And So My Hill Training Begins....

Running the half marathon at the Nike Women's in SF definitely got me wanting to do hill training. Those hills at the marathon were killers for me!

So, I took the opportunity and decided to drive 30 minutes away from my house and join my friends, No Fear and FitChick for some good old fashioned hill training in their neck of the woods. The place was Rocklin, CA (home to where the San Francisco 49er's used to train back in the day, for all you football fans).

There's a neighborhood in this city that's called, Whitney Oaks, that has a whole bunch of hills. One specifically called, " Big Mama." My friends talk about this hill quite often and mention time and time again that she is one big hill and can eat you alive if you let her. Ugh, really?


We meet at 0600 where it's still fairly dark at this time. The weather was awesome by the way. Not even cold. Kinda humid. Felt like a summer night. Perfect for doing hill training. The last thing I needed was it to be windy.

We start to jog up the hill, which by the way, wasn't Big Mama. Ugh, how are we going to have a hill before Big Mama? So mean!!!

Then, after jogging up the little hill, there she was! I didn't get any pictures because I think I was just overwhelmed by the first hill. So, up we go. Tiny little steps is what, No Fear said. Breathe. Tiny little steps.
Breathe. I don't think I was breathing enough as I started to get a little headache. Getting a little hypoxemia? haha, maybe. I probably am exaggerating though.

I had to walk/jog but more walking up this hill. Beyonce couldn't help me up the hill as I had her tune, Single Ladies playing. No Fear said I should have had Britney instead. The incline was so steep. I knew it was steep because when I finally reached the top, the view of up top was gorgeous.

I can't wait to give Big Mama another shot. I look forward to her beating me up again.

Post Race Thoughts.

Since, I've been pretty much elevating my feet and poppin' Ibuprofens left and right, I've been thinking these past few days about the good and bad of my first half marathon.

Frankly, I regret not training hard enough for this marathon. I was not motivated enough to be more disciplined in my running and not to mention eating. I ain't gonna lie, I was eating as if I had a free pass to eat whatever I wanted. I wasn't even putting in the miles necessary to have a great marathon.

After looking at my time for the 5K and my half marthon I am pissed. Post race photo's is another topic to be covered, but I ain't going to go there now. It's funny. After finishing up the last of my boards, I was just complaining of how bored I was with life. I'd come home, make dinner, watch tv, etc. I didn't have a goal to achieve. But, now! Oooooh, but now, I do!!! Yes!!! Does this mean the beginning of becoming obsessed with marathons?

I've already started eating a whole lot better. I vowed to not drink any diet soda's, just water. No more fried foods. Maybe I can sneak in a few fries here and there....hehe, hey I'm a girl! I can't help it. But, really, no more fried foods. Just straight fiber, whole wheat, fruit, and oh yeah NO SUGAR!!!!! Ugh. With this new inspiration, I went ahead and got me a new look. I got bangs!!! I feel super Asian! Like, REALLY SUPER ASIAN with this new look.

I Came. I Saw. I Conquered.

I have officially popped my half marathon cherry. Yeah-Uhh!! Can I get a what, what?

Now, for my "official" post race report. {smiles} But, FYI, this may be a bit too lengthy and wordy and probably boring. So, if you actually read this word for word until the end, props to you my friend.

Saturday morning, the hubs and I head down to San Francisco to attend the expo and pick up my race bib. I knew it was going to be chaotic since it was the last day of the expo.


Once we stepped foot into the tent, my suspicions were right. It was a chaotic hot mess! Literally. There was so many people in there that it felt like a hot sauna.

I did think it was pretty cool that Nike used volunteers who were young teens checking us in, handing out water at the various stations and even cheering us on and holding up their hands to receive high five's!

I wanted to get my gait analyzed and after the hubby coming back with two food freebies and not moving an inch, I just left.

Also, wanted to get a manicure. I mean, I needed my hands to be all stylin' while running, right? But, it was a 90 minute wait. Dam. So, with that, we headed off to Niketown to check out the shiny red wall to see my name.


But first, had to take some pictures in front of this sign!





It was a big ole cluster F at the wall. Thank goodness I'm a "dubyah!". My name was at the bottom and much much easier to find. Once you find your name, I swear it was like a big halo surrounded it making it seem it was the only name there.

We headed on into Niketown to check out the NWM paraphanlia. I knew that I could have waited until all the hype went down and purchased them at a much lower price at the Nike outlets, but it was my first half. I needed to make a splurge, right?

I got me a orangey-red sweatshirt. Ain't she pretty? By this time, we were hungry and plus the hubs wanted to watch his Cal Bears kick UCLA's ass. Go Bears!






