Birthday Blowout

First of all, there's the loot:

1 new pair of running tights (thanks, E.!)
1 box of fancy schmancy chocolates (thanks, L.!)
1 cool funny birthday date book (thanks, J.!)
1 10-mile run (thanks to NO ONE for that fun adventure)
1 4-hour-nap (thanks, NOD!)
1 dinner party with NOD, J, L., and J!
1 CakeLove birthday cake!
1 lecture at the National Cathedral
1 birthday lunch
1 yoga class (thanks, D!)
1 passion-fruit Starbucks tea (thanks, D!)
1 writing session
1 princess balloon and matching card (thanks NOD!)
1 new outfit (NOD again, although there is some discussion about the fact that my jeans have bling on them. So 1987. So Dallas.)
Not one, but TWO birthday phone calls, and a card, from my favorite Australian triathlete

whew. I'm exhausted.




(Apparently, somewhere on the Internets is a photo of my butt in the jeans, but I'm too much of a lady to reproduce it here. I have standards, people.)

Yoga kicked that bejeweled butt Sunday night. By the time Monday rolled around, I was ready for work, so I could stop with the partying already. I wisely took Monday off from working out.

Tuesday was spin class in the a.m., and then six hill repeats with my Speed Development Program. You know, when you say "six hill repeats" like that, it sure doesn't sound like much. It doesn't sound like, say, "I just ran up Mt. Kilimanjaro, gave birth, and then flew." But it should sound like that because that's how it felt, for pete's sake.

The hill was .3 of a mile long (I know, I checked with the car odometer). We split into very large groups again and about 30 of us went with one coach, who had us run around a parking lot for a very long time to get "warmed up" (it was an unseasonably 55F), and then jog down to the bottom of a bottomless pit. She then sent us back up the hill according to our 10K paces, slowest to fastest.

It was dark, there was no place to put our stuff, we were on a "sidewalk" in Gaithersburg, Md., where no people have ever actually been SEEN walking. So the sidewalk was full of muck and cracks and bumps and did I mention it was DARK? And that I was going to fall?? And where would we all be then, I ask you. I was in full-on bitch mode, and warned everyone around me. Plus? I had overdressed. And it was starting to rain.

Oy. Vey.

After repeat #1, I was ready to call it quits.

But! I soldiered on, as one does when one doesn't want to embarrass oneself in front of one's peers.

At the top of the hill, everyone waited until everyone was up, and that was a great strategy because a) you got to stuff your lungs down in your body again, and 2) we all cheered for everyone else as they came up.

I have NO IDEA how I made it back up that hill five more times, I just know that I would never have done it by myself. No how, no way.

Oh, and each time we made it down to the bottom, our coach gave us another little tip for running hills, so we had something to look forward to!

Short stride, feet close to ground.
Lean into the hill, from the hips.
Use your arms.
Exhale all the way if you feel you're hyperventilating.

And I had my own little tip: Pretend each trip up was my last! Sadly, I believe I said out loud to my running friend: "Last time up!" and she, sadly, believed me.

Oh well! Joke's on her! HA! (She wasn't laughing.)

Here's how I did, your moment of zen:
#1: 3:10
#2: 3:17
#3: 3:01
#4: 3:11
#5: 3:11
#6: 3:16

Good? Bad? I'm calling good because the feeling I had afterwards was the feeling I imagine I would have if I ran up Mt. Kilimanjaro, gave birth, and then flew.

Top that, I dare you.