13.1 Miles, Live it, Love it then take a cold bath in ice and get back on the horse!

Way back when, 2 years ago or so, some random weekend when I was probably residual drunk from the night before and KM was staying over for the weekend at my old apartment on the Embarcadero (living with Caro and Rusty the evil flesh tearing purse puppy…may he rest in peace. Actually I don’t know if he died yet but there are a few people with enough physical and emotional scars to hope he is. But that’s for another day) Kate was all do you want to do the Nike Women’s half marathon with me… she said “it’s supposed to be good and at the end they give you a TIFFANY NECKLACE.” – sold - . And I was like sure without even stopping to remind myself that while I had run a mile here and a mile there on the treadmill, road running 13 miles is really another ball game. So she entered us into the raffle which I pretended to be excited about meanwhile the whole time I was praying to sweet baby Jesus that we wouldn’t make it and then of course we made it. So we started training long distance together. We had a motivational excel spreadsheet with the miles we ran through the week and a pump song to go with it and every Friday Kate would drive down from Sacramento for the weekend and we would do a run together on the Embarcadero. One time we went for a really long run in Golden Gate Park (9 miles maybe?) and then within 45 minutes of finishing went to go drinking on a sailboat on the bay for the day. I would council against this – long runs make you a lightweight and also a little bit nauseous – Anyway those runs on the Embarcadero are some of my favorite memories. The happy hour crowds we would pass longingly at the ferry building and Americano, the water on our right the city scape on our left. When we moved into Casa Hot Mess in Nob Hill we trained at the Lyron street steps which is probably the most stunning place to inflict physical pain upon yourself. I miss them and the opportunity we had to catch up on our week while walking that mofo of a hill on Pacific. But enough of the nostalgia. Kate has apparently recovered from it and is doing it again with CS, LM and LG and I am pretty sure they've stepped up the training for this one.

I can't be there to cheer them on even though they try every time I see them to sell it as a great way to celebrate my Birthday. The truth is I have been on the road for over two weeks now and I have laundry to do for days, plus I miss Tahoe a little bit. Can you imagine! Anyway doesn't mean I won't be cheering you on from up North ladies! In fact I might even do a short run in solidarity since I intend to take it up again. Just stay on the look out for the news story "Girl passes out from running 3.1 miles at altitude along the Truckee river in Tahoe city... is rescued by gorgeous fireman who happened to be mountain biking by after just receiving news of substantial inheritance from very wealthy previously unknown deceased Great Uncle. The soon to be married couple fell instantly in love after she awoke to him sitting at her bedside in the hospital. When asked where the couple will live he said "We will be sharing our time between the half dozen estates that my Great Uncle kept all over the world until we decide on a more permanent home, but I will continue to work on a volunteer basis where-ever they need me."

So good luck ladies, have fun! Drink the water when they have it and if they offer you chocolate at mile 12, it seems like a good idea but trust me...it's not.

*Image from Lululemon

"You girls were just lucky enough to stumble upon us dudes. Good looking and fuckin shit-hot helicopter pilots. You struck gold."

Hello all. I am back. I have taken a much undeserved break. Actually there was no break because actually I have nothing to break from but then that's part of the problem or so you'll hear. But before that I wanted to take a moment to honor my current state of homesickness and self-pity by sharing with you some San Francisco nostalgia I was recently reminded of way out here in Sydney by what I can't remember.

About 7 months ago or at least sometime in early August as the West Coast summer fades and tourism is at it's height, with the end of school holidays, I was riding the #45 bus to yoga. Normally not as risky in the way of tourists as the cable car at this time of year. Well Anyway it happened about one block after the descent on Union St. begins. I noticed an unattached 6 year old girl curled up on the seat across from me covering her eyes out of shear terror. I removed my headphones from my ear to ask her if everything was alright just in time to hear, from a couple seats down, her father speaking with his older daughter. "See honey isn't this better than Disneyland?" Well I tell you if it wasn't for my comatose state of afterwork lethargy and my dislike for confrontations I would have made a scene. Poor girls will very likely grow up with a fear of the bus, disneyland or resenting their father. Oh either way I suppose I don't blame the guy, bus's in San Francisco are similar to rollercoasters in Disneyland and they are way cheaper. But actually I am getting off track here because that's fucked up. And he was definitely a team member with his wind breaker tied around his waste and we really can't confirm or deny the existence of a fanny pack but let's be real the guy is trying to reason with his two under 10 year old daughters that a trip to windy, foggy San Francisco in which he didn't even spring for the cable car is better than Disneyland.

You're team for sure.

Well now that I have gotten that off my chest I might as well tell you about the time CS and I (about two weeks ago) very nearly got a free helicopter ride from these two guys who were helicopter pilots - I know it sounds suspicious but they had photographic evidence - well two days of flirting and one serious conversation about who was going to put out for the helicopter ride and it turns out they probably pull this shit every week. No heli ride and here is the best part, it took two full days for us non-blonde bimbos to figure this out. At least we got a couple of 4x Golds (Australian for Natural Light) out of it. And no don't worry no one lost their dignity for a fake helicopter ride. We gave up before it got to that. But the point is that the helicopter ride would have been better than Disneyland. I wonder if you can flirt your way into Disneyland, maybe not - hmmmmm- is that sacrilegious...

So now I am exhausted from writing and actually posting a blog. It's kind of like how I felt yesterday when I walked up a hill and was huffing and sweating and I did the knee crouch, hands on knee thing to take a break and I looked back and it was more of a mild incline that didn't even look like a hill at all. That's how I feel now.

I missed you, hope you missed me too but more importantly I'll be whipping myself into shape so I don't have to turn down perfectly good apartments just because they are at the top of a mild incline. Wish me luck cause it's going to hurt.