I Ran My First Half Marathon Today

Here I am grinning ear to ear, perched above the town of Pacifica, after running my first half marathon this morning.

I didn't actually wake up this morning intending to run a half marathon. I had switched my registration from the 21k to the 9k after hearing from a number of runners that the Pacifica PC trail run is a very difficult course. But on the car ride to the race, the other runners that I was carpooling with strong-armed me into running the 21k. So I set out to do my first half marathon. (Note to self: Be careful who you carpool with. But in all seriousness, despite being much better runners than me the other three were very supportive, coaching me and making me drink water and eat even though I didn't feel like it).

It was indeed a very challenging course. The first 6 k was completely uphill, with the 1700 foot ascent culminating at the top of North Peak. Then it was back downhill on the same treacherously rocky trail. I did twist my ankle at the bottom, but it wasn't too bad and I kept going. Thinking I had the hard part of the run behind me, I set out on what I thought would be a short 9k loop after eating some oranges and PB&J squares at the aid station. The next part of the race was killer. We did a short uphill then a really long uphill that was just endless switchbacks, until we reached an elevation of 850 ft (making the total elevation for this run over 2500 ft!). The downhill back to the finish was shorter, but by that point even it seemed long to me.

I now have a better feeling for the exhaustion long distance runners experience. And it was a humbling experience, as I placed 25th in my age group and in the bottom half of the 21k finishers overall.

Still, another beautiful day spent outside on beautiful trails is a blessing. So far I've done an 8k at Rodeo Beach, a 5 mile Resolution Run on New Year's day in Los Gatos, a 16k at Angel Island and today the 21k at Pacifica. Next up is the San Francisco half marathon Feb 1 which promises to be much flatter!

A Picture Perfect Pacific Coast Trail Run On Angel Island

Above: I'm jubilant that I reached the summit on Angel Island without walking at all-- though I did jog in place for a few photo opportunities.

This morning I ran a 16 kilometer Pacific Coast trail run on Angel Island. It was what my Aunt K would call a "sparkling day."

The views were absolutely stunning-- all three bridges and San Francisco.

Below are some views of Tiburon in the foreground and Mill valley in the background:



And here is a view of Alcatraz in the foreground with San Francisco in the background, and below a photo of me with my BerekelyRunningPartner and the Golden Gate bridge behind us:



And then some more of me-- me in the morning, on the ferry in Tiburon, leaving for Angel Island. Me on the run with Tiburon and Mill valley behind me. Me and BerkeleyRunningPartner stretching out after the run:




This is one of those days when I feel lucky to be alive and immensely grateful to be healthy and able to enjoy running. The views were heartbreakingly beautiful and the good cheer of the other runners bouyed my spirits when I was tired. I'm grateful to have all these photos to remember them by.

I Can Now Say I Have Tried Lesbian Speed Dating

I imagine some of you have been waiting with bated breath to hear about my lesbian speed dating experience. So here goes...

The event was held at a Mexican restaurant/club/lounge near the SF MOMA. It was a small place, there were 16 women participating. Mostly in their twenties, one or two older (that's including me folks, I am 30 after all). I was pleased to see that not everyone was white, there was a good mix, at least one third of the women there were African-American. Range in education from community college to graduate school. Dressed from casual (jeans and a sweatshirt) to dressy (me and a few others). Some who grew up in the Bay area, others from the East coast or the South.

I don't want to write anything personal about any of the people I met just out of respect for their privacy on the small world of the internet. I found most people very easy to talk to (for all of three minutes before the bell rang). Typical questions were:

• What kinds of things do you like to do for fun? (Me: Run, read, swim)
• What kind of work do you do? (Me: Veterinary nurse in an emergency room. I don't know if it is how I said this or if people are actually impressed but lots of people reacted with strong admiration. I realized that out of the group I was one of the people who was most passionate about her job. I feel so lucky to have a job that I love. The only other people I spoke to who loved their jobs were the teachers-- there was more than one PE teacher there.)
• Where did you grow up?
• Where did you go to school?
• Do you live alone? Who do you live with?
• What type of women are you attracted to? (Which inevitably led into a discussion of butch/femme and how that didn't describe anyone perfectly. The most interesting tidbit I picked up was from a woman who had just come back from spending six months in Beijing, where apparently the scene is still heavily into butch/femme and butch women are called "T's" and femme woman are called "P's." I was pleasantly surprised that most of the women at the event were on the femme side of the spectrum, though as always I was one of the most feminine of the whole bunch)

I'm not dying to date, I'm happy single and I'm super busy so I don't even know when I would have time to date, but I checked off my secret scorecard showing interest in a few women that I liked so if they checked me off on their scorecards then I will get an email informing me of a match and I can follow it up from there. I did have one woman ask me for my number outright and I gave it to her, though I think she is a bit more into the bar scene than me, and I gave my email to one other woman who was fun to talk to and interested in meeting more gay women in the South bay as well as a potential running partner.

