Found - The Most Elusive Rash Guard

Oh sweet bliss, I finally found a rashie that fits me.

I'm back in the pool these days which means I need to wear a lot of sun protection. For months, I've been looking for a decent rash guard shirt to wear in the pool. Rash guards are the shirts worn by surfers and other water nymph types to protect their skin from sand and chaffing. The bonus is most rashies offer 50 to 150 SPF sun protection.

The rub (or maybe the squeeze) is that rashies fit skin tight and they are sized incredibly small. Take this quote:

Rash guards are supposed to fit skin-tight so they run small - typically 1-2 sizes smaller than you normally wear. The model pictured is 5'6" tall, weighs 130lbs, wears a 36B, has a 28" waist and is wearing a size LARGE that you can see fits SKIN TIGHT - as it's supposed to! (Caps and exclamation points are their fault, not mine.)

If a 36B is pushing the maximum capacity of the size large, then what is a girl with bigger breasts supposed to do? The mens rash guard are too boxy to fit correctly and don't accommodate hips. Generally the boobaluscious are also hiptastic.

Today I bopped into Sports Authority to scope out the end of summer sales. and behold, Body Glove has looser fit rashies. (Not available on the Sports Authority website for some reason.) Of course they weren't on sale, but I wasn't about to let the elusive boob/hip fitting rashie slip through my fingers.

Wore it to the pool today and it was awesome. Plus, my décolletage isn't going to look like an old football when I'm swimming at the Senior Citizens Center.

Who Needs A Hug and a Diet?

I'm just back from dropping my parents off at the airport. It was wonderful having them with me for a few weeks, but eventually they had to go back to their own lives. We did a ton of stuff while they were here, but mostly I just enjoyed having them with me.

There are two things that I dread about my parents leaving. One is that we all gain weight during their visit. Plus my folks have been traveling for awhile before coming to see me - Las Vegas, New Orleans. Those are some eatin' towns. My parents have a talking scale at their house. Imagine hopping on the scale and having it say "Good Morning." Then having it announce your weight to the tri-state area because it's so loud. We were all taking playful guesses at what the scale would say if we hopped on it. I think if I hopped on it would say "One at a time." In the words of Doctor Beck, "Oh, well."

The other thing I dread is the ride home after I take my folks to the airport. It's sad and I know that they won't be out to see me for a long while. Which makes me a teary mess, but what can you do? As I was driving home, I passed the HugNation RV which is usually parked down the street from my house. It always makes me smile.

Back to gym after work. Back to running. Back to a saner eating plan. Back home for my parents.

The Hot 100 – Going Out With a Bang!

South Beach Steve is encouraging everyone to pick and publish some goals between now the end of 2009. Here are mine.

1 – No wheat or potatoes Sunday – Thursday. (Exceptions, Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.)
2 – Hill or Interval training every week.
3 – Each week do 2 sessions each of Upper Body and Core.
4 – Prepare to run a personal best at either the San Antonio or Las Vegas Half Marathon.
5 – Lose 10 lbs (15 is my stretch goal).

Lame

You see a lot of cool things when you're running. And sometimes you see things that are really, really lame.

I was running in Point Loma and I snapped this shot of the lamest attempt ever at TPing someone's house. Who TPs a huge house with only 1 roll of toilet paper? That's just lazy. Make an effort pranksters.

These people certainly don't have the work ethic to fork the yard.

Advice From A Master Gardener

Last summer, we planted a tangerine tree in the backyard. Truthfully, to call it a backyard is to compliment it. It's really just a little pathway to the garage. Anyway, that tree is just getting eaten down to the ground by grasshoppers. I love tangerines and I've waiting for the tree to mature so I could pick them right off my own tree. The grasshoppers don't touch the navel orange tree or the fig tree, but they are all over the tangerine tree.

This weekend, my mom and I stopped by Botanical Building in Balboa Park and spoke to the master gardener. It's so awesome that the master gardeners are there to answer questions and help make local gardeners successful.

I asked the master gardener what to do and she looked at me very, very seriously. She gave me this advice. "Grasshoppers are a difficult problem for any gardener to resolve. When I see grasshoppers, I think it's best to take my garden shears and chop them in half. I find that to be the best way since they are very hard the catch and stomp on with your foot." I don't know why, but I found this advice to be hysterically funny. Then she followed up with this. "You should know that after they're halved, they'll hop around for a bit. You need to be prepared for that." That's funny stuff.

Unfortunately, it's also advice I don't have the heart to follow. No tangerines for me.

The Opposite of Fun

Headed out for my 14 miler. FAIL.

As soon as I started running, my tummy went into a full revolt. I got food poisoning in Las Vegas two weeks ago and my GI tract hasn't been right since. Eating Thai food for lunch and dinner yesterday probably wasn't my smartest choice either.

