Rehoboth Half Marathon - 12/11/10

The Rehoboth Half Marathon was my planned comeback race from injury. After hobbling through several pre-registered races in October, I withdrew from Stone Mill 50 and took the month of November off to fully recover from my calf strain. Towards the end of the month, I slowly started inching my way back into running with the HCS Weekly races and MCRRC's Turkey Burnoff. Although the calf feels completely healed, I have been running cautiously, especially because of shin splints, something I've battled on-and-off ever since I started running. Even though I've been cross-training with swimming and the elliptical, I felt extremely out of running-shape (running in cold air probably made it worse) and struggled to hold 9:00 min paces at these low-key races. Since the Army 10 Miler was my last double-digit mile run and my weekly mileage for the last 2 months was anywhere between 0-14.2 miles, I expected to barely make it in under 2 hours, if even that.

I was extremely excited about going to Rehoboth Beach in December because I have always wanted to go to the beach in the wintertime. Being the beach lover that I am, I've always been curious to see what the beach town looks like in the offseason. To my delight, the boardwalk and Rehoboth Ave. were strewn in beach-themed Christmas lights. The town was completely dead, save for the runners there to race that weekend. I ran onto the sand and jumped up and down yelling "I'm on the beach in December!" and would've run out to touch the water if I thought that I could ever get the sand out of my furry shoes. Practically all the stores were closed, but at least the one chocolate shop with the most amazing hot chocolate I've ever had was open.

Our hotel room was super nice with the most amazingly supersoft sheets I've ever slept on, a cozy little fireplace, and a jacuzzi tub. The deluxe club suites were on a private floor with a special lounge full of free snacks and refreshments! Even better, the hotel was pretty conscious of the fact that the only reason you'd be there this weekend was for the race and prepared a special early 5:30 AM breakfast for runners consisting of bagels and fruit and yogurt.

The start and finish area was a very short walk from our hotel, which was so convenient to not have to worry about driving and parking, especially since we were planning to partake in the free beer after the race. I started out the race at a conservative 8:50-9:00 pace, fearing that I might crash and burn by mile 10, since I hadn't run anything longer than a 10K in over 6 weeks. The first few miles took us through the Henlopen area, which made me reminisce about the annual camping trips my cousins and I used to take there. The course was so pancake flat that I was able to effortlessly pick it up to 8:30-8:40 pace for miles 5 through 6. As I was nearing the halfway point, I felt energized and confident that I could run another 6.5 miles at an even faster pace and picked it up to 8:10-8:20s. As I zoomed past runners, I felt so excited to be running again and running fast too! I was so surprised at how effortless it felt and was even thinking to myself, "I'm running at BQ pace!" I guess I didn't completely lose all that I had worked for in the my month hiatus from running. Chris was cheering me on a few hundred feet away from the finish line and I got the adrenaline boost to chase down a lady in front of me and even caught another guy while I was sprinting.

I finished in 1:51:46, which is a new PR for me. I wish I had started out a little less conservatively because I could've easily been under 1:50 with the pace I was running for the second half. When I realized I had to keep under 7:30's for the last 2.1 miles to make it under 1:50, I mentally pulled the chute. I still wanted to stay under 1:52 to make it a true PR, since that was my half split for a marathon and probably backed off a little too much because I had to haul ass at the very end to make sure I beat that time.

One of my favorite parts of the day was being able to walk back to our hotel and clean up before partaking in post-race festivities, which was a major plus considering the post-race party was worth sticking around for. It was so nice not to feel sticky and smelly or shiver with cold sweat-soaked clothes. And since our marathon friends wouldn't be coming in for another couple hours, we took our time and even turned on the jacuzzi tub to pamper ourselves. Chris had done this race last year as part of his 50 half marathon quest and kept raving about how great the post-race party was and they definitely didn't fail to impress this year. The food was amazing! None of the standard cold bagels and bananas. There was endless helpings of BBQ pulled pork, mac n cheese, sausage patties, veggie burgers, salad, pancakes with tons of fruit toppings, and all-you-can-drink beer. The mac n cheese was to die for and I love pulled pork sandwiches and this is only the second race I've seen offer them (Pike's Peek is the other). I probably ate more calories than I had just burned. And all of this was in a nice enclosed heated tent (that was too hot that they had to turn some heaters off) and non-runners could pay $15 to get into for free food and beer.

Another highlight of this trip was not having to hit the road and head back home right away since we stayed an extra night. Chris and I partied all morning long, got drunk before noon, passed out, and then I even got to subject him to tax-free outlet shopping that evening! =)

A Tribute to Dia Oi

I've been an emotional train wreck for the past few weeks. Things have just unfolded so quickly that I've barely had the chance to catch my breath and come to terms with reality. I've had such a hard time with this that I thought, although this is something extremely personal, maybe openly writing down my memories about how much my aunt meant to me and getting my feelings out might help me deal with this loss. This post is dedicated to Dia Oi:

From the moment I was born, I was put in the care of Dia Oi as my parents worked long and hard hours to make ends meet. Even when I started school, I was there before and after school and all throughout the summer. I remember all the times I spent with my cousins there and how the basement was converted into a playroom for us. I remember how my sister and I used to steal the Disney band-aids from her upstairs bathroom and she would never say anything and just buy us more. And of course, I will never forget our trips to the Dorsey's Search Village Center across the street. I loved when she took us to Giant to buy a French baguette because she would always let me buy my favorite candy bar and sometimes gave me coins for the toy machines. I particularly remember one time when she babysat my cousins Amy, Nancy, and Sandy and saw how much we were enjoying the 10 cent bouncy balls and exchanged several more dollars to let us get more and didn't even yell at us when we bounced them all over her house. Other times, she would take us to Party! Party! Party! or the ever-changing fast-food joint at the end of the village center, which changed from Hardee's to Roy Rogers to McDonald's through the course of my childhood. Even with her limited English, she was never afraid to take us out. She'd even shake her head at the cashier to tell them they miscalculated her change at Giant and figured out the Howard County Transit bus system, so she could find her own means to go to the Columbia Mall. I remember randomly running into her at the mall a couple times and wondering how the heck she got herself there because I sure as hell didn't know how to use the Howard County Transit (and still don't)!

As we got older and no longer needed babysitting, Dia Oi would keep in touch with us by occasionally inviting us out to eat at places like Pizza Hut, Bertucci's, Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, and sushi. She didn't even like those places and hardly ever ate anything there but never complained because she just wanted to spend time with us. Often times, she didn't even say much and just sat back and watched us cousins converse with each other. Dia Oi was a woman of few words, but don't ever let that fool you. It may have looked like she wasn’t engaged in the conversation, but that’s because she was too busy observing. She had an amazing memory and always knew what everyone liked to eat and drink at any restaurant.

Over the last few years, my mom started inviting her and Dia My over for dinner on Sundays and/or Mondays. I remember coming home from work and seeing her Old Navy flip flops at the door and smiling as I walked inside. She knew that my sister, dad, and I liked to drink diet soda and often came with a can for each of us. It was her attention to detail and all the little things she did that meant so much and were so special to me. And I knew quite a bit about Dia Oi myself. I knew she always wanted the right side back seat of the car, which is also my favorite spot. Whenever we picked Dia Oi up to go somewhere, I always joked with my parents that "Awww man, I had to give up my spot but would only willingly give it up for her because I would do anything for Dia Oi." I always thought it was odd how enthusiastic and willing I was to pick her up and take her home from anywhere. But now that I think of it, there are very few people in this world that you can say have never once pissed you off. I can say that about Dia Oi because she has never been anything but caring and loving towards me. I always felt a special sort of bond with her that no one in the world could ever replace. She was my second mother.

This summer, I was lucky to be able to spend a lot of quality one-on-one time with her, as I worked part-time for a brief period and helped my mom and aunts out by taking her to a few doctor appointments. I remember one specific time when my mom had her own doctor appointment and we were waiting for her to finish, so we could meet up for lunch. She asked me to take her to Walmart to waste time, specifically requesting the Ellicott City location even though we were in Catonsville at the time because the Catonsville one was no good according to her. As soon as we got inside, she told me to look around wherever I wanted and that she'd find me later. I decided to buy another pair of leggings and when she came back to me with two packages of Ramen, she grabbed the leggings and insisted on buying them for me. I briefly fought her for a moment but gave in to her, knowing it made her happy to be able to do something for me. She then proceeded to ask me why I was buying such tight, ugly pants, to which I tried to explain the concept of leggings to her. She still didn't understand my fashion sense and just shoved money in my hand and told me to get her chicken McNuggets, one of her favorite foods. Later that day, when she was leaving my house to go home, she pulled the crinkled Walmart receipt out of her pocket and handed it to me, saying in Vietnamese, "Here. In case the pants are too tight."

