Costa Rica baby

In 25 hrs I will be boarding a plane to go to Costa Rica for a family vacation. Along in our travels will be mom, step daddy, my sis-in laws family (mom, dad, sister). I usually do not enjoy a "family" vacation but this time it is ok because we are all going to see my brother and sister in-law. We saw them for a few days at Christmas before they moved over there, but this time I get to spend a solid week hanging out with them. Yippy!

Last week was a very long week. My girl Pamela is not doing well, her cancer has become so aggressive and doctors can not do anything for her. She is at MD Anderson now and will probably not get to come home. We were hoping that she would qualify for a clinical trial, but infection has set in so at this time she is not a candidate. Doctors are treating her for pain and trying to keep her comfortable. I saw her and visited over the weekend and she was in pain but she was in good spirits- even a little bit bossy. I am praying she is still here when I come back from my vacation, so I can see her at least once again. I will miss her very much and will always cherish the 12yrs of friendship and memories. God bless the Amador and Clayton family.

Workout Update
Wed.- ran for 30 mins, core 30 min, swam 30 mins
Thur.- ran 40 mins on treadmill
Fri.- Day off
Sat.- 1 hour spin class
Sun.- 7.62 miles in heat/humidity

Texas Heat Sux

It is crazy how in the "cooler" months I so easily forget how hot it gets in the summer. We are dealing with 95+ degree weather and humidity on top of that. I went out to the mail box yesterday when I got home from work (the box is in my yard) and was drenched in sweat by the time I got back into the house. This morning at 6:15 it was already 80 degrees with a high of 101 predicted for today. I truly enjoy my cross-training days because they are done in-doors.

Since last Thursday I have been working out very consistently, I am trying to get used to it since I will be in Costa Rica next Tuesday with no gym. I do however have the beautiful sand and the ocean to use for my workouts, I just have to do it. For some reason it is difficult for me to workout while on vacation, not sure why.

I opted to take the day off on Thursday because I had worked out 6 days in a row.

Friday- spin + 20 mins on treadmill
Saturday- spin
Sunday- 6 miles
Monday- spin
Tuesday-track workout 8 x 400's w/2 min recovery. 2:12, 2:07, 2:09, 2:07, 2:09, 2:10, 2:04 and 1:44.

Tonight I have 30 min run+ core+ 30 min swim.

Nothing.. Boring

I have absolutly nothing exciting to blog about except that I have been working out like crazy.

Monday- 30 mins of upper body work out, 1hr spin
Tuesday- Track work out 400/800/1200/1200/800/400 at 9:15 avg pace (hot & humid)
Wednesday- 1 hr Cardio Strength class, 30 min swim class

Hope to see you on the roads

Tire Drama

Thursday I left work for my dentist appt and did not get far. I had a tire that separated at the tread. It was the weirdest thing, the tire was still round and still had air in it but no tread. I was very luck y that a nice man gave me a toe to Discount Tire for very cheap. After more drama with crossed lung nuts, I had not one but two shiny new tires on the Xterra. But that's not all, the car is still in the shop because the tread separation decided to take out some wire along with some of the plastic on my car. So I am having some electrical difficulties. Hopefully Ms Reliable will be back on the road asap. With all of this drama I ended up missing my Thursday night waterway 5 miler.

Friday night I had a vino/pedi night with Viv and a couple girls from the gym. After our pedi's we went and ate dinner and had a couple margarita's.

Saturday spin class and then to Logan's golf tournament. I love to watch my hubby play golf, he is my Tiger Woods and then some. He played great had lots of great drives, his short game was a little off, but he shot an 81. Saturday evening I spent the night with my best gal Pamela at the hospital,

Sunday I just barely made it from the hospital to see Logan finish the back nine of the final day of his golf tourny, better puts and he finished with at 75. After a long hot shower I was in bed and asleep in no time. So we will just say I gave myself a little bit of off time for the weekend.

A Pool Workout

Last night was my first swim class with Jordan. Jordan is a young 16 yr old that has been swimming "for 10yrs". I really did not think about the fact that a kid would be teaching me form technique in the pool, I am not sure why I didn't think of this but I did not. We started out with a floating device and our heads in the water and kicking. I was thinking to myself I did not sign up for the novice class why are we spending time on this? I am guessing it was a good thing because the guy in the class with me in a VERY novice swimmer. After we did a few drills so she could see where we were in our swimming we swam laps showing her our back stoke and freestyle. After swimming about 200 yards I realized that swimming is a lot of work, something I forgotten since I was a child. At the end of class Jordan informed us that she was going to be out for two weeks and her friend "Katie" would be our swim teacher, but it would be ok because Katie is really good with adults. I nearly pee'd the pool, are you kidding me?

30 mins in the pool- drills & 200yrds out of breath. But I hear this gets better.

Track

Last night I had my track workout. 3 X 1 mile 200-300 recovery. 1.25 mile warm up and .5 walking cool down. The heat and humidity were a "B" the workout was great. I ran with Dee because the last few weeks I have found she and I are really close in pace. 1st mile we went out to fast 9:17, 2nd lap was perfect 9:30 third lap was a little more difficult and hrt was high I am guessing because of the heat so we slowed down to 9:47. I am happy with it.

