Volunteering For Spartan.

Today I drove into San Francisco (what?!) to AT&T Park to volunteer some hours and help stuff race packets. Was only a couple hours, why not? I get a free race and a neeto volunteer tshirt. But look what I found while working!

  

I can’t wait for Saturday!

Bday Mom and Turkey?

Yesterday was my Mother’s birthday and for some odd reason she wanted Wienerschnitzel for dinner. Don’t ask, I can’t explain it either. I accepted on one condition, she had to hike with me all ~4.5 miles of Rancho San Antonio. So, yesterday the whole CA family went up the hills for a two hour hike. It’s ok, I did my full run the day before. I think it was a success; no one died. Next step, the 13 mile long walk!

I have no idea what possessed me, but after dinner I went home to cook a meal for the rest of the week. On Sundays, I like to cook a meal that normally takes a while to simmer in itself, normally my pasta sauce or whatever. Yesterday, I made a turkey chili. That’s right, turkey. Those that know me know I rarely deviate from my ground beef for things like chili, but trying to stay healthy, I thought why not. Overall, it’s a success. I can hardly tell it’s not ground beef because of all the spices I used. Sure I CAN tell, but it’s still a nice change. I’ll have to make the same recipe again with ground beef to see if I can tell for sure haha.

Oh… don’t worry, I didn’t eat another dinner of chili after the Wienerschnitzel. That would be crazy talk!

1 Year Health Anniversary

Today marks the one year anniversary that I decided to get off my butt and do something about my weight and health. My heaviest to lightest differential is FIFTY, yes, 50 POUNDS. I’ve gained about 5 pounds back, but it’s all muscle weight. I’ve been yoyoing at this number for a while, so this might be a good weight to maintain. Overall I feel better, sleep a little better (albeit still not enough), eat a LOT better.

I used to be that person. I used to make excuses, “there’s no time,” “I’m too tired/hungry when I get home from work,” “I’m too busy,” ETC. Probably true. A simple thing like cut sodas and fast food would help dramatically. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to cut almost completely sodas, and a lot of fast food. Sure, I’ll admit, I still partake in some fast food. But I calorie count so much, I know what I can and can’t eat. So, I eat anything in moderation. Hamburgers? Yes. Pizza? Yes. Tacos? OF FRIGGEN COURSE! I wouldn’t cut tacos, ever. I just order much less than I have in the past. Who need’s six to eight tacos when four is enough? I used to eat tacos like the place was going to burn down and I’d never have tacos again. Something had to change. I justified it with, “oh, I’m playing hockey tomorrow, it’s ok I’ll burn it all off.” Big mistake. While playing hockey, at an average 20 min ice time per game, I wasn’t burning off a while lot of calories and at most that was once a week. Again, something needed to change.

One of my favorite motivational images

One of my favorite motivational images. Honestly, how many people can actually sleep 8 hours a day. Add commute time, REAL work schedule (they aren’t 40 hours a week!), time with significant other… There’s STILL time to workout!

I started walking at work. I took one of my breaks to walk around the marshes of Redwood City. It wasn’t much, but I was moving… I turned it into both breaks. Which turned into lunch time walks. I then added BEFORE-work walks. Which again morphed into jogging, into running, into my first 5k, 10k, half marathon, and here I am today doing Spartans and other variety races/OCRs. I’m jumping ahead too much, but you get the idea.

Before I forget, my Fitbit is probably one of my biggest motivators. Gamifying life is the perfect solution (FOR ME) to motivate me to do anything. I did have to drop $100 for a Fitbit, but it got me wanting to beat that 10k step a day goal EVERY possible day. Sure I’ve missed a couple, but I usually make it up during the week. I now average 16k steps a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. But I try to at very least hit those 10k steps.

In the past I’ve done the P90X; I’ve done the Insanity workouts. I had lackluster results, I blamed the videos. I did lose some weight and gained muscle, but I was still heavy. I was stupid and didn’t get a good diet going. When something clicked in my head one year ago, I just got it. Everything for some reason was clear. While transitioning from walking to running, moO’s cousin introduced me to T25. This was the same group that did P90X and Insanity (same trainer as Insanity as well). 25 minutes, that can’t be so bad. It wasn’t… So much, I did two a day for the entire program! Weight/fat melted right off with the workouts and eating healthy. I still wasn’t 100% satisfied. I joined my work gym and started pumping iron. Great, I’m a gym rat now. I now go to the gym usually twice a day, before and after work. And as much as four workouts a day, including a lunchtime run as well as an after-work-after-gym T25 workout at home. But I’ll admit that’s pretty rare. I’m crazy, yes. I’ve dropped most of my other hobbies just to train for my next race, be it running race or OCR. I now normally train in the hills in the HEAT because it’s a great leg workout and I need training for my Spartan Beast in Temecula (SoCal).

I do have some moments of “why do I still do this?” “I’ve reached all my goals, why bother?” and so on. I do it to STAY healthy, with or without all the races. Yes, I still have a little sadness deep inside me when I hear someone crack open a Coke at work. Sure I can have one. But I’ll save it for after a race in lieu of the free beer tickets.

Sad unused beer ticket. =(

Sad unused beer ticket. =(

Now, excuse me while I go on my third trail run of the long 4th of July weekend…

Odd Cat

Our daughter, a stray rescued from moO’s parents’ property, has an odd palette. Cats typically hate citrus smells and flavors. However, this one likes to eat oranges and, apparently, strawberries. Of course she loves cheese, milk, fish. But, sourdough toast? Yes. Hawaiian rolls? Yes.

https://youtu.be/z3abS6Bgju4

2014 Year End Review

Yes, I’ve been slacking. I’ve had this draft for weeks and keep coming to it. I started thinking of what I was going to write last month but just never got around to it because of the holidays and work.

WORK, so busy, long hours like usual. A sad thing I overheard someone saying in the pit the other day about his daughter, “‘What is daddy’s favorite thing?’ ‘Working! He’s always there.'” Really sad, he had to explain how it wasn’t his favorite thing, I forget how he explained but assured her that she was his favorite thing.

Anyway…

I meant to write a long passage about the past year but I lost my copy. For some reason it wasn’t backed up.

I’ll sum it up with the fact I hat a really good year. I managed to get a new/old job, lost ~50 pounds, tan my first official 5k, and even ran 7+ miles for FUN. Ok so the last three were related, but significant milestones for me. I would have never thought I would enjoy running and run more than a mile or so. I’m even training for half marathons and SPARTAN races! Well, between random injuries.

Here’s to a great 2015!

Day 1 Hawaii

I’m here again. Right when we landed we hit up Marukame for some udon. I always prefer ramen over udon, but this place has the best udon so I make an exception.

We already did a crap load of walking, eating, and I managed to fit in a run and a workout. I’m not sure what the rest of the week has in store for us but I’m sure it’ll be an adventure.

Ready For Christmas

Thanksgiving has come and gone. It’s time to get ready for Christmas. What? You’ve been ready since Halloween? Fine whatever. I just received this from my sister as an early birthday present and am ready for the Christmas spirit:

 

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

To those who do not know. This is the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Yes, it’s supposed to look sad. So awesome.

Video

1UP Box

IĀ  just got my first (and only) 1UP Box. Lately, it’s popular to have a company that ships a buyer a box of random stuff for a set price monthly. Some boxes have themes like gamer boxes, anime boxes, horror film boxes, etc. ANYWAY, I decided to get the 1UP box just because it was cheap, and I wanted to test my luck. Here’s the result.

Thanks for nothing 1UP Box, literally. I already emailed support, let’s see if I get a response over the weekend. I wonder how long I have to wait before I dispute the charges. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.