Run, Lucy, Run

Back Home

Back at home and severely jet-lagged.  As soon as I wake up I will post some pics from Sicily which was AMAZING!  And at some point maybe I”ll start talking about running again… : )

1 comment February 28th, 2006

Vienna, part II

We leave Vienna today, and sadly, I didn’t get to explore as much as I would have liked. Our schedule wasn’t terribly busy here but I’ve still been fighting the jet-lag. I did walk around and take some pictures the afternoon before our concert-the architecture is really impressive. Lots and lots of beautiful, old buildings. The building in the picture above is the Musikverein, where the Vienna Philharmonic performs. We played at a different hall right across the street, the Konzerthaus, which I never managed to get a picture of. It was also very beautiful.

It is exciting as a musician to be in Vienna, there is so much musical history here. Since this year is the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, there is Mozart paraphenilia everywhere. Posters, plates, mugs, chocolate, you name it. We didn’t play Mozart though, only Frank Zappa.

Scroll down for more pics!

4 comments February 22nd, 2006

I was a bit dismayed to see a Starbuck’s in Vienna, a city so famous for its coffee. I guess there’s just no escape from chains!

Add comment February 22nd, 2006

Our conductor, Kristjan threw a party for us last night at his apartment. These guys started playing halfway through the evening, they were pretty fun.

2 comments February 22nd, 2006

And….

…this is what Lucy and her friend Stella have been up to in my absence. Bad dogs! (click the picture for a little more info)

3 comments February 19th, 2006

Vienna

I’m here!  So far, Vienna has been a blur.  I have been so jet-lagged (9 hour time difference) that I haven’t done much of anything yet.  We have rehearsals today and our first concert tomorrow night at the Konzerthaus.   The best news for today was that my luggage finally arrived, a full 24 hours after I did.  Sounds weird, but somehow I had a feeling I was going to be parted from my luggage on this trip so I was smart enough to pack my music for rehearsal in my carry-on.   The stupid cold I had last week is still lingering (mostly just the cough) so I haven’t yet explored my treadmill options.  Actually, there is a beautiful pool at the hotel but of course I didn’t bring my suit.  Vienna in February just didn’t bring lying by the pool to mind, I guess.  I’ll try and post some pictures soon.  Auf Wiedersehn!

Add comment February 19th, 2006

Turning the corner….

Thanks so much to everyone for their well wishing comments. I am finally starting to feel a little better. No more fever and I can breathe through my nose (a major triumph, let me tell you) although I still have the hacking cough. Anyway, thanks for all the support. Looks like I won’t have to try that leeching after all.

Unfortunately, this cold really threw my schedule into a tailspin. Although I didn’t end up missing any work, this was supposed to be a week full of lots of running and learning lots of music before I leave town at the end of the week. Neither of those things happened, so tomorrow I will have to play major catch-up. Probably not with the running though, I think that may take a few more days-my lungs are still a mess.

So, on Friday I get on a plane and fly to Vienna! A group that I play in is doing two concerts in Vienna (we are there for about a week) and then we go to Sicily for three days. Vienna will be great, I’m sure (albeit cold), but I am really excited about Sicily. We have one whole day free in Catania so I am hoping to see as much as I can and eat as much as I can. I’ve heard the food is great there, it sounds like heaven. I am going to bring my running stuff and hope that there is a treadmill in the hotel. We usually stay in pretty nice places, so hopefully there will be one. And if not, I ‘ll consider three days in Sicily one big carbo-load and come home and run it off. That works, right?

5 comments February 14th, 2006

Still Sick

I would like to use the above picture to illustrate how I feel today. Now, add to that a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol, about 2 gallons of herbal tea and soup and a generally poor outlook on life and you will have my present situation.

This cold is KICKING. MY. ASS. I have done nothing for the last 48 hours other than sit in our living room and watch bad TV. I even watched Cosby show reruns from the later seasons, you know, when the kids had grown up and none of them were cute anymore-this is how low I have reached. Someone, please stop the screaming.

