See Gabby Run

Oh Boy!

2010-04-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

I'm currently 26 weeks pregnant and am expecting a boy!!! My dream of being a mother is coming true. I will be taking a 3-D ultrasound in a few weeks and hope to post of photo of my son, how exciting is that?!

Since learning of my pregnancy I ceased running, but have been walking daily. I've been walking to my old high school where I've been student teaching, observing teachers, and tutoring. On top of that I attend night classes at SJSU to earn my teaching credentials. It may sound like a lot to take on while pregnant but it's not too bad with proper time management. I make time for sleep, eating, homework, reading, lesson planning, grading papers, cooking and cleaning and relaxing. In fact, I manage my time so well that I started a vegetable garden.

I've planted three different types of tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos, bell peppers, egg plants, cucumbers, zucchini, and carrots-all from seeds. Most are in pots but my sweet and loving husband prepared a large portion of our backyard for a vegetable garden. As soon as my seedlings are big and strong enough I'll be transplanting and taking photos. Mmm, I can't wait to taste my harvest this summer.

So, if I have plenty of time for all these activities why haven't I blogged? I blame Facebook. It's so easy to write a short blurb on anything everyday than to write a blog entry. Well, that's my excuse. I'll try to be do better.

Way too busy to blog

2009-11-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

Hello followers, that is if I have any, I've been swamped with school work and haven't been able to blog. Since my last entry I ran in the Nike Women's Marathon with a time of 4:53. Not great but I finished it. As usual I ran with my camera and took several shots, but due to too much knee pain I didn't take many. I also came down with a fever after the run that prevented me from celebrating at the victory party.

Now I am completely consumed with papers to write, readings, and projects. I'll be completely done with all of this right before Thanksgiving and will update you on everything complete with photos.

The only other big thing to happen to me was receiving my Christmas gift early, a Nikon D90 digital SLR camera! It arrived today complete with a Nikon D90 for Dummies. What a great gift to receive at such a bad time, in the midst of all my project and paper deadlines. Doh.

Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon and Stuff

2009-10-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Ah, I'm so behind in my blogging because of classes and tutoring and marathon training! So, here's an update of it all.

SJSU

Number of classes-4.
Number of units-14.
Days I tutor-2, from 8am to 2pm.
Number of papers written-14.
Number of demos for science class-1. Conductivity of solutions. How neat is that?!

Training

Total mileage-255.8 miles!
Blisters-lost count after 20. :-(
Bloody ankles-2.
Races-2. SF Half and San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.
Best quote heard on a race to racers in front of me-"Remember, this is your hobby not your job-smile!"
Ice baths-8. That's 80 minutes of sitting in ice water!
Days until Nike Women's Marathon-6! That's next Sunday, October 18th!
Total raised-$1,735! Thanks to all who've donated.

I completed the Rock 'n' Roll half in 2:11:33. Not my fastest time (2:04:07 in SF Half) but a great run regardless. Live music played around every mile keeps us all smiling, laughing, singing and clapping. Some tunes had a nice running cadence beat to them, too. The best part aside from running my my favorite running buddy Victoria, running into several TNT captains and Coach Tim, having a TNT cheering section, seeing my family support me in front of my brother's apartment along the race path, a great chorizo breakfast at my brother's apartment, the ice bath afterward the run, is the fact that I was not sore at all. I didn't hurt at all after the 20 miles the weekend before and the race. How awesome is that?!

Because of my awesomeness there is something I have developed, a nervous-stress-not enough sleep-eye twitch. Thankfully I'm going to have a short break from school after the race for a little R & R. My next stop, Yosemite! Now I just have to plan the trip. Any tips of where in Yosemite to hike or stay? Let me know. It's my first time visiting.

Photos:

Conductivity of solutions. Practicing at home
Me in my bath tub immersed in icy water. Eight times people.
Me and Victoria running at the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll half at mile 5. Photo taken by Jennifer Ibarra, TNT mentor and runner.

Running and Eating

2009-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. It's been a while since I last posted anything here. I didn't go anywhere, really, I just haven't had time to blog or snap photos. Here's why: reading, writing, class, tutoring, class, reading, writing, tutoring, class, some more of the same and running when I can fit it in. Well, I'm back to write and post a few photos.

If you look above this blog you'll see a slide show of the 18 mile training run in San Francisco on Sept. 12th. This was a run to remember because there was rain, thunder, lightning and in some parts hail! The rain washed away some of the chalk marking showing up where to run in Golden Gate Park but my group and I managed to find a way out back down the Great Highway and around Lake Merced.

The team ran 20 miles this pass weekend along the beautiful Monterrey coast. Was I there? Nooo. I was a good girl and attended my Mainstreaming (Special Education) class from 9 am to 4 pm that day. I did run 20 miles yesterday, though. Captain Mike Z. lead the make-up run for four TNTers along the Los Gatos Creek Trail starting from Campbell Park. When I arrived at the park at 6:15 am a small TNT cheer team showed up. Coach Tim, Captain Steve S., and mentor Ilya showed up to send us off. Coach Tim ran with Monica, Latoya, and Lindsay part of the way, too! How awesome is that?! And Captain Rich H. was there to run us in at the end while Cap. Mike rode his bike up and down the trail supplying us with water. What a great team! Thanks for all your support guys!

The run was lonely at first but once I broke up the run into four parts and got into the rhythm and pace I did well. I find that breaking up a long run into manageable portions make the run go by faster and doesn't wear me out mentally. But lets get down to a very important aspect of running, something Mentor Jen loves, eating. Everyone runner knows the sooner you're done with a long training run the sooner you can eat, you know, for recovery purposes, and eat I did.

My husband has had a hankering for dim sum lately and his cravings were finally satisfied after my run.

From the top left hand corner going clockwise are the first items we chose off the dim sum carts. Tender marinated chicken feet, so delicious; bean curd, a.k.a tofu, stuffed with vegetables; tripe marinated in ginger, garlic, and dressed with jalapenos, has a great snap to it and a tremendous flavor; steamed pork dumplings; steamed BBQ pork buns; and shrimp stuffed eggplants. But wait, there's more.

Okay, not that much more but two extra dishes. A plate of Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and a large bowl of rice porridge with 1,000 year old eggs, a fermented black egg. It was all washed down with hot Jasmine Tea and as Alton Brown would say, it's good eats. Now I regret not ordering honey walnut prawns and a sweet beans for dessert.

As every long distance runner knows, your stomach is like an endless pit after a training run. I hate to admit this but I actually ate two Taco Bell tacos two hours later and ate a bowl of seafood pasta from Frankie, Johnnies, and Luigi's for dinner. Not including the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, oranges, and banana I ate directly after the run. Or the bowl of oatmeal and banana I ate before the run, and the great deal of water and other fruits I consumed throughout the remainder of the day. I feel gross just thinking about the amount I ate but it was so worth it.

Now back to reading and homework.

A Healthy Labor Day Dinner

2009-09-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Today, of all days, I didn't feel like eating a traditional Labor Day meal. I said no to hamburgers and hot dogs, no to potato salad, no to carne asada, no to grilled chicken, and a big fat no to anything laden with overly sweet barbecue sauce. No to soda, no to salty chips, no beer, and no to manufactured processed boxed foods; basically no to anything artificial fat filled and artery clogging. To be honest with you, it's not that satisfying.

For years my husband and I would go to friends homes or my families places and eat all of the above. Of course my family will add extras like hot links, refried beans, Spanish rice, at least three different kinds of salsa and guacamole, grilled green onions and corn, and plenty of corn tortillas to go around, which isn't bad at all-in fact I really love my family's take on it-but it does becoming a little boring and passe. Especially when it's a lot of the same food for most family gatherings. So this year my husband and I decided to do Labor Day the way we like to eat, fresh and healthy.

Our meal began with sliced organic orange tomatoes with a slice of mozzarella cheese with a hint of salt and balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes are so sweet that I ate an entire tomato by itself! This is a great dinner in itself with a great piece of toasted or grilled bread topped with basil or an organic baby green salad.

Yummy grilled zucchini and yellow squash marinated in olive oil and salt. I can never get enough of this summer squash. Also great in a sandwich. Grilled eggplant is a great substitute too paired with marinated grilled red bell peppers.

The always delicious salmon powdered with lemon pepper and olive oil. Add a little lemon and I'm in salmon heaven.

I cannot deny my Mexican roots and not eat grilled corn whenever the grill is out during the summer. I bought white corn on the cob and husked it all.

I don't grill corn with the husk on. I like my corn grilled, I think you can taste the sweetness more this way than boiling it or steaming it in it's husks. This way you don't need to add any butter. Mmm, I can still smell the sweet corm on my table.

We did eat our meal with white rice, not the best carbs out there but it's what we have on hand and my husbands favorite. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the fact that I forgot to snap a picture of freshly steamed rice. I'll take one the next time if you really interested, though.

All in all with our portions weighed out and using FitDay.com to calculate our caloric intake, this meal was under 700 calories. Not a lot and not a heavy meal for a really tasty and nutritious meal.

I hope your Labor Day was great tasting too! Now get back to work, or school. :-)

New Shoes!!!

2009-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

It's time I retired my running shoes. They're filthy, starting to tatter, blood stained, the insoles giving up their support, plus the tread is wearing out having over 317 miles on them, I'm shocked I waited this long.

So, I went to Runners Revolution and picked up my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS! There I happened to run into Jen. It was great catching up with one of my running mates and didn't realize how much I missed her and the rest of the Team. I don't have class or tutoring this upcoming Thursday and I hope to make it to the Buddy Run at 6 am. So peeps, bug me!

As you can see my new shoes are pristine and gleaming. My old ones looked like that once, before Rancho San Antonio, and other dusty parks. I won't be long before my new ones look like the pair they're replacing. With this comparison looking at me whenever I walk into my apartment, I'll make sure to wash my shoes after a dusty run in the future.

Now to break in my new shoes! With my Achilles chafed skin wound healing nicely, and not wanting to aggravate it more, I put on the thickest running socks I own to cushion it- my Team In Training socks!

Ahh! That should do it, and it did! I ran eight miles at Campbell Park with little pain. The first few steps did hurt but quickly dissipated. Soon enough the plantar fasciitis acted up and my foot went a little numb. After several more minutes of stretching and loosing up my laces my little aches went away. Or my pain tolerance has gone up. Either way I know that I must roll my foot more often now that my runs have reached double digits.

Next weekend 18 miles at Lake Merced! Whoo-hoo!

Autumn

2009-09-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Theme Thursday! Today's theme is beginning. I hope you like where my interpretation goes.

Autumn has many ways of indicating it's here. The air turns crisp, the days grow shorter, the leaves turns to brilliant colors in many places around our country, unfortunately the Bay Area doesn't see much of it. Empty classrooms are filled once again with students excited to see their friends to show off their new clothes and gear. The college bound, like myself, are a little nervous about the curriculum.

According to science, the beginning of autumn is Sept. 22, 2009; 5:18 P.M. EDT. For me, the beginning autumn is not signified by the start of school, the turning of the leaves, nor the cooler weather. No, autumn begins when Starbucks starts offering their fall special, and my all time favorite flavored coffee, the Pumpkin Spiced Latte! Yummy!

Nothing makes me happier than sipping on hot coffee while reading or surfacing the net. Oh, but the joy of sipping a hot pumpkin flavored coffee makes me happier. No matter how disorganized my Multicultural Foundations class is, or how many times the course syllabus contradicts itself (I found five so far), and the daunting number of pages that must be read over the course for this class alone, Starbucks' Pumpkin Spiced always melts the stress away.

Now I'm sitting here at the library with my class readers out, ready to read 75 pages of racism, social injustice, poverty, and activism in the classroom and I'm so glad I have my coffee.

Yes, 75 pages of double pages! Now that's a lot. Now if I put my camera away and finish my readings.

If you haven't clued in yet, I love pumpkin. With that said, autumn also begins with pumpkin pies are being sold in the supermarkets. And as a mid-afternoon snack I cave in and have a slice of pumpkin pie. I did not pair it with the PSL. :-)

Runners Brain + Math = Doh!

2009-08-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

The results of this equation are at the end of this entry via photos.

The alarm goes off when the whole world is snoring in a deep state of slumber way before the sun rises, and here I am getting out of bed. As soon as I'm standing my husband of four and half years whose back was towards me rolls to my side and clasps onto my pillow. I need to get ready to make up the Team In Training Coach led run I missed yesterday due to class.

Fully dressed to run 16 miles, I eat my instant oatmeal and banana. My fuel belt it fully loaded with my favorite GU, Outrageous Chocolate and Tri-Berry, along with Lemon Gatorade. Out the door and at Campbell Park before 7 am. Ten minutes worth of stretching and I'm off.

Along the trail I run to Willow Glen and back to Campbell. Five miles done, great, 11 miles to go. Here is where things become a little tricky, by mile six on my way to Los Gatos the back of my foot above the heel is being scratched and burns. The top of the sock falls below my ankles leaving my bare skin exposed the high back of my shoe. Now to run ten miles while my shoes rub the skin off the back of my feet. Ugh. Ignore the pain. It's not there. Listen to the whistle, is what I tell myself.

The whistle is new to my running regimen. It's an ordinary whistle with a ball inside that I hope to never use to ward off attackers. But the ball, is bounces inside the whistle with every stride. It sounds like I'm running with a rattle. There's no way I'm sneaking up behind anyone. Dogs in the surrounding neighborhoods bark as I approach and pass their homes. You can hear them barking several yards away. People walking or running their dogs look behind them to see where the rattle is coming from. A couple of dogs whimper and a few lunge for me. Some passersby leer and seem annoyed. You try running so many miles listening to this.

I'm tired and need to use a restroom bad when I reach mile ten. Luckily I know a little league field is quickly coming up complete with restrooms. I rejoice and smile with the little sign points to the field. I stop my watch and go. Hmm, mile 10.48, I'll need to turn around soon. This is where the Doh! part of the title comes in.

The math here is simple. I ran five miles, two and half miles out and two and half miles back is five, subtract from 16 and you're left with 11 miles left. Divide 11 by two and you have five and half. From Campbell to Los Gatos I need to run out five and half miles and turn around. Easy, add five to five and half to get ten and half. I need to turn around at mile 10.5, at the little league field, but that's not what I do.

No, I continue south bound deeper into Los Gatos. Pass the little league field, crossing Highway 17 on a bridge painted with murals from the local children, pass Los Gatos High School and towards the Lexington Dam. Why did I do this? Because I added 5.5 to 6 rather than 5. Why? Runners brain. There's a point when a runner is tired and stops thinking other than running and finishing. That was me. I ran an extra mile after my turn around point. Of course I realize this when I turn around. Now I'm in for 18 miles. Wah!

I cut corners where ever I can which is hardly anywhere. I stop at mile 16 and walk the remainder two miles. I am not going to run 18. My bleeding heels, back of my feet, whatever you want to call that part of the body hurts. My legs are sore and my knee is bothering me. And the heat? It's climbing. Yesterday it was in the 90s by 10 am, today it's a lot cooler but still warm. I'm tired and just want to go home.

After completing my 16 mile run and two mile walk I immediately call my husband. I was suppose to call him when I was done but told him to call me if he didn't hear from me by 9:30 am. I left my mobile phone in the car. By the time I call it's nearly 10:30, an hour late.

I go home and before I prepare myself for an ice bath I show him my boo-boos. Take a look for yourself.

Yep, it hurts.

How was I able to run 10 miles and walk 2 miles like this?

As of today these shoes are retired. They are blood stained and surpassed 300 miles.

Not looking forward to this...

because it hurts! My husband heard me howl at the other end of our apartment.
I've retired these socks too!

Missing My Team

2009-08-29T17:01:00.001-07:00

Today was my first of three Saturday classes. A Special Education class that runs from 9 am to 4 pm. Because of this class I've missed a coach led run this morning, a 16 miler! After receiving and ready the syllabus for the class I noticed that our next meeting will be on September 26th, my last coach led run for Team In Training. The last run is our 20 miler!

I cannot skip this class and I cannot join the second section because it's taught by another instructor. The only thing I can do is go to class and run 20 miles by myself on Sunday. No one to run with, no water stops and no one to greet and applaud my efforts. I really do miss my Team.

My class did save me from running in 90 to 100 degree heat this morning. Another plus is a forecast of an 80 degree high tomorrow meaning a sweet cool Sunday morning. I think I'll start my run at 6 am just to make sure to avoid the sun and the heat.

Kudos to all my teammates that did run in the blazing sun and heat today and ran between 16 to 18 miles. You guys rock!

So Hungry!

2009-08-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have forgotten what being a college student is like. You lug around your heavy books and laptop everywhere. You cannot leave your belongings alone either, hence packing everything away and lugging it with you whenever you want to get a drink of water or use the restroom. Trust me it blows. Without a refrigerator to keep your lunch or food cool you must carry an lunch bag or, like everyone here, buy all your meals while hauling everything with you.

In a open university with a very public library you cannot afford to leave your belongings alone. Students and very random sketchy looking people roam the floors and between the bookcases. No one can be trusted. This fact alone makes me rethink bringing my laptop. I'd like to leave my desk for a bathroom break without worry. In just the two short hours I've been at the library I've seen three students walk several times with all their belongings to purchase a bottle of water and to use the restroom. I'm starting to rethink bringing my laptop to class. On the other hand I'm not sure how I'll type up my writing assignments during my free time.

I do remember that student's that drive to campus and miraculously find a parking spot use their vehicles as a locker. But many students come via bus or light rail and don't have any such luck. I fall into the latter category. I don't want to drive to campus nor do I want to purchase a parking permit for a hundred some odd dollars. Paying my student fees, which comes close to three grand, and having to pay my PT bill which is another $1200, and being offered a free VTA (bus and lightrail) pass, I'll save my money and catch the lightrail to campus. Besides, the money I save on parking and gas will go towards the purchase of a $7 dollar sandwich. This is where I have to admit, I don't want to buy.

