what's new

1. dudes! it's april! A-PRIL! a whole quarter of the year, gone. no more dickin' around...hence the theme for this month's masthead. now begins the real training. biathlon in july. half marathon in august. and a couple fun ones in between. giddy up!

2. i so totally got my ass kicked on the playground this weekend. we celebrated my cousin's birthday at this insane local playground.

climbing up those stairs just to narrowly escape death while sliding down really increases your heart rate. p.s. you go faster if you ride down on a piece of cardboard box.

then there was this rope jungle gym contraption. looked simple enough. til everyone else climbed on and the whole thing shook and gave under everyone's weight.


lots of swinging, sliding, climbing, falling, jumping, chasing, racing, pulling. carrying, hoisting, lifting...all the little ones needed lots of attention and i could barely keep up. i seriously do not know how parents do it.

then the big kids got to play volleyball. sweet jesus, it's been a long time since college intramurals. it was quite comical. but seriously, i hurt in places i don't remember having.

luckily, we were rewarded with some kick ass barbecue.

3. speaking of barbecue, i got my grubby hands on some awesome korean barbecue this weekend. we trekked it to concord to be rewarded with a feast of kalbi, bulgogi, and of course kim chi!



they cook everything at your table so everything is piping hot. just how i like it. if you've never had korean barbecue, in addition to the meat and rice, they bring out at least a dozen little side dishes. some pickled, some spicy, some sweet, some seafood, some tofu, some stuff i'd never heard of. but all tasty! they also bring out large lettuce leafs to wrap the meat in if you prefer. and they just keep refilling all the side plates until you are stuffed. then they bring out dessert! a sweet rice milk dessert. yum!

but i wasn't a total glutton. after dinner we took a stroll on the iron horse trail which was just blocks away!



4. and finally, in my sidebar, you'll notice widgets to check me out on twitter and flickr. twitter is fast becoming my latest addiction. finally a place to record all the little random thoughts and happenings as they happen. as if blogger isn't enough!

powered by cheez-its

i think my blog is more about food than running. well, eating is my favorite activity. i've been doing it my whole life and i'm damned good at it! anyway, somehow i managed to plow through half a box of these cheez-its. they're reduced fat. i'm only reduced bad. but eating half a box means i had absolutely no appetite for anything else. and i was thirsty!

i thought it might make my track run today totally sucky. but nope. we were fast today. 2 miles in 20:45. woot! 70 seconds faster than last week. the 400 m splits: 2:29, 2:35, 2:33, 2:34, 2:39 (can you tell we're tiring?), 2:39, 2:41, 2:31. it was by no means easy. but the great thing about a fast 2 miles is that the pain is brief and the pride lasts all night!

p.s. to answer anne's question about the photo collage below. i used this to create the collage from photos i uploaded to my flickr account. now that i've replaced my broken digital camera, i hope to resume my picture a day effort.

easter weekend

friday: so i'm on my way to dinner, in the middle of rush hour traffic when all of a sudden cop cars rush in on all sides. i see big K9s jump out of the truck and i heard "put your hands up!" guns are drawn and i swear to bob they are pointed at me. my hands jump off the steering wheel . and i shit my pants. they are nearing MY car. all i could think was "holy shit, i'm gonna die on good friday!"

then i notice the coppers going for the car in front of me. and the car behind me. how in the HELL did i get stuck in the middle?! i still can't breath a sigh of relief because i have no idea what the HELL they are after there hoodlums for. i slink down as much as possible and pray for my life. i'm serious. all i could think of was, "why was i so rude to my parents before i left home? now i'm gonna die and the last thing i said to my mother was " you ate all the food?!"

so the cops do their thing, and slowly get all the perps out of the cars and into custody. i can see everyone else in their cars whipping out their cameras. i guess i was the only one worried about a shoot out.

thankfully, saturday and sunday were much more calm and filled with my favorite things: family and food!
that's some serious food right there. i haven't had ceviche or oysters in probably a year! and ditto for flan. oh sweet, sweet flan.

