almost 4 weeks (26 days) to complete training. Last week I did my full schedule and logged about 20 running miles. I ran my longest yesterday which was about 7 miles. I was in the Marin Headlands with nice rolling hills and sandy beaches. Wow, that was tough!!!!! I like flat. I really like flat! I'm still new to this whole running thing. The sand was a whole other experience. Challenging. I loved being near the ocean but I was happy when I was back on dirt. I was proud when I finished. 11 months ago I could barely run 1/4 mile and here I am running 7 and seeing that 13 is in sight.

Going Home to California

Monday March 31, 2008
It’s the end of our trip. We have about 2 more hours in London before I leave on my flight. James leaves 2 hours after I do. We hurry to Paddington station. I had to get the children a Paddington bear from Paddington station. Paddington is something (someone) very near and dear to my heart from my own childhood. I meant to do this last time I was in London. Unfortunately that was our only time to tour London. The airport was uneventful bordering on annoying with the lines. All went well.

I got on the plane excited to see Byron, Luna and Liam and Andie. I can’t wait to see them, hear their voices and hug them. I missed them terribly. At the same time I had a wonderful time with James and feel a special connection to Europe and him. I want to return soon. I want to return to Ireland with the children again. I often say that if McCain wins the presidency we should move to Ireland or Vancouver. As the US gets worse, I take those sentiments more seriously.

On the plane I think of where our next trip will be. I feel a pull to return to Europe but as I am reading Barack Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from my Father I feel an even stronger tug to go to the Philippines where my father was born. I have yet to go there to feel my culture. I fantasize about returning. Do I go with the whole family? I would like to travel with my brother. Should I just go with my brother and Byron since Byron is the oldest? Or all the children so they can experience that part of their heritage? James has a Unitarian tie there too. We’ll see.

I reflect on what I liked and did not like about this trip. I loved the whole trip. It was exactly how I dreamed it to be. James says this too. My favorites were Inis Mor (of course), spending time with Csaba and Eva and surprisingly Edinburgh. I had no idea I would fall in love with that place. Of course the pub experiences and people we met were priceless. I regret not running the 5K, getting pictures and contact info for everyone we met and asking Joel form the hostel at Inis Mor his story. Otherwise, it was wonderful. James and I are great travel buddies/partners/lovers. Cal and his brother thought we just got married. “You are so in love and so young. I’d never imagine you had children! You seem like kids having fun!” We do, don’t we? I’m blessed.

I arrived at the San Francisco airport on time, get my luggage and go through customs easily. I get to the lobby and look for Heidi, Luna and Liam. There they are!!!! We run to each other and I pick up Luna and hug her tightly. She looks so cute and happy. I do the same with Liam. It’s so wonderful to see them again. They are chatty telling me about all of their adventures while we were gone. Heidi takes me to my car and the children and I return to the airport to wait for James who arrived 3 hours after I did. There is a cool map on the floor with selected world cities. We played a game hopping on cities we have visited. I am impressed how much the children know. We hopped on Paris, I asked what country is it. They mutually respond with France! They respond as if that is way too easy. So I try Budapest. Duh! Mom, it’s Hungary. Dublin? Mom, that’s where you were! Oslo? “That’s where we saw the fjords!” We hop around the world. James finally arrives. Luna took on the job of watching the screen to keep Liam and I informed. Here he comes. I missed him terribly! And it was only 12 hours we were apart! The kids run to him and hug him too. We are hungry. The children have been asking for Maggie Mudds the whole time (vegan ice cream sundaes in more flavors than one can imagine!). We get Ethiopain food at Café Axum and then a sundae at Maggies. Driving home was tough as J and I were both exhausted and at this point it was the middle of the night in the UK for us. We arrive home. Ah! Home!!! Byron is home and waiting for us. I open the door half asleep and there he is with a beautiful smile and ready for a hug. Ah! Home!

