March 27, 2010 Reconfigure

Got sick so I'll run 5k.

Palabras para Hoy - 20 de marzo

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
~ Nina Simone

My knees feel so much better than 24 hours or even 48 hours ago.
As I run, I get stronger. Period.

Sunday I ran out and in two weeks I could make it to the Mormon Temple.

That's amazing. Midway through the run I was close to Corpus Christi Curch so I stood in the back in the family area where pandemonium ensued with toddlers walking about or signaling back and forth and families looking excited or harried, depending on which parent was on duty.

I made it for the 1st, 2nd, and Gospel readings and then stretched again before heading back for home. Lovely church, diverse church. It's been awhile since I've encountered a black priest. The homes in the upper Park District are lovely.

Then Mitzi came over to help pimpear mi casa. By April 1st it will be presentable and I will have a gathering...brunch, lunch, something.

Today feels calmer than it has in awhile. Tomorrow I'll start getting some answers I need. Work is going well. I hear good things from my mom. And this morning's rain was a lovely reminder that global warming hasn't finished us yet. Someone's paying attention to the news. Americans are beginning to ask key questions of their leaders and are averaging 29 hours of television viewing a week. Whoah. (I'm about 29 hours behind the curb. Yikes.)

So as Nina Simone sang, I'm feeling good.

Run/Walk - 1 Hour+

I am RULER of Park Avenue!

Heh, tonight after my mind was blown away by the content and performances in The Last King of Scotland, Christine dropped me back off at home and I ran.

After seeing the sociopath dictator Amin cast his sunshine on some of his subjects and his shadow on others, I needed to clear my head.

Earlier in the run I chose some happy, Brazilian tracks to lighten my step. To my surprise I was crossing over 580 sooner than I had anticipated and with less gravity pulling my legs down.

My thighs are still ample and I feel them jiggling beneath me with a little extra ripple with each step, but my strength is increasing. I am not as winded as I have been earlier in the program.

I ran further up Park Avenue. The view of Oakland was amazing and I got closer to the Mormon temple. Not sure what that means.

On the way back I ran out further so I could listen to more music. As I crossed the small bridge over 580 I saw my shadow large against the freeway.

That felt powerful.

Today feels okay. My aunt, sister, and mami were together in mami's new apartment. I had an accupuncture appointment, and had the day off. Christine came over with dinner and the we filled our brains with The Last King of Scotland.

Malaise has gone underground again.

Palabras para Hoy 6 de Marzo, 2007

I always loved running... it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
~Jesse Owens

I am no Jesse Owens...

So I changed out of my smart teaching clothes yesterday and put on some old sweats. I was going to do my running along the Alameda Beach. Endorphins, I have been told, keep the General Malaise at bay.

My thighs burn from Saturday's run and they had been burning since my Ash Wednesday run. The Arnica montana gel has been a temporary help. Last night's tiger balm switched my concern from the burning sensation to the cooling sensation that prevented me from sleeping for a good 40 minutes.

But I did it. I sustained 2 segments of 5 minute walk, 15 minute jog.

On flat land on a beach it was certainly easier than running eastward and up into the hills of Oakland. I counted my minutes with music. So much easier with music. My makeshift fanny pack consisted of a shirt tied about my waist and a little toiletry bag with a zipper that held my car keys and the iPod Mini (silver).

I started at the south end of Alameda Beach, just south of the bowling alley and made it just a touch past the northern part of the beach, before it heads into the park and back in 30 minutes. I walked as a cool down toward the end and walked into a neighborhood of homes that were well kept and filled with families I didn't know.

In less than 5 months I will run across the Golden Gate Bridge.

General Malaise be damned.

Draw Blood, Get Adjusted

Gah.

This morning I met up with the marathon group at 6:05 am. 5 minutes late. I knew if I drove the right way along Lake Merritt that I would catch them. I did.

Yay.

I came over the bridge last night on time for my 6:30 acupuncturist appointment number 2. She asked me what had been going on since our last visit. I noted my headaches hadn't been as frequent and I haven't been craving carbs and sweets as much until this week. And I wanted to retool 7th grade so that it's a year of kinetic learning because they do not have a propensity for sitting down and focusing much on anything.

This time I lay on my back and she started tapping the needles, first at my feet. She continued up my lower legs, the fleshy part of my hands, and finished on the very top of my head.

I lay there under a blanket and thought about the nerve trees extending somewhere beneath my skin stimulated by these very thin needles. Very, very thin needles.

I tried to think of the impulses in relation to water: streams and tributaries. Were these needles acting like dams or locks distributing impulses elsewhere? Did I feel a pulsation? Did my left arm just jerk without my willing it? I fell asleep to the sound of the ocean and the white noise of traffic outside and far away somewhere.

She woke me and then I dressed and made my next appointment. This time I lost a little blood. My right hand had a little drop of deep, red blood from the needle. I licked it quickly and it was gone. That particular nerve still smarted this morning.

After my appointment I was RAVENOUS (as I had been all day. I noshed on organic cherry tomatoes, cranberry water, spicy lemonade, tamari crackers and organic peanut butter, quinoa and chicken and roasted bell peppers), and debated between the comfort of palak paneer or shredded tofu from Spices III. Spices III was closer and cheaper, so off I went to purchase my snackie.

Then off for home. It was still before 8 pm and I needed a wind down to wake in time for this morning's training session. I managed to call Mr. Mike and get an update on his house renovations and the kayak report from the past weekend. I then shared how happy I was to be reunited with Jane and the organic chocolate spread I discovered at 111 Minna's Strawberry and Bacon celebration from Saturday night. Always good to catch up with friends.

9 pm. About 30 minutes past bedtime.

3 am I shot up in bed, unable to sleep and echoing "Sexy Back" in my brain. Jesus.

So I picked up Persepolis sitting next to me. My boss lent me this graphic novel. It's a young woman's account of growing up in Tehran during the revolution. It's great. I ate it up in 3 nights of reading when I couldn't fall asleep.

Marjane Satrapi illustrates and writes in such an easy style and yet tackles really intense subject matter. Her accounts of underground youth culture despite the war is pretty hilarious. Reading about her take on boys mimicking Rod Stewart's hair and her rocking out to Iron Maiden and Kim Wilde was a ride back to to the past...

I was in 2nd grade when the revolution was going down. I was in Sr. Paul's 2nd grade class in Saint Anthony's of Padua Elementary School, Endicott, NY. I remember the grainy images on NBC while Tom Brokaw delivered the news. Men and women with sacks over their heads. The Ayotollah was mentioned. The American captives were mentioned. I had no idea what it was about. I had no idea Iran and Iraq were warring.

This book gives a frank account of what was going on on the inside.

Funny how history repeats itself.

It mirrors what seems to have happened in Afghanistan recently - theocratic regime peeling away the rights of people to practice or not practice their faiths. And how I am experiencing my own democracy over the last 6 or so years. Fear being used as motivation to control and to maintain my security.

Madness.