Happy New Year!

(Kitty) What are you going to do? We're going to lie around all day watching TV and movies on DVD, eating and drinking too much, and generally being incredibly lazy. Then we're going to get up Friday morning and run again.

Because we have to.

Because that half marathon is only a month away!!! Eeek!!! LOL!!

Finally on Facebook and Twitter!

(Kitty) After a campaign by many of my friends to mock me until I finally joined - I am officially on Facebook and Twitter now! It's been more fun even on just the first day than I expected! But I can see that I was right about perhaps not getting enough work done with Facebook up! LOL!

Holiday Humor

Playing with your food or Merry Christmas?

Would love to see what this guy would do with the rest of the Christmas dinner!

Back In the Running

(Kitty) After three weeks of moping around a bit and giving in to being "too tired to run" in the morning (probably from going to bed after midnight for days on end just because we could!) -

WE ARE OFFICIALLY REGISTERED FOR A NEW HALF MARATHON!!

We're running the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, on Sunday, February 1 (SuperBowl Sunday). Woo-hooo! (I think.) It's kind of hard to get our excitement up again. Part of me is wondering what kind of cataclysmic event is going to happen to cancel this marathon! But... I'm sure we'll actually get to run it. And as our friend Dwight (who you may remember is trying to run a marathon, but also got cancelled out of the Pasadena one) said, "At least this one we know we can finish! It's on a flat beach, not hills!"

So John and I finally started running again on Saturday (with only 8 weeks to train before the race!). The good news is that I pushed myself and did a good time for the 1-mile and 3-mile marks. (I'm not going to tell you we only ran 3 miles. But hey! It's been three weeks since we ran at all!) Then today I did an even better 1-mile time, but missed a stoplight and was slower than my Saturday 3-mile time by 23 seconds.

The bad news is my heart feels like it's going to explode all over the inside of my chest! LOL! As John put it today, "When you're at the store today, will you pick me up a men's large stamina?"

LOL!! So - we'll keep you updated!! PLEASE leave some comments here and cheer us on!!

Did You See What We Saw?

John and Doug and I saw the awesome evening light show Sunday night, but we didn't realize at the time that it was an 'event.' It was just beautiful! I kept watching it even as we drove back into LA. Here are two cool pictures from http://www.news.com.au/ if you haven't seen them already.

Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon appeared so bright and so close together Sunday night that they appeared as a smiley face in the sky in the Southern Hemisphere (Melbourne, Australia, below),


and a frowning face in the Northern Hemisphere (Manhattan, New York, below).
Now I have the words and music from "Little Drummer Boy" in my head. Pretty appropriate. :)

Marathon? What Marathon?

Yes boys and girls, after SIX MONTHS of training and, I'd rather not say how many dollars, the Pasadena marathon was CANCELLED due to the smoke caused by the wildfires!
This heading was on Yahoo front page:
"Wildfires cause unhealthy air throughout Los Angeles"
Unhealthy Air? In L.A.? Isn't unhealthy air kind of an oxymoron when discussing air quality on the finer Los Angeles area? Oh well, they are now rushing to figure out when to re-schedule the event before 8,000 angry joggers/bicyclists storm the Pasadena council chambers to demand their money back. I'm sure it will all work out, but it was a real let down after Kitty and I worked pretty hard to get to that level . We'll keep everyone updated!

Of all the world changing events that have happened, I choose to post this...

24

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

On a side note: Barack Obama made history as the first African American to become President of the United States, and tonight is Guy Fawkes Night in England.

Vote or Don't Vote on November 4th!

Well, I know at least 5 friends look at our site, so I did my part.

What about you?

WASSSUP 2008

A lot has happened in 8 years. This ad is from the same director as the original. He went out and grabbed the same guys to shoot this spot. I hope you guys enjoy it.

We've SEEN This Spider!

When we lived in Australia, we took a trip up to The Great Barrier Reef when our friends Darrin and Stephanie came to visit us. After we went snorkeling, we spent a day in the rainforest on a tourist's tour - very cool. But one of the things all four of us will remember till our dying day is the HUGE Golden Orb Weaver spider we saw in the forest!

The spider itself was as big as John's hand with his fingers extended, and the web was about 4 feet by 5 feet or so, about 4 feet from the path we were walking. It was fascinating and not a little terrifying to see such a ginormous spider!

Then yesterday I saw this story on an Australian news site. This Golden Orb Weaver spider caught a BIRD in its web and is eating it!!! Now THAT is the kind of thing I'm trying not to think about as we get ready to move back! LOL!!

Comin' Round the Back Stretch

(Kitty) Only four weeks to go! Less, since this is Tuesday already! Four weeks left to try to get in better and better shape to make our 13.1 mile run! Woo-hoo! We're excited, but more than a little nervous. I haven't actually run 13 miles yet due to "life" interrupting our running schedule. John probably ran 13 the day I ran 11, but yesterday during our 4 mile run his knee started hurting. It's probably nothing, but all these little setbacks make us nervous about the final outcome.

Still, everything I've read says that running has as much to do with your mind as your body. John and I have "decided" we ARE going to finish the race, hills and all. (Eek! Did you hear us whimper when I said "hills?") We ARE going to finish. We ARE going to finish. We ARE...

BROTHERS BIKE RACE

I have been working some long hours lately, but thought I would post some pictures of my brother (since I don't have much of a life right now.) Here he is in a bike race where he placed 16th place out of 40 riders. Nice work bro.

Running Off Kilter

(Kitty) Some days are just harder to get through than others. John worked 13 hours on Saturday and was just too flipping exhausted to run Sunday morning. Then Monday morning he woke up sick and was in bed most of the day. Tuesday morning, today, he felt better and we did our 30-min brisk walk. Thank goodness! I think my body is actually [gasp] getting used to exercise! I felt much better after our walk today.

