Nelly on the run

Injury is my middle name

2012-02-26T23:17:00.002-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Running Rocks, who set a PR in 3:56:08 at the Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon!
To Dangle the Carrot, who set a10K PR in 40:20 and took home first place overall! He also set a 5K PR in 19:11 at another race! He has his 3:10 BQ time in the bag next weekend.
To Canadian Runner in Exile, who set a PR in 2:21:17 at the RnR Pasadena half marathon!

Grammys:
As said in my last post, I was excited to watch the Grammys. Always fun to see who performs and the collaborations they put on. While overall I thought the show was good, some of the performances were really bizarre. Take Nicki Minaj's performance, she basically did an priest exorcism on stage. Considering how conservative the major networks are, I'm shocked they would allow her to do something like that. I'm Catholic, and though it didn't bother me, I bet it bothered some people out there. If you are going to spoof religion, at least make it entertaining, it was just a bad performance all around. I did like the performances by Adele, Rhianna and Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. It was nice to see Adele sweep the major awards!

Whitney Houston National Anthem:
As everyone knows, Whitney Houston unfortunately died recently. Her performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl XXV in 1991 is still my favorite performance of the anthem ever. I don't think anyone will do a better performance. It's just unfortunate that she started dating Bobby Brown, that is about when her life started to unravel. What a voice she had.

Sh*t Triathletes say:
You may have already seen this video, but even though I'm not a triathlete, I was dying listening to this, lol I've said a lot of stuff on this video, haha

Sh*t Cyclists say:
Another funny video that even though I don't bike I thought it was hilarious =)

SF over Presidents day weekend:
My cousin came to town over the Feb 25 weekend, we went up to SF to hang out with her for the day.

First made the customary stop to Ghiradelli, the sundae was indeed awesome!

Headed over to Fisherman's Wharf, the crowds were massive over Presidents Day weekend

The sea lions are pretty entertaining to watch play around, with some trying to get back on the platforms, but other sea lions pushing them back off, haha

I thought this was funny - it is their 22nd anniversary of being in this area, and they have a sign made for them, lol But the seals can't read the sign!

Alcatraz - The Rock, it was a gorgeous day out

Fremont Older hike/run:
The next day, I decided to do sort of hike/run at one of my favorite places to run - Fremont Older in Cupertino.

This pic here is the very start of the run, it starts out super steep. Generally I would run this if I was fully healthy, but I just hiked it that day.

This is a better pic of how steep it is, legit!

From the top of Maizies Peak you can see all over the Santa Clara valley

I ended up doing maybe 3.5 miles or so of half hiking, half running or something like that. I tried to take it easy, and not go too hard out there. It was just nice to get outside and back to the trails I used to do when I was healthy

This is a pic of the park where I like to run from my house, the weather around the bay area has just been insanely nice this winter. I bet it's rained maybe 8 days total all winter, crazy! Last year I'd say was the wettest winter the bay area ever had, and this year is probably the driest ever. Bizarre how it can vary so much.

Left knee problems:

The main thing that has been bothering me physically recently is the inside part of my left knee again (same knee I hurt last March 2011). When I went snowboarding over Super Bowl weekend, I think I tweaked it unfortunately. At one point I was trying to get up from the snow with my feet strapped into the snowboard, and felt a slight pop in my left knee. I may have also slightly twisted it while on the slopes too. Also, I have accidentally banged my left knee against my desk at work. So maybe it is a combination of these things. My left knee has been giving me problems for about 2-3 weeks it seems like now. Today I actually ran at the park with my gelband patella knee strap, on my left knee, and it actually seemed to help. Maybe it was just my imagination, but my knee felt better when wearing it. I was experimenting with how tight to wear the knee strap, in the end I wore it just below the knee cap or so, and had it tight enough so that the strap wouldn't accidentally rotate around my knee. It is just annoying that I feel like I got semi-injured again, seems like I can't stay healthy for whatever reason. I knew going into snowboarding that there was a risk of getting injured, but if I didn't go out there, I would have regretted not going. So I just need to take care of my left knee now.

Have you ever worn a patella knee strap to help knee pain? How tight are you supposed to wear it?

Tahoe snowboarding trip

2012-02-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To SwimCycloRun, who smashed his goal of 28 min by setting a PR in 25:06 at the NYRR Gridiron Classic!
To 50 After 40, who placed 2nd overall in his first trail race at the Buffalo Trail Run 5K!
To Diary of an Average Runner, who set a PR in 1:43:16 at the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon!
To Neon Blonde Runner, who found her calling in neon compression sleeves! Will she just get 1 color or them all? lol

Running spot:

I haven't been posting as many run photos because I'm still gradually recovering from my right ankle stress fracture. Right now I'm doing about 30 minutes of run/walk at the gym 2-3 times a week (3 min run, 1 min walk). Then I do the same thing at the park near my house, makes it easy to just do laps around the park. I would say that I'm getting closer to being able to start on the full-on running program that my sports doc said to follow when I'm ready (starts out with 15 min of continuous running and goes from there). My legs sometimes feel a little aggravation after running, getting them used to running again just takes time I think. My guess is that I will be able to follow the plan in 2 weeks or so. As you can tell, the weather around here has been insanely nice recently, the weirdest winter I've ever experienced in CA. (last years was the wettest, this so far is the driest)

Tahoe snowboarding trip:
Over Super Bowl weekend, I went on a trip to Tahoe with some of my college friends. My friends cabin is close to Northstar (my favorite place to snowboard, along with Kirkwood), so we headed there on Friday to hit the slopes. (I saw my doctor the previous day and he said that I was okay to snowboard). Gotta say prior to getting on the slopes I was really nervous, just like the feeling you get before you do a race. I mainly was nervous about my right ankle injury and whether it was going to hold up or not. I was also curious as to how the snow was, since it hadn't snowed in like 2 weeks I think. When we got there, the day was gorgeous out!

The slopes were super empty, this was probably the most empty I've ever seen a resort - I only had to wait like 30 seconds max for any lift it seemed like. After getting used to snowboarding again (hadn't been for 3 years), I fell right back into it. The snow was hard packed, but overall it was pretty decent. It didn't feel like you were ice skating which is always nice!

Not a soul in sight!

I'm just an okay snowboarder - I cruise the blues in the middle, generally most of my friends are better and faster than I am. They decided to go to the black diamonds, so I stayed on the blue runs solo after lunch. I didn't stop much at all besides taking a few pics, and probably did 15 runs on the day in total. Once I got used to snowboarding again it was awesome to be out there. I only had 2-3 small crashes and I think I avoided injury overall when I was out there.

This was about par for the course, almost no one out there

I covered every blue and green run in Northstar, haha

The village at Northstar has a ton of stuff, including an ice rink right in the middle, haha

Gambling:
We went to the casino a couple of the nights in Tahoe, I broke even on blackjack, and ended up winning $120 on craps! When I play craps, I keep the bets simple and only bet the pass line, then I back up the pass line bet (basically you can increase your pass line bet by a certain amount) depending on what the point number is. So if my pass line bet was $10, I would backup the pass line bet with $25 behind that if the point number is 6 or 8 (the more likelier numbers). If the point number is any other number generally I only put $10 as the backup bet. I know there are tons of ways to play craps, but I like to keep it simple, and doing this seems to work for me.

For the Super Bowl, I had high confidence in the NY Giants covering the 3 point spread. Their defense was better than the Patriots, and their offense was basically on par with the Patriots. I thought the Patriots were lucky to get to the Super Bowl, since their defense was so bad. The Giants were just better athletically than the Patriots, and I thought this would translate into a victory. The Patriots did have an insane passing game though. I was debating about how much to bet on the Giants, I decided to bet $200 on the Giants to cover the 3 point spread (either win or lose by 3 or less).

Super Bowl:
As for the actual Super Bowl, I thought it was a great game. I've heard some people say the game was boring, but I thought it was well played football - if that was boring to you, then you need to find another sport to watch. The game started out great with the Giants taking a 9-0 lead, and they were driving for another score before a penalty by the Giants wiped out a potential scoring drive. The Patriots then came roaring back to score 17 straight points. The Giants then righted the ship to score 12 more points to win the game 21-17. And I won my bet! (won $166 on a $200 bet). It was kind of annoying that the 49ers weren't able to beat the Giants 2 weeks ago, because I think they could have beat the Patriots too.

The game basically turned on a couple key plays:

A Giants defensive end intercepted a 50 yard bomb from Brady to Gronkowski that likely would have resulted in a Patriots TD
Wes Welker was not able to hold on to a 30 yard pass from Brady that would have put the Patriots in control late in the game
The pass from Eli Manning to Mario Manningham was crazy and won the Super Bowl for the Giants, I went crazy when that play happened, haha
Deion Branch was not able to hold onto a 20 yard pass from Brady - I think he would have got 50 yards out of it if he'd been able to hold on

Gotta say one of my main pet peeves about sports is that someone is always singled out by the media to take the blame for a loss. (Kyle Williams for the 49ers 2 weeks ago) For the Super Bowl it seems to be Wes Welker. Never mind that in my opinion the pass to Deion Branch possibly could have resulted in a TD for the Patriots, and I think that pass was actually easier to catch than the one to Welker. In the post game news conference, it was clear that Welker was very upset at himself in dropping the pass. Though I ask, where is Deion Branch answering the hard questions in the post game news conference? When Welker tore his ACL during the 2009 season, he was crying on the sideline because he was out for the year. He did exactly what I would have done if I had something like that taken from me - it is obvious how much he cares about football. So I have a lot of respect for Welker, and I think the media needs to back off.

Gambling summary:
So in Tahoe in total I ended up winning $290 on the weekend (mainly through the $123 craps and $166 Super Bowl bet). I was thinking about it, and I've had really good luck the last 1.5 years with gambling:

Won $50 playing poker in Vegas in June 2010
Won $250 playing craps in New Orleans in Sept 2010
Won $840 in my NFL survivor pool last year
Won $200 placing 3rd in the last 2 years of college football pools
Won $300 total for twice winning a poker tournament that I host at my house on a regular basis
Won $565 playing blackjack and poker in Reno in October
Now won $290 playing craps and sports betting in Tahoe

I will say that this is not normal, but I'm going to ride the lucky streak as long as I can, haha

Super Bowl commercials:
I thought the Super Bowl commercials were pretty good overall, one of my favorites for music was The Cults/FloRida mashup for Anheuser Busch. A great beat in this song! I bet it would make a great song for doing a 5K race or something short like that since the beat is so fast.

Running:
After getting back into town on Monday after the Super Bowl, I decided to go run/walk at the Stevens Creek Trail. I decided on going 40 minutes total (20 out, 20 back with a 3 min run, 1 min walk split). Overall the run went okay, my legs did feel a little aggravated. I might need to only do 30 minutes right now, or do a 2.5 min run, 1.5 min walk split for a bit. It was just nice to get back on the roads outside!

Grammy's:

Lastly, I will add that the Grammy's are this Sunday! Since I am so into music, it is my favorite awards show. They might as well hand over all the awards to Adele now, she is going to take home a lot of them on Sunday!

Did you watch the Super Bowl?

Are you going to watch the Grammys?

Bay to Breakers or bust

2012-01-30T17:30:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To The Boring Runner and all of his followers that did the Freeze Your Thorns off 5K!
To Pancakes and Postcards, who did the Maui marathon on a whim while on vacation!

Olympic Marathon Trials:
I know this is old news to all of you on here, but I finally watched the Olympic Marathon Trials on TV last week, it was great stuff! Going into it, the main people who I wanted to make it were Meb and Deena (because they were in the Olympic marathon in 2004 in Athens and that was one of my favorite Olympic moments of that year.) I was also hoping that Ritzenhein would make it, because he has had some injury problems in recent years, so I empathize with him.

Guys:
I thought the coverage of the race was great, for all the bloggers who were able to be in Houston to see the race live that would have been awesome. For the guys race, I liked watching Ritzenhein run the best - his stride just seems really efficient. Unfortunately he just didn't have enough speed. I really felt bad for him finishing just 8 seconds behind Abdi, he gave it his all. Ryan Hall has just amazing ability and so much power. He can pretty much do whatever he wants on the race course it seems like.

Girls:
My favorite person out there among men or women to watch run right now is Desiree Davila, she just makes running look so easy! During the trials marathon, it almost looked like she was out for a Sunday jog. I've never seen her run before, but it doesn't surprise me that she almost won Boston now. Flanagan also has a very easy stride, she seems to have picture perfect form of a high turnover with a slight lean forward. I think Davila could have won the race if she wanted to, but she backed off in the final miles when she knew she had a spot on the team in the bag. And I've never seen Kara Goucher run, does she always run from the back seat like that by leaning almost backwards? It is clear that she has a ton of ability, but I'm curious if that is how she's always run. Amy Hastings ran a great race, but I don't think she had enough ability or experience to get a spot, maybe in 4 years she'll be on the team.

Watching the coverage got me excited for the London Olympics, can't wait!

photo credit

Unbroken talk:
One thing I forgot to mention is that a couple weeks back I went to a talk by Louis Zamperini, subject of the book Unbroken. He was talking at a local church near my house. I was thrilled that he was going to do a live talk, considering that is he is 95 years old. Unbroken is probably my favorite book and story of all time, honestly I couldn't think of anyone in the world right now who I'd rather hear from than Louis Zamperini. I wasn't sure if he was going to be around afterward the talk for pictures or autographs, so I brought my book, camera and a sharpie, lol. When we got to the Church, I was shocked at how many people were there for the talk, I bet there was 5,000 people there - we ended up in another room beside the main church, and watched the talk from there while standing in the back, we couldn't even get a seat.

When Louis Zamperini came out to talk, I got a little teary eyed - because I was seeing a real life hero. He talked about his life, and generally went through parts of the book, and gave some additional details. It was really cool to hear from him, because I don't know how long he will live. Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet him after the talk, but it was a great experience to hear from a living legend.

Running update:
I went to my doctor on Friday to get an update on my right ankle stress fracture, and he gave me positive news overall:

He said that I could go snowboarding in Tahoe on the trip I'm going on this weekend for the Super Bowl
I was doing a running plan of 2 min run/2 min walk, he said I could up it to 3/1 for a while. Likely I'll go with 3/1 for 2 weeks, then he said I could following a full running rehab plan
He said it would be okay to register for Bay to Breakers 12K in mid may, I realize that likely I won't be able to race it all out, but it seems like I'll be able to at least run it the way I'm going. So I decided to register for it. The price for registration seems to keep going up, I did the most basic registration you can do (no tshirt) and it still cost me $82 total after all the fees and everything. I haven't registered for a race at all since last April, so I'm excited to finally have a race to look forward to. And I won't force this race, I'm determined to follow the rehab program exactly and not deviate from it - and to listen to my body if it needs a break. Likely I'll get to the start line in May ready to run it, maybe not race it.

11 things:
I was tagged by 2 different bloggers for the 11 Randoms post - thanks! Below are my answers for each set of 11 questions:

Chasing the Kenyans:
1. you have the skills to go pro in any sport (except running/triathlons). what sport would you choose?
I was going to say football at first, but then I thought about the major injuries they players suffer. I've always liked playing tennis, so I'd go with that - be fun to see the world while on the tour. And the Aussie Open final on Sunday between Nadal and Djokovic was awesome!

2. what is your favorite vegetable?
Broccoli - goes with a ton of things, and is tasty

3. they're making a movie about your life. what actor/actress would play you?
I've been told I look somewhat like James Van Der Beek of Dawson's Creek, so I would go with him, haha

4. last book you read?
Just finished Born to Run, and currently reading Into Thin Air. Both great books. You will be seeing a Born to Run review on this blog soon. (the 1000th blogger to review that book, lol)

5. last text message you sent?
To my friend who is also a tennis fan regarding the Australian Open mens final "I need to go back and watch the rest of the match! Was this match as good as Nadal-Federer Wimbledon 2009? Yea, those guys needed chairs at the victory ceremony, their legs must be dying at the end! It's almost like they ran a marathon during the match! haha"

6. what is your favorite meal/recipe to cook?
Pasta or ravioli is probably my favorite

7. do you prefer dusting or vacuuming? (and when are you coming to do my house?)
Definitely vacuuming, I can't stand dusting

8. if you could go on vacation to anywhere in the us or canada, where would you go?
In the US I'd pick New York City, and in Canada I'd pick Vancouver (haven't been to either of those cities yet)

9. what something you love about where you live?
I'd say that the bay area has among the best weather in the US (maybe alongside San Diego), I know we have it good in this regard, so I try to never complain about it (other than the times when it seems to rain for like 3 weeks straight without a break)

10. something you don't love about where you live?
The housing prices are really high, and traffic can be bad at times

11. what do you do when you have trouble falling asleep?
I generally try to let my mind zone out, and then generally I fall asleep. If I really have trouble, I read for another half hour, and then my mind is ready to fall asleep.

Pain is Nothing:
1. Favorite Color:
Red - almost all of my favorite sports teams have red as their color (49ers, Stanford, SCU)

2. What's your favorite season?
Fall - football season is starting, the days still have a lot of daylight, and the weathers cools a bit, making it perfect for running

3. Do you have any pre-race superstitions?
I can't think of any off hand, but back in high school I always had a nutri-grain bar before every track meet. This was before powerbars really started to taste good.

4. Favorite food:
When I was a kid my favorite was hot dogs - and it still is one of my favorites. Another favorite food is ravioli

5. If you could run a race anywhere, what would it be?
I'd go with the original marathon course in Greece - watching the 2004 Olympic Marathon was really cool to watch (this is also why I like Meb and Deena so much)

source

6. Would you be doing a different career now, if you knew back then what you know now?
I probably would have still chosen Accounting - the other field was thinking of was finance (which is very similar). Both have longer hours depending on what time of year it is.

7. How many states have you traveled to?
Arizona (Scottsdale)
DC
Florida (Miami, Tampa, Orlando)
Hawaii (cruise around all islands)
Illinois (Chicago)
Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Minnesota (almost the whole state)
Oregon (Grants Pass, Portland, Corvallis)
Pennyslvania (Pittsburgh, central PA)
Texas (Houston)
Virginia (Alexandria)
Washington (Seattle, Richland)

State wishlist:
Austin, Texas (Austin City Limits)
NYC, New York (simply to tour there)
Denver, Colorado (hiking and snowboarding)
Clemson, South Carolina (Clemson football game) - Chasing the Kenyans!
Montana (hiking and snowboarding)

8. What's one thing that scares you?
Snakes - never been a fan, never will hold one, haha

9. Where is your favorite place to workout?
I'd say to go running on the hills near my house, I'd pick Rancho San Antonio as my favorite spot

10. Would you want to live forever?
I'd say no unless everyone around you lives forever as well, because eventually all your friends would be dead, and that would be hard to take

11. What's the best piece of advice you have received?
All you can do is your best - from my Dad

Honestly I'm too lazy to come up with 11 more questions to pass on and 11 bloggers to tag, so if you'd like to do the contest as well consider yourself tagged, haha

Did you watch the Olympic marathon trials?

