This And That

My current obsession

2008-01-04T08:52:00.000-05:00

LV Monogram Speedy 30!

You'll be mine, my preeecioussss....hehehe...

I've developed a handbag fetish all of a sudden. Who knew I could be this girly-girly?

But I love this bag! It's big enough to be practical and it's a very classic style. Check out Audrey Hepburn herself with this bag.

My new addiction

2007-12-21T07:55:00.000-05:00

ATHLINKS!!!!

It's so awesome having one place to manage all your race results. Plus it's got so many cool features: add friends, pics, race reviews, performance analysis, etc. It automatically finds your races. If it doesn't, just send them a quick request as long as you know the link to the race results (I wasn't able to add my very first race though because the website was taken down). And BEST OF ALL, it's so fun seeing who your "rivals" are. ;)

My running is finally going somewhere. Wednesday I ran 3.25 miles, then yesterday I ran 4 miles. After yesterday's run, I was like "That's it?". LOL. I think my cardio is still up there, it's just the knee/IT band that was preventing me from doing more. I told my PT last night about my recent runs when he asked how I was doing. He was like "GOOD, and we're keeping it at that distance for now, RIIIGHT?" LOL. He did give me the okay to do 5Ks and 10Ks for now, then SLOWLY ramp up to higher mileage. I love my PT! He showed me some new exercises last night that I can do with bands since that's all I'm going to have when I go to my parents for the holidays.

And I'm getting back to the swing of things with fitness again. I'm back to feeling skinny again! Woohoo!!! It's amazing what just several days of consistency can do. (And also the end of TOM ;))

Another good news, today is my last day at work for the remainder of the year! Actually, I'm supposed to work one more day since I'm out of vacation days for the year, but I got the go ahead to just work from home.

As far as the holidays are concerned, I still have my mom and my dad to buy presents for. I chickened out and didn't go to the mall last weekend. But I will tomorrow! I did go to Kohl's and got some stuff.

This weekend, I'm planning to do some cookie baking. And I'll try not to eat too much, LOL. My mom has also been bugging me about helping her make some lasagna for our Christmas day get-together with some people. WTF! LASAGNA?!?! My mom is an awesome cook when it comes to Filipino food, but when it comes to simple stuff like lasagna or baking, she's completely hopeless.

That's it for now! Later y'all!

That's it for the year!

2007-12-14T07:06:00.000-05:00

Races that is...

I'm not going to do the 5K this weekend. We're slated for a major snow storm starting Saturday night and since this race is by my parents house, it's just not feasible for me to drive there, do the race, then hurry back to so I can run errands before the storm. Besides, I'm not exactly 100% injury free so I could probably use the down time. I'm taking it easy running-wise for the rest of the year then ramp up again around January.

Reflecting back this year, I'm proud of what I accomplished! 12 races total! 8 5Ks, 1 10-mile, 1 5-mile, and 2 half marathons! Not too shabby, considering I only did 2 total the previous year!

Clearly I'm still a work in progress. So here are my running goals for 2008:

Get a handle on my injuries. How to do that is still up in the air. I'm thinking of hiring a running coach just to get my gait analyzed and get advice on how to improve my posture/form.
Race more. I slacked off on a couple of races due to extremes in weather. I need to learn to run outside no matter what the weather is.
And in order for me to race the weekends, I need to find time to do some long runs on the weekdays.
Improve my 5K time. Based on my half marathon times, I know I'm capable of being faster.
Do a 10K race. Believe it or not, of all the races that I did I'm missing on that distance.
Incorporate hill works and speed works to my training.

I decided on my next half marathon....Lehigh Valley Half Marathon in April! I LOVE HILLS!!! I LOVE HILLS!!!! I'm trying to make myself love hills, LOL. My 2 previous half marathons were pancake flat so I'm terrified of this race!

I also plan to do the same half marathons I did this year (hopefully, that will include Philadelphia this time around), and I plan to sign up for Disney half in Florida for Jan. 2009.

As for a full marathon, well right now I have no desire to do it. I don't think I'll even have the time to train for one since I'm working full time, I have a house to take care of, and I have one more class to finally finish my certification in Regulatory Affairs. I'm not completely disregarding that option though. If I do decide to do one this year, it's definitely NOT going to be Philadelphia. It has gotten bad reviews from runners I know who have run it. The half marathon is apparently not too bad, but the the full is another story. So if I do a full marathon this year, it might be Baltimore in Oct. Or if I can pull it off, Memphis in Dec. I just have a soft spot for St. Jude's Children's Hospital, which is the sponsor of this race. Ultimately, I want to do a full marathon before I'm 40 (maybe 35 ;-)). Okay, maybe one or 2 full marathons before that age, coz for some reason I'm seeing NYC as one of them.

So tomorrow, I'm going to try to get to the mall early and get all my shopping done. I still have to buy presents for my Dad (easy since all he wants is a Best Buy gift card), my SIL (she's my polyanna but all she wants is a Kohl's gift card), and my Mom (toughy since she's picky). Then I have to get food shopping done, bake more cookies for Thursday's Christmas potluck at work (I'm making SunnyD's super easy butter cookie recipe =)), and finally cook some good BFL-friendly meals for next week. I admit, I'm slacking off. And most of all, I need to get some cleaning done around my house - it's starting to look like a pig sty!

I also need to get my mind focused again on working out and healthy eating. I've been slacking off on my meals and working out. I need to get on that mind set and lifestyle again.

Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis

2007-12-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

I ran another 5K yesterday, this time the local Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis. It was held at the same park as my last race on Thanksgiving Day.

The weather report was predicting rain and in the 30's that morning. Luckily, the rain stopped just before the race but it was still a little bit chilly.

I got there with plenty of time to spare. The registration was inside this boathouse which was nice and warm. I think they had the best giveaway bag of all the races I've been to - Advil, lip balm, a whole bag of cough drops, Centrum multi-vitamins, etc. They call it the "Beat the Cold Goody Bag". I also got a pair of bells to tie to my shoes. The pre-race spread was pretty impressive too - tons of Dunkin Donuts and coffee! Of course, I wasn't about to partake just minutes before the race.

There were a bunch of teams running as well. The best was this group of runners and walkers with line green t-shirts. The front says "Yule Poke Your Eye Out" and the back has "Fra-Gee-Lee....Must be Italian" with a picture of the leg lamp shade. Clearly an homage to "A Christmas Story".

I had plenty of time to go to go back to my car to put my bag, warm up, drink some water, people watch, etc. When it was time for the race to start, they escorted us to the front of the building where the starting line was. And finally we were off.

The course was obviously very familiar to me. The only differences between my last race and this race were the start and finish lines - the whole entire path around that part of the river is 3.65 miles, of which we only ran 3.1 miles (5K).

I took off at a comfortable pace. I just wanted to test my legs at short distance races and then work my way up again to running longer races. There was a lady there with bright fuschia top that was way ahead of me in the beginning of the race. As the race progressed I slowly inched my way towards her, finally passing her at the half way mark.

Then, the young girl. Clearly she was using me as a gauge because she would walk a lot , then sprint off when I got close to her. She would actually look at me then take off. This happened a number of times, until finally she must have ran out of steam because I passed her and never saw her again.

Finally, the finish line was within my sight and I increased my speed. Unfortunately, this long legged woman in silver tights blazed passed me. Good for her, but wait till I get over this injury ;).

I crossed the finish line in around 29 something - about 9-ish min/mile ave. pace (official results still not out). I actually hit 3.1 miles way before the finish line. I think this course was a little bit over again (just like the 5K for Arthritis that I ran this summer). I don't think this course was officially certified. Plus, I forgot to stop my Garmin...AGAIN! It read 30:04 for 3.17 miles, but I didn't stop it until a little bit after my bib ticket was torn off. I backtracked using Sportstrack and apparently I hit 3.1 miles in 29:14 (9:26/mile ave. pace)! I'll take anything at this point!

I'm so pround that I stayed strong this whole entire race. There were times when I wanted to walk. Clearly, I still had a lot of energy but 5K's always play with my head. And I did not get side stitches this time, nor did my IT band act up. Even afterwards, my IT band was mostly fine. A little bit of soreness but not the cramping I used to get. Hopefully, this is a sign of better things to come.

After I crossed the finish line, I had another half a mile to walk back to the boathouse and where I parked my car. I remember them talking about having a buffet lunch across the street. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the boathouse the volunteers have all departed and the registration room was empty. WTF! All the runners that were there just headed straight to their cars. I don't know if they just headed straight home or went to where the buffet was supposed to be. Now, I may be slow but I can't be the very last one! Besides, there were walkers that started behind me! And what about the fuschia shirt lady and the little girl? Or the old guy I passed and the guy in sweats? I would have been happy with just donuts and coffee! Or even water!!!!!!

So finally I just gave up and hopped on my car and headed home. Luckily, I brought water and extra Sports Beans with me, which helped tide me over until I reached my parents house (not too far thankfully!).

I got home and got bored so I had my Dad take a couple of pictures of me hamming it up in the neighborhood. :)

Next week, I have another 5K race in the next town over from this race. I love having tons of choices for races - by my parents in NJ and by me in PA. And I'm not too far from DE or MD either for big races there. Now, if only my relatives in CA would be willing to put up with me for a couple of days ;)..... Anyways, next weekend's race will be my 13th (and my last one) for the year.

Edit:

The race official results just came out. I came in at 30:09!!! WTF! I KNOW that is not right. I had already crossed the finish line, walked a little to go to this guy to get my bib ticket ripped off, walked a little more then remembered to stop my Garmin which read 30:04. I remember the timer still in the 29 minutes range when I crossed the finish line. Also, it says the girl who finished before me did it in 29:45. There is NO WAY that girl was more than 15 seconds ahead of me! She didn't pass me until we were a couple of feet from the finish line!!!! Grrr!!! Anyways, I'm going with my Garmin data and that's the end of it.

The good news is I came in 41st out out of 155. Gotta love those walkers! ;)

Finally! Some Trip Pictures!

2007-12-04T20:08:00.000-05:00

Just a few pictures from my Beijng trip.

Incidentally, I didn't race last weekend due to wintry mix. I'm not too worried about running the race itself, but driving 45 minutes to the race in icy condition is just too much of a risk.

Next weekend though, I'm planning to run the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 5K. Looks like there's a bunch of these runs going on this weekend.

I'm really disappointed with running right now. I'm not motivated, injury is still a limiting factor, and my mileage totally sucks! My lack of motivation stems from fear of failure. Basically, I'm afraid of starting a run and not knowing when my IT band will cramp up. It varies too. Last Monday, it was at 4 miles. Today, it was at 2.5 miles.

So in order to not dwell on the negative, I decided to switch some focus on my other passion - travelling. :)

Anyways, without further ado, here are a few pix:

Beijing Zoo - w/ Panda

Is that cute or what?

Summer Palace

Gate to the Forbidden City (Tianamnen Square)

Forbidden City

Some odd dishes at the Night Market (wonder if they're BFL-friendly? ;)).

Apparently, they eat these. I'm guessing grilled? They even have silkworm cocoon. I tried looking for their famous scorpions on a stick, but we came too early and not all the stalls were open yet.

Great Wall of China
Temple of Heaven

It was an awesome trip! My overall impression of Beijing is that it's big and new. The buildings are all new and gigantic and the roads are unbelievably wide! The primary mode of transportation there is still the bicycle, but there are also a lot of motorized vehicles. China is clearly in the middle of an economic boom.

Other things we did:

We stayed at an awesome 5-star hotel throughout our stay there I can't believe how nice it was considering what we paid for the trip. Truly a bargain!
We had a tour guide and a driver all to ourselves! Just for the six 6 of us family and friends! Like I said, a bargain of a trip! This made things easier since especially hardly anybody spoke English! It's going to be interesting when the Olympics come around next year.
We caught an Acrobatic Show our first night there.
Saw some Olympic venues in passing but they were still under construction.
Saw what was supposed to be a Disney amusement park but is now a ghost town. It was abandoned when they decided to build Disney Hong Kong.
Went to the Silk Factory where they demonstrated the life cycle of a Silk Worm and how they make their famous quilts (Mom bought a whole bed set - $$$)
Went to a Jade Factory in the mountains where they make REAL jade figurines and jewelries. Typically, the ones you see in the markets are not guaranteed 100% jade (just some jade materials injected into glass). Real 100% jade changes color with time - turns much shiner and darker green the older it gets - which makes it a great heirloom piece. It is also also really hard and requires a lot of force to break. I bought a nice jade bangle as my one big souvenir. Set me back a few bucks but so worth it! :)
Had a foot massage (apparently a must in Beijing). They tried to sell as herbal medicine by having "doctors" (quacks in my opinion) diagnose your condition through your pulse and tongue. As someone who works for a pharmaceutical company, I didn't feel right purchasing any of their "medicines". ;) One of the ladies in our group bought $300 worth of medicines which she later regretted. I think she got pressured and just couldn't say no!
Went to their famous Pearl Market for some serious bargaining. The trick here is to start with a 1/4 (at the most!) of the price they ask for and then eventually you meet in the middle. If you're into fake designer goods, this is the place! I'm not into it though, so I didn't buy any. I did score some good deals on a couple pearl jewelries - those I believe are real. :)
Went to a tea house where I had the best tea! They sell the highest quality tea which requires a lot of preparation in my opinion. I asked for tea bags and I think they kind of got offended. ;)

My one disappointment was the food. As a fan of Chinese food (esp. the ones you get at China Town), I had high expectations going in. There were some good dishes, but most of them didn't agree with me. We did have THE BEST Peking (or Beijing) duck for our last meal in Beijing! OMG, I'm still dreaming of that! LOL

My next trip will be Portugal next year. I already put in a deposit! I can't wait!

I don't know half these people!

2007-11-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

Stole this from Irene's blog.

I guess there's not much Asian celebrities out there. On the bright side, at least they didn't put Rob Schneider. He is part Filipino after all. ;)

Oooh! Speaking of celebrities! There's a movie being shot in my neighborhood! Okay, it's the next town over but it's close enough. I was at PT today and they were talking about the traffic in the area and how the cops were telling the residents there where not to walk or drive, etc...They were actually talking about it in the local radio stations too. Anyways, the movie being shot is the movie adaptation for The Lovely Bones. It's starring Mark Wahlberg and Susan Sarandon, and directed by Peter Jackson! I'm half tempted to go over there just to get a glimpse of the sexy Marky Mark! Now that guy I wouldn't mind being dubbed Sexiest Man Alive. ;)

Turkey Day 5K Picture

2007-11-28T13:15:00.001-05:00

What's this? A post two days in a row?

Anyhoo...here's a picture of me taken after the Turkey Day 5K. I'm at my brother's front yard. Love the fall colors! The race was about 3 miles away from their house where we had our Thanksgiving get-together.

Dang! Looks like my legs plumped up! LOL. Blame it on injury, lack of running, and vacation.

Waaaahhhhh!!!!

2007-11-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

I miss Tracker and my Run for Life teammies!!!!

I miss being able to run long like I used to. I feel like I'm back to square one!!!

WTH happened to some of the blogs? Since I've been back from vacation, you need special access to read them. :(

It's getting too cold out! I hate the cold!

I so unmotivated at work!

I need to catch up on housework!

I need to remember to pay my bills before the end of the month!

I need to put up my Christmas decorations!
I need to update my workout log on the sidebar!

I'm getting fat!

On a positive note, here's another picture of my cute niece at 2 weeks old. It's kind of blurry, but she's just too adorable in this picture! :)

Turkey Day 5K

2007-11-22T23:23:00.000-05:00

Ran a Turkey Day 5K this morning - I've always wanted to run a 5K on Thanksgiving Day.

The race started at around 10 am which was perfect since it's early enough in the morning without it being too early (does that make sense? LOL). Weather was PERFECTION!!!! The race was around this river near my parents house and it was just beautiful!

My time was slllooooowwww though. First off, I set out to do this race just as a fun run and was just going to run this race easy so not too aggravate the knee and IT band. Once I was off, I was actually running at a fairly decent pace while still feeling relaxed. For the first 2 miles, I thought I was actually going to finish at a decent time! However, the side stitch that I started feeling around the first mile just wouldn't go away and was too hard to ignore by mile 3. So I walked some. Finished in 30:58 (3.13 miles) according to Garmin.

Oh well!!! Still happy overall since the knee and IT band held up throughout the race. The outside of my knee started feeling stiff later in the day, but I just massaged around it and it eventually loosened up. Of course, I must have massaged it too hard coz I now have this big ugly bruise around the area.

Thank God I did this race since I ended up having 2 Thanksgiving meals! First, we had lunch at my brother's house. With a 2-weeks old baby and all, they really couldn't go anywhere yet. Then for dinner, went to another friend's house for another big meal. I feel like a stuffed bird!

Me and my niece...

2007-11-19T11:09:00.001-05:00

Isn't she adorable?

She's only a little bit over a week and still sleeping a lot. She is a really calm baby though. I can't wait when she grows up and I can take her shopping! LOL.

I'm still working on my vacation pictures. We took A LOT! Between my camera, my mom's, and my dad's there's just so much to sort through! So please be patient! I will post them, I promise!

Yesterday as I was driving home from my parents house, I passed by Philadelphia and saw the runners running along the Schuykill River for the Philadelphia Half/Full Marathon...that one that I'm missing. :( I felt a tinge of sadness for only a moment, but it wasn't so bad. For the most part, I am at peace with the fact that I made the right decision. I did honk at them twice as a show of support. :)

The good news is that I was able to run PAIN FREE last night for a grand whopping distance of 3.5 miles! Whoot whoot!!! I probably could have gone longer, but decided to play it conservatively for now. The Turkey Day 5K that I am hoping to run on Thursday sure is looking good! And OMG! I am actually contemplating a 10K next weekend! We shall see how the knee holds up. I WILL GET THROUGH THIS INJURY!!!!

Leslie - Don't worry, I will keep doing something. I've enjoyed wearing size 0/2 for over 2 years now I'm not about to backslide. Thanks for the reminder though. :)

Thank you again everyone! Have a great Thanksgiving!

My first DNS

2007-11-15T12:14:00.000-05:00

Looks like I'm not going to do this weekend's Philadelphia Half Marathon. Goodbye $96 reg. fee! My ITBS is still acting up in a big way. I could still run, but really slow and it hurts like a mo fo beotch after a couple miles!

My PT said that I could still do the half if I do one of the following:

Run really easy so it doesn't aggravate my IT band.
Run until it starts to hurt then walk the rest of the way.
Walk the entire thing

Walking doesn't bother my IT band at all, but the idea of walking a huge portion of the 13.1 miles course is just tortuous to my mind. Physically I KNOW I can do it. But why?

My PT did say that the most ideal solution for me is to rest or ease up on the running for a while, until the IT band heals. So that's what I'm going to do...a couple of 5Ks before the year ends, LOL. Am I stubborn or what! ;)

And I don't want to hear this whole BS about DFL>DNF>DNS!!! It is tougher for me to stay behind and not do the race. And in this case, I KNOW I am making the right decision. Besides, I am only 32 yrs old - plenty of races yet in my future as long as I stay relatively injury-free (Please God!).

The good news is that I am back from my vacation! And what an awesome vacation it was! Pictures to follow, once I get done sorting through the hundreds we took.

And THE BEST news of all...I'm a new aunt!!! My beautiful niece was born last Friday, an hour before we landed in Philadelphia! What a nice welcome home present!

So you see, it's still ALL GOOD! :)

It's finally here!

2007-10-22T05:20:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving on vacation! I'll be back in Nov.!

My half marathon in Nov. is looking highly doubtful? Remember my pain at 12 miles of my half marathon last weekend? Well, it's still haunting me. I have an honest to goodness pain-in-the-ASS ITBS. Like, not just soreness of the knees. Like painful enough to stop you on your tracks...and I don't use the word "pain" very lightly.

I was able to shuffle along last Thursday with 4.6 miles. For Saturday's long run, I made it to 5ish miles before I got the pain. I don't know how many times I had to stop and stretched it out. Around 5ish to 6ish I would run a little then walk, then repeat. By 6ish I couldn't run a step and had to walk the remaining ~2.5 miles home. It was the longest walk of my life! Luckily, it didn't hurt at all when I walk.

I'm really bummed. But, I'll keep my hopes open. I'll take it easy, stretch, do a bunch of leg exercises, etc. Last week, my regular physiotherapist was on vacation so I couldn't even get advice.

For now I'll focus on enjoying my vacation. :)

AC 1/2 Marathon Race Report

2007-10-14T17:11:00.001-05:00

I know y'all been waiting for this!

Anyways, yes I just ran my second half marathon in Atlantic City today. I'm going to apologize right off the bat, since I know this is going to be novel-length.

I decided to do this race as a training run. I'm going on a long vacation starting next week, so running opportunities may be limited. I wanted to get a 13.1 quality miles before I leave since I'm planning on running the Philadelphia Half Marathon a week after I come back in November.

I had a lot of doubts coming into this race. First of all, I had a hard time finding my motivation after PDR a month ago. For the past couple of weeks, I only managed 2 10-milers as my longest runs. Then Friday morning, I woke up feeling crappy, like I was coming down with something. I hoped that it was only due to the change of the weather, but I didn't take any chances and loaded up on Airborne. LOL.

I felt better today, thankfully. It was still dark when we drove 45 minutes to Atlantic City. I think I got a good 10 minutes nap in the car. We got there an hour and a half before the start of the race. No lines at all when I picked up my race packet, shirt, & chip.

Nothing much happening after that as we waited for the start. I hung out inside the Showboat Casino, stretched, people watched, munched on jelly beans, etc. Even got in 2 bathroom breaks. I headed out about 15 minutes before the start. The weather at that time was sunny and cool. I was actually shivering at the start line.

The course started out on the Boardwalk, which was really flat. The view of the ocean was beautiful! The first half of the race felt like I was facing headwind, which felt really great since I was already getting hot around the first mile.

