Chasing Kris

Folsom Blues Breakout Race 2017 This race has been on my bucket list for a few years because it's near my home and it's a well attended race among my Moms Run This Town group .  It was my second fall half marathon this season, and I went into it with a new strategy after learning some lessons about pacing and ambition at my last half marathon in August. This year's Folsom Blues Breakout was a new course.  The race organizers had to change it due to a landslide last winter that blocked a significant part of the path around Lake Natomas.  Normally, this race starts near the Folsom Dam and then does a complete counter clockwise loop around Lake Natomas.  This year, they opted for an out-and-back on the Old Town side of the lake.  While there were some rumblings of dissent amongst those who don't like out-and-backs generally, I was actually fairly pleased because the course stayed on my favorite side of the lake. The transportation to the start of the race w

I chose two half marathons this year for my summer and fall races.  I'm between the two now, tweaking my training plan and getting ready for the Folsom Blues Breakout Race in October after finishing the Salinas Valley Half in August. Each year, The Husband and I try to find an interesting destination race for our anniversary month in August.  This year's choice was the Salinas Valley Half because of it's proximity to the beautiful town of Monterey, California and because the race was affordable and well advertised.  We arrived on Friday morning in Monterey and checked into the Monterey Marriott  which had a terrific location close to the wharf area.  The hotel was clean and the staff was very accommodating and welcoming.  They had a lovely complimentary wine tasting and taco pairing in the evening and they helped my husband find a nearby florist for an elegant orchid as an anniversary gift. We set out early Friday evening to walk the wharf area and see the sights.  We

When I went down the ketogenic rabbit hole last year, it was because of the revelation that I had breast cancer and needed to do something about it.  There's a whole story around that experience, obviously, but for today's purpose let's just say it was a great motivator to find a way that my diet could fuel my recovery. My thought at the time was that with every bite of food I was either killing the cancer or helping it.  And I was not going to help it one bite. The cancer scare is gone now.  I've dealt with it and now I wait to see if my body will learn to better identify future cells and have the energy to kill them.  Everyone has rogue cells (cancer cells) every day.  The body has mechanisms to find them and destroy them that work great as long as there aren't other stresses like environmental factors or physical challenges that distract the immune system and let the little rogues set up shop. So the cancer threat was dealt with and has been chopp

In the carb-centric dietary world, there are many factors to consider.  Should you be low carb?  How low?  All the way down to strict ketogenesis?  What's the difference and how do you choose? I'm not a scientist or a dietician, so I gather my information from multiple sources to understand multiple opinions and hear some of the science behind it all.  In layman's terms, my understanding is that "low carb" typically means a daily carbohydrate intake of 80-100 grams.  "Ketogenic" diets are more strict because the goal is to get the body adapted to creating ketones and fueling the brain from that source, so ketogenic diets are much lower in carbohydrates -- all the way down to 30-50 grams daily. One loaded up leafy green salad with some cucumbers, bell peppers and some shredded carrot could be your entire carbohydrate intake for the day on ketogenic diets! How you choose really depends on you.  What's your goal?  Are you just trying to get off the

It was a little more than a year ago that I was writing about my fight against breast cancer and how I used a ketogenic based diet to help my treatments be as effective as possible.  The learning curve to going ketogenic is a long arc!  Along the way, I've taken in and incorporated enough information to effectively change the way I see food and the things I feel are acceptable and unacceptable for me to eat.  But I'm not actually ketogenic now.  I'm not even low carb anymore. The process has forever changed some of my base notions about food.  It used to be that my husband would bring home donuts early on an occasional weekend morning as a treat for the kids.  He always remembered to grab an apple fritter for me, because that's a treat I love.  Now, that donut run just seems pointless.  Why bring home something that is going to cause stomach upset for one of my kids who is gluten sensitive, and give a massive sugar bomb soaked in oil that will damage us all from the

There are those people who began running as kids, maybe in a sport that involved some element of running like soccer or baseball.  They either really liked the excitement of going fast, or they felt they were faster than most and it made them feel good, or they just liked the exertion of it.  Others maybe picked it up as teenagers in high school track or in college to avoid the added weight that comes with their freshman year. I am none of those examples.  I am an accidental runner.  In truth, I did do track my seventh grade year in junior high school.  I liked the high jump and the long jump because I'm tall and it gave me an edge.  I liked the relay because I was very fast for a very short distance.  Most important to me: I could grab a decent amount of First Place ribbons while only exerting myself for very short bursts at a time.  Track was mostly about hanging out after school and goofing off with my friends.  My biggest goal of track was to learn to land ON the mat after