Winter Wineland and 49ers-Giants

2012-01-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Slowly Tri-ing, who did her first marathon at the Walt Disney World Marathon!
To How I Complicated My Life Today, who set another huge marathon PR, this time in 3:09:36 at the Louisiana Marathon! She has been running insanely well!
To SwimCycloRun, who set a PR in 43:21 at the Joe Kleinerman 10K!
To RuntotheFinish, who set a PR in 4:08:39 at the Houston Marathon! She also got to meet some of the runners from the Olympic Trials! (Meb and Deena)
To Miss Zippy, I've been emailing with her regarding possibly getting a coach, and other things like that. She has been really helpful.

Napa wine trip: (Jan 14/15)

I haven't posted in a while, I was just kind of busy and didn't seem to have much to talk about it seemed like. Last week I went on my annual wine trip with my friends to the Napa Valley region. It is for an event called Winter Wineland. Basically about 130 wineries are open, and you pay $50 for a bracelet to attend as many wineries as you want over 2 days (between 11 AM and 4 PM). The 49ers haven't been in the playoffs since 2002, so this is the first year I had a conflict with the NFL. I was considering not going on the wine trip and going to the 49ers game instead. I decided to go on the wine trip, and listen to the 49ers game on the radio on my phone.

Saturday 1/14:
Ridge - great views of the vineyards, decent wine
It was a gorgeous day in the Napa Valley region

Ridge - massive cheese wheel, haha

Mauriston - cool tasting room inside with the tanks, the wine was just okay
At this point the 49ers game had just started, and the 49ers jumped out to a 17-0 lead because of Saints turnovers!

Wilson - always a favorite of mine because they serve tri-tip and have good wine as well
I couldn't get a radio signal here for some reason, so I was relying on other people to provide me with updates about the game

The vineyards at Wilson

One of my friends bought a box of peanut butter cups =)

Francis Ford Coppola - cool grounds, but the wine was just okay
At this point the 49ers game was into the late 3rd quarter, and the game got close

After we finished wine tasting for the day, the 49ers game was into the late 4th quarter,and that is where the chaos began. Both teams scored 2 TDs each in the final 4 minutes, finally with the 49ers winning the game on a TD with 6 seconds left! When we heard this on the radio, we erupted! The game was one of the best 49er wins of all time!

Sunday 1/15:
Hanna - the winery has great views of the valley, and decent wine

Soda Rock - one of my favorite wineries the last time I went wine tasting in November, it didn't dissapoint this time either

Matrix - another winery that I like a lot, good wine and good views

Matrix - good views of the area

It was a fun wine tasting trip, though if the 49ers are in the playoffs again I may have to cancel and go to the 49ers game instead. We shall see!

In terms of my favorite wineries this year, my favorites were (incidentally all of these wineries are sister wineries to each other, so it's no surprise that they are my favorite wineries!):

Mazzocco
Wilson
DeLorimier
Soda Rock
Matrix

49ers NFC title game (Sunday 1/22):

So since the 49ers beat the Saints and the NY Giants beat the Packers, that meant that the 49ers were hosting the NFC title game! Since I missed last week's playoff game, I had to go to this weeks game.

NY Giants fans tailgating near the stadium, they were pretty loud, haha

And as you can tell it was raining, it basically rained the whole day!

We played flip cup during some of the tailgating, good times

My brother and his wife - they have season tickets to the 49ers

We put up a tarp tent, but with the wind so strong it was tough to put up!

Getting to my seat was crazy, it was like I was in a mosh pit at a concert! And check out the sign - 6 sections all have to go through 1 entrance! The stadium is just setup badly. The 49ers desperately need a new stadium, and they will get one in Santa Clara in 2014...

I was in the north end zone, 30 rows up from the field, awesome seats. It rained the whole game!

They passed out towels to everyone - it said "Rock the Stick". I thought this was a cool pic because it shows the towels

Brad Paisley played at half time - I do like him, but I couldn't hear much because the acoustics in the stadium were pretty bad. Cool to see him up close though!

The stadium looked really cool at night

As for the actual game, I thought the game was going to be a defensive battle (my prediction was 23-22 Niners), and the game was a defensive battle indeed.

49ers punt returner Kyle Williams fumbled twice on punts, basically handing the NY Giants 10 points
49ers only converted 1/13 on 3rd down conversions - that will not get it done at any level of football
49ers didn't have any receivers to throw to, they only completed 1 pass to a wide receiver
49ers should have ran the ball way more than they did, they passed it too much
49ers should have gone for it on 4th and 1 (they punted twice in both situations). From the stands I was calling for them to go for it

The game was tied at 17-17 at the end of the 4th quarter, so it was headed to overtime. The key play happended in overtime, the punt return guy fumbled a punt by the Giants, then the Giants kicked a field goal to win it 20-17. The game was an amazing experience - the crowd noise was as loud as I've ever heard. The defense played insanely well, they are the best defense in the league. The offense didn't play that well. After the Stanford loss in OT that I had at the Fiesta Bowl, it was hard to stomach another gut wrenching OT loss. I guess beating the Saints last game was amazing, so to make it this far is awesome. The 49ers had an awesome year. Just like I said about the Stanford OT loss, I enjoyed everything about the day except for the final score.

Running front:

I haven't been doing much in terms of the running front, my right ankle stress fracture is healing slowly I think. I'm still doing 30 min run/walk (2 min run/2 min walk) about 2-3 times a week. I'm seeing my doctor again this Friday for an update, so we'll see what he says to do next.

Did you watch any of the NFL playoffs this weekend?

Fiesta Bowl weekend

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Jordan Williamson (the Stanford kicker who missed 3 field goals in the Fiesta Bowl). I hope he knows that the Stanford community is behind him, he had a great year. Individuals don't lose games, teams do.
To Blonde Ponytail, who was also at the Fiesta Bowl!
To First in Philly, who will enjoy this post since it all about my love for Stanford! lol

Fiesta Bowl weekend:

The weekend I had been waiting for a month was finally here - Fiesta Bowl weekend! We got into Phoenix on Saturday afternoon (New Years Eve), the guys from Toby the Van drove to Phoenix, I think it took 2 days to drive there. Way quicker than the 6 days it took to drive to Miami for the Orange Bowl last year! I had never been to Arizona before, so I was excited to check out the state.

New Years Eve:

We headed to Costco to pick up supplies for the tailgate, a ton of stuff! (aiming to serve around 130 people or so)

We stayed at a Best Western a few miles south of Scottsdale - it was a pretty good place, way cheaper than a lot of hotels out there I think. Right when we got to Arizona, the weather was perfect! It was like low 70s during the day, and maybe 60 at night - felt bizarre wearing shorts during the winter! The landscape around Arizona was interesting - some cool rock formations, and almost everything was brown in color. I could see Arizona during the winter as being perfect running weather - but during the summer the heat would just be unbearable. I now see why EMZ runs on a treadmill year round!

We went out for New Years Eve in downtown Scottsdale (Old Town). It was a lot of fun just bar hopping - this was at RnR, the first bar we went to

Next bar we went to was Rusty Spur - it was a live music country bar - pretty hilarious, haha We also went to Old Town Tavern and Pattie's to close out the night - good times!

Jan 1:
We didn't do too much on Jan 1, we did go to a Stanford pep rally in Scottsdale at night. I was shocked at how many people were there! At the Orange Bowl pep rally last year I bet there was maybe 1,000 people there. At this one I bet there were like 5,000 or so! The crowds were massive. It was fun to hear some speeches by Stanford football people:

Doug Baldwin and Richard Sherman - current Seattle Seahawks who are having great years there (they were both on the team last year that won the Orange Bowl)
Ed McCaffrey - won 2 super bowls while on the Denver Broncos in the late 90s
Willie Shaw - father of coach David Shaw, his speech was awesome, he really fired up the crowd!

We walked around a bit in downtown Scottsdale after the pep really - this pic is funny, haha And the 49ers won on Sunday to clinch the #2 seed for the playoffs!

We stopped for a drink at Dos Gringos - which was outfitted as a Stanford bar! The coolest part was that the waitstaff even had Stanford shirts on and everything - the bar really went all out to become a full on Stanford bar!

Jan 2 - game day!
Game day was finally here! I was the driver of the minivan - and we were carrying some serious supplies in the form of 3 kegs to satisfy the thirst of all the people that we expected at the tailgate! The Toby the Van crew was expecting somewhere around 130 people or so. (we ended up finishing 2.5 kegs or so)

Arizona Cardinals stadium in Glendale - alien spaceship or stadium? haha

Reporters came over to interview the Toby the Van guys, this reporter spent like an hour or so at our tailgate, it was a really involved interview!

Our tailgate was setup right next to College Football's Biggest Party - it was mainly OSU fans who were there, I think because Stanford had their own separate alumni tailgate.

There were a lot of people at the tailgate, I'd guess maybe 100 people total or so, seemed like a little bit less than last year. Great times just hanging out and seeing everything going on around us. The weather was actually almost a little hot - I had to put on sunscreen since there wasn't much shade around.

Prediction:
I've alluded to it in previous posts, but going into the game, my keys to a Stanford victory were:

Stanford has an awesome running game, so I thought that they should run the ball 50 times - OSU shouldn't be able to stop the run at all (OSU has a bad run defense)
Throw the ball only 20-25 times - even though Stanford has Andrew Luck at QB (OSU has a good pass defense)
OSU has an awesome passing game, so I figured that they would throw it almost every down. They have the best receiver in college football in Justin Blackmon.
Stanford would hopefully go on 6 minute time consuming scoring drives to maintain the ball.
OSU would likely score super quick in like 2 minutes through the passing game.
I thought the score was going to be 40-37 with Stanford losing. Both teams had awesome offenses that I didn't think either side could stop the other. I didn't tell any of my Stanford friends that I thought Stanford was going to lose, because they would be mad at me for saying that (I told them it would be 40-37 either way)
At the tailgate my phone didn't seem to be able to connect to the internet, so I couldn't do any facebook updates, which was kind of annoying. AT&T - you suck, haha One of my favorite things about going to games or things like that is updating facebook so that my friends can see where I'm at and what I'm doing. (and also I could have got that game score prediction in writing on facebook, haha)

The stadium was awesome - the best stadium that I've ever been to. Tons of entrances to the stadium, lots of bathrooms and concessions, good sight lines, and the stadium just looked cool. Our seats were great - about 30 rows up on the Stanford side, even with the end zone. Basically almost the same exact seats we have at regular Stanford home games.

Stanford taking the field!

Stanford kicking off to OSU

This is one of my favorite pics - after Stanford scored the flag people were all sprinting towards the Stanford section =)

OSU about to score...

The game stayed close throughout, with both teams trading scoring for the whole game. In the 4th quarter with the game tied at 38-38 Andrew Luck led Stanford down the field quickly, and Stanford elected to go for a 34 yard field goal to win the game. The kicker (Jordan Williamson) is the guy on the screen here. Right before this kick was attempted that was the most tense that I've ever been before any sporting moment. My heart sank as the kick went wide left, and the game went into overtime. At no point during the game did I think Stanford might lose (they were never behind the whole game), it was crushing to be headed for overtime.

In overtime, Stanford got the ball first, and didn't go anywhere on offense. They attempted a 42 yard field goal which was wide left again. OSU got down to the 1 yard line on their 2nd play of overtime, then kicked a 20 yard field goal to win it. It was rough to lose the game, this is probably the roughest loss as a sports fan that I've ever experienced (only loss that comes close is the Oakland A's in 2003 game 5 of the AL Division Series - the A's had bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th and lost to the Red Sox).

This is a very awkward photo - it was hard to smile after a loss like that, but I wanted a pic of me with the stadium behind me.

This is one of my favorite photos - most Stanford fans stayed to cheer on the players as they left the field for one last time. They gave their all on the field, and they deserved our cheers. It was tough to see them leave the field - because the past 2 years are the best 2 years of football that Stanford has ever had. I don't think the team will be this good again for a long time (next years team will be pretty good, I bet maybe 8-4 or 9-3). Andrew Luck had a performance for the ages, but it wasn't good enough to win. That guy is amazing, and he will have a fantastic NFL career.

Game analysis:

As for how the game went - it went exactly how I thought it was going to go:

Stanford ran the ball exactly 50 times like I wanted them to! They destroyed OSU on the ground. I actually thought they could have ran the ball even more than they did. Check out the box score stats.
Stanford ended up throwing the ball 31 times - I was okay with this, but I thought we could have thrown it less and ran it more. Andrew Luck played the best game I've ever seen him play - he was 27/31 passing and was just awesome.
OSU did throw the ball almost every down - they had 42 passes to only 15 runs. They got 399 yards passing and only 13 yards rushing. Justin Blackmon destroyed Stanford with 186 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was insane!
Stanford dominated time of possession by having the ball 42 minutes out of a possible 60 minutes.
OSU scored insanely fast - they only had the ball for 18 minutes, but they scored more points than Stanford did.
The score ended up being 41-38 with Stanford losing - this was the one prediction that I wasn't excited to get right!
I don't blame the kicker Jordan Williamson at all for the loss. Coach Shaw should have either gone for the touchdown at the end of regulation, or tried to get the ball to the 5 or 10 yard line for the field goal. This is what I was saying while the last drive was happening.

Jan 3:
I just thought this pic was funny, we returned the kegs the next day, haha

We drove around ASU in Tempe the next day - cool to see the campus, as well as see the hill with the A on it that I see in ASU football games sometimes

We also checked out Mill Ave by the ASU campus - a cool spot. It was a gorgeous day in the Valley of the Sun

Final thoughts:

It was weird to watch a game go exactly like I thought it was going to - Stanford outplayed OSU I thought, but they lost the game. This is mainly because of a couple mistakes (an interception by Andrew Luck, the fumble that OSU recovered at the 4 yard line (and luckily only converted into 3 points), and the 3 missed field goals). Normally Stanford doesn't make those kind of mistakes. They would have been able to beat lesser opponents, but those mistakes were too big against a team as good as OSU. The whole game experience was awesome though, Stanford fans were super loud and stood up almost the whole game. Stanford pride was evident all over the place. The stadium seemed to be exactly half Stanford and half OSU fans, so I was glad that so many Stanford fans traveled to watch the game.

While this loss definitely stings, I thought about it, and for winning the only thing you get is a trophy. Since the bowl games (except for the national title game) are really just glorified exhibition games. Which is why there needs to be a playoff system established at least among the top 4 teams so that this game would have meant something. Though I definitely would have rather had Stanford win than lose. The OSU fans that we talked to were nice, one guy had some praise for us, he said that Stanford fans were "the nicest fans that OSU plays against." I've proud to be a Stanford fan, and proud of how the team played. In the end it was a fun trip to Arizona, it was great to check out the state.

Note - the pain of losing to OSU is somewhat eased this week with the news that Stanford signed Barry Sanders Jr (son of Lions great Barry Sanders) - if he is even half as good as his Dad was, Stanford will be just fine!

What was your favorite bowl game of the bowl season?

2011 in review, 2012 goals

2011-12-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Diary of an Average Runner, who finished first in the DSE Blind Date Relay!
To Running, Life, Etc, who set a PR in 1:56:56 at the Operation Jack half marathon!

Comment of the year:
I appreciate every comment on my blog, though a comment on my last post had me laughing really hard!

I put this snippet in there about cheerleaders:
"I will say that the Oregon cheerleaders are the hottest cheerleaders in the Pac-12, with a close 2nd being USC and UCLA, lol"

SF Road Warrior responded with:
"Really?? USC & UCLA?? Bless your heart, dear Nelly. Too many fake boobs, bleached hair, orange tans, & raccoon eyes for my taste. ;)"

To that I simply say - touche =)

2011 year in review:
Now that 2011 is drawing to a close, it is time to review the year that was. My 2011 goals post was posted back in January 2011. Here were my goals for 2011:

Goal 1: Run a marathon around 3:30
Verdict: Not achieved
Considering that I was basically injured for most of 2011, I didn't get a chance to run a marathon at all. If I had been healthy, I think I would have got close to this time. The time goal might have been a little bit aggressive, maybe 3:30 to 3:40 would have been a better time goal for marathon #2.

Goal 2: Run a half marathon around 1:35
Verdict: Not achieved
I think this goal was achievable if I had been healthy.

The races that weren't in 2011:
When I started this blog back in November of 2010, my main intention was to chronicle my race reports from races that I was planning on doing during 2011. I even posted a race recap from the last race that I actually ran across the finish line at on Dec 4, 2010 (Woodside 10K). During 2011 I registered for 6 races, and only walked one of them (Bay to Breakers). I missed the other 5 due to injury (SD half, SF half, SJ half, Chicago, CIM). I know that I've talked ad nausea about being injured during 2011, because that basically was my year in a nutshell. I believe that I was only healthy for maybe 4 months of the year (Jan, Feb, Sept, Oct). This post detailed the injuries that I had, the major one's being:

2 Ankle sprains in March/April
Runners knee/IT band problems in April
Stress fracture in December

Rather than rehash why it sucked to not be 100% due to injuries during 2011, I'll try to cover the mistakes I made that likely led to me being injured. I'm an example of what not to do in 2011, so hopefully others out there can learn from my mistakes.

Mistake #1 - playing soccer

Probably the major mistake I made in 2011 was continuing to play soccer on the weekend even though I was running a decent amount at the same time. I now realize that playing was probably too dangerous, because of all the sudden movements that have to be made. Soccer is not an easy "crosstraining" activity. If I really wanted to cross-train, I should have done yoga, biked or swam or something like that. Playing led to 2 ankle injuries, and may have contributed to the runners knee/IT band pain in my left leg, and may have contributed to my stress fracture that I developed in early December. While I will miss the social interaction that soccer brings, the benefits of playing don't outweigh the risks to me anymore. Many of you have told me that I should stop playing, especially 2Slow4Boston and Power Multisport. Back in September I wasn't ready to stop playing soccer, but now I've come to terms with it that I needed to stop playing.

Mistake #2 - incorrect form on squats
Another reason why I likely got runners knee in my left knee back in May is because I was doing squats incorrectly earlier in 2011. Basically, my knees were caving inward as my butt was getting closer to the ground, putting stress on the inside of my left knee (meniscus). One of my friends showed me the routine that I did in the gym for a while, but I didn't completely ask him about correct form for all exercises. 50 is the new 30 had a good post about correct form on squats. Lesson learned is that I need to ask someone on correct form for exercises if I'm unsure.

Mistake #3 - too aggressive rehab plan
After I got injured due to runners knee in May, I did physical therapy exercises to get my body back to normal. Physical therapy combined with yoga did seem to help my body feel good again. When I started to feel better in September, I started following this running rehab plan. While I did follow it for a while, I started to not follow it as much maybe after 4-5 weeks. During this time I was also getting back to playing soccer. I think the accelerations during soccer combined with not following the exact running rehab plan put too much stress on my right leg, and it led to the stress fracture that I have now. After talking to my doctor recently, I'm now on a running rehab plan of about 30 minutes every other day (2 min walk, 2 min run). It seems to be going okay. I'm also wearing an aircast on my right foot when I run.

