The upper left picture is the corner of my couch. My cats are jerks and have completely destroyed it. I need to figure out 1. A way to fix this and 2. A way to get them to STOP DOING THIS! A couple pics down, you see that even though they destroy my furniture, I love them!

My son had to make an ocean habitat diorama. I thought we did a pretty good job!

I created a check off chart for my May goals. (I don’t want to talk about how empty it is…)

I headed to Reno to run the Rock n River 10k with Kirsten and Lynn (although they ran the half marathon). I picked up my race bib, and a chick! Kirsten is raising chickens and I got to hold one! They are so cute when they are little!

I love this week of pictures! Full of friends and my sweet boy!

In the upper left corner is me before I had a kick ass 2 mile run (at a 9:10 pace!), wearing my new Rock n River race tee!

Next is my beautiful blue eyed boy giving me some suga before his game. Geez I love that kid. I also think he looks ridiculously cute in his catcher’s gear.

The second pic from the bottom on the left is me, Lynn and Kirsten showing off our finisher’s medals from our Rock n River races! We all kicked butt!

Friday night I decided to color my hair – as you can tell by the pic on the bottom left, I’m now a red head! (With the attitude to match!)

Saturday I got to see my friend Ashley and her mom. I love this girl. She’s an amazing friend. I wish she could have stayed longer.

Well there’s my last couple of weeks in pictures! I hope you enjoyed!

Dear Santa Rosa,

A couple months ago I read a book called 31 Dates in 31 Days by Tamara Johnson. It is a great book about a woman who was tired of getting in all the wrong relationships and her desire to learn how to date. A plan unfolded. She decided to go back to the basics of dating. To just focus on DATING. With the help of her friends, she went on a date every day for a month with a different man. 30 days of first dates. She lived in New York City, seemed to have a large network of friends and had no problems lining up dates or interesting places to go on those dates. At the end of the 30 days she picked one of the men from the 30 dates to have a second date with.

Along the way she learned a lot about herself. She didn’t have love connections with all of the dates, but kept an open mind. As I read about her different dates, I felt a bit pessimistic. I’ve been on a few really bad first dates. How come none of her dates were that bad? But as I read on, and even emailed with the author, she explained that she worked to keep an open mind, to learn about the man she was on the date with and just enjoyed the couple of hours.

I identified a lot with the author’s story about her dating and relationship life prior to her 31 dates. In that identification, I wondered if I could benefit from taking her dating challenge.

You see, on Tamara’s website (http://www.31datesin31days.com/) she dares women to take her dating challenge. To go on more dates than you have been going on. To commit to a number of first dates in a specified amount of time.

So after some thought, and a few emails with Tamara, I decided I would give it a try. I typed up an email and sent it to about 20 of my friends:

Good afternoon everyone!

As you probably know, I have not had much luck with men lately (maybe ever!). 

Recently I read a book called 31 Dates in 31 Days (www.31datesin31days), and it really struck a chord with me. I seem to get into relationships and skip the dating process. What I need to do is learn how to date. Just date. Not jump into relationships. And to learn about myself.

I was so inspired by this book that I have been emailing the author, Tamara. After talking with her a bit, I have committed to taking Tamara’s dating challenge. For the next month, starting April 1st, I have committed to going on 25 dates in 30 days.

I’m emailing you because I need your help! If you know any single men that would be willing to go on a date with me in the next month, I would appreciate it if you could give them my email and ask them to contact me. (Or feel free to forward my email to any of your other friends who might be able to help!)

I do have some rules about the dates:
• G-rated dates
• Must be in a public place
• Limit of one beer or glass of wine
• No married men or men with girlfriends
• No kissing

If you can help, I would sincerely appreciate it! Let me know if you have any questions! Also, while I am emailing you all through FB, for now, I’d like to keep it off FB, at least for right now! 

Thank you!

Beki

It was really difficult to send that email, for a variety of reasons. But I did it.

