gaseous moments.....

Such a long way I have come!  Irene and I swapped a couple of texts today about the possibility that she could smell gas coming from the gas connection at the house.  Smelling gas is a BAD thing (as we all know).  Given San Bruno isn't that far from us (single digit miles!)  I was quietly concerned and suggested she call the gas company (almost 100% certain they would come out asap).  As it turned out Irene was entirely conservative about it and wanted me to check she wasn't overreacting and was prepared to wait until I came home (this likely to be 6hrs after the text exchange).  I arrived home 7ish and tracked her down (well if she is at the house she is either downstairs in the office or upstairs at home so took me about 30 seconds!).  Long story short she took me to where the gas smell was - it didn't smell gaseous to me BUT (here's the coming along way part), I still didn't rule it out that she was on to something as it did smell and we might have a gas leak.  There was a smell and I simply said "well in NZ that's not what gas smells like".  For those not in the know, gas has no smell, the providers add "something" to give it a smell so we can detect gas leaks.....that much I knew (don't ask, I have no idea why I knew that, but I did).  So cultural difference and all I didn't assume that the "smell" added would be the same.  Immediately Irene suggest "Well let's go turn on the gas on the stove and see if it smells the same".  This was a VERY smart idea I might add......we did, smelt different from the "other smell", at least to me, agreed we need not panic and most likely it was all good....living in America is full of little moments.....this is one of them!

Random fun thing

So I mentioned I had read Lisa Tamati's book, well I also ordered a piece of her jewelry so ended up in a brief email convo with her.  Okay the book was not that well written but she's still an awesome character! She was very cool about my wanting to run an ultra.

This is the piece I ordered.  I really like it and, as was pointed out to me by someone who knows me very well, it is very me!
It's a running figure with a heart beat, it's part of her sports line and is a mix of stainless steel and rubber.  It is, apparently, in the mail.  I hope I like it as much in real life as I do the picture.

New furniture

The chair rocks!


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Reading & Running

I have just finished reading this book about a NZ ultra marathon runner.  Given that, not that long ago, she ran across NZ some folk reading may already know about her.  The book itself isn't wildly well written but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  It is heavy with NZ speak and I can almost hear her accent as I read.  She run through the Sahara Desert several times and the Libyan Desert as well.  It's quite amazing to read about some of the personal and physical challenges she has dealt with.  She also designs jewelry and has both an online store and a physical store in New Plymouth!  I find reading this stuff inspirational, even if I failed miserably to get out of bed early enough this morning to run my planned 23miles.....it will now be tomorrow.  Despite waking at 7:30am  I had missed my window to get through Fisherman's Wharf and across Golden Gate and back before the maddening crowds.  Tomorrow up at 5:30 and on the road no later than 6:15.....that's the plan, gotta stick to it!

Berlin is booked!

Travel and accommodation for Berlin is now locked and loaded!  Mum arrives from NZ on Sept 16 then we fly out to Berlin on the 21st (via Heathrow), arrive Thursday 22nd late afternoon.
Staying here, which is close to the marathon start/finish....near the Brandenburg Gate.  For anyone that's been to Berlin, here is the course:

Pretty much run all over Berlin and it's all flat.  I'm actually not that enamored with all flat courses.  Psychologically I find it harder - I like having the odd hill to climb.  That said this will all be new sights with a lot of historical landmarks (and some new ones too I imagine) along the way.  I am thinking I might take my i-phone so I can take some shots along the way.  I think there are close to 45,000 running - similar size to New York, so that will be awesome.  German organization so certain to start on time and be well organized!  Post marathon mum and I will start the sightseeing (only really the expo and a little bit of orientation in the two days leading into the marathon.  I am hoping jet lag isn't too bad and expect just the excitement of the whole thing will carry me through on the day!

BART

730am Friday heading to the Accenture San Fran office for a day course. First time taking Bart to the office - somehow I thought there would be way more people! Guess the real commuters come from the east bay....all very civilized here!


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Week has flown by!