Seeing her deteriorating health condition over the recent months has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to endure, especially when she was hospitalized. Her mind was still as sharp as ever, casually asking me if I had worked today every time I came in to visit her. Us kids would joke with her, asking her when she was going to take us to Pizza Hut and she would just honestly answer that she wasn't healthy enough. Her body was failing her in every way possible and I felt so helpless. I found myself just wanting to spend more and more time with her. We didn't exchange many words, but I felt so comfortable just sitting there and being with her. I fell into a routine of work, hospital, and sleep. I dragged myself to work everyday wanting nothing more than to leave and be by her side. I had such a hard time pulling myself from the hospital room, scared that every time I said bye to her, it would be the last time I'd see her. I held my breath every time I answered the phone from my mom or aunts. I tried very hard to hold it together when I was with her because I knew it would make her sad to see me crying over her. But I cried myself to sleep every night, knowing I was losing her to that evil "c" word and wondering why she doesn't get to live another 20 years into her 80's like both of my grandmothers. She always hated taking pictures and would swat us kids away when we tried to snap a pic with her. In February at Vi's going away party, a few of my cousins and I subjected her to photos and for once, she complied. It kills me to look at those photos and know it was only 8 short months ago. Even passing the hospital yesterday brought on an outburst of tears. All I wanna do is sit by her side again.

My cousin put into words so well something I've been feeling all along: "Even though Dia Oi and I never said 'I love you,' we knew that when we said goodbye to each other, that 'goodbye' really meant 'I love you.'" When everyone got a chance to say their final goobyes to Dia Oi before they took her away, most of them brought up a couple memories or thanked her for her presence in their lives. All I could muster was "Bye Dia Oi."

Dia Oi, I love and miss you so much! You mean the world over to me.

Steamtown Marathon - 10/10/10

Pre-Marathon:

I was pretty excited about running the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, PA this year because: 1) it was going to be my first marathon away from home that I had to stay over for; 2) most of my XMP pace group was also running it; and 3) the course was mostly downhill and flat, which would make it easier to qualify for Boston. However, I faced a major setback in my training in late August that caused me to scrap all plans of potentially BQing at any race this fall. A calf strain caused me to take the better half of September off and run really easy for all of the races I participated in. October was here before I knew it and I didn't really know what to expect of my still-recovering leg.

Hai, Chris, and I left on Saturday morning for the 4-hour drive to Scranton. We arrived at the expo and picked up our race packets. Nothing too exciting there, but I am glad that races are giving away less and less junk these days because I always chuck everything after a quick sift through for useful coupons or try to convince my dad that he could really use another free cup, fan, frisbee, pen, etc. Next, we checked into the Holiday Inn, a decent hotel except for the fact that they made us wait over an hour for our room and didn't give us towels until after 8 pm. I did, however, enjoy the ginormous jacuzzi.

We had planned to carb-load at Olive Garden, but after driving by and seeing over 50 people crowd the front door and realizing that every other marathoner had the same idea in mind, we opted for TGI Fridays down the street instead. No wait and we still got pasta!

Race Day:

I had a good night's rest but was tossing and turning by 3 AM. We got up at 4:30 AM, had our Panera bagels that we bought the night before, and was out the door by 5:15 AM. We boarded the buses at the finish line that shuttled us 45 minutes up to the starting line. It was 31 degrees at the time, but luckily we got to wait inside a high school until the start time. I can honestly say I have never seen such enthusiastic teenagers at 6:30 AM in my life. These kids were running around offering us water, directing us to bathrooms, chanting "Go Runners!" If there was one thing this race definitely had down, it was the volunteer support. Advertising 3000 volunteers for a race field limited to 2500 runners, there was never a moment before, throughout, or after the race that you couldn't find aid if needed. The aid stations were also very well-organized, so that there was not a lot of congestion and it was very clear where to go for gatorade vs. water.

After meeting up with friends in the school gymnasium, we all shuffled out into the cold, brisk air to the starting line. A very loud cannon fired to signal the race start and we were off. I used mile 1 to gauge how much I would be able to push it today. The answer was "not very much" and I spent the next 25.2 miles holding on for dear life.

If there's one thing I learned at Steamtown, it's to never take the diffculty of a race for granted, no matter how experienced you are. This was by far the most physically and mentally draining marathon I have ever ran, more so than even my first marathon. I kept a slow and comfortable pace to save my still-recovering calf, but it was mentally draining to not be able to push at maximum effort because of the pain that it would induce. After many months of hard training, I no doubt had the energy and fitness level to complete the race, just not the legs. I spent most of the race thinking "I hate you legs, especially you left calf!" I felt even more discouraged later on in the race when the rest of my perfectly functioning muscles began to fatigue and become sore. With 4 marathons already in the books, I was still surprised at mile 20 with the realization that "Holy $#@%! Marathons hurt!"

When time isn't so much a factor, I end up paying a lot more attention to my surroundings, using anything to distract me from the physical and mental pain that I am enduring. Usually, I don't pay too much attention to the crowds because rarely is there ever anyone there that is personally cheering me on, but today I did. And I can honestly say that their enthusiasm actually helped boost my morale. While most people held personal posters cheering on their loved ones, there were a few funny ones. My favorite was "Runners have balls, everyone else just plays with them!" Other good ones included "Keep it up! (That's what she said!)," "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon," and "Beat Oprah's time!" Early on in the race, there was an old man standing off to the side of the road playing some funky music. He looked so out of place, but I have a soft spot for old people and couldn't help but smile. When I passed him and he asked me how the music was, I gave him a huge thumbs-up just to make his day.

When I wasn't using the crowd to distract me, I had to give myself a mental pep talk to push through the pain. This wasn't like National Marathon where the miles were just clicking off without me realizing it. I paid attention to every mile, every half-mile, every 1/10th of a mile. I knew I couldn't look at the big picture and just had to get through my current mile. At the JFK 50, counting down to my next walking break or the next aid station worked to get me through each mile. So today, I convinced myself to get to mile 16, so that I could start counting single digit miles down. After I passed the 16 mile marker, I convinced myself to push to 18 and then there'd only be 2 more miles to the big 20. When I hit 20 and was mentally drained by the thought of another 10K (1+ hour of running), I kept telling myself that it's better to have 20 miles behind and 6.2 miles in front than the other way around. I finally made it to "Heartbreak Hill" and down the final stretch to the finish line, clocking in a time of 4:29:16.

Although this is my personal worst marathon time so far, I was proud of my mental resilience. There were so many points in the race that I just felt defeated and wanted to cry because my physical condition was holding me back, but I kept my composure, put on a smile, and pushed through. The other bright side to this marathon experience is that I didn't experience any stomach issues throughout the duration of the race and think I've finally figured out how to fuel myself properly for a marathon.

Bikram Yoga

I am NOT a yoga person. First off, I have always been into high impact cardio activities. I like to get my heart rate pumping for a good workout! And second, there is not an ounce of flexibility in my body. Sure, I can run 10 miles at any given time with relative ease, but ask me to touch my fingers to my toes and now we're talking about a real challenge.

While yoga and running are on opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, I have heard that they compliment each other and can help prevent injury. Since I love a challenge when I see one and am always open to trying new things, I decided to try yoga, more specifically Bikram Yoga: a 90-min hot yoga class consisting of 26 postures practiced in a room heated to 105°F with a humidity of 40%.

Bikram Yoga Columbia offers an introductory unlimited 10-day class pass to first-timers. Upon signing up, the lady told me that the goal of my first class is to just stay in the room for the whole duration of class. Sounds simple enough, but I knew it wasn't going to be...

I stepped into the room and thought it was cooler than I expected it to be (perhaps all those 100°+ summer days helped). I saw everyone else in the room lie down on top of their mats, so I did the same thing. I was almost enjoying the warmth (like lying in the hot sand under the warm sun at the beach) when the instructor came in and we got started. When I stood up for the breathing exercise, I immediately felt dizzy, but just thought that happens all the time when I get up too fast because of my lower than average blood pressure.