Pics from the train to London

More IAAF pics

Last day in Edinburgh-IAAF World Cross Country championship

Sunday March 30, 2008
I woke up very tired. James asked if I wanted to go for a run. No way, I couldn’t even open my eyes and it was 6:30 am but since British summer time just changed over last night, it was actually 7:30 am. So we lay in bed a little longer. We got ready for breakfast. We get a discount at the café next to the hostel office. They have vegan haggis which is some sort of Scottish sausage. It was fabulous. The server at the café knew we were vegan and told us of other places that served vegan haggis. One place was a few doors up and had a whole selection of vegan cakes. I lit up and wanted to check it out. We did later and yes they had a lot of vegan food. Where were they a few nights ago?

We checked out, stored our bags and went to the IAAF world cross country championships. It was cold and rainy. I wonder how the athletes will run? We arrive at the event and see athletes warming up -- people from Ethiopia, Ireland, Britain, Palestine, USA, Canada, France, Morocco, Eritrea, Kenya, Brasil, Spain, and Scotland just to name a few. I was in awe of everyone. These are some of the best runners in the world. Their families are with them, some flying or wrapped in their country’s flag with pride. We go to the tent selling shirts. James sees another flyer that said there was a 5K run earlier in which we could have participated. What??!! I had wanted to do that but we never found on the website of there would be a public run. I would have surely gotten out of bed for that this morning. James said that we could have made it if we got up to run or at least finished our run when they began. *sigh* How frustrating. To have had the opportunity to run a 5 K here would have been incredible. It’s amazing being here anyway. Maybe we will run after the races. I rationalized that it was cold and rainy anyways.

The opening ceremonies began. I welled up when I saw how many countries were participating. The first of four races began, the junior womens’ 6K. They ran two short courses and one long which was around Haggis Knowe, a small but steep climb over a hill. These women flew right by me as I took photos. Some women were running barefoot. I of course looked for the stragglers feeling a sense of connection with them as I have yet to run with the pack. Even they flew by me. Then the next group, the junior men 8K—2 short courses and 2 long courses over Haggis. The flew by even faster. There were significantly more of them than the women. I was on the sideline and took a photo when the crowd of runners almost knocked my head back. Then I noticed a distinct smell. Someone in the run had a lot of cologne on. What? Who wears cologne on a run? It wasn’t a spectator. The aroma flew by with the runners. How interesting. The next lap around the cologne was no longer and replaced with regular sweaty body odor. That’s more what I expected. How funny. We moved to a different spot for the third group—the senior women’s 8K. My feet were muddy from the rains which were starting to clear. My hands are numb and teeth chattering but I am having a fabulous time. I am ready to run. I could use some hot tea though. These women run past with a speed I can not comprehend. We notice a women with glasses. James wanted me to get her picture for Luna. I get it. We run into our friends form the pub last night. Cal if with his brother and baby daughter. We say hello and give hugs. They are headed for food, we are headed to our spot for the last race. It was great to see them again. But again, I forgot a picture.

The last group was the most exciting, the senior mens’ 12K. Now why the men run further than the woman I don’t know. Are we really THAT genetically different? I start this discussion with James shortly before the race begins. The discussion ends there. Early in the race Kenenisa Bekele from Ethiopia lost his shoe. He is the three time 10,000 meter world champion and 2004 10,000 meter Olympic gold medalist. His competitor from Eritrea, Zersenay Terdese won last year’s world cross country championship. Bekele fell to 40th place in the run. No one expected him to catch up. He moved up to 30th. As the run progressed I stopped paying attention to the announcer talk of his defeat last year and how awful this is for him now. On the last lap, I got the picture of the winners coming in. Bekele had won the race and there was s huge distance between he and the rest of the runners. The crowd was elated.