So - barring sickness or unforeseen disaster - we should be running again tomorrow, 6 miles down the beach and back. I think I'm actually looking forward to it! :)

Back in the Saddle - Not Quite in the Groove

(Kitty) So today we ran 6 miles, twice what we did two days ago. Yea! We've never taken water or energy gels with us for a 6 mile run. John can run it in an hour without me, and I run it in about 85 minutes. We figure it's not that long a time to wait for food and water.

BUT now that I'm learning more about how this all works, and how my body in particular works, I'm taking "food" and water for anything over 4 miles, because it takes me 51-54 minutes to run 4 miles, and I've found increased energy if I eat an energy gel at about an hour into the run. So today I filled up my four water bottles, strapped on my water belt, put some stuff in my belt that looks and tastes like gummy bears, and off we went.

Because I want to start working harder during the short runs to increase my strength and endurance, I tried to run a little faster today - and I did! I also ran uphill instead of my usual shuffling jog. Of course, at the top of the hills I had to walk for a minute to get my heart rate down! But even with all the extra walking I did in between bursts of speed, I still hit the 4 and 6 mile marks at one of my best times! I'm exhausted but happy!

John, of course, did awesome as always! Dwight and I pretend to hate him because he's such a natural athlete. He's going to do so well at the Half Marathon! By the way, if you want to see more about what we'll be doing, just visit the Pasadena Marathon web site. We'll update you again next week!

10 Days Without Running = EEK!

(Kitty) Due to a series of scheduling conflicts, followed by 5 days of vacation where running shoes were packed but never worn, it has been 10 days since our last run. It's kind of funny and sad - our last run was 11 miles! Today we made it 3! LOL!! Now we really only were scheduled for 4 miles today, and we could have made it 4, but... John decided that me passing out from lack of oxygen would be a bad thing. LOL!! He suggested we stop at 3 and walk the last mile home because he knew if he kept going, I would, too. He's right! {grin}

But this week - with only 5 weeks till the big race - we are going to follow another runner's training schedule. We'll still be running 2 short runs and 1 really long run, but on 3 more days we'll be walking for 40 minutes and doing strength training. Oh, and trying to eat properly. :)

We'll let you know how it goes! If you have any advice, feel free to let us know! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!

Take a minute to join me today in wishing John a very happy birthday! Send him an email or an ecard or post a message here! And if you're friends with his twin brother, David - send him a message too! Happy birthday, Dave!

Happy birthday John! I love you!!

Umm...It's Barely October

(Kitty) Okay, today is October 1st, but two days ago while it was still very much September, I looked across the grocery store parking lot to see "Scott's Christmas Trees" setting up!! What?! Trust me, if anyone is a long-term planner, it's me. But come on, guys!

Sunshine and Rain

(Kitty) I love it when this happens - I looked out the window this afternoon and saw it begin to rain. But there was sunshine all over the yard! It lasted about 10 minutes. Don't know how it works - angle of the sun, angle of the rain, don't know. But it was totally cool!

It made me forget for a moment that I had just had the car washed about 20 minutes before the rain. Ugh... :)

Double Digits!

(Kitty) We broke the double-digit barrier! We ran 10.4 miles on Sunday! Hurray!!!! The schedule called for 10, which seemed huge. But John said, hey, wanna run to that street I accidentally ran to a couple months ago? I thought, heck, if we're going to push ourselves to do this, then fine, let's push ourselves. And we DID it!!!

We were feeling pretty good, feeling like it was an easy run for the first 6 miles. The next couple were a little harder, I was looking forward to those 1-minute breaks every 3 minutes. And the last two - well, I just keep thinking that I could do it - and we did it!!

Of course, we were exhausted at church Sunday and collapsed into idleness for the rest of the day! LOL! Sunday night and Monday night I kept waking up having to stretch because my muscles were tight. I thought it would be over by today, but this morning we had to run 4 more miles and I couldn't do it!! It took me 3 miles just to get loose enough to not feel like I wanted to limp. But I couldn't make it another mile. And I didn't want to push myself and pull or tear something. So I made it to about 3.5 miles, then we walked the last half mile home. John could have made it, but... LOL!! Oh well!

Gotta keep stretching and trying to help the muscles relax even as they get stronger because - this next weekend we have to run 11 miles!! EEK!! LOL!!

For Friends to Contact Us

(Kitty) It occurs to me occasionally that some of you may have fallen out of touch with us and are following us through the blog with no way to email us. I hate putting our email address on the Internet, but you can reach me at kittysotheremail at yahoo dot com. Then I can give you our "real" email addresses. :) However, I beg you not to send junk mail to our real emails! LOL!

The Good, the Bad, and the Bloody

(Kitty) I joked with my sister Bonnie yesterday about the chances of me falling down during the race. In front of thousands of people. And news crews.

Then today - I did it! I fell. Again.

The good news is that I ran two miles today in a new record time - 24 minutes and 15 seconds. The bad news is that includes the falling, the brushing off the dirt, the walking for a block to loosen up again, and then back to running. The bloody news isn't too bad - only one knee got scraped, the other avoided most of the fall altogether. The heels of my hands hurt the worst even though I didn't break the skin. They probably took 70% or more of my weight when I hit the sidewalk.

Oh, did I mention that this is the EXACT same part of the sidewalk where I fell the first time? Sigh... Oh well. I just really need to watch that spot now. The sidewalks are not flat around here. Too many tree roots pushing up the cement at weird angles. I was all zoned into my run and didn't pick up my feet enough to miss the hiccups in the cement. The beach walk is so much better for zoning into your run. But if I'm at the beach, that means I'm running way more than 2 miles! For today, I'm tired, so I'll take the shorter run and the scraped knee. LOL!

How Does This Work??

