Celebrating a Survivor

Today my mom underwent a successful double mastectomy. The surgeon removed all the cancer, and it had not spread to the lymph nodes. We are all very relieved! She may be released from the hospital tomorrow, and then will be recovering at home for 2-3 weeks. We are very thankful that she caught this early.

Thank you all so much for all of your support, both of my mom and our family, and of my fundraising for blood cancers and Karen's fundraising for breast cancer. You've heard me say it before, but cancer sucks.

Please join us in celebrating our mom and our grandmother (another breast cancer survivor) in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on November 6th in Tempe. Sign up for our team! No registration fee and no fundraising minimum. We are just going out to raise awareness and honor some wonderful people. And maybe wear pink.

I and several of my friends will also be running the Women's Half Marathon the following day in support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Come out and race or cheer us on!

Here's to "a world with more birthdays"!

I Tri-ed.

1 triathlon down. That's all I have to say.

Pictures:

See Jane Run Tri September 2010

And videos:

Beautiful Bay Area

Sailing last Friday night:




(The sailing still sucked.)

Moonrise over the City:

Segregation

This has been all over facebook, so I'm sure you've seen it before, but I just have to comment. The Bay Area is in the article as a BONUS: relatively mixed area.



Take a look at the City of San Francisco - the top of the peninsula over on the left. Let's see - there's the Asians in Chinatown, the Sunset, and the Richmond; the blacks in Bayview and Western Addition; the Hispanics in the Mission; and the whites in Marina, Pacific Heights, Lower Haight, Cole Valley, Twin Peaks, and the Castro.

This is relatively mixed? Good grief!

(Not that I can talk, living in the Castro and all. But I am still a minority here!)

Apparently I'm a Runner.

Have I mentioned I'm doing my very 1st triathlon on Saturday? Probably a few times.

Here is proof of how much of a Tri Newbie I am:

On Sunday during my training ride I had some trouble with my gears (got out of 3rd and couldn't get back in), so I decided to take my bike in to the shop this week and have the derailleur adjusted. Of course on my ride to the shop, I discovered that I had no problems shifting at all. I figured since I was by then right next to the shop, I might as well just stop in.

So I explained to the shop guys that I had had a shifting problem but it seemed fine now, but could they just please check it because I have a race this weekend.

One of the shop guys promptly asked - "A triathlon?"

Yes, clearly I am not doing a road race on my ancient bicycle.

He followed up - "Are you a swimmer or a runner?"

Clearly not being a swimmer (feel free to ask my family about that), I found myself being forced to tell him that I was, in fact, a runner. A runner? How strange. That doesn't really seem to apply to me. I've only been doing it for a bit over a year.

But I guess soon I'll be a triathlete. Maybe I'll even buy a new bike and learn to shift gears properly so I don't break the dang thing. Of course, that's if I make it through this first race.

And then the week after that, I'll become a sailor (even helmswoman). So I guess in the last 1.25 years, I'll have added three new titles: Runner, Triathlete, Sailor. You know what they say: Jack of all trades, master of none!

(In case you were wondering, the shop guys proclaimed in bike in fine shape and sent me off with no charge. The other customer wished me good luck! It reminded me why I love local shops, although in the past the shop guys there seem to be more interested in drinking than actually working. Oh well.)

Weekend Adventures

5.7 mile (550 feet elevation gain) run in the rain. Check.
40 minute swim. Check.
Boot camp. Check.
16 mile bike ride in the rain. Check.
Packet pick-up for triathlon next Saturday. Check.

Bring it!

Ridge Trail Cruz

One of our neatest recent Groupon purchases was a membership to the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council. They are planning and building a 550 mile trail to circumnavigate the entire Bay Area. About 325 miles are completed, and we had yet to hike any of them.

So we also used our Groupon discount to sign up for the organized Ridge Trail Cruz, and joined a 13 mile hike on Saturday. We found friendly people and gorgeous scenery - just 1 hour from the City and very close to the highly populated centers of the Peninsula. Hooray for Open Space!

"Summer" Vacation

This summer has been the coldest summer in San Francisco since 1975. That's saying a lot considering Mark Twain once wrote, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Luckily Matt and I had a chance to head out to see some of our National Parks in a quest for better weather. In an effort to reserve picture space on my blog and picasa, but in an antithetical manner to proper blog posting, I have chosen not to illustrate this blog with pictures. Please click on the album below to see those - which are far more interesting than my words!

Yosemite and Sequoia Kings Canyon August/September 2010

Day 1:

Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite National Park. Supposedly this valley was once as grand as Yosemite Valley, but the greedy City of San Francisco had a dam put in and made the gorgeous valley into a reservoir. It was a fight that likely led to the end of John Muir. But I must admit that water sure is tasty.

