Friday, January 30, 2009

I'm a RUNNER

So I just finished week 3 of running camp. Can I just tell you that I had a break through this morning!!!!!

I was sound asleep and at 4:49am I woke up all of a sudden all freaked out and shook Carlos awake (I was pretty devastated) and said ......I overslept, I missed my running class.......He looked over at the alarm clock and said ......no you didn't it's too early......Then my alarm went off and I knew I was good to go.

I see it as a sign -- the old me wouldn't have freaked out, she wouldn't have even been up yet. The new me gets up even if it's windy/cold/wet and drives out to meet up with her middle aged counterparts and goes running!

I've been contemplating buying a Garmin ForeRunner to track my mileage in real time (I know, more technology...) but for now I use http://www.mapmyrun.com/ so I do it manually. My work-out log looks awesome, there's activity almost every day. This week I calculated us doing about 4 miles a day, it's primarily on residential streets and/or side walks. But at 5:30am it's still very dark out so we still have to "alert". My legs aren't so tired anymore (since I've started to ice them after the runs) and when I sprint, I'm actually going faster (who knew that practicing pays off).

I'm doing a 4 mile trail run with Carlos tomorrow in lieu of our big race next week, so I'll be able to show off some of my skills. We haven't run together since I started the class. I'm certain I'll do better than I've ever done before. I'll keep you all posted.

FB

Similarly to Norma, I've been neglecting my blogging duties because I've been spending too much time on Facebook (FB)......I know there are people out there that aren't on the fence yet (Lynn :D) but I can assure you that it's easy to navigate and so informative.

I was once there myself, my sister started out strong on FB and I wouldn't see any benefit to it until I came back from visiting my younger cousins in mexico. All of them were on FB, even if they didn't have a computer at home. They are virtually connected to anyone, which is kinda cool considering that in 1995 I was using a "word processor" to help me complete papers for college because desktops were too expensive! (Okay, I just dated myself - didn't I? But I know I wasn't the only one)

I'm just going to say it -- the millennials are taking over......we might as well get on board with all the technology now :D

Getting back to FB - I like that it's instantaneous and you're able to view all your friends updates in real time. I also have the Blackberry application on my phone so I can easily update my status or upload a quick picture. It's AWESOME.

You also get valueable chisme without really having to connect to people....a girl from high school connected with me and she was connected to this other girl (that I never really hung out with) by the time I had finished scrolling down her page I found out that the other girl had 4 kids (3 baby daddy's). Where else would I have picked up that intel without having to connect????

So let's face it, I may be a virtual voyeur (at heart) so FB helps to satisfy my deepest chisme desires :D

Friday, January 16, 2009

'Aha!' Moment

I feel accomplished this week -- I've been waking up early to attend my running class (M/W/F) and I even woke up early on (T/TH) to just get use to being up early in general. Granted, I could be sleeping a little bit more, 4:50am is pretty brutal but I'm trying to stay positive and motivated.

Monday (1st day) - we did our timed mile and some sprints
Wednesday (2nd day) - we did an "easy day" {but to me it felt like a regular hard day} she had us play 'follow the leader', run up stairs, run up hills, jump rope while running. Let me tell you - it's not as easy as you would think.
And I was starting to realize -- why aren't the other 3 women in the session as winded as me???? I know I'm overweight but they are no skinny minnies, if you know what I'm saying.
This particular day, I came home in PAIN. My legs were on FIRE! They felt like heavy pillars of concrete......
Friday (today) - we had hill training, boy was that hard - we ran up hills, climbed up stairs at least a dozen times, sprinted up hills, it was insane but I had my "aha!" moment when I asked one of my running mates --- is this your first time or have you taken this course before?.......

What came out of her mouth floored me -- apparently ALL the women that I've met so far have been doing this running camp (some longer than others) for some time. It was bittersweet, I was thinking to myself -- no wonder I'm dying but then again I'm never too far behind, I've been forcing myself to stay in the pack. So I guess I'm doing pretty well by keeping up with these semi-pros. But I still sound like a vacuum cleaner with a hair ball stuck in it's hose. I'm usually sucking up air like no body's business - so I'll have work on that :D

Monday, January 12, 2009

Running Camp

Carlos' running has improve tremendously he's now doing 7 minute miles. My running has improved too, I went from strictly walking to running (in a few months) but I knew that if I wanted to take it to the next level I needed to get some sort of professional guidance.

I was cruising the web and found www.ez8running.com - it's an all women's running club who's goal is to get runners to an 8 minute mile. I thought about it for 3 months and got a notice that they were going to have another running clinic (m/w/f at 5:30am for 8 weeks). I hesitated because I like to sleep and I just didn't know if I had the will power to commit. I was also a bit intimated by the Coach who also happens to teach various boot camps. And lastly, I wasn't sure if I'd fit in - we are talking South County and I knew I wouldn't fit the profile (plastic and blonde) :D

After much thought, I went for it and signed up. I was prepared to go in blindly - I wasn't sure what to expect from fellow runners and how fit they would be.
So yesterday night (as I was preparing for my first class), I gathered all my running things and put them in one spot and I made sure to be in bed by 9:30pm (that's super early) since I'd have an early wake-up call.

