Mother has landed, new old friends & Tiger

The Mother has landed!  Arrived Friday - 45mins early.  How is it, do you suppose, that a flight with no stopovers can arrive 45 mins early?  Me, at the airport, all cool and calm as she walks into the arrivals lounge, looking like I'd been there forever - not so much, had arrived 5mins before only to glance at the arrivals board to discover "In Customs"!  On balance though at least the pilots remembered to land at the bloody airport.
Have been more than entertained in the last few days by un-PC who is a working example of just how tiny this world is.  Okay Wellington is tiny but still, in less than 24hrs connections were made, had me chuckle, alot!
I've resisted commenting on the Tiger saga for no other reason than I think folk are tigered out, there's been plenty of coverage.  Mostly I've been fascinated to watch how he's managed the media side of it (I claim professional interest).....either he's got the worst media minders in the world or the guy is just plain stoopid. American's love a good drama but can be surprisingly forgiving when someone calls mea culpa - but a press release just doesn't cut it!  Some say his private life should be his own - not me.  The man is a corporation, hundreds of people have their livelihood tied up in his brand, in my mind it's no different than any Company that taints its brand and is forced to front to investors, consumers and employees.  If he wanted his life to be all about golf then he should have stuck to golf, he didn't, he became the brand, time to front up - or as my work colleagues say "put on his big girl pants" (yeah well I'm not sure about that last reference either......).
Off to Vegas tomorrow!

Thunder, lightening, torrential downpours and The Mother

Sat around in my PJs this morning watching shallow, albeit entertaining, movies waiting for the weather to clear so I could hit the road.  My mission today was to run 9 miles....and so I did.  The first 6.5 in overcast but not unpleasant conditions, the remainder in a torrential downpour accompanied by flashes of lightening and thunder!  Not much I could do really I had to get home one way or another and it's not like I could call a cab (given I don't actually go running with money....cellphone.... ID....medical card....you know I think I can hear the big sis berating me.....I might need to re.think some of that....).  I felt strangely elated as the rain started to pelt down; started grinning even, I expect I looked slightly hysterical to passersby.  But hey, there were other crazy fools out there walking, now that's really stoopid!
The mother arrives Friday - yay.  Two reasons, it will be nice to see her and it will signal the beginning of two weeks off, including our trip to Vegas.  Sweetly too Marcia left me the keys to her car so that I don't need to hire one to go to the airport to pick mum up.  I love my Miata but she just ain't designed to collect international travelers from the airport, unless they pack light!  Now really I just need to get my head to small things like; clean the house, get some food in that mum might like to eat; including instant coffee I believe (and think is a crime against nature and the natural order of things).

No way to be glamorous about it.....

So I promised pics.....and here they are.  Really there is no way to look good running.....well not if you are me!  The shot on the left was taken

about 30mins before the run.  If it's not obvious I was freezing!!!!  I'd just watched the half marathoners take off and had been standing around for about 1.5hrs.  I'd wanted to arrive early as I wanted to see the half marathoners and had no real idea how all the parking etc would work.  Turned out I got a carpark really close to the race start so arrived with plenty of time.  There were tents set up displaying a range of goodies and people nervously milling about.  As you can see on the right, just after I crossed the finish line, I kept my running jacket on as I couldn't even contemplate the thought of running without it (and I had a long sleeved shirt on!).  All good in the end!

Case was delighted when I texted him with my results - he is so sweet, I gave him a tip at my training session and he gave me a hug, so cute.  He's been incredibly supportive and committed to my fitness/running - if not a little startled that I not only attempt everything he asks of me but also do my homework.  Games on again, of course, first half marathon Feb 7th, running around Golden Gate Park.  It's not far off and this weekend my task is to run 9 miles, the half is 13 miles or 21 km - yikes that sounds like alot when I type it out and not that many weeks to go.

Killed the hill....my race is done

Today I ran my 10k race in Marin.  It was amazing to be around all the hype and also to be running on such a beautiful course.  It was also bloody cold, so cold that I had to wear my running jacket as well as my long sleeved running shirt.  I stayed Friday night in Corte Madera, north of San Fran and just 15mins from the Marin Headlands.  Given this is a two to two and a half hour drive from Santa Cruz I decided it was just easier to stay close by.  On my way through I stopped in San Fran and picked up my "race bag" which, most importantly, has the race "chip" you attach to your shoe so they can electronically record your time and your race number......at this point it was all starting to feel very real!  The 10k was part of a much larger event so runners set off at different times.  The 50 mile (yep you read correct) left at about 5am, 50k at 7, half marathoners at 9 and us little 'uns at 10.  I arrived in time to watch the half marathoners set off.  Given I aspire to run one in Feb I was somewhat awed to think that the 3.5 mile hill I have lamented over is repeated (all beit different hills) three times for the half marathoners!!!  There really were folks in all shapes and sizes.  Stereotyping is interesting - I look at the lean, tall women and freak out - they simply look athletic in the way I think athletes look and in a way I will never look :-( !  Yeah well, so much for that, there was one shortish (these things being relative) woman who was  big and a very unlikely looking runner.  We had two hours to complete the course and she came in 2mins before her time was up and she wasn't the last btw.   So note to self:  size doesn't matter!  While I'd felt sickly nervous in the days leading into the event I got increasingly calmer as we actually reached the point of heading off.  It was grand fun - toward the end we link up with the half marathoners for their final leg - it's more than humbling to be passed by people who have already run 3/4 more than the distance you are labouring over......everything about running is proving to be humbling.  Not least of which the privilege of being able to run at all!
Anyway, final results 1.05 total time, 84th out of a total of 213 runners (men and women, yes a certain satisfaction was had when I blew off some boys on the hill stage....), 4th for my age group out of a total of 21 (yes yes age group 40-49....).  Oh and as a nice finisher I won a North Face fleecy jacket in a random raffle (sometimes you just need to show up!).  Pictures next week.