Camel Riding in Luxor

Photo by Adam Heisler

Happy Saturday Lovelies!!

I hope you all had a fantastic week. My life has been so crazy as per usual and to be honest this is my first Saturday in three weeks that I'm not spending in the office HALLELUJAH. Yes...true story. So where do I even begin? I guess with a camel ride in Luxor, Egypt?! Just go with it. I returned from my trip to Egypt almost exactly 4 months ago and my life has not been the same since. Every uncertainty, every lingering unanswered question, somehow miraculously came to light and now here I am finally at peace.

I lost old friends and made new ones. I finally landed a creative corporate fashion job in July, and got my visa to stay in New York. I pushed myself further and further out of my comfort zone to the point that I don't even recognize my own life anymore. And even though I continue to walk the same streets, nothing feels the same.

So what does this all have to do with a camel ride in Luxor you ask?! Well I'll tell you. My trip to Egypt was prompted by a longing for control in an otherwise very uncertain life. I wanted to be shaken out of my perpetual state of anxiety, and reminded of the thrill of discovering something new. Riding on that camel through a local village in Luxor, just days before returning to New York, I can remember still thinking of all the unanswered questions that lay ahead, but finally feeling strong enough to face the truth.

Now when I look back at this photo I see all the things I didn't in that moment and I'm happy. I'm not who I was then, but I'm remarkably proud of everything I've accomplished since. So here I am today, thinking of my travel plans for the end of the month, the exciting new illustration opportunities on my plate, the direction I want my blog to go in, the creative challenges I'm thrilled by at work, and I'm more excited than I've ever been. I realize and accept that the most important things in life are almost always worth the wait.

Wishing you a beautiful weekend ahead and the courage to keep believing in your dreams.

Much love,
Meag xx

Oh Dear

Dear Saturday -- I can't wait to see you. It seems like it has been so long since we hung out. Please pick me up a good book and some nice weather before you stop by my house.

Dear Popcorn -- I haven't seen you in years, but for some reason, you popped into my life just when I needed you. I have been glad to share my last few evenings with you. Your friend salt ain't bad either. See you again tomorrow!

Dear San Francisco -- You have been so clear lately. It has been a joy to look over at you and see your hills and your blue water and your bridges. You make me very happy.

Dear Garden Zucchini -- Where are your friends? I have been told that you never travel alone and to beware, as you can quickly become overwhelming, but right now there is only one of you. I can't wait to get this party started.

Dear Neighbor Who Was Out Watering His Lawn the Other Day -- You said good morning to the guy getting into the Honda, but when I walked by and said good morning to you, you mumbled several things that sounded like curse words under your breath and turned away. Did I do something to offend you?

Dear Unnamed Dog -- Please don't poop on my lawn. It's gross. If you really must however, do it on the neighbor who was watering his lawn's lawn.

Dear Dog Owner -- Please pick up your dog poop. I am tired of having to duck and dodge it when I am running on the sidewalk or when I am getting my newspaper from my own yard.

Dear Running -- We have not been very good friends lately. Maybe it's time we gave each other a little space. Maybe it's time to see other fitness methods for a while and see how we feel in a couple of months.

Dear Marathon -- You scare me. You are big and you are hot and you are way stronger than me. I am not sure I would win if I fought you. Please play nice.

Dear Wine -- Will you go out with me? On Friday night? Can we make it a threesome? I have a glass who is very interested in meeting you. 

Dear Facebook Friend -- Yes, your baby is very cute. But I do NOT need to see a bazillion photos of the baby. I also do not need a status update about the baby every 4.5 minutes. Let it be cute once a week; that would make you a better friend in my opinion. 

Dear Current Books -- I am sorry, but I am just not that into you.

Who do you want to write a letter to today? 

Tuesday Training (5)

If you hate training posts, check out the first few days of my hike to Everest base camp.  Otherwise, read on McDuff! Also, whether you do or don't like training posts, can you please send some well wishes towards my parents, who are in the middle of a pretty nasty forest fire right now!? I appreciate it.

source

And now onto the training recap!

