Shanghaied For a Weekend

We went to Shanghai for a weekend before the workish portion of our China/HK trip.

We landed after the mag lev was closed on Saturday night and paid an exorbitant fee to "rent a car" (with driver) to our hotel. I was struck with the reality of expensive travel and how it compares to my younger dreams of luxury travel.  The so-called privilege of paying too much for an immediate car to your destination rather than waiting in the public taxi line or taking a bus doesn't feel like a privilege when the reason you're doing it is that you were too busy to do any research about transport and now it's late enough,  you're tired enough, and the thought of trying to navigate the unknown travel with your broken Mandarin is actually a little bit scary.  In my younger years, I would have been prepared to do what was necessary to save money.  Now, I just really needed to get to my hotel and go to sleep, and without any knowledge of how to do that, I was obviously just a sucker to be preyed upon.

The hotel was my favorite of the trip (E preferred the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, but I was grumpy enough about the lack of jogging track that it is dead to me).  Our room had awesome views of the Bund, although the first day views were a bit sad and dreary due to smog and fog.

We woke super early due to jet lag and walked the Bund amongst the families.  It was relaxing and relatively quiet, not remotely as crowded or chaotic as I'd remembered Beijing being back in 1994.  On our walk back, we saw our first memorable Chinglish sign:

We walked to the People's Square and People's Park via Nanjing Road, and E was quick to point out that the most prominent features and clearly the most popular based on the crowds, were the Gap store opposite the Apple store.

After sightseeing for a while, we selected an authentic-looking sit-down restaurant.  I mean, how could you resist this menu advertisement?

Our personal dishes came in an autoclaved shrink-wrapped pile, which was new to me, but I suppose it did inspire some confidence (along with the A food-safety rating on the wall).  The food was delicious, the experience was interesting, and the people watching was superb.  It was a super-small crowded collection of tables, and often people would come in and share tables with strangers (we were given our own 2-top, no doubt the "foreigners' table").

After lunch we headed up to the bar in the Jin Mao Tower (middle tower in the picture below, the Grand Hyatt Bar on the 87th floor).  Unfortunately, due to the air quality issues, the views were not that great -- frankly, we were a bit depressed.

But, we headed to Xiantiandi for Din Tai Fung for dinner and everything was better (mmmm... xiaolongbao).  Din Tai Fung was one of my favorite parts of living in Bellevue and I was excited to be in Asia where I could get it in every city we were visiting.  I still do not understand why there isn't a branch in the bay area.  It would clean up.  Someone, please, do this.

It rained overnight and we woke the next morning to clear skies.  In fact, there were gorgeous kites flying high above the Bund, and a group of folks in all white or all black doing tai chi at the base of the Bund in front of the People's Heroes Monument (you can see both if you zoom in on the photo below).

E and I love tall buildings.  All big and impressive infrastructure, actually.  I mean, we once snuck across the Brazil border to go visit a hydroelectric dam. So, given that the views were better it shouldn't be a surprise to learn that we went back to the towers in Pudong, and this time headed up to the 91st floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center Tower and enjoyed the views while gorging on an amazing buffet breakfast at the Park Hyatt Hotel's restaurant (note that we are looking down upon the tower we were in the day before -- pretty cool).

From there, we walked along the raised walkways until we found the entrance to the sightseeing tunnel under the Bund (near the base of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower).

The sightseeing tunnel was perhaps the most awesomely kitschy thing we did this trip.  Individualized cars go through the tunnel that is lit with neon and flashing lights with accompanying music, all with the goal of implying a trip to outerspace and back.  Definitely more interesting than the previous day's taxi cab back to the other side of the river.

From the exit of the sightseeing tunnel, we walked our way to an outpost of the famous Yang's Fry Dumplings. They were good, but it was best that we'd had breakfast first. I think I could have easily made myself sick if I tried to fill upon on these alone...

And then, sadly, our time in Shanghai was over.  Off to Hong Kong...

The 400m "Jogging Track" That Wasn't

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a huge Hyatt fan.  I generally structure my business and recreational travel around Hyatt hotels and very much enjoy the Hyatt Rewards program -- I'm kind of like an unpaid evangelist as I've convinced many of my friends to sign up.

However, I was *shocked* to see what passes for a 400m jogging track at your Hong Kong Grand Hyatt property.  You bill a 400m jogging track as one of the amenities on your website for this property, but truly, I encourage you to try to access it and evaluate whether that is the correct name for it.  I would assert that it is not.

In support of my assertion, I would point out that the staff doesn't know what you are talking about when you ask about the "jogging track" (and rightly so).  They point you to the fitness center -- at which point, if you insist that there is a "jogging track" you are guided to a stone/tiled path around the pool and 11th story outdoor shared facilities with elevation changes and right angles that goes through areas where other hotel patrons could be and should be enjoying the facilities.  Essentially, it would be idiotic to jog or run on this path.

I was severely disappointed.  I'd strongly recommend taking this amenity off the website as the only people who care about it, are likely people like me, who think you mean a true 400m track, or something fairly close to it.  People like me are likely to be excited at the prospect of what they think a 400m jogging track should be, and, well, it's just not that.  This is fine.  You have a lovely fitness center at the property.  Just don't over-promise and all will be well. 

Sincerely,
[BT]

Update:  The Grand Hyatt Hong Kong staff got back to me via three (3!) different staff members, thanked me for my feedback, explained that they completely understood why I was disappointed and that they had measured the path and found it to be exactly 400m, but hadn't considered that calling it a 400m jogging *track* would result in such confusion.  They assured me that they would consider updating the language and thanked me again.  THAT, my friends, is awesome customer service.  I feel much better knowing that someone like me may be saved the disappointment I experienced. 

