Making it feel easy

Run: 5 mi/51:00

The nice thing these days is that my "easy" runs, that should be 10:30 paces, are actually ending up to be more like 10:10 paces, or 10:15 paces. This may not be what I'm supposed to do, but the nice thing  about it is that it feels incredibly slow. I feel like I'm running 10:30 or 10:45, but I'm happy surprised when I hit that 5 mile mark and my watch says "51:00" instead of "52:30".

 Here's a random picture of my friends, who came over last night for warm beverages and puzzles after church.

And here's a picture of Lucy, where she looks really happy about Christmas.

Full Saturdays

Yesterday's Run: 9.2 mi/1:32:22

I love full Saturdays. I like full Saturdays with lots of stuff to do.

I did my long run. Stevie and I went hiking with a friend, who took us to the top of the mountain. It was beautiful. Then our friend took us on a pitalla hunt, the fruit that grows on cactus. We really didn't find any, except one tiny, unripe one, but we got to crack it open and see what it looks like inside. Our friend, Ricardo, put his life at risk, reaching into those stinkin' spines.

 

We went to a coffee shop in the afternoon, played the piano, and then in the evening went to a new friend's birthday party, complete with carne asada. I'd call it a good day. 

The Dinner

Thanksgiving in pictures. I made my first apple pie, so first off, we'll start with that creation.

 

Yeah, it was really good. 

Mom single-handedly made dinner for 20 people.

We played a non-competitive version of Pictionary that turned competitive anyway.

Why are we bending down like this? Don't ask.

 

And just as a sidenote: while I was making my apple pie in the morning, the baby class was outside having apples for a snack. 

Turkey Trot

Run: 4.2 mi/43:00

I don't know why they call them Turkey Trots. The trots aren't anything that a runner wants to have. Just sayin'.

My body was tired this morning, but apparently not tired enough, because I went entirely too fast for an easy run. Oops.

Among the many things to be thankful for on this day, I am thankful for the ability and the will to run. I am also thankful that I can motivate myself to take off my pajamas and change into thin running clothes when my room is 50 degrees in the morning. This morning I actually counted "okay - 1... 2 ... 3" and I did it.

"Save us, LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD!

Sálvanos, Jehová, Dios nuestro, y recógenos de entre las naciones, para que alabemos tu santo nombre, para que nos gloriemos en tus alabanzas. ¡Bendito Jehová, Dios de Israel, desde la eternidad y hasta la eternidad! Diga todo el pueblo: «¡Amén!» ¡Aleluya!"

Psalms/Salmos 106:47-48

Thank you to the Lord, my God, for His uncountable, unspeakable, unrelenting gifts.

Tempo-ing

Run: 5 mi/47:50

So now I know that every Wednesday I've got some sort of physically draining tempo or fartlek run. They're fun in the sense that I get to see how fast I can actually go. They're not fun in that I can't quite seem to get the pace I want. No Garmin means I got to plan out those miles using Google Earth, and taking a hint from some marathoners I've seen, I wrote down the splits on my hand. I believe these are the right times. I could be wrong. A warm up mile, 3 miles at half-marathon pace, a cool down mile.

 

Now, of course, I had that first mile down pat. Easy. In fact, I did it too fast. I did the second mile (the first fast mile) EXACTLY on pace. I had a little party for myself in my head. Then it went downhill when the third mile was about 7 seconds off, and then fourth mile was about 15 seconds off. Oops. Now I know. I don't know how this training is going to go, and I don't know if I'll make my goal, but dag nabbit, I'm sure going to start trying harder.

After I lamented to my parents this morning, my dad pronounced "well, you've only got six weeks to get in shape!" Vote of confidence from Dad!! I have seven weeks, thank you very much.

And at least the good thing I've learned in the past is that when I really pick up the pace in my running, I get side stitches. The only thing that can cure them is making sure my breathing is even. The other thing I've learned is that I let my mind wander and I forget to focus on my pace. My mind gets distracted thinking about food, what I'm going to do that day, boys, the status of my busted knee, and how pretty the sunrise is.

