Autumn Aspen

Taken at Northstar in Tahoe on a gorgeous, warm day. Two days later, it snowed. A lot. Autumn is brief in the mountains, but it's beautiful while it lasts.

Rest Day Recap

I took my first long training walk on Saturday - 4.5 miles along the water from Crissy Field to Ft. Point. I love this walk along the Bay, from the Marina to the tip of the city under the Golden Gate Bridge. Our weather had been just spectacular; sunny, clear, and warm, with no fog in the morning and staying clear and warm at night.

But not on Saturday. Saturday morning the fog hung thickly over the city, and my beautiful view was rather obstructed.

You can't tell, but this is the Golden Gate Bridge. Honestly.

Despite the weather, my walk was awesome. I managed negative splits until the last mile, when a run-in with a friend slowed me down a little. I did the walk in just over an hour, and I'm thrilled. I also felt terrific afterwards, and not at all tired. I've noticed that my hip flexors and IT bands are pretty tight still, but much better than they were a few months ago. Overall, my first week of training was pretty exciting.

I'm having a really hard time in other areas of life lately, and I'm excited for the half marathon training because it's given me something positive to focus on, and some structure in my day. Tomorrow is a hill workout, which most likely will be done in the evening. In the semidarkness. I really don't like Standard Time.

In honor of the World Series

The grounds crew at Yankees Stadium (or at least at the old Yankees Stadium, may it rest in peace) performs the YMCA at every home game. It's one of the best shows in baseball.

Speedwork

I love speedwork.

There, I said it out loud. The odd and uncomfortable notion of walking at a regular pace interspersed with walking at my race pace, then back to normal pace, is really kind of fun. Or at least it was today. My five minute intervals along the Bay on my lunch break were awesome. The sun was shining. Tons of people were out for runs and walks. And the Bay Bridge was closed, so that part of the city was quieter than usual. And I walked negative splits. I even, briefly, broke a 13 minute-mile pace. Today proved that maybe I really can walk a half marathon in February.

Now, my five minute intervals increase to six minutes in two weeks, and then to seven, and they ascend until I'm doing 14 minute intervals for about an hour and a half. I may not feel so happy in a few weeks, or when I'm out there in the rain, but today was fun.

Intercessions

A good friend is getting married in a few months, and I spent the afternoon today at her bridal shower. I know both halves of this couple, and I've met their friends and his parents, but today I got to meet the extended family.

Now I'm the guest at any party who will undoubtedly make friends with the gay guys and anyone in any sort of religious order. I'm not sure why this is the case. I've destroyed set-up opportunities with this behavior. The bride-to-be is still annoyed that I spent one party talking to her gay friends and totally ignoring the guy she thought would be perfect for a set up.

Since it was a wedding shower it was a female only event, no guys were present. But I struck gold with the religious. The groom's family is very large, and very Irish. And his aunt, a nun with the Dominican order, was a blast. And so were her four friends from her community - women who have been close with the family for decades. I ended up sitting next to them for a good portion of the afternoon, and we had a surprising amount in common. They knew some of the nuns and priests at my church; one of them had worked near where I went to college; the list went on for awhile.

And, as the conversation usually does at events like these, we eventually got to talking about my relationships. One asked if I was married. When I replied no, she asked if "there was anyone special in my life," and then commiserated with me when I mentioned the perils of dating in this city.

We were wrapping up our conversation as I was leaving, and this nun and her friends bade their goodbyes. They said they would look for me at the wedding, and they said they would pray for me. In my quest to find a date. A few extra intercessions would go unnoticed, they said, and you never know how it might help me.

I briefly wondered if I should ask them to pray for something else instead - world peace, perhaps? An end to hunger and violence? The repose of my dad's soul?

But I quickly changed my mind. I told them a dozen girlfriends of mine would also appreciate their prayers. And I've now got half a community of Dominican Sisters from Mission San Jose on my case. Divine intervention is now really possible.

Reflection

Overlooking the Merced River.

Ten Months

I needed the better part of the day to figure out why I'm so angry and depressed and unbelievably sad today. And then I looked at the calendar. Coincidence? Maybe, but ten months ago today my dad died.

I feel like every time I gain my balance something comes by to knock me to the ground and repeatedly run me over. And it really sucks.

Goal Oriented

I've kind of been without a plan all year. I've spent so much time being sick, and focusing on getting well, that I've felt goal-less. That's not to say that getting well hasn't been my goal. It was my primary goal for the last ten months. And I'm still working on it. But now that I'm feeling better, I need a plan. I need some structure.

So I've looked at some training plans and put together a calendar. I've got some smaller races coming up in the next few months, but I think I'm ready for something bigger. Or at least I hope I am. The Kaiser Half Marathon is held every Super Bowl Sunday in San Francisco. The course goes through Golden Gate Park and along Ocean Beach. It's almost in my backyard. I've done the 5K portion of the race, and even in the rain it's an awesome course.

So I'm giving myself a month. I'm going to try some serious training. I'm going to see if my body is really healed. I have high hopes and low expectations, but maybe 2010 is my year, the way 2009 was supposed to be and wasn't. If everything goes well between now and mid-November, I'm registering for the Kaiser Half. And I'm hoping it doesn't rain on race day!