Our alarm went off at 5:50am today. It seemed easier than the last time we had to get up this early for a long run with West Coast Road Runners. We ate some breakfast, got our gear together, and drove down to Mission Bay High School for the start of our run today. The route was supposed to be a 10 mile loop around Mission Bay, give or take some switchbacks. I was nervous about running 10 miles, because it's been a while since I've run that long. I think ever since the remodeling started, I've only run one long run with WCRR. I had thought maybe I would just run eight miles, but the route was not an out and back route, more like a loop route, so there wasn't a good opportunity to turn around for an eight mile run. So I was nervous, but decided that I should probably run the 10 miles with the group so that I didn't get lost.
I saw Cathy and ran with her for a little while. She asked me how remodeling was going. She said she wondered if I would be back for the shorter distance runs, LOL. I didn't feel great in the first mile. I don't know if this is normal or not, but I don't really get into a good rhythm until after a couple of miles.
I was in the middle of the Catalina pack. This is going towards Crown Point.
A view of Sea World, with crew rowers in the foreground.
I started 20 minutes before Todd. He was going to try to run five miles today. Due to his injuries, he didn't really want to push himself. This is Todd's group, Marine, getting ready to start their run.
I felt very good until about seven miles, when the bottom of my feet started to rub against my shoes wrong. It felt like there was too much rubbing. I don't know if my socks got too thin or what. But I kept pushing and ran a steady pace. At some point, I missed a turnaround because there were no coaches telling us where the turn was, so a bunch of us ran longer than necessary. I wasn't sure how much longer than 10 miles I would end up running, so I decided to get to 10 miles and just walk the rest of the way. So at 10 miles, I stopped my Garmin watch and walked. And walked. And walked. Then I ran the rest of the way back to Mission Bay HS. It turns out it was an extra 1.25 miles. So I ended up going a total of 11.25 miles!
I am really happy with the fact that not only was I able to run 10+ miles today, but I kept a very steady pace and a good pace for me at that.
When I got back to Mission Bay HS, I was expecting Todd there waiting for me, because I ran an extra 3.5 miles than the eight miles that I had planned to run. Plus Todd was only supposed to run five miles today. No sign of Todd anywhere. I was just starting to worry, when I saw him and Yaiza approaching from the opposite direction. When I saw them they were walking, so I told them to pretend to run for the camera. :p
Turned out they ran the opposite direction from everyone else and ran their own route. AND... they ran 9.5 miles! I couldn't believe that Todd could run so long today! And me too! I guess we CAN, after all. I am pretty amazed that our bodies still could run that long after a few weeks of not running the long distances. My legs are a little bit sore, but nothing extraordinary.
After we got back home, we cleaned ourselves up and went to Souplantation for lunch. The salad and soup really hit the spot! Then we took naps in the afternoon, and relaxed.
Tonight, we went to my work friend Daryl's house for his housewarming party. We gave him and Julie a new BBQ, but this is actually his old one, since the new one was still in the box and not assembled yet.
Their dogs took an interest in me, because I had food on the table. :)
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A view of Sea World, with crew rowers in the foreground.
I started 20 minutes before Todd. He was going to try to run five miles today. Due to his injuries, he didn't really want to push himself. This is Todd's group, Marine, getting ready to start their run.
I felt very good until about seven miles, when the bottom of my feet started to rub against my shoes wrong. It felt like there was too much rubbing. I don't know if my socks got too thin or what. But I kept pushing and ran a steady pace. At some point, I missed a turnaround because there were no coaches telling us where the turn was, so a bunch of us ran longer than necessary. I wasn't sure how much longer than 10 miles I would end up running, so I decided to get to 10 miles and just walk the rest of the way. So at 10 miles, I stopped my Garmin watch and walked. And walked. And walked. Then I ran the rest of the way back to Mission Bay HS. It turns out it was an extra 1.25 miles. So I ended up going a total of 11.25 miles!
I am really happy with the fact that not only was I able to run 10+ miles today, but I kept a very steady pace and a good pace for me at that.
When I got back to Mission Bay HS, I was expecting Todd there waiting for me, because I ran an extra 3.5 miles than the eight miles that I had planned to run. Plus Todd was only supposed to run five miles today. No sign of Todd anywhere. I was just starting to worry, when I saw him and Yaiza approaching from the opposite direction. When I saw them they were walking, so I told them to pretend to run for the camera. :p
Turned out they ran the opposite direction from everyone else and ran their own route. AND... they ran 9.5 miles! I couldn't believe that Todd could run so long today! And me too! I guess we CAN, after all. I am pretty amazed that our bodies still could run that long after a few weeks of not running the long distances. My legs are a little bit sore, but nothing extraordinary.
After we got back home, we cleaned ourselves up and went to Souplantation for lunch. The salad and soup really hit the spot! Then we took naps in the afternoon, and relaxed.
Tonight, we went to my work friend Daryl's house for his housewarming party. We gave him and Julie a new BBQ, but this is actually his old one, since the new one was still in the box and not assembled yet.
Their dogs took an interest in me, because I had food on the table. :)
We shared a salad, and Todd had the Charming Panini.
We are just going to relax tonight and go to bed at a reasonable time so we can get up and run!
And because there hasn't been enough food pics on this blog lately, I'm also showing you my 
This was my very first time eating a musubi! This one is made of BBQ chicken, but usually musubis are made of grilled spam.
Ben the template guy came back early this morning to finish templating the kitchen counter. Very interesting how that's done.
Remember the Basic Grey "Offbeat" papers that 
Full credits 
Todd had drawn out the curved countertop shape on graph paper in the dimensions that he wanted. So Eric and Billy measured it out and used some ingenious MacGyver-esque method with screws and a long piece of wood and created the curve.
Then Billy cut it into shape for the templating.
Todd is super-excited about his curved peninsula countertop that he designed himself. I'm super-impressed with it! He didn't even use Photoshop! :p
Billy worked very hard today. He finished installing all the cabinets, and put crown molding and toe kicks in. It really looks fantastic!
AND he fixed the master bath cabinet so now it lines up perfectly.
Cabinet staining starts tomorrow and lasts for a few days. All of a sudden things are picking up speed after a lull!
The view of the whole thing:
Upon closer inspection of the upper cabinet in the bathroom, we discovered that it's not centered, so they're going to have to re-do that.
I like things to line up. Well, we both do. And we noticed that the center of the upper cabinet doesn't line up with the center of the lower cabinet. Umm... that is so not aesthetically pleasing. So then we measured it. And sure enough, one side had 38 inches, and the other side had 36 inches.
It's close to mid-month now and some of you may be wondering when the May Project 365 template will be available for download. I will not be making a new template until September, since the first letters of the next few months are the same as the templates that I've already made.
For "M"ay, please download or re-use the 
And Week 18 (credits 