i managed to get to the gym on saturday night, after my first gluttonous feast. i was burping up lechon the entire time. i managed a 2mile treadmill run in 21:12. for me, peeps, that's fast! the half mile breakdowns:

5:30, 5:25, 5:17, 4:59! WOOT!

and even though my stomach was feeling bloaty, i headed to the pool for the same 900m workout i did on monday.

granted those two workouts combined weren't enough to burn off half the calories i consumed just LOOKING at all the food i ate this weekend, but i'd like to think it makes me less of a glutton!

ah, spring!

yesterday, i felt like a pile o' poo. i barely had the energy after work to pour myself a bowl of cereal for dinner. but today? whoa baby. i had energy to spare! i have no idea where it came from, but i was happy for the change in mood.

so while the endorphins where high, i laced up some old trail shoes and headed for the hills. we've got plenty 'round here. and even though some places were pretty steep both up and down, my hour long hike/walk was the perfect low key workout to welcome spring!

i made it back to civilization before the sun finally set and capped off my evening with a frosty cold beer and some blackened red snapper. not bad for a thursday. not bad at all.

powered by burritos

at 12:30, i ate a burrito.

i thought, 6 hours is enough time to process a burrito, right?

just barely. i popped 2 tums before i left the house and i think that's the only thing that saved me.

later, after i got home, showered and had a glass of milk, i finally burped it up. ick.

somehow though i managed 2 miles in 21.53. or i should say, my running partner and i. we both agreed that running without each other pretty much sucks. not that we were particularly chatty today. we must have uttered like 20 words during the run. during the warmup and cooldown, though, she was able to ask me about doing a logo for her husband who's looking to start his own clothing line.

and surprise, axel f is a great running song.

more love/hate

i got my hair cut after work and the first thing my stylist said when i sat in the chair was, "your hair is dry" EGAD! WHAT!? no one has ever said that about my hair! my hair is hardy and healthy! stupid, stupid pool! stupid, stupid, chlorine! first my skin, now my hair. ugh.

so she conditioned, deep conditioned, nipped off the ends, and applied a miracle product which made my hair softer than it's ever been! i was a walking pantene commercial.

until i pulled on my swim cap and dove into the pool. my hair was perfect for all of 20 minutes.

but a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do. and i had 900m of swimming to do. here's how it went down:

warmup:
1 x 25, 1 x 50, 1 x 75
main set:
3 x 25: fingertip drill
3 x 25: lead left
3 x 25: lead right
3 x 25: freestyle kick
3 x 25: pull
3 x 25: butterfly kick
easy swim:
3 x 50
cool down:
2 x 50, 1 x 50

i didn't have my watch so i couldn't time it, but it felt easy. i had plenty of gas by the end of the workout. woot!

swimming after work is so relaxing and refreshing. BUT. there are some weird characters at the pool. i've mentioned some before. but tonight, there were 2 lovebirds splashing in the deep end of one of the lanes. dude had on so much cologne i could smell it over the chlorine. i was just praying that there was no way i would get any stds by sharing the same pool water. ick.

so let's get that image out of our heads with a pic of the monchichi from this weekend:

yes, his shirt says, "ladies man". on saturday, we went for a walk, had lunch, spent the afternoon at chuck e. cheese, then napped for like, forever! on sunday, i took him to his first movie. and he LOVED it. at least the popcorn part. we went shopping and walked away with a little duckie that danced the chicken dance. then we went to the park before yet another long nap.

this weekend was the best birth control ever. i love the kid more than anything, but man, i could barely keep up!

p.s. my mom's watching the bachelor, which i NEVER watch bc i think it's just so embarrassing, but one of the girls, i went to high school with!!! she's the bush aide. seriously, is that the first thing you want to tell someone? to impress them? she's exactly as i remembered her from high school. except that she didn't try to sing to him. she was ALWAYS singing in h.s. i just googled her and it turned out she's been in d.c. and studied for the bar while on the show. craziness. who knew d.c. law firms were keen on their associates appearing on reality shows. oh and she's a marathoner.

