That Girl Runs

Apparently someone thinks I am gorgeous! Or more to the point, a gorgeous blogger!

Lindsay, the gorgeous girl who chases Kenyans posted her MeMe the other day and basically send a shout out to all her loyal readers to follow her lead. Since she follows Kenyans who am I to resist? That’s right, if you know me at all you will remember that I am a total sucker for MeMes. Lots of people hate them with a vengeance. I am not one of those people. In Lindsay fashion I will try to come up with six things you might not know about me. Yet:

• my parents were step siblings! Now before you get all bent out of shape by this and try looking for the extra appendages I might have grown as a result of this rather extra ordinary union, let me assure you that there was no mixing of the same genetic code involved in my creation! Let me explain: my grandparents knew each other as children but as adults they both married different spouses and lost contact with each other. My father’s mother passed away when he was 10 and my mothers father died when she was 14, leaving both of my grandparents widowed. While in their early 20s my parents met through mutual friends and started dating and eventually got married. Through their marriage my grandparents met again and romantic sparks started to fly. So much so that they also got married. To make things even more cozy, they all lived in the same house, the house I eventually grew up in with a set of parents upstairs and a set of grandparents downstairs. As a young child I thought that this family dynamic was totally normal: the grandpa is always the father of the dad and grandma is the mother of the mom. No wonder I often got strange looks…

• I hate (I know this is a strong word but I cannot express this in any other way) eating during the day! Forget water boarding for torturing me, instead force me to eat a big breakfast or lunch. I literally feel poisoned all day. I can go for coffee or tea in the morning and even enjoy hanging out at Starbucks nursing a soy latte, but don’t ever take me to that place that’s famous for their breakfast specials. The same holds true for lunch. I truly enjoy having a banana with (pea)nut butter every.single.day. and don’t need to deviate. You will however always find me enjoying a rather large dinner. For some reason I have no problem feeling full at night but during the day I will be absolutely miserable with a full belly. This approach has worked for me for decades, thank you very much, so save yourself effort and breath trying to convince me to change my habits.*

• I once fell in love with a married man! And no, I am not ready to elaborate publicly. Let’s just say that it was the most painful experience of my life.

• Even though I can eat peanut butter by the spoon full I despise peanuts. I even eat crunchy peanut butter, although I prefer the all natural, salty, smooth kind, but hand me a bag of peanuts and I will hand it right back to you. And no, I don’t have an explanation for this weirdness either.

• My biggest regret in life is not having chosen the health care field for my profession and it is the one thing I would do over if I had the chance. But… there is still time so stay tuned!

• Although I love the desert and the incredible heat in the summer I will always miss living near a body of water and actually prefer humidity to dry heat. As David and I are making plans for our future this longing plays a big role. Unfortunately living near the water in California means cold, foggy summers, so we will either have to move east (I am dreaming of Caribbean breezes) or to a lake (I am envisioning water sports in the summer and lots of skiing in the winter).

* the exception to this weird approach to eating happens during marathon training. The only time I will force myself to eat before and after a long run.

Today’s Running Tip: A Jump Start!

If you are having trouble eating solid food after a long run try a smoothie. Combine 1 cup low fat flavored (soy) yoghurt, 1/4 cup (soy) milk, 1/2 cup of frozen fruit (not berries), 1/2 packet of plain instant oatmeal, 3/4 cups of frozen berries and 2 tbsp of dried coconut. Blend until smooth.

Winter! Is! Almost! Over!!!

I couldn’t believe my luck when I woke up in March yesterday morning! To a blue and sunny sky none-the-less! MARCH! The month we welcome spring and celebrate David’s birthday on the first day of the new season! I cannot wait!

February wasn’t bad, I admit. We were hit with a few major rain storms which always lead to flooding in this part of the country, but we were also blessed with days when the temperatures actually reached the upper 70s which translates to 80s in our yard. Not warm enough to get into the pool yet, but definitely warm enough to enjoy the first outdoor BBQ of the season and bring a big smile to my face.