Year in thoughts:
I've said this before, but 2011 was the worst athletic year of my life. I've never really been injured before, so having all these injuries was new to me. It seemed like I was always constantly adapting to trying to do something new in order to stay active. Overall I missed the simple things like chatting with friends while on a run, and the great feeling you get while training or racing. I realized that running is one of the main ways I expressed myself and released stress, so not having it was tough. I did learn a lot from this year on how to stay active even if you can't run (swimming, physical therapy, yoga, etc). Like I said in my previous post about 2011 in pictures, I did have a good year in terms of going on trips and seeing a lot of cool places - so I'm happy about that. I appreciate all the comments that you guys left me during the year, because I talked and complained about injuries a lot. Hopefully 2012 will be a better year on the injury front, I think it will because it seems like I have a good plan now.

2012 goals:
So after the injury year that was 2011, my hope is that I'll start to feel better over time, and will be able to do some races in 2012. Assuming my body feels good, here is my tentative 2012 plan. Note that I have no idea what races I'll actually be able to do on this list:

Bay to Breakers 12K - 5/20/12
SF half marathon (2nd half) - 7/29/12
SF Giants half marathon - 8/26/12
SJ half marathon - 10/7/12
2 Cities marathon (Fresno) - 11/4/12
Los Gatos Resolution Run - 1/1/13

2012 priorities:

Priority #1 - get healthy

If I don't get fully healthy, then nothing else matters on this list. I'm following a 30 min plan of walk 2 min, run 2 min right now, hopefully my stress fracture heals over time. I want to experience what it feels like to be pain free, I haven't felt that feeling for a while.

Priority #2 - run a race

After only being able to walk 1 race in 2011, I want to be able to cross a finish line of a race RUNNING. My time or pace doesn't matter.

Priority #3 - run a half marathon

I'm not sure what half marathon I'll be able to run, but it would be nice to be able to do SF half, SF Giants half and/or SJ half. This all depends on how my body feels and what it allows me to do.

Priority #4 - run a marathon

This goal I'm really not sure will happen, because generally building up to a marathon takes a long time. But I put it out there in case it somehow works out. The 2 Cities Marathon in Fresno appealed to me because it is a medium sized race, doesn't seem to sell out ahead of time, it is mainly flat, and it is in early November right when the clocks get turned back - so I could train the entire summer for it. Maybe I'll aim for this goal for November 2013 instead.

Priority #5 - set a PR

This is one that I'm not sure will happen - because with how my body is right now it is in no shape to try to run a race, much less go for a PR. The only PR that I might have a shot at this year might be my half marathon or marathon one (my other PRs seem to be already set at a high level for me). But this priority is very up in the air.

Running Xmas gifts:

My family's Christmas was a ton of fun as usual, it was great just sitting around with my family and hearing a bunch of stories throughout the weekend. Our entire family isn't together that often (generally only around holidays), so it is great to see them. I watched NFL football on Saturday with my 2 brothers, it was fun seeing the 49ers win! Roserunner also had a great post about Dec 26th being the saddest day of the year, it perfectly summed up my thoughts, haha I also got a couple running gifts for Xmas:

I saw this book a while back on The Blue Eyed Runner, and it seemed like a good one to read. I'm excited to check it out and see how it is. I might be a good candidate for the FIRST training plans because now I want to do some cross training in addition to running as well while training. (mainly just yoga)

One of my friends gave me this book as well, I am interested to read more about running nutrition. It is something that I've been looking into more recently.

49ers and Stanford:

I know that I haven't talked as much about the 49ers as I have about Stanford - but rest assured that I am thrilled with how the season is going for the 49ers! The team is now 12-3, and by beating the Rams this Sunday they will clinch the #2 seed in the playoffs and will get a home playoff game in the 2nd round of the playoffs (they get a bye into the 2nd round)! The team is having a dream season, reminding me of the glory years of the 1980s and 90s, when the team won 5 Super Bowls. The crazy part is that I thought they were going to go 6-10 or 7-9, shows just how much of a difference simply changing the coaching staff can do! They likely will face off against the Saints at home in the 2nd round, the Saints are playing amazing football this year - should be a good game! And it was announced that 8 49ers players made the Pro Bowl, which is insane!

It has also been a dream season for Stanford football, who is 11-1, and is facing off against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan 2. I take off for Arizona on Saturday, should be a fun trip! I hope it is a good game, Stanford is a slight underdog right now I think. My gameplan for a victory would be for Stanford to run the ball a ton against Oklahoma State, they have a weak run defense. 50 runs and 20 passes should win the game for Stanford. We shall see! It has been an amazing 2 year season run for the team, I almost don't want this year to end. I will miss Andrew Luck next year, that guy has just been awesome. Whomever gets him in the NFL will have an amazing QB for the future.

Did you get any running related presents for Xmas?

How did your 2011 go?

What are your 2012 goals?

Shoutouts of the year

2011-12-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:
The only shoutout I had for this post is to everyone out there to have a Merry Christmas! Christmas is always my favorite holiday, it is great having the entire family together again around holidays like this.

Oregon cheerleader pics:
50 After 40 had a request for more Oregon cheerleader pics from the Stanford-Oregon game a while back. I will say that the Oregon cheerleaders are the hottest cheerleaders in the Pac-12, with a close 2nd being USC and UCLA, lol

The cheerleaders put on mustaches in support of Movember =) Go here for more info on Movember. haha And is she looking at my camera?

Donut pics:
First in Philly had a request for more donut pics from my trip to Portland/Corvallis for the Stanford vs Oregon State game. I can't emphasize how awesome Voodoo Donuts in Portland is, if they had one in the bay area I would seriously go there all the time! My favorite donut was the glazed one with the capn crunch, so good!

Shoutouts of the year:
As most of you who follow me know, I start almost every post off with shoutouts to people for accomplishments that they recently achieved. I'm not sure how or why I started doing them, but I thought it would be a good way to recognize others for their accomplishments, and for me to keep track of what people are up to. I recently went back through all my posts for 2011 and tried to pick out interesting things that have happened during the year. Below are all the things I noted. (Note that if you are not listed below, don't worry, I could not list everyone. And I tried my best to make sure the information below is correct, but let me know if I need to change anything!)

First Marathon:

Neon Blonde Runner - 3:56:41 at the Richmond Marathon. She followed that up with a 3:30:41 at the Rehoboth Marathon a month later!
The Unexpected Runner - 4:53:23 at the Wineglass Marathon
SF Road Warrior - 3:47:04 at CIM
Pancakes and Postcards - 4:27:51 at Big Sur

First Ultramarathon:

Fast Cory - Javelina Jundred 100

First Ironman:

Dangle the Carrot - Ironman Texas
SwimCycloRun - Ironman Lake Placid (his race report has 4 parts too)

Most Miles run:

Roserunner - with 3150 miles run in 2011! Close 2nd is EMZ, who is at 3,108 right now!

Most marathons run:

50After40 - with 9 marathons, with an average finish time of 3:27:31! He also ran back to back marathons, both with impressive times. He also set 10K, 15K, and marathon PRs!

Special recognition:

EMZ - for her 24 hour treadmill run! Keep in mind that this post is installment 1 of 7, I recommend reading all of the installments!

Runners of the year:

Among people that I follow, it seems like a lot of people had a great year in 2011. Below are the people that I thought deserved special recognition for their accomplishments. A ton of PRs were set during 2011!

2Slow4Boston - set 2 mile, 5K, half marathon and marathon PRs! He also outright won a 5K!
Canadian Runner in Exile - I lost track of how many PRs she set during 2011, but I believe she set PRs for every distance up to half marathon!
Chicago Runner Girl - set 5K, 8K, 10 mile, half marathon, and marathon PRs! She seemed to run faster every race!
Coach Dion - who posted on my blog that he ran 47 races in 2011, with 19 age group places! And he said that he made money racing in 2011! Not many people can say that!
Dangle the Carrot - set 5 mile, 10 mile, half marathon, sprint tri, half ironman, 50K, and ironman PRs! It seemed like every race he has ran recently has been a PR, and an age group place!
Diary of an Average Runner - set 5K, 10K, 10 mile, half marathon, and marathon PRs! She had a fantastic year!
How I Complicated My Life Today - it seemed like every race recently that she has ran among either half marathons or marathons has been a PR! I've lost count of how many times she's broken her half marathon or marathon PR. She also outright won a marathon!
My Dirt Road Anthem - set mile, 5K, 5 mile, 10K and half marathon PRs! She had a lot of age group places too!
Pain is Nothing - set 8K, 10 mile, half marathon and marathon PRs!
Pain, Pride Perseverance - set 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon PRs!
Roserunner - set half marathon and marathon PRs! Seemed like every time she ran a half marathon she set a new PR!
Slowly Tri-ing - who set many PRs this year, including a trifecta during a 15K race when she set 5K, 10K and 15K PRs all in the same race!
Small Town Runner - set 5K, 4 mile, 10K, half marathon and marathon PRs! She ran 9 races in 2011, and PRd in 8 of them!
TwentySixandThenSome - set 5K, half marathon and marathon PRs! She is now training for a full ironman!
Watch MeGo Run - set 5K, 10K and half marathon PRs!

Runner of the Year:

If I had to just pick 1 person out of all the people I follow for the "Runner of the year" award, I pick The Running Laminator. It seemed like every race he ran in 2011 was a new PR. He broke almost all of his PRs across all the distances (mile, 5K, 4 mile, 5 mile, 10K, half marathon, and marathon PRs). And he has been running for a long time, so his PRs were already set at a high level. He also did some trail races at which he had some great performances. He just had a fantastic year!

Do you know anyone who deserves special recognition for their accomplishments during 2011?

2011 by Pictures and Numbers

2011-12-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Power Multisport, who set a PR in 1:27:27 at the Ole Man River half marathon!
To How I Complicated My Life Today, who set a PR in 1:30:26 at the Ole Man River half marathon!
To 2Slow4Boston, who ran a fantastic 3:34:39 under difficult conditions at the Dallas White Rock Marathon!

Pictures and numbers:
If you follow my blog, you know how much I like pictures, I try to put as many as I can every post. I actually had to buy more storage from picasa because I just crossed the 1 GB storage limit on picasa - extra storage was only $5 for another 20 GB. I've uploaded 640 pictures so far to my blog in 2011! I thought it would be fun to combine pictures and numbers to sum up 2011.

Runs documented (10):

Rancho San Antonio - this run was probably the best run of my life (link)

Stevens Creek Trail (link)

Stanford Dish - I used to run this route all the time (link)

Los Gatos Creek Trail - my go to route for long runs (link)

Stevens Creek Park - great trail running here (link)

Race expos visited (4):

Big Sur (link)

San Diego - with Josh Cox (link)

San Francisco - with Marshall Ullrich (link)

San Jose - met Roger Craig of SF 49ers game (link)

Races ran (0):

This is the main number that bothers me out of all of these numbers. This is the first year since 1992 that I haven't at least ran 1 race for time during the year (track, cross country or road). For one reason or another, my body just did not allow me to do a race it seemed like. My hope is that I can do a race in 2012 - preferably my first one would be Bay to Breakers in May 2012.

Races walked (1):

Bay to Breakers (link)

Injuries sustained (5):

Right ankle - soccer 3/20/11 (below is why I shouldn't be playing soccer anymore!) (link)

Right ankle again - soccer 4/3/11 (link)

Runners knee on left knee/IT band problems - squats/overuse 3/27/11 (link)

Smashed left finger helping to move furniture at work -(bruised but not broken) - 11/30/11

Right foot/ankle stress fracture from likely too much intensity, 12/6/11 - (link)

Stanford games attended (9):

Stanford vs Virginia Tech at the Orange Bowl (link)

Stanford vs Notre Dame (link)

Stanford vs Oregon - ESPN Gameday (link)

Stanford vs Oregon State in Corvallis (link)

Stanford vs USC in LA - best football game I've ever been to, Stanford wins it in 3 overtimes 50-48! (link)

Concerts attended (5):

Coachella (link)

Warped Tour (link)

SF Outside Lands (link)

Jimmy Eat World (link)

New Found Glory (link)

Cities visited (7):

Miami - for the Stanford Orange Bowl (link)

San Diego - for SD half marathon (injured) (link)

Pittsburgh - for a cousin's wedding (link)

Reno - gambling (link)

Portland/Corvallis - to visit by brother, Stanford/Oregon State game (link)

Napa - wine tasting (link)

Soccer games documented (13):

link

49ers games (1):

49ers vs Cardinals (link)

Giants games (1):

Giants vs Diamondbacks - Star Wars day! (link)

Tennis matches (1):

Stanford tennis tournament (link)

What are your favorite pictures and/or numbers of the year?

Running Projects Complete

2011-12-08T17:58:00.001-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Caution: Redhead Running, who is back running after missing 9 months with a stress fracture!
To Neon Blonde Runner, who set a massive 26 minute PR in 3:30:41 at the Rehoboth Beach Marathon! Her race recap is awesome!
To Canadian Runner in Exile, who set a PR in 2:24:05 at the LA Holiday Half Marathon!
To First in Philly, who set a 5K PR in 25:19 at the Reindeer Ramble!
To SF Road Warrior, who ran her first marathon in 3:47:04 at CIM! Fantastic debut!
To Pancakes and Postcards, who set a 15 minute PR in 4:08:14 at CIM!

I'm a Runnerd:
One story I thought was great recently is that I Have Run's daughter got her first pair of running shoes and even wanted to go on the treadmill! She even learned to tie her shoes on her own. Candice may have a very serious runner on her hands!
Also, a while back I won a giveaway from her, and got a Runnerd sticker and keychain. Thanks Candice!

"That was easy"
Recently I won a giveaway from Taking It On, for a Staples Easy button! I've seen the commercials over the years, and thought it would be cool to have one. I ended up winning it as part of her giveaway! I put it by my desk at home, so whenever I'm pondering something I just press the button, haha It says "That was easy" Thanks Marjorie!

SF marathon picture frame:
Almost 1.5 years after I finished the race, I finally put together the SF marathon picture frame that I was meaning to make. I haven't been able to hang it yet since I need picture hanging supplies from my parents house. I just bought a $15 frame from Aaron Brothers, and put my picture, race number and my shoe tag inside the frame. I used scrapbook glue to glue the things to the back of the cardboard. It was fun to finally complete this, I've never done a picture frame for any race until now.

Running scrapbook complete:
The main project that I finished recently was my running scrapbook. I got inspired to do it after seeing the scrapbook that my track star sister put together. I bought the same scrapbook materials that she did from Michael's, and then started putting it together. It was fun to try to organize everything, going all the way back to freshman year of high school. The only glaring hole that it seemed like I had is that I didn't have any pictures between 2000 and 2008. It ended up being 27 pages long. Below are some sample pages (my handwriting is horrible, haha).

Here are the supplies that I bought for it:

Scrapbook binder
See through page inserts
Construction paper
Scrapbook double sided tape that has no acid in it. I found that tape runners seemed to work the best I thought (see this link for what I mean)
I bought extra page inserts and construction paper since I knew that I would need more.

My best cross country race in high school

My first half marathon - SF half in 2009

SF full marathon in 2010

Runner medal holder:
I recently also bought a runner medal holder from Allied Medal Displays, I thought their displays looked good. There are a ton of options on the site, check it out if you might be interested. Mounting the display is a little tricky if you only have 1 person (I was able to pull it off though), but it helps to have 2 people to help mount it. I put all my junior high and high school medals on the left, and post high school things on the right. Until just recently in 2009 I never got medals for any races I did after high school (because I never did half marathons and higher), so I still need to get more medals for the right side, haha
In case you're curious what the medals on the right side are, they are (SF half 2009, SF full 2010, SJ half 2010, Bay to Breakers 2011)

Aircast ankle brace:
As part of what my doctor recommended last appointment was for me to wear an aircast ankle brace on my right ankle when I am doing my rehab running. At first in looking at the brace it looked super bulky. While it does make my laces a little harder to lace up, you don't notice it that much once you start running. I have noticed a difference wearing the brace after running - I'm not entirely sure how the brace works, but it seems to distribute pressure around my right leg better so that the pressure isn't all focused right on one area. This might allow my stress fracture to heal faster this way I would guess. I have noticed that my right leg seems to be feeling a little bit better after running now, there isn't as much pain as before. Sometimes I'm not sure how tight to wear the brace, whether it should be super snug or just tight.
(this isn't my foot, but this is exactly what I'm wearing looks like)

London Olympics followup:
Just a followup on the 2012 London Olympics from last post, but the main reason I was able to go next summer is because one of my friends is going to be living in London next year. So I will have cheap lodging over there. No way I could have afforded to get a hotel room the whole time I was there! I will definitely pay them at least something for letting me stay there.

Have you ever done a race picture frame or scrapbook or do you have a medal display?

Have you ever used an ankle aircast before? Any idea how it works?

Fiesta Bowl Bound!

2011-12-06T16:52:00.001-08:00

Shoutouts (CIM massive PR weekend!):

To 50 is the new 30, who set a 10 minute PR in 3:56:34 at CIM! I love his motto of "Any day you can run a marathon is a damn fine day."
To Diary of An Average Runner, who set a 9 minute PR in 3:35:45 at CIM!
To How I Complicated My Life Today, who set another marathon PR in 3:22:18 at the Baton Rouge Marathon! This time included an extra mile that she ran off course. 3:15 will be there for her soon enough!
To Pain Pride Perseverance, who set a 9 minute PR in 4:06:08 at the Vegas Marathon!
To RoseRunner, who set a PR in 3:05:08 at CIM!
To Running and Brooklyn, who set a 17 minute PR in 3:42:54 at CIM!
Cheers to anyone who did the Vegas half!

Fiesta Bowl:

The big news for me this weekend is that Stanford was picked to play in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona on January 2nd, so that means I'll be in Arizona then! Surprisingly I've never been to Arizona, so I'm curious to check it out! I'll be there from Dec 31 to Jan 3rd. This will be the 2nd straight year that I'll be in another city for a Stanford bowl game (last year was Miami for the Orange Bowl).

Stanford will be playing against Oklahoma State, which should be a great game. Oklahoma State reminds me a lot of the Oregon Ducks - great quarterback and wide receiver, explosive quick strike offense, and just an average defense. And Stanford got destroyed 53-30 by Oregon =) So my gameplan against OSU would be to have Stanford run the ball almost every down against OSU to slow the game down and wear down their defense. (this is how I thought Stanford should have played against Oregon, but they threw the ball way too much I thought) If Stanford runs the ball 60 times and throws it 25 or less times - I think we win.

Right foot/leg pain (healing stress fracture):

As you may have noticed, I haven't been talking as much about running recently. This is somewhat due to the fact that I've been going on a trip or to a Stanford game every week for the past 6 weeks. The past month I've noticed some pain in my lower outside right leg. (opposite leg from the knee/IT band injury that I am recovering from)

Symptoms:

Two small bruises seemed to develop on the outside of my right leg
Pain gets worse the more activity that I do
My right leg sometimes throbs after activity
Feels uncomfortable to run on for extended time it seems like

Diagnosis:

My thought was that I may have a stress fracture, but that I wasn't sure. I saw my doctor yesterday (Amol Saxena of PAMF), and after looking at my right leg and also X-raying my right ankle/leg he told me that I likely had a stress fracture that developed last month or so. He said that it is starting to heal (or was already healing), but that it was still a little inflamed.

