Here I go again!

Against all odds, my friends, I did it again... First was a broken jaw, then a bruised knee and bursitis. This time, a broken arm. As I was cruising down one of the bridges of the Capital Crescent trail on my way to the office this morning, this huge skunk came out of nowhere and just stood right on my path! The smell was just sickening! Since I had my water bottle in one hand, I only had one hand to cover my nose - forgetting I don't know how to ride without using my hands, and blinded by the awful smell, I covered my nose and surely enough my bike got out of control and off I went to the right side of the trail, hitting my arm against a big sign that said "watch out for skunks". Ironic, ha? Here's a picture of me with my awesome new cast:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yuxe61Mr1Fa5Fn_gbxHlaQ?feat=directlink

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So I put the same joke on Facebook and my sister saw it, my family called me all worried, poor guys... it was nice talking to them though!

I ran 5.33 easy miles from the office to Clarendon and back in the rain and fog, it's hilly on the way there so good practice. Focused on running taking small steps, stepping right below my body and not in front of it, and it seems to be working, no shin splints... Biked to my house in the rain and did strengthening and stretching. That's a total of 15 bike miles and 5.33 running miles for the day, not bad!

And I seem to have lost a bit of weight... 5 more lbs and I will feel like a goddess, 7 more lbs and I will be dancing around the streets!

Biked to the office, after work biked to Smithsonian to meet the Meetup Capital Striders running group - I'm not a big fan of running in groups but I wanted to set up a couple of friends... so I brougth Camille and Lindsay with me. We ran around the mall, trying to avoid tourists, about 4 miles, and then I biked back home. No pain!!! (knock on wood!)

Bridges run after work. Right tendon hurts again. No shin pain.

Biked to the National Building Museum in the windy windy morning to volunteer at the Cherry Blossom 10-miler packet pick-up - what a mess! It makes you appreciate volunteers at those things a whole lot more. Biked back home to get some money cause I saw some cheap deals and forgot my wallet, so I biked back to get some glasses and a tank top with the Argentina flag colors, and biked home. Tomorrow is the Cherry Blossom 10-miler and 5k, and I'm doing my first 5k ever... not going to go very fast cause I told my colleague Mike I'd stay with him, so it'll be a good excuse not to go too fast and get injured again.

Good nnight!

An absolutely perfect racing weather day in DC. Woke up, biked to the World War II memorial to meet up with my colleague Mike - we walked to the start line chatting. He used to be really overweight, and a few years ago started biking to work and back, about 30 miles round trip, and lost a lot of weight, Now he started putting it back on, and is turning 30 this year, so he wants to run a marathon - the problem is, we've signed up for 8ks, 10ks, and 10-milers together, and he NEVER trains!!! So, I'm trying to get it in his head that a marathon is no joke and that if he wants to finish without being injured, he needs to take the training a bit more seriously. So that's what we talked about until the race started. I told him our goal was to finish in 30 minutes, 10-ish minute miles, didn't seem hard to attain... it turns out I didn't realize how out of shape he was... We started pretty good, 9:30 the first mile, then he started to breathe really hard and sweat, so I started slowing down a bit... crossed the Memorial Bridge, turned around, had some water, and started the 2nd half to the finish line. I tried to motivate him to go faster but was worried he'd have a heart attack or faint on me, so I didn't push too hard... We finished in 30 min 30 seconds, not bad at all! I think it was a good race to do so that Mike realized how much work ne needs to do before Marine Corps...

After the race I met up with a bunch of othe runners, so weird how you can see people you know in a crowd of thousands of people! Then I biked home and met up with Will to go on a gorgeous bike ride to Annapolis, followed by crab soup sitting on a sunny restaurant deck by the bay. Will's kids got 1st and 9th place on the kid's 1-mile fun run.

What a fun day!

Biked to the office from Bethesda on the CCT, soooooooo beautiful!

