gluten-free pizza at spinatos! it's like I'm normal!

How awesome is it that we found not only a great pizza joint by us that has gluten-free pizza, but that *they deliver* too?! It's like Christmas and a presidential pardon happening on the same day.  Plus, we met the owner and he was a cool dude in shorts (who says people have actually hugged him in response to the dough in question).  This is a total Win and a major Score in the same move- it's like a Scin...or a Wore...hmm I see why we haven't collectively gone there....I'll just rewind way back and go with Rad.  This is Rad!

Now if I can just get him to carry the dairy-free cheese!... (and the soda-free soda ;) )

Gik! Training!

See what happens when I get used to doing something? I start forgetting to do it. How can it be Thursday already and I haven't run at all since the race??

There's probably some kind argument for "rest" and "recuperation" and other words beginning with R, but I wouldn't know what they are. I do have some vague memory of being sort of stiff on Sunday and addled on Monday, but...ooh look, 12ks of Xmas this weekend! Sparkly sparkly...

Desperate Times, and all that...

So I'm going out on a limb here, and not just by putting lukewarm pickle juice in my carryon bag. Its little bottle *is* clearly marked "1.5 oz", after all...

I'm a huge fan of Clif Shot Bloks, and never use anything else on a run.  I love everything about them and thank god there's ONE COMPANY out there making something palatable using only ingredients I actually want in my body.  The only problem is (and I know this is blasphemy to Sweet-Teeth everywhere but) after about the first hour I am *so over* having to eat anything sugary.  I just don't want that taste anymore so I wind up avoiding them--which is totally stupid and usually means I bonk with food still in my pack.  Wtf.  Anyway, we're heading out in the morning for Beautiful Sunny Las Vegas Nevada for the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon Y'all and naturally this is a problem I feel is best tackled now, before I have to grit my teeth thru another 2 3/4 hours of sweetness and/or actually finish getting ready to go tonight.

I looked around everywhere and the best I could come up with was the suggestion of several people to go for the new margarita flavor, which I did buy and is saltier--but honestly is a bit of an alienating idea when you're running.  I'm never thinking, "mmmm, can't wait for a margarita! -ooh looky, here's a gummy one in my pocket, hooray!".  No.  Plus, paying $1.50 per pack multiple times a week is getting a bit old.  So, I'm exploring the possibility of making my own goo.  Not the first to go down this road, just the latest (and possibly least-well-thought-out).  I did consult several blogs and my mom ( :) ) who all had good advice; unfortunately I am too impatient and bored to take it.  (Hopefully future experiments can be held under more conducive conditions.)

First round draft pick is straight pickle juice and ground chia seeds. Chosen less for its desirability than for convenience: although I did hit three stores before finding a jar of pickles that would meet my lofty requirements (organic, green not yellow, no polys or benzos and less than $8/jar!), I already had the chia seeds, and have already convinced myself of the virtues of both ingredients on their own. Of course, what's good alone isn't always good together, but it's already 9 o'clock and I need to finish packing so off we go. (At my house it's not necessity that breeds invention, it's accessibility, laziness, a time-crunch and the stubborn unwillingness to let a random idea die. I'm sure this is in the DSM-IV under a different label.)

As you can see, the result is less than appetizing.  As expected.  But it is salty and tastes exactly like pickles, due to its lack of any other ingredient! Also, it's blackberry adding the garish yellow tinge and not the seeds themselves, so things are not quite as bleak as they seem.  Shockingly, upon first taste, not as offensive a texture as I might have guessed!  So hope is high.

We'll see how things seem after a day marinating in my luggage.

 
Mmmmmm! I plan to eat you outside Treasure Island! Consider it a date!

Ubiquity of Black

Is anyone else completely disillusioned with the boringness of running clothes?? I've found some cuts and fabrics I've really liked, but seriously if I see another solid color I think I might scream. *And what is with BLACK PANTS?!* If you don't want to run in black pants or tights it seems your only option is black shorts. ! Apart from my penchant for interestingness, there's just nothing practical about wearing black to work out outside in Phoenix.  What part of "I'm running on the sun" do you not understand, sports fashion designers??

Retarded. I'm ready to contact a factory in China and get them started cranking out colored leggings and prints like it's the 80s all over again!

Shade!

So, after missing the very first run on my new calendar (Not Happy!), nT and I did 7 miles along the canal yesterday. Not a bad part of town, and mileage I haven't seen yet since I'm mostly car-bound and street-oriented. nT had some complaints about rocks in his fivefingers, but my only beef was with the *constant unrelenting sunshine*. Seriously, it was a beautiful 79 degrees, but there is not a lick of shade anywhere along the canal. Even with sunglasses and visor I really can't take that kind of oppression.

We left a car at the beginning and didn't got back for it, so I'm all set for a return run, either back up the way we came or starting further down the canal and running up to it, but I'm not sure I can take that much sunshine again so soon. Happily, I happened to drive down Central today and re-noticed the horse trail that runs along the street starting around Dunlap. It's got TREES! Wonder of wonders- and the shade extends pretty well all the way down to Missouri. (If I need more mileage than that, the sidewalk continues all the way to downtown, but right around Camelback it starts to get more urban than is probably worth it.) Canal car, I think your vacation just got extended.

I'm not much for running alongside traffic, it makes me paranoid and is distracting. But to keep the sun off my eyeballs for a bit? Yeah I'm pretty much all-in!

Holy fuckin fuckshit!

So I've been getting the updates from The James, and I do own several calendars and refer to them repeatedly during every day, but still the revelation that the Vegas Rock n Roll half is only *19* days away is really sobering.  Of course, I'll live if I just go and do whatever, but I signed on for this a long time ago, and it'll be my fourth (WOWWW!) half marathon, and I do have a bit of pride that would be served if I did something other than limp across the line at 3 hours and 94 minutes. 

I need a plan.  I love a plan.  I might even love a plan more than executing a plan, but certainly having a plan means enjoying the execution more.  To wit:

Last chip time was 2:47 at the Women's half a week ago, up a bit from 2:42 at Disneyland in Sept.  Honestly- I'd hoped for more improvement by then.  If i'm completely honest, I was hoping to get this one in under 2:15...so maybe let's be just a little less than completely honest, as long as we're among friends.  If I came in under 2:30 in Vegas I'd be running an 11 1/2 minute mile, which is 5.24 mph.  Can she gain .24 mph in just under 3 weeks?? Stay tuned to find out!

But WHY?

I wondered this myself, before I started running.  WHY on earth do people drag themselves out there and try to go thirteen miles, or twenty-six miles??  I saw them out there, laboring sweatily down the street- it didn't look fun.  I heard friends talk about their latest race or fastest time and thought, "uhhhh, and?"  Then at some point battling through various issues and illnesses I woke up one day and just wanted to be *able* to do it.  I wanted a taste of that free, light feeling I saw one day as some college-age dude arrived and the park and just lit off down the path like he was weightless.  So I came up with a plan, walked out the front door and just resolved to love every minute of it. 

Plus, now I can run far enough to get medals.  Medals are super cool; where else outside second-grade soccer and Nobel achievement can you lay your hands on a *medal*?  I can't get enough of that.