After the last couple of months filled with road trips up to Northern California and Santa Barbara, we spent the entire February in the desert and got to know our neighbors better. When we first bought our house here 4 1/2 years ago we bought into Phase I of our development. Surrounding us were mostly empty houses and construction fields. There were Shelley and Pam right next door, Charlie and Alice, and Debra across the street but no one else, except in the older part of the complex. Add to that the fact that Debra spent most of her time in San Diego where she worked, Pam and Shelley are snow birds, Charlie and Alice and elderly and very frail, and David and I only came every other week, and our original home developer went belly up and stopped finishing the existing homes and building the rest.

Since our social schedule was pretty much packed when we were in Santa Barbara we always looked forward to just hanging out the moment we got to the desert every other Thursday, with no scheduled activities and no real plans for the weekends. All that changed of course when we moved down here full time. Just by the virtual fact that we now lived here year round we got to know people. I at my group classes at the gym (Hi Larry!) and through my political campaign work (Hello Barbara!) and David through his consulting. And then, then we got neighbors!!! A new builder came in who finished the existing empty homes and people flocked to our neighborhood! And I have to say that the wait was well worth it because we have the best neighbors ever! EVER!!! Unfortunately no runners, but I can live without that since their awesomeness makes up for my loneliness on the road and trails. Over the past few months we have truly became a small community in which doors are always open for a drink at sunset, impromptu dinners, and a helping hand if needed. It is something I always envisioned when I moved into a gated community but had been disappointing until last fall.

I cannot wait for summer!

Changes have also emerged in my exercise routine thanks to Isabel, one of the trainers at my gym who gave a sample Spinning Class when my Yoga class was canceled last Saturday! It took it and got hooked! I took Spinning many years ago when I was training for the Tahoe Century but not since and had forgotten how much I enjoy it and what great exercise it is. Since it takes a lot of cardio work for me to break into a sweat I always look for that routine that brings the sweat best out of me. There is no better feeling! So I went back last night and I suspect that will be a regular class I will take from now on. Look for it in next month’s stats. But for now, here are the numbers for February:

• Shortest run: 5.3 miles
• Longest run: 8.5 miles
• Average speed: 7:25 min/miles
• Strength & Endurance: 4 hours
• Weight Training: 2 hours
• Yoga: 3 hours
• Bike: 4 miles
• Spinning: 50 minutes

Today’s Running Tip: Spinning can be beneficial to runners!

If you are getting bored with your running routine and want to mix it up a bit, Spinning is a great cross training exercise, especially if you do not own a proper bike. Your legs will get a break from the high impact of running but you will still exercise your legs and glutes. Some people report that they finally got over calf and achilles pain by taking a break from running and go Spinning instead.

So (it is always a good sign when your blog post starts with “So”! Me thinks) the other day I received an email from one of my oldest and dearest friends. And by “old” I am not referring to her age but to the length of our friendship. I met Annette on the first day of my very first class at the Ludwig-Maximillians Universität in Munich, a class I showed up to a week late… By the time I made it to class everyone had already gotten to know each other the previous week when yours truly was missing because she had no idea when her “Introduction to English Literature” was actually going to take place. It sort of set the stage for the remainder of my years as a student. When I finally showed up a week late all seats were taken but the one next to Annette and we became friends instantly. I guess when you have to analyze Jane Austen’s “Emma” and her match making skills you have no choice but to bond and bonding we did. For the next 4 1/2 years our friendship grew through the good times and the not so good times.

We only lived a few miles apart, Annette in one of the student bungalows in the Olympic Village (which were torn down a couple of years ago), me just up the road in Fasanerie, and many evenings and weekends were spent together. In the summer we often packed up our picnic baskets with caprese salad and trifle and headed to the nearest Biergarten on our bicycles, meeting up with friends over wheat beer and soft pretzels. On days when we had no class and on weekends you could find us along the banks of the Feldmochinger See catching sunny rays and enjoying the summer heat in Bavaria. Then there was our annual white asparagus feast in May. We survived the long and cold winters with ski aerobics at the Olympic Village Gym, followed by hot tea and crispy bread with honey or Nutella, Kaesespaetzle at the “Scheidegger” and the annual holiday baking in my kitchen.