Causes:

The doctor wasn't able to tell me exactly what caused my stress fracture
I have some guesses though - generally doing too much activity too soon can cause a stress fracture. While I was generally following a running rehab plan, I started to not obey it closely after about a month of following it. A comment from a post back on Nov 1 from Neon Blonde Runner basically is prophetic: "More running, hooray!!!! Don't get too speedy too fast though, you could end up back where you came from." Well, she nailed it unfortunately.
I started playing soccer again about 2 months ago, and while I did take it easy at first out there, I think over 2-3 weeks playing I started playing like I used to in terms of speed and acceleration - which was probably not a good idea. Maybe its in my competitive DNA, but I can't hold myself back out there on the soccer field.
Both my soccer shoes (Nike Tiempo) and casual shoes that I bought (Nike Lunarglide 3) seem to be pretty narrow shoes. My feet seemed to feel worse after wearing those shoes, maybe because of pressure on the sides of them from the shoes. Does Nike make narrow shoes?

Conclusions:

He told me I could continue to run, but I would need to follow the running rehab plan on his website
He told me I could continue to do yoga, bowling, and strength training
I need to wear an aircast on my right ankle for a while when I do run (likely a month or so).
I made the decision to finally stop playing soccer. It just seemed like a lot of my injuries were caused from soccer, and especially with a stress fracture that needs to fully heal it doesn't seem safe to play. I will miss the social aspect of it in seeing my friends, but the costs just seemed to outweigh the benefits of the game for me right now because of the injury risk. Also, a comment from the doctor about soccer was "I get injured just looking at a soccer ball." lol I know many of you out there are probably happy to read that - especially 2Slow4Boston and Power Multisport.
So we will see what happens - my stress fracture still needs to heal completely it seems, but I'm glad that at least it is healing according to the doctor.
When I do get back to running normal again - I'm going to do a lot of trail running, because this is the kind of runner I was prior to 2010. Trail running really strengthens your entire body (hills, small changes of direction, etc), and I think this is one reason why I basically was never injured until 2010. Also the fact that I didn't start playing soccer again until 2010 - and this is where a lot of my injuries came from it seems like.

Overall thoughts:
I don't think I've conveyed my thoughts on my right foot/ankle injury at all on my blog, because I wanted to get it diagnosed first before talking about it. My mind has been all over the place recently thinking about it, though going to the doctor confirmed with me that it is better to go to a doctor to get injuries diagnosed so that you know what you are dealing with. The hardest part is the fear of the unknown. Going into the doctor appointment I thought that he was going to say that I had a stress fracture and that I'd be sidelined for a couple months. The fact that he said I had a stress fracture a month ago, and that it was healing and I could start doing a rehab plan was comforting to hear. It still sucks that I am injured again, but it could be worse. I know that I have a legit plan that will work towards getting me healthy again. For some reason I'm sort of at peace with where I'm going now and what the plan is. And I want to say that I appreciate hearing people's true thoughts on things, because I probably wasn't being smart by playing soccer since it is so easy to get injured doing it. So I ask people to keep telling me what you think.

2012 London Olympics:
Yesterday was another opportunity to buy tickets for the Olympics next year in London, I was able to get tickets to the women's soccer final! So my event schedule is basically complete now, here it is. The events I'm most excited about are tennis at Wimbledon, table tennis, and the 2 soccer finals. I was unable to get tickets to BMX or the marathon. I also bought my plane ticket - I fly out on 8/1, and then back on 8/13. Should be awesome!

8/4 - Tennis - Women's final / Men's Doubles final - gold medal (at All England Club)
8/5 - Badminton gold medal final
8/5 - Fencing gold medal final (might have to sell this one if we can't go to both Badminton and Fencing on the same day)
8/6 - Basketball preliminary round
8/7 - Track & Field

mens 110 meter hurdles round 1
mens 200 meters round 1
mens triple jump qualifying
women's javelin qualifying
womens 5000 meters qualifying

8/7 - Beach volleyball semifinal round
8/8 - Table tennis gold medal final
8/9 - Women's soccer gold medal final
8/10 - Men's basketball semifinal (both semifinals)
8/11 - Men's soccer gold medal final
8/12 - Marathon

Mythbusters cannonball accident:
How many of you out there watch the show Mythbusters? I've seen it a fair amount of times, it's a hilarious show about proving myths wrong using science experiments. It's also filmed in the bay area which is pretty cool - they do a lot of their experiments at the old Alameda Naval Base. While doing an experiment using a canonball, the ball flew through a cinder block wall, and into the city of Dublin. It tore right through a house, and then finally stopped when it hit a minivan. All told it flew 700 yards! Luckily, no one was hurt, but it was big news around here on the local news. Crazy stuff! That is the cannonball hole on the right!

source

Vegas Rock N Roll water fiasco:

I know a lot of you out there ran the Vegas Rock N Roll race, did any of you have problems with the water during the race? It sounds like a lot of people got sick from it after they drank the water. In reading people's race reports I didn't see anyone mention it so far. In reading this article, it makes the race experience sound pretty rough. And for people that did the full marathon, it sounds like they had to wade through a bunch of people who were doing the half marathon on the way back in, since it was an out and back course.

Any suggestions on things to do in Phoenix/Scottsdale/Glendale?
Did you have problems with the water at Vegas Rock N Roll?
Any thoughts on how to deal with a stress fracture?

Napa wine tasting & Stanford football

2011-11-28T23:34:00.001-08:00

Shoutouts: (there are a lot this week!)

HUGE shoutout to How I Complicated My Life Today, who outright won the Mississippi Coast Marathon in 3:24:26! She also set a new PR in the process!
To Diary of An Average Runner, who set a 10K PR in 45:13 at Run Wild for a Child! I bet CIM will go well for her next Sunday.
To Canadian Runner in Exile, who set a 5K PR in 28:59 at Claremont Turkey Trot!
To Coach Dion, who ran 2:50:23 at the Winelands Marathon! He is an insanely fast runner and always has great pics of South Africa.
To Dangle the Carrot, who set a 5 mile PR in 32:20 at the GE Run Thru the Woods! He has been running phenomenally well recently.
To My Dirt Road Anthem, who ran the Turkey Trot 5K for 4th in her age group, then followed it up with a 6:35 street mile to win it!
To Neon Blonde Runner, who ran her first 5K in 21:40 at the CCV Turkey Trot, placing 1st in her age group!
To Pain is Nothing, who set a 5K PR in 22:18 at her Turkey Trot!
To Run for the Bikini, who set a new 5K PR in 19:45!
To Small Town Runner, who set a new half marathon PR in 1:29:30 at the EWEB Run to Stay Warm! She has also been running really well recently.

Drumstick ethical dilemma:
It was interesting to read your comments about the drumstick ethical dilemma from my last post. Seems like almost everyone would have done the same thing - though some correctly said that I should have been more aware of what was going on, so that I wouldn't have been in that dilemma in the first place!

Thanksgiving/Harbaugh Bowl:
First off, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Everyone in the family was able to make it down for Thanksgiving, it was great to see everyone. We always meet up with a local family in the neighborhood, it was fun times as usual. We watched most of the 49ers-Ravens (HarBowl), the 49ers just got manhandled on their offensive line - allowing 9 sacks and lost the game 16-6. They just didn't get the breaks either - with a couple long plays going against them on penalties. They are now 9-2, but they play 4 games against the weak NFC West, so they should go at least 3-1 over their next 4 games. Likely they will finish the season at 13-3 or 12-4, and have a very good chance of the #2 seed in the NFC. Crazy that I am even talking about this considering I thought they would be 7-9 at the start of the year!

Black Friday:
I've never shopped on Black Friday before, and most likely I never will (I don't like shopping at all, except for running stuff, haha). One of my favorite things is to view all the crazy videos and stories that happen on Black Friday around the country. The main stories that I heard of was a full on fight at a Modesto Mall, someone pepper spraying shoppers in LA, some shoppers getting robbed and shot after leaving the malls, and just general craziness around the country. I don't believe in shopping in malls on Black Friday, can't you just get the same deal online? But I thought about it - and I asked myself why I go to sporting events when you could watch on TV with a better view. It is for the experience and fun of it. I think some people like the sport of shopping, and the adrenaline that comes along with the experience.

This is one video I found - at a Urban Outfitters in LA - the mob is crazed! (watch how they destroy the metal detectors by the front)

Napa wine tasting (Friday):

On Friday I went up to Napa to do some wine tasting with my roommate and his friends parents. I had never been to Napa in the fall, so I was really looking forward to seeing the fall colors. I always forget how close Napa is, it is only 1.5 hours away!

The fall colors did not disappoint, it was gorgeous up there. The vine leaves were yellow, red, and orange. The leaves looked like they were ready to fall off any minute, so I think we caught it at a perfect time.

Amazing colors

Winter Wineland is a trip I do every year in mid January - I look forward to it every year. A bunch of wineries are open for tasting in the Napa Valley area on January 14 and 15.

There was a deal that you could wine taste at up to 8 wineries for $20 (we ended up making it to 6 of them). The wineries had their tasting rooms open - you got to try about 4-7 wines per winery depending on how many wines they were poring

This was at Alexander Valley winery - I was a big fan of their wine. We ended up buying a case of Redemption Zin (I got 2 bottles of it), a great Zinfandel wine.

This picture really has no point, but I thought it came out good, haha. I think this was at Soda Rock winery - which had great wine, I bought a bottle of their Cabernet

Gorgeous surroundings driving through the vineyards - red on one side, yellow on the other

One winery near the end had a nice garden (Medlock Arms), it was nice to walk through

We also went to a castle winery (Castello Di Amorosa)! It was my second time going there, I had been there 4 years ago or so. The castle is cool to check out, though the wine was just okay I thought.

We ended up wine tasting at 6 wineries (Field Stone, Hanna, Alexander Valley, Soda Rock, Sausal and Medlock Arms). My favorites were Alexander Valley and Soda Rock - they both had great wine. If anyone does go to Napa (and it's surrounding areas) for wine tasting, let me know and I can try to give recommendations if you don't know where to go.

We later ate at Gott's - a cool burger joint

Stanford vs Notre Dame (Saturday):
I stayed over in Napa on Friday night, and then on Saturday drove down to Stanford for the Stanford vs Notre Dame game. It was the last home game of the year (besides the bowl game in January).

The band visited our tailgate area as usual, this pic is pretty awesome =)

They put on a great show as usual!

Tailgating was in full effect - Toby the Van

The Goodyear blimp was on hand!

It was senior night - to recognize all the seniors and redshirt juniors (including QB Andrew Luck). I thought the coolest part was that WR Chris Owusu suited up and ran out onto the field for the introductions even though he couldn't play. He got a concussion at the Oregon State game 3 weeks ago that I was at, and had to be taken to the hospital. Likely he will never play football again, but I wish him the best of luck in life - he is a great guy.

Tebowing in the end zone!

Andrew Luck passed John Elway for most career touchdown passes in Stanford history that night! He is an amazing QB, I think he will have a great career in the NFL (he is likely going to the Colts, since they are horrible right now). Luck also broke his own single season touchdown record that he set last year.

A great night for football - it was a little crisp out, not too cold though

As for the actual game - Stanford played well from the start, throwing the ball all over the field. Luck played great, throwing 4 touchdown passes to win 28-14. The team finishes the regular season 11-1, just like last year! Likely the team is headed to Arizona to play in the Fiesta Bowl vs either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State - I will for sure be going to wherever the team ends up for the game.

I went back to my post back in September, and I basically was right on all my predictions for Stanford this year:

Stanford would finish 11-1 (they did exactly that)
I was unsure about the Oregon game (Stanford got destroyed)
Luck is the Heisman favorite (he likely will win the Heisman - though I actually think Lamichael James of Oregon or Robert Griffin III of Baylor should win it instead of Luck. I just think Lamichael James is ridiculously good. I know Adventure is Out There and Small Town Runner would approve of this!)
Biggest game in Stanford history will be the Oregon game (it was so indeed even though they lost)
I was unsure about Stanford being better than last year's #4 ranking (they are now ranked #4 exactly)

After the game, they let us go on the field! it was cool to walk around and just check out the field. There were also a couple players still on the field, it is crazy to see how big the players are up close. They are just monsters.

We listened to the band play for a bit as well - great times! It has been an amazing football season, after going to games now for 5 weeks straight (USC, Oregon State, Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame), it is going to be weird not going to a game next week! Next game will likely be the Fiesta Bowl on January 2nd in Glendale, Arizona!

Did you do any Black Friday shopping? If so, did you see anything crazy happen?

"You are a nice guy."

2011-11-20T21:20:00.001-08:00

Shoutouts:

To 50 After 40, who set a PR in 3:20:03 at the Tulsa Marathon! Time to shave the beard!

New Found Glory concert (Thursday):

A while back when I had my Q&A, Blonde Ponytail asked me who my top 3 bands were. I answered Green Day, Jimmy Eat World and New Found Glory. I saw Jimmy Eat World in September, and November had New Found Glory coming to town. Only a matter of time until Green Day plays then, haha

The concert was on Thursday in SF at the Regency Ballroom - this venue pretty much hosts all the small punk band shows, so I am there pretty often it seems like. And no surprise that the average age of the crowd seemed to go from 16-24, so I was far above that, haha

The Wonder Years was the first band I saw - they were just okay, they sounded like most of the punk/pop bands out there, nothing too special I thought

Set Your Goals was next, I thought they had a good sound. Solid punk/pop - I liked them. One of the singers had this preppy look about him which was pretty funny I thought, because most punk bands are guys who are alternative style. He had a good voice for punk too - good stuff from them.

It is hard to see, but he has a close cropped haircut and a polo tshirt on, haha

New Found Glory was on next - this is the band I came to see! This was the 4th or 5th time I was seeing them I think. The venue is tiny, so I ended up making it to maybe 3rd or 4th row or so - I like to be off to the side a little so crowd surfers don't go over the top of me =) I did a little moshing with the crowd, but generally I just like to move around a bit, but not too much. It was great times overall hearing all the songs - I knew basically all of them except for some of their newer ones - their older songs are better I think.

Drumstick (ethical dilemma):
So the interesting part of the concert for me happened at the end - I was standing among the confetti waiting to leave the venue when I noticed a drumstick (from the New Found glory drummer that he tossed into the crowd) flying through the air and land on the ground near my feet. I immediately bent down to get it, and touched it before anyone else did. Then a kid came out of nowhere flying on the ground and grabbed a piece of the drumstick after me, pleading with me to give him the drum stick (he touched it a couple seconds after I touched it). In my quick analysis, I thought he was maybe 17, so he was much younger than me. After he kept pleading with me to give it to him for a couple more seconds, I decided to let go, and let him have the drumstick. I think he was shocked with my decision, because he looked me in the eye and said "You are a nice guy." I was trying to process everything going on and didn't have a response for him right then, I should have just said "Thanks." On the drive home from the concert, I was conflicted thinking about whether I made the right decision - should I have negotiated with the kid so I could keep it? Should I have let him have it?

I've been to probably 400 sporting events and concerts over the years, and don't think I've ever gotten anything like that before (a foul ball, game used ball, concert drumstick or anything like that). This was the first opportunity that I had to get anything like that I think. New Found Glory is also my 3rd favorite band, so having a drumstick from them would have meant a lot. But I also thought that it seemed like that item meant more to the kid than it did to me. I guess to me it's the equivalent of giving a foul ball to a kid at a baseball game. In the end it is just a physical object, and memories hold more value than physical objects I guess. I really appreciated that the kid said "you are a nice guy" to me - because if that phrase is on my tombstone when I die I would be happy with that. I've been told by many people over the years that I am too nice. I guess I don't have that killer instinct that some people have, and I don't think it is something that I can change. In the end I'm satisfied with the decision that I made, though it is kind of annoying that the kid forced me to make a decision like that in the first place by grabbing onto the drumstick after I had my hands on it already.

So I'm curious - what would you have done in the situation above - negotiate with the kid so you could keep the drumstick? Give the drumstick to the kid? How do you react to the whole situation? So far I've ran the situation by 3 people, and 2 said I made the right decision, 1 said that I should have tried to keep it.

Poker tourney (Friday):
I don't think I've talked about this on my blog before, but my roommate and I host a texas holdem poker tourney at our place every quarter or so - it's fun to get together and play some cards with friends. It is low stakes ($20 buyin). Generally I do pretty well - I had won 2 of the last 5 tournaments. This time I played okay, but didn't get that many good cards, but ended up getting 4th and getting my money back ($20). The winner took home $200. Good times as usual!

Stanford vs CAL - Big Game (Saturday):
Saturday was the annual football game between Stanford and CAL, this time it was at Stanford. It was the 114th time they have played, it is one of the longest rivalries in college football. It is always a fun atmosphere, because fans of both teams are closeby and always results in a fun time.

They play for the Axe - and I was able to see it while I was walking to my tailgate, which was really cool! I don't think I've ever been that closeup with it before.

The band and cheerleaders played by my tailgate - the game was at 715 PM, which was kind of annoying since it started to get cold and rainy right as it approached game time. The band put on a great show though before the game!

The Tree was there as usual

Not sure what the theme was today, I think it was Alice in Wonderland, but I wasn't sure, haha

Of course I tailgated with Toby the Van! The tailgate was fun, it was just starting to get cold, and I didn't pack enough cold weather or waterproof clothes for the night - because it was almost perfect when I left my house to go to the game earlier. A weird weather day all around.

The stands weren't that packed, because it basically rained the whole game - I felt like I was in Corvallis for the Oregon State game! Gotta say Stanford fans aren't as hearty as fans in Oregon, we disappear when the rains starts at games! lol Though I can say that I always stay to the end!

I thought this was funny - it's hard to see but the CAL guys are on the left, Stanford guys on the right. The Stanford guys on the right have the Axe, and both groups are basically staring down the other, lol

As for the game - it was a good one, CAL played a good game. CAL is much improved compared to earlier in the year, it was a tight game, but Stanford was able to prevail with some good running and key passes late in the game.

Stanford moves to 10-1 on the season, with next weeks game against Notre Dame to go. If we win it, we are likely headed to the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. Other possibility would be the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. I'd rather go to New Orleans, but we'll see what happens next week!

Also, it was a crazy week in college football with 4 top teams losing (Oklahoma State, Oregon, Clemson, Oklahoma). I actually wanted Oregon to win, so that it might help Stanford get to the Rose Bowl, but that possibility is over now. No way that Oregon loses to Oregon State at home =)

There is always a lot of security for Stanford vs CAL, it wasn't needed this year as no one rushed the field from either school. In 2009 when CAL beat Stanford the CAL students rushed the field at Stanford

49ers vs Cardinals (Sunday):
My brother has 49ers season tickets, and he helps organize a family 49ers game that we all go to each year. This is the 3rd year we've done it - in previous years we've seen the Jaguars and Bucs.