(Kitty) So John and I did a fairly great job of running our 9 miles on Sunday. We got some good rest Sunday afternoon and Monday, and we woke up bright and early to run 4 miles on Tuesday. How in the world can we feel so freakin' TIRED?! It took me 55 minutes, and it usually only takes 52-53. Once I even got it down to 51 minutes for 4 miles. We even ate well Monday night, drank lots of water Monday, and no alcohol since Sunday night. Tuesday night I fell into bed exhausted at 9:30.

Whatever it is, I hope it's normal. Saturday it's up into the double digits! TEN MILES!! Wish us luck!!

9 Miles!

(Kitty) There is still a big part of me that can't believe what John and I are doing! Sunday we ran 9 MILES!!!! That is so amazing! I mean, John looked great - I saw him do some wind sprints a couple times, his form never lagged, and he ran more than 9 miles because he ran ahead, then circled back to me, then ran ahead, etc. But at about mile 8, I was thinking about how exhausted I was, and I remembered running down that same stretch back in March and April and thinking, "There is no way I can run for 2 minutes straight!" Yet on Sunday, we ran for 2 hours and 5 minutes!

During most of the run, I would think of things that made me happy, or future happy events like finishing the Half Marathon, or I would focus on enjoying the upbeat music I put on my "Running" playlist on my iPod. I've been learning that I keep going better when I'm feeling good, feeling happy. I ran most of my 8 miles a couple weeks ago listening to a writing lecture where the speakers were hilarious! So this week I tried to keep that upbeat mindset alive. I repeated "The joy of the Lord is my strength" when I felt tired. And at about mile 6, I started telling myself this is not a race, but a challenge. The run was just one more way to prove myself.

I kept telling myself that all the way to the end - and I did it! I ran the whole 9 miles! I'm still nervous about running the Half Marathon in November, depending on the day somewhere between butterflies nervous and throw up nervous, but as of Sunday I was absolutely positive I could do it! (For anyone who has run a marathon, John suggested we use the Galloway method - 3 minutes running, then 1 minute walking, then 3 running, etc. the whole time. "Everyone" swears by it, and we've found it very effective.)

If you've got something challenging happening in your life, keep telling yourself you can do it. I don't know why it works, but it does! :)

MOVING BACK TO SYDNEY!
MOVING BACK TO SYDNEY!
MOVING BACK TO SYDNEY!

Well ladies and gentlemen, it is official. I recently signed the papers and the plans are in the works to move back to Sydney, Australia in July of 2009. I have been asked to come back as a Lead Motion Editor for HAPPY FEET 2! I have been in talks with Doctor D Studios in Sydney for a month or so, talking and haggling over contracts and pay scale. I recently put my signature to the final contract and it is final. The studio is going to be in one of two places (they are still trying to decide where to set up shop,) so we are not sure WHERE in Sydney we will be moving too. We have thoughts of moving close to the University of Sydney so Kitty can get Masters in Creative Writing! We also have plans on getting a TWO bedroom apartment so ANYONE who wants to come out and visit will have a place to stay! We want to give everyone as much incentive as possible to come and see us (as if visiting Sydney, Australia wouldn't be reason enough!)

God has blessed us so much in these last couple of months, it's hard to believe it's actually happening. Thank you so much for the people who were praying for us as while I was in talks with the studio.

Should've Gone to McDonald's

(Kitty) How can I be 40 years old and be such a terrible cook?! There are things I can do really well (like my Almost Better Than Sex Brownies - John's name for them!), and there are things I can do passably well (my meatloaf's pretty good). But as far as coming up with an idea and then saying, hey that sounds great, let's do it - no good.

Today I thought I'd stop by McDonald's on the way to the bank so I could eat in the car and get back to work quicker. Then I thought - that's not good for you and my friend Janet just told me she lost 100 pounds and I could make myself an awesome hamburger exactly how I'd like it. I'll just stop by the store, whip up a lunch and be back at work with a full stomach of healthy food.

Not so much.

I don't know where I went wrong. I put a bunch of things that I really like - shredded cheddar cheese, cut up mushrooms - and some things that seemed like a good idea - salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian seasoning - in a bowl and squished it into the hamburger, then fried it up. I'd bought a bag of frozen french fries because I thought it'd be healthier than McDonald's fries. When I got the whole thing on my plate - couldn't have cut up avocados 'cause they'd already gone bad - I started eating and... Well, I couldn't wait to get to the end. Not because it was good. 'Cause I wanted lunch to be over. I don't know what I'm going to do with that bag of frozen french fries. I used to love them but I guess I don't anymore.

Sigh...

Next time I'm going to McDonald's anyway. Meanwhile, I'm munching on chocolate covered almonds to get the taste of lunch out of my mouth.

Routines For Writers

(Kitty) I was shocked to discover while trying to think of what to blog here today that I haven't told you about my new professional blog! My two critique partners, Stephanie Shackelford and Shonna Slayton, and I created a web site for writers to help them try to find routines that increase their productivity and creativity. We've been planning this for months and launched the blog last Monday, on September 1!

If you have a minute, stop by, see what we're up to, leave a comment. We're excited to share what we've learned over the years, and we want to encourage others to share what they've learned there, too. As my friend Kathleen says, no one has to die to make room for one more success! So drop on by and see if we can't pursue success together!

Welcome to the World!

(Kitty) I am so pleased to tell you that I am a great-aunt again, and John is again a great-uncle! My sister Bonnie's son Bruce welcomed his second son into the world on Thursday, September 4, 2008 - Riely Scott.

Welcome, Riely!

Made My Goal!

(Kitty) When I returned from the RWA National Conference a month ago, I told myself I'd take no longer than September 1st to send out the requested proposals. I made it!! Woo-hoo!! Now it's just a matter of time to hear back. And of course, now I start sending out queries to other agents and editors. And I finish that last polish on the book.

