Victoria Half-Marathon - The Elusive Sub 2:00:00

First off, let's just get this straight: It was Tim who COPIED my "Elusive Sub 2:00" title on his blog, and NOT the other way around. They say copying is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm just glad that despite his lack of imagination, my husband finds me such a great inspiration in his life.

A few months ago I signed myself up to run the Victoria Marathon in October. In a risky move, I also paid an extra 60 bucks to sign Diesel up for the half. He was notified that he was running once I forwarded him his registration confirmation. He took it pretty well and was even excited about it. During training, I hurt my knee and decided it would be cool to run Diesel's first half with him. It was disappointing, but on the upside, marathons are very painful.

On October 11, after his 1-week work trip to London, we headed over to the Victoria Clipper pier with our contingent of fans (which was actually only my sister) at 7am to catch the ferry to Victoria, Canada. With the race, Canadian Thanksgiving and a US ship arriving in Canada, we were glad that we decided to take the ferry to Canadia instead of having to wait hours at the border.

The trip was pleasant, and we got to chat with another couple who was running. We arrived safely at our hotel and immediately decided to take a nap. It was then time for a first session of carbo loading, and we took the advice of the foodie community board on chowhound and went Paggliacci's. We were told that it was a laid back, family style and reasonably-priced Italian restaurant, all of which were true. We were also told that the food was awesome, which it unfortunately wasn't. But oh wells. After sauntering for a while, it was suddenly time for dinner, and we ended up at Cafe Brio, which my friend Megan from work had recommended. We got the small plates and the food was awesome!

The next morning my sister sent us off and the race started. The weather was perfect for running (unlike Chicago!) and the course was the prettiest I've ever seen, through parks and on the water. The interesting thing about this race is the many loops you do, where you get to see the elite runners who are way ahead of you. I also decided that the loops make it very easy for people to cheat (you can just skip the loop and go the other direction), so a good tip for all those shady runners who want to qualify for Boston (HA!).

Tim took off and I ran an easy half. It was very pleasant and when the sun finally came out, it was just so nice to be running out there. It is definitely one of the most beautiful (if not THE most) race I've ever done.

Tim crossed the finished line first, and I was about a minute behind him (to read his account of the race with MY title, click here). I suppose I should hate him because this was his first half, but I guess he's my husband, so I won't hate him.

Sadly, both of us missed our 2:00:00 finish goal. After running a 2:00:08 in Vancouver and a 2:00:16 in Bellevue, I have to say the 2:02:31 time was a bit disappointing. Well, maybe next season...

Anyhow, the trip back was tiring and uneventful. The Clipper was filled with your typical race casualties: many limping, several who couldn't stand up, more even that chose to sit on the main deck, daunted by going up the stairs, and your usual line up of stretchers along the walls.

Days 2-5 in Paris - A Few Museums, Lots of Eating

Tuesday - Visited the Musee d'Orsay and perambulated through the excellent collection of impressionist painting. Afterwards, we took a stroll through the Tulleries Gardens. Then it was home for some cleaning up and preparing for our biggest dinner in Paris at the famous Joël Robuchon's L'Atelier. The wait, we were told, was one hour, but we got there at 8:00pm only to find out that the wait was 2.5 hrs. We went over next door to a hotel and got drinks at a posh hotel, where Diesel spotted a small mouse scurrying across the lobby. Upon being notified of the unwanted patron, the hotel staff seemed quite disgusted. However, after a brief, failed search, they simply gave us as if it wasn't a big deal at all.

At 10:30 we finally sat at the bar (the whole restaurant is all bar seats, with the kitchen in the middle). We did the 9-course tasting menu. I can't remember the names of any of the dishes; all I know is that was really the best meal of my life.

Wednesday - We woke up early for the Louvre. Despite being able to skip all the lines by using our museum pass, we were surrounded, choked in fact, by the large crowed of tourists. Not the art-loving kind, mind you, but the breed that only goes from piece to piece taking pics of themselves with famous works of art and intend to bore their friends with those stupid shots. We met up with Nath after the museum, as she had arrived from Lyon the previous evening. The threatening clouds turned into downpour, and we ran through the streets to find a good neighborhood restaurant--with only 4 days in Paris, we wanted to make the most out of every meal. We picked a small family-owned restaurant, where we ordered steak and frites. That's right. I had RED MEAT. And it was GOOD.