catching up

losing an hour has totally screwed with my body clock. normally, i wake up around 530 every morning. this week i've been getting up closer to 730! that's 2 hours behind, yo! while i enjoy it being light out after work, it sucks that i have to sacrifice daylight in the morning. i'm hoping my body finds equilibrium over the weekend. though it's doubtful. i'm babysitting the monchichi til sunday, while my brother and sis in law enjoy her birthday weekend in reno. at least the little kid and i have the same bedtime!

my swim lesson on wednesday was ho-hum. it hasn't turned into a class yet, though that's what they're aiming for. judy decided to torture me with lots of kicking drills. everything from my hips down was burning by the end of the lesson. she kept saying, it's good for you. bah!

this morning, the group ran 2.25 miles. it's still taking me at least 15 minutes to not hate running, but i'm not feeling as stiff as i was before. it's amazing how for 25 minutes i'm cursing the fact that i'm running, but the second i'm done it's like "oh my god! that was so awesome! i feel so refreshed! i could do that all day!" HA! and i still think it's magic that the group makes me run faster. it's definitely an effort. but hopefully one that will pay off in the end.

arms and legs

my delinquent ass got to the track to join the group today. and boy am i glad i did! not only did they miss me (yeah!), but they made me run faster than i normally do. how do they do that?! we ran 1.75 miles in 18:56 which is a shade faster than 11 minute miles. and here i've been barely slogging along at 12+ minute miles by myself. go team!

i carried my runner's high to the pool where i swam for 55 minutes. at the end of one lap, as i caught my breath a dude approached me and said, "you've been swimming forever!" oh dude, you just made my day. i'm digging my stroke lately. it feels natural and fluid and my laps are getting easier and easier. i wish there was a fool proof way to count my laps. my watch manual says it's only water resistant if you press the buttons out of the water, so i really would have to stop at every lap or 2 to press the lap button. plus honestly, i am so into swimming i don't even remember to count. i've seen a little clicker that you wear on your finger to count laps. how do you keep track of laps?

my lessons on wednesday are turning into a group class. and i'm cool with that. hopefully there are people better than me. i find it makes me swim better. it makes me want to do better. we shall see tomorrow. if i can even move my arms tomorrow...

weekend recap: my head is back in the game

this weekend was a clusterfuck of the mind. for most of saturday, i stewed. that evening, i met up with my littlest brother and cousin for second saturday in midtown sacramento when all the galleries open up to the public for free. while i wasn't necessarily inspired by the work (it was sacramento, after all), i did enjoy the fresh air and the company. we then had some "bomb-ass" thai food, as my brother would say. it's the best thai i've had since moving back to california. plus i always love eating with the littlest bro. since he's a chef, we get to talk all geeky foodie like, talking about texture, aroma, spices, cooking science, presentation, freshness, etc. he appreciates food in all the ways i do! my middle brother? he is so picky i sometimes dread eating with him.

so i spent the night in sac and got to wake up and play with the nephew. we played and played and played until about noon when i had to go. i shopped for a good number of hours, picking up some new bras (which are FANTASTIC! the t-back is so comfortable and the girls have never been so happy!), some things for my friend's new baby, and some new shoes. when i got home, i took the 'rents to see the bank job. it was decent enough. jason statham is worth paying full movie price to see on the big screen. and i love british accents. it wasn't as fun as i thought i was going to be. in fact, it turned much more serious in the end.

i haven't yet seen the other boleyn girl. i figured my dad wouldn't care for it, which is why i chose the bank job instead. and i won't get to see it this weekend since i'm babysitting. but i'm sure in due time i'll get to see my dear, sweet bana on the big screen. and i'll do my best to block out the other two. bleh.

anyway, we got home from the movie, and i think i let myself be tortured for an hour over the $80,000 question of grad school. essentially, i'm limited to 2 schools in the s.f. area; i do not want to move again to go to school, just to move back. both schools are private, hence the steep cost. funding is limited to loans because there just really aren't any fellowships or grants for graphic design. so then my mind spiraled to me never being able to buy a house because of my huge student loan debt, me working 5 jobs just to live, me being a crazy, unhappy, overweight spinster living with my parents until the day i die......my mind does that. takes one worry then extrapolates it to the nth degree until i am literally petrified.

