The End of Summer

So here goes another post, possibly the last one in August. The weather is cooling off, we had about four days now in a row of sub-100 degrees (about 98-99). On Saturday we got a nice storm blow through so of course I went outside with the girls to check it out. There is nothing quite like when it is in the 90's and raining hard. We got some hail which is when Ethan came outside wearing only his shorts and his bicycle helmet. It was the funniest thing to see him standing in the street (which had turned into a river) in a helmet and shorts.

Of course he was the smart one because when I got pelted in the head with some hail I was wishing I was wearing my helmet.

With the kids back in school, cooler temps and what seems to be the start of another busy season at work that can only mean one thing, summer is over. It's sad really, I will miss it. I won't miss the 110 degree days and the 90 degree nights but it was a fairly nice summer. Sure I would have liked to take more vacation time and gone to far away places but that didn't happen. We did make it to the Grand Canyon which was a lot of fun. I made it out to San Francisco which was great. I can only hope next summer brings more family fun.

That is about it for this post. Obviously some other things happened this week but nothing to write about on this forum. Some things are best left to my dear diary.

Just an update

For those of you who keep up on my blog (if anyone does) you may have noticed I have not written lately. Yes, I am still alive. I have been able to build back up to running a few miles although not very fast. I am really unsure about my running future. I just have not felt real motivated lately to run. I guess it's because I have too much weighing me down right now.

Often times I try to compare real life experiences to life in general. Parables I guess you could call it. I don't know but let me explain. Years ago when I was much younger and living in Colorado, a friend of mine and I would go hiking in the summer. We would hike 14K foot mountains which are a plenty in the Rocky Mountain State. Hiking a mountain that is over 14,000 ft is not an easy task. Often times the trail was long and once you reach tree-line the air becomes very thin and breathing is not as easy as I would like. We often had to deal with snow (in the summertime) and lighting. It was not easy but the views were often amazing and there is nothing quite like standing on the summit of a mountain and looking at nothing but other mountains all around.

I often thought life was a similar journey. Difficult and trying but filled with great views and feelings of triumph when standing on top of the mountain. There was more than just reaching the top of the mountain in our hikes. Reaching the top only meant we were half way there. We also had to come back down the mountain. Coming down the mountain was usually a quicker trip, the air became more breatheable and the views again were nice. However, coming down was not easy. When we got back down it was back to the car, a drive home and back to the grind of daily life.

Perhaps that is where the real parallel lies. After every high point comes the journey back down. Back to reality, back to the grind and the daily struggle. Perhaps all we really have in this life is a few moments to stand on the peak, look over the valleys, and then head back down into it.

The question becomes then is the climb really worth it? Is all the pain and struggle worth a few moments of total peace and happiness. Maybe knowing what it feels like to be so high makes being so low worse. Perhaps it would be better to just sit on the sideline of life.

I hope my ramblings here haven't depressed anyone. It's just been a bad couple of weeks, for many reasons. I want to gear up and climb another mountain (so to speak) but I don't really know how many more steps I can take.

Rest and Recovery Continues...

Well, I missed my blog update last week but not too much happened anyways. I have been sidelined with a leg injury so I haven't been able to run. Trust me, I tried. According to my Dr. (WebMD) I have a level 1 micro tear in my calf muscle. I confirmed this opinion with several other doctors (all online of course). Really it just means I pulled a muscle in my calf and I need to rest it a couple of weeks. I don't know if it was a direct result of the 11 miles I ran before it started to hurt, or the 2.1 miles I ran after it started to hurt, but I am sure that the hills had something to do with it. Nevertheless, I am feeling a bit better and should be able to run my 5K race on Sunday. Hopefully, I can get a run or two in before that.

Unlike some of my fellow Half-Marathon (and perhaps some of the full marathon) runners in San Francisco, I did not run with a camera or a phone, or phone that is also a camera. I didn't run with an Apple I-anything and so I did not take pictures along the course. I was able to manage to find one photo taken of me by the official race photographer which I will include below.

I also used a few of my favorite photos that were snapped by said fellow runners or local newspaper professionals.

Here we are running from the start line. It was a really cool place to start (literally and figuratively) close to the Bay Bridge.

At the start we made our way down Embarcadero past the Ferry Terminal.

After a while we made it across the Golden Gate Bridge. As we approached the North side of the bridge, it was cold enough to see your breath. So that's not all fog, it's about 20,000 runners panting to make it.

Finally, here is a picture of me, to prove that I was actually there. It is not a very good picture however. This picture was taken while we were running in Golden Gate Park which means it was taken around mile 13. I would have preferred a picture of me within the first five miles or so because I am sure I looked a little better than this. The first big hill was around mile 5 up to the bridge which wasn't all that bad. Then around mile 9 we hit nothing but up hill and down hill for the rest of the race. So if you think I look like I am about to die in this picture, you are right.

I did also get a finishers medal which I will probably post a picture of on FB one of these days. I am also suppose to get a finishers certificate but I am not sure when that will be available. It was an awesome experience I am looking forward to going out again next year to do it again. I am still in the debate of if I want to try a full marathon, but I am definitely going to be doing some more half-marathons. First I just need to recover.