In awe

Category: life

  • Misc – Random Thursday

    Day 101

    I signed up for few more races. Now don’t remember what I signed up. The biggest race was JFK 50 Miler in November. I wrote about of not doing this race because I might not recover in time for December hiking /trek. Couple things, Earth shattering thing happened in my life last week, what do they call it? YOLO? I felt I have a new leash on life and what I immediately did was registering for this race. If I don’t do it now, I might never ever do it. There you have it

    I signed up for Crystal City 5K. They will host a 5K ever Friday in April. I also signed up for Mother’s Day 4 miler. Originally, I was going to go out of town that weekend to do some training run in the mountain, but decided to stay put.

    I learned from a few things from my friend B, who is doing some fitness courses with me. I was motivating to think on one worse part of my body and do something about it.

    Action. Action. I got a new watch! Garmin 235 something. It was an upgrade from my previous Garmin 35? Something like that. The newer watch has more function like I could read my email / notification on the watch. It buzzed a lot through out the day.

    Weekend! I live mostly for the weekend. This weekend I will head out to the mountain, Doing somewhere from 10-20 miles hike with a full pack. We not sure where will will be going. The original site Torry Ridge seems to have some road work and we might not able to get to the trailhead. White Rock is our back up plan. Will see.

    I started running again, few miles at a time. I did about 15 miles this week. Yes, it is a far cry from 40 mile week.

    Locally the cherry blossoms are blooming. There is a kite festival this weekend. My friend brought a kite of a whale and she is going to fly it. It is humongous. I will be out of town though. My Cherry Blossom 10 miler race is next week. I will be looking forward to that. Then another week, I will be doing the first marathon for the year.

    That’s it.

  • Time sink

    Day 100 – Last couple days I have tried to stay away from phone, social media such as Facebook, and blogging, and email.

    My friend K and I have been discussing about these things over Sunday, how technology companies are bothering being unethical in designing their product that it is impossible to put down. The phone has features that will keep you on as long as possible. I have been notice how true that is.

    How much time do I spend on my phone? How much time is left for anything else? So I have been more conscious on what I am using my phone for. If it for checking email, I got to do it quick. If some emails are too long, then they won’t get read.

    I have been following blogs through my emails. So each day I limit myself to read one or two blogs and I got to do it quick — avoid the infinite scrolling blogs. Facebook, maybe only check once a week, and limit the time to maybe five minutes.

    Even with writing blog, … Keep it short. If it is over 5 words, it is too long. Haha. I really find myself no time for anything.

    Especially guys, my friend said, they need their sleep to produce testosterone. Their phone keeps them up and they won’t get their sleep, and so result in guys with weak body etc. Being a wimp. So I start to take heed, to sleep earlier. I’m thinking to keep my phone in the car!

  • Meaning

    Day 93 / still waiting

    One of the reasons I started blogging is to record my races and the training I do. Because running races is what I live for. But on a deeper level, I was trying to find meaning and truth in all my activities we call life. I believe our lives have meaning  even if it is not apparent. On the surface, every day seems to be the same. I wake up, go to work, run afterward and go back to bed. On a weekend, I might be lucky to find a race or two to run or if not, it is one long training for the weekend. Some days like what I mostly been doing the last  few months when I don’t feel like training, I ended doing nothing but sitting in my room staring at the ceiling. That is part of life too.

    It does not mean life is not exciting. Last few months were to me jumping through one crisis to another. I might be a bit extreme to call it crisis but it was like the end of the world! I feel somehows going through one storm after another. And it was very exciting.

    Why? We all just want a peaceful life… I did not write about them. Looking back though, I  survived. Always, every day I am entangled with something, and they definitely distracted me from running. Maybe something I didn’t do at work or something I didn’t do at home. I had a crisis with my training plan when I consistently putting up only 7 miles per week for the first month. I don’t know what happened there.

    I had a clear thought this morning while driving into work. As I looked back at the past week or the past month, I kind of see a pattern of something greater than just routine going through the motions of life. I saw maybe a glimpse of what life is worth living for, (life is always worth living) something that was truly uplifting. Now the thought is gone. I am grasping if I could, bring that light back. It was like a mundane thing transform to extraordinary.

    This weekend I will run the DC Rock and Roll Half Marathon (hopefully – Lord willing as my friend loves to say). Few more hours to go.  I signed up for it almost a year ago. It doesn’t mean I was hyped about it. This would be my third time running it. I signed up early to save money. The price now has doubled if I walk in and register today. I also already signed up for next year.

    I could run it without much emotion. There are not many races I would re-do, but this one is one of them. My friend calls it a subscription service if I run it year after year. But then I can attach so much meaning to it. It is one of the best marathons to do in this area. I have ran many (6) marathons and many half marathons (4-5). Rock n Roll is always the best! It is big! It was my first marathon as well as the first Half Marathon that I signed up (though didn’t run). I have so much memories of it unlike some other races. 