I immediately got into the groove of class and was doing the different poses. But like a noob, I exerted way too much effort early on and started to feel nauseous around pose 3. I felt so sick that I wanted to run out of the room and gasp some fresh cool air, but remembered the instructor telling me that my only goal was to stay in the room the whole time! I didn't want to fail my first class! But the more and more I tried to stay in the poses, the dizzier and dizzier I got until I finally had to sit down and sip water. Each time I got up again, I felt a little better, did a pose or two and then sat down again. The instructor occasionally turned on the ceiling fans and opened the doors to get some moving air in and that was the most welcoming breath of fresh air I've ever had! I was so thankful when we got to the lying down and sitting poses, as they didn't make me feel nearly as dizzy. At the end of class, the instructor had everyone give me a round of applause for surviving my first Bikram Yoga class.

Out of all the sports/exercise classes/recreational activities I've ever tried, Bikram Yoga was probably one of the hardest. It was the longest 90-minute workout of my life and I felt worse during it than in my early days of running where I could barely finish a mile. Also, I have never dropped as much sweat in any other activity (not even a 20 mile run in 100° weather) as I did in this. Given that the class was at 6:15 AM, I probably wasn't as hydrated as I needed to be, attributing to the dizziness. I will definitely try to return again within the next 10 days to get my money's worth for the introductory offer, but am not sure this is something I'd do on a regular basis. I'm sure if I stick to it, my body would acclimate and I would get better at it, but it is rather expensive and torturous!

The 26 Poses of Bikram Yoga (my favorite was #13 =P):


*UPDATE*
I went in for a second class and things went much smoother than the first one. I took an afternoon session this time and drank plenty of water beforehand. I didn't get dizzy and was able to manage all of the poses without sitting any out.

Machu Picchu - Peru

Friday (8/6/10) - Running and Travel Day

Since I was going to be missing two weekend long runs, I decided to at least try to get in one of them before leaving for Peru. My boyfriend, Chris, willingly agreed to run 20 miles with me and met me at my house early Friday morning. We set out to run 10 miles to his place for a quick pitstop and water refill and then headed 10 miles back to my house. Oh, the things you can see when you cover that much distance by foot! I then got dropped off at the airport, where I met up with my friend and travel companion, Linda, and had a beer before boarding our flight to Miami. Ok, so maybe running 20 miles and then being confined to an airplane seat for several hours was not exactly the best idea! I passed out almost immediately upon boarding the plane and didn't move my legs for a good hour, resulting in them being severely cramped when I woke up. We walked around a lot in the Miami airport to keep the blood circulating through my legs, had dinner at this excellent Cuban place, and met up with Linda's sister and nephew, Janet and James.

Saturday (8/7/10) - Travel Day and Cusco

We boarded our flight to Lima at around 12:30 AM and arrived in Lima around 4:30 AM. I didn't really mind the overnight flight, as I slept through most of it. I had bought one of those horseshoe-shaped pillows, although it was kind of impractical to put it around the back of your neck because then you couldn't lean back. So instead, I stuck it around the front of my neck and rested my chin on it! When we got to Lima, there was someone holding a sign that said "Amanda An x 4." Hey, that's my name! How cool! I feel so special! Instead of booking hotels, flights, and tours separately, we decided to go through a travel agent and not only did they book all of that for us, they also arranged transportation and assistance to and from every transfer point we had. I can't say enough about how nice it was to never have to worry about trying to figure out where you were supposed to go and finding a means of transport to get there. I highly recommend Lima Tours and the Blue Skies Travel Agency. At the Cusco airport, we bought some Peruvian breakfast sandwiches and Coca lollipops (they tasted like stale honey) to help with altitude sickness.

We got to Cusco late-morning and were transferred to our hotel, where we were greeted with Coca tea. It's hard to describe how that tasted, but I actually liked it! We then went out to explore the town and save for feeling tingles up and down my legs, I did okay with the high altitude. We walked down to the main square for lunch, where I tried two very Peruvian items: Pisco Sour and alpaca. The Pisco Sour tasted sort of like a margarita. The alpaca was a little too gamey for my taste. We walked around a few markets and then came back to our hotel to meet our hiking guide at 5 for a quick briefing. Well, the minutes/hours ticked by and no guide showed up. I fell asleep in the lobby for a while and was subjected to this annoying repetitive commercial: "How was your vacation? The world wants to know!" Finally, we asked the front desk to call the tour company and found out the guide thought we were supposed to meet at 6 and would be there "in some minutes." After the briefing, we had dinner at the restaurant next door, where I again felt adventurous and wanted to fully experience Peru by ordering guinea pig. I was NOT expecting a full guinea pig, head, teeth and all, to come out on a plate. I picked up my butter knife and was wondering how to even go about eating it. The waiter saw me and came out and asked if I would like them to cut it up for me, to which I pleadingly responded "Yes, please!" He came back out with it fully cut up but had to put the detached head on top of the cut up pile. It tasted too bad (like dry, gamey chicken), but I could not get over all the little bones and the head and the fact that I was eating a little rodent creature. After that meal, I declared myself done with adventurous Peruvian cuisine and decided I would stick with the meats I am used to from here on out.

Sunday (8/8/10) - Cusco

We had some free time Sunday morning and continued to roam around Cusco, stopping at a little cafe for an excellent breakfast, sitting outside a little street market sipping Inca Kola and soaking up the Peruvian sun, and doing a little shopping at the markets across the street from our hotel. At 1 pm, our tour company picked us up for a tour of Cusco's main sites: the Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral, the Santo Domingo convent monastery, Saqsaywaman, the temple and amphitheatre of Kenko, and the Red Fortress of Puca Pucara. One part of the tour involved a ten-minute hike up the mountain at night and I found myself hyperventilating. Several thoughts ran through my mind: (1) How am I ever going to survive 5 days of this?! Especially with one day involving 10 hours of hiking?!; (2) All that marathon training is good for nothing! One person in our group even needed medical attention.

When we got back to our hotel, one of the ladies standing outside had been pestering us to buy her jewelry over the last two days and we finally decided to give in to her. While looking through her jewelry, a bout of dizziness/blurriness came over me and I suddenly felt like throwing up. I dropped the jewelry I was holding and ran for the bathroom. I sat there for a couple minutes until it went away and then met my travel buddies in the lobby and explained what just happened. This was my first and luckily my only episode with altitude sickness during the trip. I had been so worried about getting altitude sickness because (1) I am highly susceptible to every other sickness known to man (air, sea, motion, etc...you name it, I get it) and (2) being an intense, aerobic exerciser, I am constantly feeding oxygen into my body, which puts me at higher risk for more severe reactions when subjected to low-oxygen environments.

Monday (8/9/10) - Day 1 of Salkantay Trek

We were picked up early on Monday morning and driven in a van to Mollepata, where we stopped for breakfast and also bought wooden walking sticks, which were a lifesaver on the trek. Our tour group was nice and small and personal, consisting of me and my 3 travel buddies, two Germans, one guide, one cook, one assistant cook, and a horseman. We were on some pretty intense snake roads and I found that if I kept my eyes closed and didn't look outside, I didn't get as sick. I became an expert at sleeping on moving transportation by the end of this trip. We were supposed to start our hike from Mollepata and stop at Cruzpata for lunch, but for some reason I am still not too sure of (think it had something to do with the extreme cold conditions expected that night), we were driven to Cruzpata, where our cooks prepared lunch and our horseman put our gear on the horses. Our cook and assistant cook were excellent on this trip and I felt so well-fed during our multi-course meals that included bread and soup, a main course, dessert, and hot drinks. I was constantly hungry on this trip and devoured every meal as if it was my last, thinking the rest of my group was doing the same, only to look up from my empty bowl at everyone staring at me and laughing. Darn that runner's metabolism! I was picked on the entire trip for my ravenous eating habits. First came the tapeworm theories, then came the nickname "Picaflor," which is Spanish for hummingbird, because of my petite size (I was the smallest one in the group but ate the most) and the way hummingbirds neverendlessly eat and fly around. Even the cooks and guide were in on the picking!