I am exhilarated by the whole event from the runners to the bagpiper on top the hill to the scenery. I am re inspired to run. I wanted to run a ½ marathon in May but had second thoughts. I didn’t want to finish last so I thought I should wait and train longer increasing my speed. Then again maybe I was just looking for a way to be a coward here. After watching this, after having the privilege of watching the world’s fastest runners, after seeing them struggle and each and every one of them I could see they were giving it everything they had. They had sweat pouring down them after one lap, they had snot over their faces, their expressions were that of determination. Mud was everywhere on their legs. I could see they were digging in to those psychological places where we need to go to keep moving. After seeing them, I was re inspired. I can do the ½. I will train and I will work harder. It’s time to move from my comfort level and really give it all I have.

Time to take the train to London. We take a 5 hour train ride to London arriving late to our noisy but comfortable hostel.

Edinburgh pub experience

Saturday March 29
We wake up to rain and decide to take an earlier bus back to Inverness. By the time we get ready the rain has stopped and there is some sun. The clouds are moving north, a good sign for us going south. How bad do we really want to go back to Edinburgh? We planned to return to see the world cross country championships tomorrow. I really do want to see it. But we could go elsewhere. We have a free day here. We could go down to London, Oxford, Cambridge or even north. We could go to Glasgow. Never been there. We get on the train to Edinburgh and ask if there is a train form Perth to Glasgow shortly after we arrive. There is one about 4 mins after our arrival. We could go to Glasgow. Glasgow is only about a 50 min train ride to Edinburgh. There is also South Indian curry there. We can eat masala dosa. Tempting. We decide to do it.

We arrive in Perth and realize that the south Indian restaurant is closed from 2-5. We will arrive in Glasgow at 2:15. There are other options. We arrive in Glasgow. It is not nearly as pretty as Edinburgh but has a hip personality to it. More industrial. More like a generic city. It is also cold and rainy. The shopping area is cute and classical. Much like other places we have been. We decide to walk about the city. That seems to work for us to see the most. We walked to the south Indian restaurant just to view the menu. We checked out the vegan restaurant at the edge of town. We see another Indian restaurant that also serves masala dosa and is open. It is very expensive though. About $24 for one dosa. Let’s move on and see what else Glasgow has. We find the planned south Indian restaurant and they do not even serve dosa. How awful it would have been if they were in fact open and we counted on dosa. So we move onto the vegan spot. It’s more of a health food store. The woman tells us of the café around the corner. We buy some vegan fudge and check out the café. It looks great but is also closing and no longer serving food. James saw a cheaper Indian restaurant and we decided to go there and then go to Edinburgh. The food was cheap, the ambiance was nice and the taste was excellent. We were happy and ready to go.

The train to Edinburgh is crowded. We can’t get a seat together. There is a table with 2 seats available. Two nice men offer. We sit with them. James is scattered from looking for a spot. One man looked a bit older, with a white beard and very distinguished with celtic tattoos. The other man was younger, more conservative in appearance. They immediately asked where we were from and the conversation took off from there. They were brothers. The younger man lives in Edinburgh as got married last week. The older brother was there for the wedding. He lived in Tazmania on land and hated the city. He was very earthy and passionate. His brother was intuitive, positive, social and warm. He reminded me of an adult Liam. He was a mountain climber and ran in several half marathons. He planned to run the London marathon in a few weeks. We had a long political discussion, mostly hearing how he and his brother differ in tactics but not philosophy. By the end of the ride we felt connected. We disembarked the train and James asked if they wanted to get a drink. Without any hesitation was a yes.

