Happy Christmas!!

Christmas hamsters are fun!

I have been a bit of a slacker this week. Missed two of my scheduled runs. Got a couple of early Christmas presents.. First is Lily.. She is 7 weeks old and is SO cute..

Then at our Chirstmas exchange last night I got runners mace!!! and Born To Run which I am excited to read!! :) 

I realized this week that I would like to get more focused with my running goals.. I don't know any of my PRs (except the one I did for the mile and the 5K this week! Yay!). I think it would be nice to record my PRs and then try to get faster. The longest I have ever run is a half marathon in January of 2009 - a race I did not train well enough for and ended up with a injury to my left hip that took over a year to recover from (it still gets all sore and stiff sometimes ~ I am going to be screwed when I am 80 ~ hopefully hip replacment technology will be better by then).  ;)

Although I am nervous about halves now, I would like to try and train for another half marathon this year and run at least 3 or 4 of them to get the half comfortable and squared away. If I can acomplish this in 2011.. then in 2012 I'd like work on training for the big one.. the 26.2. Eeek!! I know I need to set up some races for 2011 so that I have something to keep me going.. It is so much easier to let my runs go when nothing is coming in the near future. 

I am a little concerned however, that I am making my goals too easy or drawn out. I run about 25 to 30 miles a week right now and my long runs are around 9 or 10 miles (also I have been bumping my milage up by 10% every week) so maybe I am selling myself short.. Maybe I should push to run a 3 or 4 halves in the next 6 months and then work on training for the marathon and sign up the the actual marathon at the end of this next year. At the same time I want to take it slow to avoid injury. Ehh I dont know I will see how it goes. 

We are going to a cabin in the snow (Utah snow!!) next week. I am so happy Christmas is almost here!!! 7 More days!!

Candy Cane Joe Joe's!

Today was my long run. I felt pretty good throughout it but especially at the end. The 8th to the 9th mile I felt crazy good and ran super fast. I started on the Juanita Trail in Brea and then connected to Hiltscher Trail. 

 

I have never ran the Hiltscher Trail and so I was pleasantly surprised by how pretty the Hiltscher Trail was. A LOT of people were out and even horses!! I get excited by the small stuff so horses were a total treat. :) I really liked running around down in there it was next to a stream and with all the trees it was so cool and shady. It was hot today running in the sun!

Later I found out that a very nice person bought me these... 

 

I am not all that into chocolate (more of a vanilla person) but these are SO good. This is our first box of the season and I am very happy to report they taste just as amazing as last year.

6 miles, Coast 103.5, a 7 year old, and 59 wrapped presents

Today started with a nice 6 mile run which felt great! 

      

This particular part of the trail makes me want some runners mace.

My run was the most relaxing part of the day.. after that it was crazy. I spent 11 hours wrapping 59 presents for several different holiday parties. However, thank goodness I did not have to buy 59 gifts!!

(these are for my personal peeps)

52 of them, were from donors for a holiday party that I help coordinate every year for a number of former foster youth that I assist in mentoring through college. They are such great kids!! All their gifts were dropped off at my office and so I decided to use all that space to organize and wrap. However this turned into a fiasco.. because once the word got out I was in the process of wrapping gifts..the kids kept coming in to try to peek at their presents and I had to keep chasing them out. Don't they know it is finals week?! What are they doing in my office?? Go study!

  

 Not only that but during this time my labmate was listening to Coast 103.5 ~ Los Angeles's Christmas radio station ~ so for 8 of those 11 hours I did too. Now I don't mind Christmas music but I think the songs were on a loop. I heard the Brenda Lee version of Rockin Around the Christmas Tree at least 6 or 7 times today along with several others... they seriously have to have it on a loop.

The best part of my day was a cute little being who came along with her brother and mother to a research assessment. Since she was a surprise, there was no child care planned, so I got to hang out with her and watch The Princess and the Frog!! She was a great present wrapping assistant (she even counted all the presents out and then helped count down as each one got wrapped) and a delightful artist. Here is a picture she drew of me. I loved how she spelled my name… esabela. :)

(Izabela is my first name Kate is my middle.. just in case you were wondering...) 

In all, a very good day. :)

Upper Mountain to Sea Trail

Today was 5 miles on the upper portion of the Mountain to Sea trail in the Irvine/Newport Beach area.

I am so happy I live in California - it was beautiful today!
Tomorrow is my 2 miler.. I think I am going to try to make it a speed run up the first mile of Sycamore.. see how fast I can get there and back. :D

Rainy Day

Today was my "long" run day which is a pretty short 8 miler.. but I am cool with my little miles. I broke my second metatarsal off from my foot after dropping a piano on it in October and I am building back up.

It was SO hard to get going today. I was so tired I just wanted to sleep. When I finally started running it began to rain and my left hip started acting up - why do old injuries hurt more in rainy weather? - that is so weird. Eventually I ended up walking for most of it because of my hip. Then I got a little lost when I followed an animal trail thinking it was a human trail but I eventually found my way out. :)

Ended up only doing 7 miles... even though it sucked a little I got some pretty photographs.

    

 

Disneyland is Best at Christmas

After Back Bay we went to Disneyland. There were a TON of people. I am weird because I love it when it is packed like that. 

Ebby was such a clown when we were waiting in line for the Madderhorn. 

Me n' Ebby, messing around while we were waiting to go.

They did a great job decorating the castle this year..

and the tree!!

Back Bay Loop ~ Newport Beach Ca.

Yesterday, I ran a 5 mile out and back in Newport's Back Bay Loop. 

I have run the 

Mountains to Sea trail a couple times and have wanted to try the BBL for awhile. I didn't realize I could   park further inside so I parked on Eastbluff and ran down the hill. 

At first I didn't think I would like it all that much because it was along a road and I like a little more wilderness...

 

but when I got a little further down the hill it didn't matter because the scenery was so incredible! It is also a great little place to run flat trails and build speed!! I wanted to keep going but needed to save some miles for my long run this weekend..

Next time I am going to drive in before I start my run so I can see what I missed! 

Very cool place to check out!

Pretty Pretty

This morning I met my friend Ana and we went for a short little run through Sycamore Canyon, a wonderful little wilderness park that I am lucky enough to live right by!!

Half of it we ran on the street because it was so dark in the beginning!

Ana is a good friend from my lab ~ we are both getting our PhDs in developmental psychology at the moment. She just started running this year and loves it. 

The trail was a bit cold for us California girls at 5:30 this morning (36 degrees) but it was really beautiful!

Sweet Babies

Ebby and Marius are so hilarious! Trying to get a photograph of them is nigh impossible!

A twinkie?

Started off today with a twinkie o.O.
It is all uphill from here.

Exercise:
Easy 2 miles in beautiful Brea California
P90X Day 1: Chest and Back

Palos Verdes

Heidie and I ran 5.5 miles along the coast in Palos Verdes today. We bickered over which way to go but eventually we worked it out. The ocean was a bright blue and the crests were whiter than I remember. I really miss living near the ocean.

Heidie running along the coast in P.V.

Going to start P90X tomorrow.
Also need to create a timeline for my quals studies o.O