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We're home for a brief stop.  Friends visiting from DC.  A surprise birthday party for an old friend.  Laundry and gardening, work, and general home-town life.  Also, it is fall.  It is cooler, the morning is dark when I wake, and the leaves have all fallen on our street.

Last week, despite a complete lack of effort to hit any mileage goal on my part, I managed to put 19.6 miles-ish on my feet (including 3.5 miles of biking and an hour of gardening, which I counted as 1 mile Running Equivalent).  Other than the track workout, there was nothing to write home about other than a Bikram class, which put me at 5/10 classes on this 10 class card.  If I try really hard, I *may* actually use all of the classes on this card before it expires... that would be a new experience.

I have no races on the calendar, but, thanks to laziness and the awesomeness that is Spanish food, quite a few pounds on the scale that need to disappear.  So, for the first time in a long time, I find myself actually being much more disciplined about my diet than my mileage.

In the 9 days since we've been state-side I've lost 6 pounds -- turns out, diet discipline is way more important than work-out discipline when it comes to managing weight.  I'm a natural born eater.  I can eat an extra 1,000 calories without blinking, *and* if you ask me to do a workout that burns 1,000 calories, you can guarantee I'd come home from it hungry and ready to replace the loss.

I'd love to say I'm just going to stay this disciplined food course 'til I hit the illusory goal I keep in the back of my brain as the "ideal to start training for a BQ" weight, but of course, that's crazy.  There's just life in general with all of its awesome food, plus the trip to China, where I plan to eat anything and everything delicious that crosses my path, plus all of the holiday travel and parties.  So, instead, I'll be honest with myself -- now that I'm back below my personal red line and within striking distance of reasonable, I'll probably trend back up towards the red line and will be resuming the disciplined approach in early January, along with the rest of the first world.

Today, I hit up the Bikram room again.  As always, it was a struggle and I desperately wanted to go outside for some cool fresh air for every single minute from 60 minutes to 90 minutes.  I am a heat wuss.  Bikram is such a mental workout for me.  Yes, it's a great physical workout.  But, truly, the mental struggle to stay in that hot room is a new and difficult battle I wage with myself in every class.  Today, it was close, but I stayed in the room.  Next time... who knows.

For much of this year, E and I have been spending one night a week in SF when we're in town.  His company has an office here he needs to make appearances at, and I have more clients here than down the peninsula these days.  The best part of these weekly visits is the date night dinners and the views from the hotels (see above and below).

Tonight, we got to take an old friend out for his birthday dinner at Fringale.  Oh, man.  This is a perfect example of why San Francisco's restaurant scene is so amazing.  It reminded me of so many bistros in France.  No reservations.  We showed up around 7 and were seated to enjoy a delicious 2.5 hour meal with amazing service and overly delicious food, wine, coffee, and cheese.  (As you can see, my meal discipline is not even strong enough to deal with SF, much less the true international temptations, although, in all honesty, French food is much easier to enjoy in moderation than many other options...)

Going forward, without a race on the calendar, I'm completely free to alternate Bikram, walking, hiking, running, biking, and any other activities that make sense for me.  For example, I'm running in SF along a street with many stoplights to a breakfast meeting tomorrow.  I'll give myself 45 minutes to go 3 miles.  I'll call it a fartlek or intervals and I'll push it on the non-trivial hills.  I love that I have the freedom to do this -- that I don't have an assigned workout -- that all I have to do tomorrow is transport myself between meetings and do my best to be disciplined and healthy.  At the end of the day, after running to breakfast and walking between my other meetings, I'll likely hit 5+ miles.  It will be a great day and I feel privileged to have it on my agenda.

It's good to be home.

Running Update

Last week, I managed 23 miles and a Bikram class while traveling.

Most of the mileage was walking in Barcelona.

But I did fit in a run to, through, and from Park Guell. Note to runners: the park is at the top of a big hill. Once you've ran up the hill through the old walled city, you will find that the top entrance to the park is actually at the top of a very large staircase that no one will be taking except you, crazy runner. Instead, all the tourists will ride the escalator in lieu of 100+ stairs and will stare as you oh-so-slowly pass them, one at a time.

Once stateside, I fit in an expected run with E's dad.  We chatted while doing a leisurely 3 mile loop, and on the run, he informed me it was his first run since July, so I felt happy to be part of the reason he got back in his shoes.

This week, home, and I'm trying to eat healthy to compensate for the face stuffing of Spain and to get in a good workout week.  Monday I did a nice easy 3.5 miles with another 0.5 walking cooldown.  Yesterday, I suffered through a brutal Bikram class.

To prove to myself that I was committed to getting back in shape, I sucked it up and bought a new Garmin.  Went for the 310XT this time.


Today, I was able to re-join my track group for the first time in a long time.  The workout was 6-8 X 800, so I picked a very easy pace of 8:45 and agreed to go, assuming I'd struggle through 6 and call it a good workout. 

But, as often happens with workout partners, my plans changed.  F was running 3:57 - 3:50 800s and D decided to do 400s, pacing her on the first lap and then recovering 'til F started the next 800.  I decided to come along with D for the fun, and what do you know? 1.75 miles @ approximately 8:00/mile pace, plus a 200 and 100 (starting and ending F's last 800) at a sub 7:00/mile pace.