In addition to my rumbling belly, it was hot. It was supposed to be in the over 80 degrees so I decided to run on Coronado Island to catch an ocean breeze. All of my Texas friends are thinking 80 degrees is not hot. It is to me. I was promised perfect weather at all times in San Diego. It's supposed to be 72 and sunny every day. I made my trade-offs to live here, enduring the ridiculous cost of Southern California housing and Mexican food made without lard. Surely, San Diego can deliver perfect running weather in return for my suffering. It was definitely hotter than 80 degrees with no shade and no breeze.

In the end, I ran about a mile and walked about 2 miles. So frustrating. I'll try again tomorrow.

Rock On Running Warehouse

While I have no vested interested in this company, let me give some props to Running Warehouse. I placed an order yesterday afternoon and it was here today - with free standard shipping no less.

After trying every frigging water belt on the planet I decided to give the Amphipod Handheld a try. Of all my running belts the Amphipod is absolutely the best. However, I don't love having to wear a dorky water belt when I'm only going out for an hour. The new handheld was here in time for my evening run. I'm not sure I'd like it for 20 miler, but it was good for low miles.

Considering my insane love of new gear, Running Warehouse could be a very expensive find.

Recovery Miles - And the Blisters Say Ouch

I ran two miles of wind sprints today as recovery from the Disneyland race. Sheesh, it was hot out there.

Also, the blisters on the ends of my toes were not cooperating. Great googly moogly - if I need to go up another size in running shoes I'll be so embarrassed. I'm wearing men's shoes as it is. I'm going to need to get clown shoes.

Disneyland Half Marathon "The Most Stressed Out Race on Earth"

Yesterday I wrapped up the Disney Coast-to-Coast Half Marathon duo. In spring, I did the Disney Princess Half Marathon; yesterday was the Disneyland Half.

I love Disney. Some of my happiest memories are family vacations to Disney World with my cousins and nieces. Growing up I thought the Polynesian Village was the greatest place in the whole world.

Disney bills the Disneyland Half Marathon as the "Happiest Race on Earth". Wrong, it was the "Most Stressed Out Race on Earth". There were lots of weird things that made the whole event more high-strung than it had to be. For example, they decided to close the starting corrals about 30 minutes before the race. Anyone who was stretching or making a port-o-let visit couldn't get back to their spot and had to go to the back of 18,000 runners. The first part of the race was a mess of faster runners trying to weave through the pack. It was an odd choice by Disney, since runners who've been hydrating for a hot race day are going to need to pee before an event.

I had a nice run and felt strong all day. It didn't get hot until mile 11 and I pretty much walked it in from there. It was a disappointing event, because I expected it to be super-fun and it just wasn't. I did dig running through Angels Stadium. The most amusing thing all day was a sign on the course, "Run faster. Mickey just raised admission prices again."

She Ran Calling Wildfire

Again with the equation of wildfire+race= problem. Not a problem that's nearly on the scale of losing your home to the fires, but still annoying.

This weekend, I'm supposed to run the Disneyland Half Marathon. With the wildfires burning, the air quality in Anaheim is veering toward sucky. Last year I was planning to run the Pasadena Marathon when wildfires forced it to be rescheduled.

Between my race calendar, Steve's calendar and work, there's not a free weekend for a Disney reschedule. Here's hoping for clean air on Sunday.

An Important Question In Travel

Lucky me, I'm spending a week at the Chaminade Resort in Santa Cruz. It's not all fun and games; 5 of the 7 days are for business. However, this weekend it was just for fun. Steve was here and we got to spend time with family we don't see often enough.

There was one little snag. The resort lost power for about 24 hours this weekend. Some big piece of equipment blew and the utility company had to replace it. Just one of those things that happens, but it's easy to lose your perspective and be a jerk. When things go pear-shaped it's really important to take a deep breath and ask an important question which is "Am I being an ass?" More gently it's, "Am I making the situation better or worse?"

While most of us were going with the flow there were a few guests who were really rude. There was still plenty to enjoy - the hiking trails through the California redwoods (the photo is a deer who hopped that fence and walked along with me for a bit), tennis, views to the Pacific Ocean. Plus there was the added bonus of free lodging, free bar and free food since the hotel comped everything available. They didn't have a full kitchen; however, they served a very lovely breakfast buffet for every guest for free. It wasn't exactly the swanky buffet the Chaminade is known to serve, but it was great.

Then there were the obnoxious types. There was one guy demanding an additional free weekend with unlimited free spa services. And of course, he should be allowed to invite more guests who could hop on his entitlement gravy train. That's being an ass.

Kudos to the resort staff who continued to be low key and gracious in difficult circumstances. They calmly handed out flashlights and helped wherever they could. And cheers to the vast majority of guests who endured a bit of disruption without making the situation worse. Boo to those few folks who couldn't behave in a non-asslike manner.