it also works when i'm excited too though. once i was done thinking that, i thought
of all the great people i'd meet, the great work i'd get to put in my portfolio, the research i'd get to do, the dream job that could be mine, the satisfaction in using my talents for something useful and inspiring. then i felt better.

so somewhere between those two scenarios will lie what actually happens. i figure i'll take it a month at a time. get my apps and portfolios done and get accepted. then worry about money. a lot of opportunities could come my way in the next 2-3 years that could improve my situation, and i'm banking on things getting better. grad school will really only make me a better designer.

so i'm done blathering on about that, for now. tonight, i swim. and i have a feeling it will feel oh, so good.

my mind is elsewhere

thursday, i managed a 2.5 mile run in the am. but that's all. after work, i skeedaddled to s.f. for a "thing" and by the time i got home i was ravenous and tired. so the next morning, i chose sleep over working out. friday was the most stressful day at work in my 3 months there and all i could do to cope was think of beer. all pretty lame excuses but whatever.

running and swimming have taken a far back seat to things lately. all i can think about is grad school. how i'm going to pay for it. how i'm gonna even manage school and work. getting excited about it, then getting worried again. i think i need to just shut the fuck up, do the applications and the questions will answer themselves. but i can't help but feel the need to plan and strategize the coming months over and over again in my head until it makes sense.

many people say they work things out in their heads while they run. many say exercise helps them cope. lately, it's become just one more chore that doesn't get done because i'm focused and fretting over something else.

but i did manage to finish up the march design of my masthead.

two-fer

my sorry ass hasn't worked out in a week. i even missed our group run last night to take care of a family situation. boooo! but i made up for it by running and swimming today.

am run: i find that it takes me a long while to get warmed up. and after awhile, even though i'm good and warm, the outer calf pain starts. i was able to keep that pain at bay during marathon training because i was going to yoga once a week, if not twice. in fact, i should get the yoga mat out now and do some warrior poses during idol.

though i did find that when i ran faster, the outer calf pain decreased. or maybe i was more concerned about my hard breathing. whatever it is, i know i just need to be patient and i'll get back in the groove. despite my pathetic distance, by the end i thought, "damn! morning runs are better than crack!" although we all know, i know nothing about crack.

pm swim class: i told judy about my rash and she said i wasn't the first person to mention that to her! she said even she gets little red bumps. so she's investigating.

getting back in the pool felt good. i've been away for 2 weeks, afraid of worsening my skin condition and/or contaminating the pool with whatever i had. luckily, i still had my mojo. today we refined my stroke even more, focusing on slicing my hand into the water by rotating my arm so that my thumb enters the water first. at the end of my lesson after swimming more laps, i practiced flip turns. these things are getting so easy!

i'd like to get another two-fer in again tomorrow. i've got some catching up to do!

lists: what's up and 7 random things

it's been awhile since my last post (and my last workout). here's what's been up.

1. my body has become allergic to life. my regular seasonal allergies are kicking my ass and it appears my skin has also decided to mutiny. the day after my last swim class (two wednesdays ago), my skin has been itching like mad. at first i didn't notice the random nagging itches in random places. until i realized that i had about scratched myself raw and produced a million little bumps all over. ick. i haven't used any new detergent, soaps, lotions, or potions. nor have i eaten anything different. i'm assuming it's a combination of icky pool skank and extreme dry skin. the itchiness lingers today but to a lesser degree. i've upped moisturization efforts just short of slathering on olive oil and mayonnaise and wrapping myself up in a cocoon every night. if anyone has any recommendations, i'd greatly appreciate it.
2. i was an expo bandit this weekend. the napa valley marathon was this weekend and even though i wasn't running it, i checked out the expo in search of great deals on running gear. i didn't find any good deals but i did get to hear the keynote address given by joan benoit-samuelson, 1984 olympic marathon champion. (tangent: in my head i kept referring to her as jon benet ramsey). she was funny, candid, and honest. she talked about her marathon strategies (she doesn't look at the course beforehand or keep track of every mile marker), her crosstraining (lots of nordic skiing and gardening), what it was like to pace lance armstrong in the ny marathon (she said she felt like his sherpa because he demanded a gel at every mile marker), and the importance of running your own race, both in running and life.
   