Around mile 4, we veered right onto a bridge and into the roads. I took my first gel at around mile 5, then continued running until we hit mile 6.5 and headed back. I was counting on the tailwind after the halfway point since we were heading back the same way. But nothing! I was getting really hot at this point. When we ran back to the boardwalk, the sun was shining directly at us...no shade whatsoever! After a while I wanted any kind of wind just to cool me off!

At around mile 8, I started running behind this woman. I would run right behind her then she would speed up. We did this for some time. Then she would break up in song, like really loud! And even flail her arm around! I don't even know if she's part of the race because when I got next to her, she didn't have a bib #. I'm guessing she's local and just went out for a nice run on the boardwalk.

I was doing really well until mile 12. That's when my right knee started getting sore. I decided to walk for a bit, then a woman tapped me in the back and said "Come on, let's go!" I thanked her and took off.

Around mile 12.5, I got a really sharp pain on the side of right knee, in which case I definitely had to walk. People started passing me, but I didn't care since it was hurting pretty bad. I made the Trump Taj Mahal overpass as my marker to start running, which I did even though my knee was protesting. I kept telling myself "Just get it done!". I saw the finish line ahead and it felt so far away! Saw my mom cheering me on as I (sort of) sprinted to the finish.

My clock finish time was 2:11:36(?) - a personal best!!!! I beat my previous half marathon time by 3 minutes!

Throughout the race, I kept looking at my Garmin because it kept telling me I was averaging around ~9 min/mile. I've never done that! It felt like I was running at a relaxed pace. Must be the ocean air.

It also turned out that I set a 10-mile PR as well of ~1:37, which was way better than my ~1:41 from the Broad Street Run.

I'm very happy with my time. But, a part of me is disappointed that I didn't get below 2:10, which was within my grasp if it wasn't for this darn knee!

Speaking of knee, it's really hurts! Not swollen though, thank God! I think it's my IT band since it's on outside of my knee. I'm iceing, taking pain killers, and keeping my fingers crossed. I have PT tomorrow, which will hopefully help.

I hung out a bit to watch the winners from the full marathon cross the finish line. The winner for men crossed at around 2:54. Really fast, but not Kenyan standard. This was a really low key race so no elites.

Overall, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this race! It's very low key compared to the Philly races, but very well organized with tons of course support along the way. It was wierd running through the Boardwalk among the regular people, but I think it's part of the charm of this race. There are also lots of CLEAN bathrooms along the course - just walk into one of the casinos! And based on my time, I think there's a better chance of setting PRs on this race compared to Philly. Plus, you get a free voucher for a buffet meal in the Showboat Casino. Of course, I still won't give up Philly.

That's it! Thanks for reading!

Here are some pics!

Before the race, hanging out inside the Showboat Casino:

Still before the race, but outside the casino:

Trying to sprint to the finish line:

After the race, with my medal. Notice I switched my knee brace. That's because I was in pain!

Guys at the gym

2007-10-09T19:47:00.000-05:00

So lately, I've been going to my work gym after work for weight lifting and extra cardio. I run in the mornings.

Unfortunately, there's this group of guys that just stink up a storm in the gym! I mean NASTY SMELL! Like beyond B.O. Not to sound racist or anything, but I'm guessing that these guys are the same nationality since they're always speaking to each other in their native tongue, whatever that is. Judging by the smell, I'm guessing it's not just BO but something they eat that permeates out of their pores when they sweat. Really foul!

One time, I was in the shoulder press machine when one of the guys started using the machine next to mine. Since I was in the middle of my sets, I stuck it out, prayed, and tried to hold my breath as much as possible (very hard to do when you're supposed to be working hard). I finally got done and went to another machine farther from the guy when I felt dizzy and had to hold on to the nearest solid thing next to me. It was that bad!

Another time, I had the misfortune of being on one of the elliptical machine and one of the guys decided to hop on the one next to mine. Ugh!

On the other hand, there's a new guy at the gym. From what I can tell, he doesn't smell. And OMG...is he HAWWWT!!!! Like GQ-model hot with muscles!!! I first noticed him today but I was so involved with my workout that I just looked at him, took note of his hotness, and continued with my business.

Well, my friend was there too and she also noticed him. Apparently, he's just been going for a couple of days and when he first came the whole female population in the gym that time took notice. As a matter of fact, one of the gym bunnies that work there was all a-giggly.

So on one hand, I have stinky guys. And in the opposite is Mr McHotty eye-candy. Hmmm...

So that's the only interesting thing going on with me.

Still planning to run the half marathon this weekend. Since my last half marathon, my long runs have been a 6-miler and two 10-milers. I'm in so much trouble!

I can't win!

2007-10-01T10:02:00.000-05:00

Hi loyal readers! Sorry I've been MIA from this blog and from commenting on your blogs. I've been sooooo busy lately! Still running and working out. Also, work has been keeping me busy, especially with my upcoming long vacation.

Anyways, I'm still planning on running the Atlantic City Half Marathon. Hopefully, the weather's nice. The website is really lacking so I have no idea what to expect with this race. They have a map of the course but it only shows water stations on the first half of the course!?! Looks like I'll be carrying my fuel belt during this race, which is going to be a pain in the A$$. Not to mention that marathonguide.com gave it poor reviews. I'm just going to have to wing it.

I am having a hard time getting motivated again after my last half marathon. I was able to get 10 miles LSD run on the treadmill last night, so with another long run next weekend, I hope I'll be ready for the AC half in 2 weeks.

I'm still going to PT. ITBS seems to be gone (keeping my fingers crossed), so I'm only dealing with chondromalacia patella. My left knee has improved greatly. Unfortunately, my right knee has caught up. LOL. So now, I'll be wearing matching knee braces. So onwards with more leg strengthening exercises!

My very first half marathon...

2007-09-17T14:08:00.000-05:00

Thank you guys for checking in and for all your support. Above all, thank you for believing in me! I am done with my first half marathon and I am happy with it. Here's a detailed report (apologies in advance for the length). I'll highlight my finish time if you want to skip to it. ;)

Pre-race
I crashed at around 9:30 the night before. But I woke up at around midnight with a sore knee. I think I turned in my sleep and must have turned the wrong way on my right knee and it cramped up. Luckily, it got better once I started moving around. I was too tired to do anything so I proped a pillow under my knee and tried to get back to sleep. I was so nervous that I think I woke up at least 5 times before the alarm went off.

I had my stuff ready the night before so all I had to do in the morning was change and eat my breakfast. I was a big ball of nerves though so all I was able to eat was a slice of WW toast with PB and a cup of tea with honey. I was so nervous I was almost sick to my stomach.

I got to the race area in good time. My dad dropped me off near the Art Museum while he and my mom went to find parking. I met with some friends then headed to the nearest port-a-potties. The line went on forever! One of my friend was kind enough to save my spot while I ran to get my bag checked in.

Race
It was a really close call. We were in line for so long that we were still there when the race started. Luckily, we got done quickly enough that most of the people were still walking towards the starting line. I just kept walking through the crowd until I saw most people around me had "13" in their bibs, which indicate our corral #.

I passed by starting line and everything was just a blur from then on. I remember looking up at the starting line and seeing Philly's Mayor Street standing on a platform, cheering the runners on (can't miss the hair, ya know. ;)). I heard my mom calling me so I waved at her.

We weaved through the streets of Philadelphia. The sun was in my eyes the whole time so I cannot even tell you where we were because I was looking on the ground the whole time. My dad later asked me if we passed by City Hall and I couldn't even tell him!

I had my first drink of water at around mile 3. I usually don't need it until mile 5, but I decided to play it conservatively since this is my first half marathon. At around mile 4, I remember seeing a runner with a shirt that says that he beat open heart surgery. I thought that was really inspirational.

At around mile 4.5, I saw my parents and slowed down a bit so my dad can take a picture of me running.

Shortly after that was a water stop. The next water stop was supposed to be a little bit after mile 5, but I figured it must have been off a bit so I decided to go ahead and take my first gel then. Thankfully, it was the right decision because the next water stop was a couple of miles later.

We ended up around Kelly Drive, with the Schuykill River on the right hand side. At around mile 6, I remember looking across the river and seeing all the fast runners already making their way back to the Art Museum.

The entire course was fairly flat, until around mile 8.6 where we go a little bit uphill to a bridge to get across the river. Normally, this wouldn't even be considered a hill but at that mile, I definitely felt it in my glutes. Luckily, it didn't last long and it was all downhill once we crossed the bridge.

At around mile 9, I remember being passed by a girl who I was running on her toes! I swear her heels didn't even touch the ground. And she was obviously a serious overpronator. But whatever she was doing, it must be working for her because, like I said, she passed me.

I took my 2nd gel at around mile 10 and kept telling myself "only 5K more!". Some girl passed me with some serious B.O., and for the first time I was happy for someone (her in particular) to pass me. If I had some energy in me, I would have yelled at yer to "Run like the wind!". With my luck, I would have gotten her backdraft. LOL.

I really started hurting at around mile 12. It was bad enough that I had to walk a couple of times to ease off some cramping in my legs. At this time, I knew I was well under my goal time so I decided to take it easy until the very end.

I picked up my pace at around mile 13. However, everybody had the same idea because it felt like a big wave of people passed me. However, I was determined to get a good finishing picture for once! My last one at the Broad Street Run was horrible! I was blocked by a big guy on all the shots. So this time, I made sure nobody was around me, even though I was still running in the low 9 min/mile pace. I made sure I was smack dab in the middle of the finish line banner with my hands held high! Now, if I don't get a good picture from that, then I'm definitely cursed!

My finishing time? I signed up for this race after the Broad Street Run with a goal finishing time of 2:20. I was in a post-race euphoria then and injury-free. Since then, I have suffered from chondromalacia patella and ITBS and my training has had its good days and bad days. So I revised my goal to just finish in under 2:30. I finished in 2:25 on my last 13.1 training run, so I know sub 2:30 was doable. But I'm happy to say that I smashed my goal and finished in an official chip time of 2:14:46!!!

Post-race
I got my chip cut off and quickly got my medal. Luckily, my parents were able to find me among the crowd of people. I quickly got my bags in truck #10, which was lucky indeed since truck #9 had a line to Timbuktu! I was cramping up and needed banana pronto! So I'm sorry to say but I cut the long line to the food and snuck some goodies in between people.

We got some pictures taken around the Art Museum. I even got a picture taken with Rocky. Rocky was very in demand so I had to fight my way amongst runners and tourists to get the picture taken. I also got my free Spenco sandals after that, which was way too big for my 5 1/2 feet!

Walking back to the car was slow. But I wasn't the only one suffering. We were joking about needing some cortisone shots because our legs were sore.

My overall impression of the PDR is positive. I'll definitely do it again! Fast & flat course, great weather, what else could you ask for? The only thing is I wish they had more entertainment along the course. There were miles around Kelly Drive where it was dead silence except for the pounding of the feet and conversations from fellow runners. Luckily, I had my iPod. And just for the record, I had people almost bumping into me, and ALL of them did not have earphones. So it's not the iPod people!

Oh yeah, and running skirts rock!!!

Day After
OMG! I'm in pain! My legs are so sore! The good news is that it's sore enough that it's making the knee issue secondary. ;) I'm also experiencing some pain on the outside arch of my right leg. I think it's from the horrible cambered roads along the course. I used to do the AIDS Walk along the same path years ago and experienced the same kind of pain. I'm going to ice and massage which will hopefully help.

I have a massage scheduled after work, which I am looking forward too. I also bought The Stick at the expo so I've been using that continuously.

Pictures

The elites (Kenyans) lining up at the start of the race:

And the elites are off! See me running with them? Didn't think so. ;)
Still smiling at mile 4.5. :)

Can you see me? I'm the little lilac dot in the distance. This was taken towards the end of the race and I was hurting! I don't know what I'm doing here. Either I'm looking at my Garmin and hoping for the end, or looking at the ground and praying for it to swallow me. LOL
Posing in front of the Art Museum, proudly displaying my finisher's medal! Don't you just love my knee brace!

Gotta have a picture with Rocky! I had to fight my way through other runners and tourists to get this taken. ;)

Trying to get a formal picture done. Don't know what that idiot next to me was doing.

Final Countdown

2007-09-06T19:40:00.000-05:00

10 more days guys! I'm so nervous! I'm switching between wanting the half marathon to be here and over with and wanting for more time!

My training is going. I expected my weekly mileage to be up to 30 mpw, but the most I have done I think is about 25 mpw. I hope that's enough. I was supposed to run yesterday but was just too exhausted! This morning I ran ~3 miles. I was supposed to run more after work but I currently have a migraine. Taper starts this weekend, so down to 10 miles for my weekend long run. As you can see, not much mileage going on. But I am getting my long runs in, which I hope will help get me through.

Physical therapy is going well. My ITBS is greatly improved, although there are still some tightness in the leg muscles. Chondromalacia patella is still there, although better. The leg strengthening exercises are really helping. Today was supposed to be my last day, but my therapist wants to re-evaluate in another 2 weeks. I still have to keep up with the exercises though.

That's it! Nothing much going on but I just wanted to give an update of my boring life. ;)

Injury and Physical Therapy

2007-08-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

My training last week sucked...BIG TIME! I only got in a 5-miles run. For the first time, the pain in my leg flaired up. It actually hurt just to walk. So no running at all for about a week. :(

I had my first PT appt. last Friday. All my therapist did was evaluate my leg and told me to do a couple of stretches for my IT band 5x20 seconds, twice a day. His conclusions: really tight IT band, knee tracking a little bit off on the right and a lot off on the left, weak leg muscles esp. the adductor, and some kind of biomechanical imbalance with the way I walk (aggravated when I run long distances of course).

I am falling apart, people! LOL.

After Friday's PT session, I was sooooo sore all weekend! Who knows what a few stretches could do? So I bagged my long run this weekend. Hope it doesn't put much of a crimp to my half marathon training. I did run 13.15 miles the weekend before after all!

My 2nd PT session was last Monday and we did more strength training as well as deeper stretches for my IT band. My leg felt so strong and knees stable afterwards that I actually ran 3.25 (mostly pain-free) miles when I got home, LOL. I could have ran more, but I didn't want to overdo it since I was off for a week.

Bottom line, my therapist didn't forbid me from running. He just said to be careful and we will work on strengthening my legs. :)

I did have to re-evaluate my goals for this upcoming half marathon though. My mantra is now "Fun and Finish". I'll just enjoy the moment and worry about beating a certain time later on...like maybe next year or something. The PT sessions are helping tremendously and we will really get into strength training in the upcoming sessions so we shall see.

I am psyched that there is now a runner's team in BFL tracker. For a time, I felt kind of out of place when I visited the site since most of the posts are geared towards losing weight and training for a figure/bodybuilding competition. Don't get me wrong, both are very worthwhile causes, but you could say my goals just wasn't fitting in. So now, I'm back to posting there on a more regular basis. :)

This weekend is going to be kind of busy for me. Of course, long run in the morning. Then I'm going to my college friend's daughters' b-day party. The little chipmunks are turning 1 and 2 :o). My other college friends will be there as well so I can't wait! Then I'm taking my mom to see "Wicked" in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon.

What else? I'm contemplating a trip to Portugal next year. I used to go to Europe at least once a year, but haven't been able to for the last couple of years. It has just gotten way to expensive to go there, which I think is due to the increase in air fare (gas!) and the increase of Euro to USD. So I'm still thinking about it. It all depends if I can pull it off budget-wise.

That's it! Later!

Nothing like a dirtbag to ruin a good thing

2007-08-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine forwarded me this email that she got from another friend of hers.

Note: I changed some details to protect the affected parties. :0)

From: ParvatiPatil@hogwarts.com
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 9:33 PM
To: Bones, Susan
Subject: Woman attacked on Shrieking Shack Trail

Susan~Here's the account of the attack I told you about. Be careful!! Parvati

Hi Everyone - My friend's daughter was attacked yesterday on the Shrieking Shack bike trail. She was jogging in the late afternoon wearing an iPod and a man wearing a mask came up behind her and started hitting her with a heavy stick and trying to drag her off the trail. She fought very very hard and he gave up and ran off. Some other people then came along and called the police and she was taken to the hospital where DNA samples were taken from under her fingernails. Luckily, she is okay. The police also found the stick. But the man is still on the loose so I wanted everyone to be extra careful and vigilant if they go on the trail. I believe the attack occurred in Hogsmeade, past Madam Puddifoot's.

My choice of names asides, this email is for real! Yes my friends...the trail in question is where I do my weekend long runs. In fact, I pass by this specific area all the time! :(

I'm trying not to be upset about it and trying to put things in prospective. The said attack happened on a late Thursday afternoon. Typically, the trail is not as busy on the weekdays especially at this time. I run at peak time (Saturday mornings) and there are tons of people at the trail at all times. There are times where I'm alone, but it's no more than a minute before someone else comes along.

It does bring the message home to always be alert, no matter what. And even though I run at a busy time, I will now be scouring the net for pepper spray.

I think I'm going to be okay...

2007-08-12T10:40:00.000-05:00

....for my first half marathon this September!!!

I just ran 13.15 miles yesterday! And I still have over a month to go! I even went well below my goal time for the race, albeit a very conservative goal time. ;-). I had to due to my knee.

The fact that it was a lot less humid helped a lot. I even went over the first five miles without walking or needing to hydrate. I could have gone longer but I have to force myself to take a break and remind myself that it's a long run and I have to take my sports gel. Normally, I have a routine going where for long runs, I take walk breaks every 2.5 miles so I can sip water and/or take my sports gel at the 5-mile markers. But I felt really strong during the beginning of my run that I didn't want to break the rhythm.

Legs are kind of sore today. The knee is the same. But otherwise I feel fine.

Now, if I can only work on speed. I'm thinking good thoughts though. Yesterday's run was on a trail, which was mostly gravel and your feet sinks to the ground quite a bit. And since I didn't need water too much, my hydration pack was almost full till the end.

I also threw in a hill at the final mile. It's up this bridge one way, then on the return route. What was funny was when I was on top of the bridge, I noticed all the other runners around me disappeared. I looked down and realized that there was a path under the bridge that is obviously flat and they were all taking that route. Well, if only I have know....;-D

Here's hoping my knee stays put and I at least finish at a decent time during the race!

Oh, and I hit a breakthrough of sorts in today's morning yoga class! You know when you do the sun salutation, and you go from plank, then down (sort of like a push-up), then upward-facing-dog, then downward-facing dog? Well, I can never do the push-up part without having to put my knees on the floor. Today it finally happened! I did it without having to put my knees down! And it was so effortless, I didn't even realize I was doing it! Yay me! LOL.

Next poses to master - crow pose and wheel pose. Did I mention I suck at yoga? These poses are supposed to come naturally to women, especially the wheel pose. But, not for me. Some things to work on, I guess. But I'll get there! =)

Diagnosis

2007-08-09T18:48:00.000-05:00

ITB Tendinitis and Chondromalacia Patella.

I finally went to the orthopedist today and that's what he diagnosed for my knee condition. But, they're fairly mild enough that he's not too concerned at this point. He didn't even recommend an MRI. Although if it does get worse, I probably will have to get one sometime in the future. Anyways, he recommended to continue wearing my neoprene knee brace and to take over-the-counter pain killer if it becomes too bothersome. The naproxen that my family physician prescribed gave me stomach pains, so I stopped taking it after the first time (big waste of $10!).

Oh, and I'm to go to physical therapy 2x/week for 3 weeks. Bottom line, I DO NOT have to stop running! :)

Got my running skirts finally! They fit fine...I think... but it seems you can see the outline of the spankies more. Maybe I gained weight that I now have more junk in the trunk? Or just the color of these two (mangopink and lilacplum) made it more obvious? The first 2 I got (navywhite and choqua) were a lot darker than the 2 new ones. I got them all in size 1 (0-2, XS) and they seem to fit the same way around the waist. Who knows!

Oh...I forgot to mention that I have a big vacation planned later this year. I'm going back to the Philippines to visit relatives! This will be a real incentive for me to be in the best shape since the last time I went, I was traumatized by my relatives when they kept telling me how fat I got. Well, this girl is fat no more!!!!

And while there, we have a small side trip planned, which is why I actually agreed to this whole trip in the first place. More details later, but here are some hints...

A short break

2007-08-04T21:06:00.000-05:00

Oh wow! I didn't realize I've been off from blogging for 2 weeks now! I've just been sooooo busy these last couple of week!

First, I'm still running - still training for the half marathon. Although, it has gotten stale lately. Let's just say everybody else seems to be getting faster while I'm still stuck at 10 min/mile pace and it's making me green with envy! I should be just be happy with the fact that I can now run after not thinking I could for years. But now, I guess I'm yearning for something more. It's something I've got to work on I guess.

Today, I was supposed to run my longest run yet - 13 miles. Alas, it wasn't meant to be! Due to the heat and humidity, I was only able to make it to 11 miles. I was still a mile away from my car at that time, but my legs just said ENOUGH! So I walked the remaining mile. I'm not too disappointed though. I did 12 miles a couple of weeks ago and 10 miles several times already. Technically, Hal Higdon's novice half marathon training program only calls for up to 10 miles as the longest training run. Also, I still have about a month and 2 weeks to go so plenty of time to improve. Hopefully, the knees cooperate though.

Speaking of the knee, my x-rays came back negative! My orthopedist appointment is this coming Thursday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's nothing serious and that I can keep on running.

Oh, and runningskirts.com is having a sale! 50% off!!! So I bought two - one in lilacplum and another in mangopink. Here's a picture of the mango/pink:

Cute, huh? I'm eagerly awaiting for these skirts to arrive! I already have two - navywhite and chocqua - and I love them! I wore my chocqua one last week and it's so perfect for this hot, humid weather. I'm still not brave enough to wear them on the long runs for fear of chafing between the thighs since it only has spankies underneath. Although, I did wear the navywhite one on my 10-mile race and it was fine. Maybe when it gets cooler. I'll probably wear one for my upcoming half marathon this September and just bring some band-aids just in case, LOL. Crazy, huh? What a woman would do just to look good, LOL.

