It's Time to Make a Change...

Last year was an exciting one, but I've been feeling dizzy... ungrounded.  Not sure what's up with all that.  Uncertainty in my career, life, I don't know.  Regardless, I've decided to make a few changes, one of which is spending more time here - at my warmer, friendlier blog.  I'm going to quit surfing other blogs, facebook, and just plain wasting time on this alternate form of "Boob Tube."  I've got too much to do, and yet I'll find the day whizzing by with me completely wasting time on my butt in front of this damn machine.  Enough.

Right now, the cat's where it's at and HE needs a bath!

It Was Delicious!

Veggie wrap, salad, and chips (Auckland, NZ)

The foods and wines of New Zealand and Australia: Outstanding for the most part.  What was interesting - nay shocking - was getting off the plane in Los Angeles after the trip and realizing I was back in America simply because there were so many overweight people milling about.  Down Under, I'm normal.  Not thin at all, really. 


[Coffee - "long black" - essentially, it is espresso diluted with water, add cream and sugar as needed.  There is no brewed coffee.  Tea is the drink of choice.  Every hotel room boasts a tea kettle.  If you want coffee in your room, it's "instant."]

That got Steve and I to wondering why that is.  I've since watched "Killer at Large," and have some ideas.   Steve, too, living in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, had some thoughts as well.

[ THE best carrots I have ever tasted (New Zealand).  They were so sweet and had FLAVOR.  Nothing like the pathetic orange cello-bagged root that passes for food here (in most cases).]

[ Slice of vegetarian "pie" and a Bundaberg Ginger Beer.  Note, they're a big fan of cooking with pumpkin.]

Items of interest:

• No free refills on sodas.
• No free bread or salad - you want bread, it's extra.
• The portions are reasonably sized, not SUPER-sized.
• Beer is really, really expensive (AU$18.00 for a six pack), and the bottles are 11 ounces, not 12.
• People seem to walk more.
• Less processed food available at the market.

 Of course there is more to it, but it certainly makes one think...

[Standard: electric kettle, press - for tea, not coffee - tea chest.]

 

[Lunch: Artichoke dip, fresh bread, an apple, and Really Good Peanut Butter.  Another day I had THE best pear I have ever eaten, along with carrot-raisin salad and a date scone.]

 [The pastry case at the "Dangerous Kitchen."]

Pies!  Everywhere you can count on pies and what I mean by a "pie" is more like what we would call a "turnover" only it is filled with meat or vegetables or both or fruit or most anything in pretty much any combination you can imagine.  Savory, curried, sweet.  Standard fare both in New Zealand and Australia.  Feeling a bit peckish?  Time for a long black and a pie.

Notice the portion size?  This is my entire meal - a Mediterranean platter with tomatoes, olives, hummus, eggplant dip, and mint chutney with focacia.

We had a fabulous picnic lunch before sea kayaking in Abel-Tasman National Park in New Zealand.  Fresh juice, homemade pastries and sandwiches, apples, and, of course, hot tea.

 Fresh fruit plate that greeted us in our hotel room.  Fabulous!

Beer and Wine:  We had to try quite a bit of both (of course), and I hate to disappoint, but "Foster's" is not Australian for "beer," mate.  It is more likely translated as Australian for "swill that your brother-in-law pissed in, mate."  Yeah.  I was kind of sad to discover that Crocodile Dundee was probably laughing his ass off while he tipped back a pint of XXXX (Four X) beer at the local pub.  Good marketing and all that.  And the GIANT can?!  It's only a rich man's dream.

 [It's a sin to waste beer!]

Wines we tried:

• Devil's Staircase Pinot Noir - Central Otago, NZ
• Mills Reef Merlot/Cabernet - Hawkes Bay, NZ
• Montana South Island Pinot Noir
• Boundary King's Road Pinot Noir
• Riverlands Cabernet Sauvignon - Australia

 [Salad - Yum!]

[ Dessert - beautiful to look at but not an overpowering quantity of food.]

Vegemite versus Marmite:  Okay, Vegemite is the Australian version and Marmite is New Zealand.  They both consist of yeast extract which is loaded with B vitamins.  Yes, they eat Vegemite sandwiches.  I really like the Vegemite but it is quite salty.  Imagine a soy-sauce paste and you've pretty well nailed it. 

This was cereal and toast with Vegemite.  Yup, we really did (and still do), eat it.  It kills me that it is so expensive here, though.  I need a supplier!

Parting shot:  In Australia, "Burger King" is "Hungry Jack's."