Biked to school after work and biked home! Windy now, thunderstorms tonight maybe?

Biked to the office (5), after work ran in Rock Creek Park for 30-ish minutes, then biked to Bethesda (10). Gorgeous but cold day.

Lowering my bike seat seems to make a difference - my tendon pain is not bad today, even after biking lots yesterday and today. I also didn't go very hard or got up and pushed hard on the hills, just lowered the gears a bit more. The positive thing is, running doesn't seem to affect it.

So my boss tried to convince me that I got a "promotion" yesterday... I was given two huge extra responsibilities, one is writing a weekly newsletter to our members that includes information that I know NOTHING about, so it'd all be new research, the other is managing a huge data mining project, that a research assistant and two interns are working on. Ummm... did I get a title change? Nope. Did I get more money? Nope. Supposedly it'll happen soon... I'm going to be spending LONG days here in the office for a while!

I am wearing my "skinny pants". I haven't been able to fit in these pants since 2006 (ironically, since just before I started training for my first marathon) They're slightly tight, but fit enough to wear them to work, so I'm happy. I'd like to lose 5-6 lbs more, but I'll take my current weight! It's amazing how much it affects my mood. I feel so much more self confident now than 3-4 months ago, even though probably nobody else can notice much of a difference.

Peace out!

Biked to the office from Bethesda in the beautiful morning. I love that ride! After work, went running for about 30 minutes. My tendon was hurting, probably from the morning ride, so I didn't want to push it, though running doesn't seem to make it worse. I went on the C&O canal, wanted to try to find where the Dumbarton Oaks trail start, so I went under this dark and scary tunnel that goes underneath Canal Road... then I saw what appeared to be a trail through the trees... so I followed it... bad bad idea - lots of garbage and signs that homeless people stay there often... so I tried to go fast - thankfully, it just went to a road in Georgetown University, so I ran across the campus and back to the office. I'll have to look up that trail some other time. Biked home after the run.

I cannot be-lieve what a PERFECT day is today. Gorgeous, sooooo pretty, sooooo many pretty flowers, soooo much sun but a few pretty clouds... absolutely breathtaking.

Biked to the office, did the bridges run in about 45 minutes, going slow cause my tendon still bothers me a little, no shin pain!!!. Now I'm biking home and will have a biiiiiig salad with lots of baby spinach, yummmm! I cannot be-lieve I am having baby spinach cravings, what's going on here?

Happy running friends!

Another gorgeous day in DC - it was supposed to rain but it didn't. This weekend is supposed to be very wet, which is perfect for me since I have to work and study! Biked to the office, we closed early for Good Friday, so around 3 I went for a run around the bridges - I looked at the route closer on mapmyrun.com and it's longer than I thought, almos 5 miles, so I'm updating my miles from yesterday too. It's really hot, almost 70. I don't think I ate properly pre-run or drank, cause I didn't feel too well - my stomach cramped up for the entire first half, and the deep breaths didn't help much. Finally it went away and I was exhausted - I wanted to stop and walk soooo many times, but I never gave in - I slowed down at parts but then I sped up to get it over with... I think the change in temperature affected me. I did take my camera with me this time, so I could show you the gorgeous places where I run, especially the beautiful flowers - I can't wait for Azalea season!

Some pics: First, the sunset from the cherry blossoms in the tidal basin, the Memorial Bridge on the back

Next, the same trees from the other side, illuminated by the sunset

Red tulips adorn the entrance to the Arlington Cemetery, on the other side of the Memorial Bridge - the Lincoln Memorial is on the background

And last, another flowering tree on the trail by the Rock Creek Parkway, the last mile of my ride to the office. The Key Bridge and Georgetown in the background.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, Happy weekend!

Wow. I am sitting in my office looking at the rain out the window and having one of those "wow", overwhelming moments when you realize how good it is to be alive.

