Tree Tumbles Cycling Santa Survives

Twas 2 weeks before Christmas

when no creature was stirring inside of our house

not even my spouse.

The Santa's and snowmen were hung on the trees

in hopes Em and James soon would be there.

And me in my jammies and Todd in his chair,

had just settled down hoping sound of snoring would be in the air.

When out in the family room there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

The lights from the ceiling gave a luster

to broken objects below,

the tree on the ground,

shattered ornaments around.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear

Cycling Santa had survived to to be on the tree another year.

My apologies to the Clement Clarke Moore who wrote the original version in 1822.

Much to my dismay, our tree tumbled off it's perch last night.

Several smashed ornaments, including my beloved hand blown Santa.

We cleaned the wet carpet, wiped water off the floor and went back to bed.

This morning we'll get out the fishing line, tie the tree to the ceiling, vacuum up the

broke ornaments bits

and begin the day with Christmas cookie sugar high.

Ah, the joy of the holidays.

CIM 2011 Stats and Facts

 ERIN, WE OWN THIS RACE!

Accepting our medals at finish line

6:49 official time, last finisher in my age group, technically I deducted an addl 10 min for slight detour around L street, photo ops with friends and long red light at Watt Ave, placed 5738th out of approx 5800 who finished, 48,374 steps on the pedometer, although it should have been more like 52,000 for the 26.2 miles since the pedometer kept falling off, 2 dead skunks, multiple unidentified road kill, 3 potty stops, came in ahead of the 81 year old  man born in 1930 who was completing his 64th marathon and the 83 year old competing with his daughter, 2 hrs behind the oldest 75 year old female finisher.

Could have driven from Sac to Disneyland in the time it took us to finish.

Food intake, 2 pbj sandwiches 2 bananas, 2 tubes of Bloks or Blobs, Pringles (thank you Sac Fit), vanilla wafers, frosted animal cookies, Oreos I nabbed from the left over food pile at 3rd Sac Fit aid station, almonds, salted potatoes, corn chips, 2 Cutie oranges, Gatorade from aid stations, 1 of which used hose water to mix the drink, water, water with chia seeds, 1 bottle of regular Coca Cola, no goo gels.
Blisters 2 major, 1 minor, and puffy feet, potential toenail loss 2 suspect, 1 for sure. In dire need of pedi. Stiff muscles, massage to come.

Beer consumed after the race, 1 Corona Light, 1 Sierra Nevada winter brew.

My best marathon time, no. Best marathon experience ever. Absolutely. Nothing like having a great walking friendship to keep our morale up when the aches and pains start. Nothing like having great friends at the finish line when your finish time is 3 times as long as the winner. Nothing like a stroll on a beautiful late fall day because I can.

When I embark on an event like this, I own it.

No matter the results, no matter the pain, I own it.

No matter the sacrifice and long hours it takes, I own it.

When I shorten a workout just because, I own it

When we crossed the finished line together

WE OWNED THE 2011 CALIFORNIA INTERNATION MARATHON

YIP YIP YIP YAHOO





Humble Oil of Houston Texas

Getting lost on a trip makes the best adventures. We had followed directions to a downtown  locale that was near Univ of Texas SA. San Antonio streets are weird. The streets that run parallel to freeways are one way. Once you get off the freeways, even with directions, we found ourselves circling around about a 7 block area looking for an ice house that we knew was right under the freeway. Of course, we were on the wrong side of the freeway, had to turn to go back under the freeway and proceed the other way and follow my directions in reverse. We had been warned it was a sketchy neighborhood, Todd kept saying, "Why can't we find it?" and I replied, "because we are not there yet."
We did find, however, and old Humble Oil of Houston Tx gas station. Come to find out, this is the last standing Humble gas station in San Antonio. It won a national contest as the place that needs to be remembered in the US.
Humble Oil started in Tx, was bought by Standard Oil and became ESSO and now what we know as Exxon.

The Humble emblems and borders around the windows and roof line are all mosaic tile. I loved the streaks in the iron that replaced windows contrasting to the tile borders. It appears someone is beginning to do some remodeling. Will have to revisit to find out what becomes of the little old Humble Gas station.