A Case of the Runs

I am revising a post I had that rehashed 2009 and forecasted 2010. This past year has seemed very long, but perhaps "long" just means "eventful." You can scan my 2009 Archives for specifics, as I have been relatively active on this blog this year. The biggest thing that happened this year, which was left surprisingly undocumented (probably due to privacy), was my sister's wedding. It was the first wedding in the family, so now I've got my first brother-in-law and auntie prospects. =) I'm counting down the hours until I will be done with my current job for good. This is the third time I've had to "pack up and leave" this year (did I already mention how LONG this year has been?). As they say, I am sooooo over it here, but in an effort not to burn bridges, I will say no more about that. The biggest lesson I've learned this year, one that I will still be trying to learn and practice in 2010, is to relax and enjoy the ride of life. I...

I'm back with a brief post... I've tightened the security settings on my Comments in hopes that I won't be getting so many messages like the one you see here. I'm still alive, closing out the last few days at my current job. I also got approval from two senior vice-presidents at my company to run my dissertation study once I'm ready. Great to get my name out there for when I make it... big! I had a great Christmas and made out with some really cool loot from my sisters (you may be hearing about them in future posts). We celebrated my younger sister's 20th birthday, and tonight, I will be off to celebrate my best friend's 25th. I know that 2010 will be another busy year, so I'm trying my best to relax as much as possible and enjoy these last few days of '09.

Run to Finish is hosting the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge again , and this time it's running from November 23 to January 8. This is a good way to keep me motivated (besides the Pile on the Miles-POTM ) during what seems like already a stressful time. And prize eligibility is a plus! Basically, I must keep track of points. Again, I will be tracking my activities below. 1 Point per mile (run/walk/snowshoe) 1 Point per 3 miles biked 1 Point per 30 minutes of weight lifting, Pilates, yoga, stretching or abs 1 Point per 15 minutes of another form of cardio (i.e. kick boxing, aerobics elliptical) 1 Per day where you reach a minimum of 7 servings of fruits and veggies ------ 11/23 - 8 mi run (8 pts), 4 mi of biking (1 pt), 15 min weights/abs (.5 pt), food [banana, apple, salad greens, a lot of salsa, orange, guacamole] (1 pt) = 10.5 pts 11/24 - 4.5 mi run (4.5 pts), 3 mi biking (1 pt), 30 min circuits (2 pts), food - didn't quite make the quota... = 7.5 pts 11/27 - 6 mi run (6 pts...

I gave Vapur water bottles to a bunch of people for Christmas, because I kept feeling so untrendy still drinking out of a plastic water bottle. I'm sure you've heard about the energy costs to make/ship water bottles, in addition to potentially dangerous chemicals contained by them. I never took heed to any of that, but I thought I'd at least try something new. Either way, I am a huge water-bottle user, so even if I can just have a convenient water bottle like Vapur, a new habit might be worth undertaking. The "bottles" are flexible and basically come flat. When filled with water, it expands to a point where it is able to stand on its own. It holds about the same amount as a normal bottle but stands slightly taller than them. It comes with a sport-type (aka, squirty) cap. It claims to be easy to keep clean and able to be rolled up upon completion. It even comes with a belt-loop clip. These functions seem to work for me, though it will take a while to see if I will ...

It's been a while since I've posted a random photo entry , so here's my latest: Above: I'm spending a bit of today and tomorrow working on my dissertation and e-learning stuff for my second job. Don't get me wrong -- I still did my daily gym-time, but the theme of today and tomorrow should be... productivity. So the question is here... do these glasses make me look smart? Why do people get that impression even when I'm not wearing them? I'd rather be known as athletic, just to move away from my abysmal geekiness of yore. Above: A vegan spinach lasagna is currently sitting in "The Ukrainian's" oven. Well, I lied. The one in this picture, which I made in October, is vegan and was miiiggghty delicious, mind you. However, this time I put ground turkey meat in half of it to make it more man-friendly. Above: Last month, I also made some pumpkin-ginger muffins, which we ate with pumpkin butter from Trader Joe's . This stuff is WAY sweeter than a...

I was really skeptical of the effectiveness of this cream when I used it the morning of my recent marathon . It was a sample that was included in our race packets at the Expo. My skepticism came from the relative thin-ness of the cream. It felt literally like a cream. This is in constrast to Aquaphor , which feels very thick and Vaseline-like. I put the Mission Cream on the susceptible parts of my body as shown: Gotta love the depiction, huh? Basically, this stuff went under my arms and between my upper thighs. Surprisingly, I still had some leftover in the small packet. I caught "The Ukrainian" using the rest of it, which I had left on the bathroom counter, in addition to his. The end result? For the first time ever, no post-marathon chafe-pain! This could be due to the vast amount of clothing I was wearing, or the fact that I probably wasn't as sweat-drenched as usual, but "The Ukrainian" reported that he didn't chafe on his ankle (from his shoes rubbing ...

RunningLaur is hosting another virtual race! To see other virtual races, click here to see everything I've tagged as a "pseudo race report." When I first saw this, I was thinking, Okay, one mile? That will be cake, and I can bust out many of these. But then I realized that I will be at Mammoth Mountain on this day. Due to finances and simple lack of will, I am not planning on snowboarding with "The Ukrainian," so while he's out doing that, I was thinking about venturing out for a short (one-mile!) run. I have never, ever run in snow before, and I know this will require extra precaution. I will post my findings (he he) below! On a related note, I don't find winter miserable at all. Summer is my worst enemy. Whereas one can do something about being cold, nothing short of standing in front of a freezer all day can help me feel comfortable during the summer. Sure, there is rain, traffic, and not being able to wear certain things during the winter,...