The last couple of weekends, I've also been helping my brother and his wife with their new house. Last weekend, I helped them paint. They got the house at a real discount, but it was FILTHY and just outdated. However, with just some cleaning, scrubbing, and painting, the house now looks 1oo% better! The previous owners were just pigs and had no taste! The house was just badly painted and it looked like they never cleaned since they moved in!

Supposedly, the previous owner (the guy) had health issues - only in his early 30's and already had kidney transplant. Incidentally, the new kidney is not working and he has to go back for surgery next month. However, his wife is fit and able. I can understand them not being able to do some home improvements, but basic cleaning? Anyways, their realtor stopped by the other day and was shocked at the improvements! He told my brother that he wanted the previous owners to paint, but they just wouldn't. Just by what the realtor saw, which was the living room and dining room, he said he could have sold the house for $30K more!

The house, although small, is really nice and has a lot of potential. The entire floor is hardwood, although the 2nd floor is covered with carpet. I think my brother plans to tear out the carpet and re-finish the floor. There's nothing wrong with the house structurally and all the major utilities are in good working order. Basically, they just need to work on the aesthetics. Also, the location is really great. It's in a very peaceful neighborhood and just a hop and skip away from the city!

Today, we helped them move in their stuff. With the walls all painted, the house clean, and their furnitures all moved in, the house looks really homy and inviting. I'm just so happy to see them all settled in! Especially since they're expecting their first child. Yes, I am going to be an aunt for the very first time!!!!

That's it for now! I'll be checking up on the other blogs for the next couple of days, I promise. :-)

My take on HP and the DH

2007-07-23T16:01:00.000-05:00

Don't worry...I'm not going to give out any spoilers. =)

LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!!!!

I finished it yesterday. Since I started on Saturday afternoon, I only stopped reading for dinner, sleep, and Sunday morning yoga class. Oh yeah, and the occassional bathroom break. :)

When I have the time, I will probably re-read it just because there were so many things going on that I'm sure I missed some relevant details. It was like an emotional roller coaster, with many twists and turns. There were times where I think something is going to happen and I'm already crying reading into it, then it turns into something else. I'm so glad I didn't get spoiled from the beginning. Otherwise, I would have been cheated out of the experience.

I cannot wait when they make this book into a movie because it will be like non-stop action packed from start to finish. I just hope they make it longer than the last movie. If you think about it, HP fans are die-hard enough to stay in line for hours and hours (days even!) then spend hours more immediately afterwards reading the book non-stop. I'm sure making the movie a little longer won't stop them from seeing it. Hey, it worked for Lord of the Rings, I'm confident it's going to work for the HP movies. I just felt like the OOTP movie, although pretty good IMO, left a lot of details out and I hope they don't cheat us out of the experience for the 2 remaining movies.

Oh, and I think Molly Weasley had THE BEST line in the book. :)

That's it....

A weekend date with HP

2007-07-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

12 miles LSD run - CHECK!!!

Very painful run, particularly the last mile. I commend you all runners who have run 1/2 and full marathons! I don't know how I'm going to squeak out that last 1.1 mile - maybe on my hands and knees!

HP and the Deathly Hallow - CHECK!!!

Picked it up right after my run. Probably treated the bookstore workers with a whiff of my sweaty self. Hahaha!!!! Man, this book is huge!

Kleenex - CHECK!!!

J.K. Rowling made no secret that 2 main characters are going to die in this book. I also saw an interview where she said that if you cried on the last book when Dumbledore died, you will DEFINITELY cry on Book 7...sniff, sniff...I have my suspicions of who are going to die. And it totally sucks if one of them comes true!!!!!

5K Race - Yes another one :)

2007-07-20T12:44:00.000-05:00

I did another race last Wednesday night and it went a lot better than the Tex Mex one. The primary goal of this race is to get some speed work in, and hopefully to finish in under 30 minutes.

I was dreading this race because we were having a severe thunderstorm as I was driving to the event. Thankfully, it cleared up as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. Perfect timing!

The weather was very humid, but not as hot as Tex Mex. Still hot though. We lined up and I remember seeing a group of young girls, probably from some school's cross country team, lining up in front of me. All I can think of was these girls better not run together or if they plan to do so be way ahead of me. :)

We heard the gun shot and we were off. I ran at a comfortable pace and reached the 1-mile mark in 9:10, which is really good for me! Unfortunately around the 2-mile mark, I experienced some burning on my right shin. I had to take two short walking breaks before everything was said and done. I probably could have pushed through but I didn't want to get shin splints for real to add to my knee issues and to hinder my half marathon training even more. The downhills were also quite uncomfortable on my knee.

But, I finished in 29:27 at 3.11 miles, according to Garmin!!! I was pleased with this since I wasn't going all out due to my knees (only towards the finish) and I was just gunning for under 30 minutes. I looked like a drowned rat by the time I finished. I don't remember ever sweating that much!

The post-race buffet was pretty good. They had turkey sandwiches, chicken wings, fuits, etc. I loved the chicken wings!!!

I'm not sure what was up with the shins during the race. The shoes I wore only had 230 miles in it, not even close to the supposed 300-400 miles lifespan of an average running shoes. I did go for an easy 4-miler the following morning wearing my other running shoes and no shin splints whatsoever. Hmmm...must be because I'm a heavy plodder that I wear out my shoes a lot quicker. :o)
------------------------------------------------
HP follow up:

I pre-ordered Deathly Hallow from a local bookstore. No, I'm not planning on going to any midnight release parties. I don't want to be spoiled! I'm going out for my long run on Saturday morning, but earlier than normal so I can pick up my book afterwards and still have plenty of time to read it this weekend. I didn't order the book online for a reason. If it happens to come to my house early enough before I'm out for my run, there's a good possibility that I won't be able to leave the house. ;-)

For all you HP fans, Happy Reading! Or Happy Listening (in Katiefeldmom's case)!

Depressed

2007-07-17T19:02:00.001-05:00

I make no secret that I'm a big Harry Potter fan. Well, I've been reading a lot of reports that the book has been leaked. And those that had the misfortune of being spoiled are not happy with the ending. :-(

I haven't read the leaked story and have no intention of doing so. But I'm kind of dreading Book 7 now.

As long as J.K. Rowling doesn't kill Harry Potter (of course!), Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley I'll be a happy camper. :0)

Unbelievable! I'm getting all worked up over a children's book!!! LOL!!!

Breakthrough!

2007-07-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

11.04 miles in 2:06:47!!!!

I finally broke through the 10 miles barrier!

I know it's turtle slow to some. That did include several loooong stops waiting for the traffic light to change. Nevertheless, I am pumped!!!!

Knees are okay. I still haven't gotten the x-rays because of craziness at work. BUT, it actually feels better! It's more of a sensitivity now than actual pain (although it really wasn't that painful to begin with), and I've been very mindful of it and taking it a little bit easy on my runs, but I still plan to get it taken care of.

So now that I'm done with my long run for today, I'm off to take a shower (ewwww!!!), eat lunch, go to the running store coz my 2-bottle hydration belt is no longer sufficient, do some cleaning and laundry, then dinner and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Bored and watching wierd shows

2007-07-09T20:18:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of the Travel Channel. And in my previous post, I have expressed my desire to have Samantha Brown's job. I mean, who wouldn't want to travel the world and stay at the most expensive hotels for a living?

BUT, this is one tv host's job I would absolutely not want to do no matter how much you pay me.

His name is Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods. As the name implies, he travels the world in search of the most bizarre foods imaginable! He eats all these wierd stuff and seems to enjoy them! Yuck! Most of the time I cringe every time I watch it! Oddly enough, I can't stop watching it! :-D

At tonight's episode, he's sampling the culinary delights of Trinidad & Tobago. In the first half hour alone, he has managed to consume curried green iguana and raw conch penis.

Now, I love sushi, but come on!!!!

Independence Day Recap

2007-07-05T19:35:00.001-05:00

My 4th of July holiday went well! We just had a small get-together at my brother's house and my mom ordered some food from the local caterer. Very low key, very relaxing, and exactly what we busy people needed!

I was supposed to run on a 5K that morning. Woke up early, got ready, and as soon as I walked out the house, I turned back around. It was raining hard and it was cold! Just didn't feel like running outside at that point. So I waited until the rain stopped and headed out. I went to a local park and set off to run a 5K on my own. I felt great throughout my run and completed the distance at 28:50, which is exactly my 5K PR on a race! Now I'm sort of kicking myself for not doing the race because I usually do A LOT better on races. To add salt to injury, the rain stopped at 8 am, which is the start time of the race. BUT, I usually like to warm up and stretch before a race, which I would rather not do during cold rains. So it's all good!

That night, I met up with a friend for dinner and movie. We saw Transformers, which I highly recommend! Surprisingly, the plot was really good and not cheesy at all. The comedic scenes were effective. Optimus Prime retained his coolness! Josh Duhamel provided the requisite eye candy for the women, as well as Megan Fox for the guys. But I think Shia LaBoeuf made the movie! Like I said, highly recommended! :)

---------------------------------------------------------

So I finally saw the doctor about my knee issue. She seems very pleased that I run and like the fact that I'm training for a half marathon. She said that since I'm a runner, she wants to treat my knee issue aggressively. So I have to get x-rays to rule out arthritis and have to make an appointment with a orthopaedic surgeon to get to the root of the problem. She also prescribed some pain killers. However, she did not forbid me from running. ;-)

Before the doctor came to the examination room, the nurse took my vitals and pointed out that I have a slight fever (99F). I felt fine and told her so. I also told her that it might be because I just took a shower before going to the doctor's office. In reality, it's probably due to the fact that I just ran 5 miles that morning (before the said shower) in the hot, humid weather. ;-)

---------------------------------------------------------

Oh, and the concert! (Katie - Thanks for reminding me!) It was awesome! I got there just as the opening act was ending. Fortunately, the opening act was Lori McKenna and not Taylor Swift. I would have made it a point to come there extra early if it was Taylor Swift.

Anyways, I followed the seat numbers on my ticket and wouldn't you know there were already people who can't read on my seat! They told me I was in the wrong section. Unfortunately, my friends were not there yet. So I went out again and tried to find one of the ushers, which took a while! At this time, Tim & Faith were already singing their opening song, which wasn't that big of a deal since it's not one of their songs. Anyways, the usher relocated the idiots who can't follow seat #s, thankfully! I wasn't about to argue with idiots and had the usher fight the battle for me.

In the middle of the concert while Faith Hill was singing "Breathe", a fight ensued somewhere below us. I'm guessing it's a seat issue again and some people are just not willing to budge coz they were drunk! Who would have thought that a fight would occur at a Tim and Faith concert!

Overall, a great experience! My voice was hoarse coz I was singing all through the concert. Can you tell I'm a big fan? I'd definitely see them again!

Adventures in driving

2007-07-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

My drive to work yesterday was CRAZY!!!! Basically, my 20 minutes drive turned to an hour! Which was even worse because it's the holidays and there shouldn't be any traffic!

I set about my normal route when I hit a roadblock. I knew there was another way further up, so I went straight. Again, another roadblock. Don't exactly know what was going on, but I kept going straight until I could find a way to easily turn around.

I ended up going back, past my house, then had to take a road I avoid at all cost because of the traffic. At this time, I had no choice! So I finally got to this dreaded road, which not only is always BUSY but also had construction going on. I had to wait for the construction guys to let me go. Once I got passed the construction area, I had to follow this huge eighteen-wheeler which had to sloooowwwwly navigate through the tight turns.

Finally, I got passed this dreaded road and onto smooth traffic. Until I hit this other road and I got stuck behind a slow driver. WTF! It's not even Sunday! By this time, I was smoke-coming-out-of-my-ear-pissed! The driver thankfully eventually made a left turn which cleared the way for me and the open range!

BUT just as I thought it was smooth sailing to work, the most unexpected thing happened...I HIT A BIRD! Not like a big geese or anything. But a small bird flying low who just happened to fly in front of my car. I hit the little bugger with the nose of my SUV, then it bounced onto my windshield, then above my car. Hopefully it's gone, but I'm getting my dad to check it tomorrow coz the thought of a dead bird staring at me gives me the creeps. From what I can see from the ground, the top of my car is clear. But you never know.

So that's it! Thankfully, my drive into work this morning was uneventful. :-D

-----------------------------------------------------

Thank you all for your comments on my abominable race. I agree that I have to accept that I'm not always "on". And I did finish...and not last, which is good. AND I found out that I beat my former three-times-removed boss by a minute and a half! I used to work for this guy's organization (same company) and his reputation is somewhat questionable. I saw him when I was at the starting line and when I realized I wasn't going to do well on the race, I made myself a goal to at least beat him. Mission accomplished! :0)

On a running related news, I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment with my doctor about my knee issues. It's actually not bothersome when I run, but it does bother me when I've been sitting for a while and I start walking all of a sudden. I've accepted the possibility that I may not be able to do the half marathon this September, depending on the prognosis with the knee. But I'm at peace with that. When it comes right to it, I would rather keep on running for the long term and there's going to be plenty of races in the future. I have to get this taken care of first. Of course, that will be $40 down the drain coz I already paid the half marathon registration, but it's a small price to pay in my opinion. All is not lost though! Please send positive vibes and prayers that the prognosis is not serious and it does not interfere too much with my training!

That's about it! Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Might as well get this over with

2007-06-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

So I ran the 5K last night.

Yes, we had a heat advisory warning. And yes, I was feeling sick before the race. But I decided to run it anyways hoping it would pass. Well, no it didn't. I wanted to DNF half a mile in!

The girl that I usually run 5Ks beat me for the first time. Another girl I know that ran 3 miles for the first time on the treadmill 3 days ago beat me.

So essentially, I SUCKED!!!!

End of story.

On a better note, I'm so stoked about Saturday!

Here's a hint... :)

And finally, thank you for your comments on my last post! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who feels like that.

Grrrr!!!!

2007-06-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, sorry but I just have to get this out of my chest.

I live in a townhome and the surrounding area is a common area. We don't have gates or anything so although I do own some land, anybody have access to all the lawn area. For the most part, this doesn't bother me.

My house is one of the end-units, and as such I have bilco doors with outside access the basement. Today, I was inside my house minding my own business when I hear a bunch of loud thumping coming from the outside and reverberating throughout the house. When I checked outside, I saw a bunch of kids catapulting themselves onto my bilco doors.

Now, I would have just told the kids to stop it and that's it. However, this is not the first time that it happened and today, their mothers were just standing there talking to themselves and watching this all happen! Now, I don't know about you all but I was raised to RESPECT OTHER PEOPLE'S PROPERTY!!!! Granted, it's all open area, but it's still MY HOUSE! How would they feel if I go to their decks and act like I owned them!

I was nice enough and respectfully told them to stop what they were doing and the mothers apologized. But I shouldn't have to do that! They're adults, they should know better!

Here's another thing. Sometimes, when I come home from work I have to wait to park my car IN MY OWN DRIVEWAY because for some reason, the kids like to congregate in my driveway. They have their own driveways, but there must be something special about mine! Often times, the kids goes off to who knows where but they leave their bikes in the middle of my driveway and I have to wait until the mothers realize that I'm actually home and they quickly scramble to retrieve their kids bikes.

Is it too much to expect everyone to have some courtesy, or common sense?!?

Okay, am I overreacting? Am I just being a beotch?

Sorry, just gotta vent. Whew, now I feel better! :0)

Girl Crushes

2007-06-25T18:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, I don't swing THAT way. But I do have girl crushes. The obvious one is Angelina Jolie. Doesn't most straight women (as well as straight men) have a crush on her? :D

But here's another one of mine:

Natalie Morales! Host of NBC's The Today Show!

First, she went to my alma matter - Rutgers University. GO R U!!!

Second, she has a good fashion sense. I love her outfits!

Third, she's good looking and healthy looking. Although I do admit she could use some muscles.

Fourth, I love her hair!

And fifth...she's a runner! She has run 5 marathons, 3 of which are the NYC Marathon. In fact, she finished her last marathon in 3:31! That's good enough to qualify to the Boston Marathon!

Pretty cool, IMO!

------------------------------------------------------

As for last Saturday's race, no, I ended up not doing it. In fact, I didn't run at all that day. I decided that I want to keep running as long as I can, so I gave my knees a much needed break. :)

BUT...I resumed my training with a 6.7 miles run first thing this morning. WOOHOO!!!

AND...I do have a race this Wednesday. This is the one I'm really looking forward to. It's a pretty big race for a local 5K with approximately 800 runners. And the best part...tacos and margaritas after!

The only downside is it's supposed to be hot and humid this Wednesday, with temperature peaking in the mid-90s. The race is supposed to start at around 7 pm, but I'm sure it will still be hot. I need to hydrate well in the days leading up to the race.

That's all folks! Next update will be another race report! :)

To race or not to race

2007-06-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

That is a question, indeed!

There's a 5K race tomorrow that's only 5 minutes away from me. I'm thinking of running it as speed work. For some reason, no matter how strong my intentions are, I can never run as fast during training as when racing. So here are my options:

Run the 5K race. Use it as a speed work training. Partake in the festivities. Then, run an easy 6 miles later on, either on the trail or the treadmill. It is my scheduled LSD after all. :o)

Just head to the trails and run 10+ miles LSD. Save $20 registration fee in the process.

I do have another 5K race this coming Wednesday after all. This one is I am DEFINITELY running. It's after work and I am already registered. Plus, it's sponsored by the local Tex Mex restaurant, which means all you can eat tacos and margaritas afterwards. How can you pass that one up? :-)

Hmmmm...decisions, decisions.

------------------------------------------------------

On another note, I'm surrounded by junk food! Someone brought in upside-down pineapple cake and it's tempting me! Then, I just got an email for free donuts! Luckily, my office-mate is not in today. She tends to snack all day and it makes me hungry when I hear her munching on pretzels.

So far I'm holding strong.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Britain's Got Talent

2007-06-21T18:42:00.000-05:00

Saw this on the Today's Show this morning. Talk about a bona fide Cindrella story! Phone sales man one moment, recording artist the next!

Now, I did more digging about this guy in youtube.com (gotta love that site!) and saw his audition video. Had me bawling! What's up with that! And I swear I'm not PMSing. :)

----------------------------------------------------

Katiefeldmom - There are spoilers already for Deathly Hallows? Yikes! I better be careful. That is one of the reason why I will not go on these midnight bookstore parties, much as I want to do it since it's the last book of the series. My friend did that for the last book and some teenage jerks were already screaming the ending while she was still waiting in the line.

Summer readings

2007-06-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

This is what I've been reading lately:

Pathetic, huh? LOL. I do hope it helps solve my knee issues. I'm itching to run more than 3X/day but don't want to aggravate my knees. The exercises outlined in this book seems to be helping though, so we shall see.

Actually, what I'm really waiting for is this:

Come on July 21!!!!! :0)

Thinking about a bike

2007-06-19T17:03:00.000-05:00

My friend, who is an avid cyclist, suggested this bike. Price-wise, it's not that bad. I'm sure there's going to be additional expenses for accessories.

I'll have to check the bike stores though. I heard that sometimes, they have used bikes on sale for discount. I don't want to do craigslist because I want a bike that will actually fit my size. Luckily, I am surrounded by bike stores around here since I live right by a popular trail.

My friend also told me that you never forget how to ride a bike. I think it's been 20 years since I've been on a bike. I hope she's right!

So for next year, this will definitely be on my wish list in my quest for a duathlon. ;-D

The race report y'all been waiting for

2007-06-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

J/K (LOL)

So please bear with me, but here's another race report. ;-D

The race was on a Wednesday night and less than 10 miles from my work, so I went there directly from work. The weather was cool, perfect for racing! It looked like it was going to rain at any second, but it never did.

I had some minor problems leading up to this race. The online registration was supposed to end June 11. When I went to the website that day, the online registration was already deactivated. I emailed the contact person and he didn't respond back. So needless to say, I ended up paying the on-site registration fee - a steep $25 total.

I got to the race early enough to register, bathroom break, stretch, relax, etc. I've been having some issues with the knees, so my goal was just to have a great race - whatever that may be. A sub-30 would be great too! Remember, my last 5K was a disaster! So any improvement from that would be GRRREATTT!

I took it easy on the first mile. It was mostly downhill, which was awesome! In the beginning, people were passing me but when I glanced at my Garmin I was still running at a nice low 9 min pace so I tried to ignore the other runners. This strategy seems to work since I started passing a lot people starting around the 0.5-mile point and only a couple of people passed me until the end of the race.

The last leg of the race was through the high school track, which they dubbed an "Olympic style finish". I gave it all I had as I sprinted to the finish line because there was a 9-year old kid just ahead of me and there was no way he was going to beat me! LOL.

I did beat the kid to the finish line. YEAH BABY! LOL. But then again, there were tons of kids that finished way ahead of me, so it was all good fun!

My Garmin said I finished in 29:03 at 3.07 miles. Official finish time, as posted on the website, is 29:01. So I did beat my goal which made me VERY happy! Not a PR, but close enough.

The post-race spread was pretty good - mini pizza, pork sandwich, 2 types of cold-cut sandwiches, pasta salad, etc. They also had the customary fruits and energy bars. The best part was the iced coffee, which I happily took for the drive home.

Overall a great race, despite the registration issues! I had tons of fun and will definitely do it again next year!

I was kicking myself on my drive home though. I passed by Cold Stone Creamery, and I didn't stop to get some yummy ice cream! I completely forgot until it was too late and I just didn't feel like backtracking. I could have used one. I'm dreaming of it as I type. ;-)

Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? :o)

I think I've lost my marbles...

2007-06-14T18:39:00.001-05:00

Okay, as if running is not enough. I've recently been entertaining the thought of doing *gasp* a duathlon!

As long as my body can handle it, I'll never give up running! But there will come a time when I will need more of a challenge. Nuts, huh?

But, I will most likely not get into it until next year. This year, I want to focus on completing a half marathon or two (or three). ;-D

Plus, I need to get a bike and figure out if I still remember how to ride one. I haven't been on one since grade school! LOL.