Fast running!  It's been so long.  I'm so thankful for the track group.  There's no way I would have pushed myself this hard on my own.  6 miles including almost 2 miles of *hard* work.  I expect to be *very* sore tomorrow.

RNR Recovery and Amsterdam

I've been super lazy on the workout front ever since I bailed on the San Jose Rock 'n Roll Half.

How Lazy?  Well, let's just say I did Bikram the day after, and then didn't do a single workout until arriving in Amsterdam the AM of 10/12, whereupon I commenced my standard travel cross-training regimen of personal physical transit coupled with all the good local beer, wine, and food that my belly can handle.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city full of canals and bikes.  (Also, it is a direct flight from SFO and a good, fun weekend layover city if you're headed to Barcelona). 

It's such a bike-friendly city that our hotel had bikes for free use.  We took full advantage and it was awesome.  I did much walking, biking, and sight-seeing, but no running in Amsterdam.  So, despite several miles of non-running self-propelled transport, and some bikram, I completed my first run-free week in quite some time.  (Also, I was ridiculously relaxed.  I'm hoping these two facts are unrelated.)

Typical Intersection with bike and walk lights

Rijksmuseum

One of too many canals to name

Gorgeous street night view. 

Self-explanatory.

Night bike and canal view.

Royal Palace

One of many ridiculous red light district views.

Red light district part 2.

Transitioning out of the red light district...

A fashion alley to make @Arvay proud...

Barcelona: A Short Story

On our last full day in Barcelona, after an awesome Bikram Class, I went in search of delicious goodies to take with us on our next travel leg. Since it treated us so well last time, I originally planned to go to to the Boqueria, or Mercat St. Josep:

The Entrance to the Boqueria on La Rambla

One of the many awesome preserved meat vendors.

Fruits

Escargots (en Catalan) -- one of the examples of how Catalan sometimes makes more sense than Spanish to me.  I do *not* know the word for snail off the top of my head in Spanish, but I do in French, and it's pretty close to the Catalan.

So many delicious olives!

And while I love food markets in general, my real goal was to re-create the scene below, only with me doing the selection of meat instead of E.

Because we'd already seen the Boqueria, and there are so many markets in Barcelona, I decided to walk to one that was well-reviewed, less touristy, and closer to our hotel:  The Mercat de Sant Antoni.

It was a lovely walk.

Tortoise Sculpture Under Naked Children

Typical intersection -- love the trees, ironwork, architecture and pedestrian and bike-friendliness of this city.

Unfortunately, despite checking the website and concluding I should be able to get there during operating hours, my plan had a flaw:

Not what I wanted to see...

Looks like a gorgeous market that will be even better when the reconstruction is finished.

Even with the disappointment, this story has a happy ending.  The supermarket near our hotel had several displays like the one below, plus aisles upon aisles of preserved awesomeness and a bakery and a butcher ready to slice anything and everything I might desire.  Did I mention I love this country?  

In keeping with tradition, we will have amazing sandwiches on our travel leg out of Spain.

The End.

SJ RNR 6 miler

Yeah, you read that correctly.  6 miler.

Yes, I had registered for and half-assedly trained for the half.  But it was not to be.

I decided the night before that the weather was not on my side, so I'd just take it easy and do a nice easy half.  Given the Zoom Point Pinole half time of 2:09, I'd previously thought I could target an attempt to beat last year's time of 2:06:25. It's a fast course, whereas Zoom Point Pinole had some hills and gravel, so I figured it was possible.  But, after a long week of work, a predicted high in the 80s, and the knowledge that no matter what I wasn't in close to PR shape, I decided to just start a corral behind my assigned location and go for an easy long run.

The last 2 weeks before the race were pretty lame on the training front. My last long run was supposed to be 10-12 miles, but I settled for 8 with F at a 10:30 pace on Friday before a weekend off in Santa Cruz.  The last week was simply 8 miles total, all easy jogging or walking except 10X1 min fartlek in one run and 3 miles containing 1.75 miles of speed/strength work at 8:49; 8:34; and 8:06/mile paces.  I took the last 2 days completely off before the race due to work and a quick visit to my hometown to see my mom, a friend, and to go to dinner with my bro and niece and to watch her soccer game.

In other words, I was *very* tapered.

Saturday -- I just made it back to San Jose in time to pick up my bib.  I was supremely annoyed with myself because I'd gone to family court in downtown San Jose on Friday before I'd left town, but I'd completely forgotten about the expo that was one block away from the court.

Obviously, if you forget about the expo and bib pick up, you're not exactly excited to race.  And I wasn't.  But I'd paid the registration fee and trained without a GPS watch, so I was committed.

On Sunday, I got up, parked in my usual spot, used the bathrooms in the convention center (so much better than the porta-potties), and walked to the corrals.  It wasn't as hot as I expected, and I headed out at a nice easy effort.

I was shocked to hit the one-mile marker at 9:12 -- due to my broken watch I had no idea what pace I was running, but it *felt* like a 10ish pace.  No complaints here.

I kept my effort nice and easy and hit the 5K at 29:24 and re-assessed.  Perhaps I *could* beat my time from last year.  That would be nice.

At some point right around this time, I saw Paulette up ahead in her Oiselle tank, so I sped up a bit to chat with her.  I lost her at the aid station, but that was fine.  I walked through nice and slow taking in gatorade and water and got back into my easy groove.

Somehow, I missed the 4 mile marker, but hit mile 5 at an average pace of 9:35.  Thanks to walking through the aid stations, I was slowing, slightly, but, I was surprised at how great I felt and still thought that it was very possible I may be able to dig deep and just squeak past last year's time. 

