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!