The past week seems to have flown by.....busy!  Michelle came and stayed on Friday and left today (Sunday).  Fun time, punctuated by our visiting the (very local, as in two blocks away) queer bar where some woman decided she wanted my attention (good luck with that).  What followed was much hilarity (not all entirely at my expense) as she tripped through various attempts to capture my attention (including deciding I was a teacher, scientist or or or??? Didn't run marathons and and and).  Anyway I gotta say I was in tears of laughter after she'd F.I.N.A.L.L.Y given up.  Michelle and Irene totally amused throughout.  I expect there will be much recreating of the evening at various events in the coming months and, more particularly, at Xmas when visiting NZ.
Saturday we dragged Michelle around various furniture stores and at least one hardware outlet.  She has some great ideas for my pad so ended up being my personal design consultant (along with Irene of course!).  Irene then dragged Michelle and I to her local workout hangout i.e. park, where she is attending Bootcamp four days a week......my abs hurt today!!!!!
Saturday night all tired so an easy peasy BBQ (now that Irene has installed hers on the deck) and early to bed.  Sunday up earlyish as Michelle wanted to go to her church think in Palo Alto so drove her there and I hit the roads for what was meant to be a 14miler.....12half as it turned out as I had somehow managed to hit some button on the garmin that lead to distance being recorded in KMs, I was roughly translating so knew I was short but decided to end it there as I was basically running around the 'burbs.....which a very beautiful I might add but was over it and ME and I were having lunch before I dropped her at the airport.
The Garmin thing was not a total surprise as Katy and I had run the Stevens Creek Reservoir early in the week and I knew "something" wasn't right but has taken me until today to figure it out, having thought I'd fixed one thing that wasn't actually what needed adjusting!!!!
Booked all the Berlin tickets today - little complicated as mum flies out of Berlin to Karen and Brice in Miami so in the end Karen booked all mum's flights (one way tickets are mad crazy expensive as it turns out) then I booked mine to match to get us to Berlin (well and part way back to the US as I'm not flying to Miami but will fly via London with mum).  Karen is a guru of this though and found flights that were better than I had so I gotta get some lessons from her on this!!!!!  I'll book the accommodation tomorrow as I now have a map of Berlin so can see where things are AND I wrote to one place asking how close they were to the start of the marathon.....all good, figuring it out.
Okay photo moment....not wildly exciting but I'm doing my best:
New Gym takes shape......

New Lamp.....Room & Board how I love thee.....when you have a sale

Crab Tower - post run lunch!

21 Miles.....done

Some days when I am out there pounding the pavement my body is....annoyed at me and my mind is constantly nagging me to give it up, filling up my head with "wtf, really? no way? this is so out of your reach".  Not today though, today my body took the pounding with good grace and my mind was happy to coach it along, full of good thoughts and good things!
It wasn't the most lovely of days, mist hung low over the GG Bridge (I not only went to Sausalito but turned around after I got there and promptly ran back....not all the way back just as far as I needed to hit 21miles, so about a mile and a half post coming off the bridge).  Rain threatened but never really came.  Why such a good run?  Today I discovered a little bit of magic that I haven't tried before.....GU Blocs (they are like sticky little gummy bears) every 40mins. What a difference it made to my overall feeling of well being.  While I can run a marathon on two GUs and water it seems it would be far more pleasant to run it on many more GU Blocs!
I also now know I've lived in SF just long enough to have become a (kind of) known character.  Post race I stopped on fisherman's wharf to get something to eat and this dude started chatting to me.  He asked if I had just came from Sausalito....turns out he remembered me from the ferry the last time (or maybe the time before) I ran to Sausalito and caught the ferry back.....as opposed to the new regime of running back!  Weirder still he is from New Mexico so we chatted away about where he had lived and I actually knew exactly where and could have a real convo with him about it too - schweet.

At least once during these longer runs someone calls out Roadie, this time some dude being helpful giving me the code to some locked bathrooms "hey Roadie.....", kinda schweet too!
 

