A good read

We all need a good read once in a while, right? I couldn't help but snatch this picture.

By the way, those spots on the floor: I didn't put them there, and they won't wash away. I try not to be that gross.

A random assortment

On the running front: For a while after my half marathon I got a little crazy with my running. It wasn't crazy to want to be doing 30 mile weeks, but it was crazy in that I was running almost every day and I was so focused on making those week markers that I was angry with myself when I wasn't hitting a good number. Result? I got burned out on running because it felt like a chore and I've been incredibly lazy over the past couple of months. For now I'm trying to tone it down a little and just enjoy it, which means cutting back to 4 days a week and not feeling bad that I'm only running 4 days a week. Because 4 days a week is totally normal and fine. So that's that.

Tuesdays are our globos day, the street market. You can find used clothes, produce, CDs, new clothes, assorted garage sale type items, etc. I don't spend a lot of time at the Tuesday globos because I don't have much to look for there, but every once in a while I'm reminded that I can buy a Mango-In-A-Bag! Why is Mango-In-A-Bag so awesome?

1* It's already cut! No messy mango-cutting!
2* It's cheap! It's 15 pesos for a huge mango. That's about $1.25. FOR A FRESH MANGO!
3* Add Reason #1 and Reason #2 together.

 And at the end? The core on a stick! MANGO-ON-A-STICK! You could gnaw on this all day, but I don't recommend it.

After you finish, go floss your teeth.

Maricela is one of our preschoolers. She's a big bundle of contradictions. One minute she's grabbing your neck and smothering you with kisses and the next minute she's throwing a tantrum. She's full of love and attitude, and the other day I thought she looked like a female trucker. So I took a picture.

And lastly, lest you think that Lucy is a perfect dog (although... she kinda is), this is what she did one Saturday morning. I decided to sleep in, while she was left chained up. She didn't like that.

Mostly Lucy is sweet and lovable and just a wonderful dog. As demonstrated above, she can also be crazy.

La Playa

There are rules for living here. One of these rules is that if it is warm and not windy, you must go to the beach. These days are few and far between. Just look at the normal kind of wind we get three miles inland.

So you know when it's windy like that, you shouldn't go to the beach.

However, it was in the 80s, not windy, and a Saturday. Add it all together and that equals beach day!!

Lucy loves the beach, so off she went with Manfriend and I - off to laze around at the beach.

It was lovely.

Sprouts

Yesterday was a hectic day. It was hectic because I spent most of my weekend doing absolutely nothing, and put off everything until yesterday. It was prepping for a new roommate, preparing things for class, planning an adult English class lesson, running to the store, finishing making and packaging goodies to sell, teaching, Skyping, and greeting new people.

Mom and Dad came back from a quick trip the States and brought me what I needed all last week: a watering can. Hallelujah. That, and some small pots for planting herbs. They are good to me.

My lettuce sprouted the other day.

I guess you probably can't see the sprouts in the second picture, but they're there, right beside Martín the barnacle, resting in his eternal home.

I think I now know what mothers feel like after all of their hard work goes unappreciated. You're welcome, Lucy. I'm so glad I spent all that time making your dog bed.

Finished!

Run: 2.4 mi/24:00

I got to wake up to this sight, out my bedroom window.

And this morning I set out to finish the dog bed I had started the other day(s).
I had already finished putting in the zipper.

I only tacked together the batting, as I knew that my sewing machine wouldn't be able to handle it.

I had intended to do doublel seams, but on my second seam my machine decided to go wacky, so instead of waiting until I felt like I wanted to wrestle it again, or waiting even longer until it gets fixed, I instead just ironed the seams down, put in the batting, tacked the zipper, and voila! Dog bed. I laid it in the middle of the floor and Lucy wasn't quite sure about it.

But as soon as I placed it in her special corner, she was convinced. Happy dog.

Yes, that is her happy face.

Lazy

I think I will call this picture.... Lazybones.

 Lucy is mostly an outside dog, and while she's out occupying our compound during the day, I usually have to call for her to make herself seen. She doesn't seem to spend much time in her dog house. She will crawl out from under a trailer or a bus if there's a reason to.

I couldn't help but notice today, while I escorted my students back and forth to their classes, that Lucy remained in her dog house for a long time. I figure it was the strong wind today, driving her into a comfortable place.

So with a very cautious step, I creeped out onto the gravel, trying not to make a sound, to capture the above picture.

I got too confident, though, and when I tried to get closer, she woke up. And Lucy wakes up with a really mean scowl on her face. Someone has crossed her and she is not happy.

