Marathon Weekly Update

There is more to life than running

I don't even know where to start with this week. I guess I should get the running piece out of the way so I can talk about all of the other fabulous things I did. Tuesday morning I got to run outside with Allison for the first and probably the last time. We have been talking about it since I started my training program but just found the time before school let out. My calves were acting up after walking around Carnaval in flip-flops and then 4 hours of dancing in them after that, but we made it. I only ran 1 maintanence run this week because I was at a conference all week. My Saturday morning run was cake. It was only 10 miles and I wasn't too worried about it going in. We wound our way through Golden Gate Park and I kept my group on pace even though they didn't want to be. We finished in 2hrs 7min and everyone was relatively happy with it all, even though I pushed them.

I spent most of my week being social. I attended a conference in San Jose where I didn't learn much but networked a great deal and made new friends. I see us as the new generation of college counselors and admission folk and feel lucky to be a part of the group. Many of them live in the city, and it never hurts to know more people to spend time with in SF. We hung out at a social at San Jose State on Wednesday night and then prowled downtown San Jose on Thursday night in a DaVinci Code inspired pub crawl. We danced until the wee hours of the night and then I headed back to the dorm room where I was staying.

Yesterday felt like a marathon. After the 10 mile run one my fellow trainees asked me to hang out. I met Phil the first day of training and then later helped him and a bunch of boys pick out running clothes. Imagine a straight girl giving gay guys fashion advice - ok, it was more like practical knowledge about running apparel but I still thought it was funny. So, I picked Phil up and we went out for dim sum - nine plates of dumplings and other goodies later we headed to Safeway for cookies and drinks to take to the beach. We spent 2 hours hanging out at the beach on a gorgeous day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and just enough of a breeze to keep us comfortable. It was great people watching with kite flyers, people playing football and frisbee, and surfers. We decided to go for a drink and Phil thought it would be fun for us to go to a gay bar. I'm always up for anything so I agreed. Little did I know that the night would end five hours and four bars later. I finally pooped out at midnight and left Phil with some of his friends.

Today I am headed back to El Rio for more salsa dancing! I feel like I'm finally back to my old self. I'm meeting people, planning social situations, and having a blast. Watch out San Francisco!

posted by Heidi @ 3:17 PM