My favorite part of this course is the out and back where you get to see the leaders.  As soon as they started to approach us, I checked out and cheered and ran, inspired, during this portion.  Fast runners are so cool to see.

Unfortunately, something happened while I was checked out.  I'm not really sure what it was, but when I hit the 6 mile marker, I hit the lap button on my watch (9:56/mile -- apparently cheering slows me down) and realized that I had a sharp pain in my left quad and hip flexor with every step.  This had happened at the end of the SLO marathon and Point Pinole as well -- in both races I'd had searing pain the last couple of miles and had obviously pulled my hip flexor and quad.  But in those races it had set in at mile 10 and mile 22 respectively.  Here, it was setting in at mile 6.  And I was running away from the start line.  There was no way this was going to end well if I continued.

Could I have finished?  Absolutely.  Did I want to?  Nope. Not if it meant I would injure myself or be in pain for the next 7.1 miles.

So, I decided to throw in the towel.  I stepped across the opposing traffic of speedy folks and hit the sidewalk for a nice 2 mile cooldown walk back to the start.  I stretched later in the day and met up with a friend I hadn't seen in years for brunch after her 2:01 finish.

The next day my leg was slightly sore, but obviously just fine.  So, I'll take the 6.1ish miles at 9:40ish pace as a good solid effort.  My only regret is that I didn't realize there was a 10K mat.  It would have been nice to have an *unofficial* time for the distance, but since they seem to have erased all evidence of my participation in the race due to my DNF, it really would have only been for my own short-term enjoyment on Sunday when my 5K result was briefly available with a "Runner may have stopped running?" qualifier.

Take home on running without a GPS watch?  Meh.  There are some benefits.  I slowed down more than I realized on my long runs and it didn't seem to negatively affect my race paces too much, so perhaps that's the benefit I'll take away.  Easy runs should be crazy easy.  I can do that.

Even so, I'll likely buy a replacement GPS watch this week.  I just like data too much... 

 

Dear Dad

I'm sure you know, but I feel the need to write and record that I felt you out there today.

The feeling was strong.

Launching the boat, I could hear you saying what a nice boat ramp and docking station they had.  (It was the nicest put-in I'd ever seen up close.)  It didn't hurt that E said many of the things you would have said about the facilities.

The weather, of course, was amazing, as was the water -- glassy, no swells, seriously gorgeous.  J & E2 commented on how it's *never* this nice at 9 AM.  And, of course, I couldn't help but think that yet again, you and papa (and now gran, too, most likely -- although she probably grumped about the fishing being the reason we were all communing) were pulling weather for me.

I told E and E2 and J that I felt so close to you.  I'm sure you knew my grin was almost painful with its expansive growth upon each amazing wildlife brush:  The guy on the Jetty who caught the huge Salmon -- yeah, I felt you smiling and congratulating him.  The first seal?  Yeah, that one too.  The second and third and forth seal/sea lions?  Finally, I just started to relax and enjoy my wide-mouth grin -- it was going to be *that* kind of day.  There were geese, seagulls, sea lions, seals, sea otters, dolphins and more...

It wasn't until the flock of geese went directly overhead our boat and I heard the "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" of their flapping wings that I realized you had made an effort to join me in a way I couldn't possibly ignore.  I had to speak up and explain that I half-expected to hear the shotgun as the next refrain in that long-held song...

I heard it in my head and heart.

I love and miss you.

And I had such an amazing day today, dad.  But you know that.  You saw the dolphins blowing their blowholes.  In fact, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure you've met J's dad, and you guys were hanging out pulling weather and wildlife and inviting any other fishermen up there to add their effort to make sure our day was amazing (J would have loved a salmon, FYI...).

I'm almost certain you took this opportunity because you knew that the hand blender you gave me 10+ years ago would choose today to die.  On any other day, I would be sad, distraught, and frustrated by the end of your gift's functionality.

But today, after feeling so close to you (and papa and gran), it's okay.

So thanks, Dad.  I know you loved the day on the bay today.  I did too - I loved spending time with friends, nature, DNR, the CA environmental surveyists, and random strangers on the dock -- it was a day you would have celebrated and I did my best to do the same.  You probably pulled some tricks to make it better than it otherwise would have been, and I'm very appreciative -- I want you to know that I feel so lucky and loved to know that you're taking care of me from afar.

With love,
Your daughter   

A Goreous Day on Santa Cruz Bay

We were supposed to go camping this weekend.

But, due to E's broken foot, we decided camping was too much, so we visited E2 & J in Santa Cruz instead.  They made us an awesome dinner of ceviche and sausage on Friday and we talked and laughed over wine 'til it was time to sleep.  Saturday, after E2 and I enjoyed a lovely walk to Verve, they took us out on their Boston Whaler to go try our luck with the fish.

Apparently, we got lucky with the water and weather.  Even though we didn't head out 'til 9 AM, it was still nothing but glass and sunshine.  (If you zoom in, you can see the Santa Cruz boardwalk)  

It was so peaceful and pleasant.

J baited the lines and we all relaxed, enjoying the sounds and sights of the seagulls, geese, sea lions, dolphins, sea otters (so cute!!!), and, of course, the vermillion rock fish we caught (we threw it back).

I feel like I already had a full weekend and it's only Saturday afternoon!

2 weeks to go

I've been about halfway as disciplined as I probably should be to be training for a half marathon.  Better than nothing, for sure.  But I think it's probably time to step it up a notch for the next couple of weeks or the race is going to be painful.