What brought this on? There's this guy on the RWF that is about the same level as me in terms of running. He actually finished just a couple of minutes ahead of me at the Broad Street Run. Before he took up running, he lost A TON of weight! It is really inspiring! Anyways, he recently did a duathlon on a whim, although he's been thinking about it for a while. The way he related his experience was really funny, especially the fact that he rode a cheap bike while everyone else were in bikes that cost $$$$. Turned out that he didn't do too bad! He didn't win anything, but he was far from last!

I started reading up on duathlons a bit, and it seems like it's just like a 5K race. There's the people who's out in front to win, then you have the middle-of-the-pack athletes, then the back-of-the-pack athletes. So really, it's a friendly environment.

I already have the running down (sort of), and I really enjoy spinning. So I guess I have that base to start with.

What do you all think?

As for the Tony thing...much as I would love to sign up to him it's probably not realistic right now. It's mostly due to expenses. I completely forgot that I have a big vacation planned, plus some minor house works that I want taken care of this summer. Not to mention, the spinning bike that I've been saying I was going to get soon! I have to get my priorities straight, right? So I'll just have to forego the Tony thing for now and revisit later.

Oh, and I did run the 5K race last night! It was really fun and I was happy with the results. More details to follow. For now, I have to clean my house since my parents are coming over tomorrow. I just need to get that duathlon thing off my chest. :-D

Crazy thoughts

2007-06-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of hiring Tony's services. Just to see if it would make a difference. He seems to be doing wonders for a lot of people.

I've still been consistent with my workouts, but I need an extra oomph. I'm not looking to compete in figure or bodybuilding, but I want to get achieve that great shape that I can't seem to get to. I'm not looking to get even more skinner or anything. I just want to change the shape of my body. Right now, I'm just this straight skinny log. I want some shape in my arms and legs and a six-pack. All those good stuff.

However, I still want to keep going with the running and half marathon plans. I wonder if he
could customize a plan to incorporate those, or is he going to make me give it up?

I'm still running, but had to lower my mileage this week. One, because I have a 5K race tomorrow night. And two, because my knees have been feeling wonky these past couple of weeks. It's not bad, and after a session of yoga last night, it actually feels better. I've been diligently wearing my knee bands for every runs, doing tons of leg/knee strengthening exercises, and those seems to help a lot.

If the thought of hiring Tony is not crazy enough, I'm tentatively planning on running three...and I repeat, THREE, back-to-back half marathons this year. One in September, one in October, and one in November.

The Philly Distance Run in September and the Philadelphia Marathon (doing the half) in November are already planned. BUT, I'm going to the Philippines for 3 weeks around Oct-Nov timeframe, coming back in November the week before the Philadelphia Marathon. I still plan to get some long runs in during my vacations (God help me!), but I found out that there's the Atlantic City Marathon (with a half) in October, before I leave for vacation. Since I have to maintain my half marathon base between the two Philadelphia halfs, why not do a training race in between? Does that make sense, or is it too much?

Oh, did I mention a possible 10-miler race in August? This one will be by the beach (Sea Isle City, NJ), but I'm leaning towards NOT doing it. The course is like on the boardwalk for the first couple of miles, then the beach for the rest of it. I have never run on the beach and I heard that it's a challenge running on sand. But I was told by someone who ran it last year that the majority of the "beach" run is actually on packed sand near the water during low tide, so it's not bad. The only loose sand running is the transition from boardwalk to the packed sand. This is not a done deal yet, just one more crazy thoughts running in my head. :-)

That's it for now. Oh, and expect a race report of tomorrow's 5K soon! Even if I suck like I did on my last 5K, all the gory details will be here! Hope you're all not sick of me talking about running and my race reports, but it is part of me. :-)

I want to go to Africa!

2007-06-04T17:18:00.000-05:00

You gotta watch this video if you haven't yet! It may be disturbing towards the middle, but trust me - it does have a happy ending. :)

Edit: I checked the video posted here, and seems slow to load. I checked youtube and it seems like this is a popular video (3 million + views) which could explain the slowness. But trust me, it's worth the wait! Anyways, you can view it from youtube directly here: Battle at Kruger.

The race report I wish I never had to write

2007-06-03T19:42:00.000-05:00

To make a long story short, I ran a 5K race yesterday. In a Cliff 's note version, I sucked sucked sucked! I contemplated just not writing anything about it and pretend it never happened, but we can't always have good days, right?

Okay, now that's out in the open, here's the long version.

Two weeks before the race, I haven't really ran as much as I wanted to due to some issues with my knees. My knees were not exactly hurting, but kind of sore and wonky. I took it easy the week after by just running in a relaxed fashion. I did not do any speed work to give my knees a break, although I got two 6+ miles run in the week of the race.

The morning of the race, I knew I was outside my comfort zone. It was super HOT and HUMID!!! I have never ran in this type of weather before! I usually run first thing in the morning, usually before most people wake up, so it's still pretty cool. I also felt thirsty all morning! I drank a lot, but not too much that it would make me want to pee during the race. Perhaps I should have drunk more?

So I got to the race, did my thing, lined up, then we were off!

I'm not too familiar with the course since this is the first time I'm doing the race and the organizers never published the course map, but it turned out to be a hilly course. Which is fine under normal circumstances since my normal running routes are typically hilly. However, the heat and humidity really got to me. It felt like the sun was beating on me throughout the race and it was hard to breathe with the humidity. I ended up walking to the two water stations, plus (I'm ashamed to say) other walking breaks.

To top it all off, my shins were burning on and off for the first two miles. I thought to myself Are you kidding me? I haven't had shin splints in months!!!! There were also instances where I felt sick & nauseous.

I have never been so happy to see the finish line! As I neared it, I dug deep and tried to find some strength to finish strong. Surprisingly, I did and I sprinted to the end.

I don't know what my official time is, but my Garmin said it's 30:59. However, the course is not certified and it is actually 3.2 miles. I hit the 3.1 mile marker at around 30:17. Still a disappointment since I wanted to beat my PR of 28:50.

I stayed behind for a little bit to partake in the post-race festivities. Since this race is to raise money for arthritis, they had this drink called "Joint Juice" which I happily tried.

I didn't stay long since I didn't know anybody there. I went home and suffered the worst migraine! My knees were kind of sore and I admit that it was totally my fault. I should have worn my knee straps, but I didn't want to get a tan line of the knee straps on my legs. Yeah, really stupid!

I was so depressed about the race that I pigged out throughout the day! I never realized I could be an emotional eater!

So that was yesterday. Today, I feel a lot better. I iced & elevated my knees last night and today they felt a lot better. Also, no shin splints! I was so pissed at yesterday's performance, I ran 6.25 miles today on the TM, which helped me feel better. I wore my knee straps during the run and so far so good!

So here's the plan...I will continue to do leg exercises to strengthen my knees. In the meantime, I'll be wearing my knee straps during my runs until I build up enough strength in my knees. I will also try to get used to running in the heat - I have 3 more 5Ks planned for this month alone, so there will be plenty of opportunities for that!

Isn't it funny? I've always considered myself a cold weather wimp. Well, it turned out that I'm a hot weather wimp as well! LOL.

As for the eating, well chalk it up to one day of madness. I'm much better now. In fact, I just made my meals for the week. I made some turkey tacos and Rachel Ray's Spaghetti and Meatballs "Stoup" - BFLized of course (or as much as I can).

In retrospect, yesterday's race wasn't a complete disaster. I have to admit, I looked good in my outfit of running skirt & Nike tank top. ;-) Unfortunately, no pictures.

I guess another good thing is that I did not DNF. There were times that I definitely wanted to give up.

So that's it. Live and learn!

Oh, and I'm signed up for my first 1/2 marathon in September. I signed up early this week. No turning back now!

7 Boring Things About Me...

2007-05-29T19:00:00.001-05:00

So I've been double-tagged! Here goes...

Rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

Random Facts:

1) I've only been drunk 3 times. I hate the feeling of being drunk so I try to avoid it at all cost. Also, I get drunk easily and I go from being sober to puking just like that!

2) I was sickly when I was a kid. I was anemic, had low BP, etc. I remember being house-bound one summer because I got tired and weak easily.

3) When I was a kid, my friends and I used to go caroling around Christmas time. This is a common practice in the Philippines. You just go from house to house, sing Christmas carols, and then the homeowners give you money. We usually just get spare change, but it was a big deal to us back then.

4) I got lucky when I went for my driving test. I hit the cone when I parallel parked, and the tester gave me a second chance. Plus I was speeding at one point. The tester made a comment that it was obvious I was nervous and surprisingly, I passed the test! Don't worry, I'm a much responsible driver now. :) Still can't parallel park though, LOL.

5) I've never driven into the cities. I've driven passed them, but not in them. I usually take the train, or someone else drives. The aggressive drivers makes me nervous, all the one-way streets confuse me, and did I mention I can't parallel park?

6) I just realized that I'm a reality show junkie! In addition to the more popular reality shows, I find myself watching off-beat shows like Girls Next Door, Little People Big World, Ace of Cakes, Ghost Hunters, etc. Don't worry, I haven't gone crazy yet and started watching Paris Hilton's show. ;0

7) I want Samantha Brown's job!

Tag:

Since I'm late in writing this, I'm guessing almost everyone has been tagged? Donna? Melissa? Connie? Julie? Irene? Anyways, I tag whoever hasn't been tagged yet. :0

Scenes from my 8-mile run this morning....

2007-05-19T12:16:00.001-05:00

After living in my house for over three years now, I finally went to the trail nearby. Actually, I checked it out once a couple of years ago and walked a quarter of a mile then back to my car. That was when I thought walking half a mile was a workout. LOL. Anyways, here are some pictures I took with my camera phone.

Notice the small blob in the middle of the bridge above? Horse poop! There were actually people horseback riding in the trail! And guess who stepped on the friggin poop!?!

I ran a total of 8.21 miles for 1:32:42 and average pace of 11:17 min/mile. Kinda slow, but I stopped a lot to take pictures and to wait for traffic lights to change (some areas crossed busy streets). Mile 2 was also super hilly since it was heading towards the small ski resort nearby. I also tried my hydration belt for the first time and it took a while to get the proper adjustment around my waist. AND, I had to stop go to the side and try to rub off the horse poop from my shoes, LOL.

All in all, it was a very pleasant run, poop and all. ;-)

Hope everybody's having a great weekend!

Post-race pix

2007-05-15T06:34:00.000-05:00

This was taken after my 10-mile race...

I'm happy coz I finished and I was still standing! LOL. I don't think it's too noticeable that my shirt's backwards. ;-)

Hmm...gotta work on those runner's legs!

What else have I been up to? I started taking yoga again. I used to take it religiously over 3 years ago when I was still living in NJ. Then I bought my house and there really wasn't any yoga place nearby at the time. One opened up a couple of years ago, but just never got to it. I finally decided to check it out last week. Took my first class, a level 1 since I'm new to it again. Well, I guess I must have instinctively retained the knowledge coz I was the most advanced there! Or I just have better flexibility, who knows! So yesterday, I took level 2 which is more my pace. They suggested that you do at least three level 2 classes before advancing to level 3, which is what I intend to do. Level 3 is 1.5 hours and levels 1 & 2 are only 1 hour, but all for the same price. I figured you get more out for the buck at level 3. ;-) Anyhoo, that's the plan...take at least 1 yoga class a week and work my way up to level 3.

Hope everyone is well!

Philadelphia Race for the Cure 5K (Race Report)

2007-05-13T18:49:00.000-05:00

So, are you sick of reading my race reports yet? Well, that's just too bad coz here's another one! LOL.

I did the Race for the Cure this morning, which raised money for breast cancer research. I have good friends that were affected by the disease so this race and the fund raising that went with it are near and dear to my heart.This was supposed to be a fun race, primarily to raise money for a great cause.

I also heard that there are thousands and thousands of participants (~40,000) that you don't really get to "race" at these event. So I made my goal for the race just to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere.

The weather started out really nice, with a slight chill in the air. I stayed at my parents this weekend for Mother's Day and they're only about a 15 minutes drive to Philly, but we decided to take the train instead. My friend picked me up at 6:15 am, then drove to the train station. The train was SLOW and it took us about 45 minutes to get to the city. The bus was filled to capacity with Race for the Cure runners/walkers so the atmosphere was great!

By the time we got to our stop, we were both in need of a bathroom break. We started walking towards the Art Museum (the starting area) and passed by a Starbucks. We went in, but couldn't find a bathroom. We asked one of the employees and he led us into this other restaurant inside the same building. The restaurant was still closed, but he let us use the bathroom anyways. That was really nice of him! :)

We got to the start area and had to walk a bit to actually get into the crowd of starters since they blocked the sidewalk for quite some distance. We found an opening then started to weave our way towards the middle of the pack so we're not too far back. By this time it was 8:10 am, and the race started at around 8:15 am. I had barely turned on my Garmin and connected to the satellite when we started moving forward. Didn't hear a gun go off or anything. I saw a large banner above, which I THINK is the starting line so I started my Garmin when I crossed it.

My friend said that he would run with me. We didn't think we would really be able to run with all the hordes of people. But right from the start, we were already running at a good pace. I then heard him say "Okay, I guess I'll just meet you at the finish line" and I just took off. ;)

I did a lot of weaving for the first mile, which tired me a lot. It was tough since they didn't arrange us by pace and there were still walkers there even though they were supposed to start 15 minutes AFTER the runners. There were also groups of people who lined up together so trying to get around them took some effort.

Around the the first mile, I heard someone fall all the way to left. I quickly glanced back to that direction and saw people already helping her up. By this time, the crowd was really thick and running fast so I was basically swept forward and couldn't really help her. I said a quick prayer that she was okay.

I tried to embrace the moment. It was really touching running this race. You see tons of people with signs at the back of their shirts saying that they're running for so and so. Seeing the signs for survivors were empowering. But it broke my heart reading the signs of those who lost their battle to cancer. The whole experience was humbling to say the least.

My throat was dry by mile 2 so I slowed down to a walk to grab a drink of water. I really wasn't thirsty but I just needed something to wet my throat. So I took one swallow of water and ended up wearing the rest on my shirt. We got to the art museum area and heard my Garmin beep indicating that I have already reached the 3.1 miles. However, the finish line was nowhere in site! So I kept on running.

After a while, I decided to slow down. I stopped my Garmin and walked for a bit, but then saw the finish line up ahead. So I re-started my Garmin and ran ahead. I was so surprised as I neared the finish line and the clock time was still approaching 30 minutes! Are you kidding me? I've passed 3.1 mile a while ago (as per Garmin)!

I waited for my friend for a bit, then called him on the cell. He had just crossed the finish line at this time. We met by the medical tent and he told me he crossed the finish line at around 31 minutes. I honestly thought he was going to be ahead of me since he told me a couple of weeks ago that he got his 5K time on the the treadmill down to 26 minutes. My 5K PR was only 28:50.

We walked around, got tons of free food, then headed home.

I downloaded my Garmin data to the computer and was surprised at the results! Sportstrack said that I ran 3.53 miles in 29:43. Training Center said I ran 3.31 miles in 29:43. Now, remember that I stopped and re-started just before the finish line.

BUT, I reached 3.11 miles in 25:47! That's like 3 minutes below my previous PR! My official clock result would probably be a little over 30 minutes. But if my Garmin is correct, we ran a lot more than 3.1 miles.

I'm still in SHOCK by this result. There's a small part of me that's a little disappointed. I'm used to beating my PRs at every race, but 25:47 for a 5K is a tall order, at least for me. I know, I'm wierd!

Now, if I could only run that fast during my practice runs, then everything would be hunky dory! ;)

That's it! Thanks for reading!

Edit: I heard from reputable authorities that Garmin might be off today. So I wouldn't hold too much stock on 25:47. Which is good in a way. That means I don't have to kill myself trying to get to 25 minutes for my next 5K, LOL. 28:50 is definitely a lot more doable and much preferred to beat! ;-) The most important thing is I raised some money for a great cause and I had fun! =)

The Secret to Running a 10-Mile Race - Broad Street RR

2007-05-08T05:31:00.000-05:00

Thanks Irene for the reminder! LOL

*******************************************
Short version:

I came, I saw, I conquered!!!!

Clock time: 1:48:23
Chip time: 1:41:43
Ave speed: 10.10 min/mile

*******************************************

Long version:

I was really petrified going into this race. First, I have never ran a race this big. Second, it's my longest race to date.

A couple of days before, I actually bought "The Secret" CD and has been listening to it in my car, LMAO! I actually thought it made sense. The real gist of it is "like attracts like" and you are basically a magnet. So if you want something really bad, you have to want and feel it, take the negative out of your thinking, visualize, act like you already have it, and you will get it. It actually helped me relax before my race. I tried to think about crossing that finish line and finishing the race strong. I have more opinions of "The Secret", both positives & negatives, but I'll talk about that another time

Anyhoo, back to the race...

My dad at first was just going to drop me off by the sports complex subway station, then just pick me up after the race. But, my parents decided to watch the race instead. Anyways, I THOUGHT I got to the subway station at a good time. I didn't realize the ride would take that long! I think I actually got a nice nap during the ride. LOL.

I got to the starting area and decided to make my port-a-potty stop. Holy cow, the lines were crazy! I also noticed how cold and windy it was. I was wearing my running skirt under my pants and I was actually contemplating changing into a pair of shorts that I brought with me. However, I ended up waiting for the port-a-potty in like FOREVER!

I did meet some nice people in the line. I met a couple of guys who were there running the race for the first time. They were by themselves also which made me feel better since it seemed like everyone knew someone there. I also met a woman there who ran it in 2003 and finished at around 2 hours. She was only walking it this year. She assured us that if she can do it, anybody can. She also told us that many people wear their iPods and never got in trouble.

When I got done with the PtP, there was only 10 minutes left and I have yet to check in my gear. Needless to say, I decided to keep my running skirt on due to lack of time and space in the PtP.

I checked in my gear at the designated bus, which was luckily near the 10 min/mile pace line. I quickly lined up with some time to spare. I ended up chatting with a guy who was in Philly to help his daughter move out of her dorm at Temple U., so he decided to run the race also.

I don't remember hearing gun go off. I guess I was too far back, LOL. Next thing I knew, we were all moving forward. It took forever to get to the start line. We were off running and I remember looking ahead and seeing this big sea of runners and the site of City Hall so far ahead! I was totally in awe of the number of participants! Surprisingly, my nervousness was gone and all I felt was exhiliration and gratefulness that I was actually there participating at such a great event!

When we reached the 1-mile mark, I looked at the clock and it said 16-something. WTH! I couldn't have been running that slow. I quickly glanced at my Garmin and noted that it was only around 10 minutes and I then remembered that it took a while to get to the start line.

Around miles 1-5, I remember passing & getting passed by a guy wearing cotton t-shirt & jean shorts. I was just like, what the heck was he thinking? But he eventually passed me for good so he must have been doing something right, LOL. I also remember getting passed by a shirtless guy, guts hanging to infinity. I eventually passed him around mile 4 for good.

I reached City Hall which was just an awesome experience. It felt like such relief to finally reach it after looking at it for approximately 6 miles. I remember my parents saying they would try to be around that area. Surprisingly, I found them at around mile 6.1 and gave my dad a big high-five. Seeing them gave me a big boost.

A little while later, I saw Gov. Ed Rendell giving runners high-fives. The 2 guys right next to me were able to give him high-fives. I guess I was too far away, even though I was only literally a couple of feet from him, LOL.

I reached mile 7 and that's when it hit me that I was actually going to finish and finish strong! My earphones were bothering me at this point so I took it off.

I got to mile 8 and started feeling some cramping in my calves. It wasn't too bad, but I just tried to ignore it. They started playing the Rocky theme which totally pumped me up. At this point, we were around the sports complex and nearing the Navy Yard (finish). The crowd was thick and was just boisterous in cheering us on! When I got to mile 9, I just decided to lay it all out and started passing people.

Finally, THE FINISH!!! WOOHOO!!! I was very happy with my time since my goal was just to finish, and hopefully run it in under 2 hours. The best I've done in practice is 1:47:something, so this was quite an improvement. I felt surprisingly strong after the finish. I honestly could have run another 3.1 miles to make it a half-marathon. Philadelphia Distance Run in September is definite ON!

After the race, I got my food & water. At this point, I was freezing my a$$ off! And it took me forever to find the gear buses. After asking a couple of people, I finally figured it out. I had my cell phone in my bag so I immediately called my parents to find out where they were. Turned out that they decided to wait in the car by the sports complex, so I just took the shuttle to there

Overall, it was an awesome experience! The crowd was just amazing throughout the course - you couldn't ask anymore than that! Honestly, I probably didn't need my iPod after all! Great volunteers too and I highly commend the organizers for keeping everything in order.

Also, I am completely sold on the running skirt! It was flattering, comfy, and stayed down, inspite of the blustery wind. I especially LOVE the 2 big pockets on the sides. More running skirts is definitely in my future!

The only downside was when I got home, I realized my shirt was on BACKWARDS! (LMAO) We got a really good chuckle out of it, but it really wasn't that noticeable. I'm dreading looking at the race photos when they come out. They're going to be my first race photos too!

On a sad note, I just read today that a runner died at the race. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

*******************************************

Next up - Komen Race for the Cure this Sunday (Mother's Day). I'm just running this for fun and for a good cause. =)

Till my next race report! ;-)

More pictures from the wedding

2007-05-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

Mom and Dad

Me & partner, marching in church. (I'm too short!)

Hmmm...Gotta tone the arms (LOL).

Exchange of vows.

Finally married! :-)
Making my entrance at the reception.

Dancing.
Those are the highlights. =)

My next update will most likely be another race report. This time will be of my 10 mile race. Please pray that I survive this. I'm actually thinking of watching "The Secret". I need to believe that I WILL FINISH in one piece!

Holy Hills!!! - My 5-mile Race Report

2007-04-22T18:22:00.000-05:00

***Warning: Long post! You may want to make a trip to the bathroom first. LOL.***

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've been busy! I'm still recovering from the wedding...more about that later!

