A Case of the Runs

 If you're following along, here is the third week of training according to the 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon book.  The paces below are specifically for the 4-hour goal .  If anyone would like the paces for 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, or 5:00, I can start posting them alongside my plan if you let me know. I am also posting on DailyMile , but everything (and more!) will be posted here as well.  This "Marathon Training" series  is an experiment for me both in fitness and in blogging, as I am going to go into more detail than in previous training cycles, documented  HERE and HERE . ------ Last Week in Review: Here is the original schedule from last week and my comments/modifications.  Overall, this week went pretty well.  I am especially happy with the long run because last week's was very hard for me.  Although I had some rough moments in the earlier parts of the long run, I pulled it together and ran consistently the whole time except for some water breaks (act

Earlier this week, I had to go here: And sit in one of these: Three and a half years ago, I took an oath in a box similar to this, an oath to be as fair and impartial as I possibly could.  I came back to this box every day for three more (full) days and reached a verdict with 11 other people on the fate of an alleged domestic abuser. Living in Los Angeles, going to jury duty (or running marathons !) is pretty interesting.  The court houses are located in Downtown LA, near Union Station and Olvera Streets, Little Tokyo, and Chinatown.  When in Downtown, you see just about as much diversity as one could see in one area -- ethnically, age-wise, and socioeconomically. I like being able to walk around Downtown so much that I didn't mind my last jury service. But that's when I was paid (by my company) to go. Nowadays, I don't get paid for any time that I am away from work (except holidays, thank goodness!).  So I'm a lot like a freelance worker with no benefi

Over the years, I have read a lot of these types of "business"-type books, mostly due to my studies in industrial and organizational psychology. While many of them are good, I would actually recommend this book to the general population: Marshall Goldsmith's What Got You Here Wont' Get You There . Why? How many times have you complimented or thanked someone and then slapped the "b-word" at the end?  No, I'm not talking about THAT "b-word."  I'm talking about the word: but. "That's a good idea, but..." "You've really done a good job on this, but..." I'm sure we have all slipped and done this, or been the victim of this.  Yes, victim.  Putting that "b-word" after saying something nice makes it suddenly not-nice.  It's a bad habit that supposedly keeps people from advancing or doing well with their colleagues, but it also doesn't bode well for real life. Here are some of the 20 B

Somewhere in the whirlwind of the weekend, I missed the fact that Paige from Running Around Normal tagged me in a little blog meme that asks to share seven (7) of my top blog posts. I wasn't going to do this, but then I realized that my blog has almost been around for five years, and for anyone who is new, it would be beenficial to showcase some posts! My Seven Links 1. Most Beautiful post : " Dedication " (2008) -- This entry was written in the wake of my coach's untimely passing. 2. Most Popular post :  " Foot Gloves "(2007) -- I wrote this entry the day I discovered the existence of Vibrams and was in awe of them, apparently.  I guess the rest of the world is, too! 3. Most Controversial post : " Pre-Marathon Starvation " (2011) -- Some people thought I was writing about something that would be a VERY bad practice, but I was actually writing about music withdrawl! 4. Most Helpful post: " How Vegetarians Eat Dim Sum " (2011

I was originally supposed to take a five-day trip to Napa Valley (wine country) to celebrate my graduation , but somehow, that never came together.  Work is busy for both "The Ukrainian" and myself, and given my work situation ... it was probably not a smart idea no matter how badly I wanted to go on a romantic getaway like that. But, being the strange (ha ha!) people that we are, we decided to make do -- at least for now -- with spending a few worry-free days together over a weekend. It started off with a 7-mile run together.  The weather cooperated and held to a cool gloom until we were done, which was disappointingly later than I had hoped.  This girl is out of shape and still slightly unmotivated , but having someone running with me helped.  I plan on doing some of the long runs with him to keep me from not pushing enough during my training this time around. My reward was this place called Cici's Cafe .  I spent the days before this drooling all over the Yelp!

