First run post marathon

Yesterday when I was randomly walking down the hallway at work, I noticed that my quads were feeling a lot better. I was so happy, I sorta ran in the hallway a bit. Yeah, I do that a lot here at work so no one really pays any attention to me. I decided to see if it still hurts to walk down the stairs and I am happy to say it does not. I work on the third floor of my building and I try to use the stairs whenever I can but this past week has been difficult. Needless to say, I was using the elevator a lot. I always feel bad when I use it because I feel it wastes energy.

This morning, I went to the gym to do some running and managed an easy 10 min/mile pace for 4.8 miles. It was a really nice relaxing jog. I am not quite back to normal yet but I am getting there. I am planning to either do an easy 8 or 10 tomorrow to get back into the swing of things. As I mentioned before, I have a 19 mile run two weekends from now and I want to be prepared.

Friday is finally here, I cannot be happier. Be back on Monday with photos of the weekend. TGIF!

I did some cooking last night but forgot to take photos. It was nothing extraordinary. I made roasted caramelized shallot chicken and had it with some swiss chard and roasted kabocha (Japanese squash). I don't know how I feel about kabocha. It reminds me of sweet potatoes which I love but there is something I don't like about it. Don't think I will buy it again but am glad I tried it out. And yes, I am going to the farmers market tomorrow to check out what goodies they have now that spring is here. So excited!

Finally, I am obsessed with peanuts. Roasted peanuts to be exact. Right out of the shell kind that these nice guys at the farmers market roast fresh everyday. Seriously, they are fabulous. You can trust me, I am eating them right now. :D

Post Marathon Bliss

Here are some more random photo postings. I have to be honest and say that my quads are still sore today. Normally, I would be better 2 days after but it is already the third day and I am still sore. It's kinda nice because I get to take a break from going to the gym. Ok, I went in anyways this morning but just did more stretching and upper body weights and some abs. Anyways, on to the random photos.

These are the lovely flowers my sisters greeted me with after I finished running the LA Marathon on Sunday. I am surprise at how nicely they have perked back up even after being crushed and sweated on as I clung on to them on the way back to the car. Thank you Sisters! You guys rock!


A pic of the pup chillin' yesterday. He has such a hard life! ;)


Some amazing tea I picked up at the local mall the night before the race. I love tea...and am in love with Teavana! Expensive but that Youthberry stuff is suppose to combat aging. Not gonna lie, I like the sound of that. I don't care if it is true or not. It is yummy!


Cute goody bag that Sister K gave me. She knows me so well...hahaha. There is a bag of green bean snacks. Sister K was amused that they retain their "bean-like" shape and color. There is also a bag of tiny biscottis, ginger chews, 2 Cadbury eggs and a bottle of spray-on sunscreen in SPF 70+ because quite frankly, I think Sister K is just sick of having to see my sock, running top and shorts tan lines. On another note, those Cadbury eggs are making me drool right now! :p~


Finally, I am back on the crocheting bandwagon. At least for now. So here is my latest finish good. Haha, I already have a couple of request for these so I am making them up whenever I have free time. I guess I would have more finish items if there was only a way for me to run and crochet at the same time because running is just so time consuming.


It is Wed but I am already looking forward to the weekend. The Agoura Half Marathon is this weekend. I am sad that I will not be running it since this is one of those races that I've always wanted to run but it is almost always near the LA Marathon timelsot. Maybe I will do it next year.

LA Marathon 2010 - the Agony & the Ecstasy!

What a fun and amazing weekend!

This past weekend I ran and finished my 7th marathon and 5th LA Marathon. I've done it 5 years in a row. It started back in 2006 and I have never looked back. This year's race had a new course but since my first running of this race, the course has changed a couple of times so I guess I am use to this race as not being your run of the mill races.

Great course support, amazing volunteers and spectators, great landmarks! The spectators were out in force yesterday. I felt embarrassed to have had to walk parts of the course because people were cheering me on to run even when I was so tired all I could do was walk...very slowly at that.

The course was hillier than I had expected so I was unprepared and had to suffer a bit out there. Overall, I am happy with my efforts as I left it all out on the course. I was pretty much done by the time I crossed that finish line at 4:08:08. I am a bit sad that I did not get a sub-4 time but it kinda inspired me to work harder. Needless to say walking down steps and sitting down are a pain in the rear today. But I have never recovered so fast as I did this time. I was able to walk somewhat normally yesterday and was able to walk up and down short flights of stairs. Today, my quads are sore but I think I will be ok by tomorrow. Might be able to do some light elliptical or easy biking on Wed. Went into the gym this morning to do some stretching and foam rolling!