7 comments February 10th, 2006

Sick

I am sick. Blech. It hit me like a ton of bricks on Monday night about halfway through my concert. That was the end of a 12 hour workday, so no real surprise that I ended up feeling crappy. Unfortunately, I have been working pretty solid since then so not much time for recovery, but lots of time for snot-nose whining and complaining. Poor Brian, what did you marry into? The tuberculosis cough that I am so famous for is almost in full bloom which means no sleep for anyone. And poor Lucy gets no walk today, since I get winded just getting out of bed.

So, no Chinatown 5K for me this weekend. And they have super cool Year of the Dog t-shirts too! Oh well….time to go back to bed. I’m exhausted.

3 comments February 9th, 2006

My Redondo Beach Report

So, here is the inevitable race recap post. I’ll start with the important stuff-my time. Unfortunately, I have to admit that today I ran my slowest 5K time ever (36:00-ouch!), but I will make this excuse: this course was SO HILLY. At least it was for me, far hillier than any other race I’ve run (all two of them). Needless to say, it slowed me down quite a bit and my dreams of breaking a half hour still remain unfulfilled. But, the best thing about today’s race was running it with Brian. He was great, super supportive and pleasantly deaf to my whining.

Sadly, it is possible I could have run a better race today. I learned a few valuable lessons:

1. We definitely should have gotten there earlier. More on this later, but had I not been sprinting around for 10 minutes before the start trying to get my bib, I may have had more energy for the actual race.
2. Check the weather report, for the love of god. Yes, we live in Southern California and the weather is relatively the same every, single, freakin’ day, but had I known it was going to be in the mid 70’s today, I would not have been overdressed and overheated.
3. I need to work on running f***ing hills.
4. If you see a woman running, wearing only a skinny strap tank top with no sports bra and actually, not even any kind of bra, and everything is standing straight up at attention and not slamming her in the chin, chances are her boobs are fake. (This really has nothing to do with me running a better race, but I feel it is a valuable lesson, nonetheless.)

So, yes, we got there a little late, mostly because of my bad directions, but here’s the thing: It really was not a very well organized race, in my humble opinion. After we parked, we had to walk a good half mile to get to the starting line, and then we were channelled into a narrow pathway where foot traffic slowed down almost to a stop. There were a ton of people, and it seemed like there was nowhere for them to all go. Once we got through the throngs, I was in a panic, afraid we were going to miss the whole damn thing. We finally got our bibs, and even our shirts (I had to run with mine tied around my waist, adding to the overdressing issue) and followed the crowds to what we thought would be the starting line. About halfway there, a volunteer turned us all around and said we were going the wrong way. I panicked some more, Brian calmed me down, and we booked it in the other direction. By the time we finally got there, I was sweating like a pig and completely thirsty. So, not my greatest, freshest start ever, but….lessons learned.

The race itself was fine (but HILLY, did I mention that?). My favorite part was the group of guys dressed up as super heroes, running with a boombox playing 70’s music with their dog dressed as Superman. Superman, about a half mile in, decided to stop for a poop in the middle of the road and all his superhero friends had to stop to clean it up. It was pretty funny. Had I know it was a dog friendly race, Lucy would have been there, sniffing Superman’s behind. Sorry, girl. The only other aggravation was at the end of our race when it seemed like we were stuck in our chute for an eternity. I haven’t run a whole lot of races, so maybe it is always like that. After about 10 minutes of that I felt my claustrophobia begin to rear its ugly head, so Brian gave me some space to freak out. Kind of him, really, I think that’s one of the keys to a good marriage.

All in all, it was a good day. I am definitely motivated to do more races now, I would love to find a nice flat 5K and work on improving my time. There’s one in Chinatown next weekend that I have my eye on, but we’ll see. Right now, I’m just glad I was able to get through this one with my legs feeling good and my chest not exploding. Who says I can’t appreciate the little things in life?

2 comments February 5th, 2006