We got to the spot where we park by the stadium, and the sky filled with seagulls - those are all birds on the screen! It was like the entire sky was filled with birds, haha

Part of the family - Dad, brother1, sister, brother2, friend
Just like on Saturday, it was another rainy day, so this time I was more prepared, and brought waterproof pants along with a snowboarding jacket! I know now my rainy gear to wear to games now to feel fine the whole game at least!

Cool fireworks on the player introductions

49ers offense was in command the whole day it seemed like

Flags at midfield after a 49ers touchdown

Cheerleaders galore, haha

It turned out to be a decently nice day - it continued raining even though it was partly sunny which was weird

As for the actual game - the 49ers dominated from the start, with the defense forcing 3 interceptions and 2 fumbles by the Cardinals - the Cardinals looked terrible out there. They ended up winning 23-7. The 49ers offense looked pretty good, scoring 2 touchdowns and 3 field goals - and were basically in control from the beginning of the game. The team is now 9-1, for their best start since 1997! Insane! (considering that I thought they would be either 6-10 or 7-9 at the start of the season, I'm shocked right now). I guess it shows how much of a difference a good head coach (Harbaugh) and defensive coordinator (Fangio) can make!

Great times all around with the family!

Their next game is on Thanksgiving against the Ravens in the Harbaugh bowl!

Wish you guys out there a happy Thanksgiving - and the 3 Fs:

Family
Food
Football

So I'm curious - what would you have done in the concert situation above - negotiate with the kid so you could keep the drumstick? Give the drumstick to the kid? How do you react to the whole situation?

Return of the Quack

2011-11-14T21:36:00.001-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Neon Blonde Runner, who ran her first marathon in 3:56:41 at the Richmond Marathon! She had a bad right knee at mile 9 through, lost a contact at mile 18 - and still did that well. Talk about perseverance.
To Fast Cory, who completed the 100 mile race Javelina Jundred!

Stanford vs Oregon:

So anyone how has been following my blog for the past 3 months knows that I am crazy about Stanford, so much so that First In Philly had this comment on my last post "You make me get this big smile on my face whenever you go into your spiel about football and Stanford. Love it." I know that I am over the top about talking about Stanford, but I guess everyone has something that they are crazy about, and for me it is Stanford =) haha My friends still give me crap about liking the school so much even though I didn't even go there! (I went to SCU)

ESPN Gameday:

ESPN Gameday was coming to Stanford on Saturday to tape their show that runs from 6-9 AM, which is really early! I decided that I had to be there for it since likely they will never be back to Stanford again. I felt like I was getting up for a race or something, haha When I got there at 6, I was shocked to see so many people, there was probably 3,000 people there! It was fun to see them tape the show - people make a bunch of signs and try to get on camera, also a lot of Go Stanford chants and the like. Definitely worth it that I got up for it! Turns out that my sign didn't get on TV, but it was still fun to be there!

It was still pitch black at 6 AM!

At about 7 the sun finally started to rise

One of my favorite signs, haha

Duck Hunt on Nintendo!

This was one of my favorite signs as well!

Gotta say though, the Duck is my favorite mascot in college sports!

I thought this was funny, the Duck was concentrating on the big screen haha

That is Heisman trophy winning DB Desmond Howard, and the Tree =)

Lee Corso picked Stanford to win at the end of the show! (unfortunately that turned out not to be true)

After the taping was over, both the Stanford and Oregon bands played on the field behind the stage, it was a lot of fun to just walk around and hear music everywhere. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the day, just hearing the bands play for a bit. Check out their arms intertwined below, haha

Why hello Stanford band!

The Oregon band was huge too!

I made it over to my friends Toby the Van tailgate at 10 AM, and put my sign on the front windshield of the van. A fair amount of people that walked by laughed at my sign, I was glad to see that people liked it =)

This was a tailgate nearby, a guy Tebowing on top of a van! lol

I learned that some of my family friends from Oregon were going to be there at another tailgate, so it was great to catch up with them too!

The actual game didn't start until 5 PM, so I had a long time from when I got to my tailgate at 10 AM! (I didn't really drink beer until maybe 1 PM so that I would still be awake)

Oregon 53, Stanford 30:
As for the actual game, the first half went okay, Stanford was down 22-16 at the half so it was manageable at that point. Though in the 3rd and 4th quarters, Oregon just manhandled Stanford with their speed on offense, and scored 31 points to Stanford's 14. Unfortunately Stanford played their worst game since the last time they played Oregon in 2010 (Stanford lost 52-31). Oregon basically dominated Stanford at every category and they deserved to smash Stanford the way they did. Oregon has a ridiculous offense, their only weakness may be on stopping the run on defense. Congrats to Adventure is Out There and Small Town Runner on the victory. I'm not sure if Stanford will ever be in the same elite league that Oregon is in.
I'll try to list the reasons that Stanford lost below:

Oregon is faster on offense, Stanford is slower on defense
Stanford had VERY costly turnovers (2 interceptions by Luck that were returned for touchdowns)
3 other fumbles by Stanford
Stanford's head coach didn't call enough running plays - I thought they should have ran the ball basically every down, because Oregon couldn't stop the run at all. This was a head coaching blunder by Stanford
Chip Kelly of Oregon calling brilliant play calls on offense - they also caught Stanford off guard by running plays with little time in between them
LaMichael James and DeAnthony Thomas of Oregon clearly being the best athletes on the field
Stanford not having the right cleats - they seemed to be slipping all over the field
Injuries to some of our key players (WR Owusu, LB Skov, TE Ertz, K Williamson)

It was a painful game to watch, because Stanford definitely didn't play up to their potential. I think that the 2010 Stanford team at the end of the season is a little bit better than this 2011 year's version due to a couple reasons (losses on the offensive and defensive line of the ball due to graduation, injuries to key players this year, and the loss of coaches Harbaugh and Fangio to the 49ers). Though Stanford can still finish the season at 11-1 and hopefully go to a BCS Bowl game. Oregon has an outside shot at the national title game, but likely they will be going to the Rose Bowl.

Sunday - Traveling Vietnam Memorial:
The Traveling Vietnam Wall Memorial was in Cupertino over the weekend, and I wanted to check it out.

I'm always amazed at how many people died in some of the wars - 293K in WW2

And the craziest is the Civil War - the USA only had a population of 31 million in 1860, and the South lost 200K people

And the North was even worse - with 365K casualties. Simply insane. It seems like the one of the main reasons the North won the war is because they had twice the manpower of the South.

The Wall was impressive, always sobering to see so many names on the wall. I've only been to DC once back in 2003 to see the actual Vietnam Wall. Until I got to DC I didn't know that the actual wall starts out even with the ground, then gradually slopes down until you are fully standing up next to it. (I heard that the design is supposed to symbolize a long scar) I think around 58K people died in the Vietnam War.

This is a statue in Cupertino's Memorial Park - one of the soldiers pictured here is Matthew Alexson, who died fighting in Afghanistan in 2005. I had his mom for elementary school way back when.

USA war involvement:
And this is a side discussion, but it pains me to see a lot of the war memorials, because in my opinion the US shouldn't have been involved in a lot of the wars we enter in the first place. I just went through a list of the Wars the US was involved in, and the list is massive. Really the only wars the past 100 years that I think the US should have been involved in are: WWI, WWII, and Afghanistan. All the other wars seemed unnecessary and we shouldn't have gotten involved (Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq I, Iraq II). And there are also a bunch of other minor wars that the US shouldn't have gotten involved in. Playing the role of world policeman only results in the loss of human life, monetary resources,and people around the world hating us. And it is part of the reason why the US currently has a $15 trillion national debt. The US spends half of the WORLD'S spending on defense. That is ridiculous to me. It is finally time for the US to stop playing offense, and for once play defense and stop entering wars we have no business being in. If people say to this "What will all the troops do then?" - to this I say bring them back to the US and let them protect the US and do work in the US to improve this nation. We don't need to help protect other nations for free, unless they are going to be paying us handsomely for our services. On this issue I'd like to emphasize that I always support the troops, I just don't support the politicians that say we should be entering these wars. I know this paragraph is controversial to some people, so I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

Have you been to DC to see all the monuments there?

Go Cardinal!

2011-11-10T21:47:00.001-08:00

Shoutouts:

To Dangle the Carrot, who ran 4:39:49 at the Rocky Raccoon 50K Trail Run for 7th place overall!
To Neon Blonde Runner, who will be running the Richmond Marathon on Saturday! It has been fun following her training from start to finish.

Stanford vs Oregon (5 PM on Saturday):

So in case you haven't heard, Stanford is playing Oregon this weekend! I know that Adventure is Out There and Small Town Runner will be watching! This is the game that I've been waiting for all season - this is the biggest football game in Stanford history! When the season started I hoped that both Stanford and Oregon would enter the game undefeated - and they both basically did (Stanford at 9-0, Oregon at 8-1). And Oregon's only loss was to #1 LSU in their first game of the season.

Win or Lose:

If Stanford wins, it keeps alive their undefeated season - and they have a very good chance of going undefeated at 13-0. (13th game would be in the Pac-12 title game) Then it becomes a question of whether or not they have a shot at playing in the national title game. (basically Oklahoma State OR LSU would have to lose 1 game) Stanford would still likely go to a BCS bowl somewhere even if they lose, but I'm not sure where (they likely would finish the season at 11-1)
If Oregon wins, they will win the Pac-12 for sure, and likely go to the Rose Bowl it seems like. They would have an outside shot at playing in the national title game.

Prediction:

I think this game will be a shootout - both offenses are awesome. Stanford has Andrew Luck, it's Tight Ends, and a strong running game. Oregon has Darron Thomas, Lamichael James and DeAnthony Thomas (who is ridiculously fast). The sports sites that I like to check for score predictions both have Oregon winning by 5 points - so Stanford will have to play an amazing game to win this one. My prediction is 35-34 Stanford, but really I could see Oregon winning by 1 or 2 points too. Should be a great game!

I wanted to show you my ticket - since a ticket like this would fetch around $200 on stubhub right now! (face value is $30)

ESPN Gameday sign:

This is the sign I made for ESPN Gameday - they are coming to Stanford to broadcast from 6-9 AM. Super early! We shall see if my sign gets on TV or not =) It is 20 x 20 inches, so a fairly big sign. I wanted it to be a spoof of the cards like this that Oregon holds up on the sideline during games, haha The van below is from my tailgating group Toby the Van. Our tailgate starts at 10 AM for a 5 PM game, so it will be a long day, haha My plan is to drink water until maybe 2 PM or so, and then switch to some adult beverages. I'm just going to enjoy the day, should be awesome!

Portland/Corvallis trip

2011-11-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

Shoutouts:

To The Boring Runner, who set a PR in 3:19:40 at the RNR Savannah Marathon!
To Always Training Trio, Running Lam, The Blue Eyed Runner, and Hungry Runner Girl who all did the New York Marathon on Sunday!
To Roserunner, who set a PR in 1:26:29 at the Run with the Jets Half Marathon!
To The Unexpected Runner, whose family got 3 PRs at the Red Baron Half Marathon!

Portland/Corvallis trip:

As I said in my last post, on Friday I headed up to Portland to visit my brother (who lives in Portland) and to go to the Stanford vs Oregon State game in Corvallis. I hadn't yet visited him in Portland yet, so it was going to be fun to check out Portland!

Nike campus:

When I got there, one of the first things that popped into my head was that the Nike campus is in nearby Beaverton, so I wanted to try to visit the campus. My brother was laughing when I said this "You sure you want to visit the Nike campus?" he said. haha One interesting thing about the campus is each building is named after an athlete - we walked by the Steve Frefontaine and Alberto Salazar building for example.

There is a lake in the middle of the campus, that has a walking path around it, a really cool spot.

Can you believe this path is part of the Nike "campus" haha Looked awesome with the trees and the falling leaves

Around the lake path they have pictures of a bunch of Nike athletes - I took pictures of some of them, this is of Shalane Flanagan - I wasn't sure if she was racing New York Marathon on Sunday or not

The campus also has a Michael Johnson track, my brother imitating him! lol

The track is in a great location surrounded by trees everywhere, I'd love to run on this track after work (the campus also has a perimeter running trail that people can run on as well)

This is also part of the "campus" - it felt like we were in the woods just a couple hundred feet from the campus buildings!

Deschutes Brewery:
After that we headed to downtown Portland to Deschutes Brewery (makers of Mirror Pond beer) for dinner. Portland has a lot of good breweries and food, and Deschutes was great to try - I tried a couple beers there and they were both good.

Ground Kontrol arcade:
We later headed to a retro arcade called Ground Kontrol - it has arcade games from about 20 years ago or so like The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it was a lot of fun since 20 years was when I used to play arcade games! A must visit for anyone in their late 20s or early 30s. We played some pinball and Simpsons mainly =)

Voodoo Donuts:
Another AWESOME place in Portland is Voodoo Donuts - most all the donuts are of the bizarre variety (cereal coated, mixes, bacon, etc). I love cereal, so we got a fair amount of the cereal ones, they were awesome. If I lived in Portland I would totally go there a lot, bummer that the bay area doesn't have a donut shop like that.

A full view of most of the donuts we got, loved all of them! - Capn Crunch, Fruit Loops, M&Ms, Cocoa Puffs

After donuts we went to a comedy show featuring Norm MacDonald (SNL, Dirty Work), he put on a funny show! I actually remember seeing the movie Dirty Work with my brother a long time ago, so it was good to see him in person!

Stanford vs Oregon State game:
On Saturday we headed down to Corvallis for the Stanford vs Oregon State football game. Corvallis is a little less than 2 hours away from Portland, so we left at about 9 for a 1230 PM game.

Driving down we saw cars that were seriously decked out with OSU gear! This car had streamers, flags, stickers and even a beaver tail on it! I quickly learned that while Oregon might not have as many teams as other states, the fans of those teams are really passionate! (Honestly I wish Stanford had those kind of fanatics, people just don't go that crazy for Stanford as compared to other schools, maybe it's because there is so much to do around the bay area? I don't know why)

Lol!

It was supposed to be about 45 degrees with rain the whole game, so I dressed like I was going snowboarding, haha (it ended up raining the entire game, so that turned out to be useful!)

Oregon State has a cool stadium, very easy to get in and out of. I liked the look of the stadium too. Even though we were wearing Stanford gear, we didn't have any problems with other fans, people were nice at OSU.

My brother and his girlfriend

In the 2nd quarter Stanford receiver Chris Owusu caught a pass and tried to turn upfield, but he was accidentally hit helmet to helmet by a OSU player. He stayed down on the ground for about 20 minutes - the length of the wait seemed really long, and they had to bring out the ambulance. It was tough to watch the ambulance, I got a little teary eyed when it came out on the field - I never want to see any player get injured much less have an ambulance brought out. This was his 4th concussion over the past 2 years - I really think he should stop playing football. He is Stanford's best offensive player, but his future health is worth more than football.

Always have liked the OSU mascot - the Beaver!

I really liked the OSU cheer when they got a first down - basically the whole crowd gives the first down symbol while the band plays a quick song (see below for a video I found of it)

OSU football first down chant video:

As for the game, OSU kept it close for 2 quarters, but Stanford turned on the pressure from the Offensive Line in the 2nd half and ended up winning 38-13. It was close to my prediction of 41-7, lol 9-0 on the season now!

Portland summary:

Portland was a lot of fun to visit - the city has great breweries and food choices. The city is big enough to have options to do things, but it is not super small either. It definitely felt like an alternative city - there were hipsters everywhere it seemed like, haha It is about 10 degrees colder than the bay area it seems, and the weather seems to be overcast most days, and it also rains a lot there. So if you love seeing the sun, you might not love Portland. There are a ton of trees and it seemed to have great running trails too - a great natural city. Overall I thought it was a great city to visit to see my brother, it was fun times!

26.2

2011-11-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

Note that I drafted this post back in May, but it felt weird posting it while I was injured. Now that I am getting healthier, it feels like the appropriate time to post it.

Shoutouts:

To First in Philly, who did the Marine Corp Marathon last weekend! Her husband took some great pics of the race, that marathon looks like a great one.
To Pain, Pride, Perserverance, who set a PR in 1:51:54 at the Provo Halloween Half Marathon! That race seems like a lot of fun with all the costumes!

26.2:

26.2 is just another number right? haha Just like 140.6, 100, 70.3, 13.1, etc... (below is my Subaru)

Why does simply hearing a number engender so many feelings? The main number that means a lot to me above is 26.2, because I don't have any desire to do a half ironman or ironman. Maybe down the road I might want to try that. I remember when I was doing training for SF Marathon, everytime I would cross a new mileage barrier it meant a lot to me. I guess you never know how much you can push yourself until you try.

When I was younger, I never thought that I would do a marathon. I don't think I even knew how long a marathon was. 26.2 miles? Might as well drive that instead of running it! I still remember my high school track coach talking to me about his marathon experience, and I had no concept of how hard a marathon was. I never had the desire to run beyond 6-10 miles or so. Only about 3 years ago did I decide to make a renewed commitment to running longer distances, doing the SF half marathon in 2009. That was my longest run to date (My longest run prior to running the SF half marathon was 8-9 miles or so). Then I decided, why not take the plunge and do the SF full marathon in 2010.

It is definitely a clique to say that the journey is more enjoyable than the destination. This phrase is never more true than for marathon training. In order to do a marathon you have to basically devote at least 4-5 months of training - it really seems like you devote all your time to it. You learn so much about yourself during the process, of how far you can push your body and what you are capable of. Finishing the marathon is the best feeling that I've ever had. You feel on top of the world, and that you can accomplish anything you want to in life. I wish I could tell my high school track coach that I ran a marathon, I bet he would be surprised.

I'm not sure what my future in running will be like, it would be nice to do another marathon someday, but we'll see what my body says about that. Hopefully I'll be able to do one next Fall 2012. My guess it that my favorite race distance will start to become the half marathon distance, because it is long enough to be a big challenge, but not too long that it takes a huge training program to complete it.

This is one pair of running shoes I'll never throw away! (Mizuno Wave Nirvana)

Shoe update:

Yesterday when I went to the gym I forgot my running shoes at work (New Balance 890), so I was forced to wear my old Mizuno Wave Nirvana's (bought in Jan 2011). It felt weird walking in them, and it felt even weirder running in them. It just felt like the Nirvana's weren't as easy to run in as the 890s - almost like I was fighting against the shoe to stride forward. I now realize that I might have been in the wrong shoe for the past 2 years - the Nirvana seems to be a stability shoe, and I only seem to have mild pronation (left foot is neutral, right foot has mild pronation), so I don't think I need this much stability. The 890s are basically a neutral shoe, so this seems like a better fit for me. No idea how I got put into the wrong shoe - I've had the guys at Sports Basement analyze my stride a couple times over the past 2 years, and they said the Nirvana would be fine for me. Also in looking at the weights of each shoe, the 890 (9.7 ounce) is way lighter than the Nirvana (12.2 ounce). And if I switch to Netwons, they are even lighter than the 890s, the Distancia shoe is only 8.4 ounces. I guess you live and learn. Who knows - maybe having a shoe that had too much support somewhat led to my knee injury that I had. And maybe I'll run faster than I did pre-injury just because I'm now in the right shoe =)

Portland/Corvallis trip:

Most of you probably know that I'm headed up to Portland this weekend to see my brother and for the Stanford vs Oregon State game! I've only been to southern Oregon before, so I'm excited to check out the Portland/Corvallis area. As for the game, I'm anticipating a smashing by Stanford - maybe 41-7 or something like that...I'm just hoping it's not as stressful as last week's game vs USC!

