Swine flu?

I am trying to figure out how this happened. Somewhere in my really hard work week (almost 3 all nighters), there was a swine flu outbreak. I didnt realize this until I got an email from Chris asking me if the cold I had was gone (it is) with a link to an article on the swine flu outbreak in Mexico City. Walking home from work today the streets looked like Asia during the SARS scare with everyone in a face mask. How did I miss this? I am usually totally up on the latest health scare. I am a hypochondriac (not the kind that goes to doctors because I havent been to a GP since I went to my pediatrician when I was 18). When I got the two staff infections in hawaii I went to Drs on Call and they mis-diagnosed me, so I never went again. If I get sick here, all I can really do is go to the hospital. I am the type of hypochondriac that self diagnoses and self medicates. Usually with alcohol. It is used to clean emergency rooms so it can definitely take care of whatever bacteria I may be carrying around.
There is very little press about it here, so what I am learning, I am learning from searching US google and from panicked friends making sure I am still alive. The schools and museums are all closed. The race on Sunday sold out before I could register, but my mom thinks with this outbreak some people will back out. I am not sure I am brave enough to share the water stations with a race full of potentially flu carrying people, but athletes are supposed to be healthy right? The office sent out a mass email giving us great advice on how to take care of ourselves. It was in a ppt and the first slide said - if you feel sick go to the doctor. The second slide said - wash your hands frequently and cover your mouth when you cough. That was it. Really? Thanks for the help. I learned that in kindergarten.
All week in my meetings we had three people hacking up lungs complaining that they had the flu and we didnt think anything of it until we saw the scare in the news. I actually was the only one who didnt panic because I only really freak out if throw up is involved and this flu doesnt seem to have that. I slightly contemplated not going to the gym to run, but that was more out of laziness than protecting my health. I just went to get dinner and the waiters had the masks on but the cooks didnt. Hopefully the flu shot I had in september and the daily doses of Zicam will help keep me safe because I wasnt about to not eat my tacos. Pork tacos I might add - hopefully eating the animal that started the flu cant make me sick.

Manifestacion

These are photos outside of my office window today of the manifestacion going on here. They are all in front of the US Embassy and I am not sure exactly what they are saying as the only word I can really make out is Obama. It will make for an interesting crowd to run through today. Hopefully they will still be there so i can read all of the signs they are holding. Right now the only one I can see is one that says the government protects pedofiles, and I can only see half of it so I am not sure whose government they are talking about. See the cars in the street. They havent moved in hours. Good thing I walk to work. Ok, im off to go run/stalk before he leaves today.

And now I can stalk him in Mexico

Here he is with Calderon.

My day started out like this - on my walk to work there was a huge crowd outside of the US embassy protesting so it took a while to get through. This isnt odd as there are protests every three days, but it was more crowded than normal. Then my 10:00 appt arrived 30 minutes late saying that the roads are all closed and traffic was horrible. I asked him what was going on and he said that Obama was in town. WHAT??? How the HELL did I forget that. In my delirium last night I must have forgotten what today was. Yes, Obama is in town and I could hardly wait to get out of the office to start my stalking er running. I know where he is staying (the only presidential suite in Mexico City that has bullet proof windows) and it is right on my run course. Or a half mile off, but I could use the extra exercise. Thank god Mexico had daylight savings this past weekend because I wouldnt normally be able to run this late at night. I forgot my camera, but the roads were blocked off and there were cops everywhere. I ran by the hotel a few times until one of the guards with a machine gun asked me if I was lost. Knowing I had no money for a bribe if I were to get arrested, I quickly ran home. And I will be back tomorrow. With some cash. After all of these illnesses it finally felt good to run. I have been able to eat which has definitely helped and all week I have really been able to push hard.
During my workout yesterday the HR lady emailed to tell me round two of the visa photos were rejected because you couldnt see my ears and there was a shadow on my cheek. These people are picky! So i went back to the same photo place today with my hair all braided and pinned up (so not a pretty look) and I demanded a free re-do. The third set came out with a shadow under my eye (which could also have been circles from me being so tired) and in order to not get them rejected I had to have the circles scrubbed out. My first experience with photoshopping is on the visa photos. I will have to post because they dont look anything like the tired me. I plan on going to bed tonight before it is tomorrow so that I can run a little bit further tomorrow in my stalking session.

Guitar Hero

Every time I come back to Hawaii it rains the entire time. This trip was no different. It has been cold and rainy since I got here and I have not been able to set foot on the beach. The good news is that it has made it much less painful to do all of the errands that need to be done before moving. We made the trek out to the new Target, the petstore and of course to Lululemon. We also made a pitstop at Best Buy where we picked up Guitar Hero. We have been playing non stop since there isnt much else to do. Chris started out on the guitar and immediately got bood off stage. Then he went to the drums and no luck there either. Finally he found his calling singing and we were able to get through the songs together. Now I am addicted - good thing I leave tonight to go back home. Here I am trying my way for the first time. I am on a balance ball - does this count as a core workout?

