Lakers 2010 Champs + Angels + 5K Fun Run!!!

I am on Cloud 9! Congratulations to our Los Angeles Lakers, 2010 Champions!!! Back-to-back titles…I love it! What an exciting (and nail-biting) series it was!

With basketball season over, I can focus on baseball and the Angels who are on FIRE!! Joel Pineiro pitched a gem on Wednesday against the Brewers, and Bobby Wilson hit his first career homer! Nothing says summer like baseball [and hot dogs and beer].
And speaking of the Angels, if you’ve ever wanted to run the bases at Angel Stadium, your chance has arrived! July 11 @ 7:30am is the All-Star Game Charity 5K & Fun Run benefitting four wonderful charities: Prostate Cancer Foundation, Stand Up To Cancer, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and City of Hope.
Running + baseball + supporting awesome causes ??? Who can say no to that?!
And Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser will be there too! Woohoo!! It should be fun!
Tomorrow I have a hill workout with Lisa and Sunday a 9-miler!


*Happy Friday*

Oh The Places You'll Go!

Over the past few weeks, my work weeks have been insanely busy and then I've spent my weekends traveling, which has left me with little to no time to blog!  This is what I've been up to:

First I was in Napa, where Sean and I visited several wineries, enjoyed the sun, and hiked some pretty cool trails.

Then we went to San Francisco where we saw the Giants slaughter the D-Backs.  Don't be fooled by my Giants attire...I am a born-and-raised die hard Angel fan, always will be.  But it was free hat night at AT&T park, which by the way is one of the most beautiful ballparks I've been to.  We sat in the outfield on the bay side!

The next weekend, a couple of my college roomies were flying to Vegas from NY so naturally I met them!  Hey, we're sisters @ heart!  So off to Vegas we went.

Finally this past weekend my family and I drove to beautiful Santa Barbara for my baby brother's college graduation.  Baby bro is UCSB c/o 2010!!  We cruised up early Friday morning and spent the entire weekend lounging at the resort pool and going out to celebrate my bro's graduation with the whole family!  Saturday morning Sean, my dad, and I got a good long trail in too, and it felt good to get out and run.

I couldn't be more proud of my brother!  When he was born I was convinced mom and dad had him just for me (I wasn't yet 3!).  And now he's a college grad going to Law School in the fall!  I'm such a proud sis!

Anyways, I have been asking him fervently for a long while to run the San Francisco half marathon with me in July.  His answer has always been "No, I don't have enough time to train."  Now, he is SUPER athletic and could train for it in a month.

Well, he moved back home yesterday and first thing he said to me when I saw him was, "I'll do it with you Sis, sign me up!"  I was overcome with excitement that I ran to my laptop and immediately registered him.

Now not only are my best friend and cousin running the San Fran 1/2 with me, but my baby bro is too!!!  I am so motivated to keep training and I can't wait until July 25!!

Two more exciting things before I sign off:

1.  I start grad school in the fall!!!  I will be attending Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics for my MBA!!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!

2.  I ordered the new iPhone 4...it comes out three days before my birthday, so it's my present to myself :)  I have been waiting for Apple to release a new one...so excited for June 24!

That's all for now!

<3

4 Miles and Back to Training!

After not working out for almost a week as directed by my Dr., I was going crazy! So yesterday after work I decided to walk two miles and monitor the pain in my back. If I felt good walking, I would try running the next day (today). The two brisk miles felt great, so before bed I set my alarm for 5:15am to get my 4-miler in before work. My alarm went off this morning, I had an espresso, laced up my shoes, and decided to run on my treadmill for more cushioning. I walked the first mile at about a 13:45-15min pace, then picked it up for the next mile and a half to about an 10-11min pace. I was feeling great! Then after those 2.5 miles, my back started to seize up where I had injured it. So I took it down to a brisk walk and alternated the last mile and a half between walking and running. I did more running than walking, and it felt so great to get back into training.
San Fran Countdown: 47 days!

xoxo

*Happy National Running Day!*

Happy National Running Day!

In honor of today, I was planning on running 4 miles.  It was the 4 miler I had on my plate yesterday, but due to a car accident on the way home from work, my 4 miler was postponed until today.

Well, like I said, yesterday I got into a car accident.  I was driving home from work and was stopped at a red light.  The guy behind realized it was a red light and slammed on the breaks, and stopped just short of my car.  Welp, the guy behind him was not paying attention and SLAMMED into the guy behind me who then crashed into me.  I tapped the car in front of me, but there was no damage there.  No one was hurt thank god, but I did end up spending a good portion of today at the Dr. office due to the onset of back pain.  Looks like I pulled my back, so my Doc prescribed me three meds and said tomorrow should be the worst pain but then it should get better.