Last night when my friends came over for puzzling, I ran down the stairs to the first floor of my house and discovered that my house smelled like dog. Good lord, Lucy, you need a bath. I've tried to remedy this smelly house today with some candles, hoping that it will help.

I tend to hoard things, not like that TV show "Hoarders", but I keep things and have a hard time using them. I can't really hoard a lot of stuff, my lifestyle doesn't allow for it (never staying in one house for more than a year for the past 9 years tends make you clean out stuff all the time). But I scrounged around for those candles I bought last year. I knew they would come in handy sometime. If only tying a burning candle around Lucy's neck weren't so dangerous.

It's cold. I'm ready for summer.

Wingin' It

Run: 3.4mi/30:30

I'm diggin' this. I'm doing it on my own. It's DIY now, and I am reveling. I'm officially on the Run-However-I-Want-Because-I-Don't-Have-a-Race-To-Train-For training plan. It feels pretty good to just go with the flow and figure out what I need on my own. I have ideas in my head from past training plans, but I'm telling myself what to do. I've never enjoyed being told what to do, and halfway through training plans I've resorted to whining, "I just don't wanna..." So for now, I'm doing it how I want.

And I guess that means when I say "Wednesday I will run like crazy until I feel like my legs will fall off, and I will do it for 3.4 miles", then that's what I do. That's a serious 5k race pace for me. I've never run a 5k race, but let's just say I ran one this morning. Hey - yesterday I actually ended up running my 10k race pace that I did last Spring, and it felt easy and good. I ran the 5k+ today at a pace 30 seconds faster. Wow.

Actually, I ran some of it at a faster pace, because I know my first mile was about 9:20. Yesssss.

Meanwhile, while I'm sitting in my room on the floor, Lucy is lying next to me, trying to snooze away. I began to sing along with my music, and she looked at me like I was bothering her. Well, sorry.

Hace cold

Run: 5.2mi/50:00min

I'm totally guessing on that. I'm too lazy right now to check the mileage. And after I ran 3 miles and came back to get Lucy, I forgot to reset my clock, so I have no idea how long the second part of my run was. It was nice to get up this morning and not feel like I had miles or a certain pace to check off a list, but that I just got to go running for however long I wanted.

Yesterday was my first day back, and I fully planned on running, but I couldn't get myself out of bed that early. Unfortunately, Lucy knew I was back, and that I should have been outside at 6am (the same time our driver comes to get our van to pick up the kids). I didn't show up, and I guess she banged around on my parents' apartment door, thinking I was hiding in there. "Take me for a run!" Sorry, Lucy.

This morning, though, I saw her, and had to leave to do 3 miles first, then come back for her. She was beyond excited to get off her chain to go for a run with me when I came back. She ran out the gate, barking the whole way, and ran down the street, jumped around my legs, and I swear she was smiling the whole time. It's nice to have a running partner.

It's also nice to come back to children who remember what we had covered in class before my break. Every day we had talked about the date and the weather, and at lunch 5 year old named Hanibal saw that I had goosebumps on my arm, and said "Es cold, si profe Meghan?" and I said "Si, yes, Es cold!", to which he replied "Si, hace cold." My heart melted right there. In Spanish you say "Hace frio" or "Hace calor" to indicate the weather, and he had simply replaced the "frio" with "cold". Smart kid.

Another girl showed up to class yesterday completely ready to talk about the weather, because before she sat down she started yelling "Sunny! Sunny! Sunny!" The kids know that word because it's sunny almost every single day here. They definitely know what that means.

Sorry, Oregon runners, I hate to tell you this, but: I ran in shorts and a t-shirt today.

Jealous?

Yesterday I was greeted by my buddy:

 She said to me "and... who are you?"

And today I got to play with these guys:

 

I know you're all jealous.

Carbs!

Run: 5 mi/49:00

Nothing exciting to share, except that on mile 1.5 Lucy found some sort of bread product while scrounging around, and kept it in her mouth until mile 4.5. Three miles! She kept that thing (hamburger bun?) in her mouth for 3 miles, not able to breath out of her mouth. She finally stopped and ate it while I did a turn around. I've only ever seen her pick up bread products. She's a carbaholic, too.

I gave her a bath. She's outside looking pathetic.

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.

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 :) 

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.

Photo Montage Thursday

Run: 4 miles/42:00

Because now playing with my camera is how I pass the time, and because I have nothing else to write today, I present a photo montage of my life:

 

I swear I didn't make it on purpose.

 

That light means there's something a-cookin' in the kitchen.

This is what was a-cookin: Homemade Chili

 My roommate thinks she's Indian.