My most recent race (Valley Crest [Trail] Half-Marathon).  If you're following along, here is the second week of training according to the 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon book.  The paces below are specifically for the 4-hour goal .  If anyone would like the paces for 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, or 5:00, I can start posting them alongside my plan if you let me know. I am also posting on DailyMile , but everything (and more!) will be posted here as well.  This "Marathon Training" series  is an experiment for me both in fitness and in blogging, as I am going to go into more detail than in previous training cycles, documented  HERE and HERE . ------ Last Week in Review: Here is the original schedule from last week and my comments/modifications.  Basically, I switched Friday and Saturday's workouts and got through the rest of the days okay so far without huge spikes in hunger or exhaustion.  Most notably this week was my difficultly sticking it through the long ru

Well, it looks like I get to talk about feet again in this entry. o_O Recently, I got the opportunity to try out Invisible Shoes , which are minimalist running sandals.  Yes, I said the words minimalist , running , AND sandals in the same phrase. I had yet to have anything to do with the barefoot running movement.  In fact, in 2007, I wrote a weird rambling about Vibrams , and just last month, I gave out a pair of minimalist running shoes but didn't even try them myself. But the allure of the sandals was too much, so I sent in the following tracing of my foot to create my custom pairs.  Apparently, I got a little crazy and accidentally marked my skin with permanent marker. :$ A few days later, my pairs came.  I chose mine to be laced in orange and black .  I got two pairs (one on each foot in the pic, but I assure you that I have complete pairs of both!) because they come in different thicknesses.  The orange one on the left is 6mm, and the black is 4mm.  The thinner

On the day of my graduation  (which seemed so long ago but was just back in June), two of my best buds attended the two-hour long ceremony. Knowing how long and boring commencements can be, I was already eternally grateful! After things finally wrapped up, a couple more friends joined us at Mi Piace  (pronounced something like: pee-AH-cheh ), a New York/Italian restaurant that is always so crowded when I would walk by at night. I guess my friends wanted to booze me up, so white peach sangria went down.  I didn't have very much, since I had barely eaten that entire day up until this dinner, and no food in stomach + alcohol = no good. We started off with an ahi tuna tower... split among six people, ha ha. I'm pretty sure this was a portobella appetizer. My buds partook in raw beef! Bread.  My friends got carried away (not me, I think...), and I think this was our third basket! My main entree was this veggie lasagna.  Of course, I took lots of dairy pills bef

This book, The Four Agreements , had been recommended to me numerous times over the years from peers and various (successful) personalities.  I finally had a chance to read this.  I really don't know why I waited... the book is such a quick (i.e., short) read.  Even checking it out from the library was a cinch, since I reserved the book online and just swooped in to pick it up. So this book is based on Toltec (tribe) "philosophy," so there is a lot of spirituality highlighted in this book.  I am not very spiritual, so although I respectfully read through these parts, I moreso focus on other sections. According to Ruiz (the author), we are taught how to think and process information from Day One.  With their words, people set it up so that we make "agreements" with ourselves.  For example, if someone told me that I am no good at writing, then I make an "agreement" with myself that in future interactions, I must be a bad writer.  It takes a lot to b

Appendicitis is WAY worse than a case of the runs ... For countless times in my childhood, I was told that if I ran or jumped after eating, rice (or other food, but let's face it... I mostly ate rice in those days) would fall into my appendix and lead to appendicitis .  The rationale is that rice or other small food particles, while passing through the large intestine (to which the appendix is connected), can get jerked into the opening of the appendix.  When the appendix cannot flush itself out, it gets infected, and hence, appendicitis. NOTE: In biology and physiology (waaay back in high school ), we learned that the appendix is a vestigal (aka, useless) organ that lost its practical use over time.  It used to create enzymes to help digest the "rough stuff" like weird plants that humans/humanoids used to eat.  Over time, as we cooked our food and narrowed our diets, the appendix was no longer needed.  Instead, it dangles on the right side of the large intestine.