After lunch, we set off on our 3-hour hike to our campsite for the night. Much differently than the previous night, I felt like a million bucks. I blazed through the trail effortlessly (okay, so maybe all that marathon training is paying off after all!), only stopping occasionally to take in the breathtaking scenery and snap a few photos. I made it to the campsite, Soraypampa, where our tents were already set up and the cooks fed us a post-hike snack of popcorn, biscuits, and hot drinks as they prepared dinner. I love being out in the middle of nowhere where you can see the sky light up with stars and the milky way. Our guide pointed out the Southern Cross, which was so blatantly obvious in the sky that I couldn't believe it! I spent 5 months in Australia and could never once pick the constellation out, even on those super starry nights in the outback! We were right next to the glacier and that night was miserably cold, -5 degrees Celcius to be exact. I put on as many layers as possible and even had hand warmers (good call on Linda's part), but still thought I was going to shiver to death. Mainly my nose/face was cold and since the cooks had fed us all those warm liquids (soup, tea, coffee) for dinner to keep us warm, I had to pee so bad and kept convincing myself that if I was shivering this much in my sleeping bag in a tent, I did not want to be outside! This is probably the first and only time that I will say 5:30 AM could not come soon enough! Finally, our assistant, Willie, knocked on our tent with Coca tea and after putting that inside my frigid body, I was able to somewhat function again.

Tuesday (8/10/10) - Day 2 of Salkantay Trek

We were fed omelets for breakfast (James was not hungry and I ended up eating his in addition to mine) and given a snack bag with fruit and cookies. It was still miserably cold when we set off on our hike that morning and that made me short of breath as I climbed the mountain. This day was extremely challenging and Janet ended up paying to ride a horse for a good portion of the trek. James fell behind and I later found out he had altitude sickness and Linda stayed back with him. They gave him oxygen and altitude sickness medicine and our guide, Diego, spent much of the day running up and down the mountain finding horses for them. I was the fastest in the group and ended up in front, with the two Germans occasionally catching up to me and then falling behind again. Part 1 of this day's trek was straight up the mountain on these neverending switchbacks. It was extremely daunting to look up and see the trail wind up and up and up without any sign of the top. At first, I was thankful that I at least didn't have to run up these trails until the trails were so steep that even just walking slowly up in made you pant. I finally made it to the top (4600 m high), but it was so cold and windy that I only stayed there long enough to snap a couple photos and then continue on with my trek with the thoughts of "Where's lunch?" lingering in my head. The horses dropped everyone off at the top and they had to walk down the mountain, so I caught up to Janet. With two walking sticks, I was struggling to get down the steep rocky trails, so I could not imagine Janet doing it without any since she gave her sticks to James. I offered her one of my walking sticks, half of my water, and told her I'd see her at the lunch site. It was getting later and later and I kept thinking lunch had to be around the corner, only to turn the corner and see the trail go on endlessly.

Finally, my redemption came at 1:30 PM! I was the first one of my group there and Willie pulled out a chair for me to sit and gave me some juice. Diego came 15 minutes later, followed by Freddie and Lydia (the two Germans) another 5 minutes later. No signs of Janet, Linda, and James, so the cooks served us first. They eventually got there at around 2:30 PM and were fed as Diego told us three that we had to set off for part 2 of the day's trek if we wanted to get there before dark. I spent most of this part of the trek alone again until Diego caught up with James on a horse and handed him off to me before going back with the horse for Janet and Linda. James felt better after taking the altitude sickness medicine and stuck with me the entire way until we reached the campsite. It was interesting to see the change of climate from snow-capped mountains to tropical rainforest. We got to Challway, our second campsite, at around 5:45 PM with no sign of our group anywhere since they had not arrived yet. The cook and horseman eventually showed and got our tents up and dinner going right away, but Diego and Willie stayed back with Janet and Linda. The hike was challenging enough in daylight, I have no idea how they managed it in the night, since it is winter in South America right now and the sun sets early. Willie spoke very little English, but would tell Linda, "Warning! Perilous danger!" whenever they were close to the edge.

They arrived around 7:50 PM and we didn't have dinner until well past 9 PM. I had thought that maybe we would have pre-dinner snacks again and didn't eat anything between lunch and dinner. With all that activity and no food in a 7 hour span of time, I thought my stomach was going to eat itself and was dizzy with hunger, on the verge of passing out. I inhaled 3 plates of spaghetti that night. It wasn't as cold at the second campsite and I slept a little better than the first night, although I still woke up a couple times in the middle of the night with a frosty nose.

Wednesday (8/11/10) - Day 3 of Salkantay Trek

We took a 45-minute hike alongside the Salkamayo river to where buses were parked and James and Janet were supposed to get on one and meet us at the lunchsite. James felt good and decided he wanted to hike and Linda opted to wait for Janet and take the bus with her. They witnessed a rockslide and were stuck for two hours as a bulldozer cleared the path. The rest of us hiked for a good 5 hours, with Diego pointing out native vegetation and getting to try passion fruit along the way. Lunch was in Lucmabamba. I was so thrilled to be able to use a flushable toilet, it's amazing how much appreciation you have for the little things when you have to live without them. We were then driven to Santa Teresa village. I was definitely tired of hiking by then and welcomed the car ride. We parted ways with the two Germans then because they did a 4 day tour and were going straight to Aguas Calientes to see Machu Picchu the next day. Santa Teresa was in a warm, tropical climate infested with mosquitoes. We spent the afternoon in a hot spring, which was so relaxing! The khakis I had worn for 3 days straight were so dirt-covered and grimy that I took them into the water and rubbed them with a stone to get some of the dirt stains out. Hey, it worked and after a day of drying out in the sun, I had fresh semi-clean pants to wear to Machu Picchu! I was attacked by mosquitoes when I got out of the hot spring and did not sleep well for another night in a row because I woke up itching like crazy!

Thursday (8/12/10) - Day 4 of Salkantay Trek/Aguas Calientes

We were supposed to spend the morning hiking three hours, but Diego decided that we would take the car to our next destination instead since hiking along roads that are being shared with cars would not be fun. All the other groups had left (it was interesting to see the same people from different tour groups over and over again along the trails, campsites, and even the airport), so the campsite's monkey, Pancho, decided to come over to greet us at breakfast. Pancho apparently loves tourists and likes to raid their bags for treats. The curious little guy fished around our leftovers from breakfast and then took a liking to James. When Diego got us to walk up the mountain for a good view of the town, Pancho ran after us and clung to James arm for a ride. He ended up peeing on James' arm and then on my bag twice (he must've thought my bag was a toilet or something) and that's when I had enough of Pancho. We had lunch and spent a long time waiting until finally taking the train to Aguas Calientes, the city closest to Machu Picchu. I even witnessed a cow get slaughtered and skinned off the side of the road during that time. Is it bad that it reminded me of skinning our cats in Anatomy class? The train ride to Aguas Calientes felt incredibly uncomfortable and long too me. There was hardly any room to move and every sore muscle that I had in my body from hiking was cramping up.

We got to Aguas Calientes and Diego checked us into a hostal, only to later find out that he had confused the hostal name with the hotel we were supposed to stay at. They had already given us rooms and one of the guys at the front desk came by and rambled off a spew of things in Spanish that I couldn't make out and all I heard was that we had to leave "Ahorita!" Things eventually got straightened out and we were situated in the right place. It felt SO good to finally take a shower, although I wanted to scream when I saw how covered my legs/body was in mosquito bites. I finally got a good night's worth of sleep that night in a comfy bed.

Friday (8/13/10) - Day 5 of Salkantay Trek and Machu Picchu!!!

We had breakfast at the hotel and were supposed to meet Diego at 7 AM to take the bus to Machu Picchu. He didn't show and when 7:30 rolled around and he still didn't show, we left a message with the hotel receptionist and walked over to the bus station by ourselves. It turned out he overslept and he eventually met up with us at Machu Picchu and handed us off to this crazy eccentric guide that enunciated everything he said in English and had some crazy theories about these "V's" that pointed to mountains and things. It was absolutely amazing and breathtaking to finally see Machu Picchu, the prize from our 5-day long adventure. As I walked through the site, I just imagined what it would've been like to have actually lived in such a spectacular place. I love ancient historical sites and felt the same way when I walked through the Colloseum and Pompeii. I had wanted to climb Wayna Picchu to get a good view of Machu Picchu, but that was limited to the first 400 guests with tickets and the others weren't up for it. So instead, we climbed up to the Intipunku, the Sun Gate, which is the entrance you would've come through if you'd taken the classic Inca trail, as opposed to the alternative Salkantay trek that I did. We got our taste of what taking the Inca trail would've been like. It seemed a lot easier with a lot of stone steps, as opposed to dirt and moveable rocks. When we told other guides and locals that we did the Salkantay trek, many were impressed with us, so it had to have been a hard trail. It started pouring when we got to the top and my camera died because water got inside (luckily, it dried out overnight and revived itself). Going down the slippery steps on the way back was seriously perilous danger!