The hood came on when it got really stressful...

We had dinner plans that night, but when Chris took the dogs out, I took one last turn to practice and was caught when he got back. NO comments about the pig-stye of a house mom - we are preparing for a move!!

Needless to say there has been no surfing (too cold and rainy), but I did hear that the Hon Tri is a run-bike-run since the jellyfish will be out, so I am still considering racing it when I come back. here are race photos from last weekend - can you tell that I am going to die? I dont usually look like I am in this much pain when I race (even though I usually am). But I did get to wear the new silver zoots for the first time in a race and I loved them! Hopefully next time they will help me pace a little bit better.

VIsa Update

I woke up this morning to this email from HR....
I just wanted to let you know that your pictures were rejected because you eyes look closed :). So I hope you can schedule once you are back to the office to take new pictures. I will give you back the old ones so you can give them to your friends lol
Perfect - I will try and do better next time.

Racing and Babies

I learned a very valuable lesson in the race this past weekend. I need to work on pacing - BAD. I used to be so good at it and people would come up to me thank me for pacing them. But as I have started only working on my running and gotten faster, I realize that I cant pace anymore. The run went down like this. Weather was pretty nice - about 55 degrees (which is freezing for Houston in April). I had still been feeling sick from the stomach bug thing I caught, but not awful. Before the start I got in a little warmup that upset my stomach, so I figured I would save it all for the race.
And the start - I felt pretty good at the beginning and just stayed the pace with the people around me (people who were supposedly running 7:30 pace). I was doing great until I got to mile 2 and saw the time. 12:58. Holy crap I went out way too fast and am going to die. AThat was all I could think. nd who the hell were these people who said they were running 7:30? They cant pace either. The time should have read about 15 minutes. Just before the clock I was feeling good, but after I was toast. I couldnt move my legs and felt like I couldnt breath. I looked at my garmin the pace was slowing. I kept slowing to a walk (i know, totally lame - i hate walking). I was going this way (slow jog, walk to get my heartrate down, slow jog) until I got to mile 3. At that point I knew i could suffer for another mile. I finished in 34 and my goal was 30, and I know I can do that with proper pacing. The miles went like this according to Garmin - 6:30, 6:28, 14ish, 7:14. Again, I need to learn to pace. And I need to learn not to listen to my head when it says I cant do something. I have never been very good at that, and I am going to work on this. The post race party was one of the best I have been to. Nachos, migas, pizza, jamba juice, smoothie king, (i could go on forever - remember Houston was the fattest city in the US) and BEER. I was going to take a picture of my friend and me after the race, but I had two beers in my hands and didnt want to risk spilling one.
My brother had a race this weekend in NYC and did so well - he is getting faster each week. He did a 7:36/mile - he knows how to pace.
And finally over the weekend I went to visit one of my best friends who just had a baby. Her name is Stirling and she is perfect. I want one. I really wanted one until she told me about her labor. Here she is with her first picture with Obama. My friend's husband is not an Obama fan and he was not too happy when I showed up to the hospital wearing this shirt.

America's most wanted

This is so not a training post but has to be shared. I got an urgent call from my HR lady today saying that I had to go to the immigration office by 1:30 to confirm I am who I say I am so I can leave the country Friday. WTF? It is 1:00 and traffic here sucks worse than LA. So I made it just in time to meet my really nice lawyer. Apparently they were trying to get the letter released that says I am allowed to leave and come back and my signature on my passport was a tad different than on my paperwork. Yes, this is true. My signature changes yearly, it has never been a problem before.

So after clearing this up I asked when my FM3 would be ready - I have been here for three months taking paychecks and still no work visa. He had to pull me aside to tell me the situation because apparently there is some shady sh*t going on here and he didnt want the immigration official to hear. I guess with where my Visa sitation is now, they wouldnt release me from the counrty if they heard what he told me. Apparently it is ready to go and all I needed was a photo and to answer 1000 questions about how I look. I have no idea if my nose is a little to the left or right or if my eyes are close together or far apart, but after I got the photos back I know that I resemble a serial killer.

I normally take ok photos in these situations. Not anything frame worthy, but definitely nothing I am embarrassed to take out....until now.
Here is the latest mugshot....In my defense I was given 100 different directions about how and where I needed to look with about 10 strong ass lights on me so I was sweating and could barely see it was so bright. Plus I was told no smiling, closed mouth and look serious. Really? I dont take directions well apparently. I look like I just got busted for making crystal meth in my house in the boonies.

When I gave it to my HR lady she just burst out laughing and said that noone but immigration needed to see it. Then she promptly showed it to the girl she was with.

Here is my passport photo - not too terrible for one of these types of documents.

Here is my DL - again, not totally embarrassing.

So the good news is I can leave the country with my passport and the approval letter, but when I start using the Visa in May, the photo may cause some problems with customs and questions may arise about. I thought about retaking it, but it was already $120 pesos and there are worse things to worry about. Like whether or not the dude on the corner is going to steal my last $120 pesos causing me not to be able to even buy this photo.