Ah, life is good. I'm in my happy place. :)

Joy and the Marine Layer

(Kitty) Thank God for joy and the marine layer! We had to run 8 miles today - BY OURSELVES because John is visiting his family in Michigan for the weekend. Normally we don't do well by ourselves. Nor we do sleep well by ourselves after 18+ years together. So when I finally dragged myself out of bed this morning at 7am, having not slept well and with a sore neck from a dream that was a cross between Burn Notice and Law & Order (I get tense in my dreams!), I had to tell myself how very much I really wanted to run. :)

But I remembered something wonderful from my Thursday run. I had done some really great work on my book on Wednesday and was still so excited about it that I was thinking about it when I was running Thursday morning. Every time my thoughts drifted to my book and I got excited, I ran faster! And when I started getting tired near the end and started thinking about my book, I still slowed down a little but not a lot. I ran really well, in fact!

So today when I woke up and finally got going, I listened to some writing lectures I have on my iPod instead of music. The first lecture was by Susan Elizabeth Philips and Jayne Ann Krentz. They are hilarious! Listening to them and laughing while I ran kept me going for the entire hour of the lecture. The next lecture wasn't as funny, but it kept me thinking about writing instead of looking at my watch and wondering how much longer I had to run.

Plus, we had a really heavy marine layer this morning (and Thursday, too, which was great!) so I didn't have to run with the sun in my eyes. If you're not familiar, the marine layer is the fog/clouds that settle over the ocean near the beach during the night and don't burn off till the sun comes up. Or in today's case, not until after 11am when I was already home! I still put on a little sunscreen, but I was so glad not to have to run for two hours in the blazing sun! (Yes, it took me 1 hour and 55 minutes to run 8 miles (averaging 14.5 minutes per mile) but I'm just so darned pleased that I did it! And I probably could have run 9 if I'd had to! Thirteen miles, here I come!)

Today - back to finishing my book proposal for the editor and agent who requested to see it at the conference I was just at. I'm so excited! Hope you all have just as happy a weekend!

Back in the Running

(Kitty) So after our 10K race last Sunday, my feet and legs were simply killing me. We decided to take Monday off, then Tuesday, and by Wednesday we wondered if I had the wrong shoes and they were the reason for my aching feet and legs. I went in to the running shoe store where we bought the shoes and spoke to the manager about whether perhaps I'd been sold the wrong shoes.

The guy was awesome! He sat down with me and asked a lot of questions and showed me some stretches and gave me a lot of great advice. I did the stretches for the rest of the week, then today John and I started up again. It went great! Well, after 10 days of no running, I was gasping for breath! LOL! But other than that, it went great, no pain. Yay!

So now that we're getting into higher mileage runs, our schedule is changing a little. We can't run more than 8 miles and get home in time for John to get ready for work on time. So instead of running Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we'll run Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Here's hoping we make some great progress! Less than 12 weeks until the big race!!

A Taste of Heaven

(Kitty) Today our church (Bel Air Presbyterian) closed our doors for the morning services and went down to Faithful Central Bible Church (which meets at The Forum, where they used to have sporting events, and still is used as a music venue - it's huge!). Pacific Crossroads Church also joined us, and we were a crowd of thousands!

The service was wonderful! The choirs of Bel Air and Faithful Central sang together and they dressed in all these bright colors - the combined choir looked like a huge spotted rainbow! And because the combined congregation was so diverse in terms of every definable way to group people, all I could think of was - this is how heaven is going to look! I loved it!

For a variety of reasons, I've felt a lot of internal stress in so many areas of my life lately that I ended up at church today and found my spirit being filled and revived and refreshed without fully realizing until then how much I needed it. God is so good at providing what you need even before you recognize that you need it. Through the sermons and the music, He encouraged me, reminded me of all the good things He's done for me in the past, reminded me of His promises of good things in the future, and helped me to relax and enjoy the moment that I'm living in right now.

I can't wait to get to heaven and see how it is way better even than what I experienced today. But in the meantime, I'm glad God is also a step ahead of me, arranging for me to be encouraged right when I need it. He says in Isaiah, "Before they call, I will answer," and I've found it to be so true.

10K Results - Pretty Good!

(Kitty) The weather was perfect and the bike path through the wetlands along the beach was gorgeous, all 6.2 miles/10 kilometers of it. Yea!!

On the one hand, nearly everyone ran faster than we did! Dwight and I came in last in our age/gender class (5th of 5 and 9th of 9, respectively), and John came in 13/15 in his class. On the other hand, we all did quite well - as good or better as our practice times. John ran in 57 minutes 54 seconds - amazing!! Dwight came in at 1 hour 11 minutes 30 seconds. And I came in at 1 hour 22 minutes 30 seconds. Plus we're all proud of the fact that while a few people used the run/walk method (I won't try to explain it, but it's a method that's supposed to make you faster by not running the whole time. I don't like it for this short a run.), we all ran the whole distance.

Oh, and did I mention I came in third from last in the entire race??!! LOL!! And that's because two people took a wrong turn on the path and got lost! LOL!!! There were only 131 people in the race, though, so when I come in nearly last in the Pasadena Half Marathon in November there will be hundreds of people faster than me. And just maybe I'll be faster than someone! LOL!

Dwight, John and Kitty a few minutes before the race started.

John, Kitty and Dwight after the race - long enough after for us to look a lot better than when we first crossed the finish line!

Dwight, Kitty's friend Teri, Kitty and John at a great little restaurant on the pier for a hearty lunch afterward.