Monday, I did the scheduled run: 50-60 min w/10X15 sec fast w/ 1 min R/I (actual 50:27 w/13X15-22 second CI; Approx 4.85 miles run with a 2 min walking c/d; 83.3F, so I was reasonably pleased with the outcome.

Tuesday, I made it back to Bikram and stayed in the room the entire time.  I did almost all of the poses, too.  The Tuesday 8:15 AM class seems to be a good option for me, so I'll try to hit that one up again this week.

Wednesday, a scheduled off day, I walked 1.8 miles and did some gardening.

Thursday, I definitely cheated.  I just wasn't feeling my run, so after a couple of slow minutes, I decided to replace it with some intervals and walking recovery.  End result? 6X3 minute intervals.  35 minutes total including the walking for an uninspired total of 2.73 miles.

Friday, I took it very easy in prep for my long run on Sunday -- 3 miles without GPS data in 32:45.  Yikes, I'm slow on these easy runs.

Saturday, I had a *very* rough run.  I met up with F and Jen at the Los Gatos Creek trail.  The goal was 10 at approximately 10 minute/mile pace, which should have been extremely doable considering last week's half-marathon on gravel and with some hills which was at 9:59 pace.  I was supposed to do an additional 2 miles after the 10 with F, but that didn't happen.  From the start, I just felt off and struggled to keep up with them.  I'd let them get ahead of me then try to catch up and did manage to get back to them by the 5 mile turn-around.  However, after the turn around, they started to put some distance between us, and I just couldn't close the gap.  Eventually, I decided they must have picked up the pace and that I should just run as best I could on my own.  Thankfully, when I met up with F at the end, she agreed that they had sped up on the return.  Since I didn't bring a watch, I'm not exactly sure what my final overall pace was, but I suspect it was somewhere right around 10:00/mile.  Very slow for how much effort I put in, but sometimes it's just completing the miles that matters for my fitness, so I'm hoping this one will pay dividends despite the lackluster performance.  I am pleased with how I pushed myself despite how off everything felt.  I only stopped twice, both times for water and some energy chews.  I'm hopeful this week's long run will be much easier.

Sunday, I had a nice easy run.  We'd gone out to dinner Saturday night and our friends had driven us home, so I ran about 3 easy miles to pick up the car and drove it home.

Total mileage: 26.88 including walking w/u and c/ds.  Definitely low for 2 weeks before a half marathon.  Oh well. 

3 weeks 'til SJ RNR

Last week, due to work, plus wedding bookend weekends, E's broken foot and necessary trips to urgent care, and a quick 30 hour trip to Disneyland with my Bro, Niece and K, my mileage took a serious hit.  I substituted some cross training (including 50 bicep curls that left me unable to straighten my arms for a few days), but the running was nothing to write home about.  Total miles:  15.  Quality? Not much, most of it was just miles on my feet in the slow lumbering pace range.  Saturday, I did manage to fit in some treadmill intervals at target race pace: 1.5 miles, 0.75 miles, and 1 mile all at 9:05/mile pace w/0.5% incline and 3 minutes recovery.  But really, it was a lame running week.

This week was also less than stellar, but somehow, it managed to help my confidence quite a bit.

M: 5.6 miles @ 11:07 pace.  These slow paces are the result of the broken garmin and running with the audiobooks.  I just relax and go at whatever pace feels easy.  Part of me comes home and calculates the paces and thinks?  "Why am I so slow?"  But, part of me knows that there are multiple training plans that call for training miles at much slower paces than I usually settle for, so I tell myself, "Relax."  You're training without a pace watch for this segment.  It's science.

T/W -- 30 hour disney trip.  OFF running, although I think I may have walked up to 7-8 miles with all of the various park activities (including some unplanned speedwork chasing and racing my niece to various rides).

Th: My track group was doing the Cooper Test on Wed in my absence, so I decided to do it by myself.  So, I busted out a 2 mile 10 min/mile w/u, then 1.46 miles in 12 minutes (8:13/mile pace), then 10 minutes walking cooldown.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I figured I was in 8:10 mile pace for a full mile, so to realize I was close to this for 1.5 miles made my day.  Maybe there is something to this run by feel approach after all...

F: OFF.

Sa:  I got up at 5:20 AM to drive and pick up C, so we could drive to Jen's and then all drive together to the Zoom Point Pinole Half.  I was disappointed in my recent running, so my goals were quite simple.  Run the whole thing.  That's it.  So, I headed out conservatively and slowly stepped it up throughout.  I only stopped at aid stations, I ran the whole thing, and I did a great job of pushing myself the last couple of miles because I'd passed a woman I'd been jockeying with about 2 miles before the finish and I *really* didn't want her to pass me.  Overall, it was a great day. 2:09 half on a trail course with hills (albeit in perfect overcast chilly weather).  No complaints.  The post-race breakfast at tacubaya was to die for. BEST CHILAQUILES I'VE HAD IN THE US. (Oh, and FYI -- that Blue Bottle Coffee is not fucking around -- I had the jitters and was slightly nauseous  after half a cup with cream.  Be Aware!)

Su: I was worried about fitting my run in today.  We had a big, full day.  My bookkeeper was showing up at 9, we had brunch at 11, we were buying E a new suit after that, and then I had a huge chore/to-do list centered around taxes and general family administrative stuff.  But I woke at 5:50 (thanks to the day before's 5:20 AM wake-up call, I'd wanted to go to bed around 11 PM.).  I went back to sleep, but when I woke again at 7:20, fully rested, I took advantage.  I headed out for a *very* slow 4 miles (11:33/mile) plus another 0.5 mile walking cool down.   But I got it all done, plus a shower before my bookkeeper showed up. This, my friends, is how I define my own personal version of success. 