And because there is always more to race weekend than the race itself. This is what I did before and after all that running stuff. :)

Before heading to pick up my race packet on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, I went to the farmers market to pick up my food for the coming week. It is always such a nice way to start off the weekend. I love the smell of fresh produce and flowers in the morning! I got there pretty early since I had a long day ahead of me but in doing so, I also avoided all the crowd. WIN!

Then I went to pick up my bib and stuff at the expo w/ my pup. Got a picture of the stadium and the Mile 1 marker. The expo itself was too crowded for me to get in any good photos. I just wanted out of there as it was super hot and crowded!

Umm, yeah this is me channeling my inner Lady Gaga! Not sure why.

Carbo-loading w/ the family. :)

Me and that bread basket became really good friends!

This is the stuff that saved me out on the course! I will forever be fond of this stuff. THANK YOU Naked Juice people for saving me out on the LA Marathon course yesterday! I *heart* you coconut water!

Refueling after the run w/ my lovely sisters! Thank you both for being there for me! Sister K, for the super nice goody bag w/ yummy treats (photos later), for waking up early and your thoughtfulness. Sister S, thank you for always being the gracious host and just an overall great person! Also, thanks to E, M and Bear! No thanks to my pup who is such a whiner and made me all nervous on race morning!

Refueling meal of choice...hahaha...banh canh!

Finally, I like the new medal better than last year's but not more than previous years. Those older medals were just the bomb. I wish they would bring them back! I also wish they would bring back the cheaper registration price!

At the finish line.

"borrowed" some race photos

A Final Note Before the Big Weekend!

See that first item under my Fitness Goals section to the right? I really want to cross that off the list. Can I do it? Will I do it? You can bet that I am going to try.

Now on to lunch because...well I just love food! See collage below...this was what I did for lunch today. It was nice. It was relaxing. I wish all my lunches were like this. I should eat outside more often. It was a nice change of pace.

It was a rest day for me today but I still ended up in the gym this morning. But I just played around in there. Doing some yoga, stretching and abs. I think after the marathon, I am going to focus more on lowering my body fat and experimenting more with cooking. There is a yummy chicken recipe that I've been wanting to try. Also, I just looked on my calendar and noticed that 3 weeks after Sunday, I have a 19-miler in preparation for the SD Rock & Roll Marathon. WTHeck? Haha...craziness!



In other food related news, in case I don't talk about food enough, I am already looking forward to going to the farmers market this weekend. I may need to get a small pull cart because vegetables are delicious but heavy to carry. So after my final 2-mile warm up before the big day tomorrow, I will be headed to the farmers market and then to Dodger Stadium to pick up my bib. It's going to be a beautiful weekend!


(photo borrowed from here)

Randomness

I was hungry last night after work so I decided that I was going to cook myself something good and healthy for dinner. Yeah, I know it was St. Patrick's Day but I had no plans because I don't drink alcohol so no one wants to hang out with me...j/k..or is it! So I decided to make seabass. I have never made seabass before but I am pretty good around the kitchen so I thought I would just wing it or call someone. I ended up calling my brother-in-law and he told me that seabass was pretty hard to mess up so I was relieved. Below is the outcome of my meal. I've actually been cooking up quite a bit since I started going to a nearby farmers market on the weekends. I would come home with the most beautiful produce and other goodies and would cook up stuff that I had never cooked before. I am a pretty adventurous eater so the farmer's market is like a candy store to me. I wish they had more exotic stuff. I hope to be able to post more on stuff that I've been cooking because I've never cooked so much in my life. But it's all good because it is food after all. BTW, my dinner was delicious. You will have to take my word for it because I was the only one who ate it...haha.


(edit: I just realized that adding some capers to the sauce would have really made it outstanding. I will do so next time.)

Here, we have some random photo I found on my camera from 2/14. Yes, I AM obsessed with food! Some food I made, some food I purchased, some food I cannot eat because I am on a diet..boohoo!



More food porn, some rambutan I found in the heart of Little Saigon. Man, it's like Vietnam there, hardly anyone speaks English. Glad I at least know what the heck they are saying to me. :D Cannot imagine what it would be like if I didn't. I would probably get no service. Also, my parents...I guess you can say they "adopted" that cat below. She just came around the house one day and never left. She is cute and well mannered, so we will keep her...well my parents will keep her not me.




I hope to be more regular with posting soon. Maybe I will do a farmer's market post soon. Oh, and I will have a new finish crochet project soon as well. Definitely, there will be an LA Marathon post in the near future. I just have to make sure I bring my camera with me. Until next time!

LA Marathon - 9 Days and Counting!

Wow, so I am back. I've been really bad about blogging lately but that only means that I am doing lots of cool things in real life, right? Ok, not really but sometimes life happens and I am too busy to blog about it.