Visitors and Races and Good News

(Kitty) So my friend from college, Teri Glirbas, is visiting for the weekend. We spent just about the whole day yesterday wandering around Hollywood seeing the sights, taking pictures, and buying souvenirs. I found a keychain with Betty Boop on a motorcycle that I bought to put my motorcycle keys on. Today we're going to the Farmer's Market and The Grove, then Venice Beach, then Santa Monica Pier and Third Street Promenade. LOTS of walking, and hopefully lots of fun.

Then tomorrow Teri is coming with me and John and Dwight to our 10K race in Santa Barbara.
Our training program had us slowing down significantly this week to be fresh for the race. But John and I are still feeling the slower, ache-y effects of our new shoes, so we're not expecting any record performances. Still, it should be a lot of fun.

We've been having a lot of adventures lately, but that means we've been too busy to get the pictures off the camera and post about everything here. Hopefully next week we will have the time to do that. Meanwhile, the big news about my Romance Writers of America National Conference is that an agent and an editor that I am really interested in both want to see the first three chapters of my book. Woo-hooo!! Due to [insert long story here] I am polishing it up, making a few changes to improve it, then I'll send it out before the end of the month.

We'll talk again next week. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

New Shoes - OW!

(Kitty) We knew we needed to get new shoes sometime soon before our next race (a 10K on August 17), so we finally made a point of going to a good running store this week. The one our friends go to was closed so we decided to try the one near us that we knew nothing about. When the guy (Josh? I'll call him that, I can't remember) looked at our shoes he shook his head and said they had no support. I'd noticed that my hips were aching nearly every run, but I hadn't realized how closely related that is to poor shoes.

Apparently, it's very related. We've run in our new shoes for two days now. Both of us noticed our legs ached from the get-go on the first day. Today, the second day, John's legs were stiff, but feeling better as they got used to the new shoes. I on the other hand was run-limping! John and I finally decided that he would continue with our 6-mile run, and I would turn around at the 2-mile mark, giving me 4 miles. If I could make it home.

Now Josh says I'm essentially flat-footed, so he sold me "motion control" shoes. Highly supportive shoes that not only support your instep (keeping your knees and hips in line) but keep your foot from moving around much at all. On the one hand, I'm really pleased. Like I said, knees and hips are happy campers. And I don't feel like I'm about to twist my ankle at every bump in the sidewalk. On the other hand, holy guacamole, my muscles hurt! By the middle of the third mile I'd decided to try to just "zone" out into the run. I kept my mind thinking about the horizon (as I've read is helpful) and I focused on trying to be completely relaxed.

Must have helped. By the beginning of mile 4 and all the way home (I did manage to run 4 miles) I found myself relaxing a bit as I ran and feeling better, not run-limping anymore. Then I walked up and down the block several times waiting for John to get home. By then my legs were doing about as well as could be expected. I'll tell you though, I can feel every muscle in my shins and half the ones in my calves and thighs. I'm guessing I'm now re-training my muscles to support my body correctly. It's a guess, but I'm going with it because it'll keep me running instead of quitting. John, of course, must be naturally athletic because he's breaking in his new shoes with far less problem.

We've got about 10 days till our race, and my friend Teri will be visiting from Minnesota and watching. I'm hoping the shoes and I make peace and learn how to be a team. I really don't want to embarrass myself by running like a turtle! LOL! But at least I'm not quitting. Only 14 weeks till the big Half Marathon! Woo-hooo!!

Running a LITTLE longer then I planned...

(John) Well, according to our training schedule that Kitty and I have been following, today was the day I was suppose to run 8 miles (ugh.) Kitty have been running down to the beach from our place, then down the beach walk to Venice. Well, since started running that route I have noticed that the beach walk path also goes the other way (toward Malibu.) Today I decided to see how far I could go down the walkway for my run. According to a sight called MapMyRun.com, I could go down to the end of the pedestrian walkway and turn around and run back and that would be around 8 miles!
Cool, I thought, this will be easy.

*Sigh* famous last words

I ran down the beach as planned and turned right at the beach to run the other route. The route was easy and pretty nice. I thought "Great, just follow this until it ends, then I turn around!"
Well, I guess the bike path AND the walkway both intertwine at several place, often becoming one path. Yea, well I followed WHAT I THOUGHT was the walkway and continued to run....and run....and run.... . After a while I was like "Man, this 8 miles is longer then I thought it would be!"
A little while longer the revelation came to me: I bet I messed up and I'm following the wrong path. I saw a major intersection coming up and decided that I'd run up it, turn around and head back home. The intersection was called Temescal Canyon Road. So, I turned around and ran back. By the time I got home I realized I was running late for work! I jumped on the computer and checked to see where I had gone wrong and how far I went. According to a rough estimate I ran 10.2 - 10.5 MILES!
OK, it is now time to get my Nike+ system calibrated and running so this does not happen again.

Running Along the Beach - Ahhhh!

(Kitty) Today I didn't have to get up early to run in order to beat the heat. After all, I'm in the coldest summer in the country if rumors are to be believed. Today's high (July 29th, keep in mind!) was 59 degrees! So I finally got around to getting my running shoes on at about 9:30, maybe 10am. It was AWESOME! Pretty cold even with a sweatshirt because of the wind coming off the ocean, but it was beautiful running on the path along the beach. John and I run along a beach path in Santa Monica, too, but the terrain and beauty are different here in San Francisco. It was a beautiful 6 miles!

Going to San Francisco

(Kitty) I've been too busy to post lately because I'm on my way to San Francisco in a few hours. I'm getting pretty excited about it. Not only will I get to spend time with friends, but the reason for the trip is to attend the Romance Writers of America National Conference. I've been to a lot of conferences before but not this one. Over 2000 writers will be there, plus agents, editors, and more! It's going to be very exciting, a lot of fun, and seriously exhausting!

What's more, I've told myself that hills or not, I AM going to keep up my running while I'm there. Eek! I hope I can make it without John - we run so much better when we run together.