I received 4 responses. I love my friends, but none of the responses were what I was hoping for.

“I don’t know any men worthy of you.”

“You are awesome and I don’t know a lot of awesome guys.”

And the one that has sparked me writing this very post…

“You are way too amazing for anything around here (not trying to make it harder for you) but, seriously….these guys just don’t get it….Head to the big city like New York City, or L.A.- more choices!”

While it’s great that my friends think I’m amazing, it’s concerning that no one seems to know any quality men. What is most troublesome is the thought that the men here “don’t get it” and that I need to move out of my beloved Sonoma County in order to find a quality man.

April came and went. Now it’s mid-way through May and I’m still pondering if it is really true, that there are no guys around here that “get it.”

So I guess that’s the big question: Where are the quality single men in Santa Rosa? Surely my friend is wrong and they do exist around here.

So here’s my challenge to YOU, the single men of Santa Rosa (Sonoma County), where are you? Where does a 30′s something woman find a single man “who gets it” to go on a date with? I have tried online dating, and not really interested in attempting that again. I am not into the bar scene. (I didn’t find datable men in those places anyway.)

I’d love to prove my friend wrong. I’d like to date. I’d like to get to know some nice men. I’d really love to learn about myself.

So where are you all hiding?

Or are there truly no single men “who get it” in all of Santa Rosa for me to go on a date with?

Sincerely,

Beki

I’ve run races. I’ve completed a sprint triathlon. I have never participated in a mud race or an obstacle course. (And it’s on my 40 before 40 list!)

Quite frankly the idea scares me a bit. Okay a lot. All that mud. (What? So I’m a bit girly.) And what if I can’t do the obstacles?

Well I guess all those questions and fears are going to be put to rest in about a week. I’m all registered for the Mud Factor NorCal 5K race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma!

With less than a week away, I keep looking at the website. (www.mudfactor.com) Maybe there will be some new information that will calm my fears.

I found the course map:

I’ve decided that the green marks likely represent the obstacles. There are 13. 13. In 3.1 miles. And what is up with that really LONG green mark near the end? 13 obstacles. After getting put on the 13^th floor of the hotel when I took the bar exam (and passed on the first try), I’ve decided 13 is a good number. So 13 obstacles. I can do that. (I hope! I also hope I can remember them all to blog about later! LOL)

The rules say that you don’t have to do each obstacle, however you do not get the medal at the end if you skip any of them. If I’m getting muddy, I want that medal! (Note to self: Do not wimp out of the obstacles, you can do them!)

Given the nature of the event, I will have to do this sans technology. Which is fine, but it leaves me wondering, how long does something like this generally take? I can run a regular 5k run in 30 minutes or less. I am fully aware that this will take longer. But how *much* longer? Like an hour? I don’t really care about my time, I just want to have fun and complete an obstacle course – but my mind does wander off to that “how long” factor.

I am really excited because I roped (sweet talked) my friend Jen into coming with me and taking pictures. After looking at the course map, I’m not really sure how many she will be able to get, but it does ease my mind that I will have a friendly face waiting for me at the finish line!

So in 6 days. Saturday, May 19th. Noon. Me. Mud Factor.

I’m gonna do this!

When Kirsten asked me if I wanted to run this race again with her, there was no question in my mind what the answer was. YES! I ran the half marathon of this race last year and got set a PR, which considering I live at sea level and Reno is in elevation, was pretty impressive!

This year, I knew that there was no way I would have time to get ready for a half marathon. So I agreed to run the race, but I told her I would only commit to the 10k distance.

As race draw kept inching closer, I kept wishing I had the motivation to run more. The longest training run I did for this race was 5.8 miles and it was at doing run/ walk intervals (7 minutes run / 1 minute walk). I maybe ran a handful of times in the past few months. Call it lack of motivation, cold weather, overwhelmed with life, who knows, but the training did not happen as a runner would expect.