So first off, LA Marathon is coming up fast and furious. Cannot believe the day is almost here. I feel really good this time around and think that a sub-4 is in my future, BQ however is another story. I don't think that I trained hard enough this time around so I will save that for SD Rock and Roll or Chicago. I am just planinng to go out there and enjoy the day. I have trained hard and feel confident in what I can do. I am really excited to run. I will be doing my final long run of 8 miles tomorrow. I will be tackling that beast fast and furious style. Not because I am a track star but because I have to make sure I get back in time to clean all my crap off the floor before the carpet cleaners come. I plan to start at 6:30 and be back by 7:30am...hahaha, that would be nice!

So my other plan of attack for this marathon was that I was going to try to lose a couple of pounds by race day and I think I've been doing a good job if I do say so myself. I think it's been a month but I've dropped some weight which I am hoping will help take some pressure off my legs. So I am going to continue to eat right for this coming week and then do a carbo load on Saturday. Nothing crazy just a bit more food than I've been eating.

I went snowboarding for the second time in my life this past Wednesday and am pretty sore today still but that may be because I did a speedy 6 miles yesterday. I really want to get better at that sport so I might be going up there again once more this season but I am going to make it a goal to go a couple of times next season. Also, while I was up there this week, I realized that the thin air up there really helps me with my breathing once I get back down here. So, maybe this summer, I am going to go up there for the weekend and do some running to strengthen my lungs. Oh good times! :s

So, that's it for now. I really should not do these occasional long blogs. My brain just spills everything out in an unorderly manner. Terrible blogger I am.

2010 Surf City Half Marathon - Race Report

EVENT: Surf City USA Half-Marathon
DATE: Sunday, February 7, 2010
LOCATION: Huntington Beach, CA
RACE BEGAN: 7:45 am (wave start)
FINISH TIME: 01:48:12 (PR Half Marathon time)

This year marked the third year that I've ran the Surf City Half Marathon. A couple of years ago they changed the name and course of this race from Pacific Shoreline to Surf City. Since I ran that inaugural course and this being my third year, I am now a legacy runner for this race so this is one of those that I try to run every year. This year as a reward for being a legacy runner, I got a long sleeved shirt with this surf board design on it. It is ok, good for layering but I only wore it 2-3 times since I got it. I am not in love with the design. Here is a photo of my sister (A Case of the Runs) wearing it. Hope she does not get mad that I linked to it. The course is an out and back and for the most part is fairly flat. The return path inclines slightly and at this point in the day, the sun is normally out and in your face, which makes for some uncomfortable running. Bring and wear your sunglasses if you are use to running in sunglasses or wear a hat and lower your head on the return.

But here is the reason I love this race...the MEDAL! It is always in the shape of a surf board. A different design every year. I love these!

This was the only photo I was able to find of me running this race. I think I was over-dressed a bit even though it is February, the sun was out and it was warm the second half of the race.

I was originally going to wear this tutu that I made but chickened out at the last minute. Mostly because it tends to be cold in the mornings in February.

 

Half Marathon By the Mile

Miles 1-2 Huntington Beach Pier & Main Street

Start on Pacific Coast Highway between the ocean and the Hilton Waterfront Beach Hotel. Running north, the Huntington Beach Pier and Main Street are less than a mile away. At the 5K start banner, look to the left to enjoy the famous Huntington Beach Pier. Downtown Main Street is where you will likely head after your race to watch the Super Bowl in one of the many idyllic beach bars.

Miles 2 -5 Seapoint View

Just past the second mile marker, at the first retro surf band station, turn inland on Seapoint and head toward Huntington Central Park. On this stretch, you will encounter the course's only incline, between miles 3 and 4. Take your turn at the bluff, reenergize at the aid station and head down Seapoint back toward the ocean. Enjoy the ocean view all the way down to PCH.

Miles 5-7 Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

Just past mile five, take a right on PCH and absorb the energy from the ocean! Breathe in the fresh sea air as you continue north on the highway. The Bolsa Chica Reserve wetlands roll out to the right. This 300 acre ecological wonder is a sanctuary for wildlife and migratory birds. Bolsa Chica, along with the rest of Huntington Beach, CA, has some of the nation's best birding! Nearly half of the birds found in the U.S. have been seen in Huntington Beach. Sightings of great blue herons, snowy egrets and brown pelicans are common; lucky bird watchers can even spot a rare white pelican at the right time of the year.

Miles 8-13.1 The Home Stretch

Just before mile eight at Warner, turn back south on Pacific Coast Highway. The blue waters of the Pacific Ocean stretch out to your right and you are getting your second wind. Feel the fresh ocean breeze and take in the spectacular view. It's flat, it's fast, and it's all yours for the next five miles! Before you know it you are back at the pier, less than a half mile from the finish line. It's a straight shot from there, and the finish line banner is just ahead. Spectators line the highway to cheer you to the finish!