I went into it viewing it as a combination of an adventure and an anthropological investigation of speed dating among lesbians. Also, I view any group setting as good practice at improving my social skills.

I came out of it having gotten a boost in confidence. I did just fine talking to a whole bunch of strangers, I enjoyed it and didn't feel awkward or shy, just happy and curious to meet new people. It helped that I got some positive attention and feedback too. What I'm hoping for is not so much a relationship, but a new friend or two, and I think that there is a good chance that will happen.

After the speed dating, I stopped by work and posed for photos with Muscles and LaMexicana. Muscles then obligingly took some very nice candid photos of me. He is a talented photographer. In case you are wondering, the dog in the photo is LaMexicana's pooch, previously featured on this blog, Frida (Not Kahlo).

Come Back, My Readers, I'll Try Anew

So I've gotten several concerned emails about my lack of posts. I am alive and well, thank you :)
I'm still busy settling into my new place. And though I have been writing (those of you who know me well know that writing is a bit of a compulsion for me), it has been too private to post publicly.

Now that I am so far behind a synopsis of the past few weeks seems overwhelming. I may tackle that when I am more rested and have more time. Today I will just give you a brief history of my day.

I woke up early and sat through four hours of calculus class. It was not the most interesting part of my day because I have already had calclulus with a fabulous teacher, back in high school (and why am I taking it again? long story!). Then I went to the saltwater pool in Menlo Park (a gem of a find) and swam 160 plus laps in the unheated, outdoor pool (water temp in the high '60s, brisk but pleasantly cool and not frigid).

Though I have been rather dismayed by the amount of stuff I have accumulated in the last four months that I am forced to confront in the process of moving, I have continued to purchase things. Tidbits: I finally caved and bought a hat, since I didn't own one, something my running partner in Berkeley found hard to believe (we'll call her LongDistanceRunnerMom). I also bought my first purse (in a thrift store for $4).

Weirdest thing that I moved: a 12 pound butternut squash that was in my closet that I plan to turn into soup sometime this week. I got it at a bargain at closing at the farmers' market awhile back.

I want to publicly thank Sunshine for her help with my move. She is a good friend. It is the first move I have done in years where I had someone to help me. Also another kind nurse (who I think of as StableSaneNurse) helped me move my bed.

I will try to keep up with this a bit more, though forgive me, the last two weeks there have only been two nights where I have gotten more than four hours of sleep.

One last update: I got on the list for the second lesbian speed dating event in San Francisco this Thursday. Wish me luck!

Happy Holidays

Above: Me with RunningRoommate and her incredibly athletic and sweet border collie mix.

Joy and peace to the world. I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas, and I don't now, but I enjoy all the feelings of goodwill and holiday cheer that people have at this time of year. And yesterday I got to participate in a really neat tradition in the Quicksilver hills behind where I live-- the Quicksilver running club and other running clubs, including Women on the Run (who I joined), run up to the peak in Quicksilver park (about a four and a half mile run all uphill) and everyone brings a biodegradable Christmas ornament which they then hang at the peak. It was cold and raining on and off, so we only sang two Christmas carols and took a few photos, then ran back down to do a potluck breakfast at the bottom. The potluck had hot blueberry soup (I'd never had that before, it's a specialty from Sweden apparently, but it was delicious and warmed me right up) and all kinds of other goodies. I also sampled some Black Muscat, a desert wine that was made by the Jesuit priests who lived in the Quicksilver/Almaden hills decades ago. The label is no longer available (and hasn't been for over thirty years-- it says since 1888 on it though), so that was a very fitting treat (they also apparently had a wine named Angelica that was even better according to one of the old timers there).

My contribution to the ornaments were a variety of flour and salt cookie cut-outs that I made with one of the women from the running club the night before. We added dried beans, sprinkles and food coloring to make them pretty. Check out the blue foot and the cat just to the right of it!

I know I've been delinquent in blog posting, I'm in the process of moving in with RunningRoommate so life is busy, plus I'm working every single holiday so it might be a little while but I'll post a synopsis of the last few weeks and a whole bunch of photos when I catch up.

