Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok gang, time to revive the dead blog a little.  A lot has happened since the last post 2 years ago.  I've been to hell and haven't quite made it back yet, but I'm working on it.  It's true that life never turns out the way that you plan it; and the true test of character comes post disaster.  Picking up the pieces of your life; remembering to breathe, and rising again has always been my definition of strength.  And most of the time, I remind myself that I'm a survivor.  Even still, the first holiday after your life seemingly falls apart will never be easy.  

That's when I was faced with two choices.  1. Succumb to the urge to crumble.  Spend the 4 day weekend weeping on the ground, drunk and constantly thinking about how just 5 months ago my life made sense.  Letting the waves of pain grow, mutate, and continuously pierce the deepest hidden parts of my psyche that I just spent the last 5 months healing. OR 2. Be present.  Bury the pain that I know I have control over, and protect my still-healing wounds.  Open my eyes, and do my best to surround myself with love and do something I really love to do: cook for hours.  And at the very least, run a couple miles every day, not only to symbolically run from my self-imposed torture, but to chase the giant light at the end of the tunnel.  

Well, I can't say that I really chose an option.  In my opinion, I did a little bit of both.  But luckily, much more of #2 than #1, as evidence proves from the photos below.  Yes, I suppose that I got carried away with making an 8 course meal for just 2 people.  But, that's what happens when you have a quirky roommate who will randomly crave many things.  One day, hopefully soon, I'll feel like myself and a whole person again.  Until then though...I thankfully won't be hungry.  Hope you all had a good thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day Menu - Pumpkin Waffles, Cranberry Compote, Pumpkin Mochi, Herbs de Provence Turkey/gravy, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Gouda Macaroni and Cheese, Maple Bacon Brussel Sprouts, Sauteed Kale with Garlic

Eating Right

Yesterday, Mayumi sent me a link to a NY Times article about the current debate between meat and climate. Essentially, they were talking about the farming industry and how livestock is bad for the environment, releasing more greenhouse gases than cars. I didn't think I get so riled up after reading it, but evidently I did. And Mayumi has requested for me to post my response.

Disclaimer: I never meant to offend anyone with my response. So please don't take me seriously.

"bah.. I think there is a definite line between environmentally-friendly people (who actively try to do things in their lives to be green) and radical, "the sky is falling, run for your lives", hippie extremists.

I think it's all about balance and healthy living. I agree that if a huge amount of the population consumes a ridiculous amount of one resource: gas, meat, water, etc., faster than the earth and nature can replenish it; then yes, I think we're definitely hurting the environment. And that's a sign that we're unbalanced and need to take a step back in the opposite direction: ride your bike every once in a while; eat more grains/veggies than meat a couple nights a week; conserve your water. Humans shouldn't act like spoiled children, thinking that their parents' money (in this case, earth's natural resources) are inexhaustible. And embarrassingly, I think the one nation that has this attitude the most is the US. Anyway, I think if we put more effort into figuring out sustainable methods/technology for our resources, then we wouldn't have to go to an extreme and just completely deny ourselves any particular resource.

Because, in the long run, getting everyone to deny themselves one resource isn't the answer either. A huge part of the population is employed by that industry, and there would probably be an enormous consequence to taking it down. It's not about hitting the industry source to improve the environment. I think there should be more education to the general masses about health-conscious eating. That way we're not only improving the environment, we're improving the health of the general public. Maybe more popular restaurants should take it a step further and prepare more health-conscious meals that require less meat product. The solutions are numerous if the big-wigs were just willing to do some research. In the end, I think that adjusting the average American diet would be more effective than unleashing an unholy amount of angry would-be vegetarians who are trying to save the world, when they'd rather just have a burger.

sorry, that was a long rant. but, I just wanted to give my take on the article. =)

Besides...if I don't eat the cow/chicken/pig/fish, then the cow/chicken/pig/fish is going to try to eat me. it's all about survival, dude. ;)"

More Tweaks

As you can see from the new addition on my right sidebar, I've successfully been able to attach my Nike+ Mini-me to my blog! I've also removed my "last run" feature, because it already displays that info in the mini-me feature, as well as my running statistics and history. It still kind of blows my mind that I've run 800+ miles since I've gotten this system. It's amazing what the human body can accomplish.