First, I just ran my longest race to date - 5 miles! It was held at the Valley Forge Park, which is a historic Civil War military base (something to do with George Washington - don't ask!!!).

Disclaimer: What you are about to read is NOT recommended for anybody!

Days before the race: This week I did my LSD run on Monday (10 miles!!!), then did an easy 5 miler on Thursday. I felt great after the 10 miler, but after the 5-miler last Thursday the outside side of my left foot was hurting! Before this, I've been having problems with the same foot, but on the inside, right below the big foot. This stems from being fitted for the wrong type of shoes (long story - a tale to be told another time if anybody's interested). I bought another pair of shoes that is better suited and my big toe was getting better, but still a little bit tender. On Thursday, I must have been too conscious of the big toe so I was landing on the other side of my foot. Hence, my foot issue. It doesn't seem like anything is broken, more like strained muscles, so I've been icing, elevating, & taking ibuprofen for the past couple of days. It was still hurting yesterday, and I was seriously thinking of bagging the race. It must have looked funny to see me sort of limping yesterday when I picked up my race packet.

This morning before the race: Foot feels better. It was still hurting, but I can at least walk/run on it. I was still contemplating about bagging the race at this point. But I went ahead with my normal pre-race routine. I got dressed, ate a light breakfast, pinned my bib #, put on my Garmin, etc. Despite the pain, I knew that if I didn't do the race, I was going to regret it. So off I went! I got to the race in good time, but there were already a lot of people there. It was still kind of chilly, so I wore a jacket and a windbreaker pants over my shorts. As soon as I got at the designated parking lot, I took off my outer layer, sprayed some sunscreen, took my car keys, and hid my bag in the trunk of my car. The runners then had to take the shuttle to the park where the race was being held. While at the shuttle, I watched someone put on the chip timer. This is my first race with a chip timer, so I didn't know how to put it on before today, LOL.

I must have arrived at the park 45 minutes before the start time so I had plenty of time to relax, stretch, and take a bathroom break. Before the start, we were led through some yoga warm-up routine which was interesting. I have already warmed-up at this point so I was partly following them.

The race: I lined up somewhere in the middle, but not way back. This is the largest race I have ever run in with 1200 runners, so I didn't want to be all the way back which could take longer to cross the starting line. I kind of felt wierd standing there waiting for the start of the race. Everybody seemed to know someone, while I didn't know anybody! The woman I normally race with only trained for 5Ks and she absolutely refuse to run on hills. But as soon as the gun shot, I was off and I completely forgot about it.

I was conscious of my foot the whole time. However, I was already resolved to have fun and not think about the finish time and to run as pain-free as possible. Honestly, I would have been happy if I finished in an hour. I started off at an easy & relaxed pace. I was expecting to be running at a pace of 11-12 min/miles, but when I glanced at my Garmin I was running at a 10 min/mile and the pace still felt easy. The beginning of the first mile was fairly flat and very scenic. There was a hill towards the second part of the first mile, which I thought was very challenging. But, I kept my pace controlled and was able to overcome the hill with no problems. I was actually passing a lot of people at this time, and a lot of people was slowing down to walk. However, I got passed by someone wearing a shark costume, LOL.

Although the first hill was harder than expected, it was the big hill at mile 2 that was worrying me. On the elevation chart, the mile-1 hill looked nothing compared to the mile-2 hill. Oh man, the hill at mile-2 was CRAZY HIGH! You could see it from afar, and I started getting butterflies in my stomach. But I trudged along and just prayed for the best. When I got to the bottom of the hill, the path narrows down and then you have to make a sharp right to climb up the hill. From the bottom, this hill looked almost vertical! I kept on running, again keeping my pace controlled. I read signs like "Almost There!", "Water stops ahead!", and "Fast course ahead!". Surprisingly, once the uphill was done it didn't feel too bad and I was actually passing a lot of people. As a matter of fact, I thought the downhill was a lot harder since it was putting a lot more pressure on my foot.

There were water stops after the big hill, which was the half-way mark of the course. Normally, I don't take drinks during runs less than 6 miles. However, since I wanted to take it easy on my foot, I decided to walk through the water stops to take a drink. I realized then that I have to work on my drinking technique since most of the water ended up all over my shirt than in my mouth, LOL.

The course was pretty uneventful after that. It was fairly flat until the last half mile, where it just dived down. Boy, was my foot feeling it! The last .2 miles was flat though and you could see the finish straight ahead so I just gunned it.

As I approached the finish line, I was excited to see that the clock time was 49:something. I ended up finishing in 50:08 (chip time 49:31). Don't know what my Garmin time was since I forgot to stop it after I crossed the finish line, LOL. Nevertheless, that's a pace of just under 10 min/mile!!!! In my practice runs, the earliest I have finished is a little bit over 51 minutes. And, my practice runs were never this hilly! Can you imagine how I would have done if my foot was okay?!?

There was an expo around the finish area, with tons of food & freebies. There were water, Gatorade, bananas, Carrboom gels, packets of Biofreeze, energy bars, free water bottle, and tons of food from Panera bread!

I also met some nice people from the Runner's World forum. They call these types of meeting "FEs", which means forum encounter. There appears to be a number of forumites/runners in the greater Philly area.

I also saw someone from work. This girl just started running - it appears I have inspired her, LOL. However, the most she have run is 3 miles, and just barely, on the treadmill. She wanted to do the 5-miles run, but I kind of discouraged her since she really hasn't been consistently running and I didn't want her to get injured. So she ended up just doing the 3 mile walk. It didn't look like she had too much fun, but I recommended that she do a couple of 5Ks first before she tackle the Valley Forge 5-miler. The walkers took a different route, and she is therefore not aware of the hills we had to go through.

Overall, the race was fun. I finished strong and I wasn't even hurting at the end of the race. Inspite of the hills, there's something about this race that made it bearable. Don't know what it is. So I'm looking forward to doing this race again next year. Hopefully, injury-free. And I do admit that what I did - running through (some) pain - is probably not the smartest thing to do! I've gone crazy I guess!

Next up: The Broad Street Run in 2 weeks - 10 miles! (Lord help me!)

----------------------------------------------

As if this post couldn't get any longer... (LOL)

The wedding went really well! Everything went really smoothly, from the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, & reception. The rehearsal dinner was awesome - everybody was commenting on how good the food was! The wedding went on without a glitch. The weather was supposed to be cloudy with a chance of rain, but turned out nice and sunny all day. You all have to remember this was the day before the big Noreaster, so we lucked out big time! The reception was awesome as well! The food was awesome and it looked like everybody had a great time, judging by how many were actually on the dance floor most of the night. It was so fun that the photographer, videographer, and DJ stayed an extra half an hour since they were having a great time themselves! The only glitch was that our table (groom's family) ended up at the back of the room. It turned out that the reception hall made a mistake (switched the table label), but my new SIL apologized that night about that. No harm done! We were hardly in our table anyways. :-)

Here's a picture of the bridal party in the limo. The wedding just got done and we were on our way to the reception hall. I don't have any other pictures since I left my camera in the suite at the reception hall. Sorry! I'll try to get more pictures when I go back to my parents house in a couple of weeks.

By the way, I'm the 2nd one on the left. :P

Update before the wedding

2007-04-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

First, thank you all for your kind words on my last post! I really appreciate it and it makes me more motivated moving forward!

Well, it's less than a week before my brother's wedding. I am officially on vacation! Woohoo!!! Lots of preparation to do before the wedding and all so I'm going to be very busy! My mom's been running around like a headless chicken. She's been on a cleaning frenzy...have to make the house presentable for the relatives staying over. I swear, they must have vacumed the whole house at least twice already just today!!!!

My workouts are still going great. Eating is not perfect, but not too crazy. Running is going great! In fact, I just ran 9 miles last Sunday. My training schedule is telling me to do 9 miles, but was actually gunning for 10. Unfortunately, because of Easter I did not get to run this weekend until late Sunday night, so it was the dreadmill for me. Man, was it torture! It was an hour and a half of pure hell! I think I could have gone 10 miles if it was outside. But, oh well!

Two weekends from now, I'm supposed to be running a 5-miles race. But I'm scared of the hills on this race. The first two miles are crazy uphill! I just have to play it by ear, I guess.

That's about it! Let the craziness of the wedding begin! I'll make sure to post some pictures when I get the chance.

Later!

Before and After

2007-04-03T20:28:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I just passed my 2 years anniversary of converting to this healthy & fit lifestyle. Well, I don't have the exact date, but I know it's like beginning of March 2005.

Some of you who have followed my blog for a while that what got me moving is some mean comments from some "well-meaning" relatives who laughingly told me to my face how fat I got. Well, although it stung at the time, I am now thankful I went through that painful experience. As they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

In honor of my anniversary, I thought I'd post my before & after pictures. Even fully clothed, the difference is very apparent. So here goes....

BEFORE

(busting out of a size 8, almost a size 10!!!!)

and AFTER

(size 0 BABY!!!!)

Notice how my mom went through a weight loss too?

The before picture was taken during my Philippines trip. I posted the after picture before, which was taken during my Vegas/Grand Canyon trip last October. Looking at my before picture now, can't say I really blame my relatives for telling it like it is. LOL.

I've come a loooong way, don't you think? I'm proud to say that it's been 2 years and I'm still going strong!

My Third 5K!!!!

2007-04-01T22:31:00.000-05:00

So I ran a 5K race this morning. It's this fun race where headphones, baby strollers, or dog on a leash are a MUST! Baby stroller & dog on a leash are definitely out for me, so I was in the headphones category.

I didn't have any lofty expectations for this race. My best 5K race result going into this race was 30:09. Eventually, my goal was to run a sub-30 5K race. I wasn't expecting to meet that goal at all for this race because my recent runs have been more for endurance, so they were REALLY SLOW but long (minimum 5 miles). Also due to injuries, I haven't been doing any speedwork. Not even for HIIT. Another thing, I've been training for a 10-mile race so this run was just extra.

I had two goals coming into this race: 1) Have fun, and 2) Run it all the way (I took walking breaks on my previous two 5K races).

The race started at 9 am. I made sure I woke up early enough to eat breakfast - 2 pcs. ww bread toasted w/ nat. PB and tea w/ honey. I can't handle heavy protein right before a run, so the meal was definitely not EFL, but I think I get enough protein from the PB.

Got to the race in good time. Long enough to do a short walk around the park for warm-up, pick up my race packet, and make 2 bathroom trips. Thank goodness the port-a-potties were decent! The weather was not that great but it was manageable. It was slightly chilly (low 40's) but not breezy and the sky looked like it was going to rain at any second. It was cold enough that I couldn't part with my jacket during the race.

The race packet was sweet! We each got a wicking shirt, a New Balance water bottle, a Clif Bar, and 2 packets of Biofreeze (love those!!!). On my previous races, I only got a cotton t-shirt and a bunch of advertisements. Today's race packet was definitely a treat!

At the starting point, I lined up in the middle of the pack with the people, dogs, and baby strollers. Some people had only stuffed dogs, which counted as dog on a leash. Some people had just an empty baby strollers without any kids, some had kids in them, etc. It was really an interesting race. Anyways, the horn sounded and off we went!

There were a lot of near misses during the race. The dogs are worse than kids! They would just stop and squat, veer to the side, and just do unpredictable stuff right in front of you. I was surprised nobody tripped on the leashes! There were definitely a lot of scary moments for me.

My pace was brisk but comfortable. I wasn't going all out or anything. I had my Garmin on, but didn't really check on it. I had it beep every mile so I have an idea at what point in the race I'm at. The race was along a trail right next to a river, so I was enjoying the view. I was also thinking throughout the race about how fast some of the runners are! Despite pushing baby strollers and running with their dogs, many of them still kicked my a$$! It was very humbling, to say the least.

One odd thing happened though. I think I saw someone cheat. The course is basically just straight along the trail then you head back at the half-way point of the 5K. Well, I was heading back to the start/finish line when a woman who was still approaching the the half-way mark turned around prematurely to head back to the start/finish line. At that time, her friend was walking in front of me and I guess she just decided to join him. Nobody said anything and I was too focused on my run, so I just passed them. However, I briefly glanced at them as I was passing them to make sure to make sure they were part of the race, and sure enough they have bib numbers on. Thinking back now, I realized that her bib number was still intact, meaning the small part wasn't ripped off when you finish a race so she didn't finish the race and decided to run some more to join her friend. Honestly though, I don't think she did it maliciously. She wasn't running too fast to begin with (she was in the back of the pack) so she probably decided the heck with it and just headed back.

About .5 miles away from the finish line, I started getting side stitches. I just breathed through it and ignored it and pushed on. I neared the finish line and glanced at the timer and did a double take! It said 28:4-something!!!! Holy cow, was I really running that fast?

So I crossed the finish line, stopped my Garmin, and had my bib ticket taken off. My first thought was maybe the course was way less than 5K. But I checked my Garmin and it said:

28:50 in 3.10 miles!!!!!!!!

I am ecstatic and pleasantly surprised! Maybe all those long distance training runs have paid off! Even in the days where I was doing HIIT and purposely trying to run my fastest 5K on the TM, I never went under 29 minutes!

I didn't hang around too much after the race. Just long enough to eat a Clif Bar and drink water. They had pizza, but my stomach just wasn't into it. Also, it's Palm Sunday so I had to go to church at noon. Besides, the prizes were just given to the top 5 male & female finishers in the headphones, dogs, and baby strollers categories...not by age group...so I knew I wasn't going to win anything.

I checked the official results online this afternoon and my Garmin was dead on! Finished in exactly 28:50!

So I met my two goals coming into the race. I had fun and I ran the race all the way through. Finishing in under 29 minutes is a huge huge bonus!

For the love of God!

2007-03-27T19:08:00.000-05:00

PLEASE STOP VOTING FOR THIS DUDE!!!!!!

I DON'T THINK MY EARS CAN TAKE ANOTHER WEEK!!!!!!

Actually, I've been switching to Miami Ink reruns while he's on so my ears are fine. :)

On a better note... (literally!)

The weather was BEAUTIFUL today! We actually got to 80 degrees! Of course, I ran at the crack of dawn this morning (5.65 miles tempo) so it was only 50 degrees, but warm enough for shorts & long sleeve shirt.

I also had my dentist apointment today. Woohoo no cavities!

That's it! Hope everyone is well!

P.S. - Holy cow! Or should I say rooster?!? What the f&*k did he do to his hair! I can't watch!

8.31 MILES!!!!

2007-03-24T22:43:00.000-05:00

You read that right! I finally reached the 8 miles milestone, and then some! Woohoo, there it is!!! I've been derailed for the past 2 weekends due to illness & snow/ice, but it's finally DONE! Also, I ran over 20 miles this week which is my highest weekly mileage EVER!

So I think I'm going to go ahead and sign up for that 10-miles race now. I've been holding off on it. I know if I can run 8 miles, 10 miles is possible. I'm going to be slow, but the goal is to finish and enjoy the race.

I also made another goal that if I run 8 miles, I'm going to treat myself to a running skirt, which I will hopefully wear to the race. Hey, since I'm going to finish in the back of the pack with the 87-years old runner, I might as well look cute, right? ;-D

Heck! While I'm at it, I just might treat myself to another massage this week. ;-D

I'm also planning to run a 5K race next Sunday. Just for fun. I found out about this race a couple of days ago that is "limited to those running with a dog on leash, baby jogger or headphones". It is basically a race that breaks all rules! I'm still running my scheduled LSD run on Saturday (which is thankfully only 10K, LOL) so I'm not looking to break any records on the 5K race. I just thought the rules description is funny!

In addition to the 5K race, I am also going to sign up for a 5-miles race scheduled a week before the 10-miles race. This race is going to be HILLY! Am I CRAZY or what?!?

BTW, I am loving my new Garmin Forerunner 205! I just have to figure out how to do the cool maps and stuff.

So with all the running I've been doing, I am going to slightly modify my already hybrid BFL program. I just can't do LBWO 2X/week anymore, especially with the long runs on Saturday. So I'm going to do UBWO 2X and LBWO 1X every week. I think between the LBWO and the leg strengthening exercises I do after every run, it should be fine.

That's all I've got for now! Thank you all for still reading my blog! I know it's boring for some coz it's mostly about running, but I appreciate all your comments and support.

Till next time!

Is this hilarious or what?!?

2007-03-21T18:44:00.000-05:00

Saw someone post this at the Runner's World forum. Thought I'd share. :-D

Running is going well, by the way. Notice the 6.4 miles run on the sidebar? ;o) I bought a Garmin Forerunner 205! Bought it yesterday online and it was already delivered today! Unfortunately, I wasn't home so mailperson took it back. :-(

Hope everybody's well!

I'm insane!!!

2007-03-19T20:27:00.000-05:00

I just joined the Daisy Duke Challenge over at Tracker! God help me!

I didn't run at all this weekend, which sucked! I spent hours shoveling ice...yes, I said ICE...on Saturday! My whole body was too sore to do anything strenuous all weekend! I wouldn't be surprised if I injured my back and shoulders. So needless to say, I have yet to accomplish 8 miles. :(

Temporarily down

2007-03-15T20:13:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I'm still here. I know it's been over a week, but I've been busy & sick.

It seems I'm not impervious to sickness after all. I was down with the cold for several days. Nothing too bad, but enough to force me to rest. I just didn't have the energy to do anything strenuous. So I didn't work out from Wednesday last week to Monday this week. :-(

Well, Monday was a fluke. I got too busy at work to go to the gym. Then I went to see Nickelback that night so I had to get out of work earlier than normal.

The Nickelback concert was awesome! At least while they were playing. The concert started at 7 pm, but there were 2 opening bands that I didn't know of - Three Days of Grace and Breaking Benjamin. Their music weren't too bad, but I just couldn't get into it. Nickelback didn't come on until 9:15 pm! But I love their music so once they started playing I didn't mind too much. We got good seats too! Box seats! But a strange thing happened in our section. There was a fight about four rows in front of us! Something you would expect at a Philadelphia Eagles game maybe, but not at a Nickelback concert, and certainly not in the box seats! LOL. Don't know what they were all about, but I suspect that both parties had a little too much to drink!

Overall, it was a great night. The only thing is I missed "24"! :( I've been trying to watch it online but it keeps freezing up on me!

This weekend, we also threw my brother & his fiancee a wedding shower. Nothing too fancy since my future SIL already had a more extravagant and traditional bridal shower last year that was thrown by her side of the family. This is just for our side of the family, plus her parents, since we had her bridal shower around her hometown which is too far for our friends/families to travel to. Anyways, we all had a great time! They also got tons of gifts. My mom bought this huge cake that was a hit with all the guests! It was soooo good! This thing was enormous, enough to serve 65+ people! But at the end of the party, it was GONE and people were asking my mom where she got it from! I only ate a small piece though so my diet didn't suffer too much. :0)

So like I mentioned, I'm back to working out. The highlight is today when I ran 5.72 miles tempo this morning! Average pace was 10.34 min/mile, the last .72 miles slower since it was my cool down. Basically, I rolled out of bed, got dressed, brushed my teeth, drank water, got my stuff ready, then left. It was still dark out outside that I decided to wear my reflective vest. But it was soooo beautiful! 59F with a slight breeze! It was warm enough that I wore just a short sleeve shirt & shorts and was comfortable. It was a good run and I still felt strong and energized in the end! Not dying or anything at all! I think the week-long rest is what I needed to re-energize! Or, it could be that I'm getting better at this whole running thing. :o)

So that's what I've been up to in a nutshell. How is everybody doing? I haven't had time to check out the blogs, myblends, and tracker lately. But I plan to rectify that (hopefully) this weekend.

Oh, and for future reference - I may not be able to update my blog as often, but I plan to keep my workout/running log (see sidebar) up-to-date. You can even click on each entries for details. Thank goodness for Runningahead.com!

Lucky 7!

2007-03-05T22:27:00.000-05:00

Thanks for asking! But yes, I got my 7 miles in last Saturday! Actually, it was 7.4 miles! Waaahoooo!!!!

It felt great! The weather actually cooperated. 50F, sunny, with a light breeze. Perfect! The hills didn't even bother me. I was slow, which is what my plan called for. I ran at an average 11:30 min/mi pace for a total time of 1:25:03. The run included 2 brief planned walking breaks at mile 2.5 and 5 to drink my Gatorade. I also had one unplanned walking break at 3 miles to work out some cramping in my stomach.

Legs felt great fine and after the run. I stretched really good after the run. Unfortunately, I felt the soreness the next day. The soreness really didn't bother me, but the shin splint did. I've been iceing and elevating like crazy! The shin still feels sore, but I'm crossing my fingers that it feels better by tomorrow morning coz that's my next run.

Another bad news is that I'm feeling a slight pinching in my right shoulder, so no UBWO last Saturday. :( I think I must have slept on it wrong. My next UBWO is Thursday, which should hopefully give it plenty of time to heal.

------------------------------------------------------

The wedding woes continues. At this point, my brother is the one being an a-hole. Talk about Groomzilla! All I can say is that he's being selfish. He's treating my parents like crap yet he has no problem coming over to their house so he can pick up checks to help him pay for his frigging wedding! My parents have no problem helping him out, but for God's sake show some RESPECT!

I'm worried about my mom because she's been crying everyday over it that it's been affecting her health. She had serious high blood pressure issues before and did really well battling it with healthy eating and exercise. Well now, her blood pressure has been rising again inspite of the diet & exercise & medication. Guess who's responsible for it?

I normally don't post anything personal in my blog, but I'm just so pissed at him right now that I really don't care! I am still praying and hoping that this whole thing blows over and that it will be something we laugh about in the future. You know, like one of those normal family squabbles that becomes insignificant in the whole scheme of things.

Well, I'm done venting for now. Thanks for listening!

Good reads, paranoia, and television

2007-02-28T22:16:00.000-05:00

So I picked up a couple of books at Barnes & Noble this weekend. This is pretty amazing for me considering the last book I read was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. LOL.

Anyways, I was so engrosed with this book that I finished it in two days:

If you want a motivational read, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong is highly recommended.