No, I'm not being cheap; I'm just being cautious with my money. I'll feel a bit more comfortable buying sandwiches once I start receiving my severance checks but until then I have no choice but to purchase my sandwiches and coffee.

Hm, it looks like I'll have to go grocery shopping for food that won't spoil and coffee.

Well, it's not that bad. Really, it isn't. My classes are in the evenings and I'm only on campus early to receive a TB test and to have the results read. If it weren't for that I'd be at home eating, watching TV, and attempting to read my assignments. Good news, I finished reading my assignments last night and am working on my writing assignment here at the library. Without food, or water, or my favorite magic potion, coffee. It won't be like this next week. It won't.

Oh, the sun has moved higher into the sky and my little nook by the window in the library on the seventh floor is now bright! Too bright for the likes of me. Sitting by the window is great except when the sun shines down on me and makes me hot. I'll have to find a different window facing the opposite side of the sun. Perhaps this is a good time for lunch. Or maybe not. I'll wait a little while longer before I have to go downstairs and buy lunch and coffee. I don't want to wait in long lines carrying my heavy laptop and heavy class reader.

Boo. I think my age is starting to catch up with me.

Caffeine Headaches

2009-08-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Since I stopped working I've also stopped drinking coffee, or I should say espresso. Soon came the caffeine headaches. With no coffee maker in the house and no horrible instant coffee I learned to numb my brain by watching daytime television. No, not soaps but anything on TLC or Discovery. This worked until I started class this week.

By attending night classes I realized that I absolutely need coffee to stay alert. Ack. I should have bought and drank my coffee earlier in the day, like, before 3 pm instead of drinking it at 6 pm. As you can see by looking at the time this was written and posted that I am still wired. This is bad and good.

Let's start with the good, shall we. I am quite alert and can start some of my many readings. I can stay up and watch Conan. (I'm usually in bed by the time he starts at 11:30 pm.) I can do what I'm doing now, blogging, and I can start on some of my writing assignments. So basically I can get some of my work done.

Now for the bad. I'm going to bed really really late which means I'll wake up really really late the next morning. Going to bed late also means going to bed once my husband has fallen asleep. How is this a bad thing you ask-he snores! By being in bed asleep before he joins me I avoid hearing his snoring. Going to bed at the same time I can avoid it before it really kicks in. There is no way I can avoid it tonight since my hubby went to bed 3o minutes ago. Ugh.

Let me tell you what happened yesterday. I drank a cup of coffee around 3 pm and wasn't able to fall asleep until 3 am. It was a combo of caffeine keeping me up and hearing my husband snore. Guess what time I woke up. Go ahead, take a guess. I woke up at 10:30 am today. I never sleep in that late, but since I'm not tutoring yet I didn't need to wake up. But what time am I going to go to bed tonight since I had a cup at 6 pm?! What time am I going to wake up tomorrow, or should I say later this morning? I'm a bit scared. Luckily I don't have any classes tomorrow and can sleep in. But what about Thursday and next week when I start tutoring for the AVID program at 8 in the morning?

I have one more night class this week on Thursday. Class starts at 5 pm so I'll be drinking my cup of coffee way before that. I think I'll drink it soon after lunch. Think that will work? Let's hope it does. I'll figure it out by the end of next week.

Missing Track For...

2009-08-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Science Methods. Tonight's class is a five hour long lab where two current science teachers instruct/coach/answer/counsel/demonstrate for us future science teachers. In Science Methods I'll learn

The nature and purposes of science and science teaching.
Science curricula, present and future.
Teaching skills and strategies.
How to promote, evaluate, and assess student active learning.
Classroom management, discipline, seating, safety, etc.
Teaching English learners, multi-cultural classroom instruction, sensitivity issues, motivational techniques, etc.
Your role as a professional science teacher.

to meet all California Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs). (More acronyms!) With it comes a lot of reading and writing and lesson planning and it's with other science teachers!

Tonight we went over a salt water-fresh water ice demo (which will melt the ice faster, salty water or fresh water? Do you know?), an intro to science teaching (how students perceive a word differently without the use of a model or specific instruction or definition, especially new science vocabulary), setting up class rules and procedures without using the words Don't and No (a little hard to do but you spin the rules with a positive outlook), and learning how to implement the Ticket to Leave the class (journal entry about what was learned) by doing it at the end of every class session.

This was a lot of new information to take in for the first class, and I have to admit it was fun, and it's going to be a lot of hard work (the syllabus is 17 pages long!) and I'm so ready for it.

EL, ELL, ESL, etc.

2009-08-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

Walking around my alma mater earlier in the day was a bit trippy. I wanted to write a blog entry describing how I felt walking here and there. Something about the effect of walking the same grounds exactly ten years ago as a freshman wondering how tough college was going to be and pondering what and where I'd be after graduating. One thing is for sure, I never thought that I'd be back to earn a teaching credential to teach high school science. I can go on and on on how young the students look, how much certain areas on campus changed, which buildings I took classes in and which building I never stepped a foot in, etc., but I won't. My first night class of three was held today and completely intrigued me, who are California's English Learners and their corresponding programs?

English Learners (EL), English Language Learners (ELL), English as a Second Language (ESL), Limited English Proficient (LEP), Fluent English Proficient (FEP), Re-designated Fluent English Proficient (R-FEP), Cross Cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD), Bi-cross Cultural Language and Academic Development (BCLAD), and there's seven more. There's more acronyms for English Learners and their appropriate programs than FDR's New Deal. Seriously! They're all different names to label students on how little or how much English they know. But why so many labels? All to determine different English teaching styles and programs to receive federal funding. Good thing or not? Hmm, I'm not quite sure yet.

I'm intrigued but at the same time flabbergasted at all the nonsensical acronyms for testing students and labeling them. It's great that there are many programs to teach non-native English speakers English but there aren't programs for poor speaking native English speakers. Remember the whole controversy over Ebonics? Poor inner city blacks speaking their own version of English, does that ring a bell? What about them?

This is just a little snippet of what's to come for my Literacy and Language Development for L2 (English) Learners class. Simply put, this class will certify me to teach students whose primary language isn't English. There's a lot of reading involved in this class and a lot of writing assignments. Is it crazy to say that I'm actually looking forward to it?

Tomorrow: Science Methods.

Bust

2009-08-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Running at Rancho San Antonio Park Reserve did not happen this morning. As Victoria and I drove pass the full lower parking lots and the full first upper parking lot we knew all the other parking lots were full. This park has become very very popular over the pass couple of years, but no parking at 6:40 am! What the heck? I drove from parking lot to parking lot for 20 minutes and didn't see a single TNTer. We gave up hope of finding a parking spot and bolted to Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

There was plenty of parking at Quicksilver and no shortages of hills. There was no flat area for a nice warm up like Rancho provides, nope. First step onto the trail is straight up a hill. What a great park for hill workouts with no one in the way!

I have to admit that tackling a hill head on for two curvy miles was tough so we promptly turned around after encountering the abandoned camping grounds at mile two. I'll do better the next time, Quicksilver is my new trail running park.

An abandoned building in the middle of the hills; site of the English Town camp.

A view on the way down from the camp English Town.

Running Rancho

2009-08-21T22:23:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been out of work for three weeks now and I have not been able to wake up in the mornings. Not even for my buddy runs! I did manage to wake up at 6 am last week, the time I'm supposed to start running, and I did and catch up the ladies in my group and ran six miles. This week, not so much. Sleeping in feels good and I'm getting in as much as I can before I start tutoring and attend my classes next week.

So, tomorrow is an On Your Own Run and I plan on running at Rancho San Antonio at 6:45 am. Yep, I need to wake up early. Ha, I'm setting up two alarms for tomorrow morning! I'm determined not to miss this beautiful run. In fact I made plans to pick up my running buddy Victoria at 6:25. It was the only way I can get her to run with me that early on a Saturday morning. It's also a great way to get my butt out of bed tomorrow, too. Running buddies are great for many reason, don't you think?

The group plans on running seven miles up and over a giant hill that climbs up 400 feet in one mile. Yeah, it's crazy awesome and I can do it with a camera in my hand snapping away. I'm freakin' great. Just kidding. Nah, I am. All I have to do is wake up early.

Check out the photos tomorrow. Sleep well and wish me luck. :-)

Shadows

2009-08-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday once more and I that means Theme Thursday! This week's theme is shadow. I scoured my photographs and found a few of my favorite shadows. I hope you like them.

Arches along the walkway at the Mission Santa Barbara. I can easily picture Spanish monks and the Chumush indians walking here in the late 18th century.

Under the shadow of the Arch in Washington Square Park in New York City near NYU. (How much do you miss this park, Jen?)

Trinity Church emerging from the shadows in lower Manhattan in front of Wall Street. Alexander Hamilton is buried here.

Under the shadowy dome of The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

One by one my husband and I follow my siblings onto a boat one mild wintry morning at Lake Tahoe.

Sledding underneath the shadows of tall pine trees in the Sierra Mountains in northern California.

This being a blog about running I had to insert two photos of my shadow running and my friends.

Running at Campbell Park for my weekly 6 am morning run. (This photograph was taken later in the morning at mile seven.)

Here are a couple of running shadows through the Heritage Rose Garden along the Guadalupe River Trail that runs through downtown San Jose.

Happy Thursday everyone!

With My Free Time

2009-08-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

I bake of course. My father-in-law has this pear-apple hybrid fruit tree that bears a ton of fruit. I receive bags of pear-apples, my mother receives bags of pear-apples which she shares with her father. Now, this pear-apple hybrid fruit looks like a small green apple, tastes like a cross of pear and apple, and when you cut into it looks like a small squat pear. It's not bad at all, but what do you do with so many of these little fruits?

After being laid-off and waiting for my teaching credential classes to start (next Monday by the way) I have a lot of time on my hands. Not wanting these ripe little fruits to go bad, and becoming a little tired of eating them, I decided to bake a pie for my mother's birthday. I wanted to bake her a carrot cake but was told by both my brothers not to bake her a cake. They had ordered a "Princess cake" that cost a lot of money and we were going to have that. I said OK and backed down just a little bit. They didn't say anything about pies. Too bad my mother doesn't like this little fruit, oh well.

So I followed and improvised an apple pie recipe I read in an old recipe book my mother gave me. (OK, so I borrowed it for a banana bread and a zucchini bread recipe and never gave it back. Hey, she wasn't using it and hadn't used it in many moons.) Two hours later and it was done. It just needed to cool.

I drove to my parent's home where my siblings and I were meeting to take our mother out for dinner. When I arrived my mother was in her comfortable shorts and tank top lounging on the couch watching TV. "Now that's how you celebrate your birthday," I said with glee, "doing absolutely nothing!"

She raised an eyebrow and asked what I had in my hand. "It smells good. Apple?"

"Hmm, not quite. It's apple-pear pear-apple pie," I replied. My mother made a face. "I made it so you know it's good and you have to eat it," I retorted as I walked into the kitchen.

"Do I have to?" she whined.

"Yes. Now get dressed we're going to take you out to a Japanese restaurant."

My mother sighed and slowly got up.

After dinner we sang her Happy Birthday and cut the "Princess Cake" only because it was covered with a green marzipan. It was a beautiful cake but a little too sweet for many of my family's taste. Next we cut into my pie and it was gone within minutes, except for my mother's slice. Her excuse, "I'm too full. I'll have it tomorrow morning with my coffee." Uh-huh was all I can say. But seeing her defend her piece of pie and hiding it from my father I knew she would eat it the next day. My father then eyed the other slice I saved for my husband.

My mother absolutely loved my pear-apple apple-pear pie. My husband also loved the one bite he had before accidentally dropping it. He was so angry with himself I swear he was ready to punch the wall. The only thing I can say to calm him down was to ask for more fruit to bake him an entire pie for him. I was given another bag of pear-apples the next day and I finally managed to bake it this morning. It smells so heavenly.

Coaches' Order

2009-08-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

Running without my running buddy is hard sometimes. There's no one there to joke with, no one to rant and rave with, to keep our spirits up, and to help pull each other at the end of a long run. Yep, it's hard. Running by myself is even harder when a coach pulls you aside and gives you a very slow pace and forgets to tell you're running buddy.

"Gabby, you're pace should be 10:30 but I'm going to have to start off at 12 minutes a mile."

"What?! Are you sure?" I question back in disbelief.

"Yes, this is for your own good. Every mile decrease the pace by 15 seconds until you hit 10:30 minutes a mile. Trust me, you won't be tired at the end of your 14 miles," my coach says with a smile.

I snap a few photos of my running group and head out with the fast runners only to be left behind in the dust, literally. None of them are following the coaches pace he gave them and he forgot to give most of them their paces! Here I was, the last one in my running group, basically walking the first few miles in the heat, by the drying stinky sulfurous marshes of the Baylands Park. (An entire region of the Baylands are used to produce salt. When the water evaporates the only living creature/bacteria that lives in the saline water dries up and stinks the whole place up.)

I don't know what was harder, running slowly by myself or seeing my group run by me and finish before me. I did though, I stuck with the pace Coach Hao gave me and I wasn't happy at all. When I finished both Coach Tim and Coach Kris asked what was wrong with me. "You didn't smile once out there. Are you OK?"Coach Kris asked with a concerned look on her face.

I explained what Coach Hao had said and the only thing she kept saying is, "that's too slow for you."

Word got out to Coach Hao and he promised to pick up my pace. He was just being conservative with my time. He then told Victoria what had happened and told her that we must run together and maintain our pace. There's an order that made me happy.

It's Garlic Time!

2009-08-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Theme Thursday is Festival.

In late July my wonderful husband starts smelling like a vampire repellent. It's on his breath, in his skin, and it pours out of him for days. He just stinks! He ate it with his fries, with mushrooms and escargot, it was in his sausage sandwich, in with the calamari and shrimp scampi even in his ice cream, and no piece of bread was spared. He and I ate all of this at the 31st Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Eating is the number one reason to go to any festival, and the Garlic Festival is one of the places to go. But instead of eating ourselves silly we went for a noble reason-to volunteer for the Marrow Donor Registry. I don't know the exact number of new registrants because I lost count after 60! And that was halfway our five hour shift! As a member of Team In Training, fighting blood cancer is my game so I'm a registered as a marrow donor.

As a treat for volunteering we treated ourselves to garlic everything and a few ungarlicy things.
My husband and I were so happy and gluttonous to eat everything in site I forgot to snap photos of the crawfish and deep-fried battered garlic cloves. :-( Here's what I did snap.

My husband and I have gone to this festival on and off for the past six years. The food is always great, the arts and crafts are fun to look at and the weather is always hot, but we were a little disappointed this year. With the bad economy come the price hikes, but did they have to downgrade the food with it? The mushrooms and escargot vendors are now cooking thier food without seasoning! Sure you can get seasoning and salt on the side but it doesn't taste the same. And $7 for a small bowl of calamari in garlicy marinara sauce with one little slice of garlic bread? You pay too much for too little overcooked rubbery calamari. I was really disappointed. In spite of the price increase on everything we still ate and ate and ate.

I come for the free garlic ice cream! It tastes like sweet mild roasted garlic. On a hot bright sunny day, this cold sweet is really refreshing and worth the long wait in the line.

Regardless of how much he eats or how little I eat, we're both not great people to hang out with after the festival. Just ask my parents. :-)

Trail Running!

2009-08-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Running and preparing for my quickly upcoming classes and a tutoring gig at my old high school I've neglected to update my blog!

Saturday I ran with my Team In Training group at Waddell Beach/Rancho Del Oso/Big Basin. It sounds like I ran everywhere that morning but it's one huge interconnected California State Park that stretches from the coast inland towards the Santa Cruz Mountains all the way to Saratoga, California. It's huge, it's beautiful and in my backyard. It's only an hour drive to the beach and well worth it. Beaches, rivers, wild blackberries, waterfalls, and enormous redwoods filled with critters, hikers, runners, and a couple of cyclist-as you can read there's something for everyone here. As an amatuer photographer it's a rich with all kinds of materials but tired me forgot to charge my camera! I did manage to take a few photos, though.

The day started off early and was plesantly surprised to see how most of the morning fog burned off before 8 in the morning with the sun quickly climbing into the sky. To our surprise the beach was balmy, too. The typical summer pattern for northern California at the coast and bay is cool and foggy. The temperature ranges in the early 60s to low 50s with a lingering fog. Warm and balmy means beautiful beach day, too hot to run in. Thankfully we were trail running along a creek and between the redwoods. The shade and cool temperatures made it perfect for running.

In spite of the beautiful surroundings, or maybe despite of it, many runners looked up to view it and tumbled over roots, rocks, and little dips in the trail. In fact two women I ran with fell, including my running buddy Victoria and Marnie. To top it off another woman sprained her ankle seven miles into our 12 mile run! Poor Pim, luckly she was able to walk to the water stop three miles away. No, the group didn't leave her alone to walk by herself. I walked Pim to the water stop where she was driven the rest of the way back while I ran the last two miles in. I have to say it was hard for me to start running again. I was running at a great pace, stopped and walked several miles and started running after emerging out of the shady woods into the dry dusty trail leading back to the beach, but I did it. Yay for me!

Click here or view the slideshow at the top of the page for photos. I can't seem to post photos on my blog for some reason. :-(

A Little Vacay

2009-08-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

My last day of work was Friday July 31st and I couldn't find a better way to celebrate it than taking a short trip, but where should I go? My husband and I decided to go down to southern California where the weather is nice and hot and different from northern California. Plus we stayed and slept for free at a friend's home. Yes, that was the defining factor. That and my sister lent us her hybrid. One tank of gas all the way down to LA from San Jose and a second tank for the drive up! Talk about one cheap happy vacation with my favorite person in the whole world, my husband!

Here's a really brief overview of what we did. You can click here to view all the photos I took with captions.