Also as race weekend approached, I got more and more excited because it’s been a year since I last saw Kirsten! I was so happy to finally get to see her and spend the weekend (which went by way too fast) with her! I also got to meet a new friend, Lynn. Lynn and Kirsten were both going to be running the half marathon distance. (Don’t tell them I told you this, but neither of them felt like they were as prepared for their race either.)

I left about 12:30pm on Friday. Filled the tank up with gas and hit the road! I was being a good runner and hydrating, so there were a couple bathroom stops along the way.

I stopped at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe (yes, I played a couple slot machines! And yes, I lost.), and got a Starbucks. About a half hour later, I was pulling into Kirsten’s driveway! There were big hugs and then lots of talking!

Kirsten is raising chickens, so I was sort of excited to see her chicken operation.

Saturday morning Kirsten and I took a 3.4 mile walk in honor of our amazing super-hero friend Christie O. We dedicated those miles to her. (We love you girl!)

Lynn arrived around noon. We headed to Reno to hit the race expo and get our race packets. Kirsten found out that instead of the race expo being held at Lawlor College like last year, one of the sponsors (Scheel’s) was having it at their store. That sounded a little weird to me, but what do I know?

Ummm… where’s the race expo? I see a lot of Scheel’s. Not a lot of Rock n River race expo-y stuff.

Finally, we saw a woman holding her bib and asked her where she got it. She pointed to the upstairs, left corner of the store. (Which by the way is less like a store and more like a mall – at least the malls we have around Santa Rosa. IJS.) Once we picked up our bibs, we were instructed to go back downstairs and to the middle of the store to get our goodie bags and race shirts.

We got our shirts and bag. I honestly maybe saw 2 tables that I would have seen at a race expo and they were promoting other races. There was nothing else “race expo” about what was going on at Scheel’s. It was quite disappointing honestly. I thought the expo last year was quite good.

I have to say that I am also a bit disappointed in this year’s race shirt as well. Last year the shirt was a rose pink, woman’s tech tee. I liked it. (I know Kirsten wasn’t as big a fan because she doesn’t really like pink.) This year when we picked up our shirts they were bubble gum pink and unisex cut. Not a woman’s tee. It is a tech tee, so that is good, but honestly, I think if you are going to give out grey shirts to the guys and bubble gum pink ones to the women, you could at least make sure it’s actually a woman’s tee. That’s my opinion anyway.

We had pasta for dinner and watched Friends With Benefits (I love that movie!). Lights were out by about 9:45pm, since we needed to be out of the house by 6am.

I had a little bit of a rough time falling asleep. My plan going into this weekend was to do 7:1 run:walk intervals for the race. Now I was rethinking that. I’ve never done any planned run:walk intervals during a race. I hate second guessing myself.

5:30am – alarm goes off. Ugh.

Get dressed. Eat English muffin. Drink coffee. Leave. Brrrrrr

Regardless, we are heading to the race, so I am smiling!

It was still a bit brisk when we got to the start line, but wow it was really a gorgeous morning! I love that the start / finish line is under the Reno Arch!

Since Kirsten and Lynn were running the half marathon, they started at 7am. Gun time for the 10k was 7:15. After I watched Kirsten and Lynn get on their way, I got myself ready. I decided not to turn the interval coaching on, on my Runkeeper. I got my playlist ready to go.

7:15am. Go!

The very first song that played on my iPhone was “Paul Revere” by the Beastie Boys. I felt that it was super appropriate. (RIP MCA.)

I’m running and feeling pretty good. I decide at some point during the first mile that I am going to walk at each mile marker sign for one minute. My first mile was 9:22. I knew that I did not have the endurance to keep that pace!

Each run interval I felt great. At one point around mile 4.5 I thought to myself, I might be able to run the rest of the way. Then by the end of mile 4 my body told me otherwise. So I walked for a minute. But at the top of mile 5 was the last time I walked. I ran the final 1.09 miles. (according to my Runkeeper GPS the course was a bit short at a total of 6.09 instead of 6.2.)