We only spent time apart during spring breaks, when Annette went off to South Africa where her aunt and uncle owned a farm and I worked, and summer break, which I spent in California every year.

Sounds lovely? Well it wasn’t!

I know that for a lot of kids out there college is the most fabulous time of their lives and they can hardly wait for it. The partying, the endless supply of alcohol, and finally escaping their parents’ prying eyes. For me it was anything but.

Since I had already lived away from home for two years before I moved to Munich – and when I say “away” I mean “far away”, 7000 miles to be exact – the novelty of escaping your childhood home had already worn off. And as German kids are allowed to officially have a drink at the tender age of 16 – although most have their first taste unofficially at an earlier age – my experience with alcohol poisoning had happened in high school and I had no desire to repeat the joys of losing two days of my life. The only time I got even remotely drunk was on my very last night in Munich when I celebrated my departure with margaritas and ended up falling asleep on the last subway ride of the night which resulted in instant sobriety when I realized I was one station short of the end, 50 miles out of Munich. At 2am! Without a penny of change!

When I was still living at home I often dreamed of the day when I could just do whatever I chose to do, spend nights away from home and never having to explain myself afterwards to my parents who were strong believers in curfews even after I had turned 18. The amount of nights I did not come home while I was in college: ZERO! For some reason nothing seemed as exciting as sleeping in my own bed every night and waking up to my room mate playing classical music CDs and the smell of her brewing coffee and baked goods on weekend mornings.

Instead of partying I hunkered down for the first times since 7th Grade and actually worked hard at getting through the Master’s Degree as fast as possible and move back to the place my heart belonged to. And studying hard I did, often taking on more than double the workload of the regular degree requirements for the semester while completing and handing in term papers before the term was actually coming to a close in the summer. But I did not mind as it allowed me to fly back to California the beginning of August, rather than the middle, meaning that I could spend three full months on the west coast. A time I waited for nine months out of every year. June and July were some of my favorite months even back then, but for different reasons as they are now, and November SUCKED, even more so than it does now!!! Stepping off the airplane in Munich on a cold, damp November evening after having spent three glorious months in the Bay Area was about as depressing as it gets. The only positive (if you can even call it that) was the fact that I had usually scheduled my return flight a day before classes started up for the winter semester and was therefore right back in the swing of student life within 12 hours of touching down.

The most fun I had in Munich was my last year there and the fact that I knew my time was coming to an end helped me skip along through my thesis on victorian women (don’t be jealous now!), my final exams in English comprehension, American History and Political Science, and my summer that, for the first and last time, I spent in its entirety in Munich.

17 years have gone by since that last endless summer at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. Annette graduated six months after me and when I left she inherited all my IKEA dishes, some of which she still uses today. After her graduation she worked in Munich for a year before meeting the love of her life in South Africa and settling into her new home in Johannesburg where she has been raising two boys. We have not seen each other since she visited me in 1995 but we have remained in contact and are able to pick up where we left off. One of my future travel plans does include an extended trip to South Africa and I am sure it will be just like old times when I get to see her again. We will probably eat caprese salad, trifle, and crisp bread with honey or Nutella.

I have noticed that Annette often wants to write about our days in Munich and although she does not say it directly I can read between the lines that she misses her days as a student. I understand that her experience was different from mine in that she did not have to overcome constant heart ache but I also remember how stressed out she was about school and getting her degree, something I hardly ever worried about. I had never worked hard in high school (my mom always blamed hair graying hair on my lack of interest in school work during my teenage years) but I realized early on that I was making up for my disastrous high school years when I became a university student. Annette on the other hand always doubted herself which overshadowed the good times she had. It is curious that she only wants to remember how fun her life was and on several occasions she has mentioned that she would love to go back in time. I say: NO WAY!!!