We drove down through the central valley and arrived just in time for the infamous LA traffic. Thank goodness for 24 hour carpool lanes.

Our first full day there we checked out downtown LA and went with a friend to check out a new condo high rise.

Followed by a great ramen lunch and mochi-lato's. Ramen's a hot Japanese noddle soup. I ordered the deconstructed version which is not piping hot. The small restaurant was hot and humid from all the people inside and the boiling noddles. Mochi is this great little Japanese dessert. It's rice pounded into a paste and used to form a dough. Traditionally it's filled with a sweet red bean paste (really yummy) or with ice cream. In a new twist this little ice cream parlor in Little Tokyo filled it with gelato! Talk about uber-yummy! I had pistachio and cookies and cream flavors, my husband had kona coffee, and our friend had chocolate. I regret not buying more and bringing them home with me. So sad but now I have a great reason to go back. I'm so serious.

We also went to the the La Brea Tar Pits, Universal Studios, and the Santa Monica Pier. Santa Cruz's Boardwalk is superior compared to Santa Monica's Pier but it's warmer in Santa Monica.

This was all fun and dandy but I really enjoyed our drive back up home on US-101. On the way up we meandered into Santa Barbara to see Old Town and the Mission Santa Barbara. Further north we stopped for lunch in Solvang, a small Danish town where the movie Sideways was filmed, Mission Santa Ines and a really small town called San Ardo near the oil fields and farmlands of the central coast.

We set out to have four stress free unplanned days and accomplished it. I loved it so much I think I'll take another short road trip again the week before my classes start. I'm thinking Yosemite. It's only four hours away and I've never been, can you believe that? One of the nations greatest National Parks in my backyard and I've never been there. Yes, I think that's where I'll go.

Let's Go Oakland!

2009-08-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that I've never been to a baseball game? To remedy this my husband took me to see the Oakland Athletics game on Saturday August 1st. Here's the view from our seats, right behind home plate!!!

This game was not an ordinary game by all means. There was someone special, someone who was recently inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Rickey Henderson was there. Rickey Henderson stole the most bases in baseball history! And to celebrate this achievement the Oakland Athletics retired this jersey number 24 in a pre-game ceremony and I was there to witness it!

Rickey's jersey unveiled. Rickey is sitting at the far left.

Big A's fan. He walks up and down the stadium playing his banjo with his yellow Oakland A's cape! The crowd loves this guy.

I heart Cracker Jacks!

The A's score four homeruns!

The seventh inning stretch. I didn't know it meant get out of your seats and literally stretch. Go figure.

At the end the A's lost 6 to 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Even though they lost the A's played a great game and I can't wait to see another.

Buttons of Home

2009-07-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

I love taking photographs of anything and everything! Button is this weeks' Theme Thursday and it allowed me to experiment with reflections and angles of everyday items. I hope you all like it.

Da-da-ding! A text. Ba-bing. An e-mail. My husband never leaves home without it.

You don't know how to drink. Your whole generation, you drink for the wrong reasons. My generation, we drink because it's good, because it feels better than unbuttoning your collar, because we deserve it. We drink because it's what men do. ~Roger Sterling from AMC Mad Men

Beep beep beep. Come and get it!

Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen. ~Keith Richards

She lacks confidence, she craves admiration insatiably. She lives on the reflections of herself in the eyes of others. She does not care to be herself. ~Anais Nin

When I free my body from its clothes, from all their buttons, belts, and laces, it seems to me that my soul takes a deeper, freer breath. ~August Strindberg

Small gems that catch my eye every morning.

My husband's Blackberry on the console table, a photograph of him in the background being reflected on the screen.
An eye level view of my husband.
Our microwave.
My husband playing some great tunes on Guitar Hero.
My favorite vintage inspired high-waisted buttoned up skirt. I love that I can see myself in all five buttons. Sadly the quote is true for most young adolescent girls and young women. Some take years to over come it.
There are more buttons on the other side.
The beautiful buttons that sit on top of my dresser waiting to be sewn back onto their garments.

Since June I've...

2009-07-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ran: 115.1 miles!
Blisters: 1 :-(
Races: 1, the SF Half Marathon (13.1 miles) July 26, 2009. That was yesterday!
Personal records: 2 - 6 miles in 54 minutes and SF Half in 2:04:07!
Ice baths taken: 2 Brr!
Days until Nike Marathon: 81
Total amount fund-raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: $1,180 (a little shy of my goal of $1,500)
One person diagnosed with a blood caner: Every 4 minutes!*
Estimated number of people diagnosed with a blood cancer by the end of this year in the USA: 139,860!*
Survival rate: Always climbing thanks to donations from people like you!

Donations help fund research for new therapies and medicines that help my friends like Keith Newman, Jack Aiello, Patti Rodriguez, and many others live longer active lives. Keith is celebrating his daughter's engagement, Jack is a brand new grandfather, and Patti ran a half marathon in under 2 hours last weekend! (Their photos are in the margin.) Please help them and many others live longer lives, donate today.

Many thanks to those of you who have donated, you are making a huge difference in this world!

*Learn more about blood cancers here at http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/attachments/National/br_1247234696.pdf

Race Day!

2009-07-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

I ran my fifth race today and I PR'ed! I ran the SF Half Marathon (13.1 miles ) in 2:04:07! Here's my story through photos. Enjoy.

My running buddy Victoria and I pose in front of the lit Bay Bridge at 5:45 am!

A view of the Bay Bridge from Embarcadero.

Running along the Aquatic Park near Van Ness.

Crissy Field Park with the Golden Gate Bridge engulfed in the bay fog. Typical summer weather pattern.

The Golden Gate Bridge in it's foggy glory. Running across this bridge is the main reason why I signed up and ran this race.

This is my favorite photo of the entire race. I finished running across the bridge the first time and here I'm running back to the city.

After the bridge came the rolling hills San Francisco is known for. I was too winded to snap photos and managed to take one after the last hill headed towards Golden Gate Park to the finish line.

Here's the finish line I crossed at 2:04:07, a new personal record (PR)!

After eating several bananas and salty potato chips I joined up with Victoria and our old running buddy Kristy. We sure rocked this cold wet drizzly race!

In The Summertime

2009-07-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year when my wonderful husband begins to smell like a vampire repellent. It's on his breath, it's in his skin, it pours out of him everywhere for days. He ate it with fries, he ate it with mushrooms and escargot, it was in his sausage sandwich, in his ice cream, and with the calamari and shrimp scampi and no piece of bread was spared. It was the 31st Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Eating a great reason to go to the Garlic Festival but we also went to volunteer for the Marrow Donor Registry. I lost count at 60 new registrants! I don't know the total number of new as our shift ended at 3 pm. I do know that 84 people registered on Friday. Yes, I'm registered.

My husband and I have gone to this festival on and off for the past six years. The food is always great, the arts and crafts are fun to look at and the weather is always hot and were a little disappointed this year. Yes the economy is bad and yes the prices went up, but did they have to downgrade the food? The mushrooms and escargot vendors are now cooking without salt and seasoning! Sure you can get seasoning and salt on the side but it's just not the same. And $7 for a small bowl of calamari in garlicy marinara sauce and a slice of garlic bread? You pay too much for too little overcooked rubbery calamari. In spite of price increase on everything we still ate and ate and ate.

And the fun continues because I'm running the San Francisco Marathon tomorrow! Well, I'm running the first half of the marathon which goes over the Golden Gate Bridge! I'm so excited that I can't sleep. I'll post the photos up tomorrow.

Walking Art: Shoes!

2009-07-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

My first Theme Thursday was shoes so I was a little stumped this week. I certainly don't want to reuse my old theme but if you want to you can see it here. You'll see ten photos of my favorite pairs of shoes. To keep with the theme of favorite pairs of shoes I have two new pairs that I've recently purchased.

I absolutely love heels. I'm vain and I'm short (5'2") and these make me tall, leggy, and sexy. I love wearing this pair with white chinos, a royal blue knee length dress, and with a black or gray pair of slacks for a pop of color.

Now these are my second pair of walking pieces of art. With no arch support these shoes are a little hard to wear but look fabulous with a pair of jeans or a beautiful summer skirt.

Shoes have the power to transform people. They can make us feel pretty or sexy, comfy and cozy, professional, casual, athletic, grungy, convenient or laid back. Like clothing shoes can make fantasies come true. Children often believe their shoes are a gateway to fulfilling their dreams.

Whenever my mother took us shopping for new shoes my brother would run towards the sneakers. He looked at the coolest and fastest looking shoes he could find. He would put on the first pair and run up and down the aisle claiming that each subsequent cooler looking pair is making him run faster and faster. My sister on the other hand would try on anything sparkly pink and pretty. She'd slowly walk down the aisle on her toes gazing with her big dark brown eyes over the little girls shoes. Humming to herself prancing around in her shoes she would get lost in her own head. Was she pretending to be a princess? A ballerina? Both? I still don't know to this day.

I secretly liked looking at the heels. Little girls don't wear heels but some shoes do have a small block which in the mind of a little girl are heels. I was always fascinated with the click-clack that womens' heels made as they walked up and down the malls, church, the kitchen during parties. I could not wait to grow up and wear real heels.

As adults we still transform ourselves with shoes. Women stand taller and strut when they wear heels and a nice outfit. Men, too, stand taller in their nice dress shoes, or as my baby brother once put it, "old man shoes." (Don't you just love how children think?) Walk into a dance studio and you'll see the pep and swivel in the dancers steps. Ballet dancers stand gracefully as they sharply point their toes in their slippers. Athletes, such as runners, lace up their shoes with a sense of pride knowing they're doing something healthy and good for their bodies. Cockyness come out in some runners too as they begin to chase and race each other proving to themselves and everyone around how fast they are. (That one's for you Jesi.)

Learning how to walk and dance in heels is a great feat and an art form in itself. Just watch an episode of Dancing with the Stars or watch a runway fashion show to see for yourself. I'm sure you have already. Go ahead and give it a go and see how hard it is to pull off while looking steady and graceful. (I miss dancing and really need to go back to ballet.)

Funny, I've taken my both my brother's dreams of running fast, my sister's ballet dream, and my fascination with heels and made them come true for myself. Donning on a pair of dancing shoes transforms me into a dancer, my running shoes into a runner, and my heels into a grown woman click-clacking and strutting away.

What's My Pace Again?

2009-07-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

According to my little pace card, in order to run a marathon in four hours or under I should be running at a pace of nine miles an hour. This counts out to 3:55:58 for a full and 1:58:04 for a half at a pace of 9:00 a mile.

Last Thursday I ran my six mile buddy run in 54 minutes which comes out to a 9:00 a mile pace. Technically this means I can run a marathon in four hours, right? Uh-uh. It means that I can run six miles at that pace and will have to work extremely hard to maintain it for 26.2 miles. So I put my time into my pace chart calculator and this is what it told me.

	1600 m	10K (6 miles)	Comfortably hard	1/2 Marathon	Maintenance	Full Marathon
(400m)	1:57	2:15	2:16	2:23	2:30	2:30
(800m)	3:55	4:31	4:33	4:47	5:01	5:00
(1600m)	7:50	9:02	9:07	9:34	10:02	10:01

Half marathon estimated time 2:06:18.
Full marathon estimated time 4:24:25.

This pace chart gives me various running speeds or paces for different distances or interval lengths. Based on my fitness level and six mile time I should slow down for my longer runs. If I start out running at a nine minute pace I will quickly tire out and eventually slow down at the end. By starting out at a slow pace and maintaining it through out the long run I'll be able to achieve a great time.

For kicks and giggles I decided to find out how fast my average six miles should be in order to run a full marathon in four hours. Drum roll please! My average pace for six miles should be at a pace of 8:18. A half marathon at a pace of 8:47 and a full at 9:06. That'll lead to a half in 1:55:51 and a full in 4:00:20! I have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to run a full marathon in four hours. That 4:24:25 is looking realistic right now but I'm going to push for a faster time than that. Wish me luck.

Roses For My Friends

2009-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone-

Occasionally, I love to buy myself flowers because I deserve them. Other times I buy roses and personally hand them out to my friends. Considering that my friends are everywhere I'd love to send them to you via my blog. I hope you all like them.

Happy Friday!

The Great Stages Of My Life

2009-07-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Every philosophy is the philosophy of some stage in life.
~Friedrich Nietzsche

It's Thursday again and this week's Theme Thursday is stage. (To learn more about Theme Thursday just click on the link.) Here are some of life's greatest stages I've had the honor of walking across-starting with high school!

Following the footsteps of several uncles and aunt I attended Independence High School with 4,000 other students! Yes, there are three zeros behind that four. Here I graduate from high school with my high school sweetheart, Hugh, and 800 something other seniors! Go Sixers!

I went onto San Jose State University where I met the greatest bunch of people in the chemistry department. Here I stand with my Hugh, my high school sweetheart turned fiance, Tom and his fiance Stefanie whom I met through the chemistry club. (They are now married and living in Ohio while Tom attends medical school.) I am the first in my family to graduate from a four year university and earned a bachelors of science in chemistry! Go Spartans!

Ok, you know what stage in my life comes next after college-getting married! Here are merely two photos of the 700 something that were taken overall. I was wed at St. Joseph's Cathedral Basilica.

My husband and I decided to get married here for two reasons, the first being that my parents were married here long before the renovation and the second reason is it was directly across the street from our reception hall the San Jose Museum of Art.

I can't help it, I have to share two more photos and these are from the reception. Uh-huh, those are Chihuly glass chandeliers. They are absolutely spectacular. (I had a chance to see a full Chihuly exhibit at de Young Museum in San Fransico last year and recommend anyone to see it if it's near you. It's positively amazing what this man can do with glass.)

Now the next stage in my life was not about me. This stage belongs to my husband and all the hard work he put into law school. I merely got in the way of his readings and studying, but helped out in the ways that a loving new wife could-cooking and cleaning.

After three grueling years he graduated from McGeorge School of Law. As you can see he was very happy.

I'm not going to lie and say it was easy being married to a law student, in fact it wasn't easy. There were times where we both thought we wouldn't make it to his graduation but we toughed it out and hoped that things would become easier. Having faith in each other, faith in God, and learning how to communicate with each other without hurting one another and sharing the same dreams really pulled us through. It was the greatest challenge we have ever faced together and we passed it. Unfortunately there is no stage or diploma at the end of such a challenge but if there was we would have walked across that stage proudly.

The latest stage I had the chance to cross was the finish line of my first marathon-the San Francisco Nike Women's Marathon in 2008! I didn't stand on a podium but I did earn a free Tiffany necklace for completing the race, 26.2 miles!

I ran it in 4:45! This is the very same marathon I am training for with Team In Training this summer. TNT is an awesome endurance training program that raises funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Last year I raised $2647. You can help me reach my goal of $1500 by clicking here or on the TNT badge on the upper left hand corner of this blog. Thank you in advance.

So my goal is to run this year's marathon in 4 hours, but will be happy with any time under 4:45. You can read more about my training by reading my other posts. Check out what I go through after running double digits (anything ten miles or above), an ice bath.

My next stage in life is being laid off for the first time and going back to SJSU to earn a teaching credential to teach high school chemistry/science. I start classes in late August and I'm so excited. I can't wait to buy my books and start reading through the materials!

I can't post photos of a wedding without one of the bride and groom kissing now can I? Here it is.

Now comes the next stage in our life-the soft pitter patter of feet. God willing, of course, after my second marathon. ;-) As any mother will tell you, there is no stage to walk across here either, but what a great stage of life it is, the stage of motherhood I hope to enter soon.

Happy Theme Thursday everyone!

If life were a stage, then we're all running around ad-libbing, with absolutely no clue what the plot is. Maybe that's why we don't know whether it's a comedy or a tragedy.
~Bill Watterson

You are in charge of your life. God gives you the freedom of choice to do what you will. Make your life what you want it to be.

Running Yasso 800s

2009-07-14T23:19:00.000-07:00

In 100 degree heat, am I crazy?! Yeah, a little. The things we TNTers do to fight cancer.

To prepare running in the heat I made sure to drink plenty of water and electrolytes all day and the day before. I froze some gel ice packs in the freezer overnight and packed it away in a little ice chest along with a bottle of water and Gatorade for my track workout. I also made sure to eat some Luna Moons an hour before my workout to give me some energy.

You want to know how hot it was outside besides looking at my car's outside temperature? When I start sweating while standing in the shade! Not to mention how much I was sweating over a 12 minute mile warm-up, yuck! Next, Yasso's.

So what is a Yasso 800? Here is Bart Yasso, yes this is his real name and this workout is named after him, in his own words:

"I've been doing this particular workout for about 15 years, and it always seems to work for me. If I can get my 800s down to 2 minutes 50 seconds, I'm in 2:50 marathon shape. If I can get down to 2:40 (minuses), I can run a 2:40 marathon. I'm shooting for a 2:37 marathon right now, so I'm running my 800s in 2:37."

The same goes for someone training to run a marathon in three hours, four hours and five hours, and everything in between. Isn't that cool? The goal is to work up to run ten 800 meters. That's two full laps nonstop that equal half a mile. Today's goal was to run eight Yasso 800s in 4:00 minutes-in the 100 degree heat!

How did I do? Well, I had to stop twice in the middle of two Yasso's. Not only that but I skipped the second to the last run. Ugh, I was not feeling well. I was overheating, gulping down sweet Gatorade way too fast and started to get stomach cramps. The urge to vomit hit me several times, the reason why I stopped. During my recovery time I took my gel ice packs and placed them around my neck to help cool me down. Ah, the relief that came with it! I wish I had two more packs with me to put on my arms. And to share, too. I shared them with my fellow runners that had to stop to take a breather with me. As my Coach Meghan stated later at track, "You don't get gold stars for bad choices, you'll just screw up your training."

