Math does not lie

Last February I was eMailing with a buddy about a race I came in last in.  I wasn't embarrassed that I was last,  or even upset, I finished what I started see: ""Start as you mean to go on".  I was actually embarrassed to hold up the awards ceremony!  I mean really, the folks that came in first had to wait around nearly an hour before yours truly crossed the finish line!! He and my father pointed out that the race results clearly showed three people only finished one lap of the two lap race, so I wasn't last, huh.  I remember crossing that finish line and knowing I was the last person out of those woods and even when I said, I'm last, I heard oh you aren't last.  I assured them I was.  My buddy, being the engineer he is, pulled up the race results and did a statistical analysis on them.  I love engineers.  He replied with this:

 “Congratulations on the race.  Great job!  I took the results and ran them though a statistical analysis.  Your time was only 2.35 standard deviations below the average.  In statistical speak anything within +/-3 std deviations is considered “normal”.  So you were absolutely in the same class as the rest of the runners – math does not lie.” 

Holy cow Math does not lie!  What a genius!

 That phrase “Math does not lie.”  Runs through my head when I’m racing/running.   Because I have not become smart enough to figure the splits to meet my goal ahead of time and write them on the back of my bib to peek at during the race. I have to do the math in my head.  Which, in retrospect, probably isn't a bad thing because I suck at doing math in my head.  Ask my hubb who nearly goes crazy when I’m trying to figure out a 15% tip.   He looks at my puzzled face and says, "Hon, you are a numbers person why is this so difficult?"  I freeze, I panic, I have no idea.  Finally, after years of this dance, he said move the decimal point over two places, remember that number and then cut that number in half and add the two numbers.  Holy cow, that is 15%.  What a genius!

For my first Marathon our team coach gave us some tips and tricks for when the going gets tough.  Count backwards from 100, the amount of concentration you have to have is amazing and you forget that your body hurts you forget that you are tired you are just trying to remember 99, 98, 98, 90, oh wait I messed up 100, 99,98,97,96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91 wow I’m on a roll, oh I like that shirt, wow bright shiny object.  Oh shit what number was I on?  Hey wait aren't there dunkin donut holes coming up at mile 24, what mile is this 15, hmmm how long will it be till I get to mile 24, lets see 24 minus 15 is 10, no wait it is 9.  My pace is 10:45 so crap that is a lot of math to do.  Let’s round up to 11 and hmmm.  Before I knew it a mile or two have gone by and I was feeling like running.  What a genius!

I love those “What a genius!” moment, someone making something easier or maybe just a little less painful.

And that is what I thought about on my 'recovery run' this morning,  Despite the sharp stabbing pain in my left hip I went out, figured maybe 3 miles at most, just down to the beach and back.  After dropping my badge at the guard shack and chatting with the guard, he commented the St. Pat 5K shirt was a cool shirt. I headed out with a right hand turn, bag the beach, let's explore a bit and try a new route.  50 minutes and 4.4 miles later I was back at the guard shack retrieving my badge feeling refreshed and sans hip pain.  

Sincerely,
Beth, thankful for all the geniuses in her life

Does size matter?

After the St Pat 5K in Providence this a.m. I posted a picture of the medal.  Yes, yes, a medal for a 5K, it is actually pretty nifty.

Back to the story, I posted a picture of the medal with a caption of "A nice jog with 7,000 people".   Side bar:  I spazed and didn't stop the Garmin so I think my time is about 28:30.  Feh, I'll take it.  Back to the story, this got me thinking -  7,000 people you question - well I don't know for sure it was 7,000 but it was well over 5,000 and I am pretty sure I saw bib numbers in the 6,000 range.  Seriously, can I tell this story here?  Stop with all these questions.  This is getting to be like talking to my hubb or one of my ex-bosses who wanted the punchline BEFORE the joke!!!  OK so this got me to thinking about the number of people in a race and the fun of the race and what makes a race fun or people want to participate.

Stick with me here as I eventually get to a point or a question.  Having been accused of telling to many tangential stories and not tying them all up with a pretty ribbon (right Jimmy?) I am really focusing on being more organized.  Oh stop laughing.