Right now, I'm reading this book:

It's not really a training book for running. It's about John Bingham's story from being a couch potato to a "penguin" runner. There are tons of advice for beginner runners, but it's more autobiographical than a step-by-step instruction manual.

Actually, I SHOULD be reading this:

Zzzzzzzzz....Boring! Unfortunately, I have to read it for my class and I am way behind!

----------------------------------------------------

Paranoia

I got a phone call this morning at 5:30 am! Luckily, I was already awake. It freaked me out because I thought something bad happened to someone. It turned out it was my dad wanting to know if I was okay. Apparently, he had a nightmare that someone broke into my house. I have an alarm system, thank you very much! I am touched that he called. However, now I'm all paranoid at the possibility. Sheesh!

--------------------------------------------------

Television

Still watching my normal TV shows -- 24, Heroes (courtesy of my VCR), American Idol, etc.

24 and Heroes are the usual action packed, edge of your seat storylines. I love them!

As for American Idol, I think the great singers are Melinda, Lakisha, Jordin, and Stephanie. The guys can all go home for all I care. However, I can't really say that anybody is standing out as a "star" to me. I'm still waiting.

I ended up watching "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?", which was right after American Idol. I got the question to the Dewey decimal system wrong! I just don't care about it. I got everything else right though! Woohoo!!!

When is "House" coming back? They've been teasing us about the next episode with Dave Matthews, but it doesn't say exactly WHEN it's coming back. I miss it!

And OMG! "Dancing With The Stars" is coming back in 3 weeks!

I thought I lost my iPod Nano!

2007-02-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

Talk about feeling like I lost an arm!

Yesterday, I noticed the side pocket of my gym bag was open and NO iPOD! I looked everywhere but nothing. I quickly called the my gym and asked if someone turned in an iPod. Figured since that was the last place I used it, I have most likely dropped it somewhere in the locker room. They didn't have it but they said they'll keep a look out for it.

Well, it got me thinking. Maybe, this will be a good excuse to get the new iPod Nano with the skinnier body and cool colors. I have the first generation one, which was only available in black & white when I bought it. I was already drooling at the prospect of getting the hot pink one and plotting of a way to sneak out of work in the middle of the day to purchase the hot pink iPod Nano at the nearby Circuit City. What can I say, I'm an iPod whore. ;-)

But alas, it wasn't meant to be!

I got in this morning to find a voicemail from the gym telling me they found my iPod. Oh well! The way I see it, I don't need the extra expense. Especially considering I just bought a car and I haven't even made the firsts monthly payment yet. LOL.

Speaking of colorful iPod, did you see the new hot colors for the iPod Shuffle? Again, I got the boring silver one coz the colors were not available back then. I swear Apple does this to me all the time!

Nothing much going on. Still working, still working out, and still running. I have also been watching American Idol and actually paying attention since it's now the top 24. All I can say is, send the all the guys home and keep the girls! Well, except a couple of the girls who were beyond horrible. The best singers were on the girls side. And OMG, Lakisha! I saw Dreamgirls a couple of months ago and I thought Lakisha did Jennifer proud with her rendition of "And I am Telling You I'm Not Going". But anything can happen so we'll just have to see.

I'm very happy to say that I'm looking forward to the running break this week. According to this training schedule I'm following (week 6), I'm only supposed to run 5K this weekend! Woohoo! My legs can definitely use the break. BUT, I am increasing my mileage next week to 4.5 miles on the weekdays and 7 miles for my weekend long run. I'm scared!

Today, I ran a 10K!!!

2007-02-18T19:47:00.000-05:00

I think that's worth repeating.

Today, I ran a 10K!!!

6.25 miles to be exact. That's my longest run to date! Granted, it's on the treadmill (1% incline), but it's still all good. I was experimenting with hydration & refueling for longer runs, so I took walk breaks every 2 miles. My total time is 66:12 (10:34 min/miles), which I think is still pretty good. My legs felt like lead at the end though, so I made sure I stretched real good.

Oh, and I found this really nifty website called Running Ahead. You can log in your running miles and other workouts, then you can link it to your blog (see sidebar). It's all free too. There's a course mapping function on it too, like mapmyrun.com or gmappedometer.com. Another cool feature is you can also track the mileage on your running shoes so you know when to replace them. Cool, huh? I still have to retroactively enter my past workouts so it gives a complete picture.

As for the shoveling, it totally sucked! It looks like we got a foot of icy snow. Took me 3 painful hours of shoveling on Valentine's Day. Yuck! I was so sore! But, I was proud of myself the next day coz I still ran 4 miles. My friend thought I was nuts! I'll take that as a complement, thank you. ;)

That's it! Hope you all had a great weekend! Oh, and Happy President's Day tomorrow!

Take out the shovel!

2007-02-13T18:02:00.000-05:00

We are now officially under a winter storm warning! Woohoo!!! Our first "real" snow! A whopping 3"-6" by the end of the day tomorrow! LOL. Well, it supposed to get bad. We already got 2.5" then it's supposed to turn icy tomorrow morning. Driving home today wasn't too bad. Took longer than normal, but people were just driving smartly and taking their time. And my new car handled beautifully!!! I love my little SUV!

Tomorrow, I'm going to do everybody a favor and work from home. We already got the go ahead from my boss. :) So I'm going to take my time, get my cardio done in my basement, then shovel the driveway. Looks like tomorrow is extra UBWO with shoveling icy snow. I should really go out and start shoveling, but I just got back from work and I'm tired, and it's dark and cold out. ;)

-----------------------------------------------

Workouts for the week so far:

Yesterday (Monday):
PM: Elliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 20 minutes MISS backwards), Abs

Today:
AM: Treadmill (5 min warm-up + 4 miles running + 2 min cool-down), Leg Strengthening Exercises
PM: UBWO (to be done tonight)

My New Baby!!!

2007-02-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, I finally traded in my little black 1999 Honda Civic Coupe with over 180,000 miles with a brand new red 2007 Honda CR-V 4WD! As much as I love my new car, I felt kind of sentimental as I drove off from the dealer parking lot while catching my last glimpse of my old car. I didn't think it was going to be so hard, but it felt like my dog died. Other the the noises that I started hearing recently, my old car was really good to me! It handled well on near-misses, drove through snow storms, floods, hails, etc. But it's all for the good. At least this is one less thing to worry about now, right?

Oh get this, speaking of near miss, I almost got into an accident Friday afternoon on my way home - the same day I was due to pick up my new car! I was driving pass a traffic light in which I had the right of way (green light on my direction) when the car on the opposite lane somehow decided to make a left turn while I was just about to cross the intersection. Almost hit me too! Idiot driver! Surprisingly, I wasn't shaken or anything. I was pissed and more concerned at the thought of my car being hit as I'm about to trade it in that night, LOL.

I've forgotten how difficult it is to buy a car. I felt like I was getting an ulcer! Luckily, I had my dad there doing all the wheeling and dealing. I sealed the deal last Saturday, then picked up the new car this Friday.

So that's what I've been up to. Also, I was in training for 3 days. The training was in the city, so I was waking up much earlier than normal, driving to the train station, then taking the train to the city. I don't know how people do this everyday! It is just exhausting! The first day of training was on Wednesday and I was able to wake up early, do a 40 minutes walk on an incline, and catch the 6:48 am train to the city, so I can be in the city before 8 am. Then when I got home, I did another 40 minutes walk on an incline + Abs. Thursday and Friday - forget it! No workouts! I was just exhausted! I actually felt like I was coming down with a cold or something, which luckily didn't progress into anything serious. I think the sub-zero temperature we've been having lately didn't help either!

Eating also suffered during the training. I wasn't expecting the food to suck so bad! Usually, when you go to these big trainings, you pay big bucks, and you at least have decent meals. It was so bad even the coffee suck! The lunch one day was cheesesteaks. Then on one of the snack breaks, we had Tasty Cakes. It was really cheaply done! It was really unexpected since the training was held at one of the fancy hotels in the city! Oh well, that's done thank God!

On top of training, I still have to keep up with work. So, at the end of the day, I have to log in and follow up on emails and projects. Yuck!

The good news is my running has been going extremely well. Running 4 miles now is getting to be routine for me. Then today, I ran 5 miles! And on the treadmill too! I figured if I can overcome boredom for that long, I can run longer when it's finally nice enough to run outside. So far, no injuries! I may do LBWO tonight, just coz I wasn't able to do my 2nd one for the week.

We're supposed to get our first snow storm on Tuesday. They said it's expected to be "major", as in 6" or more. I can handle 6" but the "or more" scares me. The weather reports hasn't exactly been specific. Depending on when the snow hits us, I'll probably be working from home. But at least I'm ready to tackle the driving with my brand new spanking 4WD! LOL.

Attention!!!

2007-02-01T23:11:00.000-05:00

You're never too old for Harry Potter! (LOL)

--------------------------------------------------------

Workout Log:

Wednesday:

PM: Eliptical (28 min HIIT + 7 min MISS), Abs

Thursday:

AM: Treadmill (3.75 running + 7 min walking), LSE

PM: LBWO

Eating is clean for the most part. Had to meet my friend for lunch today at a Chinese Restaurant. Not quite perfect, but I kept the portions in check. Water - check! Supplements - check!

Well, I'm tired so that's all for today!

Leg Strengthening Exercises

2007-01-30T22:52:00.000-05:00

Or LSE for short. ;)

Here are the links:

Last month's article of Runner's World also had an article on this issue, so I follow the recommended exercises there too. I vary it depending on what I feel like doing that day.

Let's see, what else is up? Nothing new. It's still friggin' cold! And my car is still making noises. Now I'm hearing rattling noises everytime I press on the gas pedal after being at a complete stop. I just spoke to my Dad earlier to ask him if he's free one of these weekends to help me scope out new cars. I think I'm getting a small SUV this time, but I'll have to check out the options.

One thing that's going well is my workouts. Still staying consistent! Here are today's activities:

AM: Treadmill (3.5 miles running + 7 min. walking), LSE

PM: UBWO

I barely squeaked in UBWO. I didn't start doing it until 9:30 pm and I was tired by that time. But it has to get done!

Mountains

2007-01-29T20:15:00.000-05:00

I heard this song for the first time this weekend and decided that I gotta' have it in my iPod playlist. (Don't you all just love YouTube?)

I love these verses:

There are times in life when you gotta crawl,

Lose your grip, trip an' fall

When you can't lean on no-one else:

That's when you find yourself

I've been around an' I've noticed that,

Walkin's easier when the road is flat

Them danged ol' hills'll get you every time

Yeah, the good Lord gave us mountains,

So we could learn how to climb

Bobby, Bobby Dunn came back from the war,

Lost his leg but they couldn't take his will

Hell bent to run in that local marathon,

He trained through the endless pain an' pills

It hurt so bad that sometimes,

He just had to cry,

He didn't stop until he crossed,

That finish line

So what's your "mountain" today? Mine was my iPod dying on me in minute 10 of my 40 minutes cardio. HA! HA!

----------------------------------------------------------

No rest for the lazy for me this weekend! I cleaned the house - still not completely done but I made some dent. Also cooked my BFL meals for the week. So kind of productive. Anyways, here is my workout log since my last update:

Saturday:
AM: Treadmill (4 miles running!!!! + 10 minutes walking), Leg Strengthening Exercises
Comment: Was supposed to do LBWO but got lazy and didn't get it done. :(

Sunday:
AM: LBWO
Comment: Supposedly my free day, but what can I say? It needs to get done! It must have been a good workout coz I'm feeling it today, particularly in my inner thighs which needs the most work. Must have been due to the dumbbell sumo squat. Ouch!

Today (Monday):
PM: Elliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 20 minutes MISS backwards), Abs
Comment: Like I said, iPod died on me 10 minutes into the cardio. I forgot to flip the switch to hold and it must have played while in my gym bag. But I got my cardio done! I don't need no stinkin' iPod (LOL)! And according to the machine, I burned over 600 calories. Of course it's inaccurate, but I'll still take it!

So tonight is a big TV night. 24 and Heroes are on! And I finally figured out how to set up my VCR for recording! It's been a while, but it came back to me eventually. I missed Heroes last week and NBC.com didn't post it and the SciFi channel didn't play it today like they used to. Grrr! Anyways, it's all good now! So I'm going to relax now and enjoy my shows!

The Cup of Life

2007-01-26T22:13:00.000-05:00

Boy, what a flashback! I haven't heard this song in such a long time. But it was one of the songs played during today's spinning class. I was dying until I heard this song. I will definitely dowload this song to my iPod to add to my running/workout playlist.

So yes, I did spinning today and it kicked my ass as usual! I didn't make it to work to the 45 minute morning class, but made it to the one-hour long class around lunch time. There was no way in hell I was getting out of the house really early this morning! The temperature was in the single digits with the wind chill making it feel like it was sub-zero! Brrrr!

But get this, there were a couple of people still out running today! I saw a girl walking into the gym locker room all decked up in cold running gear. Then as I was working on abs in the stretching room, there was a guy there stretching, his many layers of cold gear outerware laying on the floor. I don't care how many cold gear running clothes you give me, but there is no way anybody is going to make go out to run in this weather! The treadmill is my best friend during the winter season.

Speaking of treadmill, I found this thread in Runner's World forum. It basically proves I'm not that only abnormal person who finds running on the treadmill harder than running outside. HA!

Also, I was talking to this guy I know from my last job. He's running the New Jersey Marathon in April, then the Philadelphia Broad Street 10-Mile Run the week after. THEN, he's also planning on running the Jefferson Distance Run (1/2 Marathon) in September. THEN the Philadelphia Marathon in November. He's built like a Kenyan but he's French (LOL). Anyways, I've seen him running on the treadmill a lot at the gym, so I'm 99% sure he did most of his training via treadmill. I also asked him if he runs outside around the winter time and he said no. He finished his last marathon in the low 4-hours range. I'm really glad to know that the treadmill is still a good tool for training in long distance runs. It will come in handy IF I ever decide (or brave enough) to do a run longer than a 5K (LOL). Unfortunately, the mind and heart is willing, but the body is not.

TGIF! Have a great weekend everybody!

M&M's

2007-01-25T21:54:00.000-05:00

I was reading the Runner's World forum and discovered an interesting fact. Did you all know that you have to walk an entire length of a football field to burn off one M&M? There was a diet discussion going on and one of the frequent forumite, who happens to be a dietician, offered this interesting tidbit. I have to remember that next time I get a craving for chocolates!

I am EXHAUSTED! I had trouble sleeping last night. I was tired but wide awake until like 3 am. I had such trouble getting up. Now, I'm starting to feel the effect of last night's sleeplessness.

Work is still the same - stressful! I still enjoy my job though. I've been telling myself that once this whole thing is resolved, I will feel a huge sense of accomplishment in the end. ;)

In addition, I started my class again towards my Certification in Regulatory Affairs. I took a break last semester but it's time to get serious again. I swear, I'm a glutton for punishment! I should have just been satisfied with my masters degree. Why, why, why am I torturing myself further? But it's too late now. Luckily I only have 2 more classes, counting this one, before I get my certification. But the class is hard! The amount of materials I have to learn is crazy! I just printed out the lecture notes for the first half of the semester, and it almost did not fit a 3" binder! And I printed it so that it's 2 slides per page and double-sided! Did I also mention we have big textbook to go along with it? And the exams are open book. I hate open book exams coz they are almost impossible to figure out!

Oh, we got another dusting of snow today - TWICE! Once in the early morning, then it melted, then it started snowing like crazy around noon, but luckily for a short while only and it's gone now. That's okay, as long as it's nothing major I'm okay with it.

Fitness is still on track! Eating is okay. I had a small piece of cake today at work for some plant-wide celebration.

Here are my workout log for yesterday & today:

Yesterday (Wednesday):
PM: Eliptical (28 min HIIT + 7 min MISS) + Abs

Today (Thursday):
AM: Treadmill (3.5 miles running [~35 min, 5.9-6.3 mph, 1% incline] + 6 min walking), Leg Strengthening Exercises (only partly done)
PM: UBWO, Leg Strengthening Exercises
Comment: I'm surprised I was still able to run after the lack of sleep, but I'm happy with it. I ran out of time though so didn't complete the LSE until the pm.

That's it! I'm about ready to crash, so good night!

Snow again

2007-01-23T21:44:00.000-05:00

Nothing new. Work craziness. Car is still making noises. And it snowed again this morning. I don't mind these little dusting of snow. As long as we don't a big boat load I'm okay with it. Did I mention I hate shoveling? LOL.

BFL, both eating and workouts, are going well so far this week. I just hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that. ;)

I planned well this weekend in terms of my meals - cooked my meals this Sunday so I am set. I made EFL Beef Stew, Turkey Tacos, and EFL Pumpkin Cheesecake! All so yummy!

The Turkey Tacos was really simple. I just sauteed some red onions, browned some ground turkey, added taco mix according to the package directions, and that's it! I portioned it into individual containers, added some LF cheese on top, and it's ready to take to work for lunch. I eat it with some lettuce (already sliced and pre-washed) and 2 taco shells. I microwave the meat a little bit before eating, of course. The only thing is I can't find taco shells without the trans fat! However according to the package, one serving is 3 shells and has only 2.5 g trans fat and a total of 150 calories. Since I only eat 2 at a time, it's not so bad. I wish the taco shell manufacturers would get with the program and start making the 0 g trans fat version, LOL.

Okay, here's my workout for today:

AM: Treadmill (~3.3 miles running @ 5.8-6.2 mph w/ 1% incline (~33 min) + 7 min walking), Abs (3 x 1 min planks), Leg Strengthening Exercises
PM: LBWO

--------------------------------------------------------

Katiefeldmom - To answer your question on yesterday's HIIT, I did it at the following levels: 5, 5, (6, 7, 8, 9) seven times, 10, 5. Total 32 minutes. So it's sort of an extended version of the traditional 20 min BFL HIIT. I wanted to do 30 minutes HIIT at least and the BFL pattern just worked out this way. It was sort of punishment for slacking off this weekend. :o)

Hope that answers your question...

Snow finally!

2007-01-22T22:01:00.000-05:00

So far, we had 2 snow episodes. One last Friday and one this morning. Nothing bad, less than an inch each, more like a dusting.

Last Friday was crazy! I deliberately left home late just to make sure the roads are clear of snow or ice. When I went out that morning to take out the garbage, I noticed the snow was sort of like tiny pellets of ice and slightly slippery. So I left, got about 2 miles from my house then practically sat in traffic. I probably spent half an hour driving half a mile until I can get to this road where I can make a detour to another route. Thought I was clear, then hit another wall of traffic. Overall, my 13 miles drive took me over an hour. Thankfully, even though it was late, so was everybody else! When I got to work, my co-worker told me that the all the highways in the area were jammed because of accidents everywhere caused by icy roads. A really unfortunate incident was the turnpike exit near work. I found out that there was a serious car accident where the driver got ejected from his car died. Even though I bitched and moaned about the traffic, I think I got lucky, don't you think?

Today thankfully wasn't too bad. I left at a decent time and traffic was very light. I think the fact that schools opened 2 hours late helped a lot. Also, the snow didn't have that icy quality as last Friday so the roads were in good condition.

Oh shucks, the weather report just gave black ice warning for tomorrow. Bummer!

-------------------------------------------

So here's my workout updates. I know, this is kind of boring. But it helps me be accountable.

I have to admit, I fell from grace. :( Well, here goes.

Thursday:
AM: Treadmill (3 min walking + 0.5 miles running), Leg Strengthening Exercises
PM: LBWO
Comment: That's right! A pathetic 0.5 miles run! WTF! Well, I woke up late, realized that it's garbage and recycle day so I had to take care of that, and I was exhausted! No energy to go on. My body is probably telling me something, so I listened even though I'm still trying to figure out what.

Friday:
Supposed to be HIIT cardio and abs. Turned out into a big zilch! Nada! Kaput!
Comment: Snow and traffic totally threw me in a loop! Plus, since I was late I had stuff to do for work. I was so tired to do anything at home that night.

Saturday:
PM: LBWO, Leg Strengthening Exercises, Abs
Comment: Was supposed to be running in the morning, but just procrastinated until it was too late.

Sunday:
Rest day.
Comment: Was planning on making up some cardio, but again procrastinated. :(

Today is a new week. I'm back to semi-normal, but still feels like I'm picking myself up from last week. I'll get back to old form eventually. So for today's workout:
PM1: Elliptical (32 minutes HIIT + 3 minutes MISS), Abs (3x12 knee ups)
PM2: Leg Strengthening Exercises
Comment: Happy about the HIIT but disappointed with abs. Had a lot of work to do so time at the gym was limited. Was planning to do more abs at home but I'm just tired!

I don't know where this tiredness is coming from. Maybe I was doing so much? Or just stress from work and life in general?

Work is busy, plus I'm dealing with some difficult issues with one of my projects. Not fun!

I'm also stressed out about my car since just started making some some noises. It started around the holidays. It would make some rattling noises when I first start it up after it's been sitting for a while. It only lasts for for a minute or so, then it's quiet again. My friend thinks it might just be a loose screw. However, my car has a lot of mileage already so it's time to replace. I've been spoiled having no car payments for years though, so the idea of having a significant chunk of my monthly budget goint to car payments for 5 years is making me nervous. Yeah I can probably afford it, but I'm cheap, LOL. I'm comfortable having money in the bank in case of emergencies. Or *ahem* spontaneous shopping spree. Doesn't that count as an emergency? LOL.

Well, that's all I've got today! Good night!

I'm a stalker

2007-01-17T20:33:00.000-05:00

While our blends community was going through a down time during the holidays -- well, except for me it seems :o) -- I've been checking out the running boards (Runnersworld & Coolrunning). I was tempted to start participating there coz they seem to be a very active and informative community, as well as a great group of people. However between this blog, myblends, and tracker, I won't have time for real life! Anyways, I came across this runner's blog. What an inspiration! And he just ran his first marathon! He also has a bunch of links to other runner's blog on his sidebar that I've been checking out. Reading up on those makes me want to move to Houston. There's a big group of blogging runners over there!

Anyways, you all know the drill by now. Got my workouts done.

