A Case of the Runs

This week has been such a blur. I've been getting in some good running/training, but really, besides the start of school, I can only remember this week by the numerous times I went out to eat. I'm not used to eating out that much, as I never did often as a child. I remember in high school, going to an end-of-the-year banquet not knowing how to use my napkin and cutlery at my table. I much prefer cooking and dining in with "The Ukrainian" than going out, but that is what the schedule had brought us this week. But with the Surf City Half-Marathon coming up next week, I need to make sure I keep my eating much, much healthier than it has been this week! At least I can now bring you some pictures, which is good, since I think more people have been coming to my blog to see them! Wednesday: Above: Before my Wednesday night salsa lesson, "The Ukrainian" and I want to New Happy Family Vegetarian Restaurant in Rosemead, CA. This place serves fancy seafood Asian dis...

I'm already at my tenth " Random Photo Entry ," and to make up for the relatively shorter ones, here's an extra large one. Above: Lo and behold, training binders. Nobody told me that my job requires lifting ability, but hauling these things is good exercise! Above: This element of my job requires little lifting -- training evaluations! Now this is what I'm talking about! Above: My new camera was put to good use here, wasn't it? I have to get to our training hotel as the sun is rising, but on this particular morning, I had to whip out my camera. My sister Tea Time wonders how I ever got a blog readership using my Moto-Razr phone to take pictures. I'm still going to be using both! Above: Another early-morning shot. Above: Gummies from the UK that we bought at (Cost Plus) World Market . I am a huge fan of this place, which sells imports of house stuff and food. I always fall victim to candy here, but these were particularly good -- very chewy, and comes in y...

I am catching up on some posts on this lazy Sunday. I have had a great weekend so far just relaxing, running, walking, and trying to stay warm after a week of stormy weather. This post features more output from my new camera (shrunken down for storage purposes). Last Friday, "The Ukrainian" and I went to Loving Hut for some dinner. I needed some fuel for a 17-miler the next morning. Just as some background, since "The Ukrainian" and I work for the same utility, we're usually in and out of work earlier than most people, work out in the late afternoon, and sometimes go out to eat afterward. The Loving Hut is vegan, which was surprising to me, since there aren't too many vegan places in my area. I don't order meat or tolerate dairy very well, so vegan places are a safe haven for me. I was excited to know that I could order anything on the menu and kept asking the waiter what I'm sure were annoying questions like, "Is this ice cream made ...

After I crossed the finish line recently at the 13.1 Half Marathon in Los Angeles, they were handing out these corn thins as a post run food item along with bananas, apples and bagels. I actually had to throw away my apple and banana from that race since the ones I picked out were both rotten. :( Sad. Anyways, I did not end up eating these corn thins until the following week when I was sitting at my desk one afternoon and got the munchies. These taste just like ricecakes but better. They have a better crunch since they are thinner and taste like plain popcorn. Overall, I like them. Don't these look like drink coasters to you? I went to the product website ( Real Foods ) and looks like this company is located in Australia...how exotic?!? That's far away. You can go to the website to read all about the nutritional info and some "recipes" on how to jazz them up.

UPDATE : 9/19/10 I have set these shoes aside for shorter runs and/or non-running activities. Somehow, these shoes strain my calves on longer runs, but they are still cute and good for other activities. I DO engage in other activities, right? ------ Original Post: 1/19/10 Following my sister Tea Time's footsteps , I got a pair of these Adidas Supernova Sequence 2 in the color seen above. I really like how cushiony they feel and that they are relatively cheaper than other running shoes ($99.99 retail, but I got mine cheaper online). I've always wanted to try Adidas, but they always came in "third" in the recommendations from the running store. So far, I think these shoes are great and did I mention cushiony? I have yet to find a "perfect" running shoe, so I hope this is it so I can just keep buying the same pair online forever. Above: P.S. This is the first picture I've posted taken from my new camera ... though I took down the image quality quite a bit...

