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After over two years, I finally ran my first “competitive” road race this past Sunday at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. I put competitive in quotes, because 1) it was just for fun and 2) I’m not good enough of a runner (nor ever will be) to compete against any REAL runners. But to be honest, it was really fun just to be running with a group of people again. Weaving through the throngs of joggers and walkers, conjuring up the energy to blow by slower runners and just running with like-minded people are some of the reasons I love running these races.
With me possibly moving to Denver, CO in the next couple of months and leaving my favorite sports teams behind for the time being, being able to run the warning track again was special. What’s more, my “return” to races couldn’t have come at a better place, since I ran the Angels 5K at the same place 3 years ago. That was also my first 5K, which I finished at an abysmal 33 minutes or something.
I finished this year at 28:41:00 which gave me a pace of 9:14/mile. I think I could have done maybe 30-50 seconds better, since there was a lot of congestion at key areas of the race, but I’m happy with my time; This just gives me added incentive to improve my time and train harder/smarter.
Okay, after my two week trip to France and another two week hiatus from my blog, I am back!
Catalina Day 2 coming soon, but for now, here are my pictures from France to tide you over.
Also, it seems like World Cup fever has gripped America!
I’m not going to have time to upload pictures of Day 2 for a couple weeks (or more) since I’m going to France tomorrow for a couple weeks (ooh-la-la.) So for now, here’s my photo album on Facebook of Catalina days 1, 2 and 3.
So au revoir for now!
I’m a week late, but I’m finally getting around to posting pictures and a trip-report for my Catalina Island backpacking trip with my brother-in-law Vu. I brought along my AMOD AGL3080 GPS Data Logger and it worked fabulously; the trip log of our first day is the picture above. The weather was pretty good hiking weather for both days; since it was nice and overcast we didn’t get too hot and fatigued. But the downside to that was that our pictures of the coastline weren’t as nice as they could’ve been, since the water is normally multiple shades of crystal blue.
For day one, we started in Long Beach and took the Catalina Express to Avalon. We grabbed lunch with my sister, niece and mom and took off on a shuttle that would take us from Avalon to Catalina’s airport, the ‘Airport in the Sky.’ Our goal for day one was hiking from the airport down to Little Harbor, a little over six miles away. Day two would take us from Little Harbor to Two Harbors, a small town on the north side of the island.
 Leaving Long Beach Downtown port.
 First look at Avalon in Catalina.
 Leaving my sister/mom/niece’s hotel room, geared up and ready to go.
 Yes, my pack is a lot bigger than Vu’s; I was the pack mule for the trip 
Continue reading Catalina Island Backpacking Trip Part 1
Yes, I’m using the same image I did the last time this happened because I just became the victim of credit card fraud on the SAME CARD (different CC numbers obviously.) It’s been almost two years since my last credit card fraud happened, but luckily, Bank of America has been just as vigilant now as it has been in the past and caught the mistake(s) before me.
I got this e-mail a couple mornings ago and they asked me to call them regarding some charges I made. They listed off a bunch of purchases made at fast food restaurants, like El Pollo Loco, Pizza Hut and KFC. Some of the charges were ridiculous ($200 at El Pollo Loco? What did they do, order catering?) while the rest were multiple $50 charges (these idiots must have been feeding families of 20, sheesh.) These fat assholes must have thought they were pretty clever by making repeated charges in low denominations, rather than four-figure charges at upscale clothiers. Well obviously they weren’t smart enough because they got exposed within a day.
The most disconcerting part about this though is the fact that just like last time, these charges were made at brick & mortar stores, not online stores. That means that somewhere and somehow, the information on my credit card’s magnet is being cloned and duplicated by some unscrupulous individuals. I don’t know if they can steal this information online and then imprint it onto a blank credit card magnet, but I’m assuming that they physically need the card in their hands in order to duplicate. And if so, I can only assume that this is happening at a gas station or at a restaurant because those are the only times the card is out of my sight.
The moral of the story: Use your credit card, not debit card! When these assholes scam your credit card, they’re screwing with the bank’s money, not yours. BofA already reversed all the charges and are sending me a new card.