I crossed the finish line in 1:03:39 (official time) and was super happy about that time! I was just hoping to be under an hour 10 minutes.

A sweaty me with my new race bling!

I got to watch Kirsten and Lynn finish their races and get their bling!

Next we had a celebratory brunch!

(For the record, I ate almost all of this – I was rungry!) (Also for the record, my new favorite word is rungry!)

When we got back to Kirsten’s house, I got all showered, said my goodbyes and headed home.

What a great weekend. Great friends and a great run!

A couple days after the race, I attempted to search and find out where I placed in the race, however the site that the Reno Rock n River race decided to use is not easy to search. I gave up.

I finished 194 (out of all the women or overall, I’m not sure and I have no idea out of how many.)

I finished 37^th in my age group – and again, I have no idea how many women were in my age group.

I like this race for 2 reasons: I get to run it with my amazing friend Kirsten, and it’s a beautiful course. However, from the perspective of a runner who has been to quite a few races and race expos, I personally feel like there is much room for improvement when it comes to the pre and post race events and results.

I have about 3 more 10k’s planned this year. This was a great race and a wonderful jumping off point to get refocused in my running.

I will get another sub-one hour 10k before the end of 2012!

I really enjoyed adding my newest race bling to the rack!

Until my next medal…

On Sunday we took the little leaguer to Little League Day at O.co. He got to listen to a big league pitcher give some pitching advice and then after he got to walk around the field in a little league parade!

I finally got a pedicure! It was much needed!

I thought this flower outside my apartment was beautiful.

Have you ever played Blokus? It’s a super fun game! I love family game night! (Oh, and I won both times we played!)

Saturday was little league picture day. Up in the left corner was my boy posing for his baseball card!

I hope you had a great week! I know I sure did!

Motivation.

Ya, I’ve seriously been lacking in that department this year.

I finished a (fun) half marathon at the end of January (the Tinkerbell half marathon). I have a 10k run this coming weekend. I have not been running consistently since probably mid-October 2011. So it’s almost needless to say that I’m not expecting a great finish time at this weekend’s race.  (I will have fun and I get to see mah girl K, so I’m super excited about that!)

I’m hoping the nice weather gives me the kick in the rear I want to get back into running shape. Last year was my year of the half marathons (I did 5). I think this year will be my year of the 10k’s. Now, the one this weekend (Reno Rock n River), will likely be done with run / walk intervals. However, I am registered for The Giant Race 10k (the finish line is home plate at AT&T Park – how freaking COOL is that?!) in mid-September, and I’m going to aim for a PR for that race.

There are other 10k’s that I am hoping to run as well. There is the Hit the Road Jack 10k at the beginning of June, and the Kenwood Footrace on July 4^th. I got my 10k PR at the Kenwood Footrace last year and that is one very hilly course! I’ve got 2 months to train, so who knows what I can do with 8 weeks if I can get my butt in gear!

There are 2 half marathons that I will likely run this summer as well. One is the San Francisco Half Marathon. Last year I ran the First half and if I run the 2^nd half this year, I will get the bonus “Half it all” medal. I really want that one! The other half marathon is the Santa Rosa half marathon. I have a very special place in my heart for this race. It was my very first half marathon in 2010, and last year I got a PR. I’m not expecting any half marathon PR’s this year, my focus will be on the 10k.

So with all these races that I want to do (and some I’m already registered for), it annoys me that I have not been able to motivate myself to run consistently.

Additionally, I signed up for Crossfit in March. I went 2 times a week consistently for that month. I really do love their workouts. I signed up for 6 more months and upped my membership to 3 times a week. Then in April, I just sort of fizzled. I never made it more than twice in a week in April, and some weeks only once.

I want to see results. I want to firm up. I want my running endurance back.