Cal was the younger brother’s name. We talked on the way to a pub named Hebrides. He had always wanted to go this bar. He told me about his daughter and what he did. He is an actor as well as his wife. I thought he was a therapist, philosopher or something like that from his personality. Of course I asked him about his work and in which films he was. He is in a local TV series called Holby Blue. We entered the bar and it was as if Cal knew everyone. He didn’t but he had such an outgoing magnetic personality. We had a round of Scottish Whisky and Guinness. The bar was small, cozy and vibrant. When we walked into the bar, Cal had interacted with this older woman as if she were his mother or aunt. He knew a few words of Gaelic and spoke them to her. She tried to talk with him in Gaelic and he had to let her know that he knew only a few phrases. So then he told her we were his friends from N. America and we wanted to learn some Scottish-gaelic. From there the woman talks with me. She told me of the many different kinds of whisky. (Cal had told me before this that the only one to drink is single malt scotch. Don’t try the others. He also insisted that Highland Park was THE whiskey but admitted that Jamieson was a good whiskey). The woman told me that some tasted like wildflower, others sweet, others dry. I asked what mine was, Highland Park single malt scotch. She said mine was a good one and on the sweeter side. She offered me a taste of hers which was made in the same area, the Orkney islands. It was far more dry and less sweet. I asked if she lived here in Edinburgh. She said “no, no, no, Edinburgh is too Anglo-Saxon. I live about 7 miles out on a hill where it is not so Anglo-Saxon.” There is discussion about James’s sweatshirt from the Buddhist school. It says “education is the nation’s best defense.” People are thrilled about that. The woman passionately speaks about how education is Scotland was once good until the Anglo-Saxons screwed it up. She loved the rest of the world but not the Anglo-Saxons. It used to be in order to teach in Scottish schools one had to have Scottish training but the English changed that.

Cal had made his brother take off a green Celtic Rangers scarf before we had entered the pub. He said football colors could lead to trouble and it was rather like tribal warfare. (Celtic is a Glasgow football club and Cal and his brother were both from Glasgow originally) Despite Cal’s advice to his brother, Cal still had a jersey on with a green Celtic collar that a boisterous drunk man in the pub recognized. It turned out that the man had also been born in Glasgow and was a Celtic fan with his own Celtic shirt under his jacket. Through the aid of beer goggles he thought that Cal looked like the Celtic team captain.

There was a group of Irish people near us, part of our group. They were here for a wedding. The boisterous, animated man was his brother’s best man. He told us stories. Sometimes I understood him, other times I could not understand a thing anyone was saying. Truly the scotch. Some people were singing. I asked the bartender if she knew what a carbomb was. A co-worker insisted I try it while traveling. It was a mix of alcohol with a caffeinated drink. She did not know what it was. I wasn’t going for the chocolate cake drink my coworker also mentioned. I’ll try again in London. We had a lot of conversations with people. One of the Irish men talked of his travels to the states. We talked about politics. He was passionate as how sad it is that the US spends all of this money shipping bombs through his country to Iraq. “How can Bush send over children to get slaughtered in Iraq? They use our carriers in Ireland to get there!” he asks.
He mentioned how major US pharmaceutical companies produce their drugs in County Cork where they lived. He said all the Viagra and Prozac used in America was made right there in County Cork so Ireland was both America’s aircraft carrier and drug supplier.

What is interesting is everyone we encountered on this trip asked us if we were for Obama or Hillary. Every person told us that a win for McCain was frightening to them. Unanimously they said, “it would be very very bad if he wins.”

The second round of drinks was definitely beginning to kick in. James was quite cute and cuddly. Our friends we met on the train left. Cal asked if he’d see us at the cross country races tomorrow. Of course. Damn, we didn’t get a picture or email address. Oh well.

James and I left after an hour or so. We enjoyed the company of the Irish men. What a fun group. As we are leaving the pub, some other people tells us what pub they will be at. They tell us to go home, shower up and meet them at this other pub around the corner. Sounds fun. Everyone is so nice, drunk, but nice. Everyone at this cozy bar was friendly. We felt a comraderie there. I felt like we had many many friends. James and I happily made it to our hostel. We stayed at the same one we did two nights ago. Only this time our room was upgraded. The worker said this is the room she puts her parents in. It’s beautiful. No one is staying in the room down the hall so we basically have a flat to ourselves! We take a walk to walk off the whisky. The city is beautiful as ever. I love this place. We go back and get some sleep. And we sleep very well.