   getting a glimpse into the elite athlete's life is always inspring. you sometimes forget that the elite have the same ups and downs, the same vulnerability to injury, the same crappy weather conditions to run in, thinking that somehow because they have god given talent that running is easier, effortless for them. but it's not. hearing joan benoit-samuelson speak reminded me of my favorite scenes of the spirit of the marathon was when she was in her kitchen, cooking and drinking wine.
   
   i also ran into dean karnazes! i had NO idea he was going to be there otherwise i would have gotten there much earlier and brought my book for him to sign. when i saw him, his people were ushering him away from the groupies, as he was already late for his next engagement. he was very kind and stopped to take photos before jetting off. honestly, if i did have time to talk to him i don't even know what i'd say. "uh hi, i read your book. i think you're kind of crazy, actually." also, dude is TINY. which is guess is obvious since he's a runner. though he does have a lot of muscle. he looks likes he's negative percent body fat. but all i could think was, dude i could totally sit on him and crush him.
3. while in napa, i also hit up a local brewery. leave it to me to go to the land of grapes to sample the hops instead. while seated at the bar, a real live bonafide cowboy took the seat next to me. white stetson, tight wranglers, pearl snaps, and all. how does that not feel like a costume? anyway, cowboy asked for a budweiser, totally oblivious to the fact that he stepped foot in a microbrewery. instead he got their pale ale with a lime. i hope it wasn't to wussy for him. i had a pint of their amber, porter, and stout with the best fish and chips i've ever had.
   
4. i've been engrossed in researching mfa programs. it's become very clear that in order to bring my career to the next level, i need an mfa. plus it also gives me the option to teach, which is something i would like to do, either in conjunction with a commercial career or something later in life. i'm looking to stay in california and in the san francisco area ideally. i'm also looking to go full time and really hope it won't take me 4 years. i'm also looking for a sugar daddy to fund this endeavor. i'm kidding, but not entirely.
5. i've been spending lots of quality time with the nephew. he always makes me happy. and it's impossible to feel the need for a bf when the monchichi is so good at needing my love and attention.

that's about it folks. also, sometime last week, my favorite squirrel tagged me. she turned a post about sweet sweet eric bana into homework. so in no particular order, 7 random things about me:

1. i am obsessed with notebooks. in my purse i carry my planner/checkbook, my diary, a notebook for notes (directions, notes from voicemails, etc), and a small notebook of affirmations. cheesy, i know. but that book works. i have a drawer of empty notebooks of all sizes and types just waiting to be filled. sometimes i buy them and sometimes i get them free from paper shows and paper promotions. but i can never pass up a good little notebook. my fave so far: the moleskine.
2. i make the best fried rice on the planet. thanks to one very special ingredient: spam. spam fried rice, with soy sauce, eggs, and green onions is my favorite carboloading meal.
   
3. i've never experimented with drugs. not even pot. and it wasn't like it was never offered. i just never had any interest. i didn't drink until i was 21 either. i was one of those "i'm high on life" perky teenagers. i'm neither proud nor ashamed of my drug-free status. and it had nothing to do with the D.A.R.E. program. does that even still exist
4. my favorite present to give is board games. cheesy i know. but every couple i've given the deluxe scrabble game to (you know with the board on the turntable) tells me they use it all the time! plus, it's a present i can use too!
5. i bite my fingernails. it's a gross disgusting habit, but i can't stop.
   
6. i think oprah is annoying. do i even need to elaborate? if i had to choose a media mogul to spend the day with, it would totally be martha stewart. i mean she's done prison time!
   
7. i have a birthmark on my right arm. my parents tell me that my dad had the same mark in the same spot on his arm and that when i was born, his disappeared. and i believed them! it's a cute story anyway.

i'm supposed to tag 7 other people, but consider yourself tagged if you're reading this and so inclined to follow along!