It's pretty cold, rainy, and windy out there. I came to the office to do some work, and the running routes from here are much better than from my house so I often run from here. Left the office with the intention of doing the regular 4.8 mile bridge run... It felt so good to be outside! Running seemed so easy! No shin pain! Almost no tendon pain! As I was approaching the cemetery where I'm supposed to turn around, I was feeling so good that I decided to go to the next bridge, 395, so I did... not that great of an idea, the wind was really strong there and I got a little bit cold, but it felt so good! The cherry blossoms are almost all faded away, but the ones left are absolutely gorgeous! About 100 yards from my office I ran into my friends Brent and James, who had just started their 15-mile run! I cannot believe the amazing coincidences, I see them all the time, even though we don't live or work nearby, and no matter how many people there are at a race, I always run into them. It was so good to see them. Anyway, I ended up doing almost 7 miles, which is great cause I have a 10-miler coming up in a few weeks. It's hard to believe my shin spints are gone... I'm still stretching and strengthening, and will for a very long time, but it seems all paid off! I owe that to so many of you, especial mention to Barry, Lori and Josse, your recommendations were so helpful!

Already, now it's back to work, then biking home if the rain stops and the sun comes out as weather.com says! Then rewarding myself with dinner at my favorite vegetarian place, Java Green! Have a great weekend everyone!

No running today but a very nice bike ride near Schaeffer Farms in Maryland. A MUST go to destination for all bike riders in the DC area!

Took a nice evening walk with Will in the evening, after an afternoon of studying. What a great weekend.

Biked to work, biked to school, biked home. And that's all I have to say about that.

Rainy day here in DC

No biking for me for a week to see if it helps the tendon. But, I can run!

I'm going to do the bridges run after work, since the trails will be too wet and muddy...

My colleague Diego came back from vacation to a mess done by racoons! He found two baby racoons in his fireplace, and they think the mother is still in the house hiding somewhere, or dead... how bizarre is that? Imagine if you're a professor and a student comes in and says "Mr. Jones, I can't come to class, I have a racoon problem" - hard to believe!

On other news, my office mate Hank's car got broken into last night. He lives in a pretty good neighborhood (Glover Park) so I was very surprised. They didn't take anything of value, just some change...

As it has become routine, I heard 8 shots fired around the corner from my house last night. It seems things are getting worse... I wish I could blame the economy, but this guys are not about that.

Anyone has good news to share???

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Ran from the office to the Dupont metro after the bridges run, so an extra mile.

Very humid, cloudy, pretty cold, rainy day. Ran from mile 2 of the CCT to Wisconsin, then down Wisconsin all the way to the office. Not the prettiest run but not too bad. 1 hour 10 mins, that includes many stops for traffic lights. I need to find a prettier, more quiet route to do from Bethesda; going on the CCT all the way is almost 10 miles, which I'm not quite ready to do yet - hopefully I will be in the summer!

Tendon hurts very little, but right under my knees it started to hurt a bit (a new pain, isn't that exciting?) - hopefully it's nothing. Icing the tendon and the knees. Probably running last night and this morning wasn't the greatest idea... I'll only do 3-4 miles the rest of the week.

Update on the raccoon incident: my co-worker found it last night, she was hiding under some blankets protecting a baby raccoon... poor mommy raccoon, I hope they both make it out ok!

Ran home from the office after work on the absolutely incredibly beautifully perfect DC weather, just as the sun was going down behind the monuments...

Right shin was a bit tight in the middle, but I slowed down a bit and started taking shorter steps and it loosened up. Right tendon didn't really bothered me, knees were fine.

Four-ish miles at lunchtime with Irving, the association president's driver. He was a fast runner in high school and stopped as an adult, and now at age 50 he's getting into it again, "inspired" (aka pushed) by yours truly. Gorgeous day. Went slow with Irving the first 30 mins, then dropped him off and went another 10. No pain!