While he watched, I looked to see what was in my goody bag. Goody bag was a straight joke. Really, Nike? It contained nothing but coupons! Ok, wait, yes there was a bag of Luna Moons and a fruit strip, but dude! Come On! You can at least make it worthy and put either a water bottle in it or a pair of running socks. Hah! That bag was so light. It felt like nothing was in it.

I also laid out my running attire which I learned to do from reading all the running blogs. I swear, sometimes, reading the blogs are making me OCD. Its fun though! I really thought I didn't forget anything and was so proud of myself. Really proud. Am I thinking too soon? Why, yes! I am. The morning of, about 30 minutes to meeting up with a friend, I find out that I forget my freakin' headphones. Noooooooooo!!!!! I started to panic and aimlessly began to do a websearch of the nearest 24 hour Walgreens. Thankfully, my friend whom I was meeting had an extra pair and I was able to use them. Phew!!!! Thank the Sweet Baby Jesus!!!

Ofcourse, I had a pasta dinner with fellow running friends. Some came from Los Angeles to NYC. The NYC people arrived on Saturday and left Sunday afternoon. Talk about in and out.

I left so stuffed and was scared that I wouldn't be able to sleep right away. We got home around 9'ish and luckily I fell asleep around 1030'ish. But, I did wake up around midnight and managed to fall right back to sleep. Then, I woke up around 330 and tried to get 30 minutes more of shuteye since my alarm clock was scheduled to buzz at 0400. I pretty much just laid there and at 0350, said screw it and began my day. It was race day, folks. Woohooo!!! I was stoked.

We got to the race area about 0645. Pushing it yes, but I was in the 10:00-11:59 pace group and knew we weren't going to start at exactly 0700. It was such a great feeling to be in a race with 20,000 people. Everywhere you looked, you saw nothing but smiles. Loved it!

Finally, it was our turn to start and as we made our way to the starting line, the music was blaring getting me all hyped, crowds aligned the sidewalks cheering us on making me near tears, and everyone around me was just ecstatic that we were finally moving.

When the gun went off, I bid my friend an adieu, wished each other good luck and see you at the finish line! Plus, I kept telling myself, do not gun it. Do not gun it. I didn't and kept a steady pace of 11:30, sometimes 10:30 and felt pretty comfortable. It was really hard to weave myself through the walkers. It was like blind spot running. I always had to look to my left or right before I passed. The last thing I wanted to do was trip and fall or have someone trip and fall.

Mile 1-3. Flat course and loving it. I've always wanted to run along the pier. So, I made sure to fully enjoy the run once we got to the piers. I was smiling and watching runners pull aside and take pictures of the bay behind them. Passed by the gospel singers that were wearing Nike shoes. They started to sing just as I was passing them by. Dam.

At mile 4, I had the feeling of needing to go pee. Dam. Why?? Why now? I never had the urge to suddenly go pee on my long runs or for that matter, short runs. F. I decide to skip the porta potties at mile 4 and just suck it up. But, by the time Mile 6 came along, I really had to go. Only, there was only ONE FREAKIN' porta potty. Say what? Why would you do that??? I got in line and called the hubby and told him where I was at. Then, I just said, "screw it." " I'm gonna suck it up until I see more than one porta potty." I didn't want my time to be all screwed up because I had to go pee. To hell with my kidneys.

So, I go up the big ass hill. Saw a slew of old men dressed in speedo's. I guess they were swimming in the bay. But dang, why you gotta sport yourself like that? Put on a towel! I wanted to take a picture so badly, but didn't want to make it so obvious. Oh, but my friend got one! Hah! Seee!! They didn't give a F!

Ok, as I digress.....

Man, that was quite a hill. Never did any hill training and man, was I short of breathe. But guess what! When I got to the top of the hill, I saw a row of porta potties. Ran in and pee'd and bam I was out there. Loved all the downhills. They were like a relief to me. But, man those hills. It felt like they were never ending.

Going up another hill at I think is about Mile 8. Saw all these " Blah blah like a girl" signs along the way. I think I was getting delirious because at one point, I think one sign said, " Trach like a girl." Did a double take and it said, " Teach like a girl."

At Mile 9, I started to feel my toes cramp on BOTH feet and my right achilles tendon cramp. Had to pull aside to stretch it out. I kept telling myself, " come on, relax toes!!!"

Mile 10, I hardly remember. I think there was another hill at this time. Dam, those hills.

Mile 11 I started to cramp again and was getting pissed because I only had 3 more miles to go and was bothered that my muscles decide to cramp on my then. Ugh. So stretch it out again it was! By the way, there was another hill here, too!