Next Wednesday December 17th

Next Wednesday will be the first night in two weeks that I am not either studying for or taking an exam. To celebrate I can pick from the following social gatherings occurring that night:

1. Lesbian speed dating event in San Francisco
2. Holiday party at a private house on the peninsula by Peninsula Women's Group (ie lesbians)
3. A dinner at Blowfish at Santana row in San Jose with co-workers including several very sweet and funny gay men, Slow Feet and MonkeyButt.

And I will be at.... yes, you guessed correctly if you guessed an Orthodox Jewish wedding. Actually I am very much looking forward to it but do somewhat regret that it coincides with the other three events.

And on Thursday Dec 18th I had to choose between a lesbian party thrown by Curves in San Francisco and my company's holiday party. I chose the emergency hospital holiday party, which consists of a dinner followed by a night of improv at a comedy club in downtown San Jose.

That makes two nights in a row that I chose to not participate in the events of the queer community. Sigh. I chose my friends instead. And they happen to be straight.

C'est la vie.

My Niece's Name is Talia

Which means gentle dew drops from heaven in Hebrew. And it also has a Greek origin, meaning flowering or blossoming or blossoming flower.

And Talia also already has a Chinese nickname, Yua, a derivative of happiness.

I'm thrilled my sister and her husband picked such a beautiful name.

I'm An Aunt!

My little sister had her baby yesterday. Amazing! Above is my sister with her newborn daughter. Below is my niece :)

Let The Fun And Games Begin

Two weeks from today I will be free. Done with finals. I can barely wait.

In the meantime, I'm owned by my books.

However, that does not mean I will not have some fun. I'm going to see the South bay opening of MILK on Friday and have some runs planned over the weekend, the standing date with the farmer's market on Sunday (last week I checked out Campbell's farmer's market and got some sage and cheddar goat cheese for when I finish my current slab of garlic goat cheese).

I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. Four days of back to back shifts at the emergency clinic kicked my butt over Thanksgiving so I actually returned to school more tired than when I left. Nice.

Above is a photo of me with QuietSuperstar nurse at Dr Cool's party. After this photo was taken I then went straight to my graveyard shift. November was a long month...

Thrift Store Heaven: I'm A Used Bargain Hunter

There is a thrift store around the corner from Dr Cool's place that I stopped in one day after a run and found to be a treasure trove of bargains. It is the nicest thrift store that I have ever been in with the nicest staff.

Today and tomorrow they are having a 50% off sale which I have long anticipated. I got lots of kids' clothes for the many kids in my life thanks to my friends and family suddenly all deciding to reproduce at once. It's nice. I enjoy buying kids' clothes immensely but have none of the other responsibilities associated with child rearing.

When I walked into the store at ten minutes to opening this morning (hey, the door was wide open and the sign said open so what if I was a few minutes early?) there was this beautiful suit on the to-be-re-hung-after-trying-on rack. 6 petite. My size exactly. Jones New York (brand name). Black with pink stripes. Brand spanking new. Tags still on. $300 at Macy's. $50 at the thrift store, but wait, with the half price sale make that $25. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. This might be the best deal yet that I have gotten at a thrift store. Heaven.

My mom is a born bargain hunter. The day after Thanksgiving shopping was as sacred growing up as a religious holiday. We began early and went all day. While my mom always shops on sale, and does a darn good job of it, I am a whole new generation of bargain hunter. I am a used bargain hunter. I restrict my shopping solely to thrift stores. And thrift store sales are the pinnacle of bargain hunting achievement for me.

In fact, now that this day's shopping is over, the next big event on my horizon is the half price sale coming up in mid-December at my favorite thrift store in Menlo Park. Luckily, that's not too far off.

Food, Food, Food: More Farmers' Market Goodies and Veggie Stew Take 2

Top to bottom:

1. third pot of veggie stew with beans (kidney, black and pinto, the only stuff in it from a can)
   
2. no, not a salad but stuff for the third pot of veggie stew (I use everything-- the stalks from the Swiss chard, etc, plus all the red stuff is hot peppers, I like it spicy!)
3. the potatoes and carrots have to cook extra long, second pot veggie stew
4. all three pots of veggie stew combined in a gigantic bowl (the first pot was cauliflower and onion)
5. last week the artichoke farmer offered me a 12 pound butternut squash for $5-- mmmm! and the week before that I treated myself to a trip to the Mountain View farmers' market, where I got a rare yellow cauliflower (apparently worth its weight in gold as it cost $4 for 2 pounds!). I already ate the cauliflower (cooked in the oven till tender) but I am planning not to bake all the butternut squash but instead try my hand at butternut squash soup, which I hear is quite forgiving and so doesn't sound too difficult
   

All Work And No Play Makes For A Long Day

Well, not exactly though it rhymes.

