Sandwich Lovin'

Let me lay this out for you.

I love food. I adore food. Especially sugar food. And donuts.

Mmm. Donuts.

It's one of the many reasons I run. I'm not sure why I love food sugar so much, but I do.

I'm not even particularly picky. Though I know what foods are good for me, good to me, and so not worth it. Raisin Bran is so not worth it. Ice cream and goat cheese are worth it on occasion, but my lactose intolerance doesn't like them a whole lot.

Today was one of those days that goat cheese was so worth it.

Another thing you should know about me is that I'm not a big sandwich person. Nothing wrong with 'em, they're just not my first choice. However, there is one sandwich in the world that I would knock down, drag out, sucker punch for.

Toasted Brio bread, fresh tomato, organic homegrown basil (fresh out of the garden, no less!), local chevre, extra virgin olive oil, balsalmic vinegar and a dash of salt and pepper. Add turkey to that if you've got it and I will hunt you down and eat your sandwich. The vegetarian version is just as delectable though.

Are you drooling yet?

Ciao,
kc

TODAY: 60 minute Fartlek run — 15 minute warm up, 10 reps of 2 minutes swift running with 1 minute light jog, 15 minute cool down + Strength and Conditioning
SATURDAY (8/28): 3 miles

Confessions of a Fashionista

I can't help myself. I have to present the best news first.

Eeeeeee! I cannot help but be shrill with thrill. My aunt introduced me to her favorite haunt in Walnut Creek, Labels, a designer consignment store. We walked in and were confronted by a wall of shoes. Prada, Blahnik, Gucci, Coach, Vesace, Loubiton...sigh. I didn't have myself pegged as a label sort of girl, but one has a hard time not drooling over deliciously soft leather tooled in Italia at more reasonable prices than the original label.

For instance, these delightfully drool-worthy babies are Versace leather pumps that run in the $1,000- to $2,000-range were a highly attainable $75.

And please, don't judge. I'm not the kind of girl to normally drop that kind of dough on a pair of shoes (other than running shoes, that is), but I just couldn't say no! Not this time...

Next on the list. A little fun "beach sheik."

Green tank: Kohl's, $5. Grey lace tank: Abercrombie & Fitch sale rack, $14.99 (first and last time I will ever go there). Denim shorts: Target, $15.99. Gold charm necklace (60"): borrowed.

Sorry about the picture quality, by the way. Cell phone camera. A little touseled hair, a fun gold necklace. Fun stuff!

Moving on.

This weekend I got to spend with my grandmother (along with various and sundry aunts, uncles, and cousins). This is the woman who gives my mother and I those phenomenal cooking genes.

Nana in her kitchen.

Wonton soup bubbling on the stove (for what, we're still not sure), fresh herbs from Nana's garden.

She watches cooking shows, mixes up fabulous things and as the cranky matron of our family, imperiously directs people in her kitchen. Sigh. Apparently, she's running her caretaker ragged and cuts out recipes from the newspaper every morning for her to make.

This was lunch at Nana's, whipped up my my other aunt. Watermelon soup (yum yum yum!), and puposas (cheese stuffed tortillas) with homemade avocado salsa (not guacamole). So delicious!

So, as I have no more words today, I'll leave it this and let you drool over pictures worth a thousand words.

Ciao,
kc

We will rock you

So apparently the brutality on my body of the half-marathon I ran last weekend was not quite enough for me. I felt like I needed a bit more.

photo courtesy of www.upa.org

Call it "cross training" if you will, as it certainly uses muscles that the nice, easy, forward motion of running does not.

I spent the weekend braving wet grass, collisions, fog and then enjoying a little bit of sun playing ultimate frisbee in a local tournament.

For those of you who have not experienced ultimate and the culture that surrounds it, I highly recommend it, though be prepared to be surprised. While deadly serious on the field, ultimate players are a raucous, rowdy, screaming, yelling, heckling, cheering, ranting, dancing, brawling, laughing crowd on the sidelines. It's literally two worlds, inexplicably and rather seamlessly melded into one as most of the noise on the sidelines is directed towards the players on the field and everyone — on field and off — is participating with heart and soul.

