Tag: life

2022-Delayed

It’s on brand for me to post a 2022 review almost 25 29 days into 2023, right?

Honestly, how am I wrapping up 2022? In my head it is still 2019. So let’s see.

January– Started decent, had 1 race planned- Castle to Coast again. Ended the month with a DNS and COVID.

February– I dragged all month still feeling tired. Postponed my planned vacation to Arizona and just tried to get back into things

March– Randomly went on on vacation to Sedona but wasn’t able to do all the hikes I had planned. Soldier’s Pass was awesome and I still owe you a post about Cathedral Rock too. I also ran-er- jogged my first race of the year- Oakland Marathon 10K. I had been registered for the half but knew I was not ready for that.

April– Sure I did something but it didn’t leave an impression. Well other than having to admit that my hair was falling out. Still not sure what caused it but over the next 8 months, I probably lost about 50% of my hair. I cut it shorter because I couldn’t put it up anymore with it pulling out on the hair tie.

May– Yosemite! I finally ran my first Vacation Races race with the Yosemite Half marathon. Also Kate flew out and we ran it together! The trip was fun and the race was great! So great, I am signed up for 2023 too. Then a week later, I was supposed to run my first timed race- 6 hours at Silver Moon Race but knew that was stupid. I still need to get better about looking at a calendar before I jump into things. So I dropped to the 10K. Which proved to be smart as it was over 90 degrees at race start. Yikes. Oh and another skin biopsy right before the races.

June– Nothing huge just a lot or hikes and trail runs.

July– I had a birthday that depressed me and accepted a promotion at work. Still question that, haha. Ran a local race- Rock to Pier 10K. Oops, still owe the race recap on that one. Ate some yummy food and hit some more trails.

August– So funny story. My brother decided to start running. His first race was going to be one with me in October. Then he got a wild hair to run the Santa Rosa half marathon with me. Then that wild hair grew again and he added a trail half up in Santa Cruz. This race was the day before Santa Rosa. Ummm, what? So we did it. I wandered the 10K while he somehow ran a 2 hour half for his first trail race. Then he threw down a 1:41 the next day at Santa Rosa. What?!??!!

September– More trails and some miles for me. Ran a race up in Berkeley- Berkeley Trail Adventure. 10K for me and 30K for the brother. 2022 was the years of trails and 10K’s for me. Also had another skin biopsy.

October– Biopsy came back bad, so I was scheduled for another surgical excision and the more of the waiting game as we waited for the results. Ran Space Rock Trail Race while I still had stitches but I needed the distraction and I think I felt best I had in years at a race. Found out the margins were clear the following week, got my stitches out and headed north for another race. This time, Oakland Hills. And yes, there were hills.

November– Deferred my registration for Joshua Tree half because I just wasn’t feeling it. The past few months had caught up to me. So I hit some more local trails, ran some miles and put my Christmas tree ridiculously early.

December– Took a staycation as my plans for Arizona were snowed out. Hit up the local Christmas light exhibit for the first time. Showed up for Woodside Ramble- 50K for my brother, my mother’s first 10K. I did the 10K too but was having some health issues so I ended up just walking it. Which was actually kind of fun because these trails were awesome. Also, never did the race recap for that one either, oops.

So yeah, 2022 was a mixed bag in all ways. Some good and some not so good. I ran more races than I thought I would and found more awesome trails to explore all over the state. I ran more miles than in 2020 and 2021- granted that wasn’t too hard to do. I thought I would have some quippy thing to say here but I can’t think of anything, ha!

Oh, yeah- I read 100 books! Not sure where how that happened.

2021… Meh

2021 was…. Yeah.

I don’t think anyone got what they were expecting this year nor the number of curve balls thrown.

So, 2021 in bullets

  • Started the year with big goals- 50k. 😂😂😂
  • Broke the big toe on left foot running trails in January. Devil shoes.
  • Learned that I did not know how to swallow and went to speech therapy for 14ish weeks to relearn.
  • Went to Yosemite for the first time, when can I go back???
  • It was determined I do not in fact, have asthma. Who knew? Granted Paradoxical vocal cord dys-yadda yadda is much harder to say. Again, a benefit of speech therapy.
  • Diagnosed with multiple melanomas. All removed with clean margins but those are some very scary words. Think I’ve have a biopsy or excision every couple of months this year. Boo. Wear your sunblock!
  • Drove to Idaho/ Washington for first road race since March 2020. Coeur d’Alene is gorgeous. I’m jealous of that running path. Not of Spokane though, ha!
  • Turned a milestone birthday and still not sure how I feel about it or what I have to show for that many years. 🤨
  • Ran another live race in Santa Rosa that felt surprisingly great until it didn’t.
  • Ran one of my favorite trail races again and still smiled even when I wanted to fall down and cry, I was so tired. I’ll be back.
  • I ran more trails in my area but still have so many more to run. 2 of those pics are above.
  • Work is good, stressful but good. Not gonna lie, being customer facing 2 years into a pandemic has shown me a new level of stress.
  • I had a couple more trips planned for the year but well, life.
  • Broke the 2 little toes on my right foot in the beginning of December. Oops. I live up to my nickname of destructo girl, I really do.
  • I ran way less miles in 2021 than planned but any miles are good miles, right?