I'm not going to lie - I was so anxious that I kept waking up. So I finally got out of bed by 4:50am. I got on the road at 5:10am and arrived to our designated meeting place in RSM (the city over from us) in no time. I soon realized that it was tiny group - there were only 3 other women (all seem very normal, down to earth, and encouraging) and all had participated in the coach's boot camps in the past. I felt a little out of place (for a few seconds) before she got us up and going. We did warm-ups, did some stretches, and then she wanted to time our mile.

-- Note: It's pitch black, I'm not familiar with the area and all I hear is annoying loud quacking (we're running around a lake after all). On top of that, the Santa Ana's are blowing (it must have been 50 mph - I swear).

So we start running our timed mile, two women took off like lighting -- I wasn't last (so that was nice, in a non-competitive type of way). I ran my little heart out hoping not to get swept into the lake by the crazy winds. My time: 9:45 (PRETTY GOOD) I was finally under 10 min. Just when I thought I could handle this - the Coach has us run relays, sprints, stairs. It was a workout but I survived my first day of running camp. I'm sure I'll have more stories to share!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I'm so BOLD

We finally decided to upgrade to new phones -- Carlos got the Sony Ericsson's Walkman and I'm sporting the new Blackberry Bold.

It's so nice, too nice to be a phone really. It pretty much can do anything, very excited about this purchase!

Tamales for Sale

A cuban friend married to a mexican, asked me for a big favor "Can you teach me how to make tamales". I personally don't think they're difficult, just a lot of work. So of course I said "YES".

We started off our day at the local "mexican" mercado - Superior in Santa Ana, bought the masa [20 lbs of regular masa, 6 lbs of strawberry masa, and 14 of pineapple masa] and some hojas (corn husks).

We got home and started prepping the fillings (Chicken with red sauce, Beef with red sauce and Raja [chile with cheese]). Kat stopped by for lunch, Carlos made us all some delicious tortas and she decided to stick around for the lesson.

As they worked on the savory tamales, I started up on the sweet ones. I made strawberry and chocolate tamales, Pineapple with fruit center, Pineapple with raisins and coconut. All extremely flavorful and fluffy.

Later that week, as I'm getting my hair done and my stylist tells me that William Sonoma is SELLING tamales. I can't believe it, so I decided to investigate for myself. It's true, check out the link ....... http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/4449336/index.cfm?clg=32&bnrid=3180501&cm_ven=FRO&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default And they're selling 1 dozen (12 tamales) for $54 + $10 shipping. So it comes out to $5.33 each tamale and people actually buy them.

So it's settled - if you need tamales or know people that want to get tamales from a clean, reliable, cook , I'm selling TAMALES ......just give me a week's notice :D

Dog Door

The temperatures at home have been dipping into the mid 30's. I know that it doesn't compare to our friends living in colder climates but it's Southern California! I feel like it's getting colder and hotter each and every year -- must be the depleting ozone layer :S

We had a couple of days of horrendous weather (rain and cold). It was bad and since we don't have a patio cover yet, the dogs really don't have a place to hang out. We had been leaving the garage-to-yard door open to allow them to hang out but the garage still felt like a sub zero freezer (not too much better).

So for Christmas, Santa brought the dogs a top of the line insulated doggie door. I was set to install, Carlos on the other hand had his reservations (You see, Trinity we've come to find out loves card board boxes - she's not about creating a fort or a play house, she likes to rip them to shreds. We've come home to cardboard box confetti. So Carlos was uneasy about leaving them in the garage UNSUPERVISED.)

I understood but they were so cold and shivering, I can't imagine keeping them in their dog coats all day. It not right. After some gentle persuasion from me and my Abuelita, he gave in. We installed the door but unbeknownst to us - running in and out of dog doors isn't instinctual. The dogs refused to use it. For the first 3 days, we spent hours forcing and shoving dogs through the door and using various dog treats and peanut butter (they're favorite) as bribes.

Now they're finally more accepting of the door and Ripley no longer waits for Trinity to always walk in first nor does she paw the door and sliver in with her eye closed. Oh those two!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Off for the Holidays

My company is nice enough to give us the week between Christmas to New Years off. This year was especially nice because I got close to 2 weeks off. I was in heaven.

So this is how I spent my time.
Christmas Eve headed to my parents place for some Turkey Birria (my dad's specialty) and to see Alejandrita open up her gifts. Now that she's almost 3, she's more into opening up gifts - she really liked the jackets we gave her and the leapster games the uncles bought.

Christmas Day, we hosted my parents and in-laws. You all know I love food and I decided to venture out and try some new recipes. I made a boneless leg of lamb with a wine/mint/rosemary sauce and a sizable rib eye roast with herbs and spices. It was all very tasty, my toughest critics (my twin brothers) enjoyed it for the most part.

My Abuelita spent the night and the following day we decided to make some tamales (beef - red sauce, chicken - red sauce, chicken - green sauce, & rajas [chile with cheese], strawberry ones). We bought almost 32 lbs of masa and it yielded 371 (big and small). My Abuelita joked that the small ones looked like cigarettes but they were still tasty. It was hard work but we had an awesome time, Abuelita shared stories and jokes, as we listened to some Vicente & Juanga to make the time pass.

We also hit up the BIG sales - primarily to get extra christmas decor. I refuse to pay full price and I know, it's a hassle to save something for a whole year but it's so worth it. We did notice that stores didn't have as much merchandise on "sale". But we still managed to wrangle some deals - like the tree garland, some wreaths for the moms, stickers, table runners, etc.....