So how did I do with the full 800s I did run? My marathon goal of four hours-I ran them in four minutes! I'm so excited!!! (I still need to plug in my Garmin Forerunner to see the total results.) Now to build that up to ten Yasso's. But running Yasso's is only a supplementary training technique. Endurance, stamina, and long distance training are still required in order to run and complete a marathon.

Click here for tips to beat the heat while you run, as well as advice for running in the heat by RunnerDude's Blog.

The Iceman Cometh

2009-07-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

I can hear the car pull up and park. The hot engine roars and is promptly turned off. I can hear the driver open his door and lug something heavy out of his truck. The man accidentally drops his cargo as he slams the trunk shut. I hear a large crash on the pavement. He grunts.

How much time do I have before he reaches the door? Locking them won't keep him out. His heavy footsteps slowly ascend the staircase. I hide in the kitchen.

I hear him at the top of the stairs followed by a slushy noise as he sets his package on the floor. The enters the lock and a loud resonant clicked throughout the entire apartment. He's here. He's in!

With a loud booming voice he directs me,

Come out, come out wherever you are...

No, no, can't we postpone this?
Get in. Start the water.
Must I?

With a scary grin,

This is for your own good. Now get in. Now.

I do as directed. I climb into the tub clothes and all. He drops the large 2o pound bag of ice next to the tub and leaves the bathroom.

I don't hear the water running.

When he returns he's glad to see that I have obeyed him. My legs are nearly submerged in cold water and rising. His creepy grin is now stretched from ear to ear. And with a baby voice he softly asks,
Are we ready for the ice now?

No.

Well too bad. Here is comes.

The man instructs me to shut the water off. As soon as I sit back the ice has landed on my lap. The cold water splashes everywhere. The large shards of ice slowly brush up against my bare legs. The man finishes pouring the entire bag in the tub and disperses the ice all around my legs.
We don't want the ice to concentrate on one area, now don't we? We want it everywhere.

Before he leaves the bathroom he sets a timer for ten minutes and says,
Remember, this is for your own good. You want this, I'm only here to help.

I shiver and shake uncontrollably. I can see every hair on my legs stand on end. My toes are freezing despite wearing wool socks. At least the man lends me a heavy sweatshirt to wear while in the tub.

He comes in with a individual carton of soy chocolate milk and tosses it into the bath.

Drink up.

How much longer do I have? When will this end?

As I slowly drink my chocolate soy milk the ice has melted but the water remains cold. The timer goes off and the man walks in with a goofy grin.

Oh, it's OK now. You can stand up. Wasn't that good? Don't frown like that, this was your idea, remember? It's good for you! You're going to thank me when your legs aren't sore tomorrow. Good job on running ten miles, Sweetie. Here's a bag for your wet clothes. Now go ahead and take a nice warm shower. I'll prepare your lunch.

Yes, it was my idea. Everything time I run any double digit amounts I take a ten minute ice bath. When I get out the blood rushes to my legs and removes all the lactic acid build up that cause soreness. My husband "helps me" in a very loving I'm getting you back kind of way.

After running 10 miles and taking the cold soak my legs were not sore the next day. Thank you, Sweetheart.

The Fruits of Summer, or Vegetables Rather

2009-07-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I love eating and sharing food with friends and family. The great thing about summer is all the fresh fruits and vegetables. Our favorite summer treat is grilled vegetables-grilled zucchini, yellow squash, eggplants, green and red onions in particular.

Hungry and with bags full of fresh produce we head over to my parents home where my parents, siblings, and uncle are happy to see my hubby enter the yard with a bag of charcoal and lighter fluid.

"What are you going to cook for us today," they ask with huge smiles across their faces.

"Vegetables!"

"Why are you being so cheap?" They're a grateful bunch, aren't they?

As my husband prepares the grill my mother and uncle decide that they'll buy marinated carne asada, some chicken drum sticks, and fixings for salsa. In the meantime I cook up some Spanish rice and prepare some refried beans. Warm up some corn tortillas and we're ready to eat!

As soon as we're done cooking and grilling everything an aunt and cousins show up like clock work. No worries though, when we cook we cook enough for us and any expected unexpected guests that might happen to find their way here.

This is an ordinary summer weekend at the Carlon residency, impromtu "party" with plenty of food to go around.

Sorry there aren't any photos. Hands quickly grab everything in site before allowing me any time to snap a few. That's a good thing. :-)

Double Digits!

2009-07-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

At Columbus Park, underneath the whooshing of incoming 747s, the early morning sun quickly burns off the last of inland fog. A small group of TNT runners meet dressed for the heat. Novice runners are delighted to see that the low hanging clouds are around exclaiming that the run won't be hot. "Oh, just you wait. The fog quickly burns off and the sun will be out in full force before we start our run," I tell them braking their spirit as I spray on my sunscreen.

"Can I borrow some of that?"

"Sure, I come prepared. Did you bring your water bottle or fuel belt?" I question them as I hand over the spray.

Coach Tim flails his arms around in the air and yells for running waves. He debriefs the group on the twisty running route we're about to embark on, where the water/aid stations are located and the turnaround spots. Despite his careful and intricate details of the run it is perhaps the reason why a couple of runners did take a wrong a turn here and there making their runs a tad longer, and in some instants shorter.

Running through the Guadalupe Heritage Rose Garden we were greeted with the sweet scent of roses intermingling with lavender in the rapidly growing warmth of the sun. Running through Guadalupe River Trail up along the trail by San Jose International Airport. The first turnaround leads the group back towards the start line and into downtown, a more shady part of the park.

Following the river's path carved through the cities heart, under freeway overpasses, by the HP Pavilion aka the Shark Tank, through the Children's Discovery Museums' meadow and back to the start at the Heritage Rose Garden.

The run ended with excellent Spanish tapas prepared by our Spaniard Sandra Cifo. Along with our great food Honoree Mike H. shared his story with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, chemotherapy, being in remission and his recent marriage! His treatments were all possible from research funded by many generous donations.

Training for either a half or full marathon, the runners are ran between five to ten miles. Many running the furthest they have ever run before!

By the way, I ran 10 miles in 1:36:48! I'm improving.

Photos:

Coach Tim gives confusing the first run wave with the twists and turns of the run.
Victoria running with a participant across from the San Jose International Airport.
Entering downtown San Jose from the Guadalupe River Trail.
The view of downtown from the Children's Discovery Museum.
My mentees Katie, Sparsha, and Brandy after completing their first nine miles!

Is That You Mama? Nana?

2009-07-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

It's Theme Thursday and today's theme is ghost.

Now, I've never seen a ghost but heard plenty of true ghost stories from my family when they lived in Mexico, like the old woman that walks through a wall into the kitchen and vanishes. Things have occurred here in the states, too. A dog barking and growling and staring down something that can't be seen while the other dog whimpers and hides her head with her front paws; heavy boots walking out of the kitchen and into the living room in the dead of night when no one is awake; chills that run up and down your entire body forcing all your hairs to stand on end, aunts and uncles being awakened in the middle of the night by a cold presence surrounding them to the point where they can't move, not even breathe, while strange words are being whispered into their ears; shadows that move from one end of the room to the other when no one is around to cast them; strange knockings and the list goes on and on.

Now, I have a huge family, seven uncles and four aunts on my mother's side alone, not counting their spouses, and 30 first cousins plus 4 first cousins, once removed. All my uncles and aunts have experienced things, and a handful of my cousins as well. And me, nothing.

After hearing the strange stories my parents, uncles, aunts and some cousins have told me I desperately wanted to see a ghost or be touched by one. My family said no, you don't want to see it you don't want to be in the same room with one, just the creepy vibe you feel makes them crazy. No one in their right mind wants this. But I do.

A couple of years ago I traveled to Mexico with my mother and my husband (my boyfriend at the time), my grandparents and a couple of aunts and uncles to their family home in the state of Guanajuato. This is the legendary house where a lot of the mysterious stories I heard of my youth. The old woman dressed in dark dressed, apron and veil covering her head that walks into the kitchen from the wall and disappears into the small backyard. Where toes are pulled in the middle of the night, a guardian I was told making sure that everyone is safe in bed, and "la llarona" is supposedly everywhere. (La llarona is Spanish for the crying woman. You know the story, the woman whose children were killed and she cries the night away searching for them. Every culture has a crying woman.) Plus a few other stories of glowing fireballs that appear and vanish into thin air.

So, not being married I sleep in the same bed with my mother while my boyfriend sleeps in the very room the old woman appears out the wall. It also happens to the be the room with the TV so we sit on the bed watching TV late at night. This being a simple home with no indoor doors, my family was comfortable letting us stay up together with the lights on.

My family prepares to go to bed and we stay up watching TV. Things happen late at night, right? Watching TV with the light on I realize that I don't want to turn off the TV. I don't want to turn off the lights as I walk to my mother's bed in the dark. I don't want to go to sleep. I don't want to sense, or feel or see anything. My reaction from "cool this place has ghosts and I want to see it" quickly turns to unrelenting fear and start crying. My boyfriend looks at me with a worried look and tried to comfort me. My mother awoke from my soft crying and comes to me. She laughs and holds me and says the old woman does nothing. "She walks in and walks out. Who she is or where she came from no one knows. My grandfather built the house in the outskirts of town before the city grew."

"And the person who pulls toes?"

"Ah, my grandmother will pull all her children's toes at night to make sure that everyone was in bed. My father believes it's her still watching over them."

"Still not comforting," I reply sadly.

My mother walks me to her bed and hands me her rosary. I wrap the rosary tightly around my hand and put my back directly against my mother. I put my pillow on the other side of me so nothing can whisper in my ear. And my feet, no way am I letting them reach the foot of the bed so I curl up in the fetal position. Nothing is gonna touch me.

The days go by and roll into weeks and no one seen anything, all except for my grandfather. He experienced someone pulling on his toes and will announce it every morning when it did. My eyes will transfix on him and grow wide with fright. My grandmother would smack him on the shoulder and back and scold him for saying such things in front of the girl. Mind you I was 19 years old at the time. But why did I grow full of angst when he announced it? Because my mother and I shared the same bedroom with my grandparents, that's why.

I left Mexico happy to have seen where my mother grew and her siblings grew up before moving to California. Where they went to Mass every Sunday, where they went to school, walking around the plaza after Mass and the evenings eating street food, my boyfriends favorite part of the trip-eating. We traveled from state to state, city to city and I left a little dissatisfied. I didn't get to see the old woman in her apron and veil.

A few months pass when my brother and mother decided to visit my grandparents who were still in Mexico. My brother stayed in the same room my boyfriend slept in. We was watching TV late at night with the lights off when he saw an old woman in a veil walk by. Being half asleep and knowing the story he quickly jumped and said, "Mama, is that you? Mama? Mama? Nana? Are you going to the bathroom Nana?"

The woman didn't reply and kept walking. My brother got out of bed to follow her outside when she disappeared.

Sorry, I have no photos for this story. But here's on of my brother in ghost costume trick-or-treating with our younger cousins last Halloween!

I'm Famous! Well, Sort Of

2009-07-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

I met my friend Jen last summer during my first season with Team In Training. She's ran with TNT for several season's now and has raised a over $7000 since she started back in 2005! She has been writing a short series of articles for the San Jose Fitness Examiner and recently wrote about our recent Thursday morning buddy run-my birthday run. Click here to read it.

Hill Repeats!

2009-07-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

Marathon training is not just building up endurance and running long miles, nuh-huh. Runners need a strong core to keep them stable, they need strong arms to pump them through when fatigue sets in, and runners need to do interval training along with speed workouts. Interestingly enough hill repeats are a form of interval training.

Adam leading the pack down the hill. This photo does not give the hill justice. It's steep.

So, here's was today's track workout consisted of:

12 minute run warm-up, one mile
Dynamic stretching
Run out to the hill two miles away
Run up a steep hill at 80% intensity with a slow recovery run to the bottom and repeat for a total of five times, totaling one mile
Run back to the track, another two miles
A total of six miles followed by a 20 minute core workout!

Personally, I think we should increase the core workout to 45 minutes, but it was still a great workout.

Some of the tough women and one of the many men I ran hill repeats with.
Left to right: Sara, me, Heather, Corina and Steve.

I love running with my Team In Training group. I receive top notch training, raise money to find a cure to blood cancer and run with a phenomenal group of people. I'm never alone during a run and have people to commiserate with at the end of a run. Not to mention great company to hang out and eat out with. The perks of running. :-)

Post Run Grub

2009-07-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here's one of my favorites vegetarian chili recipes I love to eat after my long runs or hard track workouts. It's packed full of protein and really easy to make. Just combine all the ingredients into a slow cooker except for the pasta until the very end.

Vegetarian Chili-Macaroni

2 cans (28 oz) diced tomatoes
4 cups (roughly 2 cans) reduced sodium vegetable broth
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz) white beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped onion
1 green bell pepper
2 cloves of minced garlic (I use 1 tbsp of garlic powder)
1 tbsp (or whole) minced jalapeno, fresh or from a can
1 packet of chili seasoning (also works with a packet of taco or burrito seasoning, had to improvise a couple of times when I ran out of chili seasoning and it comes out great!)
2 tbsp of Mexican oregano
2 tbsp of ground cumin
4 to 5 dashes of hot sauce (optional)
1/2 pound of macaroni pasta (or 1/3 cup of couscous)
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup shredded Jack cheese (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a slow cooker combine all ingredients except pasta. Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours or High for 3 to 4 hours. 10 minutes before severing add the macaroni pasta. Cook pasta until desired texture. (Add couscous 5 to 10 minutes before serving.) Just before serving top off with cheese and cilantro. Makes a lot. Photo to come soon.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. As you can see you can add things you like and take things out. Make this recipe your own by experimenting.

Happy Birthday To ME!

2009-07-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday and that means waking up at 5:20 am for my morning Buddy Run in Campbell Park, yes even on my birthday. There is nothing better than waking up and meeting an enthusiastic group of people with several common goals; raising funds to find a cure for blood cancer, running, training for marathons, and . I, and the rest of the group, did miss several faces: Steve, John, Ryan, Lisa and Emily. Steve and John are on vacation whereas the others did not show up.

Thanks Coach Hao for snapping this photograph.

Top ten reasons why this was my best Buddy Run ever! In chronological order.

It's my birthday! Everyone wished me a happy birthday! They really do like me!
Victoria dressing up like me.
Toni and Mike Z. made it out this morning. Yay!
They let me led the group out.
Ran with the fast kids!
Ran four miles in 35:41! That's a personal record!
Janine surprised us with coffee and Jen with home baked banana bread.
A birthday card and gift from Victoria.
Being sung Happy Birthday at 6 something in the morning!
Spent the morning with the most phenomenal, inspiring, dedicated, and coolest group of I people I have the pleasure of befriending through Team In Training.

Thanks everyone, you're all great! Thanks for making my birthday a happy and memorable one! GO TEAM!

Now if I can only figure out how to use my Garmin Forerunner correctly.

For My Ultramarathon Friends

2009-07-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

This one's for you guys. :-) Also for those who ran the Calistoga to Santa Cruz relay, you guys are funny.

Happy Running!

I'm In!!!

2009-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Taking and passing exams, jumping through hoops, advising, phone calls, e-mails for the pass seven months come down to this-being enrolled at SJSU for the Secondary Education Teaching Credential Program! I just registered for my first four classes for the Fall 2009 semester.

The four classes I'm enrolled in are: Language and Literacy Development of L2 Learners; Social, Philosophical Multicultural Foundations of Secondary Education; Mainstreaming the Exceptional Pupil; and Secondary Science Education. Three of four are evening classes and one meets three times on Saturdays.

I've covered in goosebumps thinking about the first day of class in late August. I really can't wait to start a new unit in my life. I wish I can buy all the reading material right now so I can read it before school starts! (Plus I have the spare time to read here at my last month of work.)

Amid all the excitement there is one draw back, I'll be missing the last month and a half of TNT track. I'm really bumming about that but I have to do whatever it takes to fulfill my dream. Besides, my Wednesday evening are free and I can do my track workouts then. I'm so eager to get stated.

You Got To Earn It To Burn It!

2009-06-30T11:17:00.001-07:00

Here's a great video clip I saw on RunnerDude's Blog. Think this will work at track? Happy Running!

It's Sizzling!

2009-06-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sizzling heat struck us on our eight miler this pass Saturday. It was 85 degrees Fahrenheit at 8 am! Not only that but I ran in with wave five and six, the fast running group of our team, which meant we ran out later at 8:40ish. Arg, it was hot! Luckily we had Honoree Carlos and his father, Honoree Mike H., Honoree Jack A. and Honoree Ichi at three different water stops serving us ice cold water, Gatorade and snacks to keep us cool and happy.

When the heat cranks up new peeps quickly learned the importance of a fuel belt and proper hydration. They also learn the usefulness of the run-walk method. I met Becky half-way through the run and talked about the many benefits of the run-walk and converted her by the end of the run. Both Becky and her hip flexor thanked me for asking her to join my 5:1 pace.

After the run we had a yummy potluck with tons of strawberries, blueberries, bananas, salads, water, and various breakfast foods. The best breakfast item were the mini breakfast burritos that Amy Condos prepared! Egg's a little cheese and peppers, what a great post run meal.

All in all it was a hot hard run and I'm looking forward to more.

Theme Thursday-Summer

2009-06-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

Theme Thursday

Swimming in the backyard, picnic's underneath the peach tree, swinging on my swing-set, my birthday, my sister's birthday, my mother's birthday and countless cousin's birthday parties occurring every weekend. The sweet aroma of sweet roses and honeysuckle intermingling with the smell of sun block; hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough, mac and cheese and lemonade my favorite meal after playing in the pool-this was my childhood summer.

Bus rides at 7:30 am across town, making new friends, sitting in a junior college class room for six hours a day listening to lecture after lecture after lecture for eight weeks straight. Algebra homework, exams, and studying in a hot bedroom during heat wave after heat wave-my summer as a young student.

