Each Day Is a Gift

Got up early to pack.  Left the house at 9:00 for the 11am flight to Long Beach.  Huge delay due to weather, deicing, finally got on a different aircraft 2.5 hours later.  Arrived at Long Beach just before 3pm.  Heavy LA traffic.  Got to Sis house after 4:00pm.  It was so wonderful to see her.  She cooked this enormous seafood dinner for hubby, me and her husband, Joe. 

We had ginger steamed whole fish (yellow tail, that Joe caught from the ocean),  boiled fresh prawns, baby bok-choy, brown rice, BBQ spare-ribs, Watergate cake.  Did I mention she served us freshly baked peacan chocolate chips cookies, bavlaka, almond milk, mangoes and persimons as soon as we arrived?

Legs are stiff and tight.  All that sitting at the airport, on the plane, in the car, in the house made it worse.  Must run tomorrow!  Did I mention I ate toooo much?

Got up at 6am.  Sis already in the kitchen preparing omelet, bacon, English scones, berry smoothies for breakfast.  Drank EmergenC and water before heading out.  Planned to run for an hour.  Surprisingly cool, wore l/s top and tights. 

Sis. lives on a hill in Rancho Palos Verdes, one of 4 towns on the Peninsula of Palos Verdes, southwest of LA with beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.  The beach is less than 2 miles away.  The street she lives on, Ganado, is one serious hill.

Ran 0.4 miles on Ganado up to Crest w/ 200' elevation gain (according to Garmin, 1010' to 1212').  Then 0.75 mile down on Crest w/ almost equal elevation loss to Palos Verdes East.  Ran another 2 miles on Palos Verdes East, rolling hills ranging from 606' to 1005' then turn around and back the route. 

Palos Verdes E is a winding busy 2 lane road w/ heavy morning commute traffic.  I had to run on a very narrow 2'-4' wide sidewalk which is only on one side of the road.  I loved running the few yards of pine-needles or bark covered shoulder.  I really enjoyed running the dirt next to a metal barrier where there's no sidewalk.  Absolutely loved the ocean view!

Left hammie complained on the uphill, quads & knees very sore on the downhill.  

Ate ginormous breakfast.  Sis took us to Torrence for a yummy dim-sum lunch.  Picked up Joe from work at El Segundo.  Sis made us a ginormous dinner, steak, seafood pasta (shrimp, halibut, mushroom, tomato, zuchini, in roasted garlic wine sauce), fried scallops, Chinese broccoli w/ oyster sauce, apple turnover for dessert. 

Ran the same route as yesterday!  Legs are very sore!  Not much recovery!  Too much eating!

Went to movie, Red, before noon, tickets are only $6.  Ate tons of snacks during movie. 

Joe took us to Rafael, a family own Italian restaurant in San Pedro for dinner.  I had fresh clam linguinie in white sauce, hubby had sea bass, Sis had fresh vegetables shrimp linguinie in pink sauce, Joe had beef shank.  We had calamari, grilled red peppers. prosciuto bread for appetizer.  For dessert we had tirimizu.  Did I mention I ate too much?

Same route as the last two days, a bit faster, a mile farther.  Wore shorts today!  Beautiful sunny blue sky, perfect running weather.  I think the temp range from high 50s to mid 60s.

More eating, some shopping.

Had dinner at Sis' daughter, Erica's house.  We had, BBQ short-ribs, garlic-black-bean-pork ribs, ginger steamed sea bass, shanghai bok-choy.  For hor'deuve, we had mushroom turnovers, spinach quiche, cheese ball.  For dessert we had blueberry tart, cookies.  Did I mention my sister made all of that from scratch?

My legs are so sore that I do not want to run the same hills that I ran the last 3 days.  Hubby drove me to the southwest side of the hill.  He was supposed to drive me down the hill to the Donald Trump Gulf Course Country Club where there's a bike path.  But he missed it and drove for 5 miles north on Palos Verdes South, a road along the coast.  He pulled off at Abalone Cove Park. 

I ran from the "park" down to the beach on a single track dirt trail, very treacherous, my quads screams and knees complained.  I decided to not run on the beach as it was out of view from my husband.  Ran back up to Abalone Cove and ran "laps" cross-country style all over the "park" dodging gofer and rabbit holes.  It was very warm, no shade!  The sound of the waves, pristine blue ocean and sky made the run worthwhile!

More eating!  Very sad to say goodbye to my wonderful loving sister!

Got home after 9ish pm.  Very tired from lugging four pieces of luggage, two of which are filled w/ frozen fish that Joe caught, fresh persimons and gazillion goodies Sis made or purchased. 

Legs are so sore!

Met my SSF, Matt, Brooke, BJ at Winchester at 8.  Ran the first 3 miles w/ SSF then the rest w/ Karen.  My pelvis, hammies, glutes, quads are sore.  Got a new blister on my left 4th toe.  Hope everything heals up by next Sat.   Oh I gained 6 pounds...but my sister's wonderful sinfully delicious cooking was well worth it! :)

THANKS SSF for inviting me and the hot chocolate post run!  :)

A sad note:(  a dear friend, Lori, died this morning, after battling cancer for 8 years, leaving behind a wonderful husband and 4 absolutely outstanding terrific children.  The oldest is on a mission in Taiwan, the youngest is 11.