Leo and Cary

I had a great trip in San Jose with my family. The flight from Raleigh to San Jose (via Denver) was meh. I felt bad most of the trip and we didn't change plans in Denver so there was little scenery change for near eight hours. Adjusting to West Coast time was iffy that first day. But Lura took David and I to a Mexican grocery store where ate some tacos. Most of that first evening was pretty laid back, with Lida and her boyfriend arriving and then eating some really good pizza.

Thanksgiving I took an easy run with my sister's beautiful dog, Raleigh. A very good running partner. Most of the day was spent getting the diner ready, with a bird that took a bit longer than usual. By the time everything was ready, we were ALL ready too. Turkey, sweet potato casserole, kale, pumpkin pie, pecan chocolate bars. YUM.

Friday was a relaxed day in San Francisco. My dad wanted to run across of the Golden Gate Bridge and I had no problem with that! We were looking forward to going to this beautiful park called Muir Woods. But it's so popular, there was a shuttle bus to get there, and that had probably a 45 min line. We were all starving, so we found a seafood place in nearby Sausalito. Good, but nothing out-of-this-world.

Saturday and Sunday were mainly uneventful, those I got to run in Almadean Quicksilver Park. Loads of fun for me of course. San Jose is in the valley, so my runs til then were pancake flat. However, getting out of the valley and on to these mountains was fantastic. A mining community in a previous life, there were lots of steep, rolling hills. The trails were pretty well-groomed. Overall I would compare the technicality to Crabtree MTB trails, and the steepness to Uwharrie. Whereas I had planned 3 hrs, figuring about 20 miles, I only got in ~15. Sunday, the whole family went, with some hiking, and me running again. That in of itself was unique: going later in the day at ~11:00, which was almost 2:00 for me.

Overall I loved. A lot of times I'm less than excited to be engrossed in family time; I love them, but I just like to be doing my own thing. But, I always end up glad, and grateful to be with them. As an epilogue, my older sister's two Manchester Terriers are now residing with my brother and I. They'll be with us for about two more weeks, and then may be again later in 2014.

I still haven't planned out my training for Umstead in April. Both the Carrboro Fat Ass 50k and the Holiday Lake 50k are on Saturdays when my EMT class meets. So at the moment I don't have any longer tune-up races planned. And I just don't know what I'm wanting; definitely low key; not sure about the distance. I did sign up for a short trail race in January; the Little River Trail Run at 10 miles. Last year I skipped it because I wanted to stay focused on Umstead. But I'm thinking I can tack on some earlier miles, and use the race to work on some speed: something I may need, even for a 100.

Not much running to talk about here until I get some plan written down. Though I'm running like it's a build week, I'm not too anal about hitting speeds or distances.

Soundtrack:
"All of the Memories" by The Classic Crime
"Pompeii" by Bastille

Happy Thanksgiving

A preemptive Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you have a great holiday with your family and friends. My gang is gathering in San Jose, at my sister's house. I'm excited for all of us to get together. It's also only my second time across the country, and the Bay Area is suppose to have some really neat outdoor activities. Our family plans on doing some hiking/exploring in Muir Woods. And I may be going out for a good run with a friend of mine who lives out there. My dad also wants to run across the Golden Gate Bridge! I think that sounds cool as well.

My recovery is going OK, but I'm still feeling that lingering fatigue. I'm also having a hard time listening to that fatigue: it's that weird stage where I misinterpret exertional fatigue for that lingering fatigue. That is, I think I'm going to natural run slower because I feel tired or I think I am already running slower because I feel so tired. And in actuality I'm feeling so tired because I'm running too damn hard. Hmmm. I'm paying too much attention to the cardiovascular system; I don't feel my heart racing so I think I can't be running too hard. But really I'm putting a lot of stress on my legs.

Work is going well and so is the EMT class. We had a "provider night" which was really like a mini- job fair. They were all EMS services/programs. But oddly, after speaking to one guy, I got to thinking about rescue specialist jobs. This is normally handled through fire departments, and I really don't know anything about it. But thinking about the extrication and water rescue type stuff.

Once we get back from San Jose, my brother and I will be taking care of my sister's two little terriers. I'm excited and apprehensive. I hope I don't kill 'em. Or get annoyed with 'em. Or forget about 'em.... Oh boy.

At some point I want to make some changes to this blog. Not a whole lot, but maybe more information aka pages with informational type stuff. We'll see.

Soundtrack:
"Pressure" by Paramore
"The Best Day of My Life" by American Authors