As a college student moping around the house, going out with friends to the mall and to the cinema was great but did not take precedence. Archery, general psychology, logic, and other evenings classes filled my summer. Homework, exams and studying in a big air-conditioned library; making the grade and slowly crossing off general education classes.

No more classes and no more summer breaks, I sure miss school now.

Now I run and train with TNT raising funds to find a cure for leukemia and lymphoma and other blood-related cancers. Waking up at 5:20 am to meet a group of dedicated people every Thursday morning to train for a marathon knowing full well that I am making a difference as I work out to stay physically fit. Being an adult isn't all that bad.

Training and running, a layoff notice from work and an acceptance letter from San Jose State University for the Fall of 2009into the Single Subject Credential Program is what this summer has brought forth! My last day of work is July 31st, my first day of class is August 24th, my marathon is October 18th and I'm all smiles. Standing in front of a class lecturing instead of taking notes, handing out and grading exams, summer breaks filled with swimming and picnics and running, future summers here I come.

My Fundraising Page

2009-06-24T18:57:00.001-07:00

My Fundraising Page

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Running, Baking, Fund-Raising and Running Some More

2009-06-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

The training and fund-raising never ends. Saturday was our first not so On Your Own run. Team In Training mentors and captains chose different parks and times and led OYO runs for participants to join. Of course they can run on their own but it's always more fun to run with new and old friends.

The photo below is the group Victoria and I led the four mile run at Campbell Park at 8 am Saturday. I hope I have all the names right from left to right: Sparsha, Sandy, Nicole, Jessica, Jennifer, Katie, Victoria and Sara. Mike B. is somewhere in the background stretching after his six mile run.

Considering that Victoria and I are going to be running the SF half marathon in a month we met up earlier to get a quick two miles in. We ran the two miles in under 20 minutes! I'm hoping to get more speed training and run the half in two hours. It'd be great to run it under two hours and in order to do that I'll have to train really hard.

Six miles and lot's of laughs later I picked my parent's up for a little wine tasting at Janine's home, her outstanding fundraiser. My husband's friend Charles came up for the weekend from LA and came along with us. Charles came over to our place dressed up. In the meantime I was fixing my hair wearing my very pretty dress. My husband looked at his friend, looked at me, and back at his friend and frowned. He hung his head down looking at his feet in flip flops and walked to the bedroom saying, "I guess I have to get dressed, huh?"

Peer pressure at it's best. I don't remember the last time my husband dressed up. Thanks Charles, it wouldn't have happened without you. My husband on the left and Charles on the right.

A couple of wines, plenty of great cheeses, fruits, nuts, crackers, great northern California summer weather in a beautifully groomed backyard with wonderful people raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, it was a perfect Saturday afternoon.

More cookies and more banana bread a baking. Selling baked cookies and banana bread does not sell as quickly or gets the huge returns as $25 a glass for a wine tasting event. So I'll have to come up with another fundraising tool. Hang with the gangs are also a way to fundraise if done properly.

I hosted Track Tuesday's "Hang With The Gang" and made a small profit for my fundraiser. I could have made more if I bought less food but a profit is still a profit and now I have plenty of left overs to eat for a week. That's not bad, right? Beef broccoli, lots of white rice and eggrolls to feed 20 people isn't bad. Oh, it's going to be a long week or week and a half.

Besides hosting HWTG I ran three miles at 28:57. Not the time I wanted but it was hot and I didn't have a proper snack to sustain me for track so I'll take that time for now. Next time we do a timed 3 mile run I'll I want to be able to finish in 25 minutes. I'm going to work hard and I will do it.

I have a fundraising dinner coming up at California Pizza Kitchen in early July. Click here to find out more details. If you have any fundraising ideas please leave me a comment. Thanks, Gabby.

Fundraising at CPK!

2009-06-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I'm having an all day fundraiser at California Pizza Kitchen Wednesday July 8th. Just print out this flyer, present it to your waiter and 20% of your bill will benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Where else can you go out to eat a great meal with family and friends and help save lives at the same time?!

I'm training for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 18th through Team In Training and raising funds to find a cure for blood-related cancers.

Learn more about the LLS here. Team in Training is an endurance event training program that raises funds for the LLS to provide financial aid to patients and their families, provide educational information to newly diagnosed patients, and provides funds for cancer research at our local universities and research hospitals.

And one more thing, I'm celebrating my birthday too! If you'd like to celebrate my birthday with my family and friends come on by at 7 pm. I hope to see you there.

If you can't attend this event but would like to donate please click here.

Thank you,
Gabriela

Japan With My Sister Part 4

2009-06-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

Theme Thursday is Roof and Japan has some pretty amazing roof lines. Part 2 contains a pretty awesome roof if you'd like to see it.

Read Part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here if you're at all interested.

Mexican food come to life in the smack middle of Japan.

After Mt. Fuji we traveled together to Tokyo and caught a short ride on the Shinkansen (the bullet train) to Takasaki, a JR line train to Shinmachi, and an hour winding stomach churning bus ride to Kana-machi, a small town in the middle of the mountains of nowhere to reach the small house where my sister lives. At least her neighbors are quiet.

Her neighbors, the local cemetery.

Opening the care package my mother sent her my sister is happy to see sacks of beans, rice, frozen raw tortilla dough, and spices. I quickly help her clean her messy kitchen and living room and help her put away her goods. How we ever passed customs with all that food beats me but my sister was sure happy to receive it-it means I, the guest, got to cook her dinner. I cooked a Japanese meal the first night there and a Mexican meal our second night there out of three nights! Not fair.

The Japanese meal was rather easy, fry up some really fishy fish we bought at Shinmachi, steam some white rice, and make some miso soup complete with seaweed. (It's easier than you think. The grocery store have all the proper ingredients!)

We also bought some inari. Yum.

My sister is a bad Mexican-American because she doesn't like authentic Mexican food. What she craved besides pizza were my mother's burritos, so I made burritos for her to make my mother happy. My sister too, a little. Pinto beans, spiced ground beef, Spanish tomato rice and flour tortillas, I still can't believe it passed customs.

My sister had to invite her friend Rebeca, a colleague of hers from the next town over originally from Ohio. That's my husband's plate and hands. :-) He obviously loves eating.

While staying cooped up in my sister's home while she taught in the local grammar and middle school she once again became upset with us. Being with her nearly 24 hours for a week, we were fed up with her as well. I don't remember what we argued about but it didn't end badly. We ate well and were happy to part.

Matsumoto and Matsumoto Castle.

My husband and I walked up and down the city and took in the sites. Soon enough we wondered to the local castle.

Your roof can't compete with this five level late 16th century castle's roof.

No castle is complete without a moat.

Inside the castle were delicate tapestries, samurai armor, antique rifles, bows and arrows and these beauties-original roof wood works and tiles that framed the apex of the roof.

After touring the most phenomenal castle I've ever encountered, which also happens to be the only castle I ever visited, we were famished. Always interested in eating the local cuisine, different and unique local cuisine and basashi fits the bill. Can you guess what type of protein this is? Find out next time.

Japan With My Sister Part 3

2009-06-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

A long bus ride later and we're at Kawaguchi-ko, land of the five lakes. This is where Fujisan resides. Can you imagine waking up every day, going to the supermarket, watering your garden, or taking a short stroll with Mt. Fuji towering over you? Incredible, a perfect dormant cone volcano watching over you. But before we arrived in the town of Kawaguchi-ko there was a little trouble in Tokyo...

"What do you mean you bought tickets for 6:30 am in the morning. You idiots, I want to sleep in! I don't want to wake up that early to catch a bus to go to Mt. Fuji that early! You dumb-asses!" My sister was furious. (I cleaned up the language for you.)

My husband and I were to plan the trip to Mt. Fuji. Buy the bus tickets and train tickets to Kawaguchi-ko, check into the hostel and plan our first day there. We asked her if an early bus ride was do-able for her and she said, "Yeah, if 9 am is taken then get an earlier one." So we did. Apparently 6:30 am was too early for her.

After an evening of anger, venting, and regretting traveling with her my husband and I woke up at 5 am, packed our things, caught the subway ride to the bus station and left without her. Before we left we did exchange her 6 am ticket for an afternoon ticket for her to pick up and join us later. Yes, we were angry with her and were happy to leave her behind but we're not callus enough to leave her stranded. Although it did cross our minds.

It's late October when we visit and the autumn chill fills the air. I had my layers going on when we walked off the bus at Kawaguchi-ko Station. It was there when I realized it was 10 degrees centigrade outside and discovered my new favorite Japanese item-heated toilet seats! I'm not kidding. It was a surprise to see a toilet with buttons along the side of it, and electric cord plugged into the wall, but a pleasant surprise to sit on a warm seat when it's freezing outside and inside the station. Oh, how I would love to bring one of these toilets home with me, I thought to myself. I bragged about it to my husband.

Outside the train/bus station was Mt. Fuji, serenely sitting there in the background. It was an awesome sight to behold. Waiting for our hostel shuttle to arrive while resort buses picked up and dropped many Japanese tourist, my husband and I putted around and snapped a few photos.

Pick up and dropped off at the hostel, take off shoes and leave at the main entrance again, check in to our Japanese style rooms, this means no beds and sleeping on the floor; we want an authenic feel. Ok, so it's cheaper than a western style room with a bed but at least we get a spacious room. Plus we had a great view of Japanese rooftops.

We have no idea where my sister is or when she's coming and we don't care. We take a very touristy bus to all sorts of tourist traps and have fun. We go to a drive by a large portion of the lake, visit a batless bat cave, a howling cave and buy wild Japanese blueberry jam-all without my sister! We had a great day! We stay out rather late and catch the last tourist bus back to the station in the bleak cold darkness of the surrounding forest.

Not to sound mean or anything but we reach our room slightly disappointed to see my sister there. We weren't completely disappointed because she know Japanese and was our translator but once we saw she was calm and happy again we were relieved. Grab some fast food Japanes style and early to bed because we're hiking Mt. Fuji tomorrow morning.

The floor wasn't as comfortable as we thought it would be. We were given bamboo mats, cushions, plush blankets and pillows but it's not the same as a bed. But thinking about it it's probably better than a springy pokey mattress. Nothing like sharing a bottle of sake to put everyone in good spirits and sleepy state of mind.

Mt. Fuji is full of tourist. October being the off season for hiking to the top we're discouraged to hike to the top. Inexperienced westerners known to have gone on their own have been swept off by the chilly autumn/winter winds. Summer is the only time hikers climb to the top with ease, elderly folks can make it to the top and back down easily to the fifth of the eight stations.

On our trek to the sixth station from the fifth we encounter a cliff overlooking the Kawaguchi-ko lake and the surrounding town, melting ice and icicles on the side of the volcano which both my husband and sister swing their large hiking sticks to break the ice wall and icicles apart to my dismay in front of all the Japanese tourist. Yeah, I was embarrassed to be associated with the two giajins (meaning foreigner) assaulting the sacred mountain god. "Relax Gabby, it's not our God," my husband jokingly tells me as I snap photos of him, I can't help myself.

On our to the seventh station my sister's bad knees start acting up and my husband is fatigued and I quicklu become upset my nonathletic family. On the way down we begin talking about food and what we want to eat. Spotting a little kiosk selling grilled squid at the fifth station, my sister and I know what my husband is going to buy.

Next stop and last in our tour of Japan, Gunma-ken prefecture where my sister's teaches English, Matsumoto Castle, and the Alps of Nagano.

Circuits!

2009-06-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our second track workout session of the summer season! After a mile warm-up and dynamic stretching we did a circuit workout. What are circuits? Read below.

15 bicycle kicks
1 minute plank
20 lunges
20 second side planks, both sides
25 real push ups (not the fake girly kind)
20 crab lunges, both sides
1 minute bridges
50 sit ups
20 clams, both sides
running one full lap (400 meters) between each work out session
equals one fit, happy, sore Gabby :-)

Running To Eradicate Cancer

2009-06-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Today we had our second coach led run at Hellyer Park, an old picnic stomping ground for my family, lot's of great bbirthday parties, walks and training wheel rides around the pond, feeding the ducks and geese and their young ones, a lot of good memories, and now I get to add one more! This is the first time I ran-walked under 101 overpass. It was so cool! I only heard my uncles and aunt talk about it as a kid but I never walked under it!

Ah, the memories.

Coach Tim and former TNT Coach Ed held their valuable Beginner' s Clinic. Running over 40 marathons combined these guys are full of useful running advice-advice from proper running shoes, hydration, fueling up before, during, and after a race, stretching and the infamous ice bath. Brrr.

Eating prior to your long run is important!

An important topic that they discussed is Jeff Galloway's run-walk interval training. It works wonders by reducing muscle fatigue and helps prevent injuries. As a nice introduction to the run-walk I ran a 4:1 new participants.

Under US Route 101!

I ran five miles with my peeps Brandy, Katie, and Lisa. Lisa and Emily in the photo above are taking a short walking break.

After the run everyone sat down in the lush green grass to hear Honoree Ellen Cirigliano's life altering and poignant story about living with cancer and her fight to find a cure. Read her story here. The money we raise really does help save lives and touch many peoples lives. Anyone can train for a marathon but we TNTers run for a cause-to eradicate blood caner! Donate today and keep in mind that no amount is too small.

Ellen Cirigliano in the Honoree shirt.

It would not be a proper run without eating. Our Captain Steve invited the whole Team over to his house for the traditional Waffle-Fest. It was waffles, pancakes, and berries galore, bananas, sausages, orange juice, banana bread and some of my banana-nut muffins. Yum. It also gave us a chance to meet new people and learn more about our Honorees.

Me, Honoree Mike, and my peep Katie.

Buddy Run

2009-06-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

It's still the week of firsts and this morning we had our first Team In Training Buddy Run. Here's the group I met up with at 6am over at Campbell Park! Way to go team! This is what I call dedication.

From left to right: Janine, Troy, Brandy, Hao, Jennifer, Victoria, John, Jesi, Tim, Corina, Ryan, Sarah, Steve, Lisa, Emily and Toni. Plus me the camera girl, that's 17 of us! What a great start to the season. We hope to convince a few more peeps to join the coolest and most dedicated buddy run group of the summer.

This Buddy Run is only a small fraction of the many runs that occurred early this morning and will occur this evening all over Silicon Valley to help raise funds against blood cancer! There's 100+ of TNTers running out there in their TNT gear. If you happen to see a group of us, or just one person in their TNT gear give a little shout by saying, "Go Team!" to show support. You may also support us by donating just a few dollars here. Thanks!

Our Beloved Swing-Set

2009-06-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Today's Theme Thursday is Swing. I have two stories to share with you about "swinging." The first about a swing and the second about two people swinging hiking sticks and breaking icicles on Mt. Fuji. Thinking it over I realized that Mt. Fuji will be a separate story and will be posted later this weekend, Part 3. You can find Japan With My Sister Part 1 and Part 2.

"We have our very own park!" we screamed with delighted tiny voices. Our parents had surprised us with a swing-set in the summer of 1987. Considering that we have a pool in the backyard out new toy was placed in the font yard. Two swings, monkey bars, rings, a hanging bar and a slide, we were envy of the whole neighborhood. Situated on a soft lush green lawn and surrounded by colorful rose bushes, blossoming peach trees, a pear tree, tangerine and lemon trees, honeysuckle, and a fragrant white hibiscus type flower-the sweet scents of spring and summer growing up-it was a great and loveliest gift our parents gave us.

Little mothers and grandmothers walking their children to and from school would often pull and tug their little childrens' arms. "Mira los colompios." Look at the swings they would say in a sing-song way with bright wide brown eyes. They would often stop and grip our rusting white fence only to have their little arms tugged.

Our swing-set was our paradise. I'd swing for hours and hours and never wanted to get off. I swung so much that my dreams were infiltrated by it. Wonderful dreams of swinging and flying. In the dream I would swing so fast and so high that at a certain point the swing would launch me into the sky and I would start flying. I would fly over the house, over the pool, over our grammar school a few blocks away only to have my mother bring me back down. On the flip side to great dreams the swings also gave me nightmares.

The nightmare would always switch between two things: being strangled by the chains or swinging so hard that I wound around the bar holding the swing up. Strangling came from kids being kids and twisting around and around the swing. Fingers were almost always snagged, along with long strands of hair, and my mind took off with that. The second nightmare, and the one that would never ever happen scared me the most, swinging and winding around the top bar and ultimately crushing me. As scared as I was from that dream it didn't deter me, my siblings and cousins from always trying to complete at least one 360 degree swing around the bar.

Starting from the upper left corner going clockwise: me at the age of 6 gripping the rings, my sister at 5 on the swing, my brother at 3 on the second swing, and finally the baby at the age of 2 in 1991 on top of the slide.

Aside from the great swings, monkey bars and slide, which we transformed into a water slide the following summer to my parents dismay-we flooded a portion of the lawn, trashed the yard with wet soggy paper grocery bags, which we used to sit on to make the slide slicker and to prevent from getting wet (it didn't prevent us from getting wet), and one or two of us slamming into the ground hard-it was our fantasy vehicle. It was our pirate ship filled with gold treasure we had to keep safe from other pirates, a deserted volcanic island which enabled us to play lava, our space space to Mars and the moon to fight alien scum, and occassionally a battleship from World War II. (Hey, my father watched, still watches, a lot of WWII movies and documentaries and is still a big fan of Ridly Scott's Alien series.)

We had a great imagination and a wonderful childhood. We always, I should say I always found a way of getting myself into trouble and endangering myself and others. Jumping off the top of the monkey bars with an umbrella to see if the wind would catch and lift me into the sky or at least slow my descent to the ground, convincing my younger cousins from jumping off the swing in mid air because it was fun and I did it all the time without getting hurt, to climbing everything in site, and roller skating down the slide, how did I survive childhood? My poor parents.