For over a year, I have been getting these devestating headaches after morning runs. By "devestating," I mean an ache that starts slowly but progresses into nausea, and a few times, vomiting (TMI?). This mainly happens after hard runs or anything over 6 miles. I tried drinking a lot of water, but that often did not help. So the other day after my 17-miler (which went very well by the way), I randomly drank a leftover Clif Quench that I had lying around. Sure enough, no headache. I even drove out to see "The Ukrainian" and did not have that extreme fatigue/sleepiness that long runs and drives normally give me. According to the article I linked below, as well as a Google search, I learned that electrolyte imbalances can cause headaches. I always figured that muscle cramping was a result of an imbalance, but the brain? Maybe it's the "muscles" around my skull? The scary thing is, though, that if I am really having an imbalance enough to give me these bad...

It seems like I've been neglecting my blog, but in reality, there hasn't been much going on worthy of blooging. Races: So originally, I was planning on doing the Walt Disney World Goofy Race-and-a-Half Challenge next January. However, money is tight, priorities are shifting, and I really think this trip would be better suited for when I graduate. That means that I will probably go for other races in 2011... maybe Big Sur , Wine Country Half-Marathon series , and/or my first ultramarathon (50k). School: My latest dissertation draft is in, which I aggressively worked on earlier this week. So for now, there is not much to do with this beast... I'll probably spend some time on the research materials this weekend. I am also still working that second job for field hours, though with working overtime on my other job, it is becoming difficult to do my assignments on time. And my one class for the semester has yet to begin. I need more time and energy! Running: I have a 17-miler sla...

Guest Review by Tea Time (Madison): (see all of Tea Time's guest posts HERE ) I think this is my first official race review ever. I might have done a couple before but they were either commentary pieces or were very short reviews. So here is my first attempt. So I started my weekend on Saturday with breakfast at Mimi's Cafe before heading out to Santa Monica to pick up my bib at the REI Santa Monica store. Check out this huge breakfast! That muffin is the best muffin ever! Here I am driving pass the Santa Monica Pier on my way to check out the parking situation for race morning. Here is the REI store front and inside where I picked up my bib. There was no expo for this race since it was pretty small. I was pretty much in-and-out in 15 minutes and this included looking around the store a bit. I found nothing good to buy. I also walked around the area a bit as there were some shops nearby. I went into Leonidas - a belgian chocolate store and purchased a gift for my sister who i...

I dragged my lazy self out this morning for a run, the first long one of the new year and the longest I've done since last month . Really, when I cross finish lines at races, I feel like that medal that gets placed around my neck is not only a reward for finishing the race. I consider those the prize that I get for all the training I put myself through. You probably know what I'm talking about... waking up to run on the weekend in spite of feeling like you've been rolled over by a street cleaning truck... drinking questionable water at your training grounds... using even more questionable places to relieve yourselves... Yes, I've put myself through so much of that, and I have lots of medals to show for them! I have updated some of my previous race reports to include pictures of the medals. I used to be really good with this, but somehow, I keep forgetting about that shiny paperweight once I hang it up in my room. So here are the links to the entries I updated: OC Half-M...

I thought I'd start off the year with some pictures of some of the dinners that "The Ukrainian" and I conjure up sometimes on the weekends... Above: Vegan cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, and avocado. Above: Rotisserie lemon-pepper chicken (store-bought) with brown rice, sundried tomatoes, cut-up green onions, and radishes. My version had soy chicken nuggets, though I will admit that some drippings from the rotisserie got in there. =O And yes, that's some cheap wine from Trader Joe's . Above: This past weekend... canned green beans w/mushrooms, sandwich thin with vegan cream cheese and hummus (not combined), and a small block of vegan cheese to munch on. Admittedly, I ended up biting some havarti (sp?) cheese from "his" plate. Above: "His" plate. I also had some of these crescent rolls (from a can, unfortunately). The thing on the right is turkey meatloaf, which I made out of some left ground turkey meat referenced here . The imported beer i...