Life's a Beach

Like the Californians, we took the 605 to the 210 to the 105 to Vista Del Mar and ended up a few steps away from the beach in Playa del Rey this year. And here we are.

I've been running like a bent over old lady along the bike path between Marina del Rey and the Ballona Wetlands and Hermosa Beach. Not for any particular reason other than I move like an old lady these days. I've been tired, mentally stressed, and I'm heavy. Gotta lay off things like donuts and margaritas when I get back. My body belongs to someone else. I've achieved a girth I've never experienced before. It does not feel good.

But it's been a relaxing week, lots of naps at the beach, burning my kneecaps and the tops of my feet in between my usual sandal tan.

We watched a lot of the DNC convention this week while here. Lots of good speeches, knowing the undercurrent of disappointment of those who hoped for even more progressive change, but these things don't happen fast. As long as that narcissistic and megalomaniacal creep does not get elected President, I know we have the best possible person in charge of the country. Nothing will ever be ideal and compromise is what politics are made of.

For some reason watching Hillary accept the nomination doesn't affect me the way Barack Obama did when I watched his inauguration nearly 8 years ago. I just don't feel right now that the fact that she is the first woman in this position is that exciting, maybe if she wins I will feel differently, but somehow it's not hitting me very hard.

Last night we celebrated my nephew Jim's 21st birthday, he and his girlfriend, my brother and his girlfriend, Dennis and I, and my parents were here. It was great to see everyone. Lots of stuff to celebrate this year. For one thing, just being here, and having reasonably good enough health to be able to enjoy this time together, especially for my dad and Vivian, my nephew's girlfriend.

The first of the Aussie litters was born the other day, we are now 12 puppies closer to becoming parents. There are three more litters to be born over the next two weeks. We're behind about 40 people on a waiting list at this point. There is a slight possibility that we could end up with puppies as soon as mid-October but most likely we'll be waiting for the next round sometime in early spring. One project we do need to do when we get back is puppy-proofing the yard and house.

Mostly I need time to think and regroup and that has not happened on vacation, which is okay. I'll need to do it at some point, probably requiring a long trek by myself on foot somewhere.

Time to go to the beach...

Manhattan Beach Week

We just got back from vacation. Flew into LAX and stayed with my parents in Manhattan Beach for the week.

I ran over 70 miles in 4 days, ran along the Strand and the Marvin Braude bike path between Redondo Beach and Marina Del Rey, and went south through Hermosa Beach and Redondo up and over the Palos Verdes peninsula in the direction of Long Beach, but didn't go that far over the other side.

The day I was running to Marina del Rey, I saw a Badwater acquaintance, Dan Westergaard, who was so kind as to give me some tips before my road double a few years back. He was on his bike riding on the bike path and I recognized him when he passed me. So he slowed down and we talked for a while.

The day I ran south to Palos Verdes was really beautiful, climbing up the side of the peninsula and running alongside the cliffs that overlooked the ocean and up north toward Manhattan Beach.

Of course I spent a lot of time on the beach, played in the ocean, and we ate a lot of good food. Walked around some, and in general, just relaxed. Made a lot of margaritas in the blender too.

My sister and brother-in-law were there the first 2 days so we got to see them and spend some time with my nephews, who are 5 and 10 years old.

So many beautiful scenes, day and night. The weather was perfect the whole time we were there. I could sleep on the beach, listening to the waves crash. I think I could listen to that sound forever.

Now we're back and life goes forward. Lots of work to do, and a bit more running before taper time for Cleveland.

The way the running went was encouraging, because my legs felt consistently good, even after running 40 last Saturday and only taking one day off to travel on Sunday. I came back with 18, 21, 11, and 21 miles Monday through Thursday.

Now I'm planning to back off just a little this week since I had 90 and 80+ mile weeks, next Sunday I'll be in Spearfish South Dakota for the Leading Ladies Marathon, a training run that I hope to run at a decent pace. Don't ask me what a decent pace is, I don't know. It's anything faster than 9 minute miles, at this point. Any time that makes me feel better about my training. It's a mostly downhill course, so depending on my legs, anything goes.

My body does feel like it wants to fall apart sometimes, but running feels good. I feel better when I am running than when I'm not running! As long as I keep moving I'm okay.

The garden is exploding out of the boxes in the yard, we got some rain while we were gone and everything is green. Usually by now things are all brown and dried up, but not this year. The girls are happy that we're home, too.

I'm happy to be home, though every time I get by the ocean, I wish I could spend more time there. I hope that in the future, we will.

Ex-LAX-ers

We spent the past week in Manhattan Beach, south of LA. Flying in and out of LAX makes us Ex-LAXers, right?

Actually LAX is sort of like WalMart but with big glass windows and you fly in and out of it.

It was a perfect week, even though I only ran a total of 5 hours the whole time I was there but probably did 10 to 15 miles of walking a day on top of that. Got some beach action, some swimming, boogie boarding, drank lots of margaritas, ate some great food, hung out with my dad, Ronna (my stepmom), Dennis, and our friend Tami from Arizona. Took tons of pictures, brainstormed with Ronna and Tami about my future plans, more on that soon...

It was completely refreshing and restorative. I didn't even realize how stressed out I was until that first day we got there, Dennis and I were walking along by the water and I burst into tears and blurted out my unhappiness and frustration with everything, it was like the salt air was drawing it out of me, sucking it out and blowing it all away with the wind.

My shoulders were hard as rocks when we got there, now I am relaxed and my neck no longer hurts. I have to go back to work for the next two days and I have wrapped myself in imaginary tinfoil to keep my Zen inner surface where it is, so that I don't lose the benefit of vacation before I get to dive back into my life again on Wednesday.

So I promise to be back and blogging again on Wednesday and will share some of the amazing photographs I took out there, but for now I'll leave you with these few images of my week there.

Happy running,

Alene