I'm posting this while I'm still on my post-marathon high! =D While I am excited to resume running, I've just been doing other things and eating a little more than usual. The eating is not intentional, but I think my increased appetite is being caused by a combination of gradual post-race calorie replacement and hormones. Anyway, I don't really own too many Nike things, nor do I typically run in anything but shorts. However, I wore these capris for the first time during my recent marathon and found them not to be a bother at all! I got these at a Nike Factory Outlet store for less than $30. I wish they had black ones (mine is that reddish gray color), but I guess I'm unique now. They were having a 30% sale on top of their already reduced prices. The original cost of the capris (may not be the exact picture -- see me running in them in my race report ) was $55. I always worry about wearing anything tight due to body-image issues , but Tea Time and "The Uk...

EVENT: Rock n Roll Marathon: Las Vegas DATE: Sunday, December 6, 2009 LOCATION: Las Vegas, NV RACE BEGAN: 6:15 am FINISH TIME: 04:20:46 While at the Run/Ex/2009 (Expo) for the Acura Bike Tour , I noticed that this race was being offered at a $15 discount and a free T-shirt for on-the-spot registration (not including the savings of the online reg fee). Upon conferencing with "The Ukrainian," we signed up! We got to Vegas on Friday. It was a party of four with me, "The Ukrainian," M, and Tea Time. I feel like those two days before the race were full of eating, gambling, and resting. It started with holiday pancakes at IHOP. Fortunately, we made a stop at the CA-NV state line to a Nike Factory Outlet store, where I scores some capri tights for less than $30 (review to come later). Then, I had my next meal at the very crowded expo. With ~25k runners in this race, you could imagine that staying in the host hotel (Mandalay Bay) was insane! Above: A tiara that I got ...

During my recent marathon , I had GU gels for the first time ever. Why did it take me so long to discover that many of them don't have dairy and that they taste great I had these two: Above: Vanilla Gingerbread - tastes very strongly of yummy gingerbread, perfect for my cold holiday run! Above: Blueberry Pomegranite Roctane - also yummy, with 35mg caffeine and some chemicals to help with muscle breakdown and mental focus... I think it got me feeling weirdly energetic but still unable to plow through my wall I am going to make the transition to GU. They are much more easily found than pretty much any gel out there.

The two blogs N Her Shoes and Healthy Tipping Point are hosting a challenge that is running through most of November called Pile on the Miles. Basically, all miles ran/walked count towards your grand total that will be eligible for prizes! I am not expecting to win anything, since my mileage is never that high. Even now, as I am training for a marathon and will do my second 20+ miler during the contest period, I doubt I will reach the triple-digits. I've been biking a bit lately, so I guess those miles won't count... Anyway, feel free to join in on the challenge! I will be tracking my miles below! ----- Miles Logged: 11/2 - 7 11/3 - 2 11/4 - 1 11/5 - 7.5 11/6 - 3 11/9 - 8 (this is when I believe I gave myself a strain in my abdominals) 11/13 - 20 (Worst 20 Ever) 11/16 - 3 11/17 - 4 11/18 - 3 11/19 - 7 - ran around neighborhood w/my favorite running partner and was quite speedy! 11/23 - 8 (and .5 from last Friday) 11/24 - 4.5 - neighborhood w/partner again... thought I was gon...

I am not vegan, but dairy sends me for a loop. I can still eat some, but it makes me bloat heavily. Cream is the worst culprit. Lactose pills have not really helped beyond their placebo effect. I haven't been able to figure out whether I am intolerant to lactose or some other milk protein (e.g., casein), so whenever I can, I try to avoid milk products altogether. I've had some vegan cheeses, both good and bad, and this is one of them. Vegan Grated Topping is supposed to emulate that dry parmesean cheese that is normally dusted onto pizza or pasta. It is made from soy and yeast ingredients and comes shelf-stable (refrigerate after opening) for less than $3 at health food stores. In the near-future, I won't be making such random purchases, as I have a steep tuition next semester that is going to somewhat stress my finances. This tastes slightly cheesy, but I find it somewhat lacking and even somewhat repulsive. I can't explain it. But this is supposedly the best mock-parm...

In a very whimsical move, I bought a new iPod nano ($149 retail - but mine was less than this) on Black Friday. Apple was having an uncharacteristic sale, and I decided to jump on it. I know I had wanted a Touch model ($199 retail), but running with it would have damaged it... along with the fact that there's no easy song-changing with that thing. And now, it is currently in transit to my home and will be waiting for me when I get there tonight. So I went with this video-taking device that is about the same size as my current iPod . I don't think I have much use for the video feature, voice recording, or any of that, though. What drew me in was the FM tuner and song-tagging. Imagine... no more me trying desperately to remember the song playing on the radio. Now I can just tag it by pushing a button. Although I wish it had AM radio as well (I am a big fan of KNX 1070/News), I will settle for FM! Another change will be the color. I thought about green again, but for a change, I w...