So yeah, my updates are few and far between... pretty unlike my cousin. But that's how I roll, I guess. The death of AI last month had me making a last-minute decision to go to Hawaii. Not Kauai, mind you, but I went to Maui. I meant to surf more than the one time, but I'm pretty terrible (come on, there are no oceans where I live, so it's hard to get good), plus the waves were pretty tiny. The breaks are more cooperative from December onward. Next time.
I have been slacking off on my running, which is really bad. Diet-wise I am doing okay, and my pilates class is helping me keep my core-strength up, but I have only run ONCE in the past 2 weeks. May last run was in Maui, and was a mere 5k. So bad. But on the positive side, my pace was pretty fast. I probably did about 6:30-45, so that's unheard of for me. I have a fun run coming up next weekend (my running partner/friend and I are running in Santa suits), though, so it's all good. Then another couple weeks of sheer laziness before it's time to pick up the pace again for my 10k clinic (starting January 11th). After that, it's half marathon training. I had planned to do the half by late August... but now it's looking more like November in Seattle. Either way, at least I'm still more-or-less on schedule. Holiday season is a bad time of year for me, though, because I'm weak when it comes to all the delicious food available. Have you SEEN the Superstore flyers? The desserts are off the hook. Dude. Luckily I'm not much of a drinker anymore, or I'd be in some serious trouble. As it is, though it would appear that I am at my heaviest weight in at least a couple of years, a good portion of it is muscle rather than fat, so I'm happy with that. A few Christmas treats and libations probably won't hurt me, so long as I hit it hard in the new year.
A lot of people are bitching about the snow (I sort of did at first, but I was just in motherfucking Hawaii, so at least my excuse is valid), but I am stoked as all get out to hit the hills pretty quick. I hate how I ditched skiing for a few years due to my former level of inactivity. Living so close to top notch slopes, it's totally a shame when people don't shred or ride. Seriously, what is the point of living here if you don't do either of those things? Okay, so maybe your family is here and all that, and that's why... but then these people are the ones forever complaining about how cold it is, or how much it snows. I'm a traditionalist, so I never made the switch to snowboarding; I'm just more comfortable on sticks is all. Looks like it'll be a good season, though. I'm thinking of heading out sometime during the week off I have. Sweet times.
Well, that's kind of it for now. Oh yeah, year end at work got pushed ahead to February... might be able to hit up Hawaii again in the New Year. Here's hoping.
12.10.2010
11.05.2010
Endless Summer
You may not really know this about me, but I love surfing. It's something else to watch (but I'm not really good or even competent at it). You also may not know (but how could you not... this is the digital age, after all) that this past Tuesday one of surfing's greats, and also one of my very favourite athletes ever, Andy Irons, passed away. Here are a couple of videos I'm posting as a tribute to him. The first is his 'i surf because' vid for Billabong, and the second is the paddle out held in his honour.
Enjoy your Endless Summer, Andy. We'll never forget you.
Enjoy your Endless Summer, Andy. We'll never forget you.
10.29.2010
things. things? things!
1) You know what I really don't like? People who get movie titles wrong. Okay, so sometimes I get movie tiles fucked up too, but it usually goes something like this: "You know that movie...? The one about spies from the future... I can't remember what it's called? I think it starts with an 'N' maybe." So I don't actually ever say what the movie is called because I never remember. What I mean is people who keep calling a movie the wrong title. The only reason this pisses me off is because doesn't everybody have internet these days? You can't just look that shit up so that you start using the CORRECT title? It's not difficult.
2) Ditto for people who always spell names wrong. Especially on thing like Facebook, where you can actually see on peoples' profiles how their names are spelled. I don't like people like that. Heck, I bet their own parents don't like them much.
3) What is the point of having a phone that you never answer? or voicemail you never check? Honestly, should I just delete you from my contacts? Because dude. really.
4) Is it bad that when I'm driving and see that the person behind me is talking on their cell, I sometimes slam on the brakes to see how good their reflexes are? I'm guessing it's pretty bad to do that. But still... I like to check. At the very least I can make them drop their stupid phone, and then I win.
5) No, I don't spend my whole life doing mean stuff like that.
2) Ditto for people who always spell names wrong. Especially on thing like Facebook, where you can actually see on peoples' profiles how their names are spelled. I don't like people like that. Heck, I bet their own parents don't like them much.
3) What is the point of having a phone that you never answer? or voicemail you never check? Honestly, should I just delete you from my contacts? Because dude. really.
4) Is it bad that when I'm driving and see that the person behind me is talking on their cell, I sometimes slam on the brakes to see how good their reflexes are? I'm guessing it's pretty bad to do that. But still... I like to check. At the very least I can make them drop their stupid phone, and then I win.
