You’d think, what with being off work, sheltering at home, and basically lots of time on my hands, I could plan ahead and finish my blog post with time to spare. Well, you’d be wrong about that one! Here it is, Sunday afternoon Monday morning, and here I am, writing my first paragraph of tomorrow’s just finishing today’s blog post. The only excuse I have to offer is the multiple earthquakes we’ve had this week.
Earthquakes
Our third week of sheltering in place involved masks, wine, a virtual coffee date, and EARTHQUAKES! And some #running too (thank goodness for #runtherapy)!Click To TweetActually, earthquakes are a bad excuse for this (almost) native Californian. I’ve lived through Sylmar, Northridge, and Landers, just to name a few, and generally speaking, an earthquake has to be 4.0 or above to catch my attention.
The earthquakes last Friday qualified, though not by much. The first one hit around 7:00 and it turned out to be a 4.9. It felt quite a bit stronger, though that might have been because it was one of the noisy kind of earthquake that sound like a train is rolling through your house. If you’ve never experienced this, it’s like you hear a big train first, then a couple of seconds later the shaking starts.
The shaking didn’t last long this time, knocked just one thing off a counter, and barely disturbed my dogs. Then it was over. Of course, there were multiple aftershocks for the rest of the evening, but I only felt one of those, just as I was getting ready to go to bed. No, it didn’t keep me up. You know us Californians!
I felt another one on Sunday, late morning too, but it was just a little 3.9. Earthquakes are just part of living in California. I know there were some earthquakes this past week in Utah and Idaho. I hope everyone’s nerves aren’t too rattled, they’re not as used to it as we are. I did read that Utah has had more than 700 (mostly small) earthquakes in the past two weeks and that the Idaho quake was a 6.5, which is pretty big.
Masks and Closed Trails
On Sunday, April 5, just two days after the CDC recommended them, Riverside Country officially mandated that all people must wear masks when out in public. While Alan has been wearing his mask for a couple of weeks, I just started on Friday. My version is to take a dust mask then wear a gaiter over it, which makes it more effective and, in my admittedly isolation-addled mind, makes it look better.
We also discovered, near the end of our run on the trails on Sunday, that the trails were closed! We had entered from the west, where there were no signs, and went about our early morning way, seeing just a few other people, keeping our distance, and enjoying our run with our dogs. It wasn’t until we were almost finished and reached the parking lot at the eastern end that we saw that it was closed and there was a sign that said the parking lot and trails were closed until further notice.
Obviously, we were very disappointed, though running on the road is better than not running at all. We even have some hard-pack dirt paths along our regular route. Still, when we got home I looked it up and discovered this new mandate from the country. The official wording leads me to believe that, while the parking lot is closed, this to discourage large groups and numbers of people. It specifically says that people who live within walking distance will still have access to the trails. Fingers crossed that my city didn’t take the extra step and close everything anyway.
Ragnar
Ragnar SoCal was supposed to be last Friday. Like all the other events this spring it was canceled. While we have the option to do any other Ragnar race or to do Ragnar SoCal 2021, our Sweat Pink team has not made any decisions. We were actually a Ragnar-sponsored team, so that leaves us in a different boat. We shall see!
I’m generally not much of a virtual racer. I need the excitement of the crowd to make me feel like running fast I guess because I don’t care much about the bling. On Friday I ran eight miles and felt great! My runs have been just so-so lately, even though they are so important for my stress and mood. But Friday’s run was great. Then, on Saturday, when I just happened to be wearing a Ragnar cap, I decided mid-run to make it a relay leg that would match my mileage from the event.
My running math is not always the best though. I thought that I had a total of 12.8 miles (over three legs). So, after 8.1 on Friday, I added 4.7 on Saturday! Easy breezy! Then I checked and found out I only needed 12.1 miles. Ah, well, at least I didn’t need to go back out and run some more!
We also got the word that Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon was postponed too. I expected it but I was still disappointed. It was scheduled for May 31 and I’m glad they made the decision early enough (before I had to do any 20-mile runs!). They haven’t set a date yet, but it will be sometime in the fall. My fall calendar is filling up and I haven’t even planned a race! It will be my 40th marathon, so I really would like to get it done this year.
Online Classes
I’ve decided, since deep cleaning my whole house is not working, to take a few online classes during this time at home. CEUs are always useful, even though I don’t need to renew my personal training and group exercise certifications until next year.
