Tags
anaba sushi, birthdays, Boston Marathon, buttercups frozen treats, family, golden retriever, lazy labs, marathon training, Oxnard, running with friends, silly dogs
Workout:
Today: 9.4 hill-seeking, post-work, unnecessarily dehydrated miles/ 1:17:02
I don’t know about you, but post-work runs are really hard some days. After an entire day of nonstop classroom action, I really didn’t want to run this evening. I got home around 4 and had to physically restrain myself from plopping down on the couch with this beast (I took the picture on Valentine’s Day, but I feel like it’s too awkward to not share).
Remembering that my week is completely packed to the brim with things that don’t involve training for Boston, I put my big girl pants on, noshed on some See’s chocolate balls that I stockpiled after they went on sale after Christmas, and took off.
Before Boston in April, I am running The Great Race of Agoura Cheseboro Half Marathon. This will be my third time running Cheseboro, and (fingers, toes, arms, legs, and eyeballs crossed) this will be my first time running it un-injured! There are some decent single-track climbs on the course, so I am dedicating one mid-week mid-mileage run per week to seeking out the most hills I can possibly find.
Today was that day.
The glory of living in Thousand Oaks is that there is absolutely no shortage of hills. I am also employing this girl’s post-run squat training to see if it helps. (Squat until I can’t squat no mo! It’ll also help come baseball season with the sketchiness of the bathrooms at Chavez Ravine).
Because I know you’re dying to know what my weekend runs looked like, here they are:
Monday: Rest and a whole lot of cleaning the house.
Sunday: 13.12 flat, sketch (due to a miscalculation, and even then, it was only for a half-mile), fasted-state miles from Oxnard to Hueneme and back/ 1:48:17
Saturday: 9.3 glorious Ventura miles with my best running friend!
Hoo-stinking-ray!!! I have missed running with this amazing chick! I’m super stoked that she’s building what will be a solid base for her upcoming races!
In the afternoon, I did some paddling around with my mini-me:
Next time, I’ll bring my camera so you can see how Blondie conks out in the seated position when she’s on the husband’s board. It’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.
Friday: 8.2 mi. hilly tempo run through the ‘hood/ 1:02:20
On a side note, I ran into my running mentor 2 times in the last 5 days while out doing my thang! She invited me to run intervals with her, and I just might take her up on that! She is so speedy, it’s unreal!
In non-running news, it was the man’s birthday on Friday (yes, he shares his birthday with Valentine’s Day), and it was a weekend full of celebrating his awesomeness.
First, my fab-o mom treated our whole family to a Valentine’s Day lunch at Sabor, where I ordered my favorite drink:
That’s a strawberry-hibiscus margarita. My other favorite is the strawberry-watermelon marg.
I also grubbed on my favorite tacos:
And then I forced my girls, the dude, and Big Red to take another incredibly awkward family photo.
The Sunshine is a strange dog. During lunch, she insisted on asking my sister for a cuddle. She is too nice and obliged.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened to Ruby Sunshine if she had ended up with another family that didn’t get her special personality.
After lunch, we headed up to Oxnard and made the birthday boy a (boxed) homemade carrot cake:
Seriously, this girl amazes me. I want to stop time and hold on to her as long as possible because I know that one day, she won’t want to talk my ear off or show me the little stories she writes or snuggle or ask me to read her books and correct me when I try to skip over parts. I really hit the jackpot. And, btw, what 5-year old writes that well with icing?!?!
We also celebrated the man’s birthday the next night at the best sushi spot in Oxnard: Anaba.
Our sushi chef presented the girls with the raddest orange:
If you’re wondering what those green lights are, you have to go to Anaba on your birthday because this happens:
The lights in the entire joint shut off, crazy Japanese techno birthday music blasts, everybody claps, and led lights flash like crazy. It’s the closest I will ever get to a club. You seriously have to go.
Sunday was spent at the farmers’ market at the Channel Islands Harbor, eating frozen yogurt, and watching the Sunday regatta.
I hope your week is fabulous!
What do you do to convince yourself that working out is better than not?
What is your favorite cake flavor?
Do you talk to your dog like I do?