In the evening we had dinner at Marie-Pierre's house. MP is a co-worker of Nath's whom I met while she was traveling through Seattle/Vancouver. Her friend Isabelle, who was traveling with MP was also there.

Thursday - We slept in till 11 and met with Nath for lunch at La Tete de Grouchin or something like that. The food was really good. We then made a stop home and the two decided it was in order to take a nap. I was a bit impatient and wanted to walk around, as we had been lazy all morning. We finally made it out and took a stroll through the streets of Paris.

That night, Nath got a reprieve from us and met up with her friends at a restaurant. We didn't go to far, and went to the restaurant next door (literally), where we enjoyed some hearty Provençal food.

Day 1 in Paris - Secrets and Lies, Let the Gluttony begin

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport at 10:30am but after having problems with our shuttle, we didn't get to the apartment that my friend Nathalie had arranged for us to stay in until 1pm.

We were received by Daniele, who lived in the apartment. Nathalie had tried to explain to me the whole housing arrangement, but seeing that all of the exchange was done over IM, it follows that I did not really understand that Nath didn't know this person personally. In fact, Daniele was actually a friend of a friend (Lili) of a friend (Pauline) of Nath's. To conceal the loose connection, I was supposed to say that I did know Pauline, a fact that escaped my attention. I have a feeling I got Nath and Pauline in a bit of trouble, but we tried to be good house guests.

We got cleaned up and Daniele made us some delicious salad, topping it off with bits of goat cheese wrapped in speck, shaved Parmesan and other little French treats that came in jars filled with aromatic olive oil. After that, we took a recovery nap and finally made it out by taking a stroll around the neighborhood. We were by place Pereire, a hip, borderline snooty neighborhood in the 17th arroundissement.

That night, Lili came over and cooked us dinner: shredded duck and mashed potatoes casserole. The dish name sounds much better in French though. A lot off champagne, and wine were consumed that night which led to some jolly moments that night.

On Our Way to Paris/The Boy Who Wouldn't Shut Up

It finally came! Diesel's and my trip to Paris. Catching the flight was quite stressful, as we had to get up at 5am on Sunday morning and drive down to Seattle from the Baker cabin. You see, our friends Rebeca, Steve and Heidi threw a big party at the cabin to celebrate their 40th, 40th, and 30th bdays, respectively, so on Sat afternoon Diesel and I made the 2.5 hr drive to Baker and, in a ambitious, yet utterly stupid plan, decided to drive back to Seattle at 5 so we could make a 7:30-8am stop at the Danskin triathlon to cheer on our friends Tarah and Regina, who were doing their first tri.

After gett pulled over by a cop but not getting a speeding ticket despite doing 57 on a 35mph road, we cheered Tarah on but missed Regina :(

Back at our apartment, we showered, grabbed our bags and got a ride from my sis to the airport. The flight to Chicago was a lovely flight in business class with a free meal and a separate bathroom from the plebe.

The Chicago to Paris flight, on the other hand was in economy class, which is fine cuz, as you can tell from the previous paragraph, I'm no snob. However, right off the bat this 7-year-old boy who was sitting next to us started talking. Yapping really. It was an ominous sign to a long and sleepless night.

I might exaggerate sometimes, but I kid you not when I tell you that the kid yapped non-stop from the time we took off to the time we landed. It was a 9-hour flight during which 8 hours were spent yapping away and one hour going to the bathroom and walking aimlessly in the forbidden aisles of business class, where he got kicked out of.

Anyhow, curiously enough; his mother, father and sister were all sitting in adjacent seats in the row in front of him. He was the only member of his OWN family that was sitting in the row next to ours. Did his mom KNOW something we didn't???

So as I mentioned and reitterated, the kid's yapping continued through the night, even after the lights went out and most of the passengers went to sleep. It got so bad that Diesel woke up from the little sleep he could get with the sole purpose of shushing the boy. Even after a loud SHHHHH the boy continued yapping--I guess in his defense I have to say that he turned it down a tad. But he did NOT, I repeat, did NOT stop talking.