But, while the statistics and animated mini-me are cute, I have to admit that the things coming out of her mouth can be a tad obnoxious and annoying. So please don't mind what she says because I'm not the one that programmed her to do that.

Page 56

Sorry gang, I think I've been a bit absent from my blog lately. It's because I haven't had that many inspiring runs or taken any pictures of the food I've cooked. So here's my fun, random post of the day inspired by Sidewalk Monkey's last post.

Here are the rules:
* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the next sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Here's mine:
"If the command is 'done', the code does a break to terminate the loop". --Chris Spear, System Verilog for Verification, 2006.

That sounded poetic, right? In a nerdy sort of way? Maybe? Shucks, I wish I was at home when I posted this entry, because I actually do have an interesting book that I'm reading there instead of my geeky one at work.

P.S. Thanks for giving both of us the idea, May!

I'm old and lucky

Jog In Ocean is going to take a little detour today to do some celebrating. Today is my birthday. Now, I normally hate a big hullaballoo made about myself. But, I'm lucky enough to have a girlfriend who can cater a whole weekend involving things I like to do while everyone else is having fun in the process.

Before I get into that though, one of my dearest friends has decided to interview me today. So have a gander at my interview. Thanks May for making me feel like a special celebrity!

Now, on to the festivities...The weekend started off with dinner and drinks with a bunch of my closest friends currently in the Bay area. Dinner was a smattering of Hawaiian food and brightly colored drinks at the Hukilau in San Jose. Then, we wandered over to Hunter's to have some more drinks and unexpectedly watched a bachelor/bachelorette auction for charity there. Raquel and I didn't buy anyone, but we seriously considered certain muscular men to clean our house. I love drinks with entertainment.

On Saturday, she took me to an amazing breakfast at Los Gatos Cafe. This is a place that is known for their Omelette Souffles. I had the Crab one, and it was amazing. They had whole chunks of real crab and the hollandaise sauce was perfect. They also came with sides from the bakery: Kahlua Pound Cake (amazing) and a Peanut Butter Chocolate Muffin (just the right amount of peanut butter). Even Raquel loved this breakfast, and that's saying a lot because she doesn't like breakfast foods. Then, we went to go work some of that food off on the lake next door at Vasona Park by paddle-boating. As expected, Raquel got tired after a bit and I ended up peddling us around the lake, but it was still a lovely afternoon.

On Sunday, Raquel took us on an excursion to Monterey Bay. We drove down and explored the town, watched the locals, and wandered around Monterey Bay Aquarium. Now, as you can tell from my username, I LOVE surfing and the ocean. Any time I get to be near the water and learn about it's creatures, I'm going to be giddy. I must say that I was pretty impressed with their aquarium, but I haven't seen Maui's aquarium yet either. Finally, we ended the day with an amazing place that we found on Yelp: Monterey's Fish House. Now, if I yelped I would've given this place 5 stars. It was outstanding. If you ever find yourself in Monterey, you should definitely go here, but go early because it gets packed late at night.

Alright folks, that was my weekend. I'm extremely happy, well-fed, and pooped. Raquel even gave me enough time to go for a little run, so I at least got 4 miles in. Thank you Raquel, I had a wonderful time.

Introducing Chef Surfrunner..

It's time for "Jog in Ocean" to undergo some re-designing. I'm not talking about a facelift to the page, I mean I want to modify the purpose of this blog. Per Mayumi's suggestion, I'd like to start blogging about some of my culinary adventures as a foodie. And per Sidewalk Monkey's suggestion, I will be occasionally taking pictures of my creations and posting them. This doesn't mean I'll stop chronicling about my training/technique. On the contrary, I think this gives you folks a better grasp of how I train because food/nutrition is a big part of the regiment.

I also want to quell the myth of having to sacrifice good food as a part of marathon training. It doesn't have to be a boring diet, and you'll see once I start posting about my meals. For those of you who are unfamiliar with my own cooking background, I've been dabbling around with it since college. But, my interest really started to take-off when I graduated, moved to the bay area, and started hosting a lot of dinners.

