Yoga, Mate, and Running

So the verdict is in. I cannot drink a muy grande mate-latte every day and run. I also cannot go back to yoga after a year off and run the next day. This whole running thing is certainly starting to get inconvenient.

All week I have been having awful runs. I just could not figure out what the problem was. I would just be jogging along and boom my heart rate would jump up, I would start sweating bullets and get queasy. Kind of like I was working out at max heart rate, but I was not.

Thursday I was teaching, after drinking a huge mug of may mate-latte, and I broke out in a dripping wet sweat. It is like hot flashes, at least like I imagine hot flashes since I have never really had one. I just looked at our student and apologized for sweating like a pig.

Finally this morning as I was struggling because I was so freakin sore from yoga last night, I remembered one other time I had these same symptoms. I was taking some "all natural" diet pills. They were loaded with caffeine, as well as garana and some other pretty potent stuff. Same thing happened. I would be biking and my heart would feel like it was going to beat right out of my chest.

Hopefully now that I have figured it out I will start having better runs. As for the yoga, of course I will do more! Classes on Monday and Friday for me now.

Bonking Again

Today was a beautiful, very hot day for a hard hike up to Monte De La Cruz. I went up an hour and almost made it to the turn off for the rec center. It was beautiful and cooler once I got some altitude. I get my trail running staying off the road in the grass and the gravel by the side of the road. I am even getting the running down part down.

The problem is my memory. Why I forgot that I need water for a two hour run, and some gatorade would have been nice. I have got to remember to fuel. I get to thinking I am immortal or something and don't need to take care of myself. I also should go out earlier when it is so darn hot. I think it got up to 85 this morning, with lots of humidity. We are starting to pick up on the humidity in preparation for rainy season.

I am also learning how to hike. It is amazing how different your muscles have to work to hike uphill than running. I found I use my feet and push off, which I don't do when I run. When I run I do the marathon shuffle and when I hike I am using my legs more, with more motion. I only came close to tripping over my feet once on the downhill, close call! Good times, good times!

Yahoo New Shoes!

I have only needed new running shoes for about six months. I was so excited when they arrived in the mail today that I went for a run, stomach flu and all! I felt like crap, but man those new shoes sure felt great!

You know they say that you should change your shoes every six months, or 500 miles, whichever comes first. I was doing an experiment with this pair to see if that is just nonsense. Actually I have not had anymore injuries or pain or anything. They just got worn out after 18 months.

The new ones I bought have lots of mesh so hopefully they will be nice and cool. One downfall maybe they let lots of wet in once it starts raining here. We'll see.

Join Me For A Run in Costa Rica

This is the first street I begin running on. It is around the corner from our house. the people on the left actually have horses and chickens in their yard that Benji gets a kick out of watching.

This is the main road going into San Rafael. You can see the beautiful mountains in the background of Monte de la Cruz.

I had to get a picture of public enemy numero uno on this street. Yes it is in fact the bus. They get extra points if they take out Gringos. On the left is the internet cafe we used to spend many hours at until we got internet at home.

It does not look like it but this is one of the toughest hills we climb. I think just because it is so soon into the run. At any rate it is also a very narrow road making for some fancy footwork at times.

Ah, fan club alley. Here in front of the ferreteria, or hardware store is where all the toothless old guys hang out all day. It just makes their day when we run by and they get a little eye candy to make the day a little brighter. We did make a decision early on that all fans would be kept at arms length!!!

This is the road to Getsemene. We lived up there for the first ten months after we moved to Costa Rica. It is beautiful, but man the hill is a killer.

On your left is the best place to stop for Power Aid. We made it a point to stop here when we do the loop more than twice. Gotta refuel on something that long. This particular loop is over five miles by the way.

This is our "resting place".

This would be for sure the hardest road of all times to try and cross safely, without peeing all over yourself and trying not to get hit, all at the same time.

They just about got away from me, but there were some mighty fine looking cyclists, on some mighty fine bikes up ahead. They were just lots faster than me.

Here we circle up around the back of our neighborhood, and it is sorely tempting at this point to call it good and head home. But no we do not we persevere.

This is heartbreak hill. Or just we try and get up it as gracefully as possible without dying. Or just walk.