Largely inappropriate for children or the faint of heart, it's thrilling to be a part of the beast. Get down with it, or get lost, but if you're down with us, we're down with you without pause for your race, face, creed or greed. If you can handle a disc and be one with the dirt, you rock our world and that's just fine.

And by one with the dirt, for those of you who don't know, I mean be willing to eat it hard, twist, dodge, scramble, stretch with everything you've got to keep that spinning wheel of plastic from hitting the ground.

For a brief, here's ultimate in 10 simple rules from the Ultimate Players Association (UPA):

ULTIMATE IN 10 SIMPLE RULES

1. The Field: A rectangular shape with end zones at each end. A regulation field is 70 yards by 40 yards, with end zones 25 yards deep.
2. Initiate Play: Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their respective end zone line. The defense throws ("pulls") the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.
3. Scoring: Each time the offense completes a pass in the defense's end zone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score.
4. Movement of the Disc: The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run with the disc. The person with the disc ("thrower") has ten seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower ("marker") counts out the stall count.
5. Change of Possession: When a pass is not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception), the defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.
6. Substitutions: Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury timeout.
7. Non-contact: No physical contact is allowed between players. Picks and screens are also prohibited. A foul occurs when contact is made.
8. Fouls: When a player initiates contact on another player a foul occurs. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
9. Self-Officiating: Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
10. Spirit of the Game: Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.

So that's what I did this weekend. WHAT DID YOU DO?

Muscles that I didn't remember I had are aching and my head still throbs slightly when I move too quickly, courtesy of the minor concussion I managed by a bid for the disc. The important thing you should know about ultimate injuries though can be explained by the following:

I caught the disc.

I got up and finished the point.

We scored the point.

Therefore, the concussion was worth it.

Seems crazy, but that's the way it is. If you can run or walk it off, we tend to. If you made an epic bid (which I did) and caught it, it was worth it. And if we can get up and keep playing, we do. Scary really.

Oh! One more thing: the best part about running like I do now is that I recover more quickly in ultimate. I've never had the endurance to finish 3 games in one day and still feel like I could keep playing, but this weekend I did. Unfortunately, it means you're a great deal more sore the next day...

Ciao for now,
kc

SUNDAY: 1.25 games of ultimate (I banged my head rather early during the second game)
SATURDAY: 3 games of ultimate (10 AM to 5 PM with 20 - 40 minute breaks between games)
FRIDAY (8/19): 3 mile hill run (fast!)
WEDNESDAY (8/18): 3 mile easy hill run
TUESDAY (8/17): 5 miles, flat recovery

Be Delicious

I don't quite understand it, but there's something distinctly delicious about wearing a negligee in public and having it be perfectly appropriate.

And I'm not talking about white trash tramps who wear them on a daily basis, or Ho-lloween hookers zipped and squeezed from here to there in pleather, plastic, and corseting with nothing but fishnets on bottom.

I'm talking about perfectly respectable business attire.

A cream-colored, soft, satin slip — perfect for a coy coupling — tucked brazenly into neatly tailored caramel-cotton slacks. Paired with a necklace or two, demure bun, and completed with a jacket. Hey, if a model can do it, why can't I?

 Jacket: Elle for Kohl's, clearance $10.99; Satin cream-colored negligee: Victoria's Secret, $30; Slacks: Elle for Kohl's, clearance $8.80; camel peep-toe pumps: Elle for Kohl's, $39.99; Necklace: thrifted.

Ciao,
kc

Please Try Again

There's nothing quite like being completely humbled in the face of what you have chosen to do for a living by someone who has done it so much longer than you have. I don't get humbled by artwork done by artists still living very often. It's a vanity to say so, but I'd be lying if it wasn't true. It's not very often that I see a piece and am completely unable to say, "With a little work and effort, I could do that."

A lot of people cannot do what I do. I know this. Again, it's a vain statement, but it's true. Everyone could learn to do what I do and become moderately adept at the least, but most choose not to. It's time consuming, passionate, and frustrating.