PM: Elliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 20 minutes MISS), Abs

For abs, I did a bunch of crunches, a bunch of exercises using a medicine ball, some pilates exercises, and 2 x 1 min. planks. It totally kicked my ass!

Also, I am still sore from yesterday's UBWO. Good stuff!!!

Eating is better than yesterday. Not as clean during lunch. I met another friend for lunch, but we went to a nearby restaurant this time. I had a cup of split pea soup and a small chicken ceasar salad. I should have asked for the dressing on the side, but I completely forgot! It wasn't too bad though. The split pea soup was salty though.

That's it for today!

Television Mania

2007-01-16T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'm watching American Idol right now. Nobody's really impressing me yet, but I don't normally make a decision until they start the actual competition. Most of the contestants right now are HORRIBLE! I can't believe nobody ever told them until the audition that they can't sing! Are they even serious about being upset, or is it all an act?

Anyhoo...the wierd weather we've been having is finally ending. Boohoo! I was so enjoying myself. Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to drop to the teens -- back to normal January weather. Oh well, I guess we're due.

As usual, got my workout done today!

AM: Treadmill (2.25 miles @ 6.0-6.2 mph and 1% incline [~22 min] + ~8 min. walking for warm-up and cool-down), Leg Strengthening Exercises
PM: UBWO

I deliberately ran only 2.25 miles today since I ran over 2 miles yesterday for my 20 minutes HIIT. I'm still doing gradual improvements with the running. It must be working because legs still feel fine!

I didn't eat completely clean today. I met a friend for lunch and the food at our cafeteria sucked! I got eggplant parmesan, grilled veggies, & no pasta. I only ate part of the eggplant parmesan since that wasn't that good either.

That's all I've got today.

JACK IS BACK!!!

2007-01-15T19:38:00.000-05:00

Did anybody catch last night's season premiere of 24? Man, I was totally stoked! Sure it's the same premise - Jack Bauer saving the world from the evil terrorist. But it's still an awesome show, full of twists and turns and non-stop adrenaline rush. I cannot wait for the 2nd 2-hours installment tonight!

One thing is for sure - JACK BAUER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!! Geez, you would think CTU would learn it by now!

Did anybody recognize the actor playing the reformed terrorist, Assad? I was trying to remember who it was, then it hit me almost at the end of the show. It's Dr. Bashir from Star Trek - Deep Space Nine! Oops, did I just admit my inner nerdyness? ;-)

Next week is going to be tough! 24 and Heroes are both on at the same time! I wish I have TIVO or DirectTV. I may have to figure out how to work my VCD again. It's been a while! SciFi channel does play the new episodes the Monday after at 7 pm, but I don't think I can wait.

Tonight is also the Golden Globe Award show. I don't typically watch these shows, but I'm kind of curious how the movie Dreamgirls do. I hope Jennifer Hudson wins! And I also hope Keifer and 24 racks up some awards!

Also, don't forget, tomorrow is the season premiere of "American Idol"! WOOHOO!

----------------------------------------

Today, I'm off from work because of Martin Luther King Day. The day-off is great! It's like a post-holiday reprieve, but a couple of weeks later, LOL!

Got my workout done! 20 minutes (pseudo) HIIT on the tready+ 15 minutes walking also on the tready + Leg Strengthening Exercises + Abs. It's the first time I did HIIT on the tready since I had runner's knee before Thanksgiving. I only went up to 6.5 mph for my 10. Cardio-wise, I could have gone higher. However, I didn't want to strain my knees too much, and I was landing on my feet kind of awkwardly throughout the run. Fortunately, my legs feel fine so far (keeping my fingers crossed).

Gotta go! 24 is on!

Tagged: A - Z

2007-01-14T16:51:00.000-05:00

A- Available or single? Both
B- Best Friend? None. Lots of close friends though.
C- Cake or Pie? Pecan Pie
D- Drink of Choice? Coffee
E- Essential Item? Lip gloss
F- Favorite Color? Green (at the moment)
G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Worms (I love the sour ones!)
H- Hometown? Manila, Philippines
I- Indulgence? Manicure and Pedicure
J- January or February? January - new start to a new year!
K- Kids and names? No kids
L- Life is incomplete without? My family
M- Marriage Date? Hopefully, sometime in the future.
N- Number of Siblings? 2 brothers
O- Oranges or Apples? Golden Delicious Apples
P- Phobias/Fears? phobia = big group of birds /// fears = death
Q- Favorite Quote? "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." - Lance Armstrong
R- Reason to Smile? "24" premieres tonight!
S- Season? Autumn
T- Tag three people! Three people who hasn't done this yet.
U- Unknown Fact about Me? Can't think of one right now.
V- Vegetable you hate? Tomato
W- Worst Habit? Procrastinating
Y- Your Favorite Food? French fries
Z- Zodiac? Libra

---------------------------------

My legs feel like lead from yesterday's LBWO. It hurts so good!

I promise...

2007-01-13T19:00:00.000-05:00

...to post picture of me in my bridesmaid's dress. Of course, you all have to wait until April. :)

I went to David's Bridal today to try out the dress for the alterations. Man, I really have to make sure I work out and not explode before the wedding. The dress fits just right with hardly any room to move. It's a size 2, but since it's a formal wear it's made smaller than the regular sizes. I only had to get the strap and the length shortened, but other than that everything's fine. And yes, the shoes went really well with the dress.

This week is another successful week with fitness. Since my last post on Tuesday, here's what I did:

Wednesday
AM: Elliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 20 minutes MISS), Abs

Thursday
AM: Treadmill (Running @ ~6 mph and 1% incline for ~22.5 min [2.25 miles] + ~7 min walking for warm-up and cool-down), Leg Strengthening Exercises
PM: UBWO
Comment: I woke up late and didn't have enough time on the treadmill. Plus I was really tired.

Friday
PM: Elliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 15 minutes MISS), Abs

Today
AM: Treadmill (Running ~5K + 10 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down), LBWO, Knee Stabilizing Exercises, Abs (4 X 12 Knee-ups), Treadmill (~27 minutes walking)
Comment: Should have run outside. It was nice and warm! But, I saved a lot of time just doing all my workouts at the gym. I went with my mom to her gym. She took FOREVER! The ab workout and 2nd treadmill session was while waiting for her to get all her stuff done.

I should be done for the week. I might go for a walk tomorrow to accompany my dad so he gets some exercise.

Supplement's good. Water's good. Eating on the other hand...Blah!!! That should speak for itself.

Gotta go! Eagles are playing in a couple of minutes.

And I realized I was tagged by both Evelyne and Katie. I'll try to get that done tomorrow.

And don't forget..."24" 2-hours season premiere is tomorrow night!!!!!!

Shoes are here!

2007-01-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, that was fast! I ordered the shoes from Zappos on Sunday (see last post) and they're now here! WOOHOO! Zappos just made a new fan out of me! I must say, the shoes are so purrty! Here's a pic:

The shoes actually look a lot better in person. Much more blingy! And they fit me perfectly! In the couple of minutes that I wore them, they seem to be fairly comfortable. Surprising since the heels are so high. But I need all the help I can get, being only 5'1" and all. Anyways, I'll have to try them on some more just to get used to them. Gotta get used to boogying in them, ya know! ;)

I just hope they go with my dress, which is this one:

Let me just say, the dress looks awesome and suits me really well! Very chic and very slimming! My future SIL decided to have the bridesmaids pick a dress style of their choice but in the same color, which is lilac. I think that's pretty smart since everybody's body type is different. Anyways, when I tried this dress on, I got so many complements from the other girls in the dressing room area, which was packed that day. In fact, many of the girls requested the same dress coz it looked so good on me (not to brag or anything, LOL). For a brief moment, I was the center of attention! :0)

Gotta stay in shape and look good in that dress! Perhaps a nice, toned arms? Which brings me to my usual topic...

Today, fitness reigned supreme once again!

AM: Treadmill (3.5 miles @ 5.9-6.1 mph and 1% incline [~35 minutes] + 8 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down), Leg Strengthening Exercises.

PM: LBWO, Knee Stabilizing Exercise

Eating = CHECK

Water = CHECK

Supplements = CHECK

Running felt really great! Other than the annoying blister on my big toe, legs feel fine. As for the LBWO, I increased my weight settings by 5 lbs on all the exercises. I'm taking baby steps so that the risk of injury is kept at a minimum. Slow and steady wins the race!

Gonna Fly Now

2007-01-08T19:43:00.000-05:00

I love this song! It's the first song on my cardio playlist and it gets my blood pumping everytime I hear it.

On a related topic, GO EAGLES! Great game last night! Next stop - New Orleans!

Yesterday was very productive. I went to church in the morning, then went to the mall to return a sweater. I also needed to get silver sandals for my bridesmaid dress for my brother's wedding in April. I'm scheduled for a fitting this coming Saturday and I need the sandals with me. Guess what, NOTHING! My feet are too small - 5 1/2 - and the smallest the stores carry is 6! I can typically get away with a 6 on boots and sneakers, but never sandals. So I went to Zappos.com, and I was saved! And, the one I got was a special where shipping upgrade for 2-days express is FREE! This is the first time I've purchased anything from Zappos.com so I'm crossing my fingers that everything works out.

In addition to the shoes, I got tons of work done around the house. Did a little bit of cleaning and straightening up here and there and also cooked my meals for the week.

Today started out on a positive note also. We were supposed to get flooded. In fact, we were warned we were supposed to get over 4" of rain between last night and this morning, and because of all the rain we already got the last couple of weeks, we would only need a little under 2" to get to flood stage. However, it turned out not to be too bad. We did get rain, but nothing too heavy. In fact, other than the occassional slow drivers, my drive to work was uneventful.

Best of all, I made it to the gym super early today! Did 20 minutes HIIT + 20 minutes MISS on the eliptical machine, followed by abs. Eating has been clean so far (and will be for the remainder of the night). Supplements are on target. Water has been guzzled on a regular basis.

I just need to stop watching the Food Network. They just showed a special on Coldstone Creamery ice cream, one of my many food weaknesses. Thankfully, I made some EFL Cheesecake last night, which should satisfy my sweet tooth. ;-)

Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)

2007-01-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

No fighting though! I'm trying to come up with a title but this is the only one I can think of that has "Saturday on it. LOL!

This weekend is quiet for a change, which is a welcome relief after the craziness of the holidays. I'm getting a lot done at home, which is desperately needed as my house looks like a pig sty. Right now, I'm winding down watching the movie "Invincible" with Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear. It's about a guy named Vince Papale, an ordinary guy who made the Philadelphia Eagles team through an open tryout. It's hard to believe this is the first time I'm watching this movie considering I'm in the Philadelphia Eagles territory. But that's just the way it is. Not only will the movie (hopefully) provide some motivation in my life, but it should get me in the mood for tomorrow's playoff game between the Eagles and the New York Giants. GO EAGLES!!!

The first week of January is turning out to be a strange one, but in a good way. Today, it got up to 70 F! That's unheard of in January around here in the northeast! I think the warm weather is having a positive affect on people's mood around here too. You know how you get somewhat depressed during the post-holiday season? Well, none of that around here. People are outside, enjoying the warm weather like it's summer! It's wonderful! I know that it's not going to last though. I'm just hoping we don't get too much snow. I hate snow and all that shoveling!!!!

Anyways, I got all my workouts done this week!

Yesterday (Friday):
AM: 50 minutes spinning class, Abs
Went to a spinning class at work just before lunchtime. Boy, was it TOUGH!!! I'm glad we got an instructor that really pushed us!

Today (Saturday):
AM: 4+ miles running outside
PM: UBWO, Leg Strengthening Exercises
Of course I took advantage of the nice weather today! Wore just a shirt (dry wicking of course) and shorts and had to apply sunscreen! UBWO was done at 10 pm. I had to run some errands today, do some work around the house, then a friend of mine called and we chatted a bit. Next thing you know, it's late.

That should be it for the week! Except for work, I'm ready to face next week head on! Got my groceries done, meals planned, etc. So far so good!

P.S.
Still watching "Invincible". It's really good! =)

Slippery When Wet

2007-01-04T18:51:00.000-05:00

...or, I should say "Icy".

I almost got into an accident yesterday morning. I left the house a little earlier than normal while it was still dark. There were a fair number of cars already on the road and I was driving along this one road where the traffic has slowed down, so I slowed down too. Next thing I know, the truck in front of me started going to the opposite side of the road. I was already slowing down at this point, maybe less than 5 mph, when to my surprise my car slowly swerved to the opposite side of the road also. I must have hit a patch of black ice or something. Almost went off the road and almost made a complete 360. Luckily, I was able to stop in time. I also noticed the truck behind me kind of swerved to the other side side. There must have been multiple cars that lost control! Fortunately, the cars going the opposite way must have realized what was happening and gave us plenty of room. I was surprised that we didn't smash into each other and we were able to to drive off without a scratch. That was a close call!

Other than the near miss yesterday, I'm doing great! Diet is great, not 100%, but close. I haven't been keeping track of my water intake, but I know I drank a lot judging by all the bathroom trips and the trips to the kitchen to refill my water bottle :). Workouts are right on!

Yesterday (Wednesday):
AM: Eliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 20 minutes MISS), Abs, Lower Back Exercises

Today (Thursday):
AM: Treadmill (3.25 miles @ 5.8-6.0 mph and 1% incline [~33.5 minutes] + 6.5 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down), Leg Strengthening Exercises
PM: LBWO, Knee Stabilizing Exercises

No shin splints and the back soreness is almost non-existant! WOOOHOOOO!!!!

While surfing the Runner's World Forum, one of the posters suggested this ab routine:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=486

It looks like a great routine! I'll probably try it, but I don't know if I can remember all 15 exercises, LOL!

Later!

Alyssa Lies

2007-01-02T20:43:00.000-05:00

I had another crying fit today in my car while driving home. It's all because of the country song "Alyssa Lies" by John Michael Carroll. I've heard this song before and thought it had a nice melody but did not really listen to the words until today. Have any of you heard it? Talk about heartbreaking! I found this homemade video in youtube if you haven't heard the music yet. It's the first song played in the video.

----------------------------

On to more light-hearted topic....

Yesterday was my rest day so today was my first workout of 2007.

AM: treadmill (3.125 miles for an average speed of 5.8 mph and 1% incline (~32 minutes) + 7 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down), leg strengthening exercises
PM: UBWO

Lower back still feels a tad bit sore, but getting better. The good news is no shin splints! Woohoo! Just to be safe, I took it easy by maintaining an average 5.8 mph speed. For my PM workout, I procrastinated before UBWO and did not get it to it until 10 pm. But I GOT IT DONE!

That's it for today! Until tomorrow!

2007 - Here we go!

2006-12-31T12:57:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Let's greet 2007 with a bang!

I did my last work out for 2006 today. Since I couldn't run and I'm doing a make up of tomorrow's cardio, I did cardio overload today! 40 minutes on the recumbent bike, 15 minutes on the Body Trec, a little bit of back exercises and abs, and finally slow walking on the treadmill at 12 % incline (being extra careful with the shins). Boy was I dripping with sweat! I noticed that there were a lot of people at the gym this morning trying to get a good workout in before we go crazy tonight :-D.

Shins are still bothering me. I've been icing and taking ibuprofen, but they are still sore. I am praying that it is only shin splint and nothing serious like *gulp* stress fracture.

Anyways, enjoy yourselves tonight! I certainly will ;-). And above all, stay safe!

I'm falling apart!

2006-12-30T15:28:00.000-05:00

Lower back feels a lot better. But now I have shin splints...on BOTH legs! WTF!!! Must be from the 4-miles fast walk yesterday. Today's planned 4.5 miles run was scrapped. Instead, I decided to play it smart so I shelled out $7 to use the local gym. Here's my workout:

AM: Eliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 10 minutes MISS), LBWO, Abs

I had to be careful with LBWO since my back still feels a bit tender. For example, I did one set of squats on the smith machine then decided to do something else since it does put a little bit of pressure on the back.

But what a shame! Today is sunny, mild weather, in the mid-50's. Perfect day for running.

I'm kind of disappointed since I keep getting sidelined with injuries. However, I am not deterred! I will keep on going, and hopefully one of these days, I'm going to figure out how I'm supposed to land my feet on the ground, LOL! In the meantime, ICE ICE BABY!

If I have time, I'll probably go to the gym tomorrow for my last workout of 2006.

Have a safe and happy New Years everyone!!!

Dreamgirls

2006-12-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

I finally saw this movie! I absolutely LOVE it! Beyonce was great, but Jennifer Hudson rocked the house! Everytime she sang, the whole movie theatre was really getting into it and clapping.

The movie soundtrack was awesome and favorite song from the movie is probably "Listen" which was sung by Beyonce. I highly recommend that you go see the movie!

**********************************

I woke up today with a sore lower back. WTF!!!!

I'm not sure what's going on. I've been spending most of my holidays at my parents' house and the heaviest weights my mom has is a pair of 8-lbs dumbells. Since I'm too cheap to spend $7/day to go to the gym (have to counteract the 3 Couch bags I bought as x-mas present to myself ;-D), my weight-lifting days has been modified to supersets with high repetitions. I still felt the burn though. Anyways, I don't think my sore back has anything to do with the weight lifting. I'm pretty sure it's the running. All that heavy pounding does put a toll on your lower back. So today, it's going to be stretching, icing, Icy Blue, and more stretching. In the future, I'll be more conscious with strengthening my lower back - maybe do some low back exercises right after working the abs.

Thankfully, I'm off from running today. I did go to the park for a 4-miles walk. Man, did it take FOREVER! Tomorrow is my long run and I hope my back feels better then.

Post-Christmas Report

2006-12-28T18:53:00.000-05:00

One holiday down, one more to go!

I am thoroughly enjoying my holidays and vacation! Besides the onslaught of holiday parties, I've been getting in touch with friends who, like me, are also home for the holidays. Two nights ago, I went out with 2 of my close guy friends from college. One now lives in Nashville, Tennessee and works for Nissan as an engineer. The other friend is now a nephrologist (kidney doctor). He will be moving to Phoenix, Arizona next year to join his uncles practice. Man, I feel old! It seems like only yesterday we were all goofing off, staying up all night, partying, etc. Anyways, I'm so glad those two are living where they are. I'm already planning on visiting my friend from Nashville sometime next year since I've never been there. I've already been to Phoenix years ago to visit the doctor friend when he was going to med school there, so I'll have to see about that.

Yesterday, I met another friend for lunch. This friend was someone I used to work with at my current company, but is now doing some post-doctoral studies in Tissue Engineering at MIT. His family still lives in the area so we usually meet once a year around the holidays. We went to our usual hang out, which is an Italian restaurant specializing in authentic Italian hoagies. Man, those hoagies are sooo good!

I may have more plans between tonight and tomorrow night, but Saturday night I'm meeting 2 other friends that I haven't seen in a while. These friends are people I used to work with at a department store during summer breaks from college. We'll probably do dinner then a movie. I am hoping they're open to seeing "Dreamgirls" coz I really want to see it! :-)

Between the parties and reunion with friends, my eating has been shot! I've been successful with limiting my portions, but the meals are not the healthiest. Like for example, 2 nights ago we went to Olive Garden then to a diner for coffee and desert. There are no healthy choice at Olive Garden, so I settled for Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, of which I ate only half. Then at the diner, the healthiest desert was carrot cake. :-)

I'm thoroughly enjoying myself this holiday, but I cannot wait when this is all over and I can get back to a routine.

On the other hand, workouts has been going GGGRRRREEEAAATT!!!

Monday:
No workout. Christmas day. Had a small get-together at my brother's place for lunch, then went to a friend's house for dinner. I was stuffed!!! However, I did run the day before, which was supposed to be rest day.

Tuesday:
AM: Treadmill (3.4+ miles at 5.9 mph and 1% incline + 10 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down), Abs, leg strengthening exercises
Was planning on doing LBWO, but couldn't get it in.

Wednesday:
PM: LBWO
Was running around all day and was too tired to do the planned cardio. LBWO was completed through sheer will at around 10 pm!

Thursday:
AM: Treadmill (3.4+ miles at 5.9-6.1 mph and 1% incline + 7 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down), Abs, leg strengthening exercises
PM: UBWO
That's more like it!

I absolutely must get back to an eating routine come January! Inspite of the workouts, I can feel the effects of my poor eating habits. My stomach is so bloated I'm starting to look like the Goodyear blimp!

That's it for now! Hope everybody's having a great holiday as well!

2006-12-24T15:10:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

PS: Today is supposed to be my rest day...BUT...since there's a good possibility that I won't be able to work out tomorrow, I got in a 2 miles run + 1.5 miles walk this afternoon at the park. :o)

LSD

2006-12-23T11:06:00.000-05:00

Long Slow Distance run = 4 miles

DONE!!!

Okay, that's probably measley to some serious runners, but to me, that's a LOOONG distance! Anyways, I thought that's worth blogging about today, even though very few people are blogging right now. :-)

Went to the park today and ran at a very leasurely pace. The goal is to make it to 4 miles without crashing. My legs still felt like lead this morning so I made sure to stretch a lot before going out. It was a nice 56F, very cloudy but no rain. There were several people there walking and one woman was running. When I first started, the woman looked like she was going pretty fast (tall with long strides) and I was thinking there is no way I was going to catch up to her. So off I went at what I consider a slow pace and pretty soon, I was passing her! The park was pancake flat and has a 1/2 mile loop around it so it was definitely a leasurely run. Runner's high hit me after mile 3 and after I was done with mile 4, I felt I could have gone on longer! After mile 4, I kept on running for a little bit longer and then slowed down to a walk until I completed lap 9, which made it a total of 4.5 miles! Knees are still holding up so I am pretty happy!

Went home and did some leg strengthening exercises and UBWO (supersets).

Total running miles for the week = 11.6

I'm a very happy camper!

doidle - Thanks for stopping by! I'll try to post some pictures soon. Nothing in swimsuit though. ;-) I did post some pictures in myblends a couple of days ago - before BFL and after BFL.

Have a great day everyone!