Mile 12 I was cruising in Golden Gate Park and saw a few of my friends there. That was a great site to see as I have been running alone throughout the course. I envied the TNT runners with all their support, coaches, and mentors. Cramps were coming and going a little bit and I had to walk a bit as I didn't want to fall or do something embarrassing. Yeah, the last thing that was on my mind was embarrassing myself. I'm so vain. I swear.

Anyways, I can hear the crowds getting louder and I began to run once I did. It was cool to finally see support and cheer us on. Once I saw the finish line, I began to gun it because I wanted to get this done already.

I was so tired by the time I crossed the finish line that I didn't even look at the SF firefighter who was handing me my blue box. So embarrassing and how rude of me. I cringe when I look at this picture. I mean, the dude is smiling as he's giving me the blue box and I'm just like just hand me the box.

Final time 3:20. I really really wanted to make my PR of under 3 hours. I blame it on my lack of hill training to which I decided to walk up the hills and run down the hills. I guess, you can say that I've learned my lesson and will begin hill training more now. But, I finished my first half and am so happy that its over and done with. Next up is Turkey 10K trot in Davis, CA and Las Vegas Rock n' Roll Half in December.

p.s. Here's my Tiffany necklace.

First Half Marathon

I'm running my very first half marathon this weekend. It's the infamous, " Run Like a Girl, " Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. Wooohooo!!! I am so excited right now. The nervousness hasn't hit me yet. But, the race dreams have surely arrived! I swear, the day before running my first 5K, I had some crazy race dreams. Now, yet another race has arrived and I'm going through them again. What's up with that? Do any of you experience race dreams a few days before your races?

Right now, I'm packing my suitcase. The hubby and I are staying in the city tomorrow night to pick up my lovely bib and race goody bag as well as attend the highly anticipated expo! Oh yeah, pasta dinner with friends, too!

I'm packing two race outfits because I can't make up my mind of which outfit to wear. I'm pretty sure I'll be sporting the green and black/white ensemble, but you never know. I may not be feelin' that fit the day of the morning.

Uploaded a ton of songs last night onto my iPod. I'm diggin' the new Britney Spears song, 3. It's pretty upbeat and fast. Got several kick ass DJ mixes as well that are each about 4 hours long! If any of you are into hip hop, r&b, old school 80's and/or 90's songs, check out Scotty Fox's remixes here. He's a San Francisco DJ for the radio station, KMEL. The songs automatically upload onto your iTunes. Loooooooooooove that!!!!

Ok, gotta go back to packing. I hope I don't forget anything. Good luck to everyone who are running marathons this weekend.

Miss Domino Mag?

Miss Domino magazine? Check out LonnyMag.com.

My college friend, Michelle Roque is the design director for this new and upcoming online design magazine. They just released their first online issue today and I am super duper excited for her and the magazine. They have received alot of support from vendors such as West Elm, Williams Sonoma, Design Sponge, Shelter Pop, etc. So, hopefully, they'll be able to produce more issues. Word is that more issues may come out since the editors are going to Paris for the next issue. Let's keep our fingers crossed for this online magazine's success!

Michelle was one of my kick it buddies back in college. I'd always go to her house after class to just hang, eat, and whatnot. I remember, I was taking a pottery class in my last semester of college. I really thought I'd enjoy the class. Shit, that class was hard as hell. The movie, Ghost, made it looks so easy, yes? Anyways, the stuff I put out was so fugly. They were heavy, thick rimmed and just plain shitty! Till this day, I'm surprised I got a B in the class. At the end of the semester, we had to take the stuff we made home. I thought it would be nice to gift some of the stuff I made to Michelle and her roommate. Now, I was planning on gifting them the best of the best, which was probably like 2 or 3 items, if that.

The looks on their faces when I dropped off my pottery was priceless. I wish I could hear the shit talking after I left their apartment. Boy, oh boy. What is sweet is that they still have the stuff I gave them because, well, I made it and gave it to them. So sweet, huh? I think it was. They are too, too kind.

She was one of my first friends to take the fatty risk and move to NYC to attend Parson's college. Parsons as in Tim Gunn. Gotta give it to her for making that change. It takes alot of courage to decide to up and move to NYC and on your own for that matter.

She also does freelance design work. --just sayin'. :D I was lucky enough to have her design my table/menu signs to match my invitation design. Loved her for that. She even was able to do some very last minute changes to a couple of them on the day of my wedding. OMG. I think that and my hairdresser team coming late was my two stressful moments.

Anyways, check out the magazine and I hope you like it. Don't forget to bookmark it!!!