So, about my Walkman.   No wait that is a different, completely unrelated story....

Starting out the race was a glom of people.  I hear a woman behind me say, well there is the gun and now we wait.  The runners go out first then the rest of us.  That got me thinking, how many people am I going to have to pass on this up hill start.  I thought I was pretty close to the front.  Oh bother, never mind, remember you told Brian you were going to attempt to run so hard you felt like puking, focus on that.   But I won't be able to run hard if there are people in my way.  Huh...  The crowd started moving.  You know that huge rush forward to a gigantic stop and everyone realized they needed to funnel down to cross the start line.  Yeah, that one.  Giggle.

The race started on an up hill it was an out and back, which meant it ended on a downhill!  Perfect opportunity to pick up some speed and work towards that puking goal.  And if I puked possibly I could get out of that big glom of people that always seems to hold up any forward progress towards getting away from the finish line and into some open air to breathe and keep moving.  I just ran I don't want to stop I want to walk really fast and find a bottle of water, not chit chat, in the famous words of  Sweet Brown "Ain't nobody got time for dat."  My niece just introduced me to this gem last weekend.  Why yes, yes I do live under a rock.

Weaving in and out of people wastes energy. I tried best as I could to find a wide enough spot and squeeze through on a forward angle rather than side to side.  This got me to thinking what is the best way to pass through people, some were walking some were running slower than me, some were faster and I watched as they wove their way through the crowd.  I wasn't seeing them have any more luck than I was having.  There should be some unwritten rules of courtesy on a road race with a large number of entrants.  The slower stay to the right, much like how the roads are supposed to be managed.  Yeah, good point, no one obeys those rules on the road what makes me think they would stay right and go left for active passing?  Well at least the walkers should stay to the right?  Thoughts anyone?

Then this thought led me down another path, if my intent was to be competitive and get a PR (my current 5K PR is 27:27) shouldn't I find a smaller race, one where my energy can be focused on forward movement and not on trying to pick the best line through a crowd of people?  So was it fair for me to even consider racing a race of this size?  Clearly there were people racing this race, they lined up at the starting line. I'm not that fast, I am a middle of the pack runner, not the leader of the pack.  Maybe I needed to line up further towards the front?  In a glom of 7,000 people is there really a point?  The race was chip timed so it started when I crossed the start and ended when I crossed the finish.

I reviewed the races I've run in the last year, ranging from a few hundred  to a few thousand to Marine Corps Marathon of 25,000 runners.  MCM was crowded you were always around people, thing was you seemed to be around people going your own pace and those going slower did tend to stay to the right when they felt like they were getting passed, or at least that is what it seemed like to me.  The only time I felt like I was about to trip on people was the last 3 miles of that race.  I had gas in the tank and was hell bent on burning it and wasted some weaving around walker walking 2, 3 or 4 astride.  They called it quits and I wasn't going to do that I was running that whole race, period.

Perhaps I will focus on the smaller local 5Ks for achieving my goal PR (25) and sign up for large 5Ks only if I like the shirt.  Which is WHY I signed up for this one.  It is cool, no?  Can't wait to wear it Monday's recovery run!!

Where I've ended up, large races have their purpose, the pomp and circumstance and small races have their purpose competition.  When one signs up for a race they need to figure out WHY they are signing up and WHAT they intend to GET out of the race.  Thoughts?

As I made my way back to my car, after losing my trail of bread crumbs I ran into two guys who asked:  "Did you win?"  I smiled and said "Hell yeah! The only thing I lost was my car!"  we all laughed.

Win or lose, as long as you can laugh you won!

Sincerely,
Beth, off to take Lord Giz of the Mo for a hike and pick up her race bib for tomorrows 1/2 marathon

Brutal

Saturday's "Tough A Nails" Colchester 1/2 Marathon was, in a word, brutal.  From the weather to the course to the beating my body took. On the upside, I freaking did it and the course was, besides freaking hilly, gorgeous.  The race director was out in various spots running down the hills to run up the hills with us.  I have no idea where this man gets his energy from.  Amazing.