Gratuitous Photos of New Zealand

I blogged about our trip to the Islands of New Zealand here, (now is when you would click on the "here" and be whisked magically to my post about New Zealand on my other blog: "Notes From a (Mostly) Dry Place"), but was unable to upload very many pics as the Internet will suck your wallet dry when you're Under Down Under.  So, now, I present some of my fav images of New Zealand.  [Steve and Bri took pics, too, which I will post *soon* - no, really, I will!]

Boat At the National Maritime Museum in Auckland.

Rigging on the Ted Ashby: a Gaff-Rigged Ketch we sailed out on the harbor from the National Maritime Museum.  It's not fast, as it has a flattened keel so that it can readily run aground in shallower waters to offload things such as sheep.  (The keel doesn't make it slow - what makes it slow is that with a flattened keel if it goes fast it goes over! Bye bye, sheep!)

The Red Fence along Quay (pronounced 'kay'), Street in Auckland.  The Royal Family would disembark behind this fence when sailing (or whatever), into the bay.

Sunset on Quay Street in Auckland.

I just thought this was funny - I mean, it's not like there were two lanes to start with.  (On our way to the Whatipu Scientific Reserve on the West Coast of the North Island.)

The venerable Kauri tree: One of the oldest living things on the planet. A conifer, the Kauri can live well in excess of 600 years.  West Coast of the North Island.

Black sand and shell in the Whatipu Scientific Reserve.

Church of the Good Shepherd on the shore of Lake Tekapo. We stopped here on our way from Christchurch to Twizel on the South Island.

Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park on the South Island.  The mountains in this area are rugged and glaciated.  It was quite cold and the wind was howling.  That didn't stop us from hiking to Hooker Glacier Lake in Hooker Valley, as well as Tasman Valley to View Tasman Glacier - the largest glacier in New Zealand. I pretty much wore every warm thing I brought with me, (tights beneath long underwear beneath slacks beneath rain pants and about eight layers on top, plus scarf, hat, gloves, raincoat...), and looked like the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man.  Peeing was not easy.

View out the door of a hut along the way to Hooker Valley.  I don't know if you can tell, but the wind is whipping the grasses.  The hut provided a welcome respite as well as a nice place to leave graffiti.

Tasman Glacier.  It's at the head of the lake and is covered in sediment, so it doesn't look terribly impressive although it is the largest glacier in NZ.  That's a real iceburg floating in the lake formed from the meltwater of the glacier.  The lateral and terminal moraines were cool.

This is an area called "Castle Rocks" west of Christchurch.  We were driving back towards Greymouth from Twizel.  It is so pastoral I wanted to burst into song like Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music!"  I controlled myself but it wasn't easy.

This is "The Blowhole" at Punakaiki.  It's actually quite cool and the photo does not do it justice.  This is along the west coast of the South Island between Greymouth and Westport.  The surf would kind of surge along and then, whoosh! A huge wave would slosh through the blowhole.  Somewhere I have a video of it which I may (or may not) post to YouTube.  I suspect, there is one probably already out there, somewhere, if you really, really want to see it do its thing.

Wooden bench crafted of old oak from a wine barrel and held together with "trunnels" (tree nails).  The craftsman was making the trunnels at the Farmer's Market in Nelson.  It was fascinating to watch and learn how it's done. I really, really, wanted one of his benches.  I'll bet I could pay a small fortune for one in Napa, though.

I'm actually photographing plants that are several feet down in the clearest water on earth at Te Waikoro Pupu Springs.  This was a beautiful and peaceful place.  The unique geology of the area provides for the discharge of the second largest and clearest freshwater spring on the planet (the largest is under the antarctic ice sheet - which I believe I may have mentioned before - but there is nothing like redundancy to make something stick in your head - either that or a naughty rhyme and I'll bet with a name like, "Pupu," some of my friends could come up with all kinds of creative mnemonics!).

This is a tiny part of Golden Bay near Takaka on the South Island.  We were going to try for dinner at the Mussel Inn, but they were not yet serving, so we strolled here for a bit before dining at the "Dangerous Kitchen" in Takaka.  I drove home - my first time driving in New Zealand.  [And who wouldn't like eating at some place in Takaka called the Dangerous Kitchen?  Seriously?]

Shell on the dark sands of Golden Bay.

Sunset on Golden Bay.

Split Apple Rock.  We saw this from the water taxi that took us from Marahau to Bark Bay in Abel Tasman National Park.  We hiked from Bark Bay to Torrent Bay, where the water taxi collected us and took us to meet our kayak guide, Lucky.  We had lunch on the beach and then paddled the sea kayaks back to Marahau.  That was pretty cool.  I had the back seat and got to steer (you work the rudder with your feet).  I'd like to say I was good at it, but that might be a slight exaggeration.  It's harder than it looks to synchronize paddling with the person in the front and my feet kept getting confused over "left" and "right."  You'd think I'd have that ironed out by this time in my life.