Week 1 - 4
Week 5 - 8
Week 9 - 11
Week 12 - 13

Week 14: This week I still had trouble getting motivated. I was really, really not feeling like running. It was a struggle to get out the door. Every day. However, as usual, once I went and did it, I felt fine. Also, my pace was faster than it had been the week before, when I ran more miles, but at a much slower pace.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday:  Rest
Wednesday: 7 miles @ 9:29 pace (run with Dad)
Thursday: 5.5 miles @ 8:28 pace
Friday: 10 miles @ 8:37 pace
Saturday: 13.1 miles @ 9:01 pace (Bad Bass Half)
Sunday: Rest

Total Miles Week 14: 36

Week 15: After asking for your advice the other day, I decided to flip this week with week 16, which meant a low mileage week this week and the 57 mile week for week 16 (the week of the Ultra). Not only that, but I even decided to skim a few off Hal's suggested mileage. I only ran three days, which is two less than normal. It felt good physically, but super, super lazy mentally. It's still hard not to feel like I am wasting time or being lazy when I am not running! However, my 13 mile run on Saturday felt great! It was also about a 2200 ft elevation gain, but I was really feeling good, the weather was cooperating and my feet just kept moving! I need more of these runs!

Monday: Cross-Train -- 1.5 hours of painting
Tuesday: 12 miles @ 11:07 pace (trail run)
Wednesday: Cross-Train -- 1.5 hours of painting
Thursday: 7 miles @ 8:14 pace
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 13.1 miles @ 8:25 pace
Sunday: Rest

Total Miles Week 15: 32

The verdict? I think 18 weeks is too long for a training program (my last one was 12 but was added to a half marathon base). I am not feeling very much in love with the idea of running right now. I still love it once I get into it, but it's been really hard to get motivated to get out and do it. I also notice that even my faster paces are not fast enough. In order to get a 3:30 marathon, I need an 8 minute pace. For 26 (point two!) miles.

So, next up for this week? I have the Ultra on Sunday, which is a 50k, so I plan to have three shorter runs this week, giving me a total of 4 runs and somewhere around 50-60 miles. Then it's taper time for the Santa Rosa Marathon!

Ha! Something to make you laugh? I put my best half marathon time into the McMillan Pace Calculator, and, according to that, I should be able to run this weekend's 50k in 4 hours and 15 minutes. At a pace of 8:13. Um, I am sorry Mr. McMillan, but you need an elevation factor in that equation! Can you imagine running 30 hilly miles at an 8 minute pace? No? Me neither. Good luck with that.

Have you used the McMillan calculator? What kind of natural disasters have you been through where you live? Do you count painting as cross training?

Monday Misc

- I am back in Oakland.

- The plants survived the move. I was a little worried, as some people have had trouble when they moved their container garden mid growing season. Mine seem okay; in fact, I even transplanted a couple (squash, tomato) to the ground and they haven't died yet. I also have teeny tiny cherry tomatoes! Right now they are green and about the size of my pinky nail, but they are real tomatoes! Hurray!

- I have been cooking up a storm. I made garbanzo brownies, white bean chili, hummus, banana bread and curried chicken with veggies. I don't know how I am going to eat them all, but I am sure going to try!

Spinach Hummus

- On top of that, I went to Costco. In case you don't realize, there is absolutely NO way to escape a Costco trip without parting with at least $100. Not only that, but there is never enough room in the fridge for the huge bags of veggies and fruits! So now I am trying to eat all the fruits before they go bad also! Not that it's that hard. I love fruit.


- Did you know that they have baseball tickets at Costco? Two tickets in the lower level PLUS $20 spending money for food...all for about $50.That's a pretty good deal. Of course that food allowance won't even get you two beers.

- I went to my cousin's wedding this weekend. I put on a dress. It was a miracle. However, it was not super warm so I ended up wearing a sweater over it pretty much the whole time.

- 6 days until ULTRA race day. I am not "nervous" per se, but I have those newbie runner worries, like, what if I am last, or what if I eat too much/don't eat enough, or what if I don't make the time cut off? I don't really have a time goal. I just want to finish before the course sweepers!

- This week I am participating in Run With Jess' Virtual Olympics. You have to run a 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10000m and marathon (can be split up). It will be interesting to see how I do for the sprints!

How was your weekend? Anything random you want to talk about? When was the last time you ran 100m and timed yourself?

Bad Bass Half

I've been having a bit of a "dry spell" race wise, but last weekend I barely squeaked out my July half marathon (#7) for the 12 in 2012 Running Challenge! The race in question was the Bad Bass Half in Castro Valley. It was put on by Brazen, which have put on two of the other races I have run this year as well. Remember the Its-Its?