I have been on the look out for a good used road bike to start playing around on, I have been watching craigslist and I tell you it is hard to find a small bike at a good price. Yesterday I found 2 so I am trying to negotiate something, so we will see how it goes.

Tonight I am starting a swim class.

Just wanted to Share

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated with Pamela a very special birthday for Ciara and Catia. These precious babies turned 1 on May 22nd. Caleb is 3 years old. My beautiful friend is battling cancer and has been since just after hers girls were born. Things are not going as well as we would like in her treatment. God Bless this family.



Monday night workout- Bicepts, tricepts,shoulders and chest. 1 hour spin class.

Zapps Voodoo Gumbo Chips

If you have not tried these DO IT!! I finally found these in HEB. I have been hearing Viv talk about these for several weeks and now I know why. I nearly ate the whole bag in one sitting. I will defiantly finish this bag with my sandwich for lunch today.

Long Weekend

Wednesday I decided that I needed a rest day, so Logan and I went to eat dinner. On Thursday I meet Russell at the waterway and we ran our 5.1 mile loop of East Shores and the waterway. Since Friday was my furlough day I had a 3 day weekend. Friday morning I got up and headed to the gym for a cycling class I met Viv up there for 30 mins of core before the spin class. After my class I met with Robin and Kathleen for lunch. After lunch I ran errands for instance we had no groceries in the house so I stopped at the store. Then I went to Bike Lane and got me some shoes. When I was done with errands I went home and started laundry. Saturday back to the gym in the morning for another spin class. After lunch mom, Logan and I went to see my grandmother. We went to pick her up and drove around downtown for a few hours and then took her to Double Dave's for pizza. Sunday morning 9.25 miles.

Saturday I received a call that Pamela had been admitted to the hospital for with sever abdominal pain. After speaking to her I learned that the new chemo they were trying is not working, she has developed a new tumor on her colan that is 15cm. Her doctor is consulting with other doctors to see if they have a new avenue to approach. As of now they are stopping chemo and hoping that maybe they can do surgery. Of coarse surgery is a scary option because it could be much worse. Her length of stay in the hospital is unknown at this time. They are using morphine to treat her for pain at this time. Her blood pressure has been very low and the doctors say the cancer is causing her body to start shutting down. Not to mention they also have found a blood clot they are treating with medication. She is trying to stay optimistic but is very sad for her family and what they are going through. I spent some time with her yesterday and she is trying to remain in good spirits. She has had lots of family/friends that came into town or that have stopped in at the hospital to see her. Please keep my friend and her family in your prayers- they need a miracle.

Work outs:
Thursday- 5.1 mile run
Friday- core and spin
Saturday- spin
Sunday- 9.25 mile run

Yes, Bacon Vodka- Umm No Thanks

Created by Black Rock Spirits after two years of testing, Bakon Vodka celebrates the renaissance of our favorite salty slab. With no tongue-in-cheek, they are “bringing home the bacon.”
The website says: “Our vodka is column-distilled using a single heating process that doesn’t ‘bruise’ the alcohol like the multiple heating cycles needed to make a typical pot-still vodka. No tinge or burn on the tongue, no obnoxious smoky or chemical flavors, just a clean refreshing potato vodka with delicious savory bacon flavor.”
But we’ll have to wait for it to arrive in our parts: It’s only available in the Pacific Northwest for now but NY Magazine says it’s heading east.

Ok so I am from Texas and I love bacon and I love vodka but seriously? Has anybody tried this shezt? I cannot imagine that this could be good in anyway. Glad it is not making it south soon.

As for my workouts:

Monday spin class 1 hour hella hard workout with Kelly. In fact I iced my calf's when I got home people.

Tuesday track workout. 1 mile warm up. 8X100 hard effort w/300 moderate effort @ 9.30 pace avg and 1 mile walking cool down.

This afternoon we are supposed to have some bad weather rolling into H-town, that will determine my w/o for 2-nite. And I am finally gettin my hair trimmed/did- that may depend on my w/o too, if my hair looks really pretty, don't want to mess that up.

Hope to see you on the roads.

Great Weekend

My weekend started when I got together with a few girlfriends for a couple glasses of wine Friday night. We talked mainly about running- go figure out without the men, great wine and we talk about running. Saturday morning I went to the gym for sin class, the line started forming outside the door at Pure before 8 am. These ladies are serious about their cycling, looks like I will need to be there bright and early every Saturday. Saturday afternoon I took my mountain bike to get a new tube and to see if it was worth sinking some $$ to get it road ready, and it is not so I plan to ride a few months and then get me a new shinny bike- I hope. Sunday am took the dogs on a short bike ride and then put me shoes on and went for a run. It was not my best run in a long while but I got 6.4 miles in. The weather had been great for the last few days with very low humidity. I wish it could stay this way but I am not banking on it.

Hope to see you on the raids.