On the way back to Marahau, we paddled around Adele's Island and saw seal pups playing along the shore.  They were adorable!  Can you see them looking at me from behind the rocks?  Somewhere on my computer I have a video of that, too.

Barstools at a pub in Wellington on the North Island (capitol city of New Zealand).  I'd like to think that the holes in the center of each stool are for "decorative" purposes.

The Devil's Staircase on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  It was actually pretty nice.  The steps were about like a regular staircase and the rest of the trail was quite smooth.  It was steep but all-in-all not bad.

Red Crater above the Emerald Lakes on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is an active area and there were numerous steaming vents about the area.  From the ridge between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe one can see both the east coast and the west coast of the North Island.

This is Huta Falls, at the headwaters of the Waikato River, which is the longest river in New Zealand.  We stopped here on our way from Marahau to Auckland and along the way had, quite possibly, the worst cup of coffee in the entire country.  At this point, the "long blacks" were starting to take their toll on my innards.  I was treating them like "regular" US of A coffees, and having something like three or four a day.  Bad idea. 

And, so, off to Australia!  I'll be blogging that on "Notes From a (Mostly) Dry Place," [eventually - I've got Sydney in mind after the blog I've already completed on toilet flushing], 'cause, well, it is mostly dry, unless it's the wet and then it's really, really wet!

Deep Dark Secrets of Athletic Performance

So, non-running folks actually don't really give a shit are often curious about the mystique of "carb loading" and the week of "tapering" leading up to a big race.  As I've got nothin' else going on at the moment, I thought I would help dispel the wonder by sharing some of the secrets that make me such an athletic force [and I am so crackin' myself up right now].

After weeks of serious mileage (between 36 and 46), the last couple of weeks I ran fewer miles over fewer days (22 to 30), and thus the tapering.  It can result in a kind of bloated,  "OMG I'm a cow!" kind of feeling. The secret to avoiding this is CROSS-TRAINING.  Use some other muscles.  Some of my favorite cross-training exercises include crunches, push-ups, dancing, karaoke, gardening, vacuuming, and 16-oz curls.  Stretching is very important as well. I like stretching for the TV remote and into the back of the fridge for more beer.

Diet:  Super important.  Want to be lean but build up the supremely important store of glycogen in the muscle tissue so it's there for the big day when stuff goes all anaerobic.  My diet looks something like this:

• breakfast: coffee, (black), sushi, corn chips.
• lunch: depends on what looks like it hasn't developed a fuzzy surface in the back of the fridge:  Applesauce, leftover Easter candy, G2 (electrolytes, baby!), 1/2 a veggie sub from Subway [Hey, free advertising Subway people!]
• dinner:  pizza, pizza, pizza, other half of veggie sub, pizza... [you're totally jealous, now], some sort of twinkie thing (um, two of those, actually), a chocolate muffin, and an entire can of Ranch Pringles.  Yup!  Totally the diet of champions.  The only thing missing was a pudding ring cake.

There you have it.  My super secret carb-loading diet.  I'm going to patent it and become rich and famous.

Other race prep?  How about a massage?  Oh, sure, I know it sounds decadent but all the other athletes are doin' it.  Where's the harm?  So, yes, I had a massage/stretching session with Cassie.  Verra nice. It would've been a tad bit more relaxing if Amy's ring tone for Jerry wasn't, "Now You're Messin' With a Son of a Bitch."

Before the massage session, Amy and I drove to the start area and scoped out the scene.  No one we talked to seemed to know what was going on but we got a good look/see and that'll work.  Then it was off to Jerry's shop where I had a barbecued chicken leg in blue cheese dressing.  [Forgot to mention that above but I might leave it out of my patented diet regime.  It was supposed to be hot but I thought it was more like "spicy chicken wings for pansies."  You want hot?  Come to Phoenix - I'll give you a thigh that will burn the taste-buds off your tongue.]

So, today, was a quick couple of miles and then it's hydration time.  I've been drinking all morning and am now afraid to leave the house.  This is important, though, 'cause ya don't want to start out dehydrated.  I'm not carrying water (the sloshing is *really* annoying), but will rely on the strategically spaced aid stations along the route.  All that remains is picking up my race packet and loading up my butt pack (super sweet mix for my iPod, Gu, lip balm ...).  Been training without my CW-X tights but will be wearin' them tomorrow.  [It's sort of like training for a bike race on a really heavy old bike and then leaping on the carbon fiber model that weighs about six ounces.]

Tomorrow, it's on to, hopefully, a sub-4-hour E-ticket ride.  Nervous?  Yeah, maybe a little bit.  Mostly, I'm just ready to get on with it so I can jubilantly crawl on my hands and knees pump my fists in the air across the finish line where tens of adoring family, friends, law enforcement officials, and local transients will be cheering wildly.