5) No, I don't spend my whole life doing mean stuff like that.
10.18.2010
so, how lucky do you feel...?
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about where I am in life, and about whether or not it is a satisfactory place to be. And guess, what, for the most part it is. I live a fairly average life, but a good life, nonetheless. I probably could stand to make a few bucks more than I do (seriously, my tastes are just a tad more expensive than my salary allows for), be in a little better shape, be more friendly to people, take better care of my car, clean my house more, live in a city I like a bit more, blah blah, etc., but let's face it, my life is far from terrible. I'm not starving, I can pay all the bills on time, the dog is fed, the car is always full of gas. And yet, some of the people in my life try to tell me that somehow all of this is not enough. They constantly badger me about things like why I don't date, and remind me that I'm almost 35 so if I want kids, I should somehow force myself to have them.
Okay... what now? I have known since I was very young that life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. Do I sometimes feel left out- at almost 34 years of age- that almost all of my close friends are either married or in relationships that will result in marriage? Sometimes. Do I feel the need to have children at some point? Well, it would be nice, I suppose. But the way my life has played out, I have already accepted that neither of these things may ever be a reality for me. I can shoulder most of the blame for that, because I made some extremely questionable choices over the years; the types of choices I ultimately knew I'd end up paying for.
So, I totally resent people I know constantly rubbing their relationships and children in face, like it's some kind of trophy, and in the race to be awesome, I am coming in dead fucking last. I know they mostly mean well, but I just wish they understood that not everybody needs that sort of life to be okay. Throughout my life, I never got my hopes up that certain things would or wouldn't happen. Sure, you do have a certain degree of control, but occasionally things happen that totally derail you. You could stay derailed for life, or you could dust yourself off and say "life, it fucking sucks you did that to me, but I'll be okay". Do I think I might have been one of those happily married people with two kids? Oh, probably. In a way, though, I'm glad that I'm not. There are still so many things I need to accomplish, and I kind of feel that in order for any of it to happen, I cannot be bogged down with a relationship and mouths to feed. And I am not saying that sort of lifestyle is any less of an adventure; you guys are lucky to have your own families, and I will always somewhat envy that. But I feel really lucky, too. I haven't always had it easy, but it's been a mostly fun life so far, and full of some pretty awesome people, places, and times. I'm lucky to know what I know, and to also still have a nice, long road ahead of me. So, no regrets. It's go time.
Okay... what now? I have known since I was very young that life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. Do I sometimes feel left out- at almost 34 years of age- that almost all of my close friends are either married or in relationships that will result in marriage? Sometimes. Do I feel the need to have children at some point? Well, it would be nice, I suppose. But the way my life has played out, I have already accepted that neither of these things may ever be a reality for me. I can shoulder most of the blame for that, because I made some extremely questionable choices over the years; the types of choices I ultimately knew I'd end up paying for.
So, I totally resent people I know constantly rubbing their relationships and children in face, like it's some kind of trophy, and in the race to be awesome, I am coming in dead fucking last. I know they mostly mean well, but I just wish they understood that not everybody needs that sort of life to be okay. Throughout my life, I never got my hopes up that certain things would or wouldn't happen. Sure, you do have a certain degree of control, but occasionally things happen that totally derail you. You could stay derailed for life, or you could dust yourself off and say "life, it fucking sucks you did that to me, but I'll be okay". Do I think I might have been one of those happily married people with two kids? Oh, probably. In a way, though, I'm glad that I'm not. There are still so many things I need to accomplish, and I kind of feel that in order for any of it to happen, I cannot be bogged down with a relationship and mouths to feed. And I am not saying that sort of lifestyle is any less of an adventure; you guys are lucky to have your own families, and I will always somewhat envy that. But I feel really lucky, too. I haven't always had it easy, but it's been a mostly fun life so far, and full of some pretty awesome people, places, and times. I'm lucky to know what I know, and to also still have a nice, long road ahead of me. So, no regrets. It's go time.
10.06.2010
grrr, argh.
Um... so I have a small hip flexor strain from running. Left one. Why? Because apparently this is a common injury when one has little 'core strength'. This translates in English to that I am too fat in the gut still, and the lower half of my body is working over-hard to compensate for it.