Yesterday I came home from school, took a nap, did some research, then went to Dr. Cool's party until midnight.

From midnight till 9 am I was at work doing my first solo graveyard shift.

Then I finished up my research (it couldn't wait as the project is a collaboration and my teammates need my part of it now, as in yesterday).

Now I think it is time for another nap.

More details and pictures soon.

My Anonymous Quiz And Other Tidbits From The Peanut Gallery

So today in genetics we got back our quizzes. The one on top of the pile was mine. It had my handwriting, my paper, but no name. Date-- yes. Quiz number and title-- yes. But no name, just a bunch of question marks in the professor's red ink where the name should have been. Oh yeah, and a perfect score.

I brought it up to the instructor and told her it was mine. She recognized the handwriting and believed me. She said she and her husband had been laughing at breakfast about how someone could get a perfect score and then forget their name. Yes, that's me. Space cadet.

In other news from school, FYI, shark kidneys are not retroperitoneal. They also don't look a think like mammalian kidneys. Oh yeah, and on that same shark dissection, I confused the ileum with the rectal gland. Oops again. Note to self-- shark intestines do not look like mammalian intestines either. Oh well.

How Do You Know When Something Interesting Is Going On Outside Your Window?

The cats are glued to the window! (Lindy on left with marbled coat, Simon on right with spots).

Ouch

My genetics exam this morning was not pretty. Not as bad as the notorious quantum exam of oh so many years ago whose questions I could not even decipher, but not pretty nonetheless (so glad you remember that exam too, Poc Poc). Lots of nit picky details, like 5-bromouracil is a base analog for thyamine, what base does it incorrectly pair to (not adenine, but is it guanine or cytosine?). There are too many mechanisms for mutations for me to memorize them all, and it is not a high priority since it is not clinically relevant information, like physiology.

I had been up since 5 am this morning, so when I got back from my exam I ran some errands and then took a nap since I knew I would be at work till late tonight. In fact, if I hadn't slept I would have gone 22 hours without sleeping at this point. Which has never been a problem for me in the past, but I'm trying to be more careful with that lately. Kind of crimps my style, but healthy is worth it.

Then it was off to zoology (thank goodness for that class, makes me feel smart), from there straight to work.

Work was strange. I was the most experienced technician on the shift, and the only licensed one (maybe not the most experienced in everything, but in anesthesia and lab yes). I'm still not used to that. It kind of freaks me out to have no one above me to go to except the doctors, and often they don't know nursing stuff like how to get the suction in surgery to work or how to get the capnograph to display readings... I think I like being a small fish in a big pond way better than being a big fish in a small pond. In fact, I'm sure of it.

And now, to see if I can somehow get myself to sleep all wired from this shift when I finished the fantastic lesbian romance novel I was reading at a snail's pace of one chapter a night. I don't think genetics reading will put me to sleep, it'll only get my brain going more. It's genetics or finances. Time to make a trip to the library!

My Holiday Wish List

EB and some of my other faraway friends have posted their holiday wish lists online. And I got my first query about holiday presents today. So here is mine:

What I'd Really, Really Like

• A quiet place to live
• A full-time job in veterinary emergency medicine, critical care or internal medicine
• An acceptance to one of my first choice schools (Cornell, Davis, Maryland or Wisconsin)

And if my family sends me money I will spend it on:

• Running shoes (another pair or two would be nice, new ones help prevent injuries)
• A two month pass to a local, outdoor saltwater pool

Anything else would be extraneous, superfluous and unnecessary-- I look really simple on paper, huh? Too bad my personality isn't as simple as my needs and wants or I'd really be a winner.

Birthday Girl

This is the Birthday Girl. She definitely seemed to be enjoying herself. She reminds me an awful lot of me as a kid. She is so precocious, so verbal and so very, very active. Below she is standing on the fence in her yard, which she just climbed over.
Birthday Girl was quite insistent on everyone gathering around to watch The Amazing Trick, which consisted of hanging upside down and then dropping off of her jungle gym. I had many similar amazing tricks as a kid (including bracing against the doorway until I was perched at the top of the doorway, where I would stay as long as possible, liking being high up). Good thinking whoever's decision it was for Birthday Girl to wear shorts underneath her dress!


Finally, here is Birthday Girl bouncing on her trampoline:

And I can't help but show off the gifts I got her: a plush white vest with silver tinsel woven into it (Birthday Girl loves sparkles and soft things) and also a purple dress whose upper half is made of velvet. I think she liked the vest a lot, judging by the fact that she put it on immediately.