Fishy update

The lap pool, that I look at through my back door and can hear the water gurgling away.


The fish anticipation.


The frenetic circling.


And finally the feeding!


Endless entertainment!
Gotta run 21 miles this weekend and going to book Berlin!
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The never-ending-busy

It's Thursday and the week variously dragged and flew by!  Every day I've just been excited to be coming home to my pad.
Tuesday night we went out for a team dinner.....total riot.  Pro Bono, ignoring the totally cheesy video (what were they thinking???) proved to be a pretty nice experience.  Gotta say the service started out as marginal BUT once they get that the guy with the credit card buys GOOD wine they suddenly get very attentive (not the first time I've watched this little phenomenon at a work dinner).  Actually I wasn't totally wowed by the food but it was good so definitely not complaining.....the wine was awesome.  Sometimes I dread these things because they feel like an extension of work (and they are) but the team is very fun and we have some new folks who have joined who add some more flavor to the whole thing.  Of course it does mean that those of us commuting to San Fran have at least another 45mins to add to the adventure......funny how you adjust.
The house is variously unpacked and variously waiting for furniture to arrive.  All good though.  Every morning I feed the fish before work and tomorrow I will take a photo so you can see why this is fun!  I've killed fish before but hoping these ones are a little more robust.  Mostly gotta watch that the little fountain thing doesn't get clogged as rumour is, in the absence of that, the raccoons come a hunt'n.........

SF Half Marathon done

Early start up at 4am - Irene drove me to the start line.



Still dark of course but the Bay Bridge looked fab.


Plenty of runners out there an glad to have been in an early wave, not so congested.


Finish line always a welcome sight.


Then time for the free Irish coffee.


All done by 8:30am.....what to do with the rest of the day?
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Settling in

I love love love my new house - she is totally perfect for me, very manageable in size and I am loving bringing her altogether.  I am even slightly surprised that I seem to have developed my own aesthetic and have at least some vision for each of the rooms.  I will share photos when I am done!  Irene is helping of course as she now has a sense of what I like so sends me cool options for furniture......note too that one of the rooms has been christened the "cocaine room".....which will become clearer when photos get posted!
Work is changing, again, as we expand the team.  Crazy Ironman Girl is rolling off (that is what we call it when someone is leaving the project), which is hugely sad for me as she is my running buddy.  I am hoping we stay in touch as she isn't leaving the firm but it won't be the same.  Another manager I worked with at Cisco has joined us as the team has been restructured.  I now have communications and one component of business readiness planning (which I know is meaningless to about everyone reading this!).  But it means I have the two comms resources and two others (including Monica, yay - I so wanted to keep Monica as she is great to work with and we totally get one another.....).  I don't yet know how I feel about all the changes.  It is definitely different and I am being invited into increasing levels of management (yay, I have been patient, learning the ropes but really hanker to step into more).  We shall see.
Now the house is settled and I don't have to justify every dime to the bank that comes in and out of my account I can really get to planning Berlin!  Mum is coming over and we will both fly to Berlin and spend a week post marathon checking it all out.  Mum will then head to Karen and Brice for a few weeks.  I am so looking forward to the whole adventure, including running the marathon and then being able to look around Berlin.
I have planned part of my trip back to NZ (although no tickets booked yet).  Will be there for Xmas and New Year.  Difficult time to visit given everyones family commitment but have managed to pull together a couple of grand adventures.  Will be lovely to spend Xmas in Napier with the family and Irene is coming over after visiting her sister who lives in Australia.  Irene's first time to NZ and my first time hosting someone from the US in NZ, so really looking forward to seeing it all through someone else's eyes.
This weekend is the San Fran Half Marathon......early start at 5am.....yikes.  All good though and going to be a great fun as it's on a (now) very familiar route.  Now I feel more casual about these things I'll take my phone and take some photos along the way!
Now I have been told posts with no photos are boring I've included a sweet shot of Lotte and I!