    My running involved with friends and my best friend at the time when I did the first marathon was in that race. That was all i needed for meaning. Thinking back, I was running through the whole course looking for her only in the end found out she started at a later time because I told her to switch to a Half and she listened, but I had my PR that day and my first ever fastest time, even to this day 3 years later, the time is still very hard for me to top it. I have no reason to beat my time tomorrow. 🙂 Even if I run my fastest time tomorrow, I won’t be able to meet up with my best friend who is out in the woods hiking somewhere.

    I am rambling on. Today is another one of those waiting time, waiting for things to happen tomorrow. Doesn’t life is like that? Waiting…and then kind of miss it when life shows up? That is some kind of truth regarding life I am seeking.

    I think meaning for the things we do or things happening is like turning on a light in a room. The things we do is  the same, but how we look at it is like having the light on or having the light off. Just a thought. 

  • Waiting

    Day 92 / decided

    I woke up this morning and gained a better sense what I want to do this weekend. I want to run. So I signed up for the Pot of Gold 10K for Sunday as a safe bet. 

    By the time I got out of work today, I wasn’t sure if I should upgrade my Saturday Half Marathon run to full one. But on my way to the Rock and Roll bib pickup convention, I ran into a friend of mine and I asked her if should upgrade. She said I shouldn’t because after the half, the second had of course doesn’t have that many people I. The crowd. Also the cost for me to upgrade is like 140-140 dollars. That is a lot. I just registered to run for next year paying on 70 dollars. So it doesn’t justify to pay double.

    So I got my bib. I will run both Saturday and Sunday.

    I was late for the club run tonight and ended up running by myself. I put in four slow miles.

    I am waiting for the weekend to start.

  • Forward

    Day 91 / lent

    Midweek is when I look toward the weekend. Not only because I can’t wait to finish my work but because what I will do on the weekend will determine what I should be doing today. Like if I have a big race coming up, then I should rest up now. It is either run or not to run and how many miles. There are still plenty work left, I can assure you that. With weekend only couple days away, I got to decide what to do now.

    This coming weekend, I am overwhelmed with choices. 

    Plan A: stick with the plan. Go out and run the Rock and Roll DC half marathon on Saturday, which I signed up like a year ago and then enjoy the Sunday off with my loving friend and go for a hike in the afternoon and dinner at night. A full day of worship.

    Plan B: Same as A, but add a 10K run/ race on Sunday – Pot of Gold 10k. But the cost is I will miss worship unless I go to the 11 o clock service, but doing that will bump my Sunday class, which I enjoy attending.

    Plan C: upgrade my half marathon to a full one and run on Saturday, basically not much time for anything else. C is for Craziness. I am definitely not ready to  run a marathon. Should I believe myself go run a marathon? And do A/B of Sunday.

    Plan D: D is for Don’t run at all on Saturday but instead go on a hike with my friend on the North Mountain. On Sunday, I could do A/B.

    Likelihood of doing each decreases as goes from A-D. 

    I really can’t decide without some value system or goal. I might as well flip a coin and leave to chance. Truly I guess I am conflicted with between running and see my friend. Three of them was about more running and the last choice is no running.

    If the way to evaluate is based on passion, I would pick either C and D. If I pick based on logic then it will be either A or B.

    I have been doing my runs during the week but I haven’t completely recovered (since last Wednesday). Not sure why it is taking so long. Normally, just a good night sleep would bring me back to 100%. Plan D is a good plan because I’m tired and need the rest. My friend going say I am disobedient again, because I know I shouldn’t run but is going to run.

    Last night, I ran 8 miles. I finished 4 miles with the club and did an additional 4 on my own because I thought I lost my head buff. So I was retracing the steps but couldn’t find it. I only discovered I had it over my neck the whole time when I got home and started undressing. I wouldn’t have run the extra four miles if not for this. It was really cold and I didn’t even realized the buff was on me.

    This morning woke up with a stiff calf. Ya, I didn’t stretch after the run. I will take it easy tonight, no more running. Got to honor the day of rest.

    I noted that lent has started. It is a time for some reflection.  

  • 19.3 review

    Day 90 – March Update

    19.3 is not a race. It is just a recap and a reflection of the past 30+ days. My last report was on day 60. [1]

    I have been skipping days so it is not exactly 30 days since. It is almost two months since my last report. I almost was going to put it off until day 100.  Maybe in the future I will do a report every 100 / 50 days or so.

    Trying to get back into training mode since the last major race was hard. I have been running but not consistently and they were not structured. Finally the last few weeks, I am a bit more consistent that they looked more a real training. I put up like 30-40 miles weekly but I am still struggling.

    There are many reasons why I haven’t been training as I should. I got to know a friend better and was having a lot of happy hours with her. It was my church time too, but my schedule got rearranged during the weekend. I spent more time at ‘church’ than before. Luckily time with the lady doesn’t spread to my work days yet. I think a lot of her though and kind of distracted me from my running. I didn’t specifically write about them. Readers can read between the lines. 

    Though that wasn’t the buck of it. It deserves a whole posting in itself. It is hard to see things at ‘ground zero’. There were just too many things going on in my personal life. Who doesn’t? Motivation to run was quite low. My initial motivation to run was from my former girlfriend, because she runs, I run. Now I think of her less and less, so I  kind of searching for a replacement of what can  get me out of the door. They say I run, because I like it… It is hard to find what to like about it when I’m at the door and don’t want to step outside. I don’t run for fuzzy feeling.