At this particular blind curve Bekah saw her life flash before her eyes. That is what happens when a car comes squealing around the corner and realizes him, you and the car coming from the other direction are not all going to fit on the road. Guess who gets voted off? I dove she just kept going and lived to see another day.

Could not pass up this shot of the view off to the right. I think this is what Rebekah was watching, because she sure was not watching for cars.

By looking at this pothole you may get a good idea of why the cars cannot decide whether to hit us or hit the hole, hard one.

This shot of the view from this road is just a great way to explain why we risk life and limb to run here, beautiful.

Here we are in the "guarded neighborhood". See the guy in the blue shirt sitting on the bench chatting with the neighbor and reading the paper? Yeah that is the guard, good thing they pay him to watch their houses ha?

No I don't think this road was blown up by a land mine. I do think last January's earthquake did lots of damage on our roads though. The good news? No traffic on this road.

On the last curve it is a little scary to guess if me, and both cars are going to fit on the road at the same time.

Beauty

As I was running this morning I could not help but be very happy with all the beautiful weather and green around me. There was a light breeze, about 78 degrees and just absolutely beautiful out. I needed that just as I need my run every morning to keep me a sane mommy. How can any mother do it without exercise? Just getting out breathing hard, sweating and jammin down to my mp3 player, makes my day.

I keep saying I am going to do it and by golly maybe tomorrow is the day to go out and take some shots of my running route. I am just too lazy to carry the little half pound camera with me. I don't know why, I carried one on a belt for a whole marathon when we did cowtown marathon.

So stay tuned tomorrow for photos of a beautiful day for a beautiful run in Costa Rica.

LIFE IS FRAGILE

I received an email yesterday that just blew my socks off. When we left Flagstaff three years ago I sold my wonderful massage business to one of the nicest girls on the planet. I had called my alma mater and asked if they knew anyone who would be interested in buying a business in Flagstaff. They knew just the girl and she was a student of theirs from Flagstaff.

It turned out I knew her soon to be hubby from triathlons and I knew the minute that I met Jill I would sell my business to her. I had worked 11 years to establish my thriving business and it was like my baby. I had already rejected two people who wanted to buy it, they weren't the right fit.

Jill and I worked together over the next couple of months to make the transition for the clients as easy as possible and she took over and off! Due to the economy she lost a few of the clients, but I believe we had a successful "takeover".

The email I received was from Jill. She informed me that she is battling brain cancer. Whoa! Another thing that I liked about Jill was her health ideas. She is one of the most health conscious individuals that I know. My first thoughts were if she can get it, we are all pretty much dead.

I went and checked out her blog and what an inspiration she is. She has managed to run, and bike through chemo, radiation and all that goes with that. They did brain surgery on her and she had 38 stitches in her head, then on with the cooking. What a strength she is to everyone lucky enough to know her. I for one feel very lucky to be counted as one of Jills' friends and will certainly be praying for her recovery and return to health and of course to the clients who are probably missing her something terrible.

RESTING

Two days later and I am still tired. Of course last night I could not sleep because of big blisters all over my lips. You would expect blisters on my feet after running a marathon, certainly not blisters on my lips. It is a, or I should say my only, flaw. My lips break out at any provocation. It is really a drag and the main reason I quit cycling. With running I can wear a hat and only break out from really long runs, but with cycling no hat and constant fever blisters.

Other than that I am a little sore and tired in the quads, but otherwise none the worse for the wear. Rebekah said she is pretty recovered now also. I also have some chub rub I am still dealing with. For some reason I got a bad rash under one arm pit, only hurts when I sweat though, which is just every time I walk out of the house.

I have actually been asking myself, when do I say when? What age will I be done running marathons and crazy stuff like this? Will there ever come a day when I just hang up the tennies, bike shoes, or whatever and say that's it? I can't imagine that, but never say never.

MORTONS NEUROMA

There is a saying that if anything can go wrong it will. Well in the case of marathon training that is true for sure. I have been very careful not to get injured an been very conscientious about stretching and staying loose.

A few years I developed a neuroma, or as it is known on the bottom of the foot is called a "mortons neuroma". It feels like running on a hot iron on the ball of the foot. Painful! I did not think I would be able to do our 18 miler on Monday, but it loosened up and I was able to limp through it.

