Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest antelope, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or an antelope -- when the sun comes up, you'd better be running. -African proverb

Sunday, May 31, 2015

RTO 2015!


Another RTO is in the books!  I had a blast running with the Trail Babes again this year.  I got to run my favorite leg -- Leg 9 -- mostly downhill!  

My first leg had the least amount of downhill (basically none) -- I'm glad it was first!  I ran out of Truckee and along Hwy 89 towards Squaw.  It was a little warm, but I managed to average a 7:42 pace for the 4.8 miles.  The bear I crossed paths with might have boosted my adrenaline a little!

I always love the second leg because I love running in the middle of the night!  This year I got an added bonus since I got to run down Kingsbury grade.  I booked it down the hill and averaged a 5:47 pace for the 3.8 miles.  No bears on this leg, but I did startle a sweet little doe!

My last leg was almost as fun.  I ran down Toll Road.  The first 4 miles were awesome -- jumping over rocks on the trail.  The last couple of miles were tougher, especially since it was so hot.  But I managed to pull off a 7:16 average for 6.6 miles.

My quads are a little beat up today, but it was well worth it!  We came in 20th overall (out of 250 teams) and 3rd in the all women's division.  But most importantly, we had tons of fun!


Friday, May 15, 2015

Running Buddies are Forever!

This week was so much fun!  I was awarded tenure at TMCC and celebrated my 44th birthday.  One of the best birthday gifts I received this year was running with my awesome friend, Noni.  Noni is a near and dear college friend and one of my very first running buddies. We met during the summer of 1991 at Avila Hot Springs where we taught swim lessons together. During my last 2 years at Cal Poly, Noni and I ran just about every day together. Then even after we graduated from college, we tried to meet as often as we could and ran many races together.  Life changes -- jobs change and families change.  But, running buddies never seem to change. We can go months without communicating, but then when we are finally able to run together we just jump right back into a comfortable pace and great conversation!  


Thanks, Noni, for a wonderful visit and for logging 20 miles with me this week! 
Looking forward to our next run together!


Tenure ceremony

Our traditional running pose!

Sunrise run in Reno

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Happy Cinco de Mayo!


Not sure what happened to April ...  Anyway -- Happy May!

Things are great on the running front!  I just found out that a few friends are running the Chicago Marathon this fall (Go Monica, Ivy & Liz!).  A part of me wishes I could run it too. I've heard it's a great race, and it would be so fun to go with friends.  It's just too hard to fit east coast marathons into my schedule these days.  Maybe someday!  But, I love when my running buddies are training for a marathon because then I get to train too!

Running & Reading #4
In the world of reading ... I finished The Magician's Lies by Greer Macallister.  It was a fun read!  Now I am reading Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz.  I want to be prepared for our new little pup, Midas, who joins our family in about 10 days!




Midas is the lighter pup sitting behind his sleeping brother.