***Before I start, I want you all to know that I went on a commando run yesterday and it was wonderful. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. Thanks for all your words of encouragement. I couldn't have done it without you.***

I thought this was going to be more of a road race. The race started at the Lake Chabot Marina, which I have been to before. You can walk on a wide paved path around most of the lake, which I think is about 9 miles around. So I thought it would be 7 or 8 miles of pavement and 5 miles or so of dirt. I was wrong. The weather was perfect, overcast and about 55 degrees. I didn't have to use my sunglasses the entire time.

The first mile was good. I started off at a pretty good clip. I felt good. I was on pavement. Somewhere during mile two we veered off into the woods, but it was okay because it was still a pretty even up and down, with not too many very steep hills.

Mile 1: 7:37/mi -- Elevation Gain: 140 ft
Mile 2: 8:19/mi -- Elevation Gain: 328 ft
Mile 3: 8:31/mi -- Elevation Gain: 221 ft

And then we got to mile four. Mile four was pretty much all uphill. At one place, according to my Garmin, the grade was 56%!  Mile five was better, but only because it was mostly downhill, although sometimes the downhill feels harder on my body than the uphill! I notice that I was passing a lot of people on the uphills and then they would pass me on the downhills, so I guess downhill is not my strong suit.

Mile 4: 12:26/mi -- Elevation Gain: 585 ft
Mile 5: 8:38/mi -- Elevation Gain: 155 ft (Descent: 300 ft)
Mile 6: 10:29/mi -- Elevation Gain: 444 ft

I have to be honest with you; I have no idea how I kept under a 9 minute pace for mile 7. It was almost 600 ft of ascent and almost 800 ft of descent! Mile 8 was almost 700 more feet of descent. Notice I actually went slower on mile 8 than on mile seven! By this point, all the miles seemed the same. Up, down, up, down, pass some people, get passed, pass them again, get passed by them again...etc.

Mile 7: 8:48/mi-- Elevation Gain: 581 ft
Mile 8: 9:16/mi -- Elevation Gain: 482 ft
Mile 9: 9:27/mi -- Elevation Gain: 538 ft

At mile 10, I stopped at the aid station for a full minute, had a handful of pretzels, some water and a quarter of a chocolate Gu and went on my merry way. I am surprised that this mile was not slower due to that! It was also mostly downhill, with a descent of 350 ft. Mile 11 was also mostly downhill. I think somewhere during mile 12 we got back on the pavement again. I would like to say that meant no more up and downs, but we were still going around the lake and the topography was a bit varied.

Mile 10: 9:02/mi -- Elevation Gain: 109 ft
Mile 11: 8:23/mi -- Elevation Gain: 252 ft
Mile 12: 8:43/mi -- Elevation Gain: 207 ft

I would like to say that the last mile point one was flat, but it wasn't. I ran as fast as I could given the terrain. I was trailed closely by two men, one with no shirt and one with a white shirt. I could hear their footfalls behind me the entire time, so I kept pushing it as much as I could. For the last point one, I sprinted it out, but was passed by a guy in a red shirt that came out of nowhere! The photo below was actually taken at the start of the race, but this is the guy. His name was Chris; I know this because as he was passing me at the end, his friends (or people reading his bib) were calling his name.

photo source

Mile 13: 7:58/mi -- Elevation Gain: 204 ft
Mile 13.1: 6:43/mi

Total Time: 1:58:39 (a new trail PR!)
Total Elevation Gain: 4295 ft
Place Overall: 45/294
Place Age: 5/30

The verdict? I should have had more breakfast. I only ate a bowl of Cheerios. I didn't even add a banana. Bad move. I was sluggish for much of the race and was not caring that people were passing me. I should have looked at the course map, although I don't know what I would have changed really. Maybe I would have had a bigger breakfast?

The course was well marked and once again, the photos are free if you can find yourself (note to self: do NOT wear a black tank and black shorts if you are going to have to try to find yourself in the race photos). I could have used an aid station around mile 7 or 8 rather than at 10; I was so thirsty and totally out of energy by the time I got to 10 miles. There were Its-Its and I didn't even have to wait in line for them. The spread at the end was really good actually, with trail mix, tons of fruit, chips and snacks.

Would I do this race again? Sure! It was fun! Also, part of this race is on the same trails as my 50k, so it was good practice for next weekend! A trail run. I mean trial run.  

Don't forget to head over to Jill's today for some other Fitness posts!! 

Have you ever run a race where you have actually stopped at the aid station for several seconds/minutes? Do you prefer uphills or downhills?

Missed the Boat

Sometimes I find out about things a little late. I see them and think, "wow that's cool", and I go running to a friend and say, "have you heard about this!!?" and they say, "yeah, that's been around forever".

