I’m still alive!

Jesse was brave enough to take me out for my first bike ride with the clippies in this afternoon. I was pretty worried myself but it turned out to be a rather pleasant ride. We took the usual route along Barranca (in the riverbed trail) with some stops and starts. I was able to clip in and out pretty easily and had only one minor stumble. At one stop, I clipped my left foot out, couldn’t plant my foot on the ground (slipped on the clip and didn’t step down on the rubber heel) and started tilting to the right. Luckily, I was already stopped and the tilt was slow. I caught myself with my right hand and pushed myself back up to safety. Ahh… So I finished about 12 wimpy miles, I’m back home now, and most importantly, I’m still alive! Yay, me!

*yawn*

Yesterday was a true recovery day. Jesse, Jason, Koa, and I all took turns napping-it-up. Jes had too much to drink. Jason played video games too long. The dog had eaten too much on Sunday. And I was tired from too much cleaning. Of course, we managed to all be up for a hot dog lunch before going back to sleep.
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In the evening, Jes and I went to Marie’s house for some BBQ and later went to the Newport Dunes for some fireworks. The parking was a whoppin’ 12 bucks but it was right across the street. Little Cole wore a beanie to cover his ears but he actually seemed to enjoy the pretty lights in the air. Haha…so did I.

It’s a changing landscape…

Happy 4th of July! We had our BBQ yesterday and boy have things changed. A lot of the usual people came, the two doggies were running around, and we had some new additions. Marie and Kenji brought little Cole and Patti and Howard brought little Katie. I think this made us all feel just a little bit older and take perspective. Jason, Jes’ brother, even got a taste of babysitting upstairs as Cole took his nap. Good job, J! Overall, the afternoon/evening was busy with lots of eating, playing with babies, and catching up. Now it’s time to find some fireworks tonight!

Almost a Half Marathon

I was rather nervous this morning but I did it. I completed 12 miles this morning. Started with my usual riverbed trail, cut up through Shady Canyon, and ran around Turtle Rock (it actually looks like a turtle!). I threw some crazy hills into the route and survived. Phew!
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Towards the end of my run, I saw two crows flying across the street. One flew a bit too low and *Smak!* got hit by a car. His friend actually stopped to check him out before flying away.
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By the way, just in case you don’t follow the Tour de France, it starts today!! We have OLN again this year so we’ll get to watch Lance Armstrong’s month-long journey towards a 7th consecutive win and retirement from cycling. I guess it’s time to put that yellow bracelet back on for July! LIVESTRONG, Lance!

GO SUSIE!

I was uploading my photos onto ofoto.com today and came upon a photo that I liked. It’s a photo of Susie running with the Bay Bridge in the background. How awesome is San Francisco?! Doesn’t it look like she’s having a good time? I don’t think she was but it looks like it. 🙂 According to Runner’s World Magazine, it was ranked the top running city (among major cities) in the U.S. and I agree. When I lived up there, it seemed so much easier to go out and run. It must be the view or the hundreds of people who run out there each Saturday morning. I guess the next best thing is where I live. There are some really nice trails and bike paths in Irvine that you can take without hitting a single stop light for 10 miles. There are a lot of sucky hills around here too but I’ve grown to appreciate them. On a Saturday or Sunday morning there are runners and cyclists galore! It really makes you want to get out there yourself.

Tastes like feet!!

We just got back from our trip up north late last night. We flew up on Saturday morning and Victor and Susie picked us up. We got to stay at their new apartment this weekend, which is pretty cool and right by the water! They have a view of the bay and the Coke bottle at PacBell Park. Since the wedding in Napa wasn’t going to start until 5:30, we went for a 5-mile run along Embarcadero. Susie, Vyl, and Bang joined us and it was really fun! We all started in front the the apartment and Jes and I ran all the way to the end of Fisherman’s Wharf (2.5 miles) and turned around. Susie, Vyl, and Bang turned around at the beginning of Fisherman’s Wharf and completed 4 miles total.
The wedding was for Albert, one of Jes’ old co-workers, who was marrying a girl he met in Business School last year. I always wondered what a Napa wedding would be like and it was cool. The wedding took place at Nicholson Ranch in Sonoma. We were about 90 mins late due to traffic all over the place. Apparently there was a NASCAR event also in Sonoma that weekend. The funny part is that we didn’t miss much since the ceremony lasted for a whoppin’ 10 minutes!! Jes got to hang out with his old buddies from his dot-com days and it was funny seeing him interact with them again. Unlike his quiet, laid-back self, he was the leader of the pack –instigating all the hijinx and being the center of attention.
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On Sunday, we went back up to Napa for a day of wine tasting. Vyl planned a whole itinerary of events for us…it was sweet. First stop was Nickel & Nickel where we had to have an appointment. It was like going to someone’s house, sitting in their dining room, and tasting wine with a bunch of friends. There were 7 of us: Vyl, Bang, Susie, Victor, Michelle, Jes, and me. There was also one other couple from Florida and of course, the hostess. We tasted 5 different single vineyard wines and they were all good. It was a really fun tasting…very different from past experiences. We had a good time laughing as we swirled our glasses. In fact, we were such a fun crowd that morning that they actually comped us the $30/person tasting!! The next stop was Rombauer where we tried to buy a really yummy Chardonnay but they sold out. Lunch was a picnic at V. Sattui and then we were off to Cakebread. The wines there weren’t very impressive and most of them, as Vyl likes to say, “taste[d] like feet”. I think all the yummy stuff we tasted this morning at Nickel & Nickel really set some high expectations for all of us and set us up for disappointment for the rest of the day. We actually ended up back at N&N to buy some of their wine. The day and weekend ended with some outlet shopping and a flight back to LA.