The vest was a bit expensive at $3, but the dress was only $1. I felt free to announce this fact as Birthday Girl's mom, Self-Sustainable Nurse, is one of the most thrifty people I have ever met. She considers $1 a lot for a piece of clothing, and like me, only shops at thrift stores. In fact, prior to the party I stopped by San Martin's community store to check out Self-Sustainable Nurse's all-time favorite thrift store (how could one pass up something so highly recommended?):

Downtown San Martin, like San Juan Bautista and the other towns around Gilroy and Monterey, makes me feel like I've stepped onto the set of a film from the Wild West.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Thanks for the invitation, Birthday Girl!

Good News For Lindy

Update on Lindy. Her blood pressure was in the normal range at the internist's. Thank goodness. Also her retina looks normal-- no blood pooling, no signs of it being detached. Please, please let me catch hypertension in her if it develops before she goes blind, suffers brain damage or further kidney damage. Please. I would feel terrible if I didn't. But I might never have to worry about it, only about 20% of cats in renal failure develop hypertension-- a compensatory mechanism gone awry due to changes in pressure in the glomerulus having to do with vasoconstriction of the afferent/efferent arteriole (I still don't totally get this mechanism even after bugging the internist about it-- how does that stimulate renin production and activate the renin-angiotensin pathway if the carotid sinus and baroreceptor in the aortic arch aren't sensing low BP????)

She had a slight heart murmur at the internists (graded I out of IV) but this was probably due to her HR of 240! (Think she was releasing some norepinephrine that caused the alpha 1 adrenergic receptors on the sinoatrial nodal cells to increase her HR? See what stress can do to an animal?) Ohm's law of hydrodynamics no longer holds above a certain threshold and then instead of laminar flow you get turbulence (thank you Osborne Reynolds for determining this threshold, may I never need to calculate it). Hence the murmur. At least my best guess.

Of most concern, her packed cell volume dropped 5% in the past three months. This may indicate her kidneys are decreasing their production of erythropoietin, which may mean that I need to put her on synthetic EPO at some point. This is not without any risk, as it can sometimes stimulate antibody production in cats and then they lose the capability to produce RBCs entirely, the kiss of death (unless you are crazy enough to do continual blood transfusions). But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

For now it is good news for my girl and for that I am very, very grateful.

Friday: The Good and The Bad

The best thing about it being Friday: I get to see my Friday night crew at work, though admittedly dwindling-- now just me, Muscles and Self-Sustainable Nurse. Thank goodness for them, they keep me sane by making me laugh the entire shift.

The other good thing about Friday: Only two days till the farmers' market, which is the other highlight of my weekend.

The bad thing about this Friday: I have a genetics exam Monday that I am fairly unprepared for and I don't plan to spend much time inside on a beautiful weekend like this. Grades, shmrades. I'm aching for some sunshine and long runs. Plus I've got Self-Sustainable Nurse Jr's birthday party to attend tomorrow. Apparently I will be manning the hot glue gun to prevent the kids from burning themselves. There will be six 4 year olds. I don't know any other details. Like what they will be doing with the hot glue gun????? Hey, in my book any excuse to spend time on a South county ranch is a good one...

Maybe getting outside will make me feel less blah. I was feeling so happy earlier in the week thanks to an awesome experience at work. Now that feeling is gone. Hence the lack of recent blog posts.

The question of the moment-- what to eat for lunch? I have an artichoke steaming, Swiss chard sauteeing, and I just munched on some fresh greens with lots of arugla (yay spicy greens). I think I will make my special yellow cauliflower later after my run. And there is also a yam to finish off, as well as my winter squash from earlier. Love those farmers' markets. Yum. And I'll top it off with a bit of sturgeon or goat's cheese. (Hmm... I wonder what goodies Self-Sustainable Nurse will bring in to work tonight-- I can't wait till spring so I can have fresh goat's milk again and goat milk tapioca pudding... in the meantime I think it is mainly eggs...)

A Trip To The Vet's

Saturday I took my cats to work to re-check Lindy's bloodwork before her appointment with the internist on Tuesday morning. Simon was just keeping her company-- as you will see below they provide each other with a lot of comfort in stressful situations. Below I am checking Lindy's blood pressure. I was quite distraught to find she has become hypertensive, but I am smiling because of something funny Dr. Cool was saying as he snapped the shot.



They like to huddle together in the cage. Pretty darn cute. Between Lindy's high blood pressure and their obvious stress at being in the hospital, I jumped at the chance to go home early when we were slow, and so I got them out of there as fast as possible.

Who Needs Supermarkets When You Have Farmers' Markets Like This?