On Twitter I follow “MunichPhoto” and get to look at a new photo of places in and around Munich every morning. I truly and utterly love it as I recognize most of the places in the photograph and can usually recall that last time I went by. But I realize that the enjoyment is due to the fact that I can reminisce from the place I call home, the place my heart belongs to. For the same reason I also thoroughly enjoyed visiting Munich a few years ago, dropping by the house I lived in and revisiting all the old familiar hang outs. I even went back to Annette’s old bungalow. All with the comfort of knowing that I would be going home! The place I love most!

Yes, we did have some good times during our years in Munich but I was glad when I could close this chapter of my life. I never looked back from that day my dad picked me up, the day I said “Good Bye” to the hardest four 1/2 years of my life!

Today’s Running Tip: Staying warm and injury free while traveling to alpine climates!

One of the ways to warm up in icy conditions is to run on the treadmill, run up the staircase, or jump rope for 10 minutes before hitting the road!

Nelson woke up looking fuzzy! But that was soon to change in a big way!

Before he could bark “cookie” he and his Uprights no longer wondered where his breed got the name SHEEPdog from…

But soon enough he found himself as the Lion King

Only to end up as a Muppet

And just in case you are wondering how it all came about:

Anyone need a sweater?

Today’s Running Tip: Taking your best friend for a run!

When running with your dog be sure to adjust your speed and the length of your run to your dog’s needs. Chances are your best friend is going to try everything to keep up with you and will not slow down when he or she needs to. I have seen dogs collapse mid run and suffer from extreme overheating and/or dehydration. Only take your dog for a run on cool, preferably overcast days and bring plenty of water for both you and your four legged companion.

I stole the following shamelessly from Schmutzie, whose blog I have been following for over a year and whose name I love. The name alone should tell you that she is all sorts of awesome. I actually use the word “schmutzie” on almost a daily basis to describe anything not 100% clean.

view from our kitchen window, photo was taken with the ShakeIt iPhone application and edited with Mill Colour. I love the way it looks so old school, like the photos in my parents’ albums.

A – AVAILABLE: It depends on who is in need of my availability. For my friends I will go to the enth degree at a moment’s notice, on the flip side I have no problem saying “No” to those that annoy me.

B – BIRTHDAY: June 6th! I love that day.

C – CRUSHING ON: LANCE

D – DRINK YOU LAST HAD: green tea lemonade

E – EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: David, of course.

F – FAVORITE SONG: Chocolate by Snow Patrol.

G – GUMMY BEARS OR GUMMY WORMS: Worms

H – HOMETOWN: Somewhere in the middle of Germany.

I – IN LOVE WITH: David

J – JUGGLE: No way. I cannot even throw properly.

K – KILLED SOMEONE: No, and never will.

L – LONGEST CAR RIDE: Besides driving on Highway 5? Driving from my home in the middle of Germany to Italy when I was six.

M- MILKSHAKE FLAVOR: Strawberry

N – NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: Zero

O – ONE WISH: To work in the field I love most: medicine. The Obama White House is a very close second.

P – PERSON YOU TALKED TO LAST: does Nelson count?

Q – QUESTIONABLE LIKE: “Reality” TV

R – REASON TO SMILE: Summer is on its way!!!

S – SONG YOU LAST HEARD: Bad Romance by Lady Gaga.

T – TIME YOU WOKE UP: 6:15 a.m.

U – UNDERWEAR COLOR: blue

V – VALUES: integrity!

W – WORST HABIT: sucking my thumb.

X – X-RAYS YOU’VE HAD: including scans – teeth, ankle, lower back, shoulder, chest, neck, lungs.

Y – YOYOS: I used to have one.

Z – ZODIAC SIGN: Gemini (they rule)

Today’s Running Tip: Try running a different race!

Running and racing can easily become a serious undertaking and soon enough the fun in running could be replaced by something you might actually be dreading. Try finding a race just for fun, like a mud run, an all uphill race, or one that you show up in costume. Go all out and don’t run it for time. Run it just because!