Monthly Archives: October 2009

Marathon and Dublin Done!

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After that turbulent four hour ride on the ferry, many sick persons anxiously leaving the boat, a two hour drive north to Dublin, and a rowdy entrance to our cheap as chips hotel – we have seen, done, (Jock has ran), and completed Dublin.

Our hotel is cheap, clean, nicely built and modernized, but the surrounding area is G-H-E-T-T-O. Our first evening, we didn’t venture outside from the long day of traveling and decided to get some food in the restaurant in the hotel. All appeared nice until I went to get us all drinks at the hotel, and noticed there was not one single female anywhere to be seen, and the stares sent a few chills down my spine. I thought the Irishman with a Guinness was a stereotype, but I didn’t see one pint without Guinness in it.

There have been multiple times of misunderstanding between me and the Irish as well. Ordering food, I asked for some gravy on the mash. He gave me a plate extra of mash, no gravy. I had to correct.

Stopping for directions when in a rush is a mistake. Like when Gemma and I were trying to rush to the next point in the marathon to get out our pom poms and do a little cheer for the boys, and got a bit lost. We asked this sweet man. Unfortunately, a sweet woman from the neighborhood saw we were lost as well, and decided to chime in.  They are soooo sooo nice about it, but they describe each turn so specifically. They describe the trees you will pass, the pub they used to frequent as a kid, the turn in the riverbed and how it won’t hit the church exactly. But, unfortunately, they don’t know any names of the streets.

Asking for anything to do with numbers is a mistake as well. Like the number for a taxi cab that contains multiple threes. All I heard was TURTY TREE FITTY TREE TREE FO FI FUM. After five times of asking the sweet man to repeat, we gave up and pretended we knew.

Luckily, my accent, I’m finding, is closer to the Irish accent than the English and Welsh (Gemma and Liam are from Wales and Jock, obvi, is English).

BUT, they can be the best. Like last night when Gemma and I went to see The Birds at the Gate Theatre. I went to the loo, was washing my hands – as you do – and a nice girl about my age turned and said “Oh, honey, you might want to untuck your skirt from your tights.” My face grew flushed with blood and I couldn’t believe my narrow escape of every woman’s worst nightmare – the skirt in the tights fiasco! I thanked her a million times.

Most importantly – Jock finished the Dublin Marathon in a record time! 3:58:20! So so proud of him and Liam. Liam ran his first marathon about twenty minutes later. That’s impressive as well!

One of the pictures I managed to get of ANOTHER MAN while trying to catch Jock. No idea who he is. But, you can kind of see Jocko’s eyeball as he runs past the 18th mile mark. He was just so fast!

Other’s include our trip to the Guinness Storehouse, More Marathon Pics, Gemma and Me. More to follow of Dublin castle, etc. Sorry, no pictures of my bathroom foible will show up here.

Now, off to Kilkenny!

Music Heals

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In preparing for this road trip, I made a couple of CD’s for the car. (Sorry, Courtney for taking so long to getting your CD’s to you!).

Also, in order to get my mind off the BBC’s Question Time from last night which I just watched online.  There was a strange and rather shocking appearance of the British National Party’s leader sitting next to Bonnie Greer, an African American playwright (thank God for her views).

Yes, he was a bit bullied, but as, I believe, he should have been. Denying the holocaust? Saying that “Adolf Hitler went a bit too far.” – a bit?! Claiming the KKK were a non-violent coalition. Saying that Britain should remain mostly white and christian. What’s most worrying is how his party was voted for by a million people at the European elections, and how he now has a seat in Parliament.

Oh, Lord! How I could go on.

I couldn’t stop welling up when watching him – like I did the first time I ever experienced racism firsthand, and heard the N-word told to me from a passing man in a pick-up truck after I threw out the window a pack of my mother’s cigarettes because I was afraid she would die from smoking them. ‘You know better than to litter,’ he said seemingly good-naturedly as he pulled up besides us at the red light, ‘You don’t want to act like a N*&$@, now do you?’. My mother protected me, and yelled at the man “Don’t you dare speak words like that in front of my daughter. You should be ashamed,” and rolled up the window shielding me from the cruel world outside it. That seemingly quiet Baltimore suburb.