We took a train from Aguas Calientes to Cusco that night. It was so slow moving and took us close to 5 hours. We met up with Jose Luis, Willie, and Diego for dinner in Cusco. It was again so nice to sleep in a warm and comfy bed that night.

Saturday (8/14/10) - Lima

We boarded a plane from Cusco and arrived in Lima around noon. Lima had an international, metropolitan big city feel to it, almost like NY. I didn't like it as much and preferred the small town feel of Cusco over it. I also noticed that Lima didn't seem as touristy and not as many people spoke English. I put my Spanish to good use there, as some people we had to interact with barely spoke any English at all. After checking into our hotel, we went to a restaurant nearby and ended up eating for 2 whole hours. The food was once again spectacular, as was every meal I had in Peru. The Peruvians definitely do not get enough credit for their fine cuisine! Since our Blue Skies Travel Agent is Peruvian, she told us that if we wanted to try something a little different and non-touristy, we should go to the Brisas de Titicaca folklore dance show that night. We got there early to get tickets and had an hour to spare. Since the area where the show took place wasn't exactly the safest and most happening part of the city, our cab driver offered to take us on an hour-long window tour of Lima. The show was pretty cool, although it was interesting that they would do a dance and then allow all the guests to come up on the stage and dance in between each one. It was also pretty interesting to see all the guests go up and dance and all know the same dance routines (salsa, merengue, etc.). Much different from American club grinding!

Sunday (8/15/10) - Travel Day

We were picked up early and transported to the airport for a long day of traveling back home. It took forever to get through all the securities and I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that they searched our bags again before we boarded the airplane and took the drinks that we had just bought in the terminal away from us. The 5.5-6 hour flight to Lima went by relatively quickly for me, I slept through all but 30 minutes of it. Then I found myself in Miami, back at square one, sitting across from Linda in the Cuban place with the same exact dinner as last time, and oddly enough, wearing the same clothes as last time because it was my only clean outfit left! This is where it all started and where it all ended. The 2.5 hour flight from Miami felt gruelingly long, after surviving the whole day of traveling and wanting to be home already!

King of Anything

Love this song! And the video is cute too.

=)

For almost 4 years, I've neglected that department of my life...

C.M.F., thanks for persisting until you broke down my wall =)

Chocolate Milk = The Perfect Recovery Drink

A couple months ago, I had written about how coconut water was all the rage with runners and exercise enthusiasts these days. Well, I've got another "natural" nutrition rage for you. Chocolate milk is now becoming runners' favorite post-run recovery drink. Seriously, I looked around at the Bagel Bin where all the HCS runners hang out after our Saturday runs and over half of them were drinking chocolate milk (Bagel Bin better start stocking up on more chocolate milk on Saturdays!). Chocolate milk apparently has the perfect blend of carbohydrates and protein to rehydrate the body and help muscles recover/reduce soreness.

Everyone who knows me knows that I always have random chocolate milk cravings. I always feel like such a kid drinking from a milk carton or out of a bottle with a huge picture of a bunny on it. Well, now I have a legitimate excuse for drinking chocolate milk all the time! And I must say, the chocolatey yumminess is quite satisfying after a long and tough workout!

Dreaded Druid Hills 10K and Bel Air Town Run 5K

This weekend was my first attempt at double-dipping with races. I ran the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K on Saturday and the Bel Air Town Run 5K on Sunday. I would someday like to do the Disney Goofy Challenge (which is a half-marathon one day followed by a full marathon the next), so it is good to test what back-to-back racing feels like. However, I guess this time doesn't count for much since I didn't run very hard at Dreaded Druid Hills.

Dreaded Druid Hills 10K:

This race is known for its brutal hills. The description on the website reads: "Most memorable quote so far: I love running hills, but that was mean and totally uncalled for. - Finisher in the chute, 2002." I love a challenge and have seen my fair share of nasty hills, so I had to see for myself just how bad this course was.

Unfortunately, I was hit with food poisoning mid-week and spent two full days in bed. By Friday, I was recovered enough to eat full meals again but still took a full day of rest from physical activity. I thought I was fully recovered and back to full running form on Saturday morning, so I started out at a decent pace and ran the first mile in 8:49. Then, the same stomach pains that had me lying in bed for 2 days came back in full throttle. I felt like I was about to hurl and told the friend that was running with me to go ahead without me because I needed to slow down. Although I was able to still keep somewhat of a running pace for the 2nd mile, each time I sped up or climbed a hill, my stomach would hurt more.

When I got to the 2nd mile, I couldn't ignore the pain any longer and had to stop and walk for the full mile. I felt so defeated! With the exception of JFK (which required walking), I have never walked in a race. My goal for my first marathon was to be able to run the whole duration of the race, no matter how slow or fast. But here I was, walking a 10K. After one mile, I decided it would take too long for me to finish if I walked the whole second half and started running again with some intermittent walking. When I reached the last mile of the race, I was finally able to ignore the pain and speed up. Thinking about how I don't belong this far back in a race kept me motivated and I passed a lot of runners who were out of gas from all those hills. I finished in 1:12:16.

Besides all of the stomach issues, I actually enjoyed the course. I thought it was rather scenic and although the hills were pretty brutal, I think I would've managed ok if not for the food poisoning. If I am free next year, I will definitely come back and redeem myself. I guess the lesson learned here is that no matter how much you prepare, there are so many factors that play into whether you are going to have a good race or not, be it the weather, injuries, sleep deprivation, digestive issues, pre-race jitters, etc. It's how you deal with all of this that makes you a better runner.

Bel Air Town Run 5K:

This year, I am competing in the RRCA State Championship series to try to win my age group. Basically, this is a series of 10 races throughout the year all over Maryland amongst several running clubs. Each club hosts a race and you get points based on your finish time. You have to run at least 4 of the 10 races to qualify for an award. The Bel Air Town Run was the 3rd race in the series and was hosted by Harford County's running club, RASAC.

I couldn't get any of my friends to go all the way out to Bel Air to run 5 km with me (it was weird driving that far north on 95, I am so used to driving south to MoCo for my weekend runs), but I knew a few HCSers that were doing it and was able to hang out with them before the start. It was such a hot and humid day that I was already sweating from just standing and waiting 5-10 min at the start line. I knew it was going to be a rough run. Luckily, the course was pretty forgiving as it was mostly downhill with only a couple uphills towards the end. A good number of supporters came out to watch and some even took their hoses and sprinklers out to cool us down.

I didn't experience any stomach pains during the race or any other sort of issues, so that was good. I wasn't really able to speed up or slow down much, so I basically just kept the same pace throughout the race. I pretty much just remember it being so hot and humid (which made me contemplate why I am doing the Annapolis 10 Mile Run at the end of August again) and just wanting to be done and glad that was only a 5K and not a 10K. I crossed the finish line with a time of 24:21.

I cooled down and hung out with my HCS friends for a while afterwards but I had to leave at 9:00 AM to get balloons and decorations for my mom's surprise birthday party. They hadn't announced the awards yet by the time I left, but apparently I came in 3rd place out of the 48 females in my 20-24 age group. However, since the overall female winner was 22 and you cannot win both the overall and age group award, I got bumped up to 2nd place for the AG award. This is my first running award ever! Too bad I was not there to claim it. Hopefully they will mail it to me, so I don't have to drive all the way back up to Bel Air to get it. My friend said the awards for this race was trophies too! Yay!

I went from feeling defeated and walking for the first time in one race to winning an award in another all in one weekend! A lot of firsts this weekend: some good, some bad. I need to get faster (or find races where the fast girls don't show up), so I can win some cash awards to make up for all of these race fees.

***UPDATE***

Drove up to Bel Air after work today to pick up my award. Here it is:

Not the best picture, but it is hard trying to take a picture of a piece of glass! When I turned the flash off, the glass reflected everything back.

A Day with Taylor and Joshua

Spend the day with a 2 year-old and you'll be reminded of the sweet, simple, and pure innocence of childhood! This past Monday, I had the pleasure of helping my mom babysit Taylor. Boy is she a handful! Where the heck does she get all the energy from when she hardly eats?