Right now I am working on my very important "visualization" exercises to enhance my performance. "I feel the need... the need for speed!  Go, Dog, Go! Bring It!  It's time to Pump. Me. Up!"  [And, hopefully, I won't trip and fall, 'cause that would, like, totally suck.]

Sybil has left the building...

I know I've been bad about blogging - way busy, lazy, I dunno, but I just haven't been feelin' it.  I did, however, reopen "Notes From a (Mostly) Dry Place" and just put up comment moderation.  I finally figured out that the reason I was being spammed with comments about Viagra was because I had "Ed" as one of my tags (Ed is my painter! NOT "erectile dysfunction!").  I posted over there, today because my topic was a more fitting post for a dry place.  Check it out (no, really, go. now.)

F=ma

I felt fast today.  I don't think I really was but I did my eight miles at marathon pace or better, so that is encouraging, particularly since I was fighting a headwind heading south on my usual 2-mile loop.  Heading back north, with the wind at my back, I felt downright speedy.  I love feeling like I'm going fast.  I wish I could experience that more often.  It was pretty cool when the "This is YOUR Speed" sign was up.  Remember in "The Rookie" where Jimmy Morris (played by Dennis Quaid), throws his fast ball past one of those deals?   Same thing.  It's way fun.  Except, of course, I ran by at maybe eight miles an hour and he was bringing the heat at something like 94.

Things that slow me down:

• negative thoughts
• the smell of food (particularly a problem in the PM when Pei Wei is ramping up on the south end and ZPizza on the north) 
• avoiding dog crap, baby carriages, and the old guy with his basset hound
• cars driving the wrong direction on the one-way streets (I see this every single time I run)
• cars not paying attention so I have to stop and make eye-contact before they mow me down at an intersection
• trucks parked across the sidewalk because they are so huge they can't fit into the driveway
• blue recycling bins on the sidewalk rather than on the street at the curb
• kids on skateboards
• bicycles riding the wrong way down the street on the sidewalk (hey, dumbass, there is a bike lane right there, how about using it?!)
• landscaping crews with their friggin' leaf blowers - that shit goes everywhere and is very dusty
• dumpster divers blowin' out of the alleys with their trucks full of crap
• guys with shopping carts
• daydreaming about the good food smells (I love ZPizza and Pei Wei!)

But - to optimize my speed, a, I need to decrease my mass, m, - between 15 and 20% body fat ought to do it, then I will get better results from a static application of force, F - at least that's how I've got it all figured out in my head. 

Right now I'm first in my age group for the AZ Road Racers Grand Prix, and my last 10K I placed 2nd in my age group - earning a silver medal - but I really, really want to qualify for, and run, the Boston marathon. Five minutes and 25 seconds faster over 26 miles 385 yards is what I need to do to get 'er done.  That's totally do-able.

So, work on m and cross-train to maximize F and I'm good to go!  Maybe some new super sweet tights and other running swag would help, too!  You never know!

I'm all in black - the only runner that looks cold.  What's up with that?

Up Over, Down Under, Wherever We May Be...

Where did March go?  No, really?  Last thing I remember it was Home Tour and now I'm looking at April 1st looming in my headlights.  This is good and tragic.  Good, because eventually Steve and I will be on the same continent; tragic, because I had to get up extra early and finish the damn taxes and I have a work project that is seriously making me question my sanity and worse, still, the BevMo! five-cent sale is over! 

Had a lovely blind wine tasting to Celebrate Andy's birthday.  Diane and I had a great time planning the flight (red) and then sampling our selections while our guests attempted to determine which wine was which (with the winners earning fabulous prizes!).  Since we knew which wine was which, we were able to avoid the "two buck chuck!" ha!

 This is Buddy.  I love Buddy!  He is one of the coolest cats!

I spent about a week in Kingman, doing some water sampling.  Stayed at the new Holiday Inn Express, which is quite nice.  It was a good gig and on the drive up I saw the Oscar Meyer Wiener-mobile!

Driving through the desert.  It was quite green and beautiful.

It's the Wiener-mobile!  Not terribly aerodynamic but fun to look at.

Water in the Hassayampa.  You don't see that very often!

Lady Banks in bloom.  The yard smells incredible right now.

Meanwhile, at the antipode:

Steve took a holiday to Sydney.  Contrary to popular belief, the roof is not designed to look like "sails" in the harbor; it is actually sections of a sphere.

The surf at Agnes Water.  Lovely!

Those blurs are mozzies (mosquitoes), hovering around Steve's butt which is saturated in bug repellent.  That part doesn't look very fun.

Not a terribly inspired post but ya gotta start somewhere!