Here's the kicker...I can't run for 2-3 days!!!  That didn't make me happy.  But life happens and sometimes rest is best.  So, in honor of National Running Day, I will be sitting on my bum reading my novel "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker Jr.  A girl's gotta do something running related, right?  ;)

Have fabulous runs and remember to *run happy!*

Happy National Running Day :)

The 3.5 miler that turned into 7

You know those days when you feel like you're on top of the world?  Well that's how I felt today.


This morning I went out to run my 3.5 miler and I felt so in-tune with my body and had my rhythm down that my 3.5 miler turned into a 7 miler.  It was amazing!  It was one of those runs that seems to go so well that you feel like you could run forever.  It was overcast today so it wasn't too hot, however it was quite humid.  Before I even hit mile 1 I felt sticky and a damp...but luckily it was cool so that counter acted it.  I ran down around Marine Stadium then to the beach and the breeze along the water felt so good, it almost cut out the humid feeling completely!

A very short dirt path along Marine Stadium

Running along the bay I cam across some sidewalk art!  There were some very detailed chalk drawings of a skull and bones, some kinds of "leaves" and then these two:

I had to take a picture of LB!  After all, its my hometown!  And I just love Spongebob :)

Then I hit the beach.  I ran along the beach path for a bit until I decided to turn around for the "back" portion of my out-and-back.

Beach bike path

@ mile 6

Haha yes I did try to take a pic of myself running...

I'm a dork :-P

It felt so good to get my rhythm and feel like I could run forever!  I will take that as a good sign with 8 weeks to go until the San Fran 1/2!  When I was training for Surf City in February, my first 1/2 marathon, my longest training run was a 10K...I seemed to have slacked a little bit on getting those longer runs in.  Well this time I am more focused and determined, and hell, if today's spontaneous 7 miler is an indication of how my long runs will go, I feel totally confident in my ability to run SF!

Speaking of SF, I'm heading up to Napa and San Fran for the long holiday weekend with my boyfriend! We have a TON of fun stuff planned...wine tasting, comedy show, Giants game at the fabulous AT&T park!!!!, and more!  5 days of fun adventures with my love!  It's going to be an awesome Memorial Day weekend!  I also have some runs to get in, and I can't complain about running through the wine country :)

Have a safe and fun-filled holiday weekend!!!

xoxo

6 miles...DONE! + Lakers game 3 + LOST finale!

Today ends week three of training for the San Francisco half marathon and I feel great!

This morning I ran my 6-miler down at the beach.  For the first half of the run, I felt great!  The sun was shining, there was a cool ocean breeze, my legs weren't even close to feeling tired, and my breathing was perfectly rhythmic.  All of a sudden, that cool ocean breeze turned into a monster wind and I found myself running through a bit of a sandstorm.  I ended up heading away from the beach and finished where there was no sand pounding my skin or getting in my ears, nose and mouth.  Despite the wind, I had an awesome run!  I was completely in the zone and feeling so amped up that when my Garmin showed 5.94 I was blown away that I was almost done!  I finished, but felt like I could have kept going!  I already can't wait until my 7-miler next weekend...which will be in Napa!!!

After my run today, I decided to get a much needed mani/pedi.  For anyone who doesn't already know, I am a HUGE Lakers fan...always have been.  So in the spirit of Lakers v. Suns Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals today, I got purple polish with gold polka dots!

Ok, time to get ready for Game 3!!  GO LAKES!!!  IT'S WINNING TIME!!!

Then, it's the LOST series finale!!!  Ahhh I can't wait!!!!!

xoxo

I AM Running!

This is me:

I saw this at the Aflac Irongirl on Mother's Day and LOVED it!  I thought it was cute because I am not a fast runner fast at all, but I love to run.  I just wanted to share this  :)

This morning I woke up at 4:45 to head out for my 3.5 miler.  It was forecasted to rain around 7/8am, so I figured I would be well on my way to work by then.  So I put on my windbreaker, my capris, and laced up my shoes and headed for an easy run around my neighborhood.  Around mile 1 it started misting, which was actually pretty refreshing.  The air was infused with the scent of night jasmine (one of my favorites!) and it was very crisp out.  Then around mile 2 the drops got bigger and started to come down harder.  The water was getting into my eyes and kept blurring my vision so I decided to cut my run short.  Luckily I was cruising around my neighborhood, so I ran home making my run 1 mile short of the 3.5 I had on the schedule.  I felt great with the 2.5miles I managed to get in.  I kept about a 10min/mile pace (again, remember the turtle above :-P).  When I got home I did 100 crunches, some pushups, and biceps/triceps.  So despite my run being short, I did manage to incorporate some strength training today.


On tomorrow's agenda...SWIMMING!

Have a fabulous Tuesday!