Blame it on the rain

A couple of weeks ago I saw a trail run posted on my schedule and I pinged Jo Lynn about taking me out to a new trail.  I had to twist her arm pretty hard, but she penciled me in.

Well, yesterday was the day!  I woke up, pulled the blinds open expecting to see some sunshine, and saw the trees waving back and forth.  And a gray sky.  Hm, not exactly what I had in mind, but maybe it would clear up by the time Jo Lynn got off work.  No such luck.  In fact there were even sprinkles coming down.  Never fear!  We didn't let a little thing like rain and wind stop *us*.  No sir.  But it didn't hurt that she sent me a message that we'd be protected pretty well the whole time. 

We drove up to Oakland and the five of us (me and Jo, plus her friend Lori, plus two dogs, Boomer and Mikey) hit the trails.  Bam would have loved it, and if we were hiking she would have come along for sure.  Poor old girl just can't run much any more.  And if I try to run her, she ends up limping and stiffened up for the rest of the day. So she stayed home and would get her exercise as soon as I got back from mine.

Protected trails.  Yep, they sure were. By the likes of this!  (Photos blatantly stolen from JoLynn's blog.  And you'll notice I did *not* steal the one taken from behind of me running up the hill.  No one needs to see that.)

There were a *few* muddy spots, but for the most part the trail was in great shape.  Very beautiful run and so peaceful.  Well, except for the three of us yakking away. :)   I rolled my ankle once, but it seemed to bounce right back and just reminded me to watch where I was going.  I do tend to be slightly less than graceful. I can tell I'm in no kind of trail running shape though, as my ankles feel like they've been stretched in ways they aren't used to.  The uneven terrain just takes some getting used to.  The legs feel decent tho, despite the sometimes steep hills.

On Sunday, I was *supposed* to have had my cupcake decorating class.  But earlier in the week we received an invitation from a friend to head up to Infineon Raceway, and of course couldn't pass that up.  So I called and postponed my cupcake class while it was still early enough to not forfeit my entry fee.  Then on Sunday, in typical Murphy's Law fashion, just as we were driving off to head up there I got a message from my friend that the event was being canceled due to the rain storm. So, no track time and no cupcakes.   Damn rain.

Since I still needed to find a dress for my cousins wedding next month, we hit the mall to grab some lunch and shop.  First stop, Cheesecake Factory.  Where there was an *amazing* looking limited edition cake staring at me from the case.  A red velvet cheesecake.  Layers of red velvet, layers of cheesecake, cream cheese frosting.  Oh.Man.  I do love me some red velvet.  Luckily, or sadly, depending on how you look at it, they now post the calorie content of pretty much everything.  And while I knew it had to be bad, I was shocked to see that the cake had 1500+ calories.  No.  Not the *whole* cake.  A slice of the cake.  I had to pass it up.  After all, I have a sprint race coming up and I can't be weighed down by that cake!  After the race is another story.

Next stop....Apple store to ogle and paw the iPad.  The worst part is that I think we're going to have to buy two.  Jeff says he wants to have one for books and I know us well enough to realize that sharing won't really be an option.  No iPad yet though, as the store was sold out.  We did eventually make it to buy my dress.  It needs some slight alteration, but should work out just fine.  Maybe I should wait for the tailoring until after the next trip to The Cheesecake Factory.  You know.  Just in case.