Browse Month: June 2005

I’m over the 2-digit hump

I reached an important milestone in my training. My long run this morning was 10 miles! The photo on the right is what my GPS watch recorded…I think it’s pretty neat. I labeled my house (kinda hard to read) with an line/arrow pointing to it and the pretty rainbow colors indicate elevation. I think red is highest, goes through the color spectrum, and purple is the lowest (sea level).
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Last night, I was actually nervous about today’s run. That’s probably why I got up at 5:15 this morning without the alarm. Jes also got up at 4:30 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. Maybe he was nervous for me too. Since we were up, we had just enough time to eat some oatmeal, digest, and be out the door by 7:30. Jes ran the first 4 miles with me before heading home to finish a 5-mile run and then my neighbor, who will be running the San Diego Half Marathon too, joined me around the 4-mile mark. The run was slow at first…I hate the first mile. Then my legs finally woke up and the pace picked up a bit. At about Mile 8, my legs were getting tired but I took a little bite of my Balance Bar, took a swig of Gatorade, and finished the run. I finished in 1:46, which is under my 11:00/mile goal pace. Yay!

“Eh, you’re fine”

For those of you who don’t know, I passed out in the middle of brushing my teeth one night last May. Over a year later, I’m still alive, got my driving privileges back, continue to have heart palpitations on a daily basis, and recently started getting chest pains while I run. So, I decided that before I go any further in my marathon training, I should get a check-up with my cardiologist. My appointment was this morning and I told him everything that has been going on. He paused and said, “ok, let’s check you out”. I’m thinking he did that just to humor me so that I didn’t feel like seeing him was a waste of time. With the stethescope in hand, he told me to take a few deep breaths, palpated my chest and abdomen, had me sit up, and said, “eh, you’re fine.” Thanks, doc. Anyway, he decided to hooked me up to a Holter Monitor for the next 24 hours since I was getting palpitations during my runs, which I never had before. As he left the examination room, he said to me, “run hard and make your heart thump”. Haha…that’s pretty ironic.
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Well, this Holter Monitor has become a good friend of mine this past year. We’re actually on our 3rd “date” now. I suppose it’s not that bad…aside from the sticky electrodes on my chest that make me itchy (I think I’m allergic to the adhesive), long wires that hang out from under my shirt, and a coolio walkman looking thing strapped to my waist. This afternoon, I went for my hill run and I ran hard! In fact, I managed to run 5K under 30 minutes…29:07 to be exact. That’s a 9:24/mile pace or 6.39 mph. It sounds pretty wimpy but it’s a first for me. And did I make my heart thump? Yep Yep Yep! I’ll just have to wear it until 9:15 tomorrow morning, turn it in, and wait a week for the results. I just wish I could take a shower right now…I’m not allowed to get the electrodes wet…boo…I’m stinky.

Table back together again

When we were freshmen in college, a bunch of us took a trip to San Diego during Spring Break. On our way home, we stopped at Denny’s where the girls sat at one table and the boys sat at another. I can remember them chuckling and joking the entire time and that seems to be where this “Table” started. Apparently they were joking about being the 4 legs of a table and ever since, it stuck. They even left the restaurant with “souvenir” carafes to commemorate the day. Over 11 years later, they probably have no idea where those carafes are but they’re still best buddies and when they get back together again, it’s just like old times. Aw…how cute.

Congratulations to Ti and Thilan!!

On Saturday, Ti and Thilan got married. They had a very traditional Catholic ceremony followed by a Chinese-style banquet with all the trimmings. It also was heartwarming to see two families that I’ve known for 15 years come together. The weekend itself was jam-packed with activities. Yong and Helen stayed with us. We had dinner and drinks in Orange County on Friday night with old friends. The wedding afternoon involved hurrying to the church (again), hanging out at my parents’ house to kill time before dinner, and lots of eating and drinking at the banquet. There were some interesting moments involving Victor picking on little kids, Huy and Dayantha having to don traditional Vietnamese clothing, and taking home leftover champagne and Coke. Ti and Thilan looked so happy and we all had a great time celebrating with them.

shutterbug is feeling antsy

Last weekend my digital camera gave up on me. I bought it back in 2003 and almost 2 years later, the autofocus is no longer working. Is the life of a camera that short or did I just kill it by using it so much? Anyway, with 2 weddings and plans to go up to Napa this month, I’ve been feeling really antsy this week. I am back to my trusty 35mm SLR. I love my Nikon but there’s just something about digital photos that I’ve become fond of. Perhaps it’s the instant gratification of seeing your photos right away and maybe it’s the flexibility of taking whatever you want whenever. All I know is that I’m itching for a new camera and there are so many options! What is a shutterbug to do?
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Speaking of weddings, we have Ti and Thilan’s this Saturday. People from all over are flying into town and we get to all hang out again. What’s special about this one is that Dayantha’s younger brother is marrying Huy’s younger sister…how sweet. It’s going to be huge considering both sides have lots of family and friends. It’ll also be interesting to see how they mesh Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, and Catholic cultures into one big celebration. Stay tuned…

just keep swimmin’, just keep swimmin’

I tried that swimming stuff again today. Since I’m in the middle of marathon training, I’m supposed to crosstrain…something about “protecting my knees” with low impact activities every other day. *sigh* What is THAT all about? Anyway, I’ve been meaning to start swimming for some time. Jes swims once or twice per week and makes it look so easy. Unfortunately, I am not as “ducky” as he is and feel like a drowning puppy. My first day in the pool was last Tuesday…it sucked. Today was my second day and it sucked just as much. I guess those lessons at CPE back when I was six years old didn’t do much for me. I can only complete 250 yards for now but maybe it’ll get better over time. I hope so…or I’m gonna quit this silly sport.