I spoke too soon. On Friday, I sprinted the last 100 meters to race my friend Irving, and I don't think that was a good idea. My left heel hurt a lot Friday evening, and yesterday. I iced it and it helped, but didn't go away completely. I think I got a bruised heel, which shouldn't be too hard to heal.

But I wanted to go for a run today, and I didn't feel well at all. My left heel hurt, so I put more weight on the right leg, which caused my right tendon and shins to hurt. So I went really really slow and in a very bad mood. The last mile I started noticing the gorgeous flowers around, the Dogwoods are flowering, the Azaleas are starting to show, very pretty, so I felt better. Icing now.

Congrats to all of you that raced this weekend, very exciting to read the race reports!

Nada, zero... well, still probably exercised more than 50% of Americans, walked 1 mile fast from the office to school and another mile to the metro after school...

Biked to the office from my house, left bike in office and did a nice 30 min loop by the very muddy Rock Creek Park - we've had so much rain lately, which is good cause it makes all that pollen go away! Will try to run a bit more this evening before biking back. Left heel still hurts a bit but not too bad, and tendon doesn't hurt at all.

How about that Boston marathon, ha? Such an exciting finish, yet the slowest time for women ever recorded? See you next year, Boston!

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PM: Found out a couple of my colleagues got laid off today, including one of my best friends, the person who recommended me for my current job, and someone I've learned a lot from. Very sad and worrysome... I guess I won't be getting a pay raise any time soon, and glad to have a job - there are advantages to making little money, it makes you less likely of a target if they need to cut costs... Anyway, I was very upset so I decided to run home. Great idea, it was rainy and beautiful out, the sun set behind the clouds right at the moment when I was going up Capitol Hill, so I was able to enjoy the bright oranges and reds... Not sure if it was because my mind was worrying so much about all these, but I had almost no pain, only a little bit on my left heel.  

Beat lazyness and ran to work in the cloudy morning. Weather.com said 20% chance of rain.... 20% my behind! I got soaked, and even some hail fell on me... But it was a great run and very little heel and tendon pain.

We just had a full staff meeting to talk about changes, people being laid off, people taking pay cuts, and the financial situation of my workplace. Depressing. Also slightly reassuring, knowing that I made it past the cuts, and that the people that were let go are either single or have a significant other that works, so at least they aren't leaving entire families without the breadmaker... An alarming situation nevertheless... I have confidence that we'll bounce back quickly, but until then things are going to suck...

Tendon hurt after the morning bike ride to the office... gahhh!

After work I went to try again to find the magical Glover Park trail... so took the C&O canal, went on the creepy tunnel under Canal Rd., and there it was, right on the left! It's a really nice trail considering that's in the middle of the city. Not good to build speed, but with several very hilly spots, lots of rocks and roots so you have to pay attention, but they make your ankles stronger. The trail keeps going North but I cut across towards the Dumbarton-Oaks park into Rock Creek, after passing through the Brazilian Consulate, the Italian Embassy and the Dutch Embassy - what beautiful buildings! Felt pretty good overall, luckily running doesn't seem to aggravate the tendon at all. I was out there for 50 minutes (not including 5 extra minutes cause I had to go back into the office to use the facilities...), and that includes several stops to find my way after going the wrong way....

I biked home after that, going rocket-fast, and put the bike in the closet so I won't feel tempted to use it for a very long time.

Ran to the office from home on a gorgeous morning, a bit coldish (45-ish) but warmed up later on. Left heel hurts a bit, tendon hurts a bit. Went pretty slow but did a couple of faster 300-400 meter intervals.

Now I have to decide my "strategy" for the next 2 weekend races... I have a 10-miler this Sunday, and an 8k the following Sunday. The 8k is for a group race that my company is sponsoring, and we have a chance of winning a prize, so I want to race that one really well. The question is, can I/should I try to go fast this weekend on the 10-miler, or would that hurt my chances of doing well on the 8k? I feel like at this point I don't really have a chance of PRing on the 10-miler, but I probably can do better than last year on the 8k... Thoughts?