Do you have a sticker on your car?
Any suggestions for can't miss things in Portland/Corvallis?

Victory weekend part deux

2011-10-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To How I Complicated My Life Today, who set a PR in 1:32:38 at the Jazz Half Marathon! She has been running really well recently!
To Watch Me Go Run, who set a 10K PR in 50:35 at the Wicked Halloween Run!

6 mile run at Rancho (Saturday AM):

As I said in my last post, me and a couple of friends were headed to LA later that day for the Stanford vs USC football game on Saturday. Our flight didn't take off until 1, so I figured that I had enough time to go for a run in the morning. I got up early, and ended up making it to the trail by 815, which is early for me, haha I did my usual trail run at Rancho San Antonio.

I haven't given you guys that many updates on my running recently, I'm starting to feel a lot better out there. In the gym over the past couple weeks I've even cranked out some 8 min miles - I did 3 of them on Thursday on the treadmill. I still feel some soreness after running, but it is way less than it used to be.

On Saturday the run seemed to go great, I seemed to be running at about 8 to 830 pace it seemed, the legs felt good. I took about a 1 minute walking break after each mile to keep myself honest, but I almost felt like I could have ran continuously the whole time. A great run and a fun time out there. I'm starting to feel like a runner again.

Wild turkeys? haha

My usual turnaround spot - always enjoy seeing this spot

Stanford 56, USC 48 (triple overtime) (Saturday PM):

Our flight landed in Long Beach at 2 PM for the Stanford vs USC game, so figured that we had about 2 hours of tailgating time before the game started at 5 PM. I had never been to the LA Coliseum before, so I was excited to check it out.

I had heard that the neighborhood around the stadium was rough, but didn't know how rough it was. Driving to the stadium, I saw how rough it was - it reminded me of the rough parts of Oakland and Berkeley - places that you need to be careful in. I have no idea how one of the best schools in the nation is next to such a rough neighborhood. Not sure if anyone is from LA or can enlighten me as to how this happened. We ended up parking in a $40 parking lot by the stadium, so it seemed like our car was safe.

The stadium is gigantic - I really like the architecture on the outside of the stadium

We met up with fellow blogger Eat and Run, who I met back at Orange Bowl tailgate back in January in Miami - it was great to catch up again

Inside the stadium - the place is huge, with capacity of 93K fans! The game was sold out!

A cool tradition by USC is they light the Olympic Cauldron at the start of the 4th quarter! They hosted Olympics in 1932 and 1984 at the stadium...

Check out how big the jumbotron is, it is huge! For scale, look at how big the uprights look in comparison to it!

I've always liked the look of the clock at the Coliseum, just so old school and classic

As for the actual game, going into it I thought Stanford might win by 10 in a high scoring affair. While the game was only 10-6 at halftime, during the 3rd and 4th quarters both teams offenses caught fire, and the scoring started to happen in bunches. The teams were trading scoring touchdowns and field goals, and near the end of the game it was tied at 27-27. Then Andrew Luck of Stanford threw an interception to the other team, who returned it for a touchdown, so Stanford was down by 7 with 3 minutes to go. It was at this point that I started to wonder to myself whether Stanford would win the game or not.

But QB Andrew Luck remained calm, and engineered a touchdown drive to tie the game at 34-34 - to overtime we go. This was a really tense moment in the stands! Both teams scored touchdowns in the first 2 overtimes, so we were going to the 3rd overtime tied at 48-48. Stanford scored a TD and then got the 2 point conversion to go up 56-48. Then USC was about to score, only the running back fumbled at the 4 yard line, and Stanford recovered in the end zone! Game over!!! We basically went completely nuts, jumping up and down, high fiving everyone around us! This game was just an emotional rollercoaster - there were multiple times when I was wondering whether or not we would win the game, and I was just so relieved that we were able to win it. This game was by far the best football game I've ever been to - just an amazing game from both sides. I'd say it was the best college football game played so far this year by anyone, and the TV networks called it an "instant classic" when it was over.

I don't want to get too dramatic here - but this game showed me that no matter what is going on, don't give up on anything. Stanford could have easily given up when they were down 34-27, but they kept fighting, and ended up tying the score at 34 to send it to overtime.

I'll also add that USC fans were nice and cordial, I didn't get any heat from any of the fans there, so I would definitely try to go back sometime for a game again.

Stanford kept alive it's perfect season - they are now 8-0! Next we go to Oregon State, and I'm going to go to the game!

After the win, Stanford players flooded over to the Stanford section of the stadium, crazy times

3 jubilant Stanford fans =)

Craziest scorebaord I've ever seen =) (note that the 4th quarter of the scoreboard includes the triple overtime scoring as well)

Soccer:

While I was pretty tired after flying back to the bay area Sunday morning, I did make it to soccer on Sunday, it was fun out there. My legs are feeling good, it was a fun time out there. We had 4 on 4, so it was a lot of running, good times. I'm starting to feel way better on the soccer field too, I tried to restrain myself from going too hard in terms of acceleration while running, but it was hard sometimes to do this =)

And I forgot to mention that the 49ers won again, to move to 6-1! They beat the Browns 20-10. The team is looking more and more like a playoff team, especially since the NFC West is so terrible - the Seahwaks are the closest team at 2-5, lol I am shocked this year, I had no idea that simply bringing in Harbaugh would make such a big difference!

This weekend reminded me a lot of my Victory Weekend post, which consisted of a good trail run, Stanford victory, 49ers victory, and playing soccer. This pretty much is a perfect weekend for me!

Pumpkin carving:

My work had a pumpkin carving contest, so I decided to do Angry Birds since I love the game so much, haha While it went okay, I'm definitely not an expert at carving pumpkins, I definitely have room for improvement, lol

Did you do any pumpkin carving?
Anyone from LA and have thoughts on why the USC surrounding neighborhood is so rough?

Bucket List

2011-10-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To Unprofessional Runner, who set a PR of 1:47:03 at the St. Louis RNR half marathon! (and she did it without a watch and with a 2 min bathroom break). I bet she will beat that time again next week. And it looks like she is a Cardinals fan, that world series game yesterday was insane!

Bucket list:
So I hear a lot of people talk about "bucket lists". I looked up the term, and it is described by urban dictionary as "A list of things to do before you die. Comes from the term - kicked the bucket." Fair enough, haha

I know some people have huge lists of things they want to do or accomplish in life, I'd say my list of things that I want to do is pretty short. Generally my things relate to traveling to new places and/or sports. If I had to pick some things, here is what I'd go with (in no particular order):

Traveling in general - so far I've been able to travel to 13 countries:

Nassau, Bahamas / St. Thomas / San Juan, Puerto Rico (2002 cruise)
Ocho Rios, Jamaica / Cozumel, Mexico / Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (2004 cruise)
Tokyo, Japan (2007)
South Island, New Zealand / Sydney, Australia (2009)
London, Bath, Dover (England) / Edinburgh, Stirling (Scotland) / Dublin, Howth (Ireland) / Amsterdam, Netherlands (2010)

The next places that I'd like to try to go are Italy, the Greek Islands, and to check out more countries in Europe.

See Stanford play in the national title game for football or basketball:
Last year I did see Stanford play in the Orange Bowl, which was an awesome time, they won and ended up finishing 4th in the rankings. This year is likely Stanford's best chance to go to the national title game, the team is 7-0 and playing great right now. Even if they don't end up going to the national title game, as long as they play in a BCS bowl I'll be happy.

In 1998 Stanford basketball made the final 4, I would have tried to go to it, but I was in high school at the time. I kind of doubt that they will get back there again. Stanford ended up losing in overtime by 1 point to Kentucky, in a classic game. Was First in Philly at that game?

Watch tennis at Wimbledon: (will be done next year!)

When I was younger I used to love to get up at like 6 AM and watch the Wimbledon tennis final - my favorite players were Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf. I visited the grounds during my trip to London in 2010, but haven't seen tennis played there yet. Though I will when I go to the 2012 Olympics next year.

Go to the Olympics: (will be done next year!)

I also love watching the Olympics, I'm one of those people that watches pretty much all of the coverage, haha One of my favorite Olympic memories was watching the entire 2004 mens and womens marathon and seeing Meb get the silver and Deena Kastor get the bronze. I'm hoping that they will both be there in 2012 when I go to the Olympics in London.

I also have to mention though that during the 2004 men's marathon, an intruder came out of nowhere and tackled the current leader Vanderlei de Lima at the 1:53 mark of the marathon, who had been in the lead at the time. It was crazy to see that happen, he ended up getting the bronze medal. I think he would have faded to 2nd even without the intruder, but I'm not sure beyond that. He was awarded the sportsmanship award at the Olympics, I couldn't imagine how he felt being attacked during the race.

Go to the World Cup: (will be done hopefully in 2014!)

One of my favorite sports memories ever was watching London Donovan score that goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup while at a bar - and the place literally went nuts. That made me want to go to the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014. I'm definitely going to try to go to that one - not sure when tickets go on sale.

Watch a stage of the Tour de France:

I try to watch most of the Tour de France each year, at least the daily highlights. My favorite stage is probably the ascent up the Col de Galibier. It is one of the toughest climbs in the tour, and the views during the stage are spectacular.

Visit the World War II beaches of Normandy, France:

I've always enjoyed visiting and reading about history, and World War II is probably my favorite thing to learn about. When I visited Dover, England (southeast England), I got a sense of the history around the English Channel. The D-Day invasion on 6/6/1944 is one of the most amazing in history.

source

Go snorkeling at Great Barrier Reef, Australia:
This one is pretty self explanatory, I've heard snorkeling there is amazing!

Run a marathon - done!
Completed this at SF Marathon in 2010, my hope is that I will be able to run some more in the future.

Go to South by Southwest or Austin City Limits music festival in Austin someday (they both fall during tax seasons):
I love music, especially festival style concerts. I've been to Coachella for 6 years in a row now, and Outside Lands for 2 years, and I'd like to check out another festival! Even if it's not during a festival, I just want to go to Austin to check out the music scene, and maybe go to a University of Texas football game.

Do you have a bucket list? If so, what is on it?

Have you done any of the things on this list?

Reno or Bust

2011-10-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To Caution: Redhead Running, who just got engaged! Her engagement is the best story I've ever read!
To Endurance Isn't Only Physical, who told her story in Women's Health Magazine!
To Dangle the Carrot, who ran a blistering 1:11:08 at the 10 For Texas!
To Roserunner, who finished 2nd place woman in 1:28:35 at the Livermore Grape Stomp Half Marathon!

New Zealand All Blacks:

And I wanted to give a shoutout to the New Zealand All Blacks, who won the rugby World Cup over the weekend! I wish I could have been in New Zealand to see it there, I bet the country is going crazy right now! I know EMZ is going crazy!

Reno weekend:

This weekend I went to Reno with a couple buddies, basically for gambling the whole time. It was a little tough of a decision to go on the trip, because Stanford was playing Washington at home - which is the best team they would have played to date this season. But I figured that I don't go to Reno that often, so I figured why not go, it would be fun.

The first night that we were there (Friday), we sat down at the $3 blackjack table at the Cal-Neva (not the nicest casino, haha), and I get awesome luck and end up winning $350! (I bet between $3 and $25 per hand) The next day (Saturday) I basically broke even on sports betting and gambling, and played a little bit of poker at El Dorado. We also watched a bunch of the college football games in the sportsbook area. On Sunday we watched more NFL games, and that night played some poker at El Dorado - this time the luck was with me again, and I ended up winning $215 more! I got some good cards, and also played really well. So on the weekend I ended being up $565 total! (which is by far the most money I've ever won gambling)

Friend poker situation:

My friend was playing poker at the other table, and a story he told me really annoyed me about the etiquette of another player at the table. Basically, my friend had a full house, and the other player he was going against had a lower hand (a smaller full house). My friend went all in on the river, and before the other player called or folded he showed my friend his cards. My friend then said "That's not good enough." Though I guess even by showing his cards to another player it doesn't mean you fold yet - so then the other player then folded after hearing what my friend said (because he knew he was beat). The other player would have called for sure if he didn't know what my friend had, and he would have lost at least $100-150 more to my friend on that hand. I guess in that casino it is legal for someone to do that, but that seems like a really bizarre rule to have - generally if you show your cards to your opponent than that means you fold. So hearing that story got me really annoyed. It seemed like a real low blow on the sportsmanship scale.

One interesting thing in Reno is that they built a climbing wall that goes up the side of one of the hotels there - and it literally goes up the entire way - I'm talking like 30 stories or so! I didn't see anyone go that high on it, but pretty crazy that you could if you wanted to, haha

Overall I'd say Reno is good if you just want to straight gamble without much else - because there isn't that much to do there besides that. (I could have ran along the river in town, but didn't get a chance to) They have cheaper tables, fewer people and great drink service at the tables. Tahoe is good if you want to go snowboarding during the day, and then gamble a bit at night. And Vegas is good if you want to do a little bit of everything - gambling, clubs, shows or buffets. I guess I like all 3 places for different reasons.

We spent a lot of time at the Cal-Neva, not the nicest place, but they have $3 blackjack and great drink service, haha

I didn't go outside much in Reno besides the casinos, so this was from the drive home - the Sierras are looking gorgeous right now

Stanford 65, Washington 21:

As I mentioned above, it was tough to miss the Stanford-Washington game while I was in Reno. Though in the end I'm happy with my choice of going to Reno, since it was a fun time there. I watched the game from the sportsbook, and while Washington stayed with Stanford for 2 quarters, Stanford simply crushed them in the end. They ran up a school record 446 rushing yards, and just rocked Washington the whole game. The offensive line dominated Washington the whole time. I was shocked just watching it, because while I knew Stanford was good, I didn't know that they would beat down Washington like that. (Washington was ranked #25 at the time) I thought this game would be close - like a 14 point victory, so I actually bet on Washington to cover the 20 point spread - though I was glad to be proven wrong on this! The team is now 7-0 and looking great heading into the USC game.

Stanford vs USC:

Stanford next plays USC this weekend in LA, I'm actually going to the game - should be fun! I've never been to a game at the LA Coliseum, and ESPN College Gameday will be there, should be awesome. It should be a tough game, but I think we will win by about 10 points or so. USC did well against Notre Dame, and it will be tough to stop receiver Robert Woods.

Stanford vs Oregon State:

And I decided to also book a plane ticket to Oregon for the Oregon State game the following weekend (my brother lives in Portland), so I'll be in the Portland/Corvallis area on the Nov 5 weekend. So I spent all my Reno winnings on plane tickets to LA and Oregon, haha

Any thoughts on my friends poker situation above?

Do you prefer going to Vegas, Tahoe or Reno?

Drinking the Newton Koolaid

2011-10-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To 2Slow4Boston, who set a PR at the Wichita Prairie Fire Marathon in 3:34:18! He is getting closer and closer to NOT being 2Slow4Boston.
To Slowy Tri-ing, who set a PR at the KC Half Marathon in 2:32:29! Seems like everytime I write a post she sets a new PR!

Newton seminar:
On Monday October 10 I attended a Newton seminar on natural running put on by the local running store Running Revolution. I found out about the seminar from the San Jose Rock N Roll half marathon expo that I attended a week before. I was debating in my head about going to it, but decided it was worth it because I wanted to find out more about Newton shoes.

The speaker was Iam Adamson, who is an awesome adventure athlete from Australia. I had no idea that we were getting such an accomplished athlete to talk to us at the seminar. Some of you out there probably know who he is, I didn't recognize him.

While going into it I was expecting to hear a bunch of stuff about Newton shoes from the beginning of the presentation, the talk was more centered around the topic of natural running (which Newtons are about) and educating everyone about it.

During the presentation, he referenced Craig Alexander a lot, who seems like a great person to reference because he runs in Newton shoes, and just broke the course record at Kona at the Ironman World Championships. Pretty insane! If you look at the picture below, it shows Craig with basically perfect form. The guy behind is over-striding, and also somewhat heel striking it seems like. I believe that Ian Adamson actually referenced this exact picture during his presentation.

Runblogger explanation:
The best explanation for basically what I heard was from Runblogger, who did an interview with Ian Adamson and basically went over pretty much exactly what Ian talked about at the seminar. I highly recommend reading the interview. And Runblogger is an awesome shoe review site, that basically reviews all types of shoes out there - you should check out his site. After you have read the Runblogger interview, I'll try to summarize how I understand natural running and the interesting things I learned:

Try to land on your midfoot:

Landing under your center of mass on your foot plant (midfoot) rather than out in front of you saves your back and joints from excess pounding
Your lead leg should never really be straight out in front of you, because it takes a lot of energy to bring that leg back to you again to take the next stride (try to keep the lead leg slightly bent so that it is always going back to you instead of being straight out in front of you. High cadence helps with this)
Elastic recoil of your legs is easier with landing under your center of gravity (quicker to take that next stride and with more energy stored up)
Landing midfoot is best for spring loading of your heel
Heel striking puts a lot of the impact on your heel (instead of somewhat evenly distributed throughout your foot with a midfoot style strike)
Don't overstride and land too far out in front of you, you simply need to increase your stride cadence - around 180 strides per minute seems to be optimal

Traditional running shoes have too high of a heel height:

The natural position for the feet to be in shoes is level - most all regular running shoes raise your heel above your midfoot (most of them have a 10% to 14% raise between the midfoot and heel)
Higher heel lift might cause injury, throws off your foot gait
With higher heel height, foot load amount increases
Any shoe that is somewhat level in the heel seems like the correct shoe to wear (Newtons have lower heel raises than most traditional running shoes)
Be careful with heel striking in minimalist shoes, foot pressure increases
EVA foam which is present in the midfoot area of most traditional running shoes never fully springs back after it has collapsed after running in the shoes (it seems to collapse relatively early after 80 miles or something)
Built up shoes with big heel support seem to cause more injuries

Treating your feet:

Walk around barefoot as much as possible to strengthen your feet
Tenderness under your 2nd toe - your foot might not be supported correctly, not level in your shoe
Make sure you wear a shoe size that is big enough so your feet provide enough support for your whole body

He is against orthotics:

He is against orthotics - they seem to weaken the feet and don't allow them to behave naturally
If you put an arch support on your shoe it prevents regular foot function
Strengthen your feet, preferably no orthotics or superfeet inserts
More support around feet = gradually your feet get weaker
Orthotics may cause some injuries, including shin splints and other foot problems

Pronation:

Pronation is natural and okay - it is the feet behaving how it wants to behave
Overpronation - need support in forefoot, not in the heel like most traditional running shoes have

Transitioning to natural running shoes (Newtons for example):

Add 1 minute more of natural running daily over time, gradually phase into it (so day 1 you add 1 minute, day 2 you add 2 minutes, etc)
Sore calf muscles happen from eccentric contractions when running in newton shoes - your body is adapting to a new surface under you
He talked about some people's Newton's lasting 1000-3000 miles, which is way longer than traditional running shoes last (so this might help to offset the high price tag of Newton shoes which seems to be around $150/pair)
Soft tissue takes 12 weeks to lengthen over time

References:

My interpretation of the main take-aways from the seminar:

Midfoot strike is better than heel strike (more natural gait, less chance of injury, better transfer of energy)
Cadence of 180 strides or so per minute helps keeps you from over-striding and heel striking (easy way to find your approximate cadence is to go on a treadmill, and count how many times one leg goes forward over a 30 second period. Then multiply this by 4)
Shoes with lower heel height allow you to run more naturally
Orthotics seem to weaken the feet, avoid if at all possible
Strengthen your feet to reduce the risk of injury
Phase into shoes that have low heel height gradually to avoid injury

Now I'm not going to say that I believed everything that was said at the seminar, but a lot of it makes sense to me. Since I've been injured I've been reading up more about things like this, and running in natural shoes may help me avoid injury in the future. It seems worth a shot to me to try to get used to running in Newtons, because it may help me in the long run. I believe that my left foot is neutral, and my right foot has mild pronation - I'm not sure if that matters. The next step is for me to actually try on the shoes, since we didn't get a chance to do so at the seminar.