I had the privilege to run with him twice.  The first time we chatted and I mentioned I loved his race description however I had not seen any cows yet.  He assured me that the second half there would be cows.   The second time I saw him there was 0.3 left in the race and I said, "I"m coming I'm coming as I hobbled/ran."  He laughed and said, "Just another 0.3, oh yeah and it is all up hill."  I smiled and he said "You're smiling through the pain, that is a good thing."

Let me get some order to this before it becomes a disorganized brain dump.

The race started at 10, in a town about 45 minutes away from where I live, so I hit the road by 8:30 giving me enough time to be sufficiently awake and biologically balanced.  The start was at a school called "Bacon Academy"  Unfortunately it was not an academy dedicated to the study of bacon, instead it is a school started by a donation from Pierpont Bacon in the early 1800's.  I'll spare you the Cliff Clavin monologue.

Checking the weather it was expected to be cloudy, mid 30's, slightly windy, and 30% chance of rain.  It misted pretty much the entire drive over and the bigger mist, what I'd refer to as spitting held off until after I was off the course.  Talking with a running buddy after the race he did confirm that it felt like it got progressively colder during the race.  I thought it had.  The weather history isn't confirming anything other than the wind speed increasing, and being sweaty and tired that would make it feel colder!

Handy dandy weather thing from the Garmin!

I was really not feeling this run, my 3 miler mid day on Friday was pleasant, I felt good and was looking forward to Saturday's challenge albeit a little apprehensive about the distance, hills are hills, you just get over them (famous last words).  As I ran I figured a good yoga session would help relax and went to Friday night Yoga, new instructor, different sort of class, complete violation of the nothing new rule.

Cutting to the chase:  out of 501 finishers I came in 489 and 157 out of 164 for my age group.  Chip time of 2:40 12:15 pace.  Yes you read that right.  The hills did a number on my back, specifically my SI Joint and I ran walked the last three miles.

Pace / Elevation at about mile 10 after that long down hill it started falling apart...  

Some fun facts about the Cochester 1/2  Marathon besides 2013 being the 21st running!


2013 Colchester Half Marathon Fun Facts:

• 10:00 a.m. sharp start time – Saturday February 23, 2013 (always the last Saturday in February)
• USATF Certified course (CT112001JHP) certified 13.10938 hilly miles
• Volunteers on every corner
• No t-shirts
• Lots of hills
• No Awards
• Pre-race & post race massages
• Bacon Academy cafeteria post race hearty carbo re-load party, open to runners, volunteers, and their guests
• Mile marks painted on the road
• Some dirt roads
• Bacon Academy High School for a warm & sheltered area to register, pick up your race bib, stretch, and to shower after the race
• Cows & donkeys too
• Professional timing and results
• Rural scenery
• Three Gatorade & water stations out on the course
• More hills
• Camaraderie, tales of woe, and a great bunch of runners
• An Awesome bunch of volunteers
• A loud and encouraging race director
• Sweep car - just in case someone needs a ride back, (f you do hitch a ride you’ll be the last one back!
• The run has a total ascent of 351.05 ft and has a maximum elevation of 620.08 ft. 

Will I do it again?  Hell yes!  Just need to work on strengthening my back although I wonder what hand the  vigorous yoga played in my demise....  It was brutal, it was also fun.  Next time hubb and I go out to Colchester I will drive him around the course, I'm kind of glad I didn't drive the course or study the elevation profile prior to the race.

Some of my favorite things about this race:

The volunteers at the bottom of a big hill, as I was coming down one hill just after mile 10 the volunteers at the bottom were directing me to turn right and the woman yelled:  "You are making this look like too much fun, stop smiling."  That made me laugh.  I do love to run and that helped remind me of this bizarre passion I have. 

Another set of volunteers had a big blow up monkey and was blowing a vuvuzela from a distance it looked rather strange and I welcomed the comic relief.

The cows.  They just stood there looking at me, like, I was crazy, I giggled and greeted them good day.  What else could I do?