It has been a while since I've bought a jar of peanut butter, and I know why. Following suit with the Dark Chocolate Wonderful version of Peanut Butter n Co 's special peanut butters, this one I had to restrain myself from finishing it outright. I had to taste it a few times to see whether the white chocolate flavor was really prevalent in this.  You see, white chocolate is one of my favorite things, so I am rather picky about it.  Well, after getting used to what white chocolate tastes like with peanut butter, I couldn't stop eating this sweet, smooth peanut butter. It has taken me quite a while to hunt down a jar of this variety, until one day, the Whole Foods in my area suddenly had it on the shelf.  I've checked that same shelf many times, but I was pleasantly surprised...

UPDATE: 7/14/11: Winner was selected by Random.org .... #19... Kelly!  I'll be contacting you for your address soon! ------ I jumped the gun a little bit before finishing school to read, when I was sent this book to review by Kara Goucher, one of my running idols .  Here is my review (I also did one for Healthy Tipping Point ): ------ This book is geared toward beginner runners.  It begins with Kara's story of how she got into running and then gives tips for new runners from how to take those first steps to how to deal with those initial "pains" (I think we all know what I'm talking about!). But I did learn from this book, which I couldn't stop reading until I polished it off in two evenings.  She talks about some mental games one could play to get through rough spots during training.  She also offers some training programs for half- and full-marathons that only require 3 days of running.  I might have more time to train now that I am slightly less b

Hoping my time will be closer to the left one than the right one! ( Fargo Marathon ) If you're following along, here is the first week of training according to the 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon book.  The paces below are specifically for the 4-hour goal .  If anyone would like the paces for 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, or 5:00, I can start posting them alongside my plan if you let me know. I am also posting on DailyMile , but everything (and more!) will be posted here as well.  This "Marathon Training" series  is an experiment for me both in fitness and in blogging, as I am going to go into more detail than in previous training cycles, documented  HERE and HERE . ------ This might not look like much to you, but keep in mind that this is Week 1 of 16.  I typically train in 18-week cycles , so I'm curious to see how this "shorter" one goes.  I am grateful that it starts off this way, and if you notice, some of the days are really flexible in terms of activit

So it appears that my dog and cat have something in common now, besides being members of a rather strange household/zoo. Yes, the cat that we have had for over a year is not a girl after all, confirmed by a long-overdue vet visit. You should have heard the conversation between me and the staff. Assistant : I think it could be a boy. Me : Really?  We have been calling it a "she" forever.  Hence the pink collar. Doctor : (feels cat) I don't see any [female parts].  (checks a few more times due to my disbelief) You have a neutered male. (checks more because I'm still looking at him strangely)  Unless it's a hermaphrodite. So I guess that's that. Hope everyone will still shower him with the same affection with his feminine-like cat behavior.  And HE is healthy, young, updated on shots, and apparently needs a teeth cleaning soon, which is a procedure in itself costing not too far off from the dog's neutering last March. These boys are sending

I have never made a cupcake.  I've made muffins many a time (like THIS one and THIS one) because I prefer them over cupcakes.  Muffins are hearty, somewhat known for being "healthy" (though this is debatable), and don't have frosting that needs to be protected.  Muffins are also easily made vegan.  Cupcakes , in my mind, are known for being unfilling, overpriced, dairy-laden, and not really a good substitute for cake.  I know this shocks most folks who jumped on that "cupcake revolution," but sorry, I can't change my basic beliefs. ;) But I decided to expand my baking horizons and try out a recipe at last -- chocolate chai cupcakes sounded good enough to me!  Plus, I wanted to try stuff out to see if I could possibly bring this to my sisters' upcoming tea party, where perhaps muffins would be a little out of place. This vegan recipe is from HERE . Top: cupcake ingredients.  Below: frosting ingredients.  The recipe called for soy milk, but