I'll be gone for ten days, so unless John has time to post - or I have time to post from the conference - we'll talk to you again in about two weeks. Hope you're all having a GREAT summer!!

7 Miles!

(Kitty) I can hardly believe it but we did it! We ran SEVEN MILES today. I was so tired the last half mile. All I could think of was, "I have to walk home if I stop running, so I might as well just keep running and I'll get home quicker." LOL! Then the next several hours I was soooo hungry! LOL!

The thing is, John is a much better athlete than I'll ever be. He runs ahead for a while, then turns around and comes back to me, then runs ahead again. So I figure he runs maybe a mile or more longer than I do! We started running almost four months ago today. The first day I could hardly run more than a block, and today I ran 7 miles! And that made our week's total 21 miles! Wow! Kinda says what you can do when you put your mind to it!

Riding My Bike

(Kitty) - So my first ride was with John last Sunday, but I had to go out on my own at some point. So Friday I decided to take my bike to the library and the credit union. I made it without any problems - and I wasn't even scared! I could hardly believe it! By the time I got back, I checked the mileage - I rode 6 miles by myself!

Today, we went out before church again (the idea being there are fewer cars on the road for me to deal with) and this time I rode all around Santa Monica - 16 miles! I was a little nervous sometimes when I had to ride on a 4-lane street and switch lanes. John is still rolling his eyes that I'm not up to the speed limit all the time, but it's getting better! And today - only my third ride on my bike! - I got up to 40 mph!! Woo-hooo!! And I didn't even feel like I was going to go flying off!

I still like 2-lane streets better right now - no worries about people trying to pass me or hit me when they change lanes, but I'm really going to have to make sure I'm "up to speed"! And in LA, being up to speed means going 10 miles over the speed limit! LOL! I'll keep you updated!

From Waiting to Riding

(Kitty) Here is the pictorial tour of me getting my very first motorcycle! I bought a 2008 Yamaha V Star 250. It used to be called the Yamaha Virago 250 from 2007 and before. It is the smallest version of John's bike, a V Star Classic 650. I am soooooo happy!!!!!


My first view of my new bike! The guys are filling the tires and checking all the - whatever it is they check! The one I sat on in the showroom was sold before I came back, so this one came from the warehouse. I am one of the only people to even sit on my bike!!



And in fact - here is a picture of me the very first time I got to sit on it. I'm waiting for the guys to take it out on it's test drive before they hand over the keys.



John thought I was so silly, but I was just so excited!!! I couldn't help myself - I had to hug my new bike! LOL!!


The side view of Kitty's new motorcycle. The paint job is called Black Cherry - and it's beautiful! John named his first car, so I decided not to feel silly naming my first bike. Due to American slang uses of the word "cherry" I decided not to use that as part of the name. But my middle name is Rose, and the color is a shade of red, so I named her Rosie! The funny thing is that we had a horse named Rosie, one of the first I ever rode. Hmm...wonder if there is some hidden meaning in there... LOL!!



This is Billy, handing me the keys to my new bike! I think he thought I was a little silly for taking a picture of every little thing - including him - but he was a good sport about it. He said he loves to ride, and he understands the excitement of buying a new bike. :)




John, on the other hand, teasingly made a point of letting me know how embarrassing it was for him to have to ride my little bike home for me. When he got home, he told me I'd succeeded in fully emasculating him - he'd pulled up to a stoplight and looked over and there was a beautiful blonde at the wheel of a BMW. She just looked at him and looked away. John said he wanted to yell, "No, no, this isn't mine! I have a real motorcycle at home! Really!" LOL!!



Getting ready for my very first ride on my new bike! I'm taking off the lock on the front wheel. My friend Milissa, who also rides, told me a long time ago - if you have long hair and you ride, be sure to braid it back or you'll never be able to get the tangles out. Thus - me in a braid.



Gearing up for my first ride - helmet, gloves, nylon mesh jacket (it's like air conditioning when you're riding and the wind is whipping through, much cooler than leather), jeans, Kevlar boots. I jokingly asked my friend Janice who used to be a police officer if my boots are bulletproof. You know, 'cause they're Kevlar. :)



You can't tell, but I'm grinning like a kid in a candy store!!



Pulling out into the alley - my first ride! I'm pretty sure the butterflies in my stomach were more excitement than fear.



My first run down the alley behind our apartment! I did it!

I drove up and down the alley a few times, then asked John if he wanted to take his bike and follow me out onto the street. It was Sunday morning and hardly anyone was out yet, so I wasn't too nervous. Better to get out there and see how I felt when no cars were around! So John followed me as I made a few loops around the couple of residential streets we live near. Then I took it on a couple bigger streets. Basically, I kept making ever-widening circles around our apartment! LOL!

John was my guarding my back so I wasn't afraid of any cars getting too close. And I only stalled once! But I also only made it up to the speed limit twice!! LOL!! And the speed limit was 30 on one street, and 35 on the other! (Come to think of it, I think it was 45 on the second one - which means I was going way too slow!) The first time I got up to 30, I thought I was going to blow off the back of my bike!

Eventually I looked at my watch and realized we needed to get back and shower for church. But I was so excited about my first ride. And even more so when I looked at the odometer and realized my first ride was 10 MILES!!! Woo-hooooo!!!

Best Times Ever!

(Kitty) What did we do on 4th of July? We got up at 5:30 and drove down to Redondo Beach (about half an hour away with no traffic) and ran a 5K race with our friends Dwight and Jill. It was ridiculously hot while we were running, then about an hour after we were done, "normal" weather returned with a nice breeze. Ah well.

The point is we ran in some heat and John and I still beat our best times! John ran the race in 27 minutes 50 seconds, coming in 91st out of 134 in his category. I ran it in 39 minutes 14 seconds (shaving off more than 5 minutes!), 93 out of 141 in my category.