Her dad dropped her off at my house in the morning and she was a little scared at first, so my mom took her down to the basement to find some toys to play with. She excitedly took a few balls upstairs and ran around the house calling out "Dada?" (who had left when she was downstairs). She then tried to open the door, exclaiming "It stuck." When I wouldn't open it for her, she had a frightened look on her face that her parents had just abandoned her and screamed out "Mama!" I quickly took one of her balls and threw it and that was all it took to distract her and make her happy again. It's amazing how short of an attention span kids have and how easily amused they are!

My mom had to run to the grocery store, so we took her with us. She wanted to take all the balls with her, so my mom took out a little Victoria's Secret bag for her to put them in to carry. In the car, she yelled out everything she saw. I can't remember the last time I've seen her, but her vocabulary has expanded so much since then! When we got to the store, she exclaimed "A train! A train! Choo choo!" pointing at the shopping cart with the kiddie car attached to the front. So we put her in the little car and she went around the store saying "Choo choo," "Beep beep," and pointing at everything else she saw in sight.

Choo! Choo!

Dia Oi and Melissa were at my house when we got back. She walked up to Dia Oi with her fist out and went "Bump! Bump!" Dia Oi was confused, so I had to teach her how to fist bump. I thought this was the funniest sight ever! Dia Oi fist bumping Taylor! Hahahaha. And she kept asking Dia Oi to do it too!

We then took her to the mall while my mom went over to pick up March and Joshua to meet up with us. We had a Chick-fil-A lunch and while sitting at the table waiting for my mom, March, and Joshua to get there, Taylor exclaimed "Ball! Ball!," pointing her little finger and trying to get up and run to where she was pointing. I looked over in that direction and didn't see any balls before realizing that she was pointing at a lady holding a Victoria's Secret bag. Hahahaha. What a smart little girl! I did not want to see either of their reactions if Taylor actually did run up to the lady and try to take her "balls" and was relieved when the lady passed and Taylor gave up her efforts...that is, until another lady passed by holding a Victoria's Secret bag. Again, she pointed and screamed "Ball! Ball!" and tried to get up.

My mom, March, and Joshua arrived and Taylor excitedly yelled, "A baby!" and showered Joshua with kisses. It was so cute because she kept trying to fist-bump and high-five Joshua and was disappointed when he didn't do anything (Melissa and I have made a mental note to teach him to fist-bump when he's older). We took Taylor to the playplace for a little bit while they ate. It was amusing to watch her climb all over the slides, especially since she was the littlest one in there! The rest of the time at the mall was spent pushing Joshua around and chasing Taylor! Taylor acted very big sister-ly towards Joshua, holding onto the stroller and making sure he was ok in there, even giving him her blankie.

Taylor looking after Joshua, who's as big as her!

Taylor and her mismatched socks!

We finally called it an afternoon and took them back home, where Taylor proceeded to not nap and instead ran all over the house, hiding from my mom and yelling out "Boo!" whenever my mom found her.

What an amusing and exhausting day!

Joshua

Count Your Blessings

Nashville was hit with devastating floods. Oklahoma with tornadoes. Arizona with dust storms. All the places that we passed through on our cross-country road trip. Our 5-day drive through these cities/states consisted of sunshine, absolutely no rain, and no traffic save for 30 min through Tennessee because of road work. I don't think we could have gotten any luckier... My heart goes out to those who are suffering from Mother Nature's wrath.

Also, I think I am the only person who can actually say getting laid off turned out good for me. Although I've been working full time for the past year and a half, I am in a casual position with no benefits. They've been trying to get me on a full time position and was finally able to push the grant through by telling the sponsor they were letting me go unless the funds came through to support me in the new position. With the department low on funds, all of the laboratory workers were laid off and I am the only one that has a position lined up after our last day because it requires a Bachelor's degree, which the others don't have. In addition to that, my hours were cut back in May to 3 days/week. Although it sucks to have my pay get cut, I am very much welcoming the much-needed break from the normal work routine before finally officially starting on full time in June.

Pike's Peek 10K

Every running program has a graduation. A race where you get to see the progress you've made and the product of all that hard work and dedication over the last few months. For FTM, graduation was the Marine Corps Marathon. Hai and I opted for an early graduation with the Baltimore Marathon, where we exceled, and then used MCM as a celebratory race for our success. For SDP, graduation was the Pike's Peek 10K. This race also bears the weight of being what they use to assign you to a pace group for FTM. There's a lot riding on this little race, which made me all the more excited about it before I took those 2.5 weeks off leading up to it.

All winter long, we trained (even with all the snow!). Track on Tuesdays and long runs on Saturdays. Those track workouts were rough, but I always went home feeling great knowing that I had put in a lot of hard work. By the end of February, I was already beginning to see how much I had benefited from this program. I was running more comfortably at faster paces and killed my previous PR's by over 5 minutes at the RRCA 10 Mile Challenge and National Marathon with not as much effort as I would've expected to make those times.

Then came April and traveling sidetracked my running. I managed two runs total in the 2.5 weeks leading up to Pike's Peek and made it back from Cali the night before the race. Being on Pacific Time was not very fun at all, especially considering that I was sleeping in til 8-9 am instead of getting up at my usual 5 am over there. I spent most of the night away counting down the hours I had left til I had to get up.

The weather was cold, rainy, and humid that morning. Although most considered this weather ideal as opposed to hot and sunny, I did not appreciate it as it made me feel groggier than I already was from the lack of sleep. Hai and I got into the 7:00-8:00 min/mile wave start with a couple of other people in our 8:00 min pace group. I tried to follow Coach Tom's advice and start conservatively. Although I thought I was running at a comfortable pace, Hai caught up to me and told me I was doing 7:15 min/mile for mile 1.

It all went downhill after that. The effort and ease of running fast that came to me in February and March as a result of those tough track workouts had escaped from me with that long April hiatus. I struggled through the rest of the race not focusing so much on time as on watching most of my peers from the program pass me.

I learned a very valuable lesson that if you don't keep working at something, you will lose those abilities very quickly. Although I still PRed by almost 4 minutes from last year's race, I guess I was disappointed in my performance because I had been looking forward to this race for so long and know that I could have done a lot better and with less effort had this race taken place before my 2.5 week hiatus. I was one of the slowest in my 8:00 pace group and when we shared our finish times with each other and I told them mine, one of them had a shocked expression on his face and asked "What happened?" I couldn't help but laugh and think "My thoughts, exactly!" Regardless of the circumstances, I am still very proud and thankful for what SDP has brought out in the runner inside me. Hard work DOES pay off! I am excited for what this summer's Experienced Marathoners Program has to offer and hope for some positive results in my fall marathon, Steamtown.

Road Trip to Cali

A road trip from MD to Cali is something I've always wanted to do and now I can finally say I've done it. Driving cross country really gives me an appreciation for just how big and diverse this country is. I loved experiencing all the different climates and cultures/people/accents (if you haven't already noticed, I have a thing for accents!). I also realized that I need to brush up on my U.S. geography!

Day 1 (Sunday):
We jam-packed all of our things into Vi's little car and headed out on I-70W on Sunday morning. As we hit the C&O Canal and surrounding area, I was fondly reminded of that crazy 50 mile race I did back in November on those paths. Good times! We sliced into a tiny piece of Virginia before going into West Virginia for a short period of time and then it was back into Virginia coasting along 81 for what seemed like a very long time (perhaps because I've seen Virginia enough times and had no interest in it). I was very excited to reach Tennessee, as it was the first of the four states (TN, AR, OK, NM) on this trip that I'd never been to before. We stopped in Nashville for the night. We drove down Broadway St. and I was surprised to see/hear how happening this street was on a Sunday night with all the live music (no wonder they call Nashville "Music City").

Day 2 (Monday):
We stopped at The Parthenon in Centennial Park before heading out. It was a very pretty park, I saw a group of runners and was very jealous of where they got to run. We passed right by Memphis and I could see St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from the highway. Ever since volunteering in the Pediatric Care Research Unit at Hopkins in 2004, I have always wanted to work at St. Jude's, although 1) I don't want to live in Memphis and 2) that would be an extremely depressing job. I don't remember much about Arkansas except a lot of open fields and cows. Sadly, I did not even know that AR neighbored TN and OK. Next up was Oklahoma! We stayed for the night in Oklahoma City with Amy and John (thanks guys!). It was nice to see their place and meet Holly. She liked me (Amy said she likes pink) and I wasn't even wearing any pink! Must've been her pink intuition! The only thing I know about Oklahoma is the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. I did not know that they made a memorial at the bomb sight, but that was very cool to see.