Art is like the best and worst relationship you have ever had rolled into one without the perks of getting laid.

It makes you scream, it makes you cry, it makes you laugh, it makes you glow — and you can never ever walk away once you're hooked.

It's kind of like running in that way. Although with running, you don't walk just based upon the mere concept. After all, it's running.

I work with Robbie Jarvis, the artist Jarvis Lamoreux, building his website. To my recollection, I've never seen his work in person until today. While he is mildly eccentric, and 100% enthusiastic about the wonders of web work, I found it difficult to get really attached to any of his work — it's all abstract (not so much my thing), and via digital photo simply abstract.

Don't get me wrong, abstract — true abstract, that is, not the crap where someone's painted a canvas blue and called it "art" — is hard and I have a great deal of respect for people who can do abstract.

Robbie's work is simply abstract, that is until you are with the piece in person standing four feet away and breathtaken by the sheer intricacies involved with the medium, stroke, and tiny tiny detail of these huge works of art that a camera simply cannot begin to capture.

When building his website, this piece was my favorite, hands down.

Nobody Nose
122cm x 122cm, ©1974, oil on canvas

Do the math, this piece is roughly 60 inches by 60 inches, or 5 feet by 5 feet. Overwhelming, but in real life this piece is probably the least impressive piece. Its almost a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) piece when translated into a digital photo. Still incredible, but nothing overly spectacular in the way of detail.

This piece, however, takes on a whole new world of being in person.

Clown Mine
132cm x 147cm, ©1993, acrylic on canvas

There is an iridescence in the paint, minute detail behind the stripes on the left (which are shimmery and pearlescent), a crispness in the hand-blocked lines that only a true master could hope to accomplish.

This piece (below) looks harsh and rather garish — and not to my liking — digitally.

 New York Vibes In The Lower East Brain
168cm x 203cm, ©1971, oil on canvas

It's huge in reality, and the contrast between the true blue and bright red is phenomenal. I cannot even begin to describe the impact it had on me when I was standing not ten feet away.

Actually, I can.

I backed into a glass side table decorated with a few potted cactuses and knocked it over — riddling my thumb with cactus spines when I attempted to clean it up without taking my eyes off the painting. Rather embarrassing, really.

In comparison, my artwork is paltry, amateurish, and infantile. The work of Jarvis Lamoreux simply breathes "master" when you see it. That is the entire focus of my mind today, and I cannot begin to imagine being able to do that.

Here I was thinking I was a good artist. I'll let you know in thirty years.

TODAY: 5 miles

Cool Running

I ran my half-marathon and finished vertically AND with a 9:46-minute-mile average: 2 hours and 7 minutes. Very exciting.

Even better, it was if my cold was magically cured by the race!

This is my "I ran that first mile really really really fast!" face, as I did and was feeling a little out of my league at this point. Luckily, my boyfriend and my lovely friend brough cowbell and cheering along the way — and my lovely friend and her roommate got me that sexy Nike running tank that makes me look all fast and, well, sexy.

Anyways, busy busy busy today, more updates tomorrow!

Ciao,
kc

SATURDAY: 13 miles!
THURSDAY (8/12): 3.4 mile jog/walk — mostly walk

The Magpie Effect

When I'm given certain phrases or words, I treat them like any magpie would with a shiny object — or any animal really I suppose. I turn them over and over, taste them, listen to them, eye them, test their durability, and on and on.

To the passerby, they're innocuous.

"You wouldn't have to drag me."

"I'll drive around until I find the perfect place."

To me, they're worth more than gold. They're treasures that I store away to fish out when I need a pick me up. I decorate the nest in my mind with them, until it's shiny and glittering with those happy thoughts.

I'm sorry, but I can't explain them any more than that, you'll just have to take away what you will from what I've given you. Like anything in life, explanation cheapens it. Turning them over in my own mind wears away the edges a bit, but true explanation gives them to the harsh eyes of others and snatches the special bits clean away.