Fellow runners, nearing the end I was getting passed, about 6 people passed me, one noted I had cute socks.  They had cupcakes on them.  I wonder if this is why I was craving a donut through most of the race?  Never fear there was a Dunkin' Donuts on the way home.  This is New England you can't swing a dead mouse without finding a DD.  (I had a brownie batter filled donut, it was yummy)

The volunteer that said, it is just a nice walk in the country.

Yep it is beautiful!

Sincerely,
Beth, who's back is not happy, but overall she is glad she didn't wave down the sweep van.

You Look Like and Oompa Loompa

I got ready for my trail run this morning bummed that we didn't get the 1" of snow we were scheduled for over night.  I really want to try out the YakTrax...  I checked the weather, no wind, 23F (feels like 23F), and snow starting around 1, awesomeness, I can deal with that.  I'd love a little sun but if we have sun we won't have snow.

I got myself all put together, three layers the middle one being this hooded tech shirt I bought on sale last summer.  Hey it will get cold again as I looked at the pink hooded shirt (with a pony tail opening) at 75% off.  The outer one being my Run4Life hunters orange shirt, hey I'm going to be in the woods and there is hunting allowed.  Someone might mistake my curly red ponytail for a squirrel tail at a distance.  Oh never mind that squirrels don't wear pink, let alone clothes...

As I walked into the front room hubb said "You look like an Oompa Loompa."  Not quite sure how to take this because last night I offended him by telling him his new boots resembled Frankenstein boots.  They were big black and bulky.

Minus the fuzzy balls on the shoes and all white.  Yes, yes I did look like and Oompa Loompa

See, kinda Frankensteinish?

So anyhow, let's get past the fashion show and tell and on to this so called run.  It was a slog.

Really Beth? Really?

There was some walking; there wasn't any belittling myself, just saying, there is no such thing as junk miles enjoy the scenery.  Hey look some green moss and wow, the ferns are starting early.  Wait, who is that? My favorite running partner, my shadow!  She kept me going either having me chase her or pushing me along.  I enjoy running with her.  There were several other people I took along on my journey:

Sage.  I know she would have been stopping to investigate any place that looked muddy, she wasn't one to shy away from wallowing in the mud!

Tonya. Three more months and we will be running the Ice Age Trail 1/2 Marathon in Wisconsin.  Wahowieee!  So glad she introduced me to this race & I was able to obtain the LAST spot.  I was picturing just how beautiful that trail will be in May.  Nature is just so beautiful and centering and relaxing. Thank you!

Melissa.  I just can't get over her "Red Thread" blog post from yesterday.  The 'red thread' is how we are all connected.  Truly what kept me going was knowing she finished her first 5 mile run, so proud of her and so inspired.  Thank you for inspiring me!

Isabella.  Always there cheering everyone on, so important.  I hope I can at least inspire her when running hills, or give her someone to curse!!

Rod. Running a 1/2 Marathon this morning in sunny FLA. He had a great time and looked pretty pleased with himself (and he should be).  I just hope he doesn't have to stand on bags of ice tonight!  Good Job!!

Hubb. He bikes the trail I ran this a.m. I am thankful he told me a way to circumvent having to climb rocks to get over a giant, like 20 feet tall, piece of ledge.  I really have to remember to get a picture of this scene. The go around required two left turns.  I managed one of them and with my inability to turn left a second time I missed the longer less steep way up.  Hey, I managed ONE left to find the go around, now I have to remember two sequential lefts.  Argh.  At least I got a nice steep hill climb in...

Sheila. Remembering her standing there at the bottom of the hill for "Run Around The Block" 15K on Block Island, RI.  Damn it is nice to have someone watch you run a race and cheer you on.  Seriously awesome!   Oreo Truffle awesome!!

MAC and the Marathon Girls - I could feel your prayers and heart warming words, thank you gals!

Other folks intermittently crossed my mind, spurred on by songs on my play list.

The sun was nice, and we didn't get any snow this afternoon.  Oh well...