3 Shopping Days Before Christmas

2006-12-22T17:59:00.000-05:00

Still here and still going strong! Cold is almost gone and workouts for today are done!

Treadmill: 3.1+ miles running @ 5.9 mph and 1% incline (~32 minutes), 8 minutes walking for warm-up and cool-down
Leg strengthening exercises
Abs supersets: 4x25 crunches, reverse crunches, oblique crunches (both sides). OUCH!!!

My butt is so sore from yesterday's and today's workouts that it hurts to sit down. It's a good hurt though. I want to do a long, slow run (~4 miles) tomorrow, but I'll have to see. It's supposed to be 60F tomorrow and I so want to run outside, but the rain is predicted to continue throughout the morning. The good news is, my knees are holding up (knock on wood). Those leg strenghtening exercises and stretches are doing wonders!

Today, I got some last minute shopping done. My brother and I went to this shopping center, which is a little on the higher end, so it wasn't too crowded. The worst part is the traffic to and from there. We left after lunch, but I guess a lot of people were either shopping or were let go early from work.

Anyways, I am DONE with my Christmas shopping! I just have to get a couple more VISA gift checks from the bank, buy some Christmas bags from the Dollar Store, and that should be it! WAAAAHOOOOO!!!

Gotta go! I hear the fire engines going, which means the annual Santa rounds are happening courtesy of our fire department. What can I say, I'm still a kid at heart! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Bored

2006-12-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

Can't you tell? That's why I've been on a blogging frenzy lately, LOL. None of my friends and families are on vacation, so it's just me amusing myself.

Workouts are done for today! Here's what I did:

AM: ~51 minutes walking on the treadmill (~3 miles) on a very high incline. This treadmill is old and kind of manual so it felt like I was going faster than what the display says. I was definitely sweating up a storm and my legs were screaming!
PM: LBWO, leg strengthening exercises

I still have the cold, hence, the walking on the treadmill. Otherwise, I'd be outside in the frigid weather running. Thankfully, my cold hasn't been too bad. Guess that Zicam actually works!

Oh, I made a cool discovery on iTunes! There's a podcast called Yoga Today that have video episodes every day! You do not need a video iPod! It's actually better to play it in your computer so it's on a bigger screen. Just download it to your computer, play, and do yoga to your hearts content. And since they have different episodes everyday, you won't get bored! I'm going to dowload an episode to my laptop and go somewhere in the house where there's room to spread out and go from there! Pretty cool, huh?

Now, if you're tech savvy like my one brother, you can build your own computer that has a built-in tv tuner and Tivo-like recording thingamajig, hook it up to your big flat screen TV, and you're golden! He has an older computer (Sony Vaio - still pretty good!) that he's rigging up to function similarly and giving it to my non-tech savvy parents. Lucky dogs!

Anyways, I might do some yoga later, if I still have some energy. ;-)

VACATION!!!

2006-12-20T19:38:00.000-05:00

As of yesterday, I am officially on vacation! Not returning to work until January 2nd! Yeah baby! Unfortunately, I've been getting calls from our secretary about urgent things that I have to take care of, so I've been logging into work, resolving issues, etc. Oh well! It's still better not being at work.

Here's my workout log so far for the week:

Monday
AM: eliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 15 minutes MISS), Killer Abs (still hurting today!)

Tuesday
AM: ~1.5 miles running + ~.5 miles walking (warm-up, cool-down), as much push-ups as I can manage, leg strengthening exercises
Don't know what happened! One minute I was enjoying my run outside, then I just stopped and decided to walk home. Must be because of lack of sleep (~4 hours)? Then, I had to drive to my parents house before lunch time so I ran out of time.

Wednesday (Today)
AM: ~3+ miles running + .5 miles walking, leg strengthening exercise
PM: UBWO (supersets), Abs

Run today was great! It was pretty chilly, but very sunny and no cloud in sight so that helped a lot. Unfortunately, I was hit with a cold immediately afterwards. Still managed to do my workouts in the afternoon though. Followed my guideline of neck up = workout, neck down and/or fever = no workout. I took some Airborne right away and went to the pharmacy for Zicam and Cold-eeze cough drops, both of which are supposed to reduce the length and the symptoms of cold. We'll see!

Tomorrow if my cold progress, I might just do light cardio like 45 minutes walking plus LBWO.

That's it for now. Be good!

My Power Song

2006-12-17T17:49:00.000-05:00

Ending on a good note

2006-12-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

Today is the 6th day I've worked out this week. Woohoo!!! What an accomplishment! So today's workout is as follows:

AM: Running outside for 3.4 miles.
PM: LBWO, Abs

Overall mileage ran for the week: 9.85 miles. Not too bad for a comeback. :)

Okay, I didn't do abs last night as promised. I fell asleep early and totally forgot! But I did make it up today!

Running today felt great! It was 46F, nice and sunny - perfect running weather! I actually ended up taking off my jacket after a while because I got too hot. The only annoying thing is the wind - it always pick up everytime I go uphill, just to make things harder for me, LOL. It's strange, but I think it's better for me to run outside than on the treadmill. It seems I get injured more on the treadmill. Must be the way my feet land on the ground or something. Who would have thunk?

Don't want to jinx myself, but...

2006-12-15T13:22:00.000-05:00

...I'm doing really good this week!

Monday
AM: Eliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 10 minutes MISS), Abs

Tuesday
AM: Treadmill (2.2 miles @ 5.8 mph (~23 minutes), 7 minutes LISS (warm-up, cool-down), leg strengthening exercises
PM: LBWO, leg strengthening exercises (cable machine)

Wednesday
AM: Eliptical (20 minutes HIIT + 15 minutes MISS), Abs

Thursday
AM: Treadmill (2.25+ miles @ 5.9 mph (23 minutes), 7 minutes LISS (warm-up, cool down), leg strengthening exercises
PM: UBWO, leg strengthening exercises (cable machine)

Friday
AM: Treadmill (5 minutes warm-up + 2 miles run @ 5.8 mph (~21 minutes) + 9 minutes fast walking on 3% incline), leg strengthening exercise.
Will do abs tonight - PROMISE!!!

I'm working from home this morning because my heater is being serviced (preventive maintenance). Unfortunately, the service guy is LATE!!! Ugh!!! It's gone past 1:30 pm and I'm supposed to be at work at 2 pm for our Christmas party. The guy is still in the basement doing his thing. So annoying!!!

Test Run

2006-12-10T17:20:00.000-05:00

Yay, I'm back to running! For the last couple of days, all I've been doing was brisk walking on a high incline for loooong periods (boring!!!). Today, I eased back into running by doing a moderate 5.7 mph pace and 1% incline for 2 miles, which took about 21 minutes. My right knee, which was giving me problems, feels FINE! WAAAHOOO!!! For the next week or so, I'm going to be strict and not increase my speed or time by no more than 10% a week. At the same time, I'm going to continue doing the leg strengthening exercises. Hopefully, those two combined will lead me to build a good solid running base, and maybe I can finally improve.

Also after my run today, I did an UBWO. A good day overall for fitness!

Food is another matter. I met my family at Maggiano's for lunch today since it's my brother's birthday. It's an Italian restaurant (for those who don't know) and we had their family style special in which you share the food and you get a choice of 2 salads, 2 appetizers, 2 pasta dishes, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts, plus the bread. Their portions are huge and the food is amazing! My family and I are fairly light eaters, so we ended up taking most of the food home! Needless to say, I was so full afterwards.

After lunch, my mom and I decided to walk off the meal by doing some shopping at the nearby mall. I got a good deal on a pair of jeans at Express. They have a special going on in which the jeans are $20 off, and I have a $15 coupon, so I ended up paying only $25 for a pair of jeans! SAAWEET!!! That's not even the best part! The best part is I actually fit in a SIZE 0 SLIM FIT JEANS!!! This is my first pair of Express jeans since like college, so their size might be bigger. Don't know. But it's still pretty amazing! I was a size 2 in jeans and size 0 in regular pants and was quite happy with it, but I guess I still lost some inches. I bought the size 0 boot cut jeans, but for kicks I tried on the size 0 skinny jeans and they also fit!!! They actually look darn good! I almost started cheering in the fitting room when my fat legs actually slid through and the zip closed with no problem, LOL! The skinny jeans were $20 more than the boot cut one so I didn't get it. Maybe next time. I would probably wear them with knee-high boots worn over the jeans. That would look really sharp! Oh well! Like I said, maybe next time. Hopefully, my fat calves also caught up with the size reduction so I can also get a new, non-stretchy, knee-high boots, LOL!

I was feeling so confident in my newly discovered size that I ended up buying a Coach bag, LOL! There goes the great deal at Express! ;)

Well, that's the end of my fun for the day. Now it's onto cooking for the week, folding the laundry that I did last night, maybe some cleaning, and FINALLY setting up my Christmas tree. I do have the lights outside already set up, so I'm not completely late with my Christmas decorations.

Sick

2006-12-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

I've been struck with some nasty stomach bug. Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling feverish and nauseus. The only thing I had yesterday was a cup of hot tea and some water. I just couldn't keep anything down! My temperature was above 100 for the whole day so I took some Tylenol. I was feeling nauseus all day, but didn't actually throw up until 9 pm! What a horrible feeling!

I feel better today - no more fever or nausea. I was actually able to eat 2 pieces of toast and drink a cup of hot tea this morning. However, I still feel drained from yesterday, so I decided to take another day off from work today to recuperate completely. I have been checking emails regularly from work to keep up to date and I am already dreading going back! Just so much work to do!

I was watching the news this morning, and apparently there has been an outbreak of E. coli in our area. I don't think that's what I have or I'd be in worse shape than what I've been. Plus, they traced the source to a couple of Taco Bell fast food restaurants, and I know I haven't been to one in months!

Needless to say, no workouts yesterday and today. Honestly, that's the last of my concern right now. I'm more concerned about getting more food in me.

So that's what I've been up to for the last couple of days. Not fun!

Blogging again

2006-12-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

Surprise! Another post from me, and so soon! Anyways, I decided to start blogging more regularly again. I need to be extra vigilant right now with my workouts since I can't run so that the weight doesn't creep up. Posting my workouts will hopefully keep me accountable.

So here goes:

Yesterday (Sunday)

2 miles walk at the park by my parents house. My dad wanted to go for a walk so I went to keep him company.

Today

Moderate walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes (first thing in the morning on an empty stomach)
Abs (3 sets of planks: 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 minute)
Leg strengthening exercises

My knee feels so much better. But I'm being smart this time and giving it time to heal. When I do start running again, I will have to force myself to start easy.

I found some great websites that have exercises on how to strengthen the leg muscles to help avoid runner's knee. I'll be sure to incorporate these exercises into my workouts:

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/guides/knee/xpatello.gif

http://www.drpribut.com/sports/spknees.html

The latest Runner's World magazine edition also has an article on injury prevention with exercise recommendations. I ripped the page off and posted it on my magnetic board in my basement where I work out.

That's it for now!

Runner's Knee :(

2006-12-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

No running for me right now :(. It seems like I have runner's knee, specifically on my right knee. I lost my motivation for a week after Thanksgiving, which means no workout at all. Thankfully, I was able to keep my eating 90% clean (not counting the Thanksgiving meal, of course). Anyways, I finally regained my motivation yesterday and ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes (BFL HIIT) and walked for 10 minutes (warm-up and cool-down). I made sure to stretch a lot before and after too. I was fine for the whole day, then by the end of the day my right knee started hurting when I walk down the stairs. Also that afternoon at the gym, I couldn't even do leg extensions. Hence, no running for at least a couple of days for me. And today, my planned 5K race has been scrapped :(. This coming week for cardio, it will be walking and cross-training (ie: bike, eliptical, etc.).

It's kind of frustrating. I have never been made for running and have to work my butt off to get to this point. But I love it and will not give up. So this is just a temporary drawback and I WILL BE BACK! I have been doing a lot of reading on runner's knee and I will be sure to do the exercises recommended to strengthen the leg muscles. Also, I will be more conscious of taking my Glucosamine-Chondroitin-MSM and Fish Oil supplements - yeah, those went out the toilet along with my workouts!

I did get the iPod Shuffle and I am totally in love with it! So if any of you are thinking of getting it, I highly recommend it! You don't even notice that it's there! I'm hoping my knees will feel better soon so I can take advantage of the Shuffle.

My Second 5K!!!!

2006-11-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

So I ran my second 5K yesterday! And I sucked...or so I thought.

I ran it again with a friend of mine, who is our department admin. from work. It was a lot warmer this time, probably around 60s when the race started at 9 am, sunny with a slight breeze. It was unusually warm yesterday, it actually went up to mid-70's! Anyways, this race is a lot bigger than the one I ran a couple of weeks ago. It started out in a park trail then to the surrounding neighborhood. The description says that it's supposed to be mostly flat terrain, which it wasn't! I must have started really fast because by the half-way mark, my time was 14:45. And here's the sucky part, I ended up walking 3 times! I don't know what was up with me! Early last week, I did have a cold with fever. But I ran approx. 4 miles Thursday morning, albeit very slow. Don't know if it has something to do with that or the hills or what. So anyways, to my shame I walked. I did notice a lot more people (more than normal) taking walking breaks so maybe it just wasn't me. My friend, who was behind me the entire race, also walked several times. She didn't understand it either as this was her 4th 5K race and have never walked on her previous 3 races and on her training runs.

The race ended also at the park and I sprinted towards the end. I was so disgusted with myself that I didn't even want to know my time. But get this, inspite of all the walking I ended up beating my time from my first 5K race! My finish time was 30:09! I am kicking myself though because I most likely would have been sub-30 if I just kept on running.

Overall though, I had a great time. 5K races are so much fun! You see so many people of different ages and different fitness level. And everybody is just so friendly! I'm just going to keep on running and hopefully keep on improving.

My friend, who is 49 this year, will be cleaning up the medals next year! She just missed the next age-level, but she always beat at least one of the medalist's times in the 50's age category. She just started running this year so she should be better next year.

So my next race? There's another one in Dec. 2, but I have to play it by ear since it might be too cold by then. This race is going to be held at the same place as my first 5K race, even the same running path, just different organizer. I'm just going to wing it and see how the weather is. But I read that the sponsors are supposed to provide food and 2 of the sponsors are Starbucks and Coldstone Creamery! Those might just be enough to bring me to the race, LOL!

I'm also thinking of doing a 5-miler in April. God help me! Of course, I have to train for it. This is the race I'm thinking of doing: Valley Forge Revolutionary 5-Mile Run.

********************************************
SHOPPING!!!

I just found out that an outlet store is opening like 7 miles away from me! Eeeek! Like I don't shop enough! The construction is already underway and the mall is slated to open in the Fall of 2007.

I'm also thinking of getting an iPOD Shuffle. I already have the iPOD Nano, but the armband is getting cumbersome for me during my runs. The iPOD Shuffle only costs $74, holds 1G of songs (~240), and a lot more portable. Check this out!

Quick Update

2006-11-04T08:50:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm still alive. Just nothing new to say.

I am planning on running my 2nd 5K next week. Wish me luck!

My First 5K!!!!!

2006-10-21T10:43:00.000-05:00

My first 5K was today! Boy, was it an experience! I was sooooo nervous going into it. First because I dind't really prepare for it until this week. I procrastinated! After my vacation, I indulged in several days more recovering from my vacation, LOL! So this week, I crammed as much running as I can into one week. My last runs were 3.5 miles this Wednesday and 4.5 miles this Thursday. Big mistake! I was so sore even today going into my 5K.

To add to injury, Aunt Flo came yesterday. Driving to the race, I got cramps so bad I had to pull over a parking lot. I almost turned around and headed back home. But I knew that I would regret it if I did that. So I waited a bit and went on my way once I felt better.

Furthermore, it is FREEZING today and I am not used to running in the cold! 40F with 10mph wind. Thankfully, it was sunny. I tried to warm up without tiring myself too much by walking around, stretching, making bathroom trips, etc. There were some people there wearing just t-shirt and shorts and I don't know how the hell they do it! Also, our race started in a high school so there were some people taking advantage of the track and running there even before the race started. I was just amazed with that since the thought of running 3.1 miles is daunting enough for me.

I found my friend who was also running the race and who happens to lives in the area. She started telling me about this one road that we were going to run in that consists of this one long hill that they call "The Wall". She said some bikers avoid it because it was so hard to climb. That immediately made me more nervous that I already was!

So finally we lined up in the starting line. Once the starting gun went off, it seems like this big group of runners just took off. I started out slow and it felt like I was going to be left behind. But eventually I got into the groove. Honestly, I didn't even notice the hill. I guess running at constant 1% incline on the treadmill helped me a bit. That and running in my development which has short but high inclines. What got to me were the trails. We went into this park and ran in this trail which was really windy, uneven, and wet because of the rain from yesterday. I honestly thought I was going to twist my ankle. The trail seemed to go FOREVER. Finally we were out of the trail and this one volunteer was yelling "One more mile!". At this point, exhaustion was getting to me. And to find that I still ahd one mile to go totally deflated me. I slowed down to a walk for about 20 seconds and after a couple of people passed me, I got pissed with myself and started to run again. Well, it turned out that we had like less than half a mile left after getting out of the park! We went down a block and once we made a turn, you could clearly see the end/start point. Needless to say, I wish I didn't hear that volunteer yelling "One more mile!" coz that got to me mentally.

I ended up finishing well: 30:18

I wish I finished less than 30 minutes, but I'll still take it!

We stayed behind for some food and the awards. Get this, I got 3rd in my age group and got a medal! WOOOOHOOO!!!! Unfortunately, they kind of screwed up that part. As they were announcing the winners in my age group for females, they went from 30:02 for second place, then skipped me and awarded the girl that finished 35:something for third. My friend and I had to go to the organizers afterwards and get it corrected. They had a bunch of extra medals and just gave me one and apologized for the mistake. I doubt they're going to "officially" correct it since they can't take back the 3rd place award. Oh well! I know my time and that's all that matters. My friend also took 3rd place in her age category so we were both happy.

The first overall winner was a guy who finished around 15 minutes! Holy crap! That means he was running 5 minute miles! That's freaking unbelievable! The overall winner for the ladies finished about 19 minutes. That's also freaking unbelievable! I can't imagine running that fast!

Overall, I'm glad I did it. I started to question myself during my run on what the hell I was thinking in doing it, but at the end of it all, it was a ton of fun. Will I do this again? Heck yeah!

Trip report - Part II

2006-10-11T18:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, so where was I?

So after the Grand Canyon we headed back to Las Vegas. The next morning (late though coz we were pooped!) we drove about half an hour to BEAUTIFUL Red Rock Canyon. I love it there and could actually picture myself living in the area. The area looks fairly new but there are still a lot of developments going on. Can you just imagine the canyons as the view from one of your house windows? Also, for a mere $20/year, you have unlimitted access to the national park where they have trails, rock climbing, and a 13-mile scenic drive where people also go biking! HEAVEN!!!

We did an impromptu 2 mile hike, as indicated by the inappropriateness of the attire...LOL! I thought we were just going to do the 13-mile drive but we got taken in by the majesty of the place. I was wearing sandals and it kept sinking into the sandy ground. Thankfully, the weather was mild which made the hike more bearable. I couldn't do too much rock climbing because of the sandals. Plus, I'm not too fond of heights. ;) I went on some of the lower rocks though. That was fun!

On our last day we just walked the strip. Pictures below are of one of the lions in the Lion's Habitat at MGM Grand. They sleep ALL DAY! Wish I had that luxury! The last picture is of me next to the Golden Crocodile at the Mandalay Bay Aquarium.

During our stay in Vegas, we also caught 2 Cirque du Soleil shows: Mystere and Love. I highly recommend Mystere. Love was okay. The music was great since it's form The Beatles repertoire. However, I wasn't too impressed with the acrobatics. It just might be me. We caught the 10:30 pm show for Love which is late for me, especially considering all the walking we did during the day. Also, Mystere, which was the first show we saw, was so awesome that I set my expectations too high for Love. I really really wanted to see Ka, but the tickets cost much more than the average and my brother, who set up the trip, was insistent on seeing two shows. I wish we only saw one show, preferably Ka. We really stretched ourselves too thin on this trip.

Overall, I was exceptionally pleased with the trip. Vegas was definitely unique. Also, the FOOD! There were just so many selections, and not many were healthy! We ate at the buffets several times because of the convenience. Although I tried to not go all out crazy, I still ate more than normal. Because everything in Vegas (ie: food) was expensive, I felt guilty eating too little at the buffets. I felt I wasn't getting my money's worth...LOL!

Besides all the walking, I didn't get any workouts in. Not even a run on the strip. I did do pushups, dips, lunges, and crunches in the hotel room. Where we stayed, you had to pay $25 to use the gym! And after my first day there, I wasn't too confortable running on the strip, which I regretted later on. Although the Vegas strip is considered safe, I did see some questionable looking individual/peddlers there. As I said, I did regret it later on because I saw a couple of runners here and there.

Oh, I just found out that Olympia was held there during my stay! I was wondering why I was seeing all these buff women around. I didn't see anyone I would recognize though. The women I saw were, in my opinion, too buff to the point that they could be considered masculine. To be honest, they look like they're on steroids.

And that concludes my trip to Vegas...LOL!

***************************************************
FITNESS

I came back last Tuesday and I only started working out this Monday. Talk about slacking! My running sucks! I can't even run 20 minutes straight! I know I can do it, but there seems to be some mental block preventing me from doing it. Like I said, I have a 5K in less than 2 weeks and I have to get it together by then. I think I'm going to get those hypnosis tapes to help me look forward to my workouts again. The good news is that I weighed myself today after my workout and I maintained my weight from before Vegas...108 lbs. Don't know if weighing myself is a good idea though. It gives me an excuse to continue slacking off.

Oh, and my gym got new elliptical machines! I haven't tried them out yet, but they look pretty swanky! I overheard a woman in the locker room telling her friend that she likes the new machines because the magazine tray is closer to her and she's able to read better. I wanted to tell her "Girl, if you're able to read you're not working hard enough!".