The next morning breakfast was being served, and the flight attendants went around with the drinks cart. Upon being asked what he wanted, the boy said: "coffee."

COFFEE? COFFEE??? NO WONDER!!!!! The flight attendant was taken aback and had to confirm with the boy's mom that he was allowed to have some. Unfazed, the mother--who let me remind you, was NOT sitting next to her own son--replied with an emphatic "YES."

Judge me if you want, but it just seems unfair to me that a parent would give her already hyperactive kid nature's version of Red Bull and let him go wild on a night flight annoying the hell out of the other passengers (and by "other passengers" I mean ME), when what he really needed was a big dose of ridelin.

All I can say is that after that, French will never again be the language of l'amour et romance; instead, it'll be forever tarnished by the boy that wouldn't shut up.

SUMMERy

I haven't had time to blog much the last couple of months. The excuses vary, so I will try to redeem myself by giving you a SUMMERy of this summer's events.
June: Yurt Trip - Emy, Charlie, Tim and I did a family trip. We drove down to Deception Pass, where we had rented a yurt. Now, I was thinking that this would be a flimsy structure with no luxuries, but the yurt had a bunk bed, a futon, electricity AND a heater! And to make our "camping" experience even more luxurious, the bathrooms were cleaned every day! This was a relaxing weekend with walks on the beach and lots of fun!

6/22 - 6/24: Emy's Camping/Rafting Bday Weekend - My sister, Charlie, his sister and a couple of other friends met up in Oregon for a weekend of camping. The site was gorgeous, and the weather was very very cold. On Saturday we rafted down the White Salmon, one of the only rivers in Oregon that has a class 5 rapid!

6/29 - 7/1: Zillah Bike/Wine Trip - We started doing this trip three years ago, and it's my absolute favorite trip of the summer. We drive down to the Yakima wine country region and ride our bikes from winery to winery. We had 15 people come this year and finished up the weekend by going on a floating/drinking trip down the Yakima river.

7/3: Diesel's 30th Bday - It was as semi-surprise party ("semi" because my NOSY husband came across an email on my computer titled "Diesel's 30th bday"). The big occasion deserved good food (skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, fried polenta, summer tomato/corn salad and carrot cake), and was celebrated in the great Asian tradition of karaoke, provided by Seattle's Best Karaoke. I rented a karaoke machine and it was well worth it!

7/8: Seafair Half-Marathon - Sad. Once again I failed to meet my sub 2:00 goal! After doing it in 2:00:10 in Vancouver, my time at this event was actually one second slower :( Next time.

It seems like Diesel and I haven't really spent any weekends at home, so I'm looking forward to doing some of that before the sun disappears again. Hope you're all having a great summer!

Mexico - Last Thoughts and Lessons Learned

Some final notes on our trip to Mexico

On food

• Street Food vs. Haute Cuisine - When in Mexico, stick to the unpretentious, cheap and always delicious food stands. $0.25 for a taco, $2.50 for a torta (sandwich), it's eating well on a budget. Our biggest disappointment, however, was the scarcity of fancier restaurants. We went to three of them. The ambiance in all of them was great, but the food was always disappointing. It's like they were trying very hard to cook some decent fancy food, but unfortunately, unsuccessfully. I would stick with the street food.

• Mysterious Meats - While in Mexico, you will see an array of leftover animal parts served for, guess what, your MEAL! Cabeza (head), pierna (leg), tripa (tripe), lengua (tongue); you name it; it's on the menu. Don't ask. Don't think about it. Just eat it. It's good, you'll see! Our last food adventure directed us to a very busy hole in the wall, where all of the sandwiches listed "pierna" as their main ingredient. All I knew was that "pierna" meant leg. Leg of what? I didn't know. I just ate it. And I liked it.
  

On New Skills

• Proudest Accomplishment - In the bathroom, learning how to squat with my backpack on, while holding a newspaper and bottle of water. In a swift move, rapidly raising my arm to go over my head, thereby unzipping the top pocket of my backpack to grab toilet paper from my private stash.

