This morning was the shakeout run lead by Bart Yasso. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bart might me running royalty but I think I was more giddy to finally meet The Silent Assassin (a.k.a. Shane)

Shakeout Shaka! Photo courtesy of TSA

Shakeout Shaka! Photo courtesy of TSA

Making friends across the country via blogging and running is so cool. Then meeting them and feeling like you have always known them is a bonus 🙂

We did 3 easy miles and then hit up the expo so Valerie could pick up her first ever full marathon bib!

20140726-170559.jpg

20140726-170615.jpg

20140726-170629.jpg

20140726-170640.jpg
I took advantage of this photo op while at the expo too!

20140726-170802.jpg
The rest of the day has been low key. Just relaxing “houseboat style” and getting ready to head out at 4:30am. We will start running at 6:00am. I’m hoping for a super amazing sunrise.
In the meantime I’m just gonna enjoy the view and the company and some chocolate. life is good!

20140726-171925.jpg

20140726-172322.jpg
What has made you happy today?

Hi folks.
I successfully went to the expo and officially dropped back to the half. I am sooo happy with this choice..there was a $10 fee but I can just sweat out the small stuff instead of sweating bullets.

20140725-213822.jpg

20140725-214101.jpg
It was ridiculously warm today. I walked around the marina and then through fishermans wharf just soaking in the sights and maybe a little sweets…

20140725-214449.jpg

20140725-214503.jpg

20140725-214526.jpg

20140725-214545.jpg

20140725-214613.jpg

20140725-214747.jpg

20140725-214815.jpg
Late in the afternoon I went by my friend Margaret’s apartment. She used to live I’m NYC and we used to work together. She’s now a San Franciscan with an apartment right in the city about two blocks from the start of the marathon. Her balcony has a lovely view of the bay bridge…

20140725-215117.jpg
We had some wine and caught up on life and eventually went to the ferry building for dinner before I hopped on the ferry back to Sausalito.

20140725-215314.jpg

20140725-215323.jpg

20140725-215335.jpg

20140725-215344.jpg

20140725-215358.jpg

20140725-215406.jpg
Have I mentioned how amazing it is to be staying at Valerie’s houseboat?

20140725-215909.jpg
And this little guy is quite the ham sandwich

20140725-215950.jpg
If you ever sit in the back seat of a jeep crossing the Golden Gate it will look like this

20140725-220043.jpg
A lovely day…and now to catch some zzzs….shakeout run tomorrow and another stop at the expo.

Good morning! Happy Friday.
Lisa and I arrived in San Francisco just after midnight. I hit the sack at 1:30am and hoped to sleep until 8:30 but alas I’m still on east coast time.

Before boarding we made sure we were fueled for take off.

20140725-063153-23513176.jpg

20140725-063152-23512824.jpg
Lisa and I both had aisle seats in the same row. And we were sneaker twins!!

20140725-064836.jpg
At first I was excited that I had the row to myself.

20140725-064924.jpg
But then they relocated a woman and her French bull dog to my aisle so the dog (in his carrier of course) could be up on a seat. It was a treat a first to have a surprise snuggler. Until he did what all dogs do and started stealing my space. First it was the armrest…

20140725-064957.jpg

20140725-065016.jpg

20140725-065036.jpg
As we walked through the terminal we saw the little guy rolling on his back. He probably had six hours of itch to scratch.
Blogging from iPads isn’t easy so I apologize ahead of time for any weird styling things….

Have you ever flown with an animal on a plane? Red wind or white? Favorite froyo flavor?

First let me apologize that this post has limited pictures. It’s more of a brain dump for me.

It’s just before almost 4 pm and I’ll be on a plane in 4 hours headed to San Francisco I JUST finished packing and I’m headed out the door for doodle drop off in 15 minutes.

doodle

She said I don’t fit in the suitcase. Hrumph!

photo 3

one last selfie with the pup

I spent an hour last night just trying to resurrect my iPad. Apparently it was so uncharged it took being connected to the computer for almost a solid hour before it started charging. Crisis averted and i’ve downloaded the newest issue of Runner’s World for the plane.

So last night I left work after a VERY hectic day. The usual ad agency client requests. I was frazzled a bit during the day because after checking in with the San Francisco Marathon about how to move forward with switching from the full to the half I received a reply that said that I must get to the expo as soon as they open on Friday at noon as the events are sold out and there is truly limited availability. I’m assuming that it’s first come first served and if someone beats me to the punch I’ll be sh-t outta luck. And I know myself….I will refuse to run no race at all so I’d end up trying to attempt the full.

Anyway I walked to the bus stop and apparently stepped in some fresh gum which I didn’t know until I sat down on the bus and crossed my legs. Plus it was 85 degrees out so needless to say this gum was quite messy. I did the best I could to deal with the situation and laughed that my vacation has officially started off on the wrong foot a bit sticky…

Then I went straight to physical therapy and explained my new ailment. I got super high voltage electrotherapy…I spent 20 minutes watching my leg twitch uncontrollably. LOL! (I wanted to video tape this for you guys but i was too embarrassed to) And then my PT did some direct laser treatment on the calf and massaged it for a while. His theory is that this is actually sciatic nerve from back that is going down the back of the leg and causing calf issue. All I know is that i miss having two legs that feel strong. The 6 1/2 hour plane ride should be fun.

Meanwhile Lisa is going through her own injury stuff. She started to have some hip issues about a week ago and has been to her doc 3 times this week. Her issues are around the sacroiliac joint and she’s also prepared to make a game day decision. Yowsah! This is not exactly how we anticipated this trip to be. Let’s do a quick replay of how this trip came to fruition…

Lisa (the friend who changed my life by introducing me to running) has a sister Valerie. Valerie lives in San Francisco. Valerie started running (probably because she was inspired by her sister like I was) and started completing a half marathon a month….until she decided she wanted to run her first marathon….the San Francisco Marathon. Then Lisa said she wanted to go and run with her for support and then I said “wait! me too!”….And then Roger mentioned he’d be going to raise money for Cystic Fybrosis by running the full TWICE (yes 52.4 miles). And our friend Michelle said she was running the half too. Holy running peeps PARTY!!!

OK, so my braindump is complete. I’m off for an adventure. It’s just one adventure in a lifetime of adventures…It’s not a sprint….it’s a marathon I need to keep in mind that I want to be running for the rest of my life and I need not stress about one event or risk injury.

photo 4

 

Next time you hear from me I’ll be on the left coast!!!!

Anyone else have a race this weekend? Anyone traveling?Â