• 5 mile RT hike to Wapama Falls (500 feet). Disappointing, but I can't imagine how amazing the falls must be in Spring. Apparently sometimes the bridges are impassable.
  

Day 2:

• 13 mile RT hike to Smith Peak (3700 feet). Bear sign everywhere, movement of large brown entity through the bushes, and lots of hiking through thicket in burned area made this hike not much fun. Amazing views from the top however.
• 3 mile RT hike to Poopenaut Valley (1229 feet). Straight down. Met a couple heading up who scared us off with stories of the biggest bear poop they'd ever seen. Peeked at the river and headed back up. Not nearly as pretty as it looked from the top. And after hiking the depth of the Grand Canyon in one day, we were pretty exhausted.
  

Day 3:


Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. Gorgeous, gorgeous place. So many hiking trails accessible from the campground. If it weren't for the sub-freezing temperatures at night and the high altitude, I might be tempted to stay there longer.

• ~16 mile RT hike to Young Lake, Dog Lake, and Lembert Dome (~2100 feet). Started at noon, got back to camp around 8pm. Absolutely gorgeous but in too much of a hurry to enjoy much.

Day 4:

• ~3 mile RT meander through Tuolumne Meadows and along Lyell Fork (I'm assuming about 0 feet). Fabulous rest day. I love exploring the rocky rivers.
  

Day 5:

• ~3 mile RT to Middle and Upper Gaylor Lakes. (600 feet). I've been here before and still enjoyed the sweeping vistas. And we saw a marmot!
  

Eastern Sierra. The austerely beautiful Mono Lake and the forested Devil's Postpile near the popular Mammoth Ski Area.

• 1 mile RT nature trail at South Tufa. Hot but loved it. Such amazing geologic features.
  
• ~4 mile hike to Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls. The postpile was really neat - although I think Giant's Causeway was neater. Could have done without the hike to the falls.

Day 6:

Spent the night in Bishop then drove many, many hours to Sequoia.

• Pathetic swim in the hotel pool.
• 5 mile run past empty fields owned by the City of Los Angeles and lots of roomy sf detached homes and lots. Also, I probably wouldn't call my real estate company Owens Valley Realty. Just saying.
  

Day 7:

In the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park.

• 3 mile RT hike to General Sherman and along the Congress Trail. Amazing trees and arrived early enough to avoid the crowds.
  
• 1 mile RT hike Big Trees Trail. We saw a mother bear and 2 cubs! Then a male bear by the parking lot.
  
• 1 mile RT hike to Crystal Cave (steep). Access trail to the cave; nice waterfalls. I was too chicken to go on the cave tour, but Matt got to see some pretty cool sights.
  
• 0.5 mile RT hike to Moro Rock (300 feet). Probably some of the best views you can get in Sequoia. I still prefer Yosemite.
  
• 1.5 mile? RT hike to Tharp's Log and Chimney Rock, around Crescent Meadow. No bears this time. Getting bored of the sequoias. I still like the Redwoods better.
  

Day 8:

Matt's birthday! Exploring King's Canyon National Park. Draped in smoke.

• 0.5 mile RT hike to see General Grant. Very imporessive.
  
• 8-9 mile RT hike to Mist Falls (600-1000 feet). Apparently no one can agree on the exact stats for this hike. I can imagine it would have been lovely if not for being accosted by forest fire smoke, flies, and mosquitoes the whole way, and meeting huge crowds of families at the Falls.
• 1.5 mile loop hike around Zumwalt Meadow. Actually quite pretty and somewhat redeemed Kings Canyon. It still isn't Yosemite.
• Chickened out swimming in the gorgeous Hume Lake. Redeemed Sequoia a tiny bit more. Even if it is a reservoir.
  

Day 9:

Bored with Sequoia/Kings Canyon, we headed into the exciting city of Fresno. We explored the quite fascinating Forestiere Underground Gardens, the Target, the pool at the Holiday Inn, and some AAA baseball.

I realize that Sequoia and Kings Canyon are a backpacker's paradise, and since we didn't go on any hikes longer than 9 miles we probably can't judge it. Plus there was the whole forest fire problem. However, I think next time we will still stick to Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows. Why ruin a good thing?

Day 10:

Got our money's worth out of the hotel with the max 20 hours. Enjoyed some relaxation before the long drive home.

• 20 minute swim in the hotel pool
• 45 minute run through the neighborhood. (Nike Plus out of battery...)
  

Tally:

• Over 65 miles of hiking including one 16 mile, 5000 foot day.
• 2 runs (pain free!)
• 2 swims in the hotel pools
• 7 nights of sleeping on the ground
• A strong desire not to have to work

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!