On Greedy Sunbathers

• Never Be One of Them - Greedy and careless sunbathing only leads to redness followed by itchiness, followed by bubbling, followed by peeling. It's just not worth it, man!

On Mexicans and Mexico

• Mexicans - Friendly, laid back and helpful.
  
• Mexico - Safe, fun and sunny! I would definitely come back.
  

Mexico Day 8 - A Long, Uncomfortable Ride

8pm. We were on a bus headed en route to Zihuateneo. It was an excruciating 8-hour bus ride. We have just spent too much time on the bus.

Not to mention the driver on this particular trip was a "loco" (CRAZY). Long-distance buses have a little red light that goes off every time the driver starts going to fast. Let's just say that for the duration of this trip the little red light was always ON, as a reminder that life is precious and it could end at any moment. We got to Ixtapa half an hour ahead of schedule (not an usual occurrence in this country), even though none of the passengers (except for Tim, who had carefully followed our trip on a map) knew that we had gotten there. The bus driver never announced our arrival at this main bus station, and several of us complained about this crazy driving and burning desire to get some--apparently in Mexico, bus drivers can bring along friends and family, and this driver decided bringing his gf was a good idea.

We took a cab to Troncones, a budding surfing town recommended by a couple of friends of ours. Tired and ready to rest, we aimlessly walked around trying to find a hotel. Those that were not booked were in pretty precarious condition. We settled on a so-called bungalow, which was at least right on the beach. Ok, so it had lizards crawling around. And ok, the bathroom was not so hot. But it was a room to sleep. I was kinda itching for a bit more glamour. Maybe the next day...

Mexico Day 7 - Tequila!

After much adventuring on our own, we decided it was time to leave the navigation up to somebody else and booked a guided tour of the town of Tequila.

The bus ride seemed to fly by compared to our previous 6-hr and 3-hr bus rides.

We went out to the agave plantation to see how the main ingredient in Tequila (in fact, "good" tequila should be 100% agave), and had a tour of the El Cuervo distillery.

Mexico Day 6 - The Touristy Non-Touristy Town of Guanajuato

Early on Wednesday morning, Diesel and I left early for the town of Guanajuato. Unlike the luxurious ETN bus, which transported us from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara, the bus to Guanajuato was not as nice.

The first bad sign was being greeted into the bus by blaring opera music (from La Boheme, more specifically). I'm all for classy opera, but for goodness sake, not in a old bus with stained seats and a nasty bathroom!

After a three hour ride, we arrived in Guanajuato, an old subterranean Mexican town nestled in the mountains of the Sierra de Guanajuato. Surprisingly the city resembles old European cities with its buildings and square, but upon a closer look, one can see that the resemblance stops there. Guanajuato is, in fact, very Mexican.

We rode the city bus (40 cents!) up the hill to the supposedly very interesting Mummy Museum. The museum is quite a let down, but we were in no hurry. The rest of the time was spent strolling around and eating on the streets.

Mexico Day 5 - Guadalajara: Stroll Around the City The Revenge of the Burnt Skin

After a long bus ride, Diesel and I decided it was in order sleep in on Day 5. After a little working out, we headed out to the city center. Unfortunately, we forgot it was Monday, and for the most part the museums were closed.

Guadalajara is Mexico's second largest city, but despite its size, it still feels like a smaller city: safe, friendly and very Mexican (read: not very touristy). With no particular sightseeing attraction in mind, we lost ourselves in the city, enjoying the bustling streets and its people.

It was then that I realized. Bubbling. My skin was BUBBLING! After 4 hours of the unforgiving scorching sun of Mexico, my greediness finally got me what I deserved : my skin literally bubbly, nasty crusts of bumpy skin across my belly and around my neck. Disgusting, to say the least.

Mexico Day 4 - The Buses are NICE!

After packing our stuff and saying good-bye to our favorite taco stand in Sayulita, Diesel and I went en route to Guadalajara. We were going to take the luxury bus. And I´m talking LUXURY with huuuge comfy seats (only 3 seats per row), snacks and movies on board. Never did I think that traveling by bus could be so fabulous!