Next stop - the Santa Barbara 10K in August!

New Haircut

As some of you know, I was going to try and grow my hair long again. I got a pretty good start on it, then we started running. Well, I found it a hassle more and more so I got it cut short again. Now the summer is fast approaching, I'm really glad for the short hair!

Motorcycle awareness ads

I found these on-line the other day and thought I would post them with the news that Kitty just bought her own motorcycle! Her bike is kinda a smaller version of my Yamaha 650 (her's is only a 250.) As soon as she gets back into town, we're picking it up from the Yamaha dealer and she starts riding! We'll be posing pictures of it soon!

It's a Southern Thing

(Kitty) I'm out visiting my brother Michael and my sister-in-law Kristy and having a great time with them! This is the first time I've seen Michael since he gave me away at my wedding 18 years ago! And I've never met Kristy - even though they're about to celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary! It's also the first time I've been back in South Carolina since I left Parris Island and the Marine Corps in the fall of 1987.

On every trip, you need at least one small souvenir, and Saturday night the three of us found the perfect one for me. Michael and Kristy really enjoy stock car racing and they took me to a local race on Saturday night. I told my Bible study before I left California that I was going to a stock car race and they just laughed - it's so outside any of our experiences! So on Saturday, Kristy bought Moon Pies that we ate after lunch - the wrappers got us $3 off the race admission. (They're soft cookies with marshmallow covered in chocolate. Yum!) Then at the race we saw a t-shirt - Moon Pies and RC Cola, It's a Southern Thing, Y'all Wouldn't Understand. LOL!!! So I bought the t-shirt, and we decided I'd wear it to Bible study on Wednesday and bring along enough Moon Pies for everyone!

The Beach Boys!!

(Kitty) Last night, I went with my friends Doug and Marlene to see The Beach Boys live in concert! What great fun! It was fantastic to see the real, live Beach Boys perform just a hundred or so feet away, playing a ton of songs I know by heart. But there was something kind of strange and vastly amusing about seeing a gray-haired 60+ year old man flirting with dyed-haired 50+ year old women crowding the base of the stage. LOL!

There were a total of seven people in the band last night, one of which I think is a son of one of the Beach Boys, but only two of the guys were originals. Didn't matter that much to me because they were good - and one guy sounded sooo much like one of the missing originals! In any case, they all looked like they were having a great time, and Doug and Marlene and I were having a great time, so I guess that makes it a success! LOL!

Here are some pictures I found on the Internet since we weren't allowed to bring cameras.

NOW

THEN

Comments

(Kitty) Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I made some changes to the blog so that you can post comments easier now. I didn't realize that the earlier settings made it impossible to post a comment if you weren't a Google user. To avoid spam, I changed it so anyone can post a comment (I can't remember but you still might have to type in the strange verification letters), but then I see the comments before they are posted and I have to accept or deny the post. This way, hopefully we can have a little bit more of a two-way conversation but without the extra comments posted by strangers about erectile dysfunction and winning the Irish National Lottery. LOL!

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Race Pictures

(Kitty) Here are the pictures we took after our Memorial Day 5K race. We actually look pretty good for after our first race. It's not even been 10 days since then and already John ran his first 10K today. Not a race though. We're training now to run a 10K (6.2 miles) in mid-August in Santa Barbara, and then the Pasadena Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in mid-November, and according to our training schedule we're already supposed to start running 5 miles on our "long" day. Today we did it! Hurray! But because John is taller and faster and in better shape, he still runs ahead, then back to me, then runs ahead, then back, the whole time. So he figures he definitely ran at least 6 miles today! LOL!!

Kitty and John after The Brentwood Run, Sunday, May 25, 2008


Dwight and John after The Brentwood Run

©2008 ~TheDragoness1992

Our First Race!

(Kitty) We did it! Step 1 of getting ready to run a marathon - run a 5K. Check!

On Sunday, May 25, John and I ran our first race, along with our friend Dwight. We all ran the 5K (3.1 miles) portion of The Brentwood Run. It's only a few miles from where we live in Santa Monica, so we were quite happy to not have to get up early and drive somewhere. But we were all so excited that we got an early start. Turns out that was a good thing as it took us forever to find a parking spot!

There were booths set up advertising local health and fitness organizations (I'm going to try two free weeks of a martial arts self-defense course!), as well as booths with free food and drinks. Advertising, of course. The food and drinks were mostly of a sports nature - Clif bars, energy drinks, etc.

Before the race, a woman from the local YMCA got on stage and took us through an aerobics-style warmup. I stopped about half-way through. I had visions of me using up the energy I needed to complete the race because of the warmup!

Finally it was time to run! I went to the back, right in front of the people pushing strollers, and John and Dwight stood in the middle. I kept reminding myself to start slow, think Tortoise and the Hare, make sure you can make it to the end. I was pleased that I found a pace and stayed with it! But I was shocked to see John running down the other side of the road when I was barely to the 1-mile mark! He'd already passed the half-way point and had turned around with the pack!

Soon Dwight passed me, too. I just kept my eyes on a young woman in her thirties and an old man (who I later learned was 89!!) because the three of us kept passing each other, so we must've been running around the same pace. Nearing the 2-mile mark the fairly flat road went slightly downhill so I picked up my pace a bit. At the 3-mile mark, with the Finish Line in sight, I picked it up again. As I passed him, I told the old man thanks for being my pace-man! He laughed!

Then I heard my name and looked to my right. There was John and Dwight as well as our friends Len and Bobbi cheering me on! I called out, "Well, if I've got an audience..." and sprinted as fast as I could to the Finish Line! What great fun! Well, it was more fun about 2 minutes later when I could breathe again! LOL!!