Day 3 (Tuesday):
On the road again with the next state being Texas. Technically, I have been in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport for layovers, but I guess you can't really count that as a visit. The highlight of our brief encounter with this state was seeing tumbleweeds rolling across the roads, it was just like in the cartoons! Next, we hit New Mexico. There are a lot of Indian reservations in NM. We reached Arizona and stopped in Flagstaff for the night. It was colder than I had expected and I was surprised to see a good amount of snow still on the ground.

Day 4 (Wednesday):
We took the day off from driving and went to see the Grand Canyon. This is definitely something worth seeing in person, as pictures cannot even begin to do this place any justice. It was also nice to take a break from 11 to 13-hour days of driving, although the driving did not seem as bad as I expected it to be. It had been a full week since the last time I had run or done any form of exercise, so I was really anxious to do some form of physical activity. Vi and I were really excited to use the hotel's "fitness center" until we turned on the treadmill and realized that the speed would not go pass 3.6 mph. WTF?! By this time, I was beginning to lose track of dates and times altogether, especially with crossing all those time zones.

Day 5 (Thursday):
We decided to spend another day playing by visiting the parks in Sedona, AZ. We visited Slide Rock State Park, the downtown district of Sedona, and Red Rock State Park before deciding we had had enough of red rocks and continued onward with our road trip. No wonder why Arizona is always symbolized with a cactus, there were cacti everywhere and they were huge! We decided that if we headed to Phoenix, it would be too early in the day to want to stop driving, but if we tried to make it all the way to San Diego, we wouldn't get there til past midnight. So we chose a random city in between: Blythe, CA. Just over the border between Arizona and California, Blythe was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and basically seemed like a "pitstop" kind of town. Also, why does California make you stop at their border for inspection and make you throw away all your produce?

Day 6 (Friday):
Just a couple more hours before we reach our final destination. The drive out there seemed to happen so fast, that I didn't expect it to be over already. Everything went so smoothly, the weather was sunny the whole way, and we only hit traffic once for about a half an hour in Tennessee. The first place we hit up upon reaching San Diego was apartment complex choice #1. This place looked very appealing and almost seemed like a resort. We checked out a few more places and then checked into our hotel on base at Camp Pendleton.

Days 7-13 (Saturday - Friday):
We spent the weekend in the hotel and then moved to the beach cottage on San Onofre Beach during the week. Saturday was spent doing more apartment hunting before Vi ultimately decided to go with choice #1. We then proceeded with the moving process by going furniture shopping over the next two days. We also took multiple trips to Super Walmart (or as Vi's GPS calls it, "Wooooowwwmart") for numerous exchanges, returns, and forgotten items. There was hardly any free time with all the chores to do and waiting around for furniture, the cable guy, and the Navy movers to arrive. Vi unfortunately had to report to work right away on Monday, but was lucky enough to get Thursday and Friday off. I was able to get in one run on the beach and one around her neighborhood (life without humidity is so great!). We also went to Mission Beach, Coronado Island, and Santa Ana. I really like the place that Vi chose to live, Oceanside. It's so close to plenty of stores and a lot of good food! Avocados are cheap there, only 50 cents each!

Day 14 (Saturday):
The end of the trip =(. Let's just say I was glad to be riding a 4 1/2 hour plane back to MD rather than driving all that way back!

Exploring My Own Backyard

I've lived in Columbia/Ellicott City my whole life, but these past two weekends have made me realize how little I know/have explored about my own backyard. I get too excited about exploring new cities away from home that I forget about what remains to be discovered in my very own hometown.

What sparks this sudden urge to go exploring more of Columbia? Well, two things:

1) I've been spending a lot of time in downtown Bethesda due to running and biking and have really fallen in love with that place. They are trying to turn downtown Columbia into something similar to Bethesda Row. At first, I was not in the least bit excited about all the construction that this will bring to Columbia, as it will draw in more crowds and traffic. But now that I see all the cute little places there are to hang out in Bethesda and how little of those places we have around here (have you seen how packed Tutti Frutti gets every night?!), I am kind of excited for Columbia to have more locations to hang out. Plus, I have come to terms with the fact that Columbia is just going to get more and more built-up/city-like and crowded whether you like it or not, so either roll with it or move further out into the countryside.

2) I have recently started running with the Howard County Striders and discovered that Howard County is filled with plenty of walking/running/biking trails! I didn't even know we had a fitness trail by the Restaurant Lake! What's even sadder is that I didn't even know that lake was called Lake Kittamaqundi! For 23 years of my life, I always thought it was just the "Restaurant Lake." Running with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club has opened my eyes to all the parks and trails available in MoCo, so it's time I start learning more about HoCo!

So who wants to go exploring?!

Unpublished Posts

I had no posts in February not because I couldn't think of anything to write, but because I would start a post, get bored with it halfway through, and never finish it. I have a knack for doing that a lot and then never going back to finish what I started and often wondering what the heck I was trying to say in the post to begin with. So I finally decided to go back and attempt to finish what I started, or just publish them as is...

Part of it is because I think most of what I write is stupid and pointless and who would care to read it? But I have to remember that I'm not making anyone read my blog. I'm just publicly sharing my thoughts for anyone who happens to be interested in them. So write what you're passionate about. And if you don't like what you see, don't read it!

Variety is the Spice of Life

Runners come in about as much of a variety as do ice cream flavors. Of course, there are the sprinters and the marathoners, but that's does not even begin to describe how many different types of runners there are. Over the last year and a half of racing, I have met runners who barely break a sweat after running 20 miles and runners who are completely drenched in sweat as if they just got out of a pool after running only a couple miles. There are runners who swear by the treadmill while others refuse to run anywhere but outdoors (even through 20" of snow). There are trail runners and road runners, night runners and morning runners. There are the extremely loud panters who sound like they're dying and god forbid they draft you because it'll feel like they're breathing down your neck. There are quiet runners who completely zone out and loud chatty runners who run their mouths as much as their feet. There's the extremely fast runners who excel at short-distance races and fall apart at any race lasting more than 3 hours. Then, there are those who have great endurance and can keep running forever at a solid pace but suck when a race calls for speed. I guess that's why they make races at such a great variety of distances from 100 meter sprints to 100 milers.

And of course, let's not forget the less traditional runners, such as the stroller joggers and barefoot runners. Some people even become local characters that every person in the running community recognizes and can instantly spot in any race, such as the joggler (jogs and juggles at the same time) and the crazy ultra lady who always wears those crazy leopard-print outfits.

People's reasons for running are also a source of diversity. Some run for charity, others run for their own health. Some run to relieve tension and stress, others to lose weight. Some people are just looking for something new to do and enjoy the social aspects of joining a running community. Some run to achieve personal goals, others run to inspire others. Some run as a tribute to/in memory of a lost loved one. Still, others run to turn their life around (check out http://www.backonmyfeet.org/).

There is even diversity amongst different running clubs. After running with the Montgomery County Road Runners Club for the past year, I recently decided to check out the Howard County Striders. While MCRRC offers a lot more structure and organization, HCS is much smaller and has more of a close-knit family feel to it. Because I like what each of them has to offer, I now hold dual membership to both clubs!

The best part about the running community is just when you think you've met the craziest runner out there, someone crazier comes along. And there is just as much of a variety of crazy as there are runners. Some go for distance and aim to finish a 100 mile race. Others go for quantity and try to run as many races in a year as possible. Last weekend, I met someone who ran 103 races total last year (54 of them were half-marathons), often running back-to-back races in a weekend and even multiple races in a day sometimes. I have never even fathomed running more than one race in a weekend, let alone in a day! And today, I read about a woman who is running 52 marathons in 52 weeks to raise funds for 52 South African AIDS orphans (http://www.52beginnings.com/). There is no clearly defined physical limit to the human body, so people are always trying to push the limits and see what else they can accomplish.

And that is what I love (and sometimes also hate) about running! It is so versatile that you can never run out of goals to aim for.

National Marathon

Often times, seasoned runners can get so wrapped up in timing that they forget what lured them into the sport in the first place. Enjoying the race route, high-fiving the crowd, and chatting it up with fellow runners becomes replaced with constantly checking one's watch to stay on pace to make sure they beat that clock. The best part of a first race for any distance (be it a 5K or 50 miler) is that just finishing the event sets a PR. With each race that follows, one feels the need to set a new PR to make that event worthwhile.

