Hey! Over Here!

Yoo-hoo! I'm back. Didja miss me?!

Don't answer that.

I've been crazy busy with my new job, but I wanted to post a few photos from Thanksgiving, when Jeanne and NOD flew all the way from Washington, D.C., to have turkey dinner with us and E.'s family in northern California, then spend a lovely weekend at our new house in Tahoe.

So here are several choice pix. The first is of the drive from Tahoe on I-80 back to the Bay Area, where E. and I dropped off Jeanne and D. What a beautiful sunset! I believe we just passed Donner Pass. Yes, that Donner.

(Jeanne, you'll get lots of sunset and other photos from me when I download them on Flickr tomorrow.)

The second is of Jeanne, I, and assorted family members at the dinner table on Thanksgiving. The remaining photos are of us the day after Thanksgiving, on me and E.'s favorite short Tahoe hike. It's a 3-mile hike (1.5 mile incline, 1.5 mile decline) to Eagle Lake.

Oh, and in the spirit of the recent NaBloPoMo, I've decided to do my own version, albeit a month later. Given my schedule and travel plans (I'm going to Hawaii on Friday to run the Honolulu Marathon!), I won't have time to post daily on this blogeroo. But I can post every other day.

Gives me a goal.

And, you know, I'm all about goals.

Grin and Bear it

I'm back.

It's been another fun-filled week here in Bexville.

Well. Kind of.

Thanksgiving - remember that? Only a week ago, but now just a faint memory with a slight aftertaste of cranberry sauce.

First, a 5-mile Turkey Trot that E. and I ran, though I as a bandit (and in a race sponsored by my local running club!). Then saw "Corteo," a whimsical, beautifully stunning, and acrobatic show by Cirque du Soleil (the photo is of me mugging in Cirque's shop during intermission). Capped the day with a yummy turkey dinner and homemade pumpkin pie at a friend's house.

Blitzkrieg trip to the Big Apple: But all of that holiday goodness dissipated on Monday at 4:12 p.m. That's when The Powers That Be said I must go to New York City immediately for a story. Aaaaargh. So much for a relaxing evening, not to mention my scheduled 6-mile tempo run.

Scrambled for train and hotel reservations. Caught the 8:30 p.m. train to Penn Station. Arrived at midnight. Crashed to a honking cacaphony of taxis 26 floors below. From 7:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. the next day, as holiday tourists thronged Times Square a few blocks away, I gripped and grinned and interviewed lots of middle-aged folks in dark suits, and took notes at the rawther tony Princeton Club.

Afterwards, famished, stumbled into a Japanese restaurant and ate what must have been a whole school of fish. Caught the 8:15 p.m. Acela train to Washington, arriving home at 11:20 p.m.

The rest of the week has also been kind of like that. You know, busy as hell. So that's why, dear readers, I have not been around lately.

Running update: I did manage to squeeze in an abbreviated speed workout on the treadmill on Wednesday night. 2 X 1600, then 2 X 800 at 7:30/mile pace, with a quarter-mile jog in between repetitions. My lungs hurt afterwards. Gotta do more speed workouts.

On Thursday, it was too dark to run outside, and I didn't have any reflective gear, besides. So I logged 75 minutes on a stationery bike, my quads burning through 25 miles. Let's call that equivalent to about 8 miles or so of running.

Next time: My marathon DVD of the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon finally arrives. I laugh. I cry. But mostly, I wonder, "Where the hell am I?!"