Chronicle Wine Festival

The San Francisco Chronicle hosts a wine competition each year and follows it with a tasting event a few weeks later where wineries can show off any awards they may have won. I've gone three of the four years I've lived in the city, this year being the third. Julie, Jamie, Vanessa and I enjoyed an afternoon of wine, baguette, and little cheeses and chocolates. (J, V, and I started the day with a killer 12 mile run through the Presidio so we could enjoy the snacks guilt-free all afternoon.) We also learned a few things: Target box wine is not so bad (though we did try it 10 minutes before the event closed, so perhaps our judgement is not to be trusted) and Livermore has wine tasting right off the BART line. It was a great time and an excellent way to enjoy the last day before my dry month (New Year's goal) started.

Me, Vanessa, Julie

FYI - Vanessa does indeed have two legs, unlike the picture above would lead you to believe.

19 Miles

My motivation (a.k.a., my friend Julie) was out of town this weekend when the marathon schedule called for 19 miles. I procrastinated all of Saturday and Sunday and was left with no choice but to run on Monday. About three minutes in I had a great idea. I had my phone with me for music, why not document my run? I decided on a few rules (because I'm Type A and that's just how we do it): I would take one picture every ten minutes (plus or minus thirty seconds) and it could be of anything within a 360 degree view of where I was running at that point.

Not only did I finish my run and actually really enjoy it, as much as one can enjoy 3 hours and 22 minutes of running, I also unexpectedly found myself in the middle of two lessons. The first was patience. There were a few really neat pictures I wanted to capture, but the point was not to take cool pictures, it was to motivate myself ten minutes, or one mile, at a time. Secondly, I learned to let go of some insecurity. I started out looking like a runner - water belt, hand held gatorade bottle, dry fit clothing, etc. But there I was every ten minutes looking like a tourist, jumping up on park benches or crouching down to get the best angle. People looked at me funny, but after the first few miles I learned to smile and be on my way.

Below are 20 pictures (a 10:30 pace allowed for one extra shot!). They are not very good, but a nice way to capture all the training I've been doing for the past three months.

One: Me

Two: Waters of Aquatic Park

Three: Was supposed to be Pier 39/Aquarium of the Bay

Four: Downtown, Transamerica Pyramid

Five: Bay Bridge

Six: AT&T Park

Seven: Ferry Building Clock Tower

Eight: Hmm...something on Fisherman's Wharf?

Nine: Alioto's - Yet another 'SF-Must Do' I have yet to do

Ten: Fort Mason

Eleven: Yacht Club

Twelve: Golden Gate Bridge

Thirteen: The ground (running up a Presidio hill, didn't much care about the quality of the picture)

Fourteen: On the bridge!

Fifteen: Crossing into Marin

Sixteen: Trying, and failing, to be artsy on the bridge.

Seventeen: Crissy Field, from the Presidio

Eighteen: The GGB again, but this time running away from it!

Nineteen: Kind of funny, this was supposed to be my car that I happened to run past. Completely missed it in the shot.

Twenty: HOME!

Valentine's Day Weekend

What a fun weekend! To kick it off, I got home from work Friday night and found in the mail my first letter from Jyotirmoy, my little sponsored boy from India. He's only four, so not quite able to write his own letter, but along with the letter written by one of the staff he sent me this. How can a Valentine's weekend that starts with a flower from a four-year-old half a world away not be good one? I am not sure what the rules are on posting pictures of the children, so I think I should hold off for now, but imagine a cute little Indian four year old boy who loves to play 'bat ball' and tell rhymes. I really am only using this blog as a way to capture memories, but if anyone is reading and looking for a good organization to get involved with, click here.

Friday night I got to spend time with the Texas branch of the Collins family who were in town for a wedding on the Piper side of the family. It was so much fun to visit with Nicole and Brandon, Jeff and Julia, and Aunt Karen and Uncle Tim. It was also great to meet some of the Pipers I've heard about for years! Definitely a fun group and made me again so thankful to be from a big family. We had a few glasses of wine at the Blue Mermaid in Fisherman's Wharf then headed to meet the Rehearsal Dinner party at Buena Vista for an Irish Coffee. One more think on the 'Must-Do: San Francisco' list that I can now check off. It seems I only get these things done when out-of-towners are around.

Me and Julia (hoping she becomes a cousin soon!)

Julia, Me, Aunt Karen at Buena Vista with our Irish Coffees

Saturday night Kathy and I ventured back to our Kathy-and-Beth roots - Berkeley! We went to see Mortified at the Starry Plough. It is a  show where people read excerpts from their junior high, high school, and college journals to the crowd. It was absolutely hilarious and mortifying. I don't think there is anything that could get me to revisit those years. The teenage philosophy and inner-reflection was by far the best part. So was the realization that I am the dork I have always thought I was and I am quite thankful for the apparently sheltered life I enjoyed. The best non-intentionally funny part of the evening was when one of the presenters read a comment about some girls at her high school and referred to them as probable lesbians - the crowd had been laughing for an hour and went silent. Lesbian jokes are not appreciated in the East Bay! I forgot to get a picture of Kathy and I, but it was a fun date night and nice to get out of the city for a few hours.

On Sunday Alyssa, Adam and I went to St. Anthony's for the day. Alyssa is who introduced me to the Dining Room back in early 2009, so it was great to finally go with her. It was very slow (not a bad thing!) so we got to catch up and it was great to spend time with Adam and get to know him better.

One of the best Valentine's weekends I can remember! ♥

Kaiser Half 2010

Me, Vanessa, Julie, Megan

The girls and I did the Kaiser Half Marathon for the second year in a row this past Sunday. It is always held on the morning of Super Bowl Sunday. Perfect - we get our 1300 calorie burn out of the way by 11am and are ready for and well-deserving of the afternoon food coma!

We did things a little differently this year and only got to the race 1/2 an hour early. (This is Alyssa, Julie and Vanessa last year when we arrived pre-dawn.) While we definitely missed Alyssa out on the course this year, we did not follow her 6:50 am departure time! Sadly we are getting to be old ladies and despite not arriving at the crack of dawn, we all chose to crash after the race instead of heading out for the Super Bowl. Oh well - I thoroughly enjoyed watching it from my couch and alternating between napping and eating my much-anticipated burrito.

The half is a beautiful course that starts in Golden Gate Park, heads up and around the Panhandle, back through the park, out onto the Great Highway, and then back into the park to finish.

I can't finish this post without bragging about what awesome women I am friends with. Vanessa is my new running hero - she ran the coveted sub-2 hour half-marathon on Saturday. Not only did she break 2 hours for the first time, she killed it with 1:56:12!! And Julie cut 11 minutes off her time from last year - that's pretty

much an extra mile's worth of time! Kathy completed the 5k for the second year and, deciding 3 miles just wasn't enough, walked home from the park to make it an even 10 (this is another sign that she absolutely has it to join us next year for the half!).

I didn't break any records at this race (2:08:44 - definitely happy to keep breaking 10 min miles, but 1:30 slower than last year). However, I was the big winner of the day with the lowest bib number - 133 out of 10,000! Maybe this makes me the big loser?