     Plus the weather and everything seemed to be ‘against me’ when I was ready to hit the pavement. Don’t things in life kind of do that to everyone? When you really want to do something and the whole world is against you? Sky’s falling. That’s life. It is swimming upstream all the way.

    I did several small/mini races and they are not too much to brag about. But they were fun to do. I was so close to beating my records on couple of them and was pleased.

     I am not on track with my new year resolutions and no idea how to fit it. It went well for couple weeks and that was all. I wasn’t regret making them as some would. It just mean I have to get back on the saddle. But things are looking to turn around.

    My running schedule for 2019 (racing) is set [2] and mostly paid for. I recently registered for the MCM. I wasn’t sure though if a couple hotels reservations (for races) made were paid  in advance or I will have to pay when I arrive. They are spread out over the year, so they won’t hit my pocket too hard. 

    Budgeting! I haven’t really set a budget. This year though I added up all the cost of running related for the whole year, so I kind of know how much. I won’t share it because it was shocking to my running buddies and it would be shocking to you guys. All my races are budget buster.

    I hiked a few times and wrote about those. It has been exciting! My dearest friend (one and only who does this kind of things with me) and I haven’t done much last year, and the first quarter kind of put us back into the regular pattern. We try to hike/backpack twice a month. Weather and other issues prevented some of trips but overall we headed out the trail more frequently than before. 

    Of course our goal is to get ready for a trip to Chile at end of the year. She has planned the whole thing already. This trip though kind of derails my biggest goal of running a 50 miler in November. I wrote about going to Chile vs running the 50 miler. I made my goals and she does her and we or I at least ended up in a rock and a hard place. 

    I am thinking of switching one of my ultra races (Iron Mountain) to a 50 miler, but it means getting my body ready by end of August instead of November. Still trying to figure if I will be ready. I can have until June to decide.

    Until next time then. My next report will probably be around June around Day 150 or 175.

    [1] https://antin.blog/2019/01/12/review-19-02/#more-407

    [2] https://antin.blog/races-to-run/

  • Snow

    Snow

    We have our first snow for 2019. It was a big one. I woke up and all outside was covered with 8-10 inches of white fluff and it forced local schools and the federal government to close at least for today. Not like I didn’t know ahead, since it was forecasted at the beginning of last week. By the way, I was too lazy to head to the mountains over the weekend. My family said they were glad. But the weatherman got it right this time. Imagine braving the element in the woods, what a weekend to tell about for years to come. (more…)

  • Resolution

    Many people posted about their resolutions. I have been thinking on mine. I used to do this every year. This year I am kind of late to the game.

    One thing I want is to be healthier. I want to sleep more than 4 hours each night, preferably 7-8 hours.

    I resolve to train more consistently. I do run a lot but, I stopped running in the morning (even though I have been sleeping less). I would need to do more morning runs. I resolve to go to the gym more, aiming two to three times a week. I want to have better built. I will just follow Excessive and Composed’s plan. I resolve to swim at least couple times per week.

    Going to add: Increase in intensity.

    I was pretty happy last year and did many amazing things that were beyond my expectation (life was hard, but there were moments of light). I strive to be happier this year. This blog and my adventures have been very fulfilling. I do not seek validation from others, but the bloggers on here have been a great encouragement to me. I will want to post more about my adventures and my races. It was interesting to write a journal entry and have people comment back.

    I also want to eat healthier. I have been on fast food most of my adult life and even the last two years while running, I still ate all the junks. So this year at least for the first quarter, I plan to eat wholesome food and to avoid as much processed food as possible. I am totally cutting sweets and sugar until race day 4/13. I will eat all the sweets they have to offer on the race course!

    I also resolve to save more money at least for a race bicycle and for more of my trips. If I am going to run oversea, I will need to save up for that. The goal is 2021 either Sydney, Au or Lima, Peru. That will be several grands, so definitely need to be more disciplined with my spending. I think by cutting fast food, I will be able to save some money. I need to resolve to open a saving account.

    I resolve to go camping by myself. I did a lot of camping trips but never alone. I feel I need to learn to be a real outdoor man, such as be better at finding trails and reading map and to learn to able to stay alive in the woods!

    Ya, I want to be a better person. I want to be a more adventurous! Well there is probably a chance for me to run a Ragnar this year! That would be awesome. I am not looking to leave a legacy, but I do want 2019 to be an exceptional year that I when I look back, there is no regret of things I could do but didn’t do.

    I resolve to be a friend to someone :), at least will try to be friendlier person. People said I have been doing so much that I don’t have time for my family or close friends. However, I have been making new friends through my running group and my hiking buddies and outdoor adventurers and on here. I guess, I want to resolve to make more new friends yet not to forget my old friends too.

    Day 54

  • Xmas’ gift

    Thank you! 

    End day 48

  • Just Another day

    Day 34. 

    This reminds me of the movie I AM LEGEND or one of those survival apocalypse movies, ticking (more…)