I was most content swinging on my swing. Feeling the warm sun on my face, the cool breeze run throw my hair, soaring higher and higher into the blue sky, hearing the chatter of my parents and uncles and aunts surrounding us at family parties, the laughter and giggles of my younger siblings and cousins, the swing was my favorite toy.

The next time I'm at Campbell Park I'm going to swing on the swing and feel the air brush against my face and flow throw my hair. But unlike bold young me I won't be jumping off the swing anytime soon.

Traaaack!

2009-06-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

It's June and it's cold. This weather is not right for California, not right at all, and as a native I'm picky about the weather. Talking to other women after track I realized that we're all picky and we're almost always cold. And as much as I like to complain about how cold it is outside, it was cold and overcast all evening.

Everyone bundled up after our run and ready for core.

Our first track of the season was a great socializing relay. We broke into teams of three and ran half laps. Not a large distance but keep it up for 45 minutes and at the pace you want and it's tiring.

The first wave of runners coming my way.

Everyone had fun running, gabbing, and meeting new people. Can't wait for our buddy run Thursday morning!

1-2-3-GO TEAM!

2009-06-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today was the first training run of the Team In Training (TNT) summer season of 2009. We met at 8 am at Los Gatos High School. Everyone in my little group ran between three and six miles!
Here are all seven of my Mentees plus another participant, Irfan, standing behind me. (Irfan being the fun guy that he is just jumped into the picture.) From left to right: Nicole, Sparsha, Mike, Brandy, Lisa, Stephanie, Katie and me. This is just a small portion of the entire summer run team of the south bay chapter.

Everyone on the Team has joined for many different reasons: for a family member or a friend that was diagnosed with Leukemia, and many join the Team for a challenge or to get healty. But we all share the goal of fund raising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. For inspiration TNT have Honorees, people diagnosed with some form of blood cancer, come out and share their experiences living with their dieseases.Here are the Honorees that made it out to our first training! Honorees from left to right: Leah, Patti, Honoree Captain Debra, Ellen, Keith, Debra, Doug and Jack. You can read their bios here.
The Honorees are a great group of people that volunteer at water stops, help set things up and several even run with the participants!

I can't wait to see everyone on the track Tuesday! Click here to view more photos from today's run.

Japan with my Sister Part 2

2009-06-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

What time is it? In Tokyo, it's always time to eat!This city has great food. This week's Theme Thursday is clock. (Stretching it here a bit but there are two clocks in the photos presented here, try to find them!) Click here for part one.

Day 1
Ueno, a ward in central Tokyo, has a huge train and subway station. It's so big it has a mall and several grocery stores! Passengers are also greeted with a delightful smell of freshly baked bread when they exit the trains. I fell in love with the Ueno Train Station.

There's a clock in this photo.

Every individual item is preciously wrapped as a gift. Considering how expensive the imported fruits in Japan are they are considered gifts!

After walking around the train/subway station in awe we headed towards Ueno Park to visit the National Museum of Tokyo. The Samurai armor we saw were intricate, intimidating and incredible. Forcing my sister to read the three different Japanese scripts (kanji, katagana, and hiragana), mimicking her like parrots, and teasing her when she didn't know how to pronounce something or how to read it was incredibly fun. The amazing part of the museum was seeing the similarities between early Japanese and Peruvian costumes and pottery. But no amount of educational material we saw or read, nor the amount we poked fun at my sister's expensive, nothing beats eating.

Walking around and taking the sites my husband finds something intriguing in Akihabara, Octopus Balls. It's not what you think, at least you don't exactly know what it is. It's large pieces of octopus dipped in batter and deep fried. But that's not all, it comes with a mayonnaise and a mustard sauce. It doesn't sound appetizing but my husband sure liked it. Not wanting to be outdone by my husband my sister and I take a ball and eat one.

Akihabara is also the electronic shopping center. My sister's eyes grow big looking at all the digital cameras. It's also the obligatory spot for anime fans-my sister. My husband doesn't mind walking through the shops and window shops while my sister looks at comic books and anime films. I'm bored out of my mind and wonder the up and down the many levels of the shops only to have single lonely men stare at me and hide their naughty magazines and cartoons. Ew! I ran down the stairs and hang around outside and attempt to snap a photograph of a little Lolita handing out flyers. She's swarmed by men and photographers and am unable to snap a photo.

Later that evening we return to Asakusa to eat Dozeu Nabe, a small eel like fish simmer in miso and green onions. It's cooked on a small iron pan over burning charcoal. The smoke over comes the three of us and we all beginning coughing catching the attention of all the patrons. As if three gaijins, or foreigners, did not catch their attention already.

Day 2
Today we wonder Asakusa! We visit the Senso-ji Temple. The first gate has two guardians on either side leading into a colorful market decorated with autumn leaves and multicolored flags. The market is filled with shops selling trinkets, clothing, souvenirs and food to out of town tourist. After the second gate we walk into the plaza. On the second gate hang two large sandals that are believed to be Buddha's shoes. Off to the left of the plaza stands a five story pagoda, the second tallest in Japan.

As we were walking out ready to find something to eat we stumbled into a parade of a golden dragon being called to the temple. Soon thereafter we went to eat.

Tempura vegetables and perhaps a nice cold soda or beer from a street vending machine. How about both! Next we hit the streets and see what we can find.

Times Square in New York does not compare to every other corner in Tokyo.

The second clock is in this photograph.

We found and ate the best falafels roaming the streets. No photog of this, we were so hungry after walking all day we just ate away. My husband also tried out Japanese McDonalds and had a tasty shrimp burger.

Day 3
The Tsukiji Fish Market is world's largest operating whole sale fish market. My husband was a kid in a candy store seeing all the freshly caught seafood of every kind. After whetting our appetites we had a great breakfast of sushi.

After breakfast my sister and husband elect me, Miss I never get lost, to navigate our way to our next destination--I don't remember what that destination was because I took us down the wrong street. We didn't realize we took a wrong turn until several large blocks later but no one was mad because we discovered a little jackpot of street food! Chicken yakatori, squid ink ice cream, yes it's black ice cream, fruit, and beer and sake from the vending machine all after sushi!

Next week Mt. Fuji.

Yay, Kick-off!

2009-05-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

Mentor Jennifer Ibarra took this photo today before all the participants arrived for the Kick-off. Here you see three rookies and a veteran mentors. (Rookie James, rookie me, veteran Debra, and rookie Jesi.)

Here's a photo of me and Honoree Keith. In the photo below has Mentors Ilya, Raj, Robin, and Jennifer. This is just a small portion of 21 mentors!
We were all hanging out and placing our info and grab bags for our mentees on our assigned seats.

Slowly but surely participants walked in. I met most of my mentees today: Brandy, Sparsha, Stephanie, Mike, Katie, and Nicole! Unfortunately I did not have enough time to take photos of all my mentees.

Honoree Keith was the guest speaker today and was quite inspiring talking about the type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma he was diagnosed with early last year, chemotherapy, becoming an Honoree for Team In Training and his current role not only as an Honoree but as a participant! Keith is training and raising funds for two full marathons-Kauai in September and SF Nike in October! Keith is uber amazing and I will try to keep up with him this season.

After hearing Keith and our coaches talk we headed down to the fund-raising faire where Jen, Robin and I had a bake sale table. I had a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies from my "cookies in a jar" recipe, Jen brought her home baked banana bread and my famously delicious oatmeal cookies (she bought the cookie dough from me), and Robin brought store bought cookies. (It's ok, we still love you Robin!)

Click on the slideshow above to view the few photos I managed to snap!

Cookies In A Jar

2009-05-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

I'm tired, of course. The official start of the TNT's summer season is tomorrow at the Kick-off and Fund-raising Faire. I volunteered for "Cookies in a Jar/Bake Sale." I have a few recipes that were given to me last year but never used them and never sold any cookies in a jar, but here I am signing up for it.

At work I printed and copied all the necessary flyers and recipes and labels for the jar. On the way home I bought some mason jars. Thankfully I already have all the ingredients to bake cookies at home. Before I assembled the jars with the dry ingredients, they're not baked, I need to make sure the recipe works well and the cookies taste yummy. Yes, anything containing that much butter tastes yummy!

Unfortunately I ran out of salt and flour and could only make three jars and one batch of cookies. I was surprised to see that two dozen cookies come out of one jar! Now I can see why Nicole, the woman I got all the info from, sold the jars for $10 each or three for $25. Not a bad deal for a nice jar and cookies.

Now all I have to do is wake up early and set everything up for the faire at 7:45 am. Yay, waking up early on a Saturday morning! Got to love it. Too bad I'm not waking up to go for a run. I can't wait.

INTRODUCING RASCAL!
Rascal my raccoon! I picked this little guy up at Avenue of the Giants. Right from the start he loved getting into my candy. That's when I named him Rascal.

He tried to eat my peanut M&Ms!

Now he's trying to eat the cookies I baked for the Kick-off!

Bad Rascal! No cookie for you!

Japan with my Sister Part 1

2009-05-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the original piece I was going to submit for last Theme Thursday: vacation. I didn't quite finish it in time because it's a long piece and I couldn't find the photos that went along with the story. Instead of putting this piece in I put my fund-raising flyer for Team In Training, Chemotherapy is no Vacation. I didn't receive any comments on it let alone a single donation. :-( People may not have read my post because I did post it Friday on the site and there were issues with the TT site.

I am not going to deviate from blogging about the Team, my running, or my fund-raising but I think I'll leave it out of Theme Thursday unless it's relevant. TT is for my creative side and I need to set some time aside to think, write and photograph.

I was thrilled to see that this week's TT is suitcase! My vacation story won't go to waste! Here's my true tale of Japan.

SFO.
"We'll see you in the fall," I yelled to my sister as she waved good bye to all of from behind the metal detector. My husband waved, my mother cried, my uncle and aunt held on to my mother, and my sister's boyfriend stood on his toes to get one my glimpse of her. My sister, Alejandra, looked at us one more time with a huge smile before making her way to her gate. She was on her way to catch a plane to Japan where she'll live and teach English for a year in mountains of Gunma-ken. It was early August.

My husband and I were happy and excited for my sister, "What a great experience for her," I told my mother. My husband gleefully chimes in saying, "Yeah, think of the peace and quiet we'll have now that's she gone." My mother face quickly maddens and slaps him in the arm. My uncle and aunt start teasing my mother in the same way. It was going to be a long drive home from SFO.

As soon as we arrive at my parent's place my darling husband starts planning our visit to Japan while my mother assess what my sister had forgotten to take, what else she needs, and plots how we can take it to her. "They don't have cilantro over there so you'll have to take some for her. She doesn't like chiles so you don't have to take that. And...," I stop listening.

"I want to go when the leaves turn color. We don't have a real autumn here. How about late October?"

"Yeah, during my birthday. That will work. Where and what do you want to see, Gabby?"

"I want to ride the Shinkansen bullet train and I want to go to Mt. Fuji! We'll fly into Tokyo so we should spend a couple of days there to take in the sites. Oh, sushi for breakfast at the fish market. I want to see the huge tunas with shark bite marks on them! Think we'll have time to go to Kyoto?"

"We'll be there 10 days, so I don't know. I do know that I want to buy beer from a vending machine and drink it on the streets!"

My mother overhears this and rolls her eyes, "cabezon." Spanish for big-headed.

"Oh yeah, you can do that. It's amazing what you can buy from a vending machine over there."

"What else can you buy over there Papa?"

"Don't listen to him. He doesn't know anything," my mother retorts.

"I lived there for three months, remember?"

My father goes on and on and on and my husband and I tune him out. Well, my husband has I really can't.

Japan here we come.
It's late October and my mother has two suitcases filled with Mexican food essentials and other things my sister said were absolutely essential, books, CDs, and toiletries. Two suitcases! I was not about to take all of that. The funniest thing my mother packed for my sister was a baggie of dried cilantro. Seriously. "I'm not taking that. Period." My mother wants me to put it in my carry-on. "No." (I now wish I took a photograph of the "baggie" and that suitcasse. I'm kicking myself.)

(Check this out, in Japan you don't have to carry your suitcases anywhere. You can walk up to a small store front in the airport where they deliver your heavy suitcases to any destination in Japan! It's great. My sister lives in the smack middle of Japan, several hours away by subway, train, Shinkansen train ride, and a long windy bus ride into the mountains, we weren't about to lug a suitcase filled with odds and ends and Mexican food products for a couple of days in Tokyo and Mt. Fuji before reaching her home. No way. Besides, Alejandra was meeting us in Tokyo. Yay, no big suitcases to carry but just our small rolling carry-ons! Here's my husband suitcase free!)

My sister is annoying. It was quiet at home without her and everyone in my family likes it that way. No more arguing, no more moaning, and no more bitching about this and that. My husband and I had forgotten until we met up with her in the Tokyo district of Asakusa late at night, in the rain, lugging around our suitcases on the wrong side of the river. No pun intended, we were on the wrong side. She was not happy that we got lost reading her wrong directions. "This is going to be a long 10 days," I groaned. My husband nodded and my sister started cussing flags down a taxi because she doesn't know how to reach the hostel either. Grrrr. I managed to read the map of colored soba noodles that acts as the subway and train maps of Tokyo on my own, I managed to reach the right neighborhood on my own, it was her sketchy directions from the subway station I wasn't able to understand, without an address to the hostel, is it a wonder I was lost?

Alejandra has her ups and her downs. She's fine when she's in a good mood, like everybody, but when she's in a bad mood Mr. Hyde comes out. Keep her in a good mood, keep her in a good mood has become my new mantra.

After sharing a room with a stranger in a hostel my sister quit her grumbling and fell asleep. Never going to camp or sleeping in a dorm room, having stranger share a room was unsettling to me. Sharing a bathroom and shower with an entire floor was also odd-and this being Japan where everyone takes their shoes off at the front door, leaving my shoes at the front door five levels below, very very unsettling. (Leave it to me to think that someone might steal my shoes.) I fell asleep wondering if my shoes wouldn't be there in the morning. I didn't voice my concern when we climbed the five flights of stairs up to our room, but it's the only thing I dreamt that night.

I can hear my sister tell me over and over how nice and clean and how helpful the Japanese people are. They're courteous and honest, they're not going to steal some stinky black pair of converse. But the hostel is filled with foreigners, not Japanese, and they're not honest. My black converse are probably a great pair of shoes I retorted.

I was shocked to find how little pairs of shoes were left from the mountain of smelly shoes that filled the cubby holes, shelves, and hills from the night before. I was also shocked to see that my shoes were moved from one side of the door to the other. Probably because there were at least five pairs of black converse the night before and they were all jumbled. Luckily I have small feet.

Before leaving the hostel my sister had to eat her breakfast; congealed 36 hour old slices of chorizzo pizza from our local pizzaria in San Jose. No joke. Alejandra loved it. She didn't mind that I packed it in wax paper and carried it the front small pocket of my carry on either. It wasn't smashed or confiscated at customs. Lucky her.

Catching a subway line we trekked over to The National Tokyo Museum in Ueno. Our agenda: Ueno Park, to a market and second tallest pagoda in Asakusa, the awesome fish market, see the crazy and varied styles of Lolitas in Harajuku, checkout Shinjuku on our way to Shibuya, and eating all the appetizing foods along the way.

To be continued...

Mentoring and Fund-Raising

2009-05-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

I have my list of six mentees, an alumnus that has requested to be on my team and his co-worker whom he recruited. That's a total of eight mentees! I have my work cut out for me.

I'll be meeting most of them this Saturday at the TNT season Kick-off. I can't wait!

I've been busy writing up a short welcome/bio letter, a fund-raising flyer, congrats/welcome e-mails, and have been putting together a small grab bag. The grab bag consists of small sample of running necessities. A packet of Gu, a packet of Luna Moons, a PowerBar, hard copy of my short welcome/bio letter, cards for Massage Envy and Downtown Yoga Shala who are helping me with my fund-raiser, and a nifty TNT pace card. I might add a small bottle of Gatorade, but I think that might be too much. If you can think of anything else I should add to the grab bag please leave a comment!

On top of that I have managed to secure a couple of raffle prizes for my fund-raising party, too! My dentist in San Jose, CA donated a Sonicare electric toothbrush worth $167 (thanks Dr. H. Chang), four movie passes worth $42 (thanks Alison), and a $50 gift certificate from Massage Envy in the Pruneyard in Campbell, CA!

I still need to secure a couple of more items so if you know anyone with a business that wants to donate any gift certificates or items for me to raffle off please send them the link to my blog. All donations are tax deductible, are promoted to 150+ participants of the team and on this site, and they'll be helping save lives in finding a cure. Go Team!

Happy Memorial Day!

2009-05-25T16:05:00.001-07:00

I'm joining my family at Alum Rock Park for an afternoon of BBQ and a quick short run. Have a great evening!

Click here to see photos of my family.

Promoting TNT

2009-05-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

As if I don't mention TNT a lot here on my blog but I also stand in parks with a little table promoting fitness to recruit new peeps. Here Victoria poses in front of Running Revolution in Campbell. Unfortunately it was not a great day for recruiting. It seems that the store was really busy Friday with people gearing up and preparing for the long weekend, hence not a lot of customers entering the store.

A few people did stop by and took a look while someone pointed and said, "I did that a couple of years ago" as they walked into the store. I hope to have better luck the next time I set up a TNT table.

Slow Flow Yoga in Candlelight

2009-05-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

I was busy writing fund-raising letters asking for donations, writing a short bio and reasons why I joined TNT for my mentees, creating a fund-raising flyer, and baking cookies for a bake sale that I missed my ballet this week. I made up for it by going to yoga on a Friday evening.