New house busyness

Loving the new house! Although she is still a little empty she's perfectly peaceful and I am not missing the crazy of the Mission.



Moving day saw "visitors" next door and one of the local characters across the road arrested.  Loved Potrero - got my badge of honour "lived in the Mission".......
Sunday was Irene's birthday so got up and ran my 14miler (not so optimal as I missed breakfast....lesson in fueling up!).
Got home and a bunch of us headed over the Bridge to walk Mt Tam to celebrate the birthday girl.



It was steep and beautiful.



With mega views.











Got home latish tired but happy!


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Move-in day

Organized, as only some with German genes can!


Celebration bubbles on our last night at Potrero.
New house back deck complete with "lap pool".


Big empty house....okay little empty house.








Need more furniture I am thinking....

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Woohoo house is ours!

Move in tomorrow - two flat property, me downstairs, Irene and Lotte upstairs!


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Sunday's adventures

Okay so it's Thursday and I am only just posting this! Sunday, after a big day at the ultra, I headed out for what was meant to be a 19mile run. It did end up being 19 but a little stop start and trail road mix ..... Some great sights along the way.






Golden Gate from the "other side".







About to head on to the beach trail.







Bunch of stairways along the way.







Beautiful beach where I found the Sand Ladder that one of the Bootcamp courses uses for training!







This shot my fav as I explored the old gun batteries!






Last part of the run a little chaotic as I crossed GG and hit all the tourists, finally grinding to a halt along the Embarcadero.
Although interrupted I had a great 5hr adventure....taking on a little less of the roadrunners drive to get the job done and replacing it with the trail runners "enjoy the journey".
PS house settles tomorrow!
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Big busy weekend

Woke up at 5am Saturday to head off to the Marin Headlands to help out at the 50 mile ultra and marathon.....awesome day.
This is, apparently the food of champions:



M&Ms, pretzels, pb&j sandwiches, beef jerky, gummy bears and more. All served in luxury of course:

On a cold misty day.

As runners came in we filled water bottles and offered encouraging words. People were unfailingly kind and thanked us for being there! Around 10am I got asked to go to the finish line to help out, against the back drop of a rugged surfing beach:








This was where I served up chili and chicken noodle soup, more food of champions and gave out teeshirts. Also watched the first runner come in in an incredible 6 hrs 59s:



Also looking like he was out for a stroll. Trainee Dr by day mega athlete always!
First woman 9hrs 24s:




I'd been chatting to her husband throughout the afternoon (he is from Bulgaria and won his greencard in the lottery too) with no idea his "running wife" was among the elite athletes!
Then there was this:



Can you see?



What's that?



There!
Day ended for me at 7pm...12hrs...course time limit 15hrs; I am totally inspired!



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Unconditional.........

Yesterday we signed off the final contingency for the house (that would be financing!!!!) and.........well, it's a go!  House settles on Friday July 22nd, so maybe 6 weeks from when we started the process, which is kind of remarkable in this market.  Given the debarcle of the last few years getting finance is a little bit of a trial if you don't 100% stack up.  Stacking up isn't easy.......not only do you need a substantial deposit, but you have to be able to pay some pretty hefty processing fees AND (this is the kicker) demonstrate 12 months reserves i.e. cash/cash assets that is equal to one year of mortgage payments.  I have no idea how young families can buy a house these days!!!!!
Marathon training in full swing and work crazy busy......back soon!

Running The Sahara Movie Trailer

I watched this last night......wow, kind of amazing.....well not kind of, totally amazing. I've just finished the book Running on Empty, which is about a 57 year old endurance runner running across America. One of the characters in this movie (Charlie) also features in the book. They (or rather he) has cleverly edited the movie so that you only get to see shades of just how obnoxious some folk can become faced with these types of challenges (he's a total jerk in the other story, almost sabotaging the whole expedition). Some bad behaviour aside, both stories are a testament to guts, good planning and dreaming big!

Fort Funston

At the dog walking beach!





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Location:Skyline Blvd,San Francisco,United States