9 weeks - visit from grandma kay

hana turned 9 weeks on saturday, just in time for grandma kay's first visit. kay is jon's mom and she brought along anna. anna (age 10) loves kids and babies and she gives hana kisses every chance she gets. although this has been a short visit, it has been nice. we went to to the park today and have enjoyed a generally relaxing visit. hana had her first ride in the jogging stroller which se seem to throughly enjoy.

other highlights include my triumphant return to the trails. well, actually i returned to the trails 5 weeks ago. but yesterday, i participated in the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Sequoia Trail Run - my first postpardum event. i ran the 10k distance. the course was beautiful and it was really fun but really, REALLY hard. i must say that i am really proud of myself for doing it because it was not an easy course. there was about 1,000 feet of climbing in the course! i finished in 1 hour and 49 minutes and the time did NOT fly. my quads and glutes were screaming by mile 4. however, i felt this type of agony was neccessary to remind my legs (and the rest of my body for that matter) of what they used to do before they were growing and birthing a 9.5 lb baby! although i felt a little nauseus afterwards, they have fantastic aid stations, including hot food (!), so i ate a bowl of chili and a few payday candy bar pieces (the perfect post race candy bar because there's protein from the peanuts and sugar for inner peace, uh, i mean energy... not just for binging any more). that hit the spot and i started feeling just fine. although i was sore immediately following (pretty scary considering you usually don't feel anything for a day or two) i feel fine today. i was concerned i'd be crawling around the house today eating advil like candy. but, i'm ok. in fact, i even have a little swagger in my step today but because i'm feelin' pretty bad ass (as opposed to limping like i thought i would be from being sore). i feel pretty darn proud of myself thank you very much.

on a serious note, i am really grateful to sara and wendall from Pacific Coast Trail Runs. their slogan is "runs that aren't races in beautiful places". it takes the focus off the competetive nature of a race and more on the "serious fun" that can be had running and hiking trails. just before hana was born i decided to try and set a goal for myself to be able to do this course as my first post pardum event even if i had to walk the whole thing slowly (i did better than walk though, i ran quite a bit of it: all of the down hill and flatter parts and some of the climbs). but i never would have even thought to try and do something like this for myself if there weren't non-competetive, well-run events like this in beautiful places. it was a great, and effective motivator. so for anyone out there who is looking to explore some beautiful hiking trails (they say hikers are welcome which is great for walkers and those of us slow pokes who gradually plod along and call it "running"... all of whom i lovingly refer to as the "back- of-the-packers") in a fun and totally supportive atmosphere with ridiculously good aid stations, you should check it out and register. they usually have a shorter distance( 8 or 10k - around 5 or 6 miles), a medium distance (somewhere around 25k or about 15 miles) and an ultramarathon distance (anything over 26.2 miles but usually about 50K or about 31 miles). they do events all over california and in places that i've always wanted to explore and will hopefully get the chance to. this is also a good opportunity to explore trails if you don't have anyone to go hiking with, because when you're in these events, you're not alone. thanks sara and wendell, you ROCK!