We arrived in Guadalajara an hour late (viva Mexico!), and went to our hotel. Not bad. Nice, clean with a pool and workout room. We ended up at a local eatery that was packed with soccer fans. Once again we got tacos (maybe tomorrow I´ll eat something other than tacos). We then walked around, went back to the hotel and got ready for round 2. The night was young, but the bars weren´t. Sunday night is a bit slow, even in the second biggest city in Mexico. We had drinks and chatted for another hour or so, and then headed home.

Diesel´s tummy is not doing so well. No tacos for him.

Mexico Day 3 - The Infamous Chinita

So yesterday I had a bit of an altercation with a local surfing instruction. Really, I did nothing bad, but the guy was a jerk.

Diesel and I went up to his shop to inquire about surfing classes. He mumbled something, and when Diesel asked him to please repeat, he condescendently repeated the price, very S-L-O-W-L-Y, as if he were a retard. I didn´t like that, so I told him he should be nicer to his clients. He was like: WHAT? I repeated and left. A few minutes later I see him charging to where we were, and I know he was going to bitch me out. There was a not so nice exchange of words on his part, as he blurted out all of the swear words he must have seen while watching Hollywood movies. There was the F word, the MF word. Nothing really made sense, and when he finally said I needed a man to protect me (don´t know where he got that from), I said I could defend myself thanks very much.

In this particular instance, those Asian kung-fu skills would have come very handy.

So today, when we went to a different surf shop ready to take a lesson, Sergio, our instructor, started giving us the first couple of tips. And there he was. The guy that bitched me out yesterday was walking in our direction. Sigh. But he went past us, and didn´t even direct a single foul word towards us.

Sergio took us out and I proceeded to chat with him. He told me he brother was also a surfing instructor, but he worked at the other shop. Uh-oh. I actually liked Sergio. Could it be that I had gotten into a fight with his brother the previous day? I decided to change the subject.

While in the water, Sergio started telling me about his family and the other instructions. It was then that my curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to ask: "So you know the guy with the long hair?¨ "Yes," he said "we call him pecho (which literally means "breasts, bust"). I proceeded, "Did he mention maybe...a fight he had yesterday?" Sergio confirmed: "Yeah, he said he told US ("who´s US," I wondered) into an argument with two people..." "Well, that was me, " I confessed. I clarified that pecho had been very very rude, and the only thing I did was tell him to be nicer to his customers. Sergio seemed a bit amused, and I realized that besides having a dirty mouth, pecho also had a big mouth, and as a consequence of his big huge mouth, came the infamy that would follow me until I departed Sayulita. I would forever be known as "la chinita" (little Chinese girl) that had gotten into an altercation with pecho. Regretfully, my fellow Chinese girls (of which there was a considerable number in Sayulita) would also be the objects of whispers and gossip, as I believed no Mexican could tell us apart, and thus, all of us chinitas would forever live in the infamy of Sayulita´s history, only because of my heroic efforts in the fight for consumer rights.

Unfazed by my confession, Sergio said I was fine, that they were all "buena onda" and that if I wanted to talk to pecho, he would talk to me as if nothing had ever happened. Thanks, but no thanks.

Surfing was a lot of fun though. Since I´ve been condemned to no sun (thanks to my greediness the first day) and no more surfing (thanks to pecho´s big mouth), I was ready to leave and head out to Guadalajara.

Mexico Day 2 - Sayulita

We spent all day bathing in the sun. I was determined to get a tan. Unfortunately, my skin wasn´t in agreement with my vain decision. I got sunburnt. Bad. Sun poisoning actually. Still recovering but no sun and no beach for me.

Shopping Marathon

What do you get when you get five girls and 75% off sales? SIX STRAIGHT HOURS OF SHOPPING, that's what!

For my friend Erica's 30th bday, we decided to surprise her and take her for up to Vancouver (or HongKouver, as some people refer to the Hong Kongnese-filled city) for a girls weekend.

It was a marvelous time of girl talk, shopping, laid-back dinner and a nice stroll through the Granville Market.