Sincerely,
Beth the Oompa Loompa who's thighs are nearly defrosted....

Lonely Run

I goofed off on Saturday.  Slept in, really slept in.  After sleeping through the night.  So not much to post about.  Although I did finish my socks and pick out a new yarn and pattern, but this is a running blog not a kintting blog and well I don't want to be accused of false advertising!

And now on to something you may really like.

My long run plan this a.m. was going to be to run to the beach run a 5K with a friend and run home, which would total 13 miles, 12 was on the schedule so we were good with mileage for the long run.  Woke up to pouring rain, I love the sound of it drumming down on the copper porch roof just not that heavy drumming down on my head.  Ugh, I don't really want to deal with a race in the rain and potential blisters, since I now seem to be getting them, WTF?  Begged off the 5K plan and set out to start running when the rain lightened up and looked to be a gentle rain.

Rain!  That means bright clothes - check!  Then let's do this thing!

A fellow Team Lung Love member is running a 1/2 in Maine this weekend, so we ran our 1/2's together, in a manner of speaking.  Maine looked as dreary as Rhode Island from the picture she posted on FB.  She was smiling like the champion she is, love the always positive outlook and attitude!  You go girl!  Hopefully she fininished her 1/2 in less time than I did!!  (2:28)

While I was reviewing my stats and Hubb was asking some interesting questions about the data I collect and what it tells me I realized that I didn't do my loop in the park.  I did stop and snap a picture in the park, there were people doing what I think is Tai Chi in the mist.  Looked peaceful.

Tai Chi?  Wilcox Park

I just ran on through admiring the flowers and totally forgot to hang a right and do my loop.  How long have I been doing that loop and I forgot, really? Beth, really?  Wow... yeah, hope it was a joyful distraction to cause you to lose focus like that, impressive, actually.

Traffic was kind this morning, stopping way before I reached the cross walks to get over in to CT.   Thank you drivers, are my rantings paying off?

What I did run across, ok bad pun, were 2 runners and 2 walkers wearing dark clothes, really people it is rainy and cloudy, this is a windy hilly road and your not visible.  What are you thinking?  Obviously NOT!  I will give them credit enough they were running / walking respectively against traffic, so there is that little bit of common sense.  I was happy to see two bikers dressed brightly. LOVED the womans Elmo shirt, bright red and perfectly hillarious! At least I think it was Elmo, well my distracted mind thought it was so that is good enough for me, for now.  When I got back to RI, and was in town, there were two runners dressed brightly, KUDOS!!!

I could see them WAY off in the distance, as could the drivers!

I enjoy all the regular things I see on my runs.  Look forward to them actually.  I've run by the high water markers and evacuation route markers for many months now.  Today I decided to see how tall I was:

Nearly 10 feet tall!
Well when I run I certianly do feel tall and proud (look a little dorky, hey I own it)!!
OORAH Semper Fi, baby!

What was missing on this run was my shadow.  I love running with her, sometimes she is in front of me urging  me on, sometimes she is right beside me keeping pace, other times she is behind me, most surely pushing me on wards.  I love running in the rain, it is peaceful and exhillarating, I did miss my shadow.  I tried to see if I could see her in the puddles, not so much.  Alas, the sun did come out a few hours after I ran so I took my shadow and two of the dogs (and their shadows) to the beach.

Gus and Gizmo and their shadows

Stats

Feh, it will do.

Totally forgot the loop in the park!  Gahhhh

Pacing / Elevation  A little scattered, I'll have runs like these.  All in all I felt good.

Splits

Sincerely,
Beth, looking forward to running with her shadow again, soon!!

Sometimes You Just Have To Walk

Anywhere5K's status was "Sometimes you just have to walk", what ever my witty post title WAS going to be it is long gone and this is now the title for today.  I think it is rather appropriate considering my 13 mile training run this morning.  I got a bit of a late start, seems both Gus and I were having tummy troubles so once mine got sorted, and Gus finally took a Tums.  It is really hard to explain to a dog that this will make you feel better.  I had to crush it up and put it in peanut butter and I put it in too much peanut butter with probably exacerbated the tummy issues.  Poor guy something is just not sitting right with him.  I knew what MY problem was and I required me to get a 30 minute later start than I planned on...