Except that time, my innocence took over and the tears didn’t stop for days.

It makes me so sick. Racism. Men like him smirking through the fear of it all. What would he make of me? An immigrant in his country, mixed with Cuban traces – muddying the white water. But by looking at me, he wouldn’t know…he might even take me as one of his own on first glance…until he realized the deceit I represent. White skin, blonde hair. Tainted. Last name of Lopez. Shocking!

What an ass. But this is what I fear the most about BBC’s decision to let him talk – “A huge swath of British people will remember some of the things I said and say to themselves they’ve never heard anyone on Question Time say that before,” Nick Griffin said. “Millions of people will think, ‘That man speaks what I feel.’ ”

I fear he’s right. But I must believe that good and love will win out.

So, that’s why I have to concentrate on music – to pick me up from this mean man. I don’t hate him. I just feel sorry for him. Some of those faces in the audience…they hated him. What good does that do us? To hate back.

So here is what I think is the best British music out there right now for me in my opinion noone else’s (some of it is very tongue and cheek and why I like it – no excuses, just saying!).

This is not a complete list, but in case you are interested in America, here are some gems…

British Pop

  • Pencil Full of Lead, by Paolo Nutini (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE – Jessica, you must find this CD)
  • Valerie, by The Zutons
  • Stone Cold Sober, by Paloma Faith (I love her so much, I put two of her on here.)
  • New York, by Paloma Faith
  • Rabbit Heart, by Florence and the Machine
  • We Are Golden, by Mika (yes, maybe a bit cheesy, but I love it)
  • 22, by Lily Allen
  • Chelsea Dagger, by The Fratellis
  • Mama Do, by Pixie Lott
  • Shine, by Take That (not a huge Take That fan, but tolerate this song)

BRITISH ROCK

  • Mardy Bum, by Arctic Monkeys
  • That Golden Rule, by Biffy Clyro
  • Dreaming of You, by The Coral
  • Men’s Needs, by The Cribs
  • Ulysses, by Franz Ferdinand
  • Had Enough, by The Enemy
  • Ruby, by Kaiser Chiefs
  • Uprising, by Muse
  • Get Off Your High Horse Lady, by Oasis
  • Fire, by Kasabian

British Rap/R&B

  • Oopsy Daisy, by Chipmunk
  • Diamond Ring, by Chipmunk
  • Bonkers, by Dizzee Rascal
  • Paper Planes, by M.I.A. (Amazing.)
  • Dy-Na-Mi-Tee, by Ms. Dynamite
  • Don’t Upset the Rhythm, by The Noisettes

European Pop/Dance (not my favorite genre, but I can stand these)

  • Bulletproof, by La Roux
  • I’m Good, I’m Gone, by Lykke Li
  • Evacuate the Dancefloor, by Cascada
  • When Love Takes Over, by David Guetta (featuring Keri Hilson)
  • Remedy, by Little Boots
  • Outta Here, by Esmee Denters

The Luck of the Irish?

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Heading to Ireland tomorrow, so thought I’d post one last time before I set off for two weeks.

I am so excited for Ireland. For many reasons.

First, this is the first time we’ve had two weeks to travel and just have fun with each other since that fateful trip to Chicago in July 2008. Granted, we haven’t had a bad life since then – a trip to Florida, Baltimore, Spain and several places around England – but this is the first all out full two week holiday. Jock doesn’t have to worry about work, I’ll take a break from writing and let my head have some breathing space. We can go where we want when we want to.

Secondly, Ireland just seems magical. Maybe it’s the stories of Leprechauns, pots of gold, four leaf clovers and Guiness. Or, maybe it’s the way it’s depicted in the movies as lush, green and sprawling country side with simple, nice, happy people. However it is magical, I don’t care. I just know it will be.

