And at home, it’s a cavalcade of repairs: fix this part of the floor, part this gate and fix this wall, etc.

However, I am very grateful to have a job and a home. I take neither for granted and I am glad to have the “problems” that I have. It could be a great deal worse.

At the same time, I know I need something else to focus on. My thoughts tend to focus on the unknowable, uncontrollable and the undefinable. I don’t have children nor pets and most of my family is thousands of miles away or in very remote areas of the the world, so I can’t focus on their needs or activities. So, to focus my energies and life, I picked a marathon to run. In eight weeks.

I’ve done one marathon previously, The Honolulu Marathon, in 2010. I trained for it in twelve weeks and had a blast. I wanted to to run the marathon in Mo’orea, in French Polynesia, this year but I was slated to work here. Looking at the Marathon Guide, I looked for races in Hawai’i and found the Hilo Marathon on 18 March 2012. A little more than eight weeks but totally doable. I had been running strong twelve mile runs in December and ran an eight mile fun run on Christmas morning on my own, so I feel pretty comfortable and in good shape.

My plan is run 3 to 4 days a week, cycle 3 nights after work in the gym and mix up my time off with some swimming and maybe some sort of movement class. All this activity will keep me focused at work, at home and in-between. I am so excited.

I love to run. It’s one of my favorite things to do. While I enjoy cycling and am getting progressively better at it, I’d rather run almost any day. I’d like to do the L.A. Marathon, but scheduling is not going to allow it. The jeans are tight, I need to get in shape for the ride and I’d rather weigh less, so to the hills I return.

I ran 31 minutes today-more than half of it up hill. Running from my house means that no matter how I go, it’s going to be uphill. I put on my iPod and moved up the canyon I live in and after seven minutes, I did not care if I ever stopped. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.

Maybe I’ll try and swim tomorrow morning.

Best Song on the Run: Fall in Love With Me by Camiel – Eric Kupper Mix

We met my Dad and step-mom in Carmel for Thanksgiving. We’ve been doing this off and on for a few years. We stay in a hotel togther, eat out and play tourist. This year, we went to the Carmel Mission

In the mission square, there were gorgeous bottle-brushes blooming.

The native grape of California, Vitus californica, puts on a great autumn display.

Above is a Fiji Island Hibiscus I bought from Florida. I was advised to keep the plants in the pots that they had arrived in but found much more success planting them out. I don’t think that I have enough moisture here in California to compensate for the loss via leaf evaporation. Florida is much more humid and can get away with keeping the plants pot bound. I am making a hedge around an orchid tree. I am guessing it will grow in, in about 2 more years.

Hibiscus arnottianus immaculatus is a treasure-it’s endangered with very few plants left in the wild. Found only on Moloka’i, I nursed this from an 8” cutting to a 4 foot by 4 foot bush. Besides it’s lack of red in the flower proper, it has a scent! One of a but handful of hibiscus to have any fragrance, I planted this next to my front door and I am always grateful for its welcoming perfume.

Wow-10 riders! We’re growing quickly! Most of our group were veteran riders, with just a couple new folks. Everyone did very, stopping at all the stop signs and signaling well.

We rode from Santa Monica, around Marina Del Rey to the South Bay Bike Path to Hermosa Beach. Our pit stop was at Java Man, where we ran into Martin, Steve and Devin. We all chatted and rode back. It was a beautiful day, in the 70s with light winds.

Total Mileage: 59 miles

So this week, with two new riders in hand, Amy, Faye, Heather and I rode our Westside loop. Pictured above is Rich, all smiles after completing his first and longest to date training ride. Way to Go!

We had a nice ride. The VA now has a big gate off Montana but a smaller pedestrian gate was open. A police car rolled by and we asked if we could ride through. The officer said it was fine and we pedaled through.

I quizzed Amy about the palm trees we saw and she failed miserably at IDing the plants.

I rode down and rode back via Rose Avenue and Beethoven.

Total Mileage: 52 miles

I first saw these at the Mildred Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA. I bought a few plants from Bovees in Oregon a few years back and found that they are super easy to grow-fertilize every quarter, rinse daily. These tropical relatives of the rhododendrons found up in Northern California have a great advantage-they are sweetly fragrant!

These grow on the north side of my house and could get more sun. I am waiting for some of my palm trees to get gain some height and then I will mount them near the crowns of the palms, much like folks do with orchids.

For our first ride from Bike Attack , I decided to ride down to the start. It’s between 14 and 15 miles to the start in Santa Monica, and almost of all it down hill. I have a slight grade on Fountain and a NLG (NLG=nasty little grunt) going through Century City.

I noticed that my tire was a bit low on air, but the night before I cleaned my bike and changed the inner-tube. I thought I could make it to the bike shop. I thought…Until I got to Bundy and the tire got really low. I stopped to inflate it as I did not have a spare tube (bad Training Ride Leader) and used a CO² cartridge to fill up the tube. Fill it up indeed, as I blew out the tube.

I called Amy, my fellow TRL and number one cheerleader in life, and she came to retrieve me. We met at Bike Attack, Faye joined us and we ended up with no riders. So, Amy and I had breakfast at the Urth Cafe across the street from Bike Attack. I then rode home.

Total Mileage: 27 miles

Alstroemeria aurantiaca or Peruvian Lily is a very easy flower to grow in Southern California. It needs compost or fertilizer once a year, regular water and has few or no pests. It retires from the limelight during the warmest months and then starts sending up new shoots after Fall arrives.

I grow the same varieties in four big pots. I have plenty of flowers for the house about 6 months out of the year, with lots of blossoms still left to enjoy in the garden.

Downsides: No scent; you have to be sure that you pull the whole stem out and don’t cut the stem or you will rot the tuber; self seeds everywhere.