Bye, Simba

Simba was my first 'my' pet - and this has been the first face I've seen when I opened my eyes for the last 17 years - whether it was morning or after a post-long-run-nap

I adopted her in a in Darmstadt, Germany in 1997.  The guy who threw her into my Geo Tracker only knew 'its' name was Simba and it liked Sheba catfood.  We found that 'it' was a she - at heat age (6-12 mos), not fixed, would eat Friskies, and tolerated spay/vacc (so she was around a year old).  She flew (and got lost) from Frankfurt, GE to ATL to DAL to Kileen, resided in Belton, TX, lived through my deployment to Sarajevo,and moved to three residences in San Antonio.

From the beginning - she hated everyone.  She decided she liked only me, but she didn't like all other beings - human, ex-husband,canine, feline, or snake.  But, she outlived 3 step-brother-cats and 4 laptops (she remains a gatita of interest in the latter matters).

As she got older, she tolerated step-dogs and step-brother-cats, foster cats and dogs, and some cat people .

She's been my only 'free' pet - no major medical issues.  Until now.  We knew it was coming - Bye Simba.  Thank you for making it easier for me.

PS this picture is Simba alive, sleeping on me.

Still behind

Yes, I am a little overwhelmed right now with work, the Women's 5k, and about a million other things.  So, here's a little recap of the past couple of weeks.

On May 10, I ran the Texas Flower Country Women's 5k in Fredericksburg, TX.  It is a beautiful venue and, on the way home, we hit some hill country vineyards.

Then, May 17 was the Beach 2 Bay Marathon relay from North Padre Island to Corpus Christi on May 17 (my 8th B2B).  I ran the (HOT) 6th leg again this year for the Brak Pak Chiks, but at least there was a strong tailwind.

And here is what 5 miles of hot running (after 4 hours of waiting) makes you look like:

A hot mess!

Still catching up

There is a possibility I will catch up on everything - perhaps by August or so.  Last weekend was the Fiesta Fandango Run.  It is a ~2.6 mile run in front of the Fiesta Flambeau night parade vanguard.  And it is always HOT.

We shuttle in from Brackenridge Park, where the costumes are judged.  After sweating my butt off last year, dressed as a Santa, I decided to go minimalist this year on the costume (e.g. I was too lazy to conceive a costume).

Here's the start - there were about 1700 runners.  Did I mention it was HOT?

And then, we were off - to a cheering crowd of hundreds of thousands, waving turkey legs at us...

At the finish, there was Tecate, popcorn, and cotton candy - 3 of the 4 food groups.

And, of course, a pinata that Brak Pak TOOK DOWN!

And, in the Fiesta tradition of fake royalty, we paid homage to a guy we'll call "El Rey Chancla."

And, with that, Fiesta 2014 was over.  Laura and I hosted book/wine club the following night, and then, I SLEPT.

This weekend, I ran the P.O.D.E.R. 5k downtown as a Girls on the Run running buddy.  (GOTR is one of my favorite local groups that aims to improve elementary and middle school girls' self esteem and overall health through running - this was their end-of-the-season 5k.)

My GOTR girl this time was Hailee, who (thankfully) was a dead steady little runner - in the zebra shorts.  (Often, as a running buddy, the 5k turns into a fartlek drill where we SPRINT for 45 seconds, come to a dead stop, amble for a few minutes - oooo shiny thing, then SPRINT and repeat for 3.1 miles.)

And some post-run pics, before I rushed to work some OT.

Next up:  Texas Flower Country Women's 5k in Fredericksburg

Thanks to Tom Lake/SARR, Michele, Dulce, Brice, IAAP, and Scotty Dog for the pics

And trying to catch back up

This is a frenzied time of year - both in San Antonio and in my head.  Para San Antonio - it's THREE weeks of Fiesta this year, couched around Holy Week.  Para mi, it's that plus work detail, Women's 5k planning, and co-hosting wine book club.  Fun times, but, man, I am tired.

So, last weekend, I ran the Fiesta Missions 10k on Saturday.  Only, this year, the River Authority became distinctly anti-runners, and the race was held at Brooks City Base.  I haven't run a race out there in a very long time, and I remembered it being a little hilly.  However, the first 5k was nice and flat, and I thought my memory fooled me - until I trudged into the second 5k (just like I remembered - extended inclines).  But here's how it looked - we're off...

 

 I'm lurking back there.  But the race got run.

In the end, I just tried not to get hit by the kid with the pinata stick.

Sunday was the pancake de las Pascuas run.  But we ate tamales instead of pancakes.  It's very complicated.

 Even Gargamel, the perro, got the cascarone - Fiesta can be fierce.

So, after making it through the weekend, it was Cornyation on Tuesday - a lovely, raunchy show that involves drag queens, political satire, and (in the past) tortilla throwing.  It's also very complicated.  Instead of taking pics with the ab fab performers this year, I stalked politicians - here I am with Bexar County Sheriff Pamerleau (she said "this is NOT a get out of jail free card," but, after noticing how I was holding the program, I think it very well could be).

 Then, I found former US Congressman Charlie Gonzalez and his balloon.

 Wednesday was zoo run with a special celebration for the day that Michele left my age group (she called it something different than "the day every 5 years I leave Sally's age group").

And Thursday was "Welcome home Boston amigos" for friends who ran the Boston Marathon on Monday.

The final pic was my last-ditch attempt to procure a Boston medal this year.  I guess, next year, I'll just have to actually TRAIN and somehow cut 1 hour off my best marathon finish time to BQ.  Until then, this week still includes the Fandango pre-night parade run and book wine club.  And then, I'll sleep - in July, perhaps.

Thanks to Ceci, Tom/SARR, Dulce, Michele, and Bertha for the pics