Festivities

The first weekend in December I headed to Vegas with my great friends Liz and Erin to have a girls' weekend and celebrate some birthdays. I just discovered these pictures on my camera of the gorgeous Bellagio - one of our favorite places.







For Christmas, my parents were nice enough to come visit us here in San Francisco. Here we are enjoying dinner at our little apartment. Dad worked so long he's still in uniform.



On Sunday we went on a wine tasting tour of Sonoma with my family and Karen's in laws. Matt and I had never been to wine country before, and I enjoyed the trip. It was great to spend time with family and the scenery was beautiful even though it was raining. Also, unlike in Temecula, none of the people at the wineries yelled at me for preferring white wines.

Today we headed up to Santa Rosa to check out the Schulz museum before returning to the real world. Matt is thrilled, as always.



Matt and I were spoiled for Christmas as always. This year Matt received lots of kitchen items including a canner and a dehydrator (apparently one must be prepared for the apocalypse). I received several books, many treats, a cute sweater and necklace, and of course running-related items. Karen got me a very cute running jacket to replace last year's Christmas present that I mysteriously lost, as well as a couple running books. Matt got me a very cute running charm bracelet and some sleeves.

As today was the first day of my marathon training, I have decided to actually keep track of my training this time around. We'll see how long it lasts, but for now I am doing so here.

Angry City

I've been very angry lately for ridiculous reasons. In an effort to help myself understand how stupid they are, I'm going to put them down in writing here:

• Dear dog walkers/runners. You and your dog do not have a right to the entire path, whether or not your dog is on a leash. Either way, when your crazy dog causes a tear in my ACL, I will sue you (for, if nothing else, being a bitch).
• It's called a sideWALK. Not a sidesmoke, a sidehangout, or a sidestandinthemiddle. Please get out of my way.
• If I wanted to get high, I would probably go out and buy some weed myself. I don't want to inhale yours because you must smoke out in public.
• Smokers are jokers.
• If you are in your car and you can't see the intersection, don't honk. This is San Francisco. I would wager that 90% of the time a car isn't moving when the light is green, there is probably a pedestrian in the crosswalk. And they would prefer to be alive.
  
• My neighborhood is not your personal raceway. There is no need to go 50mph up a hill in a very people-dense part of the city.
• If there is an empty row on BART, it is considered a social norm to sit there - not with me. I don't want to smell your perfume.
• If you have a dog in the city, you have an extra special obligation to pick up that dog's poop. Who the heck is going to remove it when you leave it in the middle of the damn sidewalk. Also, would it kill you to walk your dog far enough way so that it doesn't have to pee on the concrete hill and I have to watch it flow all the way down. And know that I will be stepping in it tomorrow.
• Dear employers. Making a backhanded comment in the company meeting about how you are looking for leaders, not people who sit around and wait for things to do, is not a good way to boost employee morale or productivity. Especially when 60% of the people in the company are leaders with initiative - who you would rather sit down, shut up, and blindly do what you say.
• Dear managers. As a manger, part of your job should be to understand who needs to be micro-managed and who doesn't. I am well past the point of needing every step of a process explained to me. This isn't rocket science - I do these things in my sleep.

Okay I'm done for now. I have no idea what my problem is, but I am hoping my weekend with family and my big trip to Hawaii for my birthday will make everything better! I realize that in reality I have nothing to complain about! Here's to a great new year for everyone!

Hark the Herald Angels 12K

Today I completed the same race a 2nd time for the 1st time - in other words, I am apparently starting running traditions. Does that make me a runner? (I'm still trying to avoid the moniker.)

I loved this race last year for so many reasons, not the least of which was that it was pouring rain. It is put on by a company called Enviro Sports and is very low key. This particular race involves everyone meeting at the ferry docks in Tiburon and taking the 10am ferry over to Angel Island. There is no particular race start time; it just happens whenever everyone gets off the ferry, goes to the restroom, and puts all their extra gear in a plastic bag to leave at the picnic area. The founder of Enviro Sports makes all the announcements by standing on tables and yelling really loudly, and supposedly the winners receive rubber chickens. The trail is marked with orange tape, and there are no aid stations. At the end, they do provide a nice assortment of water, gatorade, and snacks. And of course, there is a t-shirt - which happens to be the same as last year's.

The trail heads up hill through pretty forest, but unfortunately the gorgeous views from the open parts of the fire road haven't happened either year owing to fog. The racers tend to be friendly and everyone seems to have a good time, although I feel like that held true more so in the pouring rain. How can you not smile when you are covered in mud and sprinting down a mountain? (Although I don't think my mom was smiling while waiting for me...)

I managed to cut about 6 minutes off last year's time - does that mean I'll be able to knock 12 minutes off Kaiser in February? (If only.) However, the ~500 foot elevation gain seemed tough to me, so I have a long way to go before Big Sur!

I should point out that although I enjoy the low-key nature of this affair, I do still like my half marathons to be loud and full of bands and cheering spectators! Sometimes running has to be a party.