(The pics are mostly from Glasgow except the pub)

Inverness and Loch Ness

Fri March 28, 2008
Woke up to rain and loud seagulls on street, no run. We decided to take the early train to Inverness. Such beautiful scenery. We even saw snow in the Cairngorm mountains! We arrived in Inverness with about an hour to spare. We wandered about. The town seemed a bit dark. The weather was coming in. We found the river and it was a whole other place. It reminded me of a miniature Budapest. Castle in the distance, cobblestone roads, classical buildings and a footbridge across the river Ness. We dropped by a food coop to see what they had. It was a generic grocery, not like the coops we think of at home. Though they were committed to carrying products not tested on animals and fair trade coffee. That seems to be a general level of consciousness in the UK and Ireland, especially fair trade. In fact, Dublin has declared itself a fair trade city.

While waiting for our bus to Drumnadrochit we saw a kebab place with curry fries. James was craving them so we ordered one to share. That was yummy. Our bus arrived and we headed for Loch Ness. It was a short drive to our town, only about 14km. We could almost run it. We arrived in a small town and made it to our hostel.

We were greeted by a lovely woman at the hostel. She showed us where to go and was super helpful and warm. We took a hike to the Divach waterfalls past sheep, many sheep. At the top of the waterfall is a house where H.M. Barry (wrote Peter Pan) visited. We met a sweet family who just moved form Houston to Aberdeen. They had 4 smaller children. After the waterfall we went to the other side of the area to the Urquhart castle on the Loch Ness. The woman at the hostel encouraged us to go around 8pm when it is dark. We could go over the back gate and just sit at the castle. It is lit up at night and beautiful without tourists. I asked if that was legal and she said in Scotland it is legal. There are no trespassing laws and the people have this right.

After a long walk we arrive at the castle. What an incredible view of the castle on the loch. It was closing so too late to pay to go in. We ate some samosas and tried to decide if we were going to trek back at night. I was getting cold. While we were eating we met a lovely couple from England. We all had a wonderful political discussion for about an hour. He was an attorney with experience in civil liberties and she was a teacher. We talked about the ramifications of McCain wining the presidency vs. Obama or Hillary. It was interesting to hear his point of view from Britain. It was getting later and colder. Our new friends left.

We discussed back and forth whether we would “sneak” into the castle. There was a gate that said no unauthorized persons beyond this point but it wasn’t locked. We went past it. There was another locked gate. That’s the one the woman from the hostel said to climb. Okay, I have rarely climbed fences in my life and I never climbed them illegally! We hop it and see an orange boat in the water leaving the castle. It’s probably the coast guard. So we wait until they are further out. They meet up with a bigger white boat. Probably the coast guard too. What if it really is illegal? What will we say if we are caught? “Oh the lady from our hostel said it was okay?” Do we speak Hungarian and act like we can’t read the sign? Do we act as if we had been there the whole time and didn’t know it was closed now? I am watching the orange boat come and go. It is difficult to be inconspicuous when we are both wearing bright red rain jackets and popping the flash on the camera. Can they see us? We hurry through the castle and get out. It is starting to light up which is beautiful. We go back up the hill and there is a worker leaving the center. We hide on the steps until we hear his car leave. Back over the gate. We are giddy. On our walk back I see the boats. We joke that they are going to follow us back to the hostel, bust in with their black suits and guns and arrest us for trespassing. We watch the boats and realize that they are actually tour boats. We laugh the rest of the way back. James is looking forward to the curry noodle soup we bought at the coop in Inverness.

We arrive at the hostel and meet some of the other visitors. One is working there. He is young and from Missouri. He lived in Sacramento as a kid. He addressed me as ma’am which was really quite frightening. I am not old yet!!!! James reminded me that I did talk of my 16 year old son, so in essence I am old. I quickly introduce myself…on a first name basis. We relax and watch a movie. James meets a couple from Budapest. We also meet a man from Bucharest.