Finally, it’s where most of America’s ancestors come from. I know that I have a few from there, and I want to experience firsthand the luck of the Irish – why there are so many of them all over the world! I feel like I’m going to be changed by this trip. Don’t know how, but just a feeling. Hopefully the change won’t just be that I have far fewer British Pounds than when I set out…

1:56:16

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First off – I did it! I finished my first half marathon! fist pump in air Woo WOO WOOOOOO!

It may have taken me three tries, but hey – third time’s a charm, right?! Third country, third marathon and I came under my goal of 1 hour 57 minutes.

Learn from my mistakes and train!

1st attempt: Medoc, France 2007 – attempted full marathon.  No training whatsoever (i.e. length of driveway furthest mileage I tackled), danced and partied night before in high heels. SILLY. Plus, dressed as a playboy bunny – not sure if that helped or hurt me.  Got to the 13 kilometer mark (about 8 miles). Limp, stumble, pain through left knee. Bunny down! Bunny DOWN!!!!

No more walking, let alone running. Yeah, you might say - DUHHHH! Of course that happened.  But, marathon was just a word to me before that experience. 26.2 miles just did not register in any type of logic whatsoever.

2nd attempt: Los Angeles, California 2008 – attempted half marathon.  Seven weeks of runner’s training (6 months of weight training before that…not the same). 8 mile marker and again, my knee let out an excruciating yelp and I could again, barely walk. I did finish. I did. But I walked for most of the 5 miles that were left and finished in about 4 hours?

(As for this video – quite embarrassing – no makeup, guy passing by farting, early morning. Not a good combo. But, it’s all I got from the day, and well, nothing like showing off to the worldwide web.)

3rd attempt: Cardiff, Wales 2009 – Never trained so slowly and for so long in my life. 26 weeks of slowly building up endurance, speed and strength. Twas frustrating at times – I always wanted to run further. Twas painful at times – well, let’s be honest, the first 16 weeks it hurt every time I ran. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

And, it was annoying other times – sometimes I just wanted to relax and not have to think about running. But then, one day, the pain went away, my speed got so much quicker, and I actually really started enjoying it.  7 miles was no big deal to get out of bed and do.

(Plus, my coach was pretty much an expert and, even though it was slightly irritating that he knew so much about running – I couldn’t have done it without him. I mean, maybe I would have – but it would have taken my fifth try instead of my third. Thanks Jocko for putting up with me! I was a bitch at times…)

The morning was freezing, and legs were tight. 11,000 runners entered, and 8,811 people ended up running.

Pace started off a bit too quickly. Goal was to get 9 minute miles, and we were doing 8 minute 20 second miles for first two miles. Slowed it right down to a ten minute mile (which I got a bit uptight about when Jock told me – I was aiming for 9 minutes! – he assured me it would be fine). Sure enough, we found our pace and stuck to it.

8 mile marker stared me in the face. I winced as I passed half expecting to tumble to the ground and cry out – Damn you eight miles. Curses to you and your mileage! and cry and cry.

Miracle. No crying, no tumbling, no pain. Not too much longer after that – well, 45 minutes later, and I passed the finish line!Cardiff Half Marathon

My goal was 1 hour 57 minutes, and I beat it by 44 seconds! That’s 8 minute, 52 second miles. (And, not that I was competing with anyone else – because I wasn’t, I just wanted to finish – but well, my rank was 4236. That means I was better than more than half of the people there!!! Heh heh. Take that you knee!)

Tick that one off the list, and now to nurse those tight calves. Walking down the stairs truly is the most painful.

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I rewrote this entry about five times. I try to make these entries shorter, I do. But sometimes they just have a mind of their own. So, I do apologize for my logorrhea – i.e. diarrhea of the mouth. Hope you enjoy them, and I will stop writing now. At this moment. After I finish this sentence and upload a video.

OK, I’m done. Bye bye for now. Toodle Pip, as they say.