Philadelphia Zoo

I've been MIA again...my new job has been keeping me tied to my workdesk, but I have hope that at some point in the near future, I will be able to return to some sort of blogging routine.

What a weekend! DH and I spent Saturday with a friend, M and her boys (a 3-year old and a 9-month old) at the Philadelphia Zoo. M's husband has been deployed to Iraq since the little one was born, and she has been raising the kids by herself. She has always been a cheerful, high-energy woman, juggling 2 jobs, then school and 2 jobs, and now plunging headlong into motherhood, but after yesterday, I have renewed appreciation for her strength and stamina.

The weather was perfect; the children were well-behaved and we had no trouble shepherding them through the zoo. Just as we were all beginning to enjoy the day, an unfortunate incident occured. We parked her efficient Schwinn double jogging stroller (loaded with baby food, snacks, shoes and the toys we had bought for the kids) outside the cat cages, under the sign "Stroller parking" and came back 20 minutes later, to find it gone. Disappeared! We split up and combed the area, hoping it had just rolled away somewhere close, but it was nowhere to be seen. While DH and I watched the kids, M went to review the security camera. A man in a white T-shirt and blue jeans was actually caught on tape, wheeling away the stroller! We were asked to stay on till after the park closed, in case the stroller was abandoned somewhere. The park security was alerted, and they rolled off in their carts, on a mission to retrieve the stolen stroller, but at the end of the day, the stroller was still missing.

We stayed on to lodge a complaint, though we were certain, by the obvious lack of interest on the cop's face, that the chances of getting the stroller back were slim to none. Tough luck! By the time we left, it was 7 pm. DH had been carrying the 3-year old on his shoulder most of the day, and thanks to the lost stroller, M and I had been taking turns carrying the baby all day; our arms and shoulders were sore. The boys were exhausted too. Luckily, no valuables had been lost.

We joined another friend for dinner at Banana Leaf, and plenty of nasi lemak, crispy golden fried squid and lychee drinks were consumed. We drove home in a heavy thunderstorm, hoping that the nearly-bald tires would not steer the car into a ditch. Not surprisingly, we came across 2 accidents on Route 1. It was about midnight when we reached home and 5 minutes after that when we gratefully fell into bed.

I didn't get much sleep though, because I had to be up at 6:15 to meet Glenn and Sandy for a run. Since Glenn had mapped the run, I expected a challenging course. I was in no shape for a 11.25 mile hilly run, and my left shoulder and arm were still tight and hurting after yesterday's child-carrying experience. I don't know how you moms do it!!!

Anyway, I decided to take it a bit easy, and when Glenn mentioned that we could walk up some of the hills, I readily agreed. Sandy raced off ahead of us at 7:45; she had to be done by 10. Glenn and I took off a few minutes later. There were 4 major hills on the course (according to Glenn). I beg to differ...some of the "inclines" were hills to me! We did a good bit of walking and still got a great workout. As usual, Glenn had done an awesome job with the course, covering pretty neighborhoods and allowing for water/rest stops at gas stations along the way. We bought water/gatorade at each of the stops. I wished I had worn my fuel belt, so I didn't need to carry the water bottle in my hand. I could have also stowed my camera in the belt and taken pics. I will definitely be doing this course again, and there'll be pics next time. A Cliff shot blok helped me pick up speed during the last 3 miles. We finished by Watchung Lake.

Week's workouts:

Monday: 6 miles

Tuesday: 12 miles + core work

Wednesday: Aquafit + swimming 500 yards
Thursday: 7 miles
Friday: 6 miles (1 1/2 mile warm up; 3 miles at 8:30 average; 1 1/2 mile cooldown)

Sunday: 11.25 miles

Total: 42.25 miles

After a restoring nap, lots of cooking and squirreling away for the week was accomplished today.

Toor dhal curry

Avarakkai (hyacinth bean)

Brussels' sprouts

Potato and methi (fenugreek) leaves