Total this week: 26.85 miles.  Most important -- a solid half and good cooper test have led me to believe that perhaps limiting my speed concerns to a couple of workouts a week is best....  I'll let you know.

11-year-old Soccer Player FTW

E vs. 11-year-old niece A after cousin's wedding in a parking lot soccer match = trouble.

To end the match, he slipped and fell and ripped his suit and broke his ankle.  Originally, the Urgent Care doc informed him it was just sprained.  But, yesterday, he got an apologetic call back saying that the radiologist found a broken bone.

Fun times.

2013 Goals, Q3 check-in

Oh, boy.  Quite a bit has changed in my life since I set my 2013 Goals.  Essentially, I'm off-course on almost all of them.

Running:  I'm 2 for 6.  Yikes.  The only two running goals I managed to hit this year were:

1) run the Rock 'n Roll AZ to the best of my abilities. Didn't quite go sub 2, but it was my best race in the last year and a half, so I'll take it.

2) complete the SLO marathon.

The other 4 where I whiffed?

-I did not complete the full McMillan training plan for the LA Marathon.  Life got in the way quite a bit and I had to do several substitutions.

-I did not finish the LA Marathon.  Instead,  I had my first marathon DNF.

-I was unable to go to China in May as a result of E's work obligations.  Thus, by default, I did not complete the Great Wall Half marathon.  I did, however, get to enjoy paying for the full registration fee, including multiple days of hotels -- all of which were non-refundable.  Ouch.

Health:  I did a great job early in the year, but I've been slowly sliding.  I didn't complete all the classes in that referenced Bikram 10-class card.  I've got a new card and I'm hopeful I may make it through on this one.  My diet definitely suffered during the Summer and the scale informs me that I'm the heaviest I've been in my 30s.  I've always been on the fence about vitamins, and after the recent brouhaha, I've decided to retreat to my historical position -- I should try to eat a diet that gives me all the vitamins and minerals I need.  I do, however, have an awesome garden this year.  So that's good. And, my sleep is better this year than it has been, historically, but it's definitely been worse in Q2 and Q3 than it was in Q1 when I originally set my goals.  (In a corollary, work has been getting increasingly crazy as the year has worn on.)

Books:  Well, I blew through the easy goal of 12 audiobooks.  I've been devouring them like mad -- I'm already at 30.  I think I'll probably have to take audiobooks off the goals list entirely for next year.  It's just part of my habits now.  (Albeit one of the most enjoyable habits I have).  As for the written word, I'm currently at 12 books.  It should be interesting to see if I can pick up the pace and get through the supposedly easy goal of 24 total.  Given all the upcoming travel, I give it 1:1 odds.

Language:  My Mandarin studies basically fell apart once I had to cancel the trip to China in May.  I'll likely do some refresher studies before we leave for the China trip this Fall, but truly, I lost my drive.  In addition to the canceled trip, my Mandarin group stopped meeting regularly, and my weekly Mandarin dinner night died when my teacher left for several months of travel.  Now that I'm going to Spain before China, part of me wants to spend some time brushing up on my Spanish instead of Mandarin.  So, maybe I'll do that instead and if I do, I'll consider it a success of sorts.       

Travel:  So, I planned the China trip, but we were unable to execute it.  However, this year has been and looks like it will be one of the biggest and most complex travel years we've ever had.  We already did a visit to Bermuda.  In addition to weekly visits to SF, we've still got Amsterdam, Barcelona, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Sydney, and South Island New Zealand on the calendar before 2014 hits.

Stay at Home Weekends:  E and I agreed to modify the definition of "home" weekends to include any weekend where we spent the entire time within a couple hours of driving distance in the greater bay area.  Early in the year, it became apparent that we don't spend even close to 1/2 of our weekends at "Home" if that means we have to sleep there for all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.  Even with the modification, it looks like I probably failed on this one.  If we keep all of our current travel plans, I will have only spent 25 weekends this year completely within the bay area, with a large percentage of the away nights coming in Q4.  I'm comfortable that this is "close enough" to the annual goal of 26, but I also know that with the frequency of away nights in Q4, after the start of 2014, I'm going to desperately want to be a homebody for a while.

In Case You Were Wondering

This is proper accessorizing.

(Mounted elk in an Edna Valley dairy barn at a cinderalla-princess themed wedding):

Yeah, I may live in the bay area, but I'm originally from the *other* part of California.

(Also, I think this elk looks quite nice in his pearls and flowers.  Don't you?)

Dear City of Oakland... Seriously? WTF?

A couple of days ago, I received a notice from the city of Oakland claiming I had failed to respond to a parking ticket issued to my *grey* Honda (with my license plate number) that was issued to me at 4:55 PM on July 30, 2013 at 3300 Lakeshore Dr. 

My issues?

1.  I haven't been in Oakland for months, and I certainly wasn't there on July 30, 2013.
2.  I've never been to 3300 Lakeshore Dr.  Looks like a nice neighborhood, but I haven't had the pleasure just yet.
2.  My car is *bright* blue.  Not grey.
3.  Why is my license number and the make of my vehicle correct?  It couldn't be because I previously paid a ticket issued in Oakland without contest would it?

In short.  Oakland -- I am *not* impressed.  This looks like incompetence at best and blatant fraud at worst. 