Ugh. Anyway, this is what has lead to me deciding to take a 7-week pilates class starting November 1st. Yeah, I hate stuff like pilates and yoga, but it is probably less bad for me than high impact things like boot camp (which I kind of struggle with due to my lack of core strength). I want to do this to avoid serious injury, because right now that sort of thing would really set me back on my goal of running a half marathon by the end of next summer, and then a full marathon the spring or summer after that. A lot of people have said it's not a realistic goal, since it's taken most of them 3 or 4 years to train to run a half (I have only been running seriously for around 5 months... really), but I'm pretty optimistic I can do it. After all, I just finished running a 10k race with barely any experience. That's right. I ran a couple of 10k flat-land runs before, and before that the farthest I'd ever gone on a run was 8.6k. I did no hill training at all (and the race was one with a huge hill right at the beginning). But I still managed.
This winter is my 10k training, then pretty much right after that I will start my half marathon training. I will stagger all of the running with core strength classes, and other things I feel will be useful to keep me in top shape like resistance training (possibly Crossfit... but I may still have a ways until I can stomach something that intense), spin class (potentially), and swimming.
I have already begun to alter my diet to fit these demands... so far, it's not as terrible as I thought. It mostly involves reversing the traditional way of thinking about dinner being the largest meal of the day. On weekday mornings, I eat a fairly decent-sized breakfast usually consisting of oatmeal with some nuts and fruit, sometimes a banana, a glass or two of water, half a protein-powder beverage (other half is for before a run) and sometimes toast and yogurt too. On weekends I will usually consume stuff like sausages, eggs, and hashbrowns (made at home, not of the fast food variety). I try to keep lunch pretty simple; soup and salad, or if I am eating at a restaurant I will eat either an entree OR and appetizer (never both), and I try to keep side dishes limited to salad or veg (I will have the fries only if I plan on some sort of physical activity in the near future). My dinners are primarily now a sort of pseudo-extension of lunch, and I try to limit them to being protein and vegetables, with some carbs (and the other half of the protein beverage) if I'm going for an evening run. My after-run refuel is usually yogurt, an apple, and on occasion a piece of whole grain toast. I stay away from soft drinks as a general rule, and limit sweets and snacking to maybe a couple of times per week (unless the snacks are something healthy... and I never overindulge anymore).
Whoa. Sorry if that's a lot of info to process. It is what it is. After all, no one ever got into prime shape by lying in bed watching TV and eating extra-large bags of potato chips.
Ugh. Anyway, this is what has lead to me deciding to take a 7-week pilates class starting November 1st. Yeah, I hate stuff like pilates and yoga, but it is probably less bad for me than high impact things like boot camp (which I kind of struggle with due to my lack of core strength). I want to do this to avoid serious injury, because right now that sort of thing would really set me back on my goal of running a half marathon by the end of next summer, and then a full marathon the spring or summer after that. A lot of people have said it's not a realistic goal, since it's taken most of them 3 or 4 years to train to run a half (I have only been running seriously for around 5 months... really), but I'm pretty optimistic I can do it. After all, I just finished running a 10k race with barely any experience. That's right. I ran a couple of 10k flat-land runs before, and before that the farthest I'd ever gone on a run was 8.6k. I did no hill training at all (and the race was one with a huge hill right at the beginning). But I still managed.
This winter is my 10k training, then pretty much right after that I will start my half marathon training. I will stagger all of the running with core strength classes, and other things I feel will be useful to keep me in top shape like resistance training (possibly Crossfit... but I may still have a ways until I can stomach something that intense), spin class (potentially), and swimming.
I have already begun to alter my diet to fit these demands... so far, it's not as terrible as I thought. It mostly involves reversing the traditional way of thinking about dinner being the largest meal of the day. On weekday mornings, I eat a fairly decent-sized breakfast usually consisting of oatmeal with some nuts and fruit, sometimes a banana, a glass or two of water, half a protein-powder beverage (other half is for before a run) and sometimes toast and yogurt too. On weekends I will usually consume stuff like sausages, eggs, and hashbrowns (made at home, not of the fast food variety). I try to keep lunch pretty simple; soup and salad, or if I am eating at a restaurant I will eat either an entree OR and appetizer (never both), and I try to keep side dishes limited to salad or veg (I will have the fries only if I plan on some sort of physical activity in the near future). My dinners are primarily now a sort of pseudo-extension of lunch, and I try to limit them to being protein and vegetables, with some carbs (and the other half of the protein beverage) if I'm going for an evening run. My after-run refuel is usually yogurt, an apple, and on occasion a piece of whole grain toast. I stay away from soft drinks as a general rule, and limit sweets and snacking to maybe a couple of times per week (unless the snacks are something healthy... and I never overindulge anymore).
Whoa. Sorry if that's a lot of info to process. It is what it is. After all, no one ever got into prime shape by lying in bed watching TV and eating extra-large bags of potato chips.
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