So, I’m doing two at the same time! I know, CRAZY! (Aren’t we all, right about now?) One is a functional anatomy course and the other is called Stretching and Flexibility and I know it will enhance my fascial stretch therapy skills. Alan is the real beneficiary, as I’ve been practicing on him!
Wine
I finally got smart after realizing that my biggest reason for leaving home was to restock my wine supplies, and I ordered online! I did it through Total Wine. The price per bottle was really good, and even with the minimum, delivery charge, and tip I paid a very reasonable price for a case of wine. Yes, for the first time ever I ordered a case of wine!
Virtual Coffee Date
Finally, on Saturday I attended a virtual coffee date with about 16 other bloggers! I feel like I’ve been friends with these women for years! We’ve been reading each other’s blogs and supporting each other since the early days of fitness blogging. And yet, I had met only one in person! That actually surprised me because I felt like I knew each one so well. We chatted for over an hour (on Zoom) and had so much fun we decided to do it again in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait because it’s basically my only human female contact these days!
This Week’s Workouts
Monday: Upper Body and Core
Tuesday: Run 4 miles. Stretch & Body Care
Wednesday: Run 3 miles. Prehab hip exercises and legs
Thursday: Rest & Recovery. Two mile walk
Friday: Long run, 8 miles (felt great)
Saturday: Recovery run that turned into Ragnar Relay Leg. 4.7 miles plus core.
Sunday: Trail run with my hubby & dogs. 5 miles
Total: 25 miles running, 2 strength workouts plus extra core.
How are you keeping yourself busy these days?
Weekly Linkups
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Inspire Me Monday with Janet
Tuesday Topics with Kim and Zenaida
The Runners’ Roundup with Rachel , Deborah, Lisa, Smitha, Jenn, and Me!
The Weekly Run Down with Deborah and Kim
Good that you can still use the trails! It makes sense to close the parking lot to avoid attracting crowds of people from further away. They do that here, too.
Haha, that mask looks good on you! You only need to wear it when going somewhere where you have to deal with other people, right? Not while running?
Actually, it’s a little unclear about wearing a mask while running. The mandate says that people must wear a mask whenever they are outside. In fact, a friend who is a police officer commented on Facebook that yes, we must wear it all the time outside. I plan to wear my gaiter around my neck when I run, then I can pull it up if I come close to anyone (or see a cop lol).
Great week, Debbie! I had to laugh at your runner’s math comments. I’m pretty good at math, but somehow, doing it in my head, while in motion, isn’t always the best method LOL As much as I fight the Metric System (miles vs. kms…need I say more?), I do think that would make things so much easier. But it would take me another lifetime to acclimate to it…
Same here, I’m pretty good at math when I’m not running. But I think it’s because I try to do some weird math problems when I’m running. Like if I want to run 5 miles but I pass my turn off at 4.2 miles, which is .5 miles from home, how far do I have to run before I turn around?
I did not even hear about the earthquakes this time! Also going through tons of wine right now.Did a curbside pickup this morning too. That zoom call was the best so glad you joined us. Have a healthy and safe week
Probaably because it wasn’t that big of an earthquake. No damage or injuries, which is great. Just one more stressor during these crazy times!
I’m hoping that if they close the trails around here, we will still have access to them by foot, keeping the traffic down. We’ll see. People have to ruin everything–I just wish they would all play nice!
I’m doing virtual races even tho like you, I’m not that runner. For some reason the ones I’m running are really appealing to me right now. It’s not even about the swag (none of them have medals)–it’s just a way to motivate myself to hit certain goals. I’m glad to have the opportunity to do them.
It was fun seeing you again! <3n Stay safe–geez, earthquakes on top of everything else?
That’s why I get mad. It’s not that I have to have trails, though I love them. I get mad that some people who can’t follow the rules ruin it for the rest of us! Geez, it’s not that hard! And it’s made a big difference in California where we are starting to flatten the curve.
It’s weird about motivation to run. Obviously I still do it, but at first I just wasn’t feeling it. I don’t think it was just because my races were canceled. Then suddenly everything started feeling better. I hope that continues!
With everything going on, I totally forgot about the earthquake that you guys had this week!
It was so nice to see you on the Saturday Zoom call!
I loved seeing everyone on the Zoom call! And I realized I hadn’t met hardly anyone but I feel like I know everyone.
I felt accomplished because we ordered take out dinner from a restaurant for the first time! yep, that is something I have never done! My family was all happy with the quality of the meal too, so we’ll be doing it again during quarantine.
I have experienced one earthquake – in Ohio! I remember feeling the tremor. It was pretty small, but I remember it well!!