One of my favorite pasttimes is checking my blood pressure. I don't know why. I think when I first started running, I learned that your pulse can be lowered significantly with running (or any other cardio sport), because your heart starts working more efficiently, is healthier, and doesn't have to pump blood as much. This is, of course, my uneducated view on things, because I got a C in biology class in college, so take that for what it's worth (which isn't a lot).

I checked my blood pressure, and as always, it was wonderful, and my pulse was 54. I'm healthy as a horse. A really healthy horse.

Well then Mom jokingly said I should check Lucy's blood pressure. I, being a good daughter, took her advice, and tried Lucy. Lucy looked unimpressed with the cuff, but immediately came to life when it started whirring right by her head. I do not have a picture of her freaking out over that because they're all blurry.

 

Well, apparently those cuffs don't work on dogs. Her arm is too skinny. ERROR!

 

Too bad. Dog discrimination.  

Here's a random picture of the preschoolers heading to breakfast this morning :) 

Light up your Monday

Happy kid Monday!!

From my 1st Kinder class:

 Emmanuel

 Sara

 Yoseline

 Bernardo

 Paula

 Eric

 Uriel

 Alexander

 Ashbye

 Oliver

Juan

We're going to start focusing on parts of the body this week. I've realized that it's almost December and we haven't gotten nearly enough done. This kids will become super students of English!!

Wacked Out Dog

Run: 5 mi/52:30

The Catholic Church (located a few blocks away) had their annual Cristo Rey celebration last night. And by "last night" I mean that they were shooting off fireworks at 10pm. It started much earlier, but I was trying to go to sleep. I knew that Lucy would be pounding at Mom and Dad's door if I made her go outside while I went to bed, so I let her come and sleep in the house with me.

She settled down by my bed, but ten minutes later a huge boom went off and next thing I knew she was breathing in my face and trying to get up on the bed. I kept yelling at her to get down. I even threatened her with "if you don't lay down right now, you are not going running in the morning", but she didnt' seem to care. Eventually I kicked her out of my room "and stay out!" but when the next boom went off, she was clawing at my door.

Solving the problem? Shutting her in my small bathroom. I never heard another peep from her.

I let her out at 3:30, went back to bed, woke up at 5:30 and that girl was ready for a run. Much more ready than I was.

Desfile!

Run: 8.3 miles/1:24:15

 Well, we heard a lot about the parade today, but I'll just preface this all by saying it wasn't too exciting. Really, it was just school groups marching and doing dance/exercise/coordinated routines. It moved really slow because each group had to stop in front of the judges and do their thing. We only watched about half of the parade.

 We headed over the park (where the parade disassembled) and found this little Mexican muchacha, who we know :) I loved her in her traditional costume (including a baby strapped to her back). I told her she was super beautiful, but maybe she was too young to have a baby just yet.

 We then found Carolina's two older sisters, Angelica and Reyna, with their dance group. Angelica is in the orange skirt on the left, already sucking down a popsicle.

 The two dancing queens.

 The family: Reyna, Carolina, Angelica, Alvaro, and Maribel. I asked Maribel why she wasn't in the parade and she told me that her teacher told her she was too small :( Poor thing.

Oh, of course

Tomorrow is a national holiday here in Mexico (remember those little revolutionaries?) and so Stevie and I have been enjoying our day so far. We slept in (just a little... an extra hour for me... until 6:30!), and went to breakfast at our favorite restaurant (Chuy's, for you Guerrerians out there). After breakfast we went up for a hike/walk into the mountains behind our town.

 

 

 

Well, that was all fine and dandy. Until we started heading back. Oops. I fell. And I hit my knee pretty hard. I ripped my favorite pair of jeans :( So the above is the last picture of my jeans intact. Savor it. 

So if it ripped open my jeans, you know it was a hard enough fall to bust open my knee. Nah, I was fine, just bloody. After a minute or two of shock (and the thought of "ohmygosh i have to be able to run!"), I walked back to the van just fine, made it home, and I rinsed it all out and made it better. I would put a picture up on here, 'cause I don't mind blood, but I know it makes some people queasy. But if you want to see the picture of my banged up knee, let me know. I'll hook you up.