Update 5/20/10: I finally got an itemized list of the fraudulent charges: Without going into too much detail, there were repeated charges of $50 and $250 at two fast food chains in Irvine, CA. Since the charges are local, I am going to have to assume that my credit card was cloned when I handed my card to a waiter; I can’t think of any other situations where my card would be out of my sight.
If you’ve been following me on Facebook or Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that I’m slowly but surely running higher mileage, faster and more consistently. So as I slowly build up strength and endurance, as previously noted I have also been running pain free (*knock on wood*) for a while now. And since I’m running with less/no pain, I’m free to start buying shoes and gear again.
Since this whole barefoot running craze seems to be focused on a midfoot strike, I decided to give the New Balance MF 800 running shoes a shot. They’re more of a traditional running shoe, being heavier and stiffer than my Nikes. But I bought them with the reasoning that since they’re more cushioned, they could be my long-distance shoe. So far, I’m not blown away by these shoes but on the same token, they aren’t horrible.
I had written off my Nike Free 3.0s because I read rumors online about Nike discontinuing the product and going with a replacement model, the Free Run+. It was impossible to find them in stores or online for five months, so even though I was in love with my 3.0s, I would never be able to buy a spare pair for when the originals died. Well it was quite a surprise for me to see on the Nike website that they have the Free 3.0s back in stock!
And finally, there’s the closest thing to barefoot running experience without actually being barefoot, the Vibram Five Fingers. I have been eyeing the VFF KSO model for a while now, either as a running “shoe” or just a pair of “shoe” to walk around in. In fact, I checked 3 stores in the San Jose area and 4 stores in Orange County looking for them, but they’re all sold out. And now that they have a VFF specifically designed for running (VFF Bikila), I’m definitely not sure which to get.
I have a backorder for the Vibrams on REI’s website, but I’m debating whether to cancel the backorder and stick with the tried and true and get another pair of Nike Free 3.0. Decisions, decisions…
So I’m really liking the redesign of Bausch + Lomb’s renu contact solution, but how long until some idiot kid gets sick from drinking the contact solution because he thinks it’s water?
(Canon 5D2, 24-70L, f/2.8, 1/60)
There was a point in the past couple of years that I would’ve never imagined I’d be running for 3 months straight without going down with some debilitating knee, shin or foot pain, but wow. I’ve been running at least twice a week since around February with some minor aches here and there, but there hasn’t been anything that’s caused me to shut down for an extended period of time.
My biggest enemy right now is getting too caught up in increasing my mileage and ignoring any cross-training (finally got my mountain bike tuned up) and rest days for my legs to recover. But so far, I’ve been fairly good at resting and making sure I don’t overdo anything.
Also, for the first time in two years, I was able to run 3 miles straight without taking any walk breaks to catch my breath. I know it’s not monster mileage, but I’m happy to have been able to safely increase my endurance and mileage to this point.
Also, I’ve lost 7 lbs. by exercising (running, dragonboat, gym) and (kid of) watching what I eat. I’ve definitely cut down on soda, fast food and candy, but that’s not to say that I’ve eliminated them completely from my diet. Moderation is key.
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I’m heading out to Northern California tomorrow for a few days to hang out with old friends. (Un)Luckily for me, the supercharger pulley on my C32 went out right before the trip, so I was able to get it taken care of under my extended warranty. That’ll be the last thing that’s covered under warranty since I’ll be over 100,000 miles by the time I get back from my trip. Frankly, having a German car that’s over 100,000 miles is a frightening prospect, especially when you take into account that said German car is a “special” model that costs even more to maintain.
Can’t wait! Now I just need to pack…
Way back in the Wild West days of the internet almost a decade ago, I used to have my website(s) hosted on sites like Geocities, which were chock full of annoying pop-ups and banner ads. I made the decision to lay down a little money for a dedicated domain and server, free from the tyranny of invasive pop-up ads and annoying embedded advertisements.
Well guess what bitches! You see that? That’s a banner ad for my Amazon affiliate link. If you ever buy anything from Amazon, feel free to click through that banner ad, help put a little coin in my piggy bank and help keep this website running. I feel like I’m selling out, but since I love shopping at Amazon and believe in their system, I don’t feel the slightest twinge of guilt.
Gracias.
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