Friday I had to take my SDO since I was installing my new router. Done.

Saturday I did 70 minutes of running out on the trail.

Sunday I did 65 minutes running on the hilly part of the trail. Sunday Buddy is on a camping trip so I am going it alone.

I did a lot of walking both days as well. I am trying to continue the battle of the food allergies. It takes a good week for the swelling to go down after a trigger starts it. I'm better now from the trigger last week but must start my inhalers.

Regular track run and cardio today.

Happy runs, All!  :::HUGS:::

Morning!  Sorry for being MIA, but the weekend was too busy and I was putting out too many fires.  Kitties got sick from the cleaning ladies' cleaners again, so we had to take care of them and buy some non-toxic cleaners and force them to use them or fire them.  Poor babies.  I ran 7 and 18 this weekend and both runs went great.  6 planned for tonight.

judyruns, start your inhalers!  I cannot imagine what you go through.  I am severely allergic to shellfish and dustmites but it's easier to evade shellfish (that dying if I eat them thing is a good incentive not to, right?) and not go through what you do.  Hope you can find a way to find your triggers and get better :-(

Lisa, ouch at the knee issue.  Hope you feel better.

Tessa, thinking of you.  Hope everything is OK.

Have a great day!

Judy - hope you get your allergies under controll!

Lisa - I swoosh your knee was healing faster....can't imagine the frustration.  I just heard about that play about Ernie, so I take it is worth seeing.   I love Mac city

demarias - Sounds like a busy weekend!

LCrunstar you got me thinking about a class this fall.  I am going to check something out....hope you hear something soon.

Rest day for yes yesterday, went out to the bay for a boat ride, DD's and ALY came and was a nice day.

Today out for a few miles, kind of a cut back week, as I have my last Tri of the season Saturday!

carol

Good Morning!  Had a blast at River Cities Tri in Shreveport this weekend.  Five of us went.  One of the gals has a full sized Tundra double cab that can haul five adults, five bikes, and all the gear.  Seven hour drive.  Swag bag wasn't as good as last year, but we got tote bag, tech shirt, socks, backpack and a fleece shirt.  The race is at a nice lake park near Bossier City.  Swim was 800 yards in muddy warm lake water.  Wave start--85 in my wave.  I got hammered the first 100 yards with women crawling over me, but then it thinned out and I was fine.  Passed several poor guys from previous waves who were not strong swimmers--felt sorry for them--not a fun position  Kayaks were near by in case they got into trouble.  Had a good swim, enjoyed the bike although one ****head passed me on the right and we nearly wrecked.  And I don't remember the course being that hilly.  I was out of  gas for the run and was a little lightheaded and tingly at the halfway point and walked 30 seconds or so.  Overall time was 1:30 faster than last year, and I was 10th out of 45.  One of my friends was first in our AG--she really rocks!  She was 1st last year too.

Long ride home.  I didn't get to bed till after 1100 last night, so I skipped group power early this morning.  I needed that extra hour of sleep.

I did knit 3/4 of a sock on the trip, so tonight I just have a few more rows and the toe is done and that pair can go in the drawer and wait till fall. 

Oh boy, this iPad has a life of it's own today

No run as yet this morning. I had to leave at 4:30 to take my sister to the airport and didn't want to get up even earlier than usual to run before then. I will go to the gym at lunchtime.

I am having a problem at work where everyone I talk to says 'someone should be able to do that" but nobody can actually do it, and I'm in a time crunch. I am frustrated.

DH is still in hospital, on IV antibiotics, creatinine level creeping back up (kidneys under stress), and they keep on throwing new meds at him. At least this time they are saying that when he leaves the hospital he will be going to rehab. It should be obvious to the discharge planner that discharging him directly to home was not the best route.

And Ed is sick. DD is taking her to the vet this morning. An adult cat should not weigh less than 5 pounds. She's a little scrap of fur and skin over bones and about all she's eating is chicken stock or licking gravy off wet food, she's not eating solids. She doesn't seem distressed or in pain, but I've learned not to trust animals in that regard.

After the downer post about today, I want to say also that Saturday's race was fantastic. I talked an enthusiastic RN and her dubious DH into driving up with us to Yosemite area to do one of the summer trail race series, all held in the Sierra National Forest and all directed by the same RD who does Shadow of the Giants. This race covers the prettiest portion of the preferred Shadow course. 18K. No awards, one water station, no medals, not many people, just a bunch of runners coming together to run the trail and enjoy the mountain scenery.

DS opted out, so it was just the 4 of us: RN, RNDH, DD, and me. We left at 3:15 AM and drove up to Oakhurst, got there (250 miles) in well under 4 hours, stopped at Safeway for coffee, donuts, and bathroom (not in that order!) and then drove 11 miles of forest road to get to the start. Introduced RN and RNDH to Baz, the RD (who says "hi" and "get your arse out here next year", Karen), pinned numbers on, slathered ourselves with sunscreen and bug spray, waited for the start. Ran down a logging road, did a mile loop around Nelder Grove which is a grove of redwoods and other tall trees with an interpretive trail and a creek running through it, then continued on the logging road. 5 miles of road, then 4 of trail, then 1 more of road to finish up the 18K. The logging road is pretty. The trail is tough but runnable most of the way. The trail at the top of the mountain is breathtaking. Giant sequoias, sugar pines, incense cedars, white pines. DD and I got our mountain fix in spades.

Yes, we were last again, took nearly 4 hours to cover the distance, but still, it was worth the drive. RN and RNDH came out to meet us, they had finished in 2 hours and 2:15 respectively (she stopped more to take pictures and so forth), and we trotted in with them still a little incredulous that such a trail exists so (relatively) close to our homes. RNDH is now trying to recruit their running club to come up for next year's races. He hadn't thought we could do the drive-run-drive in one day, but I assured him that it could be done, and afterwards he was saying that he had never realised trees get this big. Sequoiadendron giganteum is aptly named.

More people should do this one. Baz has a permit for 150 but rarely gets more than 40 for the summer trail run series. Shadow, with its 50K and 20K options, rarely tops 120. There is room for a few more runners.

Really quick hello to everyone.   I was browsing around the Shadow of the Giants website after reading Tessa's RR and lo and behold, our Tessa and DD got a special shout out in the RD's report:  http://www.bigbaztrailraces.com/13/STRS-18K-Aug03.htm  He says elsewhere that 2014 will be his last Shadow... Tessa, is that true?  Is Baz retiring?   Is next year my last chance to run this?