 Vans.

 

Leather

Lucy 

 She's tired of me taking her picture.

 

She didn't know about this one.

And lastly, a fair warning - this is my wonky nail. This is cautionary tale against acrylic nails. 

Agrofun

There are advantages to living in an agricultural valley. There are also advantages to providing care for children of agricultural workers.

Like this lovely surprise this morning, a gift from a students' parent.

Went for my walk with Lucy this morning, and she nearly got hit by a white truck. I had to scream her name. She acted like nothing happened. It's also getting cold in the morning, and my shorts are not cutting it. I miss my running pants. They disappeared into oblivion when I moved this summer. They are sorely missed.

All the Dust (And More Giveaways!)

So here's another giveaway for you! Janae over at hungryrunnergirl is giving away a prize pack! It's actually pretty sweet. What I didn't tell you before is that when I post about it on my blog, I get extra points for the giveaway. And I'm basically desperate for free stuff, so you're going to have to put up with it.

I went for an easy run this morning, four miles. I decided to try a new route. I stopped to talk to a neighbor on Tuesday and she recommended this route because it was busy, with lots of people. Basically, she meant it was safe. So I thought "why not". We only have one traffic light in town, and it passes right through it, which made me a little nervous with Lucy, but we made it.

Unfortunately because there's traffic on this road, it has the inevitable dust. It has been super hot and dry here this last week, and so the cars just kick up dust. Clouds and clouds of dust. My mouth doesn't like that, and neither do my contacts. Too bad.

In other running news: Lucy likes to scrounge, pick up stuff, and carry it in her mouth until she has a free second to gulp it down. I think it's rather disgusting, but she seems to enjoy herself. This morning she found something, and when I tried to call her over (so I could take it out) she looked at me like I spanked her. I finally got a hold of her, pried her mouth open, and took out what looked to be a hamburger bun. I tossed it off to the side, and she went and grabbed it again, anyway. Oh well. She kept that thing in her mouth for another mile and a half, and finally gulped it down when she got a chance.

I told her that if she gets sick, I will not feel bad. I don't think she cared.

Guard Dog on Duty!

Lucy gets made fun of. Her favorite place to lay is in my parents' apartment:

Seriously. Girl can lay in this corner for hours on end. If you say her name, she may raise an eyebrow. If you talk really sweet to her, she may honor you with a tail wag. But, she lays there. The other night my mom was home alone with her for a few hours, and she did tell me, upon my return, that Lucy got up to see if Mom was there. However, we figure that was to check and see if anyone was home before she got the cupcakes off the counter. 

So, people make fun of her. Tell her she's lazy. Tell her to get up. Tell her to do something. It isn't very nice. What they forget is that four times a week Lucy runs 4 miles or more. After she comes back from that, she's exhausted, and looks like this:

She usually plops herself down in the parking lot to rest. It's a hard life. 

Lucy is timid, shy, and can often be found hanging out under the trailer, where she has dug herself a tidy little hole. Yesterday I went over to talk to her and she just looked at me like "Excuse me, I'm trying to take a nap". Well Sorrrrryyyyy.

She's afraid of most people, and especially kids (she runs the other way when the kids are around), and so we had given up hope that she would be a guard dog.

Little did we know....

Last night as I was getting ready for bed, and Lucy was outside, someone tried to get in our front gate. We have a new guy living here and last night was his first night. In the dark, he struggled to get the gate open, and I heard a dog barking. Normally I ignore dog barking because it happens all night long. But then I opened my balcony door and saw Lucy standing ten feet from the gate, facing it directly, and barking her sweet little head off. Lucy knows!! Now we have determined that Lucy sleeps all day because she's on guard all night.

Well so much for that...

So much for that morning run. I put on an old pair of running shoes, thinking that at most they would get wet and a little dirty.

Think again!

The road behind our house was fine. A few huge lakes in the middle of the road, but nothing I couldn't run around. Or nothing that Lucy couldn't just run through.

But then it got muddy. Muddy from one side of the street to the other. Not the mud I'm used to, but slick, mucky, sticky mud. The kind that you almost slip on when you walk. So I wasn't about to run on it. And then I came home. I'm from Portland, and when you're from Portland, and you run, you just run in the rain. I actually love running in the rain, but not with mud like this. So much for a speedy run today. And I guess I can kiss that 20+ mile week goodbye, 'cause it's still raining.

Why is it that Lucy loves to run through puddles, but absolutely despises getting her feet rinsed off?

just once around the block.

Lucy lounges around all day, due to the rain.