In the beginning, I was always inspired by that old "Ready, Set, Cook" show, which was a pre-cursor to Iron Chef, but not as elaborate. In other words, I hated recipes and made up my own stuff. But now, I think I've come to a happy medium where I'll use a recipe as a guideline, then add my own twist. And as far as cuisine goes, I'll tend to cook food from any region as long as it's relatively healthy and the ingredients are fresh. But, here are some sample cuisines I've worked with: Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Pacific Rim, Cajun, Mediterranean, Morrocan, Irish, and Californian (yes, this is a genre, just check Yelp).

In any case, this change also comes just in time for the Reno Rib Fest that a bunch of us will be attending this weekend. Stay tuned for food pics from that as well as whatever I cook this week*!

*This is usually dependant on whatever Raquel is craving, because even though I'm the chef, she's the eater. What a hard job...

An Amazing Race

I tend to look for running inspiration in a lot of other sports besides running. In my opinion, running isn't really an exciting spectator sport unless I'm watching a track meet. Ironically, I haven't been watching any of the running events in the Beijing Olympics this year even though I've read all about the extremely talented US, British, and Kenyan participants. However, I did manage to spend most of my weekend glued to the TV watching Women's Volleyball, Women's Beach Volleyball, Men's Basketball, and Men's/Women's Swimming. (Don't worry, I still got in my runs, folks.) In any case, there was one race in particular on Sunday night that I'd like to pull your attention to.

By now, everyone has heard about Michael Phelps, the intrepid olympian swimmer focused on adding 8 more gold medals to his collection. If he does win every medal, he will go down in the history books as the first olympian to win that many golds in one olympiad. I've been avidly following his story and his races to see if he succeeds. And I can't help but admire this driven/focused athlete. But, it wasn't his solo races which had me on the edge of my seat; it was the 4x100m relay on Sunday night where he competed with 3 fellow US swimmers.

What struck me about that race was the humbleness that the US team had when they entered the stadium. The Americans declined to comment or boast despite the verbal abuse that they were receiving from the favored French team. Instead, they decided to focus on each other and the race to swim a good swim and do their best. It's hard to find athletes who can keep that level of focus, especially with the world watching them. In any case, after watching that race, I'm now inspired to run with that level of focus, passion, and humility.

Check out the race: HERE

Good Luck Team USA with the rest of the Olympics!

P.S. So, those are the sports I've been watching in the games. What are you folks watching?

More Tweaking

Whoo, FINALLY! I can't believe it took me that many days to get over the technical difficulties to upload my runs. In any case, you can now take a gander at my inaccurate running graphs on the right sidebar: ------------------------------------------------------------------->

Welcome Carmen Jiejie!

Alright, Internet...I know I've been lazy to post anything lately. In fact, I haven't even updated my running links on the side. Well, don't believe what it says! Even though, I didn't finish my running goal, my last run was not last month it was last saturday. A nice little 10K along Waikiki beach to be exact. In any case, most of the laziness has to do with blogging and not training. I will remedy this shortly.

In other news, I'd like to give a big welcome to my cousin, Carmen. (Her blog link is also at the bottom of my page.) She has just joined the blogging world for a very good cause. Our cousin, Jeff, contracted Leukemia this year and is going through chemotherapy. She has decided to join Team in Training in an effort to raise money for leukemia research, and will race in the Malibu Triathlon in honor of him. I'm looking forward to reading all about her hardcore triathlon training. Who knows...someday "Jog In Ocean" may also be blogging about triathlons. But, not right now. In the mean time, I'm happy to say that Jeff is doing well and is almost done with his treatment. Yay for both of them! Go Carmen! and Go Jeff!

Answers Posted to Name That Tune

Alright, I'm pretty impressed with how much everyone got out of this list. The overall winners are May and Dave. Congratulations! I think it also helps that they are very familiar with my music taste. The complete answers are posted in the comments section of the "Name That Tune" post.