The problem with limping through a run is the sore muscles that are not used to limping. The compensation is not always worth it, and I sure felt it on my five miler today. My opposite leg was so sore and the bottom of the affected foot was so sore from running on the outside of it.

The good part was by the end of the run I was feeling strong and well. It is great when a five miler actually feels good. We are actually starting to get our act together on this marathon. It has been a fun journey for this one for sure and can't wait to run the race. Tamarindo Marathon here we come !!!!!

LIFE IS GOOD

O.K. I think this shirt is about on it's last thread. But the problem is that I love this shirt. I have had it obviously a very long time and it works great for running. The biggest problem is the funny tan lines I get when I run in it. But it is very well air conditioned and keeps my shoulders covered.

I guess since I have reached my goal I could reward myself with some new running clothes. The only problem with this is the fact that when you wear fancy, smancy running clothes people actually expect you to run like, fast.

It was like when I did triathlons. I had a really nice bike that I had traded for with massages. Well when I would show up for a race people would take a look at my bike and think I was actually going to be the "competition". Ha, ha, ha, they quickly discovered differently once the swim began.

Anyway I am already self-conscious about running in my "runner watch". I read once that the only difference between a runner and a jogger is the watch. But I really am more of a jogger, and believe me it takes a really long time to jog a marathon! I would say I have it on the really fast, and kind of fast people when it comes to endurance. I can run all day. I have to to finish the race because I am so freakin slow. But I am doing it and having fun, most of the way, and staying healthy.

WEEK GONE

Man when you have a long run comming around these weeks tend to fly by! Tomorrow is our 16 miler and I am trying not to think about it too much. My daughter said she would be over in the morning, but not too early because we have to do some warm weather training, to do our long run. I just gave her a duh look and said "is it already Sat?"

Baby went to sleep over with her sister and niece. They were going, her and niece, to build a fort and sleep in it. She just called to tell me good night and was mad because her sister woke her up. My daughter told me she thought her eyes were open and she was still awake. She always looks like her eyes are open even when she is sleeping.

So tomorrow I will post pictures of our long run and of us limping around, should be interesting.

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Do you ever have one of those weeks in your workout routine where you feel like you are just running on empty? That is the perfect description of my workout week. Monday had a really wimpy run, it was hot and I just barely made four miles. Yesterday did not even run, layed around and read the last Twilight book all day. (I do have to say it was the only one I really enjoyed by the way.)
Oh yeah and I got a massage in the afternoon. I guess I should just view it as a recovery day and chalk it all up to training.
Today I did a pretty good run, but just did not feel really strong. I am finding that I do better earlier when it is cooler. We are going into the rainy season so it is very hot and humid in the mornings after 8:00.
Today was a day to check out a new road and see where it led. It ended up leading back to the old road. Kind of boring. I am looking out for some new places to run. I do have some pre-requisites though that are a little hard to meet here.
In Costa Rica the roads are nicely paved, but very narrow. I like to find roads that are a little wider and maybe with a sidewalk. Sidewalks are hard on the legs, but not as hard as getting hit by a car would be on them :)
I also like to find a road with very little traffic. Again a tricky one since the nicer roads are the ones "most traveled".
I would like to do some hill work, but the hills seem to have the most narrow roads of all. I guess they suppose that since people cannot pass, they won't so they don't have to make the roads any wider than two cars. I mean not one inch wider!
There in a nutshell is why I always end up running on the track. I am thankful it is close and a really nice track, but man oh man can it get boring running in circles. I kind of start getting the hamster feeling going on.
Another problem is probably the fact that I have been eating everything in the house. I made banana bread the other day and ate it for two days. The tall son came over last night after work and I told him to eat the remainder of the bread.
That is the problem when you raise seven kids. They move out and you keep cooking like you have a houseful, and you're still nursing or pregnant, and boom, you turn into a middle age balloon.
Well I for one will not go down without a fight by golly! I will keep fighting gravity, age, hormones and everything else life throws at me just to keep moving and feeling good.
To quote Andrew Carnegie : " I am not to be envied. How can my wealth help me? I am sixty years old, and I cannot digest my food. I would give all my millions if I could have youth and health".
It is worth the fight for sure.