John finished in 28 minutes, 17 seconds, 37 out of 54 in his gender/age category, 402 out of 827 overall. Dwight did his best time ever (he's run two 5K's already) in 33 minutes, 47 seconds, 51 out of 56 in his category, and 594 overall. And I finished in 44 minutes, 22 seconds, 45 out of 56 in my category, and 752 overall.

Overall, we're all pretty happy with our experience. In fact, John and I want to do it again. I'll let you know how that goes. Meanwhile, on Tuesday we started the next step in training to run a marathon - training to run a 10K. There's one we'd all really like to run in Santa Barbara in August. It'll be a 1.5 - 2 hour drive to get there, but it's a beautiful city on the ocean - and there's an ice cream social afterward! LOL!

We'll try to remember to load our pictures from the race tomorrow. But if you want to look at the one Dwight took of us afterward, it's at his blog. And if you have any advice, let us know! It's amazing how many people you run into who have run a marathon - but you'd never know it till it comes up in conversation. Have you run one?

Riding in the Rain

(John) I have been trying to decide what other exercise I should do when cross training with the marathon running. My friend Dwight invited me to go for a bike ride on Saturday, the day before Kitty's and my first 5K race. He lent me his old Specialized while he rode one he had just bought on eBay. We went to a park that we have ridden at before and spent the morning riding through a light drizzle. We both had mud on us when we were finished, but we got some great exercise and some great pictures.

BANANAS are Your Friend!

(Kitty) Only a few more days until John and I run our first race with our friend Dwight! John and I are finally getting excited about it. Why only now? Because last Saturday when we were supposed to running a "long" run, we totally broke down, practically before we got started. We did our 5-minute brisk walk to warm up, then started jogging. My muscles began to ache from the very start. About 16 minutes in, I finally broke down into a near-limping walk. How embarrassing!

Then John jogged back to me and I told him I didn't know why, but everything from my hips down hurt and I was just going to walk while he ran ahead. About 5 minutes later, he was toast, too!

When we got home, the first thing we did was go to the store and buy some bananas. I remembered feeling this kind of muscle ache on a lesser scale in the past, and eating bananas always made it go away (potassium, you know). Then I Googled running muscle pain and found out a lot of things can cause it including poor nutrition and dehydration. So we spent the weekend eating a lot of bananas and drinking a lot of water!

Monday, our run went much better. Wednesday, I ran longer than I have so far in all our training (and I think in all my life!) and could've kept going! (Also, a first for me!) We run again on Friday and finish the "Couch to 5K" 9-week program, then our first race is Sunday! We're running in The Brentwood Run 5K, not far from where we live. Our friend Dwight is coming down to run it, too. (He turned us on to the "Couch to 5K" program. This will be his third race.)

We'll let you know how it all goes. And feel free to give us any advice! :)

AMAZING Conference!

(Kitty) I just got back from Austin, Texas (where I wish I'd had more time to look around - beautiful place). My friends Lauraine and Bonnie and I went to a writer's conference by Donald Maass called the High Tension Workshop. It was perhaps the best writer's conference I've ever been to! You know how you go to a conference for either your business or one of your hobbies or interests and there is so much going on you can barely process it all? Not this time. At this conference we studied one thing for four days! By the time we left, we really knew what we were talking about when it came to tension in novels. My brain was so tired I had to take a long nap after I got off the plane! LOL!

In other news, John and I are eagerly pursuing our marathon training. Yesterday morning, and then again this morning, I broke my personal best records for speed over a 2-mile run! Woo-hooo! By the end of May, we'll have completed our "Couch to 5K" training. On Sunday, May 25 (Memorial Day weekend), we will be running our first race! It's a 5K - about 3 miles - and we're feeling very good about it. Only six more months until we run our first half marathon at the Pasadena Marathon! We'll tell you all about it as things progress!

P.S. If you haven't seen the movie Iron Man, you've got to go! It's awesome!!

Kitty has her motorcycle license!

Kitty just called me from outside the DMV and told me she passed her written motorcycle DMV test! She will have her official motorcycle license in a couple of weeks! A few of you knew that Kitty took the motorcycle course a couple of weeks ago and passed with flying colors. She called the DMV earlier this week and made an appointment to take the written test early this morning. She got the maximum allowed number wrong (you only allowed 4 wrong on the test,) but passed! We won't be rushing out to buy her a motorcycle yet, she will be sharing my bike when I don't drive it to work.
Don't worry, pictures of Kitty on my bike will be hitting the web as soon as possible!

Again baby, CONGRATULATIONS!

Where I work

Many of you might wonder what the place looks like where I work. Well, thanks to obsessive fanboys, I can show you! On a sight called marketsaw.blogspot.com, it seems that they had a photographer who found out where we are working on the movie and sneaked onto a public jogging trail with a telephoto lens to take pictures of our building. A bunch of the employees got a good chuckle on the intensity of the article showing, of all things, WHERE WE EAT!! Just to give you a quick overview, we are working at the Howard Hughes Center. Here is where Howard Hughes created the airplane the H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the "Spruce Goose." They are currently building an office park around the core of the original Hughes buildings (we are working in one of them.) Here are some of the pics:
This gives you the best view of our building. It's the medium sized building on the left side of the picture. We think the photographer was in someones yard for this picture.
Here is a picture of a couple of trailers used for mocap people, and the food tent where we get our food for breakfast and lunch. That's the back of our building in the picture.
This last picture is a tarp covering one of our props. The fanboy was SO PSYCHED when he was able to show you the alien plant under the tarp.
Well, I know you guys are interested in the plant, but I'm more interested in showing you MY BIKE that made it into the spy photos! While you might be disappointed about not seeing the plant, at least you can console yourself that you did, in fact, see a bike that is being driven by an employee of James Cameron (Truth be told: I did not want to show anything that might spoil the movie or incur the wrath of Mr. Cameron.)