However, none of that is going to happen when I keep making excuses and keep NOT making my fitness goals a priority.

So, I am going to make my fitness goals a priority this month. May is going to be the month I get my mojo back!

May Fitness Goals:

Week 1 (w/e 5/6)

• Take progress pictures & measurements (I wasn’t going to do this, this month because I didn’t really do well in April, but I will.)
  
• 48oz water each day
  
• Track food
  
• Menu plan meals
  
• 2 training runs
  
• Finish Rock n River 10k
  

Week 2 (w/e 5/13)

• 64oz water each day
  
• Track food
  
• Menu plan meals
  
• 3 Crossfit workouts
  
• 3 training runs
  

Week 3 (w/e 5/20)

• 80oz water each day
  
• Track food
  
• Menu plan meals
  
• 3 Crossfit workouts
  
• 3 training runs
  

Week 4 (w/e 5/27)

• 80oz water each day
  
• Track food
  
• Menu plan meals
  
• 3 Crossfit workouts
  
• 3 training runs
  

Week 5 (w/e 6/3)

• 80oz water each day
  
• Track food
  
• Menu plan meals
  
• 3 Crossfit workouts
  
• 2 training runs
  
• Run Hit the Road Jack 10k
  
• Take progress pictures / measurements
  

There you have it. I can make this work if I make it a priority. Week 1 starts today. I will post my progress throughout May. Any encouragement you can offer is appreciated! I have put my workouts in my calendar and I’ve printed them out for me to see every day. There is no reason I can’t achieve these goals.

Motivation.

I’m taking it back.

Yikes, I’ve gotten behind in my weekly picture posts! If it weren’t for the “My Week in Pictures” app, I would be completely lost in keeping up! This post will have 3 weeks of pictures to get me caught up! And PS. How is it already the END of April? Sheesh!

Week 14 – We colored Easter eggs. It’s too bad I’m the only one who likes hard boiled eggs. I had to throw most of them away.

It was opening weekend for H’s little league. We had a great day that day! He got to pitch an inning (struck out 2 batters and the 3^rd batter grounded out to first base!) I love that he loves baseball!

My man got me tickets to one of the spring training Bay Bridge series games between the A’s and the Giants! They were AMAZING seats! (A’s lost – suck.) We had a great time!

Also, I started crocheting again. I made the super cute halter top in about 10 days. I am considering entering it into the county fair this summer!

Week 15 – For Easter we took the kids on a nature walk through Spring Lake park. Well, it started as a nature walk, and I turned it into a fitness walk! We did most of the Par Course exercises along the path. Pictured is H doing the log jumps!

I got my boss’s iPad 2 this week! I am officially in love with this thing!

I am starting to get back into my running groove!

And of course a picture of my extra large kitty cat!

Week 16 – I love fortune cookie wisdom.

I ran again this week. I am loving my new MOTOACTV device! (review coming soon!) I also did the FRAN workout at Crossfit this week and OMG that was a hell of a workout! My arms were sore for 4 days after! I was proud of myself though because I did the first round (21) of all jumping pull ups! It wasn’t until halfway through the second round that I had to go back down to the ring rows.

There were a couple days this past week that were in the mid-80′s. My kitty is so silly and sleeps on his back. Here he was part enjoying the sun and part in the shade! Again. Silly kitty!

Another picture of my super little leaguer pitching! I love watching him play baseball!

Finally is a picture of some jailhouse art from one of my clients.

Hope everyone had a GREAT April!

I started taking Crossfit classes at the beginning of March. These workouts are no joke, let me tell ya! After the first workout, I left there knowing I was going to be sore, however I did not know just how sore I would end up being!

Two days after my first workout, my arms were so sore that I could barely take off my shirt! Now, I wasn’t injured, but my body was responding to the lack of weights I had been exposed to for the past 6ish months. I also should tell you that I don’t really mind this kind of sore because I know it means that I really got a good workout.  (However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a good deal of whining… LOL)

I posted on twitter about my muscle soreness and I got a reply from Body Glide asking me if I had tried their product called WarmFX. I responded that I had not and they offered to send me some to try. I was super excited to try it out!