A new little place called Downtown Yoga Shala opened up in downtown San Jose. It was 90 minutes of intense yoga, slow strong positions being held with deep breathes. Yoga is suppose to be that way but Bikram yoga isn't like that. This was a strong vinyasa practice set in a candlelight atmosphere. A little strenuous for not attending a yoga class in over a year, but great. No mirrors for everyone to see yourself or check everyone else around you and vice versa. No heat at 105 degrees. Heating from the inside out, not the outside in, the proper way an athlete prepares for physical exeration.

Breathing from within, finding the right alignment from within and the focus was me. I didn't notice the other students around me, I didn't hear the soft music playing in the background, I only heard the instructors voice and my breathing. Improving my concentration and living and working in the moment. The headaches, the worries, the anger, disgust and all the negativity melted away. A yoga high? A better me? A new me? Yes.

When my husband picked me up he noticed how relaxed I looked and how happy I was, not a tired happy I experience after a run, but close enough. I can't wait to go again next week with my friend Victoria and my cousin Claudia. I know they'll enjoy it too.

Speaking with the owner of the studio about my reasons for attending yoga classes she was pleased to hear I was involved with TNT; apparently she trained with TNT many years ago and wanted to help me out, how serendipitious! Veronica, the owner, will lead a small group of us in an hour long yoga for athletes for free! And I'll collect a small donation from each participating attendant for my fund-raiser. How nice is that? In return I'll promote her studio to my teammates and on my blog. I just need to pick a date.

I hope my luck carries over into the weekend when I hit several restaraunts and botiques for gift certificates and raffle items for the fund-raising party I'm planning for. Wish me luck!

Chemotherapy is no Vacation

2009-05-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

What do you have in common with these people?

Just like you and me there were perfectly healthy people UNTIL they were surprised to learn that they had developed a blood cancer-a severe blood cancer that can affect anyone without warning.

In the summer of 2008 I teamed up with Team In Training and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to complete an endurance event-The Nike Women's Marathon-and I'm back this year.

I will run 26.2 miles up hills, in and out of Golden Gate Park, and on the long stretch of the Great Highway in San Francisco on October 18th!

Overcoming blood cancer is an endurance event-it takes years to beat (all gone) this cancer and it can affect anyone. There are no pre-existing conditions or behaviors that trigger the disease. It can affect people of any age with any background and in any physical condition.

I am completing this event in honor of all the people posted on the margin. Here are the stories of the people posted above.

Leah Tedeschi, was diagnosed at the age of 13 with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Leah survived it twice! She underwent a total of 14 months of chemotherapy and six months of radiation. With the help of the LLS Leah and her family received information to help them understand her cancer. It also provided her parents with a mileage allowance for their daily drive to the hospital 65 miles away. In spire of a weak heart from her treatments nothing has deterred her from enjoying an active lifestyle. Leah gave birth to two "miracle babies" Molly and Lucia, and has completed two marathons with TNT in 2004 and 2006! You rock Leah!
Keith Newman, a family man and an active runner was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma on April 14, 2008 at the age of 48. Since being diagnosed he's half way through of his 18 month treatment of chemotherapy and has continued to run; he ran in the same marathon I did! He's currently in remission, and in between treatments, and is training for TWO full marathons with TNT, Kaui and SF Nike! Go Keith! My goal is to keep up with you this season!
Jack Aiello, a family man, was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 1995. He's been in remission since 2002! "I'm increadibly fortunate to have survived this long with Myeloma, which even today only has a 4-5 year average life span after diagonses....How lucky am I?" Jack joined TNT in 2001 because, "the friendships, dedication, and accomplishments I've seen throughout the TNT experience continue to amaze and inspire me. Thank you all so much for making the TNT commitment to join the Run Team!"

I've committed to raise $1,500 in four months to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

What are some of the ways the money will be utilized?

To families who are battling the disease. Families are given a stipened to help pay for medical expenses, drugs, room and board away from home during treatments, etc.
For research to improve the treatment, drugs, and survival rates of all blood cancers. The ones named above are just two of hundreds of diseases the Society is committed to.
Keith says it best, "My future years as a survivor depend upon medical professionals and existing non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma treatments, but also on cancer research. I can't thank you enough for your fundraising efforts to help save the lives of blood cancer patients like myself."

How much money actually benefits the cause?

75% of total expenses in the Society's audited annual report are spent on the Society's mission.

Are the donations tax deductible?

Yes-100% for you, your business, or your employer.

How do I donate?

on-line: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/nikesf09/ghuynh

Thank you for your support!
Gabriela

Running and Baking

2009-05-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's been an exhausting two weeks but I finally managed to get in a short run yesterday. Ran at the Campbell Track with my hubby. He didn't fare so well, he's sore, had shin splints, and his joint hurt from his bunion surgery from six months ago. Poor guy, he's got a long way to train for a half marathon.

Tonight I'll be over at my mother's home baking four different kinds of oatmeal cookies. Raisin, raisin-chocolate chip, chocolate chip, and cranberry. They're all for a bake sale. So far I've received only three orders of a dozen for $10 each. Not bad for now. I hope to sell more as soon as the training season starts in a couple of weeks. I know I'll have a handful of repeat customers from last season.

So off to mother's I go now.

Study, study, study...

2009-05-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

...using the two text books that the students used. I took the last of my exams this pass Saturday and only had five days to study for it. It was physical/earth science. I know it doesn't sound like a biggie but there's a lot of stuff in earth science. Astronomy, geodynamics (plate tectonics, rocks formation, energy in the earth system, etc.), waves, force and motion, and electricity and magnetism. I think that's all of them. I think. My brain is slightly fried from absorbing all that cool info but it was a lot.

The exam was ok. There were a couple of questions and terms in the exam that I didn't read in either text books I studied from and it freaked me out. All I did was give it my best educated guess and crossed my fingers that I chose the right answer.

Walking out of the classroom all I can do is pray and repeat I hope I passed, I hoped I passed, I hoped I passed.... I think I passed and I hope I do because if I don't pass this one test my chances of starting the credential classes this fall is pretty much nilch. There's another exam in mid July, which I can take, but the results don't come in until mid August. That's just a couple of weeks too late pass the deadline of August 1st. Erg.

Fall or spring, I'll take the classes I'll need eventually. I'll become a teacher eventually. In the meantime I'll continue to work until I receive my pink slip (soon enough) and get a gig working as a teacher aide, volunteer, and tutor kids after school. I can live with that if I don't pass this exam the first time.

Leaving the Madness

2009-05-11T23:07:00.001-07:00

Today was my last day of observing Ann, a great high school science teacher in the east side. Yes, I know I said the student's were horrible on my first day, but they grew on me. They are good kids and need some TLC to grow. I'm going to miss the madness and scramble of it all. Yes I can listen to music at work, yes I have peace and quiet, and yes I have lots of time for myself but I'm not looking forward to it. I want the interactions and the questions and the smart-alecky remarks. I want to see them learn and I want to praise them for a job well done. I wish I had more time with them.

I have the patience and I believe I have the skill but unfortunately I don't the time, yet. I'm still jumping through hoops and still have one more requirement before "the committee" views my file to gain acceptance to the single subject teaching credential for the fall 2009 semester. There's going to be a lot of e-mailing and phone calls tomorrow to straighten the little details out (groan) and I'm confident I'll be enrolled soon. More details tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

My husband and I treated our mothers to a wonderful buffet brunch at the Hayes Mansion. As you can see it was a glorious bright, very bright, morning.

There was a ton of food ranging from prime rib, raw oysters on the half shell, jumbo shrimp, and the breakfast foods ranging from an omelet station, eggs benedict, mountain of fruit, cheese, pastries and desserts. On top of it all was the very attentive service constantly refilling the champagne glasses and the mimosas. We were also entertained by a great live band performing standard classics. It was a great morning.

Here are a few photos we managed to snap today.

The Hayes Mansion.

My family with my mother in the center.

My husband and his mother.

Happy Mother's Day!

Wiped Out

2009-05-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

"You can't fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight to keep it from turning a somersault. The same with man. No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is prepared to assume responsibilities." -William J. H. Boetcker

I ran a half marathon Sunday. I went to ballet yesterday. I ran three miles today. On top of that I'm observing two great high school science teachers and have tutored Algebra after school the past two days in a low income neighborhood of San Jose, an area I grew up in; furthermore I am using up the last of my vacation days to do all of this, except ballet. Um, yeah, I'm tired and it has not been a vacation, but I'm so ready for all the upcoming challenges I'm about to face. Layoff, going back to college, fund raising and training for my second marathon with TNT, starting a family and starting a new career. Oh that's a lot!

Classes today were a bit edgy but good. The instructor was coming down with something and not feeling 100%, the kids picked up on it and bugged her of course, "Oh my God, swine flu, stay away from me! I don't want to be contagious!" Their words, not mine. But other than that they were fine as long as I walked around.

Oh, today I led an integrated science class! I helped the class learn how to find coordinates on a world map and also led the class on geography Bingo. I know, really exciting! I stood in the front of the class and spoke quietly and wrote on the overhead projector. I went home with my hands covered in ink, just like a real teacher! I'm such a dork but I like it.

Ah, I woke up this morning and forgot it's Theme Thursday! Today's theme is wind. Wind! What am I going to post? Thankfully it was a windy day at Campbell park and I happened to have my camera with me. Ok, so I took my camera with me. Here are a few shots I took today in the windy warm afternoon.

It's been a long time since I flew a kite. Then again, the last time I flew one I accidentally let it go and it hit nearby transistors. Oh how the sparks flew.

Canada geese hudling for their night and protecting their goslings from pesky onlookers.

Cattails blowing in the wind alight by the shimmering rippling pond.

Pay Attention To Me!

2009-05-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

Something I forgot to mention yesterday, and it's important, the students I'm observing are freshmen, ESL students (Mexican and Vietnamese), are overactive (ADD and ADHD), and most have problems at home. No wonder they were horrible. After talking to the instructor about her students she shared with me that most of her students are neglected and ignored at home. With no adult supervision they act out to demand attention.

Instead of sitting back and observing the classes I interacted with the students. I walked around and helped them out and was surprised to find how bright they really are, but without being pushed they just don't apply themselves. It was amazing to see them blossom with a little help. They behaved and did their work and were quiet. It was nice. It was more than nice, it was great! The problem is there is one teacher for 28 students and it is not enough. Adding me to the mix is better but still not enough. These students require personal attention in small groups, positive reinforcement, and a fire within themselves to succeed. Unfortunately there isn't enough money in the district to pay for extra teachers and not enough people willing to do this work.

Something needs to change. Schools do have enough volunteers that come in during prep periods and after school to tutor the kids but there isn't enough volunteers to go around. Furthermore, students don't ask for help. Those students receiving tutoring only attend because they are required to attend. Ahhhhh! They need to be caught before they fail so they don't repeat the class and waste time, but that's how it goes.

On the other hand there are a large group of high school students that are doing well and do want to learn. I observed a chemistry class and for the most part the students paid attention, took their notes (a 15 minute lecture that was fairly easy but was followed by a lot of groans and complaints that it was running too long), and were not afraid to ask the instructor for help, not mine. They finally gave in and allowed me to help them with their chemical skeletal structures when they found out that I was a chemist and their instructor was not available. I guess it's a little weird having some stranger sitting in the back of the class watching over them.

Overall, today was a lot better and less scary. Yesterday was just a shock to the system that scared me but it's something I needed to experience. I'm ready for tomorrow.

Eek!

2009-05-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

It's scarier than I thought. High school, the kids are unmotivated, they're constantly trying to up one another, and don't want to do any work! It's a game to them! Is this what high school is all about? Trying to be top dog by disrespecting the teacher? By avoiding all school work? Do they care about their futures? Is this the group of students I'm going to teach? How does one inspire the unmotivated and the ignored?

Sigh. Today was my first of five days observing a high school biology/integrated science class. Tomorrow I'll also observe a chemistry class, a more advanced class, will the students be worse? It's only been one day and I couldn't stand it. The kids, they all bug. Tomorrow is another day and I need to remind myself why I want to do this; I want to inspire and I want to enrich the student's lives. I want to help them. Hmm, perhaps I should help out in class rather than sitting back watching the instructor yell out orders to her students.

Tomorrow is another day, a brand new day, a different day and a new start.

Eureka!

2009-05-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

The results are in and I ran my half marathon in 2:17:25! I think that's a great time after training for month, recover from injury, and a course littered with rolling hills. Now I'm home with my feet up for some well deserved R and R.

Click on the slide show above to view beautiful Humboldt county in northern California. Funny thing, it rained all weekend but Sunday morning the clouds broke free and the sun shone through only to come back with avenges Monday morning. It was fantastic.

Game Time

2009-05-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

I missed the deadline! Not only that, but I still have one more requirement I need to fulfill! Don't be too alarmed though, applicants with who have fulfilled all 13 requirements will be accepted until all spots are filled. Yay, there's hope, but due to crazy California budget cuts the number of new students being accepted into SJSU has been reduced. Drats!

What requirement is left, you ask? The hardest one for me to obtain, 45 hours of pre-professional experience. Pre-professional what? Experience; I must observe/help a secondary classroom for 45 hours before the school year ends! Not only that, but as soon as possible to try to secure a spot for fall semester 2009. Can it be done with only six weeks left in the school year? Of course it can. Will I be able to do it? I know so. Will I receive a spot in the fall? That is out of my hands, but I'm going to give it a shot.

So here's what's going on, I managed to find a teacher willing to let me sit in on her classes for five days starting next week. I'll be observing a high school biology and integrated science class. I know, it's craziness but I'm so excited. In order to do this I will be using up my remain vacation days I have, but get this, right before I find out when I'll be laid off. Boo-hoo, I know, but it's worth it. I'm doing what I have to do for what I want to do in the future. I wish I took care of this sooner but now it's game time and I'm sprinting to the finish. Pray for me and wish me luck. I'll keep you all posted. Thank you all.

Buddy Run Send Off

2009-04-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

Every Thursday morning I undergo a ritual, I wake up at 5:30 and don on my running gear and meet up with the raddest group of people I know, my running buddies.

Today wasn't an ordinary gathering, it was send off Thursday. Several of the members are running in a several events this weekend and that means coffee and cake! At the end of the run Steve breaks out the coffee and cups and this time Jen brought the banana bread, not exactly a cake but a close second. It's an odd site to see in a public park at 7 in the morning, but neat nonetheless.

My friend Victoria is doing the Calistoga to Santa Cruz relay (that's 199 miles!), Coach Hao is running the Eugene Marathon in Oregan, and I'm running Avenue of the Giants half.

We run for a cure, the LLS. You can donate here.

Steve-o pouring the good stuff.

My buddy Victoria and Jesi.

Jen and the banana bread.

The manwich. John, Hao, and Steve.

Hao took off his jacket at mile one and forgot to pick it up on his way back after 5 miles. Ran up to the mile marker only to find it gone. He ran a total of seven miles total. All that running wasn't able to keep him warm out in 44 degrees.

Good luck to everyone running this weekend! Happy running!

Papa, Teach me How to Swim!

2009-04-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, today's Theme Thursday is water, the stuff we really cannot live without. H2O, the universal solvent with unusual properties, ice floats and I don't. Today I'll share with you a story from my childhood with a couple of old family photos involving me and my family's pool.

It was a beautiful warm day in July and everyone, and I mean everyone, came over to my parent's home to swim in the pool. All of my uncles and aunts and grandparents were there and all my young cousins, so about 30 people. (All four grandparents, my mother's siblings, all 11 and their spouses and children, and my father’s three siblings. 30 is now the number of cousins I have, and counting.) The smell of charcoal and grilling meat mingled with the chlorine and the sweet scent of honeysuckle that grew all along the neighbors’ fence with a hint of the roses my grandmother planted nearby.

I can hear Spanish music streaming out from one of my uncles portable radios, the splashing of another young uncle diving into the pool, the screaming of an aunt as water splashes into her eyes followed by an exchange of angry words in Spanish. My mother and a couple of my older aunts sit in the jacuzzi, bubbles fizzing upward and spilling over a small waterfall into the main pool, the same corner my cousins and siblings were hanging out in, floating there in our colorful inflatable rings and most importantly, next to our mothers.It is in this corner that I begged my father to show me how to swim and repeatedly received the answer, "take off your donut." I refused and after futile begging got out of the pool. My father, an average height man with black curly hair and a mustache, seemed really tall from where I stood. He was wearing his regular green swimming shorts and his favorite pair of huaraches (Mexican leather sandals with tire treads for the soles). He squinted in the high sun as he manned the grill. Asking for a hot dog wrapped in a tortilla I jumped out of the pool to eat followed by everyone else. The blue pool was empty and bounced the reflective sunlight everywhere.

Now the hardest part of the day had arrived. "Don't jump into the pool after you eat. You have to wait an hour," one of the aunts said. My cousin Julio and I being the eldest at six years old didn't understand why we had to wait and couldn’t explain it to the younger ones. So we waited, taking turns asking, "Now?" in our high pitched whining impatient voices. After being yelled at not to ask again otherwise we wouldn't be allowed back into the pool I proceeded to follow my father. "Can you teach me how to swim now? I mean when we can go back in?"

In my little head I don't know how many times I asked or begged but I could see that I was driving my father crazy. He now had his green and white Hawaiian shirt on and I can see his dark eyes looking down at me from behind his glasses. Uh oh, I was going to be punished. Embracing myself for a spanking he did something unexpected but expected. Off with the donut and in the air I went followed by a large splash. I was sinking to the bottom of the pool in my favorite little corner. I didn't panic but just sat at the bottom and stared up at my father and my father looking back down at me. Making a face he turns to look over at everyone and takes his shirt off. He jumps in and picks me up. Gasping for air he asks,” are you OK?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

Before I move on with the story I need to say this, my father is not a monster. He was there along with a ton of adults and was not going to let me drown. He truly believes that if someone is thrown in the water, particularly children, they will instantly learn how to swim. After all, it’s how he learned. I don’t think this is a horrible memory but a neat one. It’s still very vivid in my head perhaps because it was a little traumatic, but nonetheless a nice memory.