Going into National, I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't feel any pressure to meet a specific time goal and decided I just wanted to enjoy the race for what it is: a run through history as they promote on their website. This winter had been plagued with endless weekend snowstorms and I only put in one 19 mile, two 14 mile, one 12 mile, and two 10 mile training runs in preparation. On the other hand, I have noticed that the track workouts from the Speed Development Program have made me more comfortable with running at faster paces and I PRed in a rolling hills 10 miler by over 5 minutes. So I decided I was going to start National at a faster pace than previous marathons and see how long I could last and how much more work I need to put in to qualify for Boston. No specific time goal. No specific pace to stay on. Just run it based on how I was feeling at the moment.

THURSDAY:
On Thursday night, I had a really bizarre dream that took place on the Friday before the marathon. In the dream, I woke up on Saturday morning at 10 am and thought, "$@#! I should be done the race in an hour and it takes about an hour to get to DC, I am not going to make it." I already wasn't looking forward to having to wake up at 3:30 AM and this got me even more paranoid.

FRIDAY:
My one complaint about this race is that I think they should've held the packet pickup/expo over two days because dealing with Friday traffic is not a very fun way to spend your evening. I was lucky that I got to leave work early, but I still hit traffic on the way home.

RACE DAY:
I was startled awake by my alarm going off at 3:30 AM and fell out of bed and gave myself a bruise. I thought, "Crap! I haven't even run the race yet and I already have a bruise!" It was so weird to put on shorts and a singlet that morning after months of running bundled up in multiple layers, a hat, and gloves. I got to the College Park metro station at 4:55 AM. The metro opened at 5 AM to accomodate the marathon. It was a nippy 40 degrees out. I had a jacket and pants on but was still shivering and wished I had another layer and a hat. I even contemplated keeping my jacket on for the run, but had to convince myself that I did not need it for a 4 hour run that was going to end in 70-80 degree weather. I dozed in and out of sleep on the metro, too scared of missing L'Enfant Plaza to let myself fully fall asleep. We got to Stadium-Armory around 5:45 AM and got to wait inside the armory. This was one of the highlights of this race for me. Most races make you wait outside, so you have to strip down to your running gear and stand around shivering for a good hour waiting for the bathroom and stretching. It was so nice to be inside in the warmth until 5 minutes before the start.

The race started at 7:00 AM. I was supposed to be in Corral 5 (8:41 - 9:00 min/mile pace), but Hai and I didn't feel like pushing through the crowd to get there, so we stayed in the 7:35 min corral, which probably made us start a lot faster than intended. The first few miles offered a beautiful view of the city, passing by the Capitol and National Mall. Around mile 2, a girl named Liz ran up to me and started up a conversation. I found out she was from Cali, her running partner had crapped out on her due to IT band issues, she wanted a sub 4-hour marathon, and planned to keep pace with me/I had just become her new running buddy. I wasn't sure how I felt about that because running with other people makes me feel the pressure to keep a certain pace, but it's not like I could've gotten rid of her. She was headed the same direction for the next 24 miles. So I rolled with it.

Around mile 3, I looked over at a couple of policeman patrolling the streets for the marathon and immediately recognized one of them. It was Dave, my cousin's husband! I knew he was a DC cop but had never seen him in action. I ran over to him screaming his name and flailing my arms at him. He was caught completely off guard and had a "What in the world?" expression on his face before realizing who I was and saying "Oh, HEY!!!!!" I didn't stop to have a conversation with him as I now had two running partners to stick with.

The next few miles are a bit of a blur to me. I was in a complete daze and hardly paid attention to any of the scenery. When Liz mentioned there were some hills coming up on miles 5-7, I still thought we were on mile 2 until I looked at my watch and saw that I had been running for 40 minutes. Somewhere in there, we picked up another runner named Stephanie, who decided to join our group. This was her first marathon, but she definitely had a runner's build and I knew she was going to be fast. As we rolled around RFK stadium for the 13.1 mile mark, I was excited to drop off 3/4 of the runners. It wasn't because the course was too crowded, but more so the fact that the half-marathoners were throwing me off because they were running at a faster pace and definitely hustling the last few miles.

Miles 13-20 are also a blur to me. I don't know why I was so completely zoned out during this race, I usually pay more attention to my surroundings than I did this time. Somewhere in there, we passed the Capitol again, but that's really all I remember. I had heard that this course takes you through some really ghetto areas of DC, but I have no recollection of any ghettoness during this race. I guess it must not have been that bad. I remember all too clearly how ghetto some of the streets were in the Baltimore marathon, I definitely ran faster through those parts. I do remember Liz mentioning that we should slow down to a 8:45 pace several times, and I started to slow down but she and Stephanie didn't. It wouldn't have annoyed me that they continued at a faster pace if they didn't keep saying we needed to slow down and not slowing down! I eventually lost them around mile 21. I knew Stephanie was going to be too fast for us and Liz tried to keep up with her.

The weather up until mile 18-19 had been perfect. It wasn't until then that I really started feeling the sun beating down on me, especially with no shade at all along the Anacostia Riverwalk trail. The heat was exhausting my energy and I could feel myself falling apart. I took a gu and drank several cups of water at every station and still could not get it going. I dared not take any Powerade, seeing as to how my stomach had already been doing a couple flips after each Honey Stinger chew that I ate (organic cane sugar, why are you failing me too now?) and one 10 mile session on a treadmill was not enough experimentation for me to rely on coconut juice. If anyone has any non-sugar suggestions for electrolyte/fuel replenishment, please share! I don't think it was so much the weather itself as the drastic change from 40 degrees to upper 70s in the course of the race and the fact that my body had gotten used to running in bitter cold temperatures and was not adjusted to the warmth. Although the hills between miles 23 to 25 were nothing compared to Frederick and Baltimore, they were still bigger than I expected. At mile 25, I had spotted Liz, kept her within reach, and eventually passed her.

The last mile of the race was a straight shot down E. Capitol Street to the stadium. I really liked that the end point was within view from a mile away because I knew exactly how far I had left to run before it was all over. I appreciated the crowd support, especially those that yelled my name (which was printed on the bib) or my bib # and told me I was looking strong for the last mile. When the finish line was in sight, in typical Amanda-fashion, I hauled ass and sprinted across the finish line. What always goes through my mind during the last few miles of a race is that there is no way I am going to have any energy left to sprint the last 500 feet to the finish, yet I somehow always manage to find that last burst when the time comes. I crossed the finish line with a time of 3:53:33, a new PR for me. Looking at my race split times, I started out at a 8:30 pace and slowed my pace down 5 seconds for each of the following splits, which means I have a lot of work ahead of me this summer if I want to keep a 8:23 pace and get that Boston qualifying time.

The finish line festival was a little dinky in my opinion. The food was the same as any other race, but there was pretty much nothing else there. They offered a free post-race massage, but there were only about 6 masseuses and the line did not move at all in the 15 minutes I stood there, so I left. I met up with Hai and headed to Eastern Market after taking a ton of pics with our newest medal. With all the advertisements for this race having pics of Abe Lincoln all over them, I was a little disappointed to not see Abe on our medal. I was pleased to find no crowd jams at all inside the metro station. The crowd had cleared out at a gradual pace, especially with all the half marathoners being done over 2 hours ago. At the Marine Corps Marathon, it was so crowded that I waited for two hours inside the eating place next to Rosslyn station and still had to wait in line for another 30 minutes to get into the metro station.

At Eastern Market, we waited at a stand to get crepes. When we got to the front and ordered, the guy asked Hai if he had just run the National Marathon, to which Hai responded, "Yeah, wanna give me a discount?". The guy was so chill and said "Ok, $2 off." Hai pointed at me and said "She ran it too" and the guy looked at me and said "$2 off for you too." My crepe was only $6, so I ended up only have to pay $4 for lunch. I didn't expect him to say yes, let alone take 1/3 of the price off! What's really sad is that after the crepes, we stopped at Starbucks to use the bathroom and I paid 2 cents more for a freakin tall frappuccino than I did for lunch itself!

I really enjoyed this race and would consider doing it again. The scenic route was awesome, as well as waiting inside the armory before the start. I also enjoyed the number of race participants allowed (Frederick was too little that I was running parts of it completely alone and MCM was too much that we were running into each other), the amount of crowd support, and the fact that I was able to get out of there via Metro at an efficient rate. I also enjoyed the flat last mile with the end in sight during the whole mile. National Marathon was a positive experience for me.