Yes, I did file a detailed contest, including data from my garmin (showing me working out on the peninsula 10 minutes before the ticket), a photo of the blue (not grey) car, and an invitation that they subpoena IP addresses from Google re: emails I sent within 10 minutes of the supposed ticket that would put me in MV.

Of course, none of this is dispositive.  They could easily decide that someone else had my car despite my protestations that it wasn't possible.  It's essentially a case of he-said-she-said, where he is the city of Oakland parking.

Awesome. (Oh, and yes, I will spend the time and money to appeal this as far as I possibly can... I mean, WTF?)

Another Week of Indulgence

It has become clear to me that I should have looked at my social calendar before signing up for the San Jose Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon. (Speaking of RNR races, did you see the announcement about Competitor Group Almost Eliminating Support For Elite Athletes? -- I strongly disapprove of this move, but I also understand how they came to the conclusion from a business perspective.  Say what you will about Competitor in its various incarnations, but they have shown themselves to be nothing if not business savvy.)

On second thought, I'm glad I didn't look at my calendar.  There's no way I'd be making the effort to fit in the miles if I wasn't registered for a race -- I'd be floating down the slothy slide on a blanket of justifications.  In this 9-week half marathon training cycle, there will have been weekly BBQs for the first four weeks, 2 weddings, 2 rehearsal dinners, 1 bachelorette party, 1 baby shower weekend with sis and mom, 1 overnight trip to disneyland with brother and niece, a 3 day food and wine extravaganza in Napa, and, last week's 4 nights in SF, including a final dinner out with's E's sis and her hubby before they flew home (thankfully, we went to Millennium, so at least the food was fairly healthy).

So, in keeping with last week's theme -- I'm proud of this week, even though it's really nothing to celebrate with respect to running on its own.

M: No Bikram.  (Note to self: This is how it always starts -- I *have* to get myself back in that room soon or the 10 class card will expire with 8 unused clasess.  Again.) Instead of Bikram, drove up to SF, got situated in the condo, and headed out for cross-training.  I did 30 minutes along the embarcadero, running a few minutes then stopping briefly for pushups, dips, box jumps (onto landscaping concrete), stair lunges, etc.  Back at the condo I did another 30 minutes of abs, back strengthening and stretching.  Outside of the yoga studio, I don't know the last time I stretched and held stretches for more than a minute.  I felt awesome after this workout.  And then, starting the next day, my arms, back and abs hurt for 3 days.  Guess I need to do cross-training a little more often...

T: 2.1 miles at 10/mile-ish pace.  4.9 miles walking around SF between appointments.

W: Long intervals.  5X6:30 w/ 4:00 RI.  Jog w/u and c/d.  5 miles.  56:33 minutes. 2.3 miles walking in SF between appointments.

Th: 20 minutes, 2.1 miles.  Gardening.  Because of all the travel, I had to harvest today.  Otherwise too much would go to waste and I can't have months of effort go to waste.

F:  REST -- work, bachelorette party. 

Sa: 20 minute, 2 mile run.  6 minutes walk.  2.3 miles.  Nothing close to what the schedule called for, but hey, it was the day after a bachelorette party and I was fitting it in on a wedding weekend.  Give me some credit.

Su: 11.08 miles. 140 minutes.  Time on my feet goal?  Met.  This  was one of my famous "just get it done" workouts.  I kind-of pushed it 'til mile 9.5 and then I just dialed it in and jog/walked home based on effort level.  For the first 9.5 miles, I averaged 12 min/mile if you include the walking breaks for fuel, etc.  If you pull out the walking breaks, it was 11:32.  I slowed down enough during the last 1.5 home (half walking, half running) to result in an averall average pace for the full 11 miles of 12:48.  These paces are much slower than what I'd do if my garmin was working.  But, I'm doing an experiment and I have read some stuff that says I may have historically been running my long runs too fast, so I guess we'll see how this wacky food, wine and celebration-heavy training cycle treats me with the slower long runs.

Total mileage for the week (including walks in SF): 30.77 -- first >30 week since June.  I'll take it.  

Audiobooks

I discovered audiobooks in 2012.

But 2013 is the year when I took them into my life and made them part of the routine.

Now, I listen to audiobooks while running, walking, doing dishes, laundry, chores, driving.  You name it: if the MP3 player has batteries and I'm not otherwise intellectually engaged, I've probably got an audiobook in my ears.

So far this year, I've given audible a small fortune and listened my way through all of the titles in the following table.  I can honestly say that my life is better because of audiobooks.  I am better "read" and I think about ideas in a more cohesive manner because I have the option of exploring them in time periods when I otherwise would not be free.

Sure, they aren't a technological advance that one normally thinks of when considering how technology makes the world a better place.  But for me, that's trivial.  I once lamented that one of my biggest sorrows was that there was no way I could read every book ever written, so I had to make choices, and I was bound to make some wrong ones.  I feel like adding audiobooks to my life has given me additional minutes/hours/days in my life to make extra right (and wrong) decisions about books.

