need a vacation from my problems

last weekend started off with a visit to dr. m. he happens to be the best doctor i've been to in a very very very long time. and he's hilarious so that's just an added bonus. so he took a look at wtf is wrong with my knees and declares that i have issues with my it band. great. just what i need two days before my race. yes, it is my fault that i didn't decide to head to see him earlier than two days before my race but at the point i find out that it's it band issues, of course i'm thinking he's conspiring with those in my age group to get me out of contention. oh wait....that's right..... i couldn't win my age group if i wanted to!!

regardless, i head off to swim with melissa since i didn't want to kill my legs but i wanted to get a workout in. we meet at the rp 24 hour. i did a 2 mile jog and a .5 mile warmup/.5 mile cool down for a total of 3 miles. we change and head to the pool when she FINALLY arrives. we hung out for a tiny bit in the hot tub as all the lanes were filled (half by stupid aqua joggers) and finally we get to jump into a lane. omg what a cesspool of nastiness that turned out to be!! our first clue should have been that the water was a wonderful beige color - NOT good!! our second clue should have been that none of the sluggish aqua joggers had their faces anywhere near the water - definitely odd and not good!! our third clue should have been the 1/2 gallon of juice that someone had on the side of the pool to rinse the nastiness out of his mouth between sets - terrible news!! regardless, we jumped in and were excited about our swim. we became less and less excited the further down our first 25 meters and were absolutely considering quitting after the first 100 meters cause it tasted just like it smelled - of sweat, urine, and ass. so, you poor unsuspecting fools out there, do NOT swim here unless you are planning on doing the backstroke and your face will not ever hit the water. cause i'm tellin you now - i think i have some sort of nastiness living in my sinuses after that experience! i warned the guy who just jumped into the lane next to us as we were exiting (yes, we got in more than the 100 meters). consider this your fair warning!!

we head to sushi post swim and enjoy a yummy yummy round of sushi and monkey ballz. it was really nice to catch up with her on life outside of work and relationships etc. we continued the conversations and party at her place where we eventually hung by a bonfire with her ex and some friends. she helped me work out a plan for what to send mr. christopher in iraq and we went to get some of the fixins post breakfast on saturday. it turned into a looney tunes version of attempting to bake cookies but we had fun. not kidding, we had to make a few trips to the store cause we kept forgetting items that were necessary for baking! i never ended up getting to bake anything with her for the boyz cause i had to head off to a swim lesson with luke.

i have to admit, i was nervous going to meet luke for my swim lesson cause i felt like a flailing cow when i swam. let me tell you folks, it was WELL worth going to see him cause even though my stroke now feels 100% awkward and different, it also feels effortless and i can see a light at the end of this water tunnel i had myself in for the longest time!! he helped pin point what i was doing and how i needed to alter what i was doing to stop fighting my way through the water. i'm actually excited about hitting the water again and am anticipating how well it's going to go the next 2 mile swim! i'm sure i'll end up spending more time wiht luke as this obsession called triathlon continues. i HIGHLY recommend that you think about it as well......

after the swim, it was off to the expo cause my dumb butt totally spaced on the fact that ummm hellOOOOOO you have to have a timing chip and race number to do the flippin AFC half! you'd think i was a rookie :0) i head off to grab katie b and meet bri at the expo. we hit up the expo with no problem and just a bit of time to spare and found that it actually was a GOOD expo! i ended up getting some of the new lemonade ultima which i am in LOVE with. we saw the stick people there and asked some stick questions. katie b even found the most AWESOME jewelry dude at the expo and i got a seventy point three bracelet that i absolutely adore. if you wanna check out his awesomeness hit up his site at Endorphin Warrior. we headed out to dinner with marty and paul a and a whole slew of other people. we hit up this place that was down off of harbor island that was directly off the water. the food was yummy but a tiny bit pricy for this new food budget i have to account for these days. marty was buggin for me to join him, katie b, chelsea, and luke for a movie but i HAD to get home to catch some zzzzz's before race day.

the alarm goes off retardedly early and i am not ready. i snooze for a bit longer and finally drag my butt out of bed around 4:40AM. i throw my stuff on, make a breakfast wrap of crunchy barney butter and a whole wheat tortilla, grab a mix of water and my new ultima and hit the road. i cruised along fine until the exit off the 163 for park to get to balboa. it was absoloutely stopped! i freaked for a little bit cause i didn't know if i'd be able to park and make it on a bus before the 6am cutoff. well, i ended up making it on the bus and was able to calm a bit before we hit the road. the run was fine and my legs felt ok. i saw bill and ginger along the way and was cruising at around 10 min miles when around 5.5 a lady yells at me that she needs water. i slow and stop and hand her the water when i notice that there's a girl down. she is not doing well. a dude on a bike calls for the paramedics on his cell while we're attempting to cool her down as much as possible. during the 15 minutes i was there, she passed out 3 times, went into hysterics on the phone with her friend, and had a small seizure. it was a bit freaky and there were times we had to check her pulse and breathing. the ambulance finally arrives and takes care of her. i can hear her telling them what day of the week it is through her oxygen mask as i begin the next leg of my half marathon.

i run along at my 10 min pace and feel a little less than ok. i run into penny and figure i might as well slow to her pace as i'm already going to hit my slowest race ever which i am beyond fine with. at this point, i have a new goal: get penny accross the line in under 2:45 to set a new PR for her!! we motivated each other and finally get to the finish line where i see katie b screaming her head off just before we cross that line. it was a good race and i got to see the bosses at the end cause one of them is a marathoner! i cool down and head off to get my triple crown which is where we run into katie b again eating her fill of barney butter :0) we re-group and figure out what we're going to do for breakfast and all meander off toward our cars.

here's where it gets interesting! katie b swears that her car is through the arches and just a ways in the westerly direction. wrong wrong wrong!! and i'm so tired that i'm fully believing her conviction when she tells me she HAS to be right! we hit 6th street which i had a sinking suspicion while we're walking is wrong and we finally check out a map. we are on the complete opposite side of the park from where we needed to be!! i am NOT walking - no, no, no, no!! we call bri and he gallantly comes to carry us off to our cars so i can eat cause at this point i'm ravenous. what a gentleman!!

the remainder of the afternoon was spent at the beach with ryan and sandra. after which katie b helped me search for gifts for mr. christopher's package that was sent yesterday to iraq. it was a seriously packed weekend!! i had an interesting call that night from kar and an even more bizarre im convo with t the next morning that added to the inspiration for the title. if you wish to know more, just ask as i'm exhausted and headed to the store soon.

p.s. if you don't know where the title of my post comes from......that's seriously just sad!

take care,
~danban