I was in my mother's arms. There's some commotion about how else is she suppose to learn how to swim, and she's alright, and some other yelling in Spanish. I remember being angry for a while at my father and at myself, not at the fact that he threw me in but at the fact he wasn't in the pool with me teaching me how to swim. I wasn't scared of the pool or water after that. I continue to jump in with my donut and play with my siblings and cousins.
The fear came a little later that year when autumn had come along. The sweet honeysuckle and roses were no longer in bloom. I tiptoed outside with my sister to peer into the pool for no reason other than to do it. I fell in fully clothed. My grandfather fished me out. I was forced to learn how to swim in high school and passed my swimming exam; tread water for x minutes, float on your back, free stroke and back stroke, but ask me to do those things now and I'll say no. I don't like pools and don't like the ocean. I'll admire them but that's about it, I won't go in.

My husband took me to the island he grew up on, Oahu, a couple of years ago. It was great. He convinced me to buy a bikini and go to Waikiki. He took me out and showed me how to float and took me out further where treading was necessary. I couldn't do it. I panicked and held on to him as tight as possible. (I’m so glad he’s six feet tall.) He rolled his eyes and took me back to the beach. The scenic views of the ocean and Diamond Head and the green lush hills didn't calm me down, being on solid ground did. I bummed my husband out a little.

Now, I'm looking into adult swim lessons but haven't been successful. I'll keep looking; I have to beat this fear. I'll learn how to swim. I will.

Thanks to my friend Mike Z. who scanned the photos for me. Thanks buddy.

Photos

My father in the upper left hand corner. Me clinging on and nearly completely out of water in the lower left hand corner. Sister, brother, and cousin in the pool.
Me dry and safe inside, younger cousins behind me.

Let the Summer Season Begin

2009-04-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Being a participant for Team In Training is great. The people in charge, the mentors, captains, the honorees, and coaches are so helpful and encouraging and are incredibly inspiring. Participants range in age, come from every corner of the world, have different backgrounds and join the team for a myriad of reasons. Yet everyone leaves with the great and happy achievement of completing a half or full marathon. Besides the individual achievement, friends who help fund a cure for leukemia and lymphoma have an equally significant part in combating cancer. I'm so honored to have participated last summer and even more honored to be accepted as a mentor this summer. I'm part of a great family and I can't wait for the season to begin and share with you the photos and tales as they unfold.

Remembering Pat Tillman, all Veterans and Friends

2009-04-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

We woke up early Saturday morning to join our friends Victoria and Scott for the 4.2 mile Pat's Run at Leland High School, the high school Pat attended here in San Jose. In fact, they picked us up. You can read a news article here.

We ran to honor and remember all troops of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars, and friends that are no longer here. I honored my uncle Pepe who was stationed all over the middle east, and as a way to remember a friend who recently died, Wanbli, whose birthday anniversary is April 25th.

Scott, Victoria, and my husband warming up in the sun before the race. It was a chilly 44 degrees in the morning.

Families were out pushing strollers, people running with their dogs, and a San Jose firefighter battalion ran in cadence along with a military song with their helmets on.

It was a beautiful morning to honor great men and women of our country.

Fundraising

2009-04-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

I'm a mentor for the South Bay Silicon Valley Run Team for Team in Training 2009 summer season! Yippee! I'm so happy I can't wait for the season to start so that I can inspire and lead a small group of new runners.

What I'm training for-

Pat Tillman's Run (4.2 miles) in San Jose Sat. April 25, 2009
Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon in Humboldt County Sun. May 3, 2009
San Francisco Marathon/Half Sun. July 26, 2009
Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon San Jose Sun. Oct. 4, 2009
Nike Women's Marathon in SF Sun. Oct. 18, 2009 TNT event

Nike is the official TNT event I'm training for and the others are for fun. My team is also training for the Kauai Half Marathon on Sep. 6, 2009 and the Royal Victorai Marathon in BC, Canada on Oct. 11, 2009.

This is where I need your help with fundraising. In exchange for a great support staff, great coaching, I must fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The vast majority of funds go to over 40 researchers here in Stanford, UCSF, and Berkeley. Funds also go to patient services-treament co-pay assistance and travel to and from hosipitals. How amazing and great is that? I need fundraising ideas other than bake sales, restaurants, and garage sales. Selling T-shirts? A marathon time pool? Come on, throw your ideas at me!

If any of you can, then please donate. If you're interested in training for a marahon (26.2 miles) or a half (13.1 miles), cycling a century (100 miles), a triathalon (swim, bike, then run), or hiking Yosemite then click TNT and check out your local chapter. Believe me, you'll get hooked.

All ideas and donations are much appreciated. Thanks!

Kicking Back in Santa Cruz

2009-04-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Fire is the theme for Theme Thursday. Here's how I spent my evening after running my first 20 miles last September with my fellow TNTers and friends. There's nothing like drinking some beer, bundling up in a warm cozy sweater and cuddling with my hubby and hanging out with friends at a bonfire.

Back to Reality

2009-04-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my trip to New York City and I'm wiped. Walking all over the place, taking the subway and running nine miles for my training in the middle of the trip, eek, I was done for. Now I'm back at work, training for my half marathon and going to ballet. My feet hurt.

New York was fun despite the weather going from one extreme to the other-high 70s to high 40s, sunshiny and warm to cold and rainy. Spring was in the air and everything was blooming. So, from everything I shot I'll show you a few of the beautiful blooms around Manhattan.

44th street in front of Grand Central Station.

Lunch at the Bowling Green.

More blooming tulips at Trinity Church on Wall Street.

A small patch to sit and eat chocolate near the South Side Seaport.

Strolling through Central Park during a short heat wave.

More blooms in Central Park.

Easter lilies line Rockefeller Plaza at midnight!

Behind the Metropolitan Museum between showers.

Sigh, now I'm in California where spring had sprung and gone away. With record temperatures over the weekend, summer is definitely on the way and the start of TNT summer season! I'm going to be a mentor!

A View From 35,000 Feet

2009-04-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's Theme Thursday and today's theme is Earth. Here are a few views from my air travel to NYC form SFO this morning!

Recognize that panhandle?

The TransAmerica building and the Golden Gate Bridge are in this one.

The Rockies.

Lake Michigan.

Hey, it's New Jersey! A view before landing at JFK.

Getting up There

2009-04-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my run with Victoria. We ran eight miles today! We did a run-walk at a pace of 5:1. The run-walk is great for longer distances and helps prevent fatigue. I don't want to over do it. Plus, its great training when recovering from injuries. So, with that said we ran our eight miles in 1:24 and I don't remember how many seconds. Not too bad.

Of course we ran at our usual Campbell Park and it was busy as usual. Lots of running, walking and cycling groups crowding the trails. Families walking their dogs to the dog park and lots of strollers. And, of course, TNT running groups. Campbell Park is literally the most active park I've ever seen. It's busy at all times of day, early mornings, and evenings. It's a great park.

Overall it was a great morning! :-)

Gnats, Gnats, and more Gnats Everywhere

2009-04-09T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I managed to wake up at 5:30 am to meet up with my old buddy run group at 6 am. I'm tired. I ran four miles with my running buddy Victoria, captain Steve and coach Tim. John, Brian and Jesi went further and faster than us, but that's them.

Rain still being in the forecast the dark grey sky quickly lightened into a light grey sky. As this happened large clouds of gnats gathered over the paved trail. I mean large. You couldn't run without breathing one up your nose and in your mouth. In my lucky case some in my eyes. YUCK was the least I can say. Coughing is what everyone did. Screaming and swatting are what Victoria and I also did.

At the end Jesi ran up asking how everyone liked their gnat breakfast. Oh Jesi...how many did you swallow?

Eggsactly My Kind of Afternoon

2009-04-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Baking and decorating and eating!

That's right, it's theme Thursday and today's theme is the incredible edible egg.

My friend Alison invited us over to her place to decorate and eat Easter egg cookies. Here are some of the nicer cookies I decorated.

Easter egg cookies!
My husband made the yellow frosted one for me.

This guy is not shaped like an egg but eggs are in the dough. I know, I'm stretching.I have to admit, this little guy looks a little creepy.

And the stretch continues with more baked goods. I baked these gluten free peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies the next day. There's egg in there...

...and in these scrumptious strawberry muffins.
Mmm, pulled right out of the oven.

Five, That's Five TNTers

2009-04-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

One TNT runner, two TNT runners, three TNT runners, four TNT runners, five TNT runners-five TNT runners at Campbell Park today, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! One spring TNT buddy run group! Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! (Insert traditional trademark thunder and lightening here.) Go Team!

Come on, who doesn't love The Count (full name Count von Count)?

I originally planned to run four miles today but I'm still sick from the cold I caught this weekend and decided to cut it short to three miles, on a cold windy cloudy rainy day. Stupid? Perhaps, but exercising usually perks me up and helps chase my colds away. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I was a little weaker than normal but the run went well. Besides, it stopped raining by the time I went out.

I ran into Diana at my three mile turnaround (14 minutes) and ran the rest of the way in with her. Diana ran 12 miles this weekend and was a bit fatigued and was running a 4:2 (run four minutes walk two minutes). Being a little weak myself I was glad to join her. Having someone to talk to also helps the time fly by. That's when we saw Jesie and Jason and a couple of their friends, Troy and Corina, and a buddy run team. A lot of TNTers for a cold cloudy evening in a relatively empty park. Campbell Park is never empty!

I have to say that running with Diana is a pleasure. She talks about anything and everything and has time to answer her iPhone in the middle of a run! I have proof. She's so funny. I plan to meet up with her and Robin, and a few others, to run eight miles this Saturday. I should stop rainning by then.

Tomorrow: TNT mentor/captain meeting and sign up. Summer season here I come!

My Next Event is...

2009-04-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon in Humboldt county California on May 3rd. This will be my first major running event since I ran the Nike Marathon last October.

I've been running up to four miles but now it's crunch time. I ran six miles with Victoria, my running partner/buddy/mentor, yesterday at where other than Campbell Park. The most active park I've ever seen! I'll get back to that later. So, six miles in one hour! I am so stoked about our time. I wonder what my time will be on the race?

My training schedule is as follows:

4 miles Tuesday 4/7
5 miles Thursday 4/9
8 miles Saturday 4/11
4 miles Monday 4/13
6 miles Wednesday 4/15
10 miles Friday 4/17
3 miles Tuesday 4/21
3 miles Thursday 4/23
4.2 miles Pat's Run Saturday 4/25*
2 miles Tuesday 4/28
13.1 miles Sunday 5/3

I submitted my schedule to my TNT coach and I'm awaiting his advice. Now I just need to find different places to run. Campbell Park is great but I need a little change of scenery. Plus, I'll be heading to New York soon where I hope to run in Central Park.

*Pat Tillman's friends and family created Pat's Run as a way to celebrate Pat's legacy while raising awareness and funds for the Pat Tillman Foundation.

Ballet and Running

2009-04-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening I donned on my pink tights, my leotard, and put my hair up in a bun. I put my makeup on and stretched for a while before heading off to ballet. This was my first class in a year. I put it on the back burner for many reasons but finally have the time, the drive, and spare cash to attend.

I have to say that running did ruin my ballet. My ballet brain was slow, my feet hurt and kept cramping up, and I couldn't lift my leg as high as I could before the marathon. It was depressing and humbling. I need a lot of practice to reach the level I left. By running I'm constantly pounding and tightening my leg muscles where ballet strengthen and lengthens, the total opposite of running. Stretching, another reason why I went back. I need to do more stretching to prevent another injury.

It was great to stand by the bar listening to the perfectly metered ballet music; the french terms and instructions over the music. Tendus, piles, frappes, degages, fondue, passe; in first, in second, in fourth, in fifth; releve; balance, just to name a few.

It was great to see my ballet instructor Zinnia again. I've missed her pleasant smile and encouraging words. It was great seeing old friends and seeing how much they've improved since I've last seen them. Hugs and smiles all around. I'll be back next week.

Walk, Strut, Run and Dance a Mile in My Shoes

2009-04-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

So this week I'm participating in a little thing called Theme Thursday. A theme is picked every week and participants choose what to post on their blogs. This week's theme is Ten. So, me being so physically active, I decided to post my ten favorite pairs of shoes. Yep, those who know me know that I love shoes and I had a hard time choosing only ten. Now I wish the theme was 12 or 13 or 15, but it is not. So here are my TEN favorite pairs.

The most comfortable shoes I own, my Chuck Taylors.

The newest and brightest pair of my collection.

These 3" heels are my everyday heels. They're so battered but I love them.

I was doing a little online window shopping when I spotted this gorgeous pair of purple suede shoes. It was love at first sight.

These shoes are 4" tall and they make me 5'6"! They're also very cute long lean slacks.

Every gal has to own a pair of a classic design, T-straps. This updated version is 3" tall and has brown suede and leather.

Ah, my running shoes. This is the third pair I bought since last May. Running shoes break down and die around 300 miles. Now you know why runners obsess over their shoes.

Whoo, I would dance in these 3" latin ballroom shoes for hours four to five days a week. Yep, this is the pair number four. The soles are soft and pliable and are meant for stretching, bending, and pointing and wear down quickly.

Flamenco shoes have nails in the heels and in the tip of the shoe to make that great loud stomping. There's so much I want to do and so little time for it all.

How crazy is this? I started ballet as an adult to supplement my ballroom dancing and discovered I loved ballet more than latin dancing. By the end of my second year I was taking point lessons. I no longer do point but I still love my points. In the meantime I'll stick my ballet slippers.

There you go, a little glimpse of me and some of my passions. I hope you enjoyed it.

Running Clubs are Cool

2009-03-30T22:07:00.001-07:00

Heh, I was bummed and happy at the same time preparing for my run after work. I was happy that I was going out to run but bummed because I had no one to run with, but I shouldn't have been bummed at all. But let me get back to what happened.

As soon as I tied my laces my husband came home from the gym and kissed me good bye. It wasn't until I was half way to Campbell Park that I realized that I forgot the third most important thing for a runner: my IronMan watch. Well, it's important for me. I time myself and adjust a walk-run time, and I left it at home!

Of course the park was full of families and cyclists and other runners so I had to park down the street to spot a co-workers car. As soon as I walked into the parking lot I hear a man yell out my name to find that it's Brain from TNT! He just parked, in the parking lot, and was waiting for his sister. They had their GPS watches so I didn't have to keep time or keep track of the miles either. Whoo-hoo for me! People to run with! Also, they were going to run the same distance I planned on, four miles. We ran together and finished in 39:07!

Along the way I ran into my co-worker Rich and another TNTer, Rebeca. See, I shouldn't have been bummed after all.
The photos are of Campbell Park and I took them last Friday evening when I went for a three mile walk with my hubby.

Pfeiffer Beach

2009-03-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

My husband and I decided to take advantage of the first warm sunny weekend here in the bay by going to the beach, and invited my parents and younger brother to come along. The greatest thing about living in the bay area is the wide array of beach choices so we decided on an unusual beach two hours south of Silicon Valley in Big Sur, Pfeiffer Beach. It's a little known beach where the sand is purple! Honest.

Before heading to the beach we stopped by at Gayles in Capitola, a great place to stop by for breakfast and grab several sandwiches, rustic bagettes and tarts for a picnic on the beach.

Here are some of the photos I've snapped of Pfeiffer Beach.

This beach is located just south of Big Sur. The mineral is manganese garnet that breaks down from the rocky hillside forming purple sand.

See, redish purpleish rocks.

Breaking down and forming the prettiest colored sand I've ever seen.

There are other surprises on this beach besides purple sand.

Gorgeous blue and bluegreen water.

Several bluffs...

The most photographed bluff at the beach.

And a fresh water stream leading to the Pacific Ocean.

My papa carrying the umbrellas and chairs through the stream the first time. We found a better spot down the beach on the other side of the stream.

Here's one of me and my husband.

Did I mention it's a dog friendly beach too?

It was a great day sunny 65 degee beach day. And yes, I did get some running in too!

Running among the flowers

2009-03-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Now that I have free time I can go out for leisurely runs with my camera. Here are some of the flowers I ran by in my mother's neighborhood this evening.

Mmm...lavender. Don't you just want to rub your hands in it?

Whenever I see golden poppies closing up at dusk I wish I were a little bee to curl up in and sleep on the soft petals.

Now I need to photograph the California state flower when it's open. I'll make sure to take my camera along during my next run at Campbell Park.

In Greek mythology Iris is the messenger of the Gods and is personified as a rainbow. As a matter of fact the Greek word for rainbow is iris and they do come in a rainbow of colors. I love the purple ones the best.

Half and Full Marathons in California

2009-03-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Now that I can run I'm looking forward towards mentoring the 2009 summer season of Team in Training. I'm also looking forward towards running a couple of full and half marathons before the actual season begins in early June/late May. (There's a mentor captain meeting taking place in early April at the TNT office that I will be attending. I'll have more concrete information later.) If this is the case, then I really need to start training. Before I start training I need a race and date and luckily there are so many races in different parts of California. I found this website listing all the races: full and half's, tri and duathon's, and my favorite-trail runs. The choices are endless.

Before I get a little carried away I should see if I can run ten miles without serious knee pain. I should be fine but I just want to make sure first. Keep your fingers crossed for me. With that in mind I'll be running four miles at the track tonight. Yippee, 16 laps on a crowded track...I can't wait. Here's a quote that best fits my thoughts about running on a track.

"I love running cross country...On a track, I feel like a hamster."
-Robin Williams

Booya!

2009-03-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Just ran two miles under 19 minutes, 18:58 to be exact! Yay!

I'll be going to ballet tomorrow night to fully stretch out my body and work out my entire body at Dance Blvd. Also, plan to run three miles Thursday evening at Campbell track. Anyone want to join me for either?