I decided to run the Surftown Half course, starting in Watch Hill and running through Misquamicut and Weekapaug and back to Watch Hill.  I figured parking in Watch Hill would be easier.  They have spaces with a 2 hour limit and I'd be back in 2:30 or less and I was starting around 7:30 (which turned into 8:15). Never the less I'd be gone, hopefully, before prime beach time.

Route

Normally my long run is on Sunday, and since I have a three day weekend I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to run long twice, meaning a Saturday and a Monday run.  Running is a mental sport and a physical sport.  I need to get used to running on Saturdays.  Mostly I need to get out of my own mind.

Got my self all parked and situated and basically knew where I was going to be going.  I lost the little street listing I had jotted down last night but basically remembered where I needed to go.

As I approached Misquamicut I saw this interesting tree, for all of you who have lost or left beach toys or other things at the beach, this seems to be where they end up.  Well those that don't end up as general trash on the 'trash islands' forming in our oceans.

Debris Tree?

About this time I noticed I was not on my route alone another woman runner, just a bit faster than me.  Not much mind you, so I had someone to pace with (read: try and keep up with) for several miles  This was nice because I was getting into the boring part of the run along the beach.  Wait, that sounds wrong.  This was along the straightaway that I would see twice, so boring in that aspect.  Exciting in that all the beach goers were walking to the beach and driving to the beach, so it was fairly busy.  Quite a few runners and bikers out  and I was running in to the wind, which is nice and cooling.

I got a little turned around in Weekapaug and should have went right when I went left then I would not have gotten turned around.  Alas, these things happen. Interestingly it did not skew my mileage.  I had lost sight of  woman runner and didn't know if we were on the same course or not and thought well I'll go left and up and around this loop and then back on to the boring beach road.  I also figured there would be some shade in the neighborhood (there was) and then it would be nice to be along the ocean before going back on boring beach road.   I didn't go far enough down, I recognized a street name and thought, oh that is where I need to turn. I should have went 1/2 block further and I'd of been where I needed to be.  In any event, back over the Weekapaug breachway and stopped to get a bottle of water, to replenish, I was at the half way point and thirsty.

All of a sudden I hear voices behind me, eventually they catch up.  Woman runner and another woman runner.  They say HI and woman runner says I saw you in Watch Hill.  I said that was where I was heading back to.  We were all on our weekly long runs.  The two woman went ahead for a while then the other woman decided my pace was better so we ran together and walked together.  At one point I just said, I am not feeling this, go on ahead.  She was happy to walk and talk with me for a few minutes and we  picked up the pace again.  Her name is Deb.  She hails from Baltimore and is training for the Baltimore Half.  She will also be running Surftown in two weeks, hopefully I will see her again.  I asked how long she has been running and why she got into running.

Deb is a breast cancer survivor, double mastectomy, after three tries they could not get clean margins.  She said she had never had much of a chest and that was just heart breaking to loose what little she had.  Cancer just wasn't going to win.  One of the medications she is on to keep the cancer at bay is known to cause a 10 pound weight gain.  She was adamant she was NOT going to gain that 10 pounds and she was going to run again.  Well she did NOT gain that 10 lbs, in fact she lost 20.   She is mid 50's, you'd NEVER know it by looking at her.  I'd peg her at mid 40's like me.  She said she got into running halfs as the training wasn't as demanding as it was for the 100 mile bike rides she used to do pre-cancer.  As she talked, and we ran, it was nice.  She said she ran a Disney Princess Half and loved it.  They run it before the park opens and were able to run through the castle to places no one is allowed to go.

The whole conversation gave me chills.  How wonderful.  She was NOT going to let cancer beat her and she was NOT going to let the 'cure' cause her to get fat.

I spied a C-Store and really needed some Gatorade and bid her a fond farewell, congratulations on her victory over cancer, and hoped to see her again in a couple weeks.    That Gatorade never tasted better.  I walked a bit got my gumption together and ran more.