HAPPY 25 BIRTHDAY

Today is my daughter Rebekahs' 25 birthday! It was fun and we had a great day celebrating. We took the girlies to the pool for the day, then it was out for ice-cream, then it was home to make her favorite dinner, salmon patties, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

It is hard for me to believe that 25 years have raced by so quickly. I was telling Rebekah while we were at the pool that the day was very similar on the day she was born. She was born in Wahiawa Hawaii, so the weather was pretty much like it was here in Costa Rica today. About 80 degrees with a slight breeze and beautiful.

Rebekah was one month early so she was only five pounds when she was born. She also was born with her thumb in her mouth! It took us about 10 years to pry that thing out of her mouth and that would explain why she is wearing braces now at 25.

I have to brag about her a little bit since it is her special day. She has always been very quiet and mellow. She is a super hard worker and a great mommy. I am very proud of the mom and woman and hotmom she has grown up to be. I am thankful for her and that we are best friends, running partners and partners in most crimes. She told me when we made our resolutions this year that like alcoholics that avoid friends that influence them to drink we influence each other to eat and should really not hang out if we really want to get skinny!

Forget that I will take the extra 10 lbs. and a great friend to hang out with. Happy Birthday Rebekah!

CANCER SUCKS!

My younger sister has cancer. She has had cancer for almost 20 years. When she was nine years old they took half of her stomach out. Six years later they took out the rest of her stomach. Presently she is at the doc. most days for pain management or chemo, or ct scans, mri's, or you name it. The latest was kidney stones.

I had not seen my sister for about four years and got a chance to see her when we were in the U.S. in Oct. It was quite a shock. I would not have recognized her if I had not known I was in her house. I think she was happy with the shock effect because she is just like that.

She has a four year old son, a dumb ex husband and a great mom that takes care of her. My mom lives with her and takes care of her, makes sure she takes all her meds, gets to all of her appts, and eats really good, mom is a great cook.

Every day when I run or work out I do it for my sister. I thank God that I have a strong body and am healthy and able to go out for a run. I talk to my sister while I run and tell her I am doing this because she can't, and I want to do something for her that she can't do for herself.

Of course if she had her choice of what she would do if she could I don't think running would be on the list! Sorry Sarah I can't dance.

MORE THANKS

Today was a beautiful Pura Vida day in Costa Rica. The closer we get to summer the more I remember why we moved here. Maleah was able to get in some good practise on her bike and should have it down by the end of the week.

On the bus to Alajuela today a guy was trying to sell hi5 cd's to help kids learn english. Rick and I were alone as we were going out to eat at my favorite mexican restaurant. He just walked right by us and did not even try and sell us one. I told Rick it is because we look too old to be parents of a youngster. That was painful.

We have been asked at the grocery store if she is our grand daughter before. That is kind of weird because it is not like she would look anymore like one of our kids. She gets a kick out of it when people ask if we are her grandparents. It all goes back to the age old question of which is better old parents or young parents.

I believe both have their advantages and disadvantages. I love to hang out and just read and write with Maleah. Now teaching her to ride her bike is quite another matter. Makes my back hurt pushing that thing all over the neighborhood. With my older kids it was the opposite. I took them on all kinds of grueling hikes, bikes and runs. We did spend time reading and writing, but I took more enjoyment out of the outdoor things. The ongoing debate for sure.

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

Another day with no rain, hurrah the rainy season is really over. We have certainly found the trick in surviving the rainy season, go to Nevada and Arizona for the month of October! We got dried out enough to make up for the previous months as well as the couple of weeks after our return.

I have been thinking a lot about goals lately as you can tell by previous blogs. I am thinking if you keep them small it is good. Small successes keep you motivated.

A good example of this is my Tupperware party I had last night here at the house. I do not speak too much Spanish, so did not have a lot of people to invite. I invited a couple of friends and my daughter. When the Tupperware lady arrived she asked me if I had any other friends I could invite to come over. My daughter told her that all of our friends were busy.

It turned out we had a great selling party and I won the big gift! Sounds like kind of a silly thing but that little bit of success made me a little hungry for more. I ran just a little harder this morning, put out a little more on my core workout, and even wrote a new article.

Funny thing how that success feeling works, kind of feeds off of itself for sure! Try it out.