My running form in pictures:
As for my running form and style, I believe that generally I usually have a decent midfoot strike right now, but occasionally during races (and at the end of races) I sometimes start over-striding, which leads to heel striking. I definitely have some things to work on - mainly to avoid having the lead leg be too straight (faster cadence can fix this), and to try to avoid heel striking. Though I've also heard that wearing traditional running shoes it is very hard to avoid heel striking because of how the shoe orients your leg and foot.

Bay to Breakers 2010 - this seems like an okay stride to have (may be over-striding a little bit here though, closer to end of race in this pic)

Dammit Run 2009 - end of race and I'm dying, definitely heel striking and my lead leg is straight

San Jose half marathon 2010 -end of race, trying to sprint, definitely heel striking, and lead leg is straight

Stevens Creek 10K 2009 - doesn't look to be too bad, but might be a tad of heel striking (beginning of race)

SF Marathon 2010 - this is probably the worst photo that I found, this is definitely a heel strike (and my lead leg is basically straight), and this is right in the middle of the race on the Golden Gate bridge

What are your thoughts on the Newton seminar info?

Have you ran in Newtons before? (or any other natural running shoe?) And if you have, what are your thoughts on them? I also wonder how long it will take me to transition over to Newtons.

Handshake Gate

2011-10-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To 50 After 40 who did back to back marathons at Kansas City (3:42) and Des Moines (3:30)!
To Blonde Ponytail, who set a PR in 1:47:02 at the Lewis & Clark half marathon!
To Will Run For Beer, who set a PR in 3:24:45 at the Smuttynose Marathon!

It was also interesting to read your thoughts on my last post about injury realizations. I guess I put you bloggers in the friend/running partner category, because you know way more about my running history than strangers do. So bloggers likely care about other bloggers running times because they follow them. To me asking a random person who you don't know that well what their race time is, is like asking someone how much they make - one party will likely be happy, and one might not be as happy.

Fleeting light: (Thursday)
For the first time since back in March, I went back to the Los Gatos Creek Trail to try to get in a run/walk after work. Light after work is fading fast with the return of fall, so I tried to get out there as soon as possible after work. It is one of my favorite running path, and it was nice to get out there again. Today's workout was 2 min run, 2 min walk, 4 min run, 4 min walk. The run went just okay it seemed like, I realize that maybe running on pavement right now is not the best idea because it is a hard surface. My left knee seemed to be a little more sore on Thursday night and Friday morning. It was sore enough that I went to the gym on Saturday for a lower body workout/treadmill run instead of doing my usual trail run outside. I think I'll stick to trails or the treadmill for now, because they seem to be softer surfaces than pavement. Though it got me wondering, is the treadmill indeed softer than running on pavement? To me it seems like it is, but I'm not entirely sure. I found this article, which seems to say that the treadmill might be softer than pavement.

I could already tell that when I was starting out that it might get dark while I was on the trail...

Campbell Park - where I started most of my long runs during training for SF Marathon last summer

Starting to get darker

At the turnaround point - about 2.5 miles out

This picture made it look super dark, but it really wasn't as dark as this picture makes it look

This is actually pretty accurate on how dark it was, haha

The same parking lot where I started

Stanford 44, Washington State 14:
Stanford football had another great game on Saturday, this time beating Washington State 44-14. Again the game played out exactly how most games have this season - Stanford got off to a slow start in the first half, then the team caught fire and ended up running them over in the 2nd half. Stanford's tight ends are insane, they scored 3 more touchdowns for the team (2 by Toilolo and 1 by Fleener). And every game I watch with QB Andrew Luck in it, I am thinking how spoiled Stanford is to have him. He makes throws that only NFL QBs seem to make, and always seems to put the ball on the money. I seriously think he could be as good as Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, the guy is special. Whatever NFL franchise gets him (I'm looking at you Miami Dolphins) will be blessed to have him.

Next week Stanford plays their first hard game of the season against #25 Washington. I won't be able to make the game because I'll be in Reno (going there to do some gambling with friends), but I think we will win, but it will be closer than our other games this season. (maybe they win by 10 or 14 points instead of 24)

Handshake Gate: (49ers 25, Lions 19)
On Sunday the 49ers (4-1) played the Detroit Lions (5-0), in which Detroit has been the surprise team of the NFL season thusfar. I was really looking forward to the game, because it might show if the 49ers are for real or not. I know that Big Daddy Diesel was watching too! Going into it, my hunch was that Detroit was going to win by 3 (because they were at home), but I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I watched the game at my brother's house, overall the game was a back and forth affair, both offenses couldn't really get on track (On 3rd down conversions the 49ers were 2-14, and the Lions were 2-15). So the game resulted in a lot of punts, and luckily the 49ers have Andy Lee who pinned the Lions back deep in their own end countless times. Surprisingly the 49ers were able to run the ball pretty effectively against the Lions - because I thought Detroit would have good run defense with Suh and Fairley on their defensive line. The 49ers had 15 penalties, which is the most penalties I can remember them getting in forever. The 49ers defense also played really well, the best I've seen them play in a long time.

The 49ers were able to drive down the field at the end of the game for the winning touchdown on 4th and goal, we were going crazy at the end! Though at the end of the game when the 2 coaches shake hands, Harbaugh was a little too excited, and Schwartz took exception to this - chasing him down the field and trying to confront him! The situation luckily never escalated, but it was kind of crazy what happened. In the interest of full disclosure, here is my facebook post immediately after the game, "Niners! Crazy that they won today! What is up with coach Jim Schwartz of the Lions? Trying to fight Jim Harbaugh! Suck it Schwartz!" I was as pumped up as Harbaugh after the game, and see how he could have gone over the edge there, lol As a 49ers fan, I think Harbaugh was a little too excited at the handshake, and Schwartz was wrong for going after Harbaugh. Both guys should share blame. But I'd rather have Harbaugh be that pumped up as opposed to the alternative. He is a high energy guy, and was that way while he was at Stanford. A nickname has already sprung up - people are calling it Handshake Gate, lol

The video is below, pretty funny stuff, haha

Now that the 49ers are 5-1, I'm just shocked how good the team is playing this year. I still don't think they are part of the NFL elite teams, but the team is playing well. Detroit also has a good team, wouldn't surprise me if we meet the Lions again in the playoffs. Considering that I thought the 49ers would go 6-10 or 7-9 this year, I'm just trying to enjoy this season. The team this year is pretty similar to the team last year, only difference is the head coach and defensive coordinator. The 49ers have been either mediocre or bad since 2003, so it is awesome to show some success this year. It is reminding me somewhat of the good ol days of the 80s and 90s when the Niners were ridiculously good. (and a 10 win season was a usual year for them! Now I would kill for a 10 win season!)

Soccer:
I also played soccer on Sunday, it seemed to go okay, my knee seemed to feel fine the whole time. I tried to take it easy out there. My knee now feels better today, I realize that I still need to take it easy on rehab rungs to get fully back into my activities - I may have gone a little bit too hard last week with things.

What is your opinion on the 49ers-Lions Handshake Gate?
Is the treadmill softer than running on pavement?

Injury Realizations

2011-10-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To The Running Laminator, who set a PR in 1:23:20 at the Staten Island half marathon! I'd like to nominate Lam for 2011 runner of the year - that is now 7 PRs I think for him in 2011 (5K, 4 mile, 5 mile, 10K(twice), half marathon, marathon). Insane!
Treadmill loving EMZ did a run outside - stop the presses! haha

Around bloggerland:
I love blogs with a lot of pictures, so when I stumbled across the blog The Spirit of the Marathon, I immediately loved it. He photo documented 3 marathons during 2010 (LA, SF and Long Beach), and his photo montages are amazing. Prepare to be wowed if you check out the recaps. I hope he does more marathons so I can see more pictures from him. It was also nice to see him document SF 2010 - which is the only marathon I've done so far.

SockDoc:
One person who I've been reading a lot of articles recently from is the SockDoc. He takes a holistic approach to medicine, trying to rely on natural solutions and strengthening instead of on things like orthotics. He has a lot of interesting ideas, and his articles make a lot of sense to me. I found him through MsZippy.

Injury realizations:
Over the last 6 months or so I've had a lot of time to think about being injured. Many thoughts have swirled in my head from the rational to the bizarre and crazy (see this post as well for stream of thoughts). I did a prior post a while back in June about injury tips that is applicable to this too.

Athletics are a privilege and not a right - It is not a fundamental right that you be able to do athletics. There are a lot of people out there that can never do athletics for one reason or another. So relish being healthy and being able to be out there doing what you want to do. I don't believe that I ever took this for granted while I was doing athletics, but I may have took for granted that I was largely injury-free for basically my entire life until now. I now know that I need to take more precautions to avoid getting injured again (icing, foam rolling, strength training, not overdoing things, etc).

Fear of the unknown - The #1 fear that I had during the whole process is whether or not I would ever feel normal again and be healthy. Would I run again? Would I ever be pain free? These are questions that I asked the experts who I was working with on a regular basis to hear what they thought. Generally they answered that I would feel healthy eventually, and I'm beginning to realize that they were right. It just took a long time for this to happen.

Experts don't have a crystal ball - During this process, consulting with experts has proven useful (doctor, podiatrist, and physical therapists). They are experts in their field for a reason, and they will try to help you by giving you their best opinion at what is hurting you, and what will help you recover. When you get injured, I recommend seeing a doctor first (instead of a physical therapist) to see what they think you are dealing with. Then they may refer you to a physical therapist if needed. Though while experts can help you out, they are not psychics, and unfortunately they can't see the future to see exactly when you will be healthy or normal. Also, while an expert can help you, in the end YOU alone have to take control of your care and what you are doing about it. Do what seems like the right answer. If something hurts - stop. If something seems like a good idea - do it. Take notes and try to document what you do. Research and read up on what you might be dealing with. For example, one of my physical therapists suggested I wear superfeet inserts in my shoes back in early April. I realized that the inserts were somewhat changing how I walked, so I took them out, and now I feel better without them. I now realize that I probably should never have been wearing them in the first place. I seem to have a neutral stride, and don't think I needed the inserts.

I missed the social side of athletics - While not being able to do sports was a bummer, I missed the social aspects that athletics brings more than anything. For a while I couldn't bowl or play soccer, and it was tough to not be able to do these activities with my friends. I was starting to get lonely because I missed out on so many friend social interactions. Now that I can both bowl, run, and play soccer, I feel more normal around my friends because I'm doing pretty much all the activities that they do - I'm not missing out any more. This is another reason why I think I'll continue to try to play soccer (albeit at reduced effort than before), because I like all the social aspects that playing brings. So now that I am back to going bowling and soccer, I'm getting closer to regaining all of my prior activities (with consistent running hopefully being the next activity to add to the list).

Athletics are more important to the individual than to anyone else - I've realized that I'm a happier person if I'm able to do sports. I know that my family, friends and bloggers are concerned about my health, though in the end me not being able to do sports doesn't affect them that much (other than times I would be doing things with them like bowling, soccer or running). When family and friends see me, they mainly care that I'm doing okay with things and feeling good. They might not care about what I'm doing in regards to sports or things like that - because that is a personal activity that I like to do with my time. Though I guess by being healthy I am a happier person, and that does affect my interactions with them. I guess the main point here is that just because something is important to you, doesn't mean it has the same importance to someone else. (ie me not being able to due sports due to injury).

Don't decide your future sports plans until you are healthy - While you are injured, don't decide your future on anything related to sports. Because some irrational and/or crazy thoughts might go through your head, since you might not clear headed about it completely yet because you aren't healthy. Wait until you are healthy to decide things like that. For example, I remember back in March when I got hurt I decided that I likely shouldn't play soccer again. Now I realize that I miss the social interaction that soccer brings, so I am going to try to play at reduced intensity and see how it goes. Your desires and wants might change over time.

Don't sign up for any future races until you are healthy - This is an easy one to write, though not easy to obey. When I got injured back in March/April, I realized that I likely would be unable to do the Chicago Marathon. So I decided to register for the CIM Marathon on 4/23/11. I registered for the race before I seemed to completely know what was going on with me in regards to the injury I was dealing with (I had the MRI done on my left knee on 5/23/11). I think I just panicked mentally, and losing Chicago Marathon was tough on me - so I figured I'd sign up for CIM in December. So now I know I definitely can't do CIM, and I'm out another $95 from the registration.

Personal records are personal for a reason - During the whole time I've been injured, when the topic of a race came up that I did in the past, not once was I asked what my time was for a race. I started to realize that other people don't care what your race times are. Do they care whether you did a half marathon in 1:30, 2:00 or 2:30? Not at all. (Though maybe your close running partners might care since they know your running history and your personal goals) All they seemed to care about was that I finished the race, had fun, and enjoyed the experience. Though to me my own race times are important, because they are a measuring stick and a way for me to try to improve myself out there and achieve new goals. I guess when I get back out there on the running trails, running times are likely going to be a little less important to me. I'm going to try to compare myself less to others, and just think about my own happiness in regards to race times.

Listen to your body - This was a bullet point in the last post that I did above back in June, but I'll repeat it again. During injury rehab you need to pay real close attention to your body. If something hurts or you feel a twinge, you probably need to stop whatever activity you are doing. This has proven to sometimes be difficult, because then the question is what do I do now? The name of the game in injury rehab is being flexible - you always need to be able to switch up what you're doing depending on how your body is feeling. Which is why during this process I've done a lot of different activities (swimming, yoga, rehab exercises, strength training exercises).

Keep working hard, don't lose faith - This is probably the #1 piece of advice during injury rehab. Like I said above, sometimes during rehab your thoughts can be kind of bizarre and irrational, and sometimes I thought that I would never be healthy again. Because until you start to see improvement it is hard to believe that you will recover eventually. If your physical therapist says that you can swim - then swim as much as you can. If they say you can do rehab exercises - then do rehab exercises until you are blue in the face. Just don't lose the faith. Because there were times during the process (mainly early on in May or June) when I would be lying on my floor at home doing rehab exercises and wondering whether what I was doing was helping, and when I would feel better. Motivation was hard to come by, but you got to keep at it.

Summary of what things have helped me recover from injury: (this list is also on my Runners knee/IT band page)

REST - most important I'd say (my body was simply overloaded from too much activity)
Swimming (to maintain cardio fitness) - not as much now, but I was swimming 2-3 times a week before
Yoga (stretching and good strength training) - once a week now
Rehab exercises to correct muscle imbalances (see routine at bottom of this page) - once a week now
Leg strengthening exercises (see routine at bottom of this page) - once a week now
Foam rolling daily with the GRID from triggerpoint . I foam roll in 7 different directions to try to release as much pressure as possible
Sitting on the triggerpoint massage baller daily, to try to relieve pressure in my glutes
Icing my knees after every workout if possible
NOT wearing the superfeet inserts
Buying new running shoes (New Balance 890 - neutral shoes)
Buying new casual shoes (Nike Lunarglide 3 - neutral shoes)
Raising my chair at work to relieve pressure on my knees and legs
Electrostimulation on my left knee back in April (SCORE clinic)
Active Release Therapy - deep tissue massage around the area in question back in April (SCORE clinic)

By all means this list above might not be everything, but since I likely can't isolate exactly what has helped me gradually recover from injury, I figured I'd list everything that seemed to help.

Do you have any injury realizations?

Victory weekend

2011-10-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

First off - to everyone who did Chicago Marathon this weekend!
To Adventure is Out There, who did the Hybrid Adventure Games recently, which seems to consist of a bunch of random obstacles, and seems like a lot of fun, haha
To First in Philly, who did the Bourbon Chase relay, which results in taking a lot of shots during the day, lol
To Run From the Heart, who set a PR in 3:45:08 at the Portland Marathon!
To Running and Brooklyn, who set a PR in 1:48 at the San Jose Rock N roll half marathon!
To The Blue Eyed Runner, who did the Long Beach Island 18 mile race in 2:19:49! It sounds like a really fun race to do.

Newton seminar:

In my last post about the SJ half marathon, I talked about trying on Newton shoes at the expo. I went to a talk yesterday about Newton shoes at Running Revolution, and it was a great talk. I'll try to do a post either this week or next week about it and see what you guys think.

Victory #1 - good trail run/walk at Rancho:

On Saturday I decided to head back to Rancho San Antonio to run, the last time I was there was way back in February, when I had one of the best training runs I've ever had. I'm on week 3 of the Coolrunning rehab plan, which consists of 2 min walk, 2 min run, 4 min walk, 4 min run. It says to go for about 30 min. My plan was to do about 40 min total, and just see how my body is feeling.

People fly model planes from an area at the preserve, some of them go super fast

The weather was gorgeous

Rancho is probably my favorite place to run - you can do steep hills, gradual hills, or flats - all depending on what run you want to do. I chose to do flat with some rolling hills (which is about a 5-6 mile out and back, I call it the Lake/pond path)

I was feeling great on the run, no idea what pace I was running, but everything seemed to be feeling good

I seemed to be running well during the run portions, and actually decided to keep going until I reached the turn-around point. (62 min total run/walk) If you go up this hill to the right, it's a mile of basically straight up incline. A great fitness test to see if you are hill ready. Maybe in a couple months I'll be able to tackle the hill again.

Overall the run/walk went great, Saturday is probably the best I've felt on the trail since maybe back in March. I'm finally feeling like myself out there on how I used to feel while I run. I've even started to zone out some while I run, which means that I'm focusing on the surroundings and everything else, instead of my body. That is how I know I'm feeling better, because I'm starting to not think about it as much. Hopefully the progress keeps coming along.