This was NOT my best training run ever. Instead of chalking them up to junk miles I worked on form and landing more mid foot and keeping my posture straight and leaning at the ankles a bit.  I will not kick myself for my lousy pace or for walking.  It was what it was and I did it, end of story.

After I got to my destination I saw Woman Runner and said "You are a beast!  Go Girl!"  She said "4 more miles".   I said "You can do it, you are awesome!" and swigged my water and hobbled to a shady spot to try and stretch my legs.

Stats:

Splits

So maybe not my fastest run. But not as slow as I expected.  166 minutes = 29 WW points! Did someone call and ask if I wanted to go for pizza tonight?  I do believe Hubb just rang with that question.

Elevation

HR

Pace

 I need to review the "Player" to see what happened where, but you can see there isn't a lot of consistency after mile 7.  Is this a factor of it being Saturday?  Late Start?  Heat? Tummy issues? Mind games?

Sincerely,
Beth who's bad training run, really wasn't bad; when is a run a bad thing?

ooooooooommmmmmmmmm

Yoga day today!    I needed it.

What walked into yoga class tonight was a hot mess, oh read on, please.

After my very unseemly display of aggression, yesterday, with a driver who tried not once to plow me over in a cross walk but twice at the next cross walk.  I stood in the walk and I may have dared him.  The memory is a skitch fuzzy at the moment.  Then he pulled over and started yelling foul things at me. I may have yelled back and kept on running.  Smart? Probably not.  Refreshing, well yeah sort of.  Besides the bikers that hang out on the bridge witnessed this, and I'm sure they would have protected their own and gone after Mr. New York plates on a White Lexus, right?

What is so difficult to understand about this sign??

For a bit of background:  I live in a beach community, summer means tourists.  I may have yelled something about f-ing tourists PEOPLE actually LIVE here show some damed respect.  I do appreciate the tourists for the money they bring and then leave in our wonderful town (just not at the Wal-Mart, please, frequent some LOCAL businesses);  I don't appreciate them not paying attention to driving and trying to plow down me or any of our other residents two and four footed alike, or stopping me WHILE running UPHILL to ask for directions.  Really?  Even better are the ones that want to disagree with the directions I give.  You stop a woman and ask for directions chances are you are going to get directed by landmarks, deal with it.

We do have beautiful beaches!!!

Today was a work at home day, which is nice.  Hubb was off fishing with a buddy, it was just me and the four footteds, laundry to do, a pile of documents to read and edit *cue red pen* and a spreadsheet to review from a consultant.   Around noon I contacted the consultant looking for his work product.  Well he was getting to it later.  Well OK, so I need a nap and have a few errands to run so I did that.  Around 3 I checked back for said work product.  Well he forgot the file, could I send it to him. Done! I am not a fan of consultants, so I was a teensy bit frustrated.  He did send me said work product at 5:09 stating he couldn't complete it because he didn't have the file. Grrrrr....

And that was the frustrated hot mess that walked into Yoga class tonight.

Yoga was packed, seriously packed.  12 people packed.  Usually on Friday night it is 2 or 3 of us chickens, we even had 2 roosters too!

The class went so quickly too.  I was ready for more and the instructor said, "Ok well, your choice, what does your body need to do before Shavasana"  Wait? What? I'm not ready for Shavasana, believe me usually I am ready for Shavasana to be the WHOLE class.  Must have been that power nap this afternoon?  I did a shoulder stand and went in to plow and then untangled myself and settled into Shavasana.  The instructor chanted during the final minute, that was so freakin' cool!!  I just love her.

At the beginning of class the instructor asks us to dedicate our practice to someone.  The first person that popped into my head was my Father.  He had done something very sweet for me to let me know he and my mother support me in anything and everything I do. I do know that, it was a nice reminder, he is a sweet guy. So my practice was for my father.  I've often wondered if the people I think about in my practice get any sort of positive energy or anything.  Or maybe it is just me who feels positive?

oooommmmmmm

Namaste