Happy 4th of July! Enjoy some of the cheesiest fireworks I found on the interweb. ^_^

Had quite another 'physical' weekend. It's funny, cos when I run marathons, I don't consider it much of a physical feat... well, I probably should since I sux so bad but I think I have to work a LOT on my mental faculties whilst running, too.

Anyway, sis and I played 9-hole golf at The Lakes in El Segundo. As you may or may not know, it's this executive course (i.e., 3-par/short/one 4 par). What can I say? After months of inactivity from playing golf, we went out that sunny Saturday afternoon and got our asses kicked by the course. LMFAO. Actually, my sis did well with hole #6 which she birdie'd and I had bogey'd. Yes, I sux0red so bad but I'm planning to visit the driving range after work this week to work on my swing again.

This morning, just before the Euro 2008 final (OMG. GERMANY LOST. Just proves to show, never depend on the Germans ;) -- long story, it has something to do with my Euro Fantasy Football Team)... Sorry, I digress -- this morning, my sis and I went swimming! FOR A WHOLE FREAKIN' HOUR. I actually swam laps (with very *very* short breaks in-between 100 metres) for the entire hour. Can you say, exhausted after that?! OMG, I think I'm still tired from it! LOL. After the swim, I had so much bad food -- I mean, my body was craving it. I had some chocolate stick biscuits, some dried spicy scuttlefish which you can get these at any Asian store ;) and...*gasp* 3 pieces of Dylan's Candy Bar chocolate.... AHHHHHH. All that work gone cos of a number of yummy treats afterwards. lol. Although I'm still reeling for the hour-long swim, I'm hoping that I can build up my endurance so that I don't end up 'dog paddling' the swim portion of the triathlon I'm going to do next year! LOL!

Thank the heavens! The weather today was waaaay more tolerable than days past. This evening, I went outside to take out the trash and was greeted with that familiar cool breeze. Ahhhh.. The heatwave is over?

Anyway, I despite the heat, I had a pretty active weekend; mountain biking, skateboarding... Sadly, no surfing but it was ok. As I did these "physical" activities, I thought of all the stuff I ate that week! LOL. Oh, did I also mention that I went swimming on Friday evening?

Speaking of biking, I also found out from my big sis that I won't be able to borrow her road bike... I was hoping to cut that expense off my plans to do a triathlon next year, but I guess I have to put it back in. : Oh well, gotta work more!

So I've decided that I will sign up for the 2009 Hermosa Beach Triathlon; it's in October next year so that gives me PLENTY of time to train, get the proper gear, etc. I was considering of doing it this October but after my failure at San Diego (or should I just call it, a 'learning experience'), I'm going to scratch off any "new" sport for now; of course, I have a 1/2 marathon on my birthday (October 19!) and another 1/2 marathon in San Antonio, TX a month after that... In other words, I still have to train, but am sticking to running this year.

Anyway, back to the pseudo-training; I went to our local plunge (no, it wasn't bad swimming in a public pool) and tried to do some laps; well, I was only able to do 6 laps (in about 30 minutes >_< ) before I called it quits. Keep in mind, after every other lap, I'd take a breather! Ooof. I'm so outta shape. The HB Tri is basically a 1/4 mile swim (about 400 metres). I did the maths in my head and was going for at least 8 laps. I should probably have set my goal lower, i.e., 4 laps; then I would've felt much better afterwards. At least I can make it to each end without stopping in the middle now! LOL.

I don't know if I'm going to dedicated tri bike, too; they're so expensive and I'd rather spend that moolah on other goodies... I need to convince my sis to lend me her road bike, which she borrowed from a friend anyway! Hehe... Then there's the wetsuit; I'm looking at the tri wetsuits and they're uber expensive, too. Ugh. This is why running is the best sport; buy a pair of good running shoes, open your front door and go run! LOL. Baby steps... I gotta make sure I can swim 400 metres... One of these days, I gotta practise swimming in the ocean, too. Eep. Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself... baby steps!

Sheryl... wanna do a triathlon next year? Hehehe..

It's fun to shop at Costco; I <3 the huge aisles and aisles of stuff! Like, where else can you get a 6 pound can of corn! That's delicious Del Monte quality people! ;)

Costco is like, mini-America; a shower of cultures surround you along with massive amounts of food. Hehe. Anyway, you can understand my surprise (see Tweet from earlier today) when I saw a sign posted above these bags of rice:

I was like... WTFMATE?! ;)

It's all tongue-in-cheek, of course; I realise there's some sort of shortage going on right now and am totally sympathetic to those on the other side of the country (and world) who are having trouble with failed crops and such. It was just odd finding it at the mother-of-all-wholesale stores ;)

I wonder if you can eBay sacks of rice... I keeed! ^_^

I updated my splash/landing page with the latest image I took this past week. Out of all the photos, this was my fav. Actually, the other photos were crap and this is pretty much the most decent one that came from it. LOL.

Anyway, it was a fun week and I'm sad it's over but one has to return to the real world in order to survive. I don't really know what I mean there; I am playing catch up with some stuff I missed for an entire week (mostly emails, snail mails and other work-related items).

The blisters on my feet are but scars and the soreness of my legs are gone. My arms have nearly stopped feeling like jelly (après-surfing remembrance, I suppose). The intensity of my sun-kissed/burned face is beginning to fade/heal... So yah, back to reality!