Name That Tune

Taking a leaf out of Mayumi's blog, I've decided to play "Name That Tune" with my iPod. Why? Well, because I think it's fun and she had a really good idea. This doesn't really have anything to do with running, except songs from my running playlist may appear in this. I'm going to give you guys the first line from the first 25 songs which pop up on my iPod on random mode. Comment and guess the name of the song and the artist. I'll let you know if you're right. And as Mayumi says, no cheating and using Google.

***Answers posted in the comments section.***

Ok, here we go:

1. "Olha que coisa mais linda, mais cheia de graca..." **Jim got it**

2. "Hey baby girl, I've been watching you all day..."

3. "Alone at ballroom table, she was watching me watching her.." **May and Dave got it**

4. "Sayin' I love you is not the words I want to hear from you..." **Sidewalk Monkey got it, but by the wrong artist, she got the original one. I'm actually listening to the new one. Points if you know which artist it is.**

5. "You're just to good to be true..." **Sidewalk Monkey got the artist. M/D got the title**

6. "I love it when they try to get intimate, even though they know I'm not into it..."

7. "Aia i he'eia la, i ka nalu e he'e ana..." **M/D got it**

8. "Billy was born within sight of the shipyard..."

9. "On a perfect day, I know that I can count on you.."

10. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.." **M/D and Sidewalk Monkey (labeled it #6 though) got the song, Eric got the artist.**

11. "He's got a smile that it seems to me..." **Michelle got the title.**

12. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..." (obvious, but get the right artist)

13. "I dig my toes into the sand..." **Michelle got it**

14. "I want to run, I want to hide, I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside..." **M/D got it**

15. "Well I said baby, I've been thinking about it lately, my heart is calling for you..."

16. "I know that you like my style (x2), we came here to turn you out..." **M/D got it**

17. "Oh no, I see, I spun a web, it's tangled up with me..."

18. "And I'm just a waste of her energy, ..." **M/D got the artist**

19. "Sounds like thunder, gotta head for the high ground..." **M/D got it**

20. "I'm finding my way back to sanity again..."

21. "I put your picture in my mirror, start to blush when somebody says your name..."

22. " Ua mehameha au, a'ohe hoa aloha, Ua nui na makahiki, a hele aku ho'i au..." **M/D got it**

23. "Johnny wanna be a big star, get on stage and play the guitar..." **M/D got it, but they mislabeled the number. It's their 21. I'm assuming they mean 23**

24. "It never really mattered too much to me, that you were just too damn dumb for me..." **Michelle got it**

25. "Back on the road again, feeling kinda lonely and, looking for the right guy..."

Alrighty...that was kind of illuminating. For me, at least. I think I need to update my iPod and clean out some of these playlists.

Note: I actually had to skip 4 songs or so because they were instrumentals. Somehow, I didn't think anyone would get "Dum de dum...ba diddly dum"

Hau'oli la Hanau e Raquel!

And while I'm in the mood of giving shout-outs, here's another one to my girlfriend.

Happy Birthday Raquel!

I promise that we won't have to eat training food tonight. I'll make Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Chile-Coconut Tomato Salad, and Chocolate Lava Cakes for dessert. If I'm going to cheat on my training, I might as well go all the way for you.

History in the Making

Today's post has nothing to do with training, well..not directly. I'm just feeling really blessed and privileged to be living in this time and place. At 5:01 pm yesterday, the very first official gay wedding ceremony began at San Francisco City Hall. Here's the full coverage: Same-Sex Marriage at SF Gate. Check it out people, it's history in the making.

I just wanted to give a big shout out to those couples who tied the knot yesterday as well as the ones who are intending to wed soon. Congratulations!! It's been a really long road, and I know that they all must have toiled through decades of struggle. But in the end, it sounds like they never lost sight of what was important: each other. I wish them all the best.

So how is this tying back to training? Well, after reading a lot of their stories I can't help but think about when my turn might come around. And if it does, I can't tell you how hard the training schedule would be for that event. Preparing for a marathon is one thing, but preparing for a wedding dress and pictures that my mom will be showing everyone is an entirely different ballgame. By the time the wedding rolls around, I should be fit enough to run the Ironman!