Now, I’ve never used any Body Glide products, so I was pretty impressed when I opened up the WarmFX. I would describe the way it’s packaged like a deodorant stick. This impressed me, because it meant that I did not have to get the product my hands. Sweet!

Shortly after I received the WarmFX, I completed another extremely difficult Crossfit workout. It was the “Annie” workout. Here’s how it looks if you can’t do a double under (which I can’t):

• 150 jump ropes
  
• 50 full sit ups
  
• 120 jump ropes
  
• 40 full sit ups
  
• 90 jump ropes
  
• 30 full sit ups
  
• 60 jump ropes
  
• 20 full sit ups
  
• 30 jump ropes
  
• 10 full sit ups
  

For time! That means you need to do this workout as fast as you can. I finished all that in 17:33! And OMG I was tired.

You know what else? My calves were screaming from all the jump roping! That night my calves were so sore that I was having a difficult time falling asleep. I rubbed a bunch of the WarmFX on both my calves (the more you put on the hotter it gets!) and it worked! My muscles relaxed and I was able to get a good night’s rest!

I am really happy with WarmFX and will use it regularly when I have sore muscles!

Thank you Body Glide for a great product!

Disclosure: I was provided with WarmFX by Body Glide. Other than receiving WarmFX, I was not compensated for this review. As always, all opinions on Wild Child Gone Good are my own.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. The pretty red dress is the bridesmaid’s dress I’m going to wear at my BFF’s wedding at the end of September. (Only it will be blue.) I felt pretty sexy in that red dress, I’m not going to lie!

I’m loving my race bib board and bling rack. Such a great reminder of what I’m capable of!

I love living in Sonoma County – hot air balloons everywhere! And just right off the road!

And it wouldn’t be a week without cute pics of my kitties or son! Love me some H cuddles!

Seeing a hot air balloon during the rain was a bit odd. Usually they are only out on clear days.

Saw a wild turkey out of the window while having dinner at Applebee’s. Also odd.

The Mega Millions was up to $640 million. I don’t usually buy lotto tickets, but thought, “hey $640 million might make a good birthday present, so why not?” (I didn’t win btw – LOL)

I’m pretty excited about my progress over the past month. I started Crossfit on March 2^nd. The pictures on the left were taken on February 29^th. The pictures on the right were taken on March 31^st (my birthday!). It’s not a huge difference, but I can see changes. I went 2 times a week during March and am increasing my Crossfit workouts to 3 times a week going forward. I hope to see even more changes next month! (Of course, I really need to get a handle on my eating as well…)

I hope you had a great couple weeks!

I am so happy! None of my racing memorabilia is tucked away in a box any longer!

Like I said when I made my race bling rack, all my bibs and medals have been sadly sitting in a box over the last couple of years.

But no more!

I purchased a canvas on sale at the local craft store *months ago* and have been dragging my feet on how I wanted to use it to display my race bibs. I decided that I needed not only to have my bibs displayed, but also some pictures from the races.

So yesterday, I uploaded some of my favorite race pictures to Target and within a hour they were ready!

Last night I got the canvas out and laid out my bibs and the pictures…

Honestly, I thought I would have *plenty* of room on this canvas for more bibs…

But apparently, I’ve run a few races!

I laid all the bibs and the pictures out on the board. I took some Elmer’s School Glue and glued all the bibs and the pictures down. I waited a couple of hours to make sure it was dry and then voila!

I love it!

I hung it directly above my race bling rack and now I have a motivation wall!

Because I’m in an apartment this being proudly displayed in the dining room! Once you walk in my apartment, you can’t help but see it! Now I can remind myself exactly what I’m capable of on a daily basis!

How do you display your race bibs / medals?