First Post of the New Year!

Happy new year! I've been away from the laptop all week, hence no blogging or catching up on blog reading. But I was on my Blackberry rather obsessively since that little thing is VERY portable. Sadly, I was also on Twitter most of the time. I have a very bad addiction to social media thing. Anyway, it's January 4th already and this is only first post...

A few things to update you on:

1. I am pretty sure I did not win the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. As of yesterday, I collected about 89 points. SO pathetic. My holiday eating was very poor and it showed very effectively on my scale.... going the WRONG direction. :-(

2. I did not set any new years resolutions this year. I am really bad at sticking to it so didn't even bother setting one. I do have some goals... like taking the GMATs and running faster. Oh and I even put a REAL number to gauge my goal of "running faster". I'm aiming for 8% increase in race pace. Yeah, that's A LOT. That will mean lots of speed work this year and hopefully losing some excess weight. See? This 8% has a lot of things tied to it. At this point, the GMATs is looking a whole lot easier... (By the way, I got the % increase of race pace idea from Kara at Between the Miles on Twitter. It's measurable! Brilliant Kara!)


3. I bought an iPhone 3G!!! But I got the refurbished one for half the price a day before new years eve and well, it's taking them a long time to port my number over from Verizon. Supposedly, it's coming in the mail either Tuesday or Wednesday. I am going to miss my Blackberry Curve but maybe I will fall in love with the iPhone, too. At least, that's what I've been told... (Btw, the 50% off sale is over but AT&T is still selling refurbished iPhones online.)


4. I went on my first run yesterday and it was another crappy run. Granted I've been sick since day after Christmas but I thought I was feeling better. And, I was convinced I needed some form of exercise this week. So I dragged Duane out to the Eastshore Park trail, which runs along the Bay (Berkeley to Emeryville). The weather was great, almost 60 degrees when we were done around noon. Unfortunately, I had a miserable run. My mind was willing but the body wasn't. After what felt like an eternity, we finished the 8 miles. I looked at my Nike Plus and turned out I was running at about 9:38 pace. Which wasn't horrible but not great. Today, I skipped out on my 16 miler because I was coughing pretty badly all night long. (Oh and I stayed out pretty late for a birthday party in the city.)

5. I must have been delirious from NyQuil when I wrote my last post. I don't know what I was thinking considering all those marathons. I need to revise that list SOON. Was WAY overly ambitious! See? This is what you runners with a blogging problem (or bloggers with a running problem) do to me!

6. On new year's eve, I met up with few of the fellow Bay Area runner bloggers! It was lovely to meet Liah and Sandra finally! Tara and Maritza, we missed you!

Liah, Sandra, Aron, Audrey, Alisa and moi

7. I had a fantastic and restful two weeks of vacation. And so thankful that I got to spend it with friends and family! Granted I was sick half the time but I really enjoyed not working. I'm so not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I really need to find a way to do this all the time. Ok, maybe winning the lottery should be another goal for 2009...

(Me and my niece Analisa, who's almost 2 years old! She lives in Orange County so I don't see her all that often. But, she JUST started saing "auntie". SO CUTE!)

8. Ok, I start my offical training for the Napa Valley Marathon tomorrow!!!

9. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow.

10. Has anyone seen my NyQuil?

I Survived Christmas!

Phew! Survived first official Christmas with the in-laws! And it wasn't too bad. Actually, it was really really fun. There were lots of food, merry-making and laughter. My parents, sister and her husband joined us for dinner, too. It was quite a great day, overall. :-) And no, I didn't get a Garmin for Christmas. I didn't ask for one, actually. (I got something shiny instead!) But reading about all of you who did get one, I'm thinking maybe I should have? Hehe. Ok, I'm going to stick with my NikePlus for now but who knows... maybe when my birthday comes around?? Duane, baby, are you reading this? ;-)

I'm not quite ready to post my 2008 running recap, just yet... Still a few days left to get a few more runs in! (Besides, I'm quite attached to 2008 and not quite ready to let it go!!)

But, here's my race list for 2009:

February 1: Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon
February 7: Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50k (Maybe?)
March 1: Napa Valley Marathon
March 15: Across the Bay 12 K
April 26 : Big Sur Marathon (Maybe?)
May 30: See Jane Run Half Marathon
July 19: Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon
July 26: San Francisco Marathon (5th year in a row!!)
October 11: Chicago Marathon
October 18: Nike Women's Marathon
November 1: ING New York City Marathon (Lottery)
December 6: California International Marathon

I should mention that the list is a very ambitious one and not sure if I will actually run all the marathons in 2009! But who knows, I may run more, too! The only race that I've officially signed up for is the Kaiser Perm Half in February. Of course, there are couple of marathons that are by lottery only so we'll have to see. The Jed Smith Ultra 50k is a huge maybe. I don't know if I'd be ready for this ULTRA race. Although, I've always wanted to run one. Leslie, my blog mom is running it and I am seriously *thinking* about it right now.

I finally got back on the "saddle" this week. After my feast-fest Christmas dinner, I was READY to run. Forget the burn out, I was jealous anytime I saw anyone running outside. Oh and expecially when I read about your runs! So, on Friday, I went for a 8 miler, which I thought was relatively fast. Well, I ran it at about 8:55 min pace, which is pretty fast for me. I was triumphant! I was back! Yesterday, I looked up my training schedule for the Napa Valley Marathon and it called for a 14 miles. My train of thought was, "I ran 8 yesterday, I'm sure I could do 14. And I got lots of rest this week!" What I didn't take into consideration was that after a week of rest, the 8 miler was maybe a bit too much for me. And my legs were quite fatigued! I totally felt the fatigue in the legs about 3 miles into my long run yesterday. Thank goodness for the Roctane, otherwise, I may not have made it through the 14 miles. I took the Roctane around mile 5 and felt I could push it to another 2 for my out and back route. But I definitely struggled through the last 5 miles. Maybe 10 miles would have been a better distance for me yesterday. I'm glad I ran it but today, my legs are shot! Definitely a rest day today. (More on the Roctane later this week!)

OH and I ordered my iPhone 16 gig today for $199!! AT&T is having a refurbished iPhone sale and I bit the bullet and ordered one. I'll let you know how the refurbished phone goes. Supposedly these are the "previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period," according to an explanation on AT&T's website. I can't wait to get mine in the mail!! Sorry Blackberry Curve... it's time for me to move on.

Anyone got some exciting New Year's Eve plans? D and I are going to friend's for dinner and NYE hoopla in SF... Wishing all of you the very best in 2009! And of course, looking forward to reading your running adventures. :-)