So yeah, 2021 was yeah. I’m not holding 2022 to anything.

Ghosted-Rambling Style

Oops…. Didn’t mean to stay away so long but then life just kept on rolling. I wrote a post in my head almost every day but never followed through on the typing part. Slacker.

So let’s catch up, rambling style.

Went on the grossest run of my life a couple of Saturday’s ago. Smoke and humidity in the air? Levels of hell. I was walking by the end and wheezing. Felt so nasty from the sticky humidity it’s the first time I’ve ever hosed myself off post run. 🤣

Went for a trail run and lost my pops. In the first quarter mile. How the what?? Turns out he took a different junction and between my waiting to see if he caught up (like we usually do) and running out and back the junctions meant he beat me to the top of mountain! I passed 2 hikers and asked if they had seen a man in a bucket hat with hiking poles- “oh, yeah, he’s way up the trail!”. I said what the hell out loud and they laughed as I starting booking it up the hillside.

My GI disorder decided it had been too behaved in the last few months and flared. Big time. I ended up actually missing most of a day of work and trying to sleep it better. Grrr. It’s leveled a bit but not much. This took me out of even thinking about running for most of a week.

Which, timing wise wasn’t horrible as we hit a week of 110 degree temps with wildfire smoke thrown in. Which might have added to a ridiculous migraine that rolled in too.

Said goodbye to my boss at work. Which even though I’ve known it was coming since June, it still feels like a blindside. I wish him all the best, it’s just odd. New boss is good too but it’s still odd.

I went to a concert! One of my top 3 favorite bands is on tour and they came to my town!! What are the odds? I never thought one of my bands would come to town, both due to the nature of the bands and the size of the town. Not to frown on my town though, I’ve learned that we have a couple of great concert venues. Which is why I got to see Rise Against at our outdoor amphitheater! And it was amazing. Totally worth the late night with work the next day. Although wearing heals to work the next day was a very bad idea, ha!

Oh and I have a half marathon in 10 days. Oops.

Rambling On 73

I haven’t rambled in a while…. let’s do this.

I keep writing this post in my head but once I sit down at the laptop, it all just disappears. Poof! Am I getting old or just super stressed??

Speaking of getting old… I have a birthday coming up and it’s a big one. Can’t say I am exactly pleased about it…I keep joking I am dress all in black with black balloons everywhere. Maybe. Maybe I’ll just go and get a little lost. Who knows?

This week I met my new boss and had numerous medical exams planned. I don’t I have ever spent so much time trying to determine what to wear. Probably more so for the medical appointments. Maybe could have used a heads up on how personal an ultrasound for a blood clot in your leg gets. Haha! I mean you remember basic anatomy but you still forget too, right? Or was it just me?

I started this post in June. It’s now July. Oops. Also, how is it July????

Concerts are coming back and somehow one of my favorite bands is coming to town to the outdoor amphitheater. What are the odds? Rise Against coming to wine territory? Who knew??

I am registered for 3 more half marathons this year. I have got to get my butt in gear. Why am I still feeling so lazy??? I seriously need early morning running partners. Harder to hit snooze if it would mean bailing on someone else. Plus 2 people is safer when there might be creatures out there in the morning. Eek.

I did get out for a slow, easy hike testing the leg. No complaints about the view.

Also someone needs to take my debit card away from me when I’m feeling moody. Especially since Altra and Lululemon know exactly what emails to send me.😂

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Stitch Life

I guess it’s fitting that my favorite Disney character is Stitch.

I had my second melanoma procedure on Wednesday and now possess a lovely row of stitches on my back. Basically just below my sports bra line. Yay. They told me to basically do nothing for 3 days and then nothing strenuous until the stitches come out. Is running strenuous? Haha.

I figured out a way to pick heavy things up at work that didn’t pull my back and I took 4 days off running. Which 2020 me would just call a normal week but I am trying to stick to my training plan here.

On Sunday, I started by just trying to put on a sports bra. Success! Then I tried for a run. Ok, things were a little uncomfortable. Combine that with the surprise 82 degree weather and I decided to be smart. I walked it all. At this point, my only real goal for CDA half is to finish it and maybe faster than the sh*t show that was Napa in 2020.

Walking let me enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. I also chose a different path then the same old one I’ve been running lately and found a tiny sliver of green and trails hidden in the houses. And unexpected water crossings! I miss dirt. I miss trails. That said, I still completed my “long run” for the week, all 5 miles of it.

Other things I learned in the last few days- I have the swallowing capacity of someone twice my age and it’s a problem. Well, I have been choking on food for the last 4 years but no doctors would believe me. Grrrr. So now I am seeing a speech therapist twice a week for what essentially equates to PT for my throat. Part of me feels it is needed and the other part wonders if I am getting scammed. Hmmm. Can’t decide which one yet.

Sunday night was the best, I had no alarm to set for Monday morning- I’m on vacation! Woo hoo!