Note: I was just kidding. All I'd really want out of a wedding was for my friends and family to have fun and get drunk. ;)

Mini Me

Sometimes you just gotta love the little add-ons that Nike+ has. There's a new feature on the website which allows you to create a mini likeness of yourself that reflects how you are doing with your goals and how you did on your last run. For instance, if you've been lagging on your runs, your mini-me will seem a bit lethargic and sad. If you've been doing great, he/she will be jumping all over the place and doing fun stuff. I've created a quick link to it on the right, so you guys will always be able to see it. Unfortunately, it won't paste nicely into blogger yet, but I'm sure they'll add that feature soon. For now, here's the link to my mini-me:

Mini-Me

p.s. For those of you who know me, let me know if you think it's a fair comparison to my own likeness.

These "slippahs" were made for walking..

I know that on Monday I prescribed myself a 2 day break from running, but sometimes I don't like to listen to myself. I ended up running during my "break", and finally rested for the last two days. So as much as I'd like to report about a fantastic post-recovery run right now, that will have to wait until tomorrow. Instead, today's entry will be about relaxing in my slippers.

For me, after a long run there is nothing better than slipping off the shoes, soaking your feet in hot water, and taking a short walk in slippers ("flip-flops" for the mainlanders) to stretch out my cramped muscles. So imagine my shock when I read this article this morning:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/summer-flip-flops-may-lead-to-foot-pain/?em&ex=1212897600&en=d87164748fc2d7c4&ei=5087%0A

Essentially, the article tells you that wearing slippers are bad for you and will lead to lower back and hip problems. Now, I've been finding this hard to believe because slippers are the footwear of choice for the entire population of Hawaii . If this were true, everyone would be hobbling around. And while I do agree that a majority of our elderly popluation does indeed hobble, I doubt it's cause is any more from footwear than from old age.

Having said that, I'm not about to say that slippers are innocent from engendering any foot related afflictions. My particular brand of injury is rough feet. Now, most Hawaii people tend to think that having this gives you "street cred", because you can walk all over the island barefoot without getting hurt. So, I've never had a problem with it. But, apparently girlfriends don't find this very attractive. Who would've known?? Luckily, this is nothing a nice long barefoot walk through the sand and surf can't fix.

In any case, whether it be in slippers, barefoot, or clogs, I can't stress relaxing your feet during training enough. As hard as I push myself, an injury from over-use will put all that training to waste if I can't run the race. Perhaps there will even come a day when I get some muscly guys to carry me around in a divan chair between workouts. Then again...maybe not, I'd rather they run my errands and do my taxes than carry me around.

OH HAPPY DAY!

And while we're on the topic of marriage....

This just in:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/BAGAVNC5K.DTL

=D =D =D

While it may go away again in November, I'm so glad to hear that we actually have a one-up right now in this fight. And contrary to what a lot of my friends were guessing, No..this doesn't mean that Raquel and I are running off to city hall right now. I don't want the government to dictate when I should get married anymore than I want them to dictate who I get married to. But, for those couples who are in a place where they are ready to get married and are marching down to city hall this month, Congratulations!!

In any case, this put me in such a good mood, that I'm adding 5 extra miles to the total of next week's runs to celebrate. Yay!

Congratulations Sidewalk Monkey!

Ok, today's post has nothing to do with training or cross training. I just need to make a quick shout out to my dear friend, sidewalk monkey. She just got engaged, and that's AWESOME news. YAY!! I wish her and her Jam Guy the very best and great happiness for their wonderful life together!

Hello World!

Aloha kakou and welcome to my blog! So why blog about running? It's one of the simplest activities you could do, so what makes it so interesting? Au contraire...ever since I've started running, I realized how complicated it can be. Training schedules, nutrition plans, running form, types of gear, and the list goes on and on. But it's not what's complicated that I think makes running special, it's the simplicity. It's a paradox. You have to speed up to slow down.

As a society, I think we've become so fast paced that we never actually look at the world. It takes something simple like running to make you focus and truly appreciate your surroundings. Running is so inherently easy and mechanical. Put yourself on automatic and watch the leaves turn color, smell the salty lake, or better yet....watch the back of the cute runner in front of you.