Event: San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon 2008
Actual Distance: 26.2 miles (42.16 kilometres)
Time: 7:01:06
Date: June 1st 2008

Notes:
It's Monday; I slept around 8:30PM last night and got up around 7:30AM this morning. Legs still sore, upper back still sore but my spirits were high because I had a french dip sarnie with chips this morning! LMAO. I was really hungry; what can I say. It didn't last, though as after brekkers, I checked the computer for my official marathon results. As you can see, I finished a dismal 7 hours, 1 minute and 6 seconds. Pah.

I think I need to have a permanent section for "What Went Wrong" -- here are my thoughts:

1. I didn't train; How bad was it this year? Well, if you look back at my running logs, you'll only find 5 entries prior to this San Diego marathon. That's 5 days that I actually went outside to run some sort of distance. That's quite pitiful and sad.

2. ...

That's pretty much it. I didn't train. I didn't take my preparation seriously this year and rightly suffered for it. LOL during the run, I was texting people (and tweeting) that I needed a slap across my face if I decide to run a marathon *without training*.

If you want to see my pathetic finish in video, check it out:
http://video.nbcsandiego.com/player/?id=257881

After the advert plays, and after the video fully loads, forward until you see the marathon clock count up to 7:13:28, you'll see me, in my bright "celery" shirt, white hat, and black shorts, pitifully crossing the line and then having enough strength to lift my arms; thanking the Lord that it wasn't a DNF ("Did Not Finish") LOL!

*cue "The Final Countdown" music*

LOL. That's what's playing in my head right now -- I forget who sang it but it's this cheesy 80's rock anthem and the only words I know from it are "the final countdown" followed by some really "gnarly" synth sounds.

Anyway, as my title suggests, I have about 10 hours to go until the race. 8 or 7 of those hours, I hope, are spent sleeping! I definitely need my rest since I'll practically be running for nearly 6 hours. Well, this year, my goal (albeit I didn't really train) is to finish the marathon in under 6 hours; 5 hours 30 minutes to be exact! I know it's a long shot but if I can try to motivate myself during the race with some sort of time, I might actually make it. It's not like I'm going to kill myself trying to finish at that exact time, though... LOL, I guess I should just tell myself that my goal is to finish between 5:30 to 6h...

So, I've probably mentioned this before but I'll be bringing my mobile with me in case I get bored and (lol) start texting/bothering Sheryl or maybe my sis or just some random people reading my tweets. Oh, did I mention that I'll be wearing my day-glo Chelsea shirt? LMAO. I'm going to blind the other runners around me.

G'night!

Twitter is currently being sucky right now by posting an "Over capacity" message and preventing me from tweeting. Bastages! Oi, Twitter -- just let yourselves be bought by Google so you can have faster and larger servers. >_<

Anyway, am typing using my sis #2's pink computer in her beach house. Tomorroz, we go to the marathon expo to pick up our bib and running chip... Then later that evening (well, is 5:30PM evening?!), our pasta supper and then lights out at 8 or 9PM. Eep. Good thing sis # 1 will be dropping us off at the starting line on Sunday -- around 5:00AM! LMAO! Am hoping that I won't be too nervous by that time. From now until the gun goes off, I'll be reminding myself to go slow during the first 6 miles. ^_^

Oh, do pray for great (i.e., cloudy) weather, please! Thanks.

Today (Friday) is (according to my freebie calendar) "Memorial Day Traditional"; so yah, Happy Traditional Memorial Day, everyone! ;)

In about 3 days (including this one), I'm going to run my fourth marathon; my third one in San Diego. EEP. Sadly, I haven't run since the 10th (my 20-miler) so I'm really really worried about Sunday. I guess, as long as I don't go out too fast in the first 10 miles, I should be ok, right? I mean, that's always been my problem (well, for the past year anyway). Other than inadequate training, I run too fast at the starting line instead of pacing myself. I guess it's the excitement and all that. But not this Sunday. I think I'm gonna have to remind myself to take it easy. AHHHH....

Anyway, if you care, I'm going to take my mobile phone with me and will tweet during the marathon ;) Well, starting at the 10th mile, anyway. I don't think my mobile's battery is going to last that long! LOL.

Wish me luck!

Chelsea 1 - 1 ManU; after 120 minutes...

Chelsea lose to United in penalties (6-5 to ManU)... That's good bye to big-ears (European trophy).

I'm somewhere in this crowd:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=T7CJ0wPITSM

It's waaaaay too hot right now. Like, probably 80°F in my room. Ugh. Whoever said you didn't need airconditioning just because you live close to the beach was mad.

Anyway, I'm a bit worried now about my 12-miler tomorrow -- I'll have to start off at 5AM or 6AM just to avoid the mid-70's... I just hope it won't be this hot in San Diego on June 1st. :(

Actual Distance: 20.04 miles (32.25 kilometres)
Time: 4:19:22
Date: May 10th 2008

Notes:
Weather was perfect (well, as posted last week, perfect = cloudy/cool day). However, I ran an unfamiliar route (am in SD right now with my sis) and boy was it hilly; the first mile alone was terrible. Immediate hill/incline. Not exactly the best way to warm up! Anyway, there were flat spots but overall, I thought it was all hills; my old blister started to hurt towards mile 7 or 8. Thankfully, it didn't get worse and I was able to finish the run. My average pace was 12:56 min/mi which is good considering the unfamiliar and harsh terrain. Burned about 1,914 calories +/- the Jelly Belly Sport Beans I had -- two every 3 miles and one in-between each mile after mile 12. I just have to do all my long run trainings until the end of the month and I'm hoping to be ok during the marathon!