TGIF!!!

Very hot morning in DC! Biked 3 miles to meet up with my friends, at 7 supposedly.. 7:20 finally everyone was there - we barely made it in time after the long cab ride to Mt Vernon, in Alexandria. The race started slow, along the very green George Washington parkway that runs along the Potomac. A gorgeous course, and the road is nice and wide. The first 2 miles were slow, passing lots of people, but my right shin was feeling tight and almost cramping up... right after mile 2 I saw Camille and Dave right in front of me! I couldn't believe it and got worried that I was going so slow! I think they started a bit too fast, that's what it was... finally by mile 3 or so it had loosened up and felt much better for the rest - and I passed Camille and David finally! My stomach was not feeling well, and I had to go to the bathroom since the very beginning, so I was a bit uncomfortable the whole time. It was very hot, so I poured water on my head at the water stations. I took a gu at around mile 6 cause I was feeling a bit low in energy, not sure if it worked. I didn't feel really bad, but I didn't feel really good either. I felt I was going slow the entire time... but this wasn't my target race so whatever... what matters is I finished! My time was close to 1:24, official results are not posted yet. Here are some of my splits:

Mile 2: 17:01

Mile 3: 8:40

Mile 4: 8:43

Mile 5: 8:41- 5-mile split was 43:04

Mile 6: 8:33

Mile 7: 8:10

Mile 8: 8:34

Mile 10: 15:50

Pretty good negative split, I won't complain. Not a PR but considering I haven't been back from injury that long ago, I'll take it.

Camille finished in 1:30 and David in 1:36 or so. They were happy.

Tendon didn't hurt, heel didn't hurt, overall a good day but while I was running that's not what I was thinking!!! I like point-to-point races too, though it's also entertaining to watch the faster runners come your way when a race is out and back on the same street, and also to see the slower runners behind you, ha!

Lessons learned: 1. When meeting up with other runners to get to a race, call them in the morning to make sure they're up, and leave some cushion time between race start and meeting time. 2. Don't eat ice cream with dulce de leche the night before a race. 3. Don't wear those insoles again, they give me blisters.

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Results are posted but not age group results yet... I was 771st out of 4 thousand runners... that always gives a good perspective, being on the top 25% is not bad.

Ran the Capitol Crescent trail from Connecticut Ave. to the Bethesda metro - it's such a great run, so flat, quiet, through the Congressional golf course... lots of birds... Legs are a bit tight but not so bad. Got blisters on the bottom of my feet though, so I won't be using those insoles for a while, or maybe will try wearing them in the Adidas... Metroed from Bethesda to Dupont Circle and ran to the office from there. Nice and slow, good recovery run...

Today is our last class before the final next Monday... yikes...

Ran from home to the office. Hot day! Felt slow. Maybe I should start having something to eat before leaving. Also very thirsty. Need to start drinking more water. Blisters hurt a bit, I hope they go away fast. Tendon hurts a bit. Icing now.

A friend of mine sent me this, I'm usually not a big fan of stuff like this, but some of the things here are pretty good... I particularly need to keep in mind numbers 13, 26, and 42.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no
for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Rainy, right calf tight.

From Chevy Chase to work, via CCT-Wisconsin-Mass-Park-R-28th. One hill on Wisconsin before getting to Friendship Heights, then another one just before Tenleytown, another by the Cathedral, then downhill all the way on Mass, and a nasty hill to get out of the park, then downhill again. I like the uphills and downhills, and Mass Ave is nice... Wisconsin is not - need to try to find a nicer route. When i'm done w/school for the semester I'll do the entire thing on the CCT, that's about 10 miles.

Cloudy, very nice temp.

1 hr 3 min, including some light stops. 5 min faster than last time.

Right calf a bit tight the first 2 miles, then it loosened up. Tendon didn't hurt. Some blisters leftover from Sunday's race, nothing bad.