Oh.

But I don't care. I am still excited because it's new to me. Here are a few things I have recently found about about and like. You may have heard about them, maybe even months or years ago, but they are new to me!

NextBus: This is an app, or website, where you can see when the bus or train you want is arriving in real time. Often I use Google Maps, as it has transit information, but it only has the "scheduled" time, not the actual time, which can be VERY different! You can even set up auto alerts to warn you when you are about to miss your bus let you know when your bus is on it's way. This site works for several cities in the US and Canada. Maybe yours is on the list!

Safeway: If you have a Safeway card, you can either go online or download an app where you can add coupons straight to the card. No more clipping coupons; just add it to the card and when you get up front, put in your number or swipe your card and voila! A discount! Don't worry Mom, I already set your card up and loaded all the coupons! You can also make a shopping list, check the weekly ads and email them to  yourself.

(You can also print out coupons from the Target website and the Hyvee website; you can upload them to your card on the P&G website).

PayByPhone: If you live in the city, you know what a pain it is to have to feed the meter all the time. This app lets you park and then pay automatically with your phone. Here is an article with more info.

Nutritional Yeast: Yup, I finally tried it. The price ($30/lb) at my local store was off-putting, until I realized that a whole scoop only weighs practically nothing, so it's not as expensive as I thought. Plus I found it for a good price at the Berkeley Bowl's bulk aisle. I put it on popcorn last night with a little salt. It was delicious!

Couscous Salad: I have made Quinoa salad and pasta salad and bean salad and rice salad, but I never jumped on the couscous bandwagon. Yesterday I had some fresh veggies in the garden, so I used them to make a couscous salad with tomatoes, green beans, mint, basil, lemon, red bell pepper, olive oil, feta cheese and a bit of salt. I ate three servings of it in one go!

Kinvaras: I ran a race last weekend wearing the Kinvara 3 and it was good. My feet were a little sore since it was a trail race and the shoes don't have a lot of support, but other than that, they were great! I may add Saucony to my list of approved running shoes!

Next up: commando running! 

What is new to you that other people may have been using for a while!? What's a cool and useful thing that I should know about?

Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Despite my excellent advice just a few days ago, yesterday I went for a 12 mile run with my worst enemy, a bad pair of underwear. Why is it that no matter how many miles we have run, we still do stupid things? In this case, I am talking about things we KNOW are bad, so much so that we dedicate a bullet point in a blog post about it. I am shaking my head in disgust at myself.

However, despite the minor setback, I had a great run! I am back in Oakland, where the trails are easy to get to and I had a fantastic run on the West Ridge section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Remember I talked about someday hopefully running, walking and hiking the entire thing? Well, yesterday I tackled 6 more miles of it. Now I am up to approximately 24 out of 325. Not bad, right? Funny story: the ultra I signed up for is mostly on the BA Ridge Trail! I don't think it covers any parts that I have not been on yet, but it will still be fun to run a race on trails close to home!

Speaking of the Ultra, I have a question for the runners out there. I have a marathon coming up in approximately three and a half weeks. So, if I follow my training schedule, I would have a mile heavy week this week (58 miles), a lower mileaage week next week (37 miles) and two taper weeks right before the marathon weekend (30 and 37.2 respectively).

HOWEVER. I have the ultra (50k = 30 miles) next weekend (Aug 12), on the week that is supposed to be a 37 mile week. I was thinking I would just flip flop this week and next week and run 37 miles this week and 58 next week....OR I would run 58 this week and maybe only run 7 additional miles during the week next week. Or....maybe you have a better idea?

Now, just for fun and to TRY to remind myself of the things I should not do, eat or wear for this ultra.

NO:

- Peanut butter or any nuts really (I have a problem with this one because it's usually at the aid stations and it's easy to grab and easy to eat...and I like it, but it doesn't like me.)
- Fruity Gu (tried it, almost puked, will stick with chocolate or chomps/chews/baby food)
- Champion Tank top (I love it and it's going to be hot, but it gives me chafe. What a bummer)
- Loose undies (see above)
- Gazelle action in the beginning (this is an EnDuRaNcE race. Remember that!)

I am sure there are other things that even though I know they didn't work last time, I have done again and again. I have a really hard time resisting those PB filled pretzels, but I will just have to wait until the post run BBQ to indulge.

Have you ever done something even though you know it doesn't work for you? Or maybe you have a food you love that doesn't love you back? (Runners: any advice about the last few weeks of training? )