Just Kids	Patti Smith	A lifelong love story and a beautiful tale of the artistic lives of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe.  Read in Patti's tell-tale raspy voice, with her New Jersey accent, this story was so enjoyable.  It's not just a history of their life together, it's also a history of American Culture at the time and the artistic culture of New York during the 60s and the 70s.
Blood, Bones, & Butter	Gabrielle Hamilton	The honest and riveting memoirs of the owner of NYC's Prune, starting with her French mother's meals and their family's parties and going through the years she was a dishwasher, line cook, waitress with a coke problem, multiple-time-college enrollee, catering chef, getting an MFA in lit, breaking up with her lesbian girlfriend, getting married into an Italian-Italian family, and growing into being a mother in a not-so-perfect marriage.
Under Their Thumb: How A Nice Kid From Brooklyn Got Mixed Up With the Rolling Stones and Lived To Tell About It	Bill German	A great insider tale from the author of Beggar's Banquet.
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones	Stanley Booth	Epic.  Sad.  A great historical snapshot.
The Last Chinese Chef	Nicole Mones	Deep, textured insight into Chinese culture and food all shared in the envelope of a grieving widow, a Chinese mistress, a Chinese national food competition, and an unexpected love story.
Lost In Translation	Nicole Mones	The writing was not as mature as the Last Chinese Chef, but the speaker could actually pronounce the Mandarin.  There was much more actual Mandarin languge in this story than in the Chinese Chef, which made for a great study guide.  The story meandered at times and was a bit slow, but overall, it was an enjoyable insight into a foreign woman's experience in China, even with perfect Mandarin.
Unbroken	Laura Hillenbrandt	An amazing and awesome tale of survival.  12 lives in one man's very long lifetime.  An epic real-world story.
Let's pretend this never happened, a mostly true memoire.	Jenny Lawson	Autobiographical tales from Texas.  No doubt some tall tales.  But most relatable in their absurdity.  A very entertaining offering from the Blogess.
Dreaming in Chinese	Deborah Fallows	A linguist's tale of immersion in China.  How could I not love it.  Only one complaint, a narrator who could pronounce Mandarin properly would have made this infinitely better.
The Elephant to Hollywood	Michael Caine	Supremely enjoyable 2nd (Second!) autobiography from a hollywood workaholic who started in an outer-London Slum and made it to Hollywood.  As a result of his upbringing, he's a workaholic who's been in more movies than just about anyone.  I loved learning history through his personal stories.  It doesn't hurt that he's a great storyteller, an awesome impersonator (all the characters seemed to be speaking), and a big lover of life.  His laughter at his own puns and silly jokes was, for me, the best part of the audiobook.
Born Standing Up	Steve Martin	A parallel (but different) tale to Elephant to Hollywood.  Less slums, but more neurosis and family drama.  A great story of hard work, self-determination, and getting back up after falling down.
Golden Mountain	Irene Kai	Wonderful memoire of a 15-yr-old immigrant to New York from Hong Kong and her cultural and personal growth throughout her life until she returns to her childhood home 36 years after leaving.
Maya's Notebook	Isabelle Allende	Told in two time-tables, one a memory of the last year-plus of delinquency, and another a year-plus of moving to a desolate island off of Chile -- this is a glorious tale.  It may be one of Allende's best.  She claims to have listened to her grandchildren to hone her control of Maya's voice, and it is convincing.  The narrator is capricious, hormonal, flighty, and naive in an unaware way that makes you believe you are truly reading the words of an intelligent, but youthful girl.  I may go back and read it on paper just to enjoy it again in a different form.  Definitely my favorite book so far this year.
Seriously...I'm Kidding (Unabridged)	Ellen DeGeneres	Okay.  Just Okay.
My Mother Was Nuts (Unabridged)	Penny Marshall	Hilarious.
Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir	Amanda Knox	Interesting.  Clear and detailed.  Ms. Knox is still developing her writing voice.
Then Again (Unabridged)	Diane Keaton	Fine.
The Reversal: Harry Bosch, Book 16 (Mickey Haller, Book 3)	Michael Connelly	Third in the addictive legal thriller series.
The Brass Verdict: A Novel	Michael Connelly	Second in the addictive legal thriller series.  Sucked me in.
The Lincoln Lawyer	Michael Connelly	First in the addictive legal thriller series.  Sucked me in.
Second Nature: A Gardener's Education	Michael Pollan	Very academic.  Literary references strewn throughout.  It reads as if trying so, so hard.  But it's a great compilation of useful thoughts on gardening, and interesting to see where Mr. Pollan's fascination originally began.
Is everyone hanging out without me?	Mindy Kaling	Light and breezy autobiographical book by one of the producers of the office.
Life on the Mississippi	Mark Twain	Mark Twain is such a great writer than he can rope you in and enthrall you with hours upon hours of descriptions of a river you've never seen and a time you never will see, filled with steamships and more.  I've never felt bored by a topic but so thrilled by the words, that I just had to keep listening/reading.
Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn	This book was described to me, mid-way through as "a terrible tale of horrid, miserable people."  I thought I understood what the speaker meant.  But, no.  It took me 'til the very end to understand.  And there was no exaggeration.  But it was very well written and kept me engaged and hoping for a sudden turn 'til the very end.
The Fifth Witness	Michael Connelly	The latest in the Mickey Haller books.  A great, fun, suspenseful tale.  He gets the law about 80% right, which is fun to watch.
The Bedwetter	Sarah Silverman	Fun and fascinating tales from the Jewish American comediene featuring hilarious perspectives on Americans, juvenile humor, and, of course, the fascination that everyone except Sarah seems to have with her Jewish ancestry and how it must be so important to her identity and actions.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends	Rob Lowe	It must be difficult to be so pretty and also so smart.  I never knew Rob Lowe was such a cerebral, thoughtful, and complex dude.  (I suppose that's probably true of many from Hollywood.)  This audiobook entertained me with stories and frank openness about some unique life experiences (which I expected), but it also introduced me to Mr. Lowe's prowess at impersonation, character voices, and, of course, the surprising (to me) fact that he's a great writer and a brilliant businessman (He's behind the fund that bought out Miramax!  Way to go pretty boy.)