A few pics from the weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/14628299@N00/dIv214

Sehnsucht nach Deutschland

I miss Germany. As I'm browsing YouTube (for my daily dose of random and useless videos), I run into a video by Sportfreund Stiller, a band who put out a song that became Germany's World Cup hymn. The video itself is pretty cheesy and low budget, but it brings back good memories. For a recap on Diesel's and my journey to Germany to see the World Cup, check out some previous posts.

On the Worst Flight EVER

Tim and I left Sri Lanka early. Don't ask. Just know that when we are back we will go off on this topic.

Anyhow, we are now safe and sound here in Singapore. This is a WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL place, esp. after what we've been through. We came back safe and sound (no mines or bombings), parasite free and diarrhea free as well. We were very excited to come back to the first world, but before we did, there was a little obstacle: flying Sri Lankan Air.

Now, our flight to Sri Lanka was quite alright, but coming back...

It all started when we smelled curry on the plane. Now I've flown Asian airlines before, and it would after seeing my peeps bring WATERMELLON (and NO, not the seedless kind, so on top of being ghetto like that they would also spit out the seeds on the trays), so it would not have surprised me if somebody on the plane had brought curry from home in a tupperware. However, much to our surprise, they served curry on the plane. WHO THE HELL SERVES CURRY ON THE PLANE ON A MIDNIGHT FLIGHT, AT 2 IN THE MORNING????!!!! Apparently they do.

And the lights remained on for the 3 out of the 4 hrs of the flight. Anyhow, we made it. I LOVE Singapore...

On Tuk-Tuks

When one first arrives in Sri Lanka, he is fascinated by little cute 3-wheel cars called tuk-tuk (they have a cute name as well). Upon embarking on one of the colorful little cars covered in cartoo charater and flower stickers, one comes to realize that the cute little cars are in fact, little death machines. Everybody here is a bad driver and life is elusive when one is on the road, but danger reaches its extreme when you find yourself in the middle of these merciless, crazy drivers while in a tuk tuk. Here they are considered to be a convenient means of transport, but I will dare to say that it's also an effective way of population control.

On My Scrabble Revenge

This slow pace of life has allowed us to read lots and just take lots of naps and swims during the day...and eat, of course eat with no restraint nor guilt. It has also given us enough time to master the art of playing Scrabble. The first game was the most unbelievable and most of all, the most unfair game ever in the history of Scrabble matches. Diesel won with words like "not," "yes," and "bay," whereas I had beautiful (and if not beautiful, at least words longer than 1 syllable) words such as "escrow" and "raiding." What the !()$*!@#$!????? Needless to say, in a rematch, I beat him.

Diesel also tried to talk me into learning chess again. I told him that I had a bad experience as a kid. He asked me what this horrible experience was, and when I told him, "being lost and confused and hating it," he said it didn't qualify.

So I was forced to play again and to speed up the game, I committed suicide on the chess board. Diesel was less than excited about this, but at least he can't say I didn't give it another shot.

On Eating Curry Every Day

All you need to know about Sri Lankan cuisine is that they eat curry every day and for every single meal. Curry and rice, curry and hoppers (thin noodles), curry and roti (a rather bland coconut pancake).

So it is no surprise that we've had curry every single days, usually for more than more meal since we got here. This culinary experiece culminated in the last couple of days where we had curry even for breakfast. Good stuff. Diesel and I will try our hands at making curry whe we get back.

On Turning Cushions All Day Long

Our first stop in Sri Lanka was Bentota, one of the beach towns in the southern part of the country. The town is known for its beautiful beaches--which I would have to say were a let down, but taht's a different story--but the place we stayed at, Club Villa, was amazing. It was one of the smaller hotels (as opposed to one of the big resorts full of hoards of Germans) and the staff was just perfect. Being low season and all, I did notice that the staff spends an awful large chunk of their time moving and flipping the cushions on the beach and lawn chairs. It's quite a spectacle to see. They start off the day by flipping them a couple of times before placing them on the chairs. My guess is they're fluffing them up for guests. Then, at the first threat of rain (and there have been some torrential storms around these parts), they will quickly stack them up on one side of the pool. Several times during the afternoon, they will again make their rounds and flip the cushions again.