Catching Up (7.24 - 8.07)

I seem to have lost all motivation to blog, but I know that the longer I go without posting the harder it will be to get back into it, so here's an update in somewhat bullet form of what we've been up to during the last 2 weeks, including two short race reports.

San Francisco Half Marathon (1st Half) on 7/29 - This was HM #16 and the first race in my new city. There was no PR and I barely finished in 2:30, but I got it done. It was really challenging, both physically and mentally. The lack of sunshine, due to the foggy and rainy weather, the relentless hills, and racing alone (Jason started a whole hour before me) made it hard to stay motivated.  I'll try to write a full race report with those details later, but this and DM will have to do for now. I'll probably run the 2nd half next year so I can get the extra medal, but since I'm not a fan of big races (13K+) I'm not sure. See map, elevation, and official results on dailymile.

City and Muir Woods Tour - The day after the race, we went on this 8-hour tour with Jason's parents that were visiting, and I used this iPhone app called MobilyTrip to capture it. Probably not the best way to recover from a hard race, but it was a lot of fun. It was a great way to see highlights of our new city and we'll be going back to Muir Woods for a longer hike. Check out my MobiliyTrip journal for photos and details about the tour.

New Home - The craziness and challenges of moving across the country continue, but at least we finally moved into our permanent home in the Marina on Saturday. We absolutely love the neighborhood and how close we are to a National Park and other cool attractions. Our stuff, including  furniture and kitchen stuff, will not be here for another week or two, but we have a new bed and mattress, and some basics to get use through. Let me tell you though, it's hard as hell peeling and cutting potatoes with a small steak knife, and I'm having to get really creative when cooking because all we have is a 10" cast iron skillet and 9 x 13 baking pan. So if you have recipe ideas that only require those two cooking vessels, please comment!

Presidio Cross Country 5K - 2nd race in SF and it went much better than the half. This was my first trail race and I had so much fun! Despite my pace being slower than at the half, I ran a better race and focused on enjoying running and it made all the difference. And to think I almost didn't even go, but thankfully Jason made me. Now I'm hooked on trail running =) See more details and official results on dailymile. After the race and some errands, we enjoyed our new neighborhood with a friend. It was the perfect day.

Presidio Hike - Last night we went on our first hike in the Presidio, the national park right next door. It was short, but it didn't lack in terrain and elevation changes. I'm so excited to do more of these in the future, and I plan to do a similar run there tomorrow. See map, elevation and details on dailymile.

So that's it. We're all caught up now and I'll try to post more regularly so I don't have to do catch up posts like these in the future. How's everyone doing back in Orlando? Miss you!