Victory #2 - Stanford 48, Colorado 7:

Next up was Stanford's game against Colorado. Of course I tailgated with Toby the Van! I was expecting the game to be something like 50-10, Colorado is pretty terrible.

The band always plays a couple songs near the van, and they put on a great performance I thought, a lot of fun.

A band member playing drums on a sink? Business as usual at Stanford! lol

Why hello Tree!

Touchdown Cardinal!

One of many kickoffs by Stanford after a touchdown, haha

Stanford played great - Andrew Luck had 3 touchdowns, our offensive line was good as usual, and we actually got really close to my prediction, beating them 48-7. 5-0 on the season! Next up is Washington State, who Stanford should beat too.

Like I said in my last post, I'm just trying to savor every Stanford game, because the team is awesome. My hope is that we win our next 4 games and go into the Nov 12 game against Oregon at 9-0. We shall see!

Victory #3 - 49ers 48, Buccaneers 3:

While I expected Stanford to win huge, for the 49ers I thought it might be a close 3 point game. Man was I wrong! The 49ers defense came out firing, getting 2 interceptions, including a touchdown on one of them. And the offensive line was smashing the Bucs in the mouth, so Frank Gore ran over the Bucs. The team ended up winning 48-3 for their biggest margin of victory since the Super Bowl in 1990, haha I thought that I was watching Stanford play, with how dominate the offensive line was. They are now 4-1 and looking good in the NFC West! Next game is against Detroit, which should be a good game. Shoutout to Big Daddy Diesel, whose Detroit Lions won yesterday to move to 5-0! No one could have predicted that the Lions and 49ers would be a combined 9-1 right now, haha

Victory #4 - good soccer game:

I played soccer again on Sunday, overall the game went great. We had 6 on 5 for a while and then 5 on 5, it was a lot of fun. Like I said in my run post above, my legs are starting to feel normal again, and I'm starting to be able to trust my body again. I felt better than last week or the week before, though I'm still trying to restrain myself from going too hard. On some balls that I would have been able to get too pre-injury, I'm letting others get to them first so I don't hurt myself again. I will say I'm playing disciplined out there- my goal is not to get injured again, so I am trying to avoid getting in the way of any hard shots, and to avoid challenging people for the ball on the field as much. It is just nice to start to feel like my old self out there in terms of running and soccer.

2Slow4Boston did have a good comment on my last post though - he said that he cringed when he read that I was back to playing soccer. I know that soccer is a dangerous sport for getting injured - during our game on Sunday a guy sprained his ankle pretty badly and had to be helped off the field. And back when I was playing soccer regularly, I had 2 right ankle sprains (one in February, and one in April). I thought a lot about the pros and cons of playing, and in the end I realized that I missed the social interaction with my friends that soccer brings. I have fundamentally changed how I play though - I try to avoid blocking any big shots, and getting into unnecessary challenges with other players for the ball. Basically I've pulled back on how hard I play, and this is probably how I should have been playing from the beginning. I try to think of soccer now just like a running workout, with some soccer thrown in there. I will see how it goes over time.

Have you had any victories recently?

San Jose Rock N Roll expo

2011-10-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To Pain, Pride and Perseverance, who set a 5 minute PR in 4:15:02 at the St. George Marathon!
To First in Philly and Slowly Tri-ing, who both did the MO Cowbell half marathon! Michael set a 13 minute half marathon PR in 2:37:21!
To The Unexpected Runner, who ran her first marathon in 4:53:23 at the Wineglass Marathon! Amazing that she seemed to be smiling the whole time!
To Watch MeGo Run, who did her first half marathon in 1:59:32 at the Brooksie Way half marathon! Not only that, but she was able to stomach some beer during the race, impressive stuff, haha
A special advanced shoutout to Chicago Runner Girl, Pain is Nothing, Run With Kate, and Unprofessional Runner (as well as anyone else doing the race) who are all doing the Chicago Marathon next Sunday. Run with your heart and you can't be stopped.

Around bloggerland:

Last Mile Lounge has had some great posts recently, and this one is no exception. I saw an article on it recently in Sports Illustrated and was going to post about it too. Recently the IAAF decided to disallow any women's marathon record if men were also on the course. (because they believe the top women could follow the men, with the men acting like rabbits). So Paula Radcliffe's 2:15 world record is now 2:17, and Deena Kastor's US national record 2:19 now belongs to Jean Benoit Samuelsson's 2:25 (run in 1984 Olympics). Complete garbage that this ruling came down. Times should stand on their own (as long as someone didn't dope).

Cupertino in chaos:
As you may know, my hometown is Cupertino, CA - which was all over the news today with the news of a shooting at a cement plant at which 3 people were killed and 7 people injured. The fugitive is still loose as of right now. Then later today, the news that Steve Jobs died. It was tough to take the news of both stories, because basically nothing happens in my hometown besides announcements from Apple. Steve Jobs singlehandedly saved Apple back in 2000 with the release of the iPod, iMac, iPhone, and iPad. He followed his dreams to the fullest, and refused to let other people tell him that something was impossible RIP Steve and the victims of the shootings.

Sportacular weekend:
I realized that everything I did over the past weekend was sports related, lol

Running on Sat
SJ half marathon expo
Stanford football game
Watching 49ers-Eagles on TV
Playing soccer

I also realized that the schedule above is how every one of my weekends go during the fall, and is why I like fall so much!

Running outside (Sat 10/1):
SwimCycloRun had a great suggestion for a running rehab plan to follow, I was already sort of following this plan without even knowing it, so I decided to basically follow it completely now. So I would say that I am on week 3 of the plan right now. While over the past couple weeks I have done 4-5 sessions of 30 minute run/walking, I hadn't yet run outside. I decided that Saturday was the day to try a run outside. I went back to one of my favorite trails by my house (Stevens Creek Trail). I went back through my blog and the last time I posted pics from an outdoor run was way back in March of 2011. Crazy that it had been that long since I ran outside.

Getting ready for the run honestly felt kind of weird, I hadn't worn my fuel belt since that day in March. It was fun to get back in the regular routine of getting ready for an outdoor run (fuel belt, camera, sunscreen, etc). Unfortunately my garmin broke back in February, and I haven't yet bought a replacement watch. Luckily REI has an amazing return policy, so I got a full refund after I took the watch back to them (there return policy literally is lifetime - they are awesome). I haven't yet bought a new watch yet, I'm thinking about getting the Garmin 405. So for now, I was stuck with my old school stop watch, haha

My plan was to do about 30-40 minutes of run/walking (2:30 run, 2:00 walk).

The weather was gorgeous out, an amazing day for running - about 65-70 degrees, perfect weather

Could it have been a better day out? No. =)

There are some overpasses on the trail, that act sort of like hills which is nice

The run went well, I only felt mild soreness after the run, I'm starting to feel less soreness after runs now. It was just great to be back on the trail, saying hi to random people, and seeing nature again. So it seems like I'm slowly getting better.

San Jose Rock N Roll half marathon expo:
Right after I got back from my run and showered and everything, I got ready to go to the SJ Rock N Roll half marathon expo. I decided to at least go to the expo, even though I couldn't do the race.

One caveat to this is when I was about to drive over there, I realized that I had a nail in my left rear tire of my car. I realized that America's Tire Company has a lifetime warranty on their tires, so I drove over to the place and was able to get the nail taken care of in about 45 minutes. Big props to America's Tire for getting me back on the road soon.

The race is a lot smaller than San Diego, the race numbers only go up to 16000 or so (while at SD they go up to 35000). I ran this race last year, and liked how the size is big, but not too big. I also started to realize that for me this is about the perfect race size - I felt overwhelmed at the San Diego expo.

While at the expo I tried on a pair of the Newton running shoes. They definitely felt weird - on the bottom midfoot there are these orange strips that protrude from the bottom of the shoe. When running, it almost feels like you are falling off a cliff when you land. A really odd feeling. I'm used to the regular flat style running shoe (currently I'm running in the New Balance 890). I know they get rave reviews from people, maybe I would like them if I got used to them over time. How do other people like Newton's? Do you gradually get used to the orange strips in the midsole?

I also got a chance to meet Roger Craig of SF 49ers fame! I asked him how he thought the 49ers were going to do against the Eagles on Sunday, I thought they had a chance, and so did he! He was a really nice guy.

He also signed my race number which was really cool. (not sure why my picture is sideways though, haha)

Remember back at the SF half marathon expo I was complaining about the race shirts? I actually really like the SJ half marathon shirt below. Bad part of this is that since I didn't actually run the race I don't want to wear the shirt out in public. So this shirt will be banished to my closet, or I can wear it while doing rehab sets in my house, haha

Missing the race didn't bother me as much as being forced to walk Bay to Breakers, missing San Diego half, and missing San Francisco half. The fact that I am finally starting to recover from my injury helped me feel better about missing the race - that I am now starting to get back to normal. At those other races I couldn't run at all, and that was tough to take to see all these people running and doing something that I couldn't do at that time.

Stanford vs UCLA:

Stanford had their first home game since playing San Jose State on 9/3, this time playing UCLA. Of course, I tailgated with Toby the Van for the game! After the fact I learned that Pancakes and Postcards was there too, but she was going for UCLA, lol

The band always makes an appearance in front of the van - great times as usual seeing the Tree!

They broke out the black uniforms for the night game

Another TD for Stanford, lol

The North end zone has some impressive columns that are at the stadium

Great view from the North end zone too

UCLA kept it somewhat close for a 2.5 quarters, but Stanford rolled in the end! Another bruising game by the offensive line, Stanford just ran over UCLA in the 4th quarter.

This years Stanford team is pretty amazing. Last year's team went 12-1 with an Orange Bowl victory, which is probably Stanford football's best year ever. This year's team has a chance to match last year's team, or maybe be even better than that. I'm just trying to savor every game, because the team is looking great so far. On Saturday they play Colorado, another team we should beat like 40-10 again or something. Go Cardinal!

Sunday 49ers vs Eagles:
I watched the 49ers-Eagles game on Sunday on TV, not knowing what to expect. I was hoping that my and Roger Craig's predictions would come true! The Eagles jumped out to a 23-3 lead, just running us over in the first half and early part of the 3rd quarter. Then all of a sudden the 49ers came roaring back - and they actually ended up winning 24-23! I couldn't believe it, it was the best 49ers game I have watched since their 24 point comeback against the NY Giants in the 2003 playoffs. The team never gave up, and kept fighting until the end. The 49ers are now 3-1 and have a 2 game lead in the NFC West only 4 games into the season! Our chances of winning the NFC West went up dramatically, maybe my 6-10 or 7-9 record prediction for them at the beginning of the season is low, haha Hopefully they keep it going!

Sunday soccer:
I played soccer for the 2nd time on Sunday, it was gorgeous out again. We ended up having 6 on 6 or so, it was a fun time. I made sure to take it easy out there and not aggravate anything. It was just great to be back out there again with my friends and feel like part of the group again.

This weekend really felt like some of the weekends that I had back in February, when I did running and soccer in the same weekend. It is nice to post pics of me doing those things again, since running pics are my favorite thing to post on this blog.

Have you tried running in Newton's before? How long does it take to get used to the orange protruding material on the bottom of the shoe?

Home is where the run is

2011-09-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Shoutouts:

To 2Slow4Boston who outright WON a 5K in 20:08 to set a PR at the Valley Center 5K!
To 50After40, who set a 15K PR in 1:04:14 (1st in age group) at the KC 15K and did the Sioux Falls Marathon in 3:21:15 (3rd fastest marathon ever). Is he man or machine? The world may never know.
To Dangle the Carrot, who set a half ironman PR of 5:21:14 at Rev3 Cedar Point! I actually want to go to the Cedar Point theme park, they have some insane rollercoasters there.
To Fast Cory, who set a marathon PR in 4:24:32 at Top of Utah!
To My Dirt Road Anthem, who set a half marathon PR in 1:36:51 at Montana Governor's Cup! She has been running out of her mind in 2011.
To Slowly Tri-ing, who had the race of her life and set a 5K, 10K and 15K PR all in the same race at the KC 15K!
To Small Town Runner who set a 10K PR in 40:13 at the The Best Dam Run! Sub 40 will only be a matter of time.
To The Athletarian, who set a 5K PR in 23:17 at the Yorkville Run!
To The Running Laminator, who ran a 5:01 mile at the Fifth Avenue Mile! This race is on my bucket list to do, running down Fifth Ave in NY sounds pretty awesome to me. Lam's amazing 2011 running season continues.
To Twenty Six and Then Some, who set a half marathon PR in 1:30:21 at the Nor Cal Half Marathon! I might try to do this race next year.
To Why I Run who set a 5K PR in 24:50 at the Chiropractic 5K!

Around bloggerland:

Twenty Six and Then Some had a hilarious post about her love affair with the Garmin 405 - check it out, haha

MIA:
You probably noticed that I haven't posted since Sept 8, I guess I've been busier with things, and also have felt a little lazy about posting. I guess it's easier to simply comment on your blogs, instead of writing my own! lol Small Town Runner even posted on my blog with this comment "Where are your posts!! Get to work!" haha

My body is feeling better:
Probably the main news since my last post is that my body is actually starting to feel better it seems like. After 5 months of battling with the injury gods, my body is finally being slowly returned to me. I am just thankful that I am starting to feel better, somedays I wondered if I would ever feel better again. There is no longer discomfort from getting up from a chair, and way less dull pain while sitting down for long periods of time. The daily or constant pain that I felt for a long time is starting to dissipate. I still don't fully trust my body, but I think that trust will come over time. I realize now that trusting it is one of the hardest things to get over. We will see how this goes over time.

No idea what exactly the reason for me feeling better is, but I'm not going to question it. Maybe it has something to do with the new casual shoes I bought recently? (Nike Lunarglide 3). I think the Mizuno Wave Nirvana shoes that I was wearing for casual use provided too much pronation control for me, I realize now that I have a pretty neutral stride. Soon I'll do a post about everything that I think helped me feel better. Last week I actually felt good enough to try a couple 30 minute walk/run sessions (I walked for 2 minutes, then ran for 2 minutes at 5 mph). They seemed to go okay, I did feel some soreness after, but I think that was somewhat due to the fact that I haven't ran at all in 5 months. Honestly it was really weird to run again, I hadn't run at all in 5 months. I got a little emotional the first time I tried running, it had been so long since I had ran at all, and I missed it a lot. I was consulting some with 2Slow4Boston and SwimCycloRun offline regarding knee braces, which has been useful to hear their thoughts. And I wanted to say how much I appreciate your comments or thoughts from all of you on this blog, I always like to hear what you think about things.

Running rehab plan:
The main question that I'm starting to think of now (and I'm thrilled that I'm even thinking about this), is that I probably need to follow some sort of running rehab plan to get back into running shape. I assume that the plan will be a mix of walking and running at first, and then gradually ramping up to full running longer distances. My goal is to get back to be able to do 5-6 miles like I used to do on trails. It might take me 2-3 months to get back to this point, but that sounds great to me. I am definitely going to take it easy, the last thing I want to do is to re-injure myself again. I emailed my PT about this, she hasn't gotten back to me yet. In the meantime I've been keeping up with doing rehab sets, yoga and leg strengthening exercises on a regular basis.

Soccer:
I also decided to try playing soccer with my friends last Sunday, overall it went okay. I didn't go all out, I probably played at about half speed. (probably the speed I should be playing soccer with the whole time even if I am fully healthy) It was just nice to get back out there and play again, I hadn't played in 5 months and missed seeing my friends out there. I feel like I am part of the discussion with my friends again when we talk about soccer, because the subject seems to come up quite often. My brother is also playing now, so more of us are playing! I didn't feel much discomfort at all when I got home or the next day. I'll probably start playing weekly now, unless I feel a lot of pain or something.

Bowling:
I've also been back to bowling consistently, which has been great. It is nice to see my friends again and do something fun every week. I've actually been bowling pretty well recently, getting around 130-160 pretty consistently now. If I could hit my spares on a consistent basis I'd have a shot at 200 I think. Yesterday I missed 5 spares after I had gotten 9 on the first ball, haha (ended up getting 148). And I'm also a lefty like Barack!

Moneyball:
-----SPOILER ALERT------
If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to learn what happens, please stop reading now.
I saw Moneyball the movie last Friday, it was awesome! I'm a big A's fan, and was really looking forward to the movie. I saw it on opening night with some friends, and I even wore my A's hat and shirt, I felt like I was going to an A's game! lol Before the movie started I even did a "Let's go Oakland" chant, haha Seeing that movie brought back a lot of memories of the good times the A's had. I went to probably 5-10 games during the 2002 season (the season that is discussed in the movie), so it was awesome to relive the season again. During the A's 20 game winning streak I went to at least 3-4 of the games I think, I just remember the stadium being completely packed every game. I believe that on the night of the 20th win, we tried to go to the game, but it was literally sold out - I checked the records and 55,528 fans were there that night on 9/4/02, making that one of the highest attended games in A's history. Now the team is happy if they get 34,000 to go to a game (they are averaging 18,000 fans a game right now)

This is going to sound cheesy or lame, but during the movie I got a little emotional during the 20 game winning streak because I thought about how awesome it was going to games back then, and how good the team was. The team had an awesome pitching staff (Hudson, Zito and Mulder), and a great lineup. They just didn't have a big enough payroll to give those players big contracts when they became free agents. So basically all of their good players were lost to other teams who offered them huge contracts. While the A's had great regular season success, in 4 straight seasons from 2000-2003 they lost in game 5 of the first round of the playoffs. I remember all of those playoff series, just crushing losses. I even went to the 2003 game 5 playoff game vs the Red Sox, the A's should have won that game, but they lost to the Red Sox. That game is still the craziest baseball game that I've ever been to.

Even if you don't like baseball I recommend seeing the movie, it's a classic David vs Goliath story, and Brad Pitt puts on a great performance. I hope the movie gets some Oscar buzz.

Back during the 2002 season I happened to buy a shirt commemorating The Streak, so of course I wore it to the theatre!

Jimmy Eat World in concert:
Back in July, Blonde Ponytail asked me who my 3 favorite bands were, and I responded with: Green Day, Jimmy Eat World and New Found Glory. Maybe it was fate, but about 2 weeks after that, I got an email that Jimmy Eat World was coming to town! Now I was pumped about this for at least 3 reasons:

Jimmy Eat World is among my top 3 bands
Concert was at Fillmore in SF (my favorite place to see a concert - amazing acoustics and it is super tiny)
They were playing the Bleed America album (by far my favorite album they put out)

The concert ended up being a great time, Jimmy put on a great show as usual. It wasn't as fun as seeing them at Coachella, but it still was a fun time.

Chicago Marathon mail:
Last week in the mail I got a race packet from the Chicago Marathon that had a bunch of useful information about the race in it. I laughed when I first saw the packet, thinking that they wasted $1 sending it to me, haha Only thing I noticed was that on the outside of the packet on the envelope it had my full name, age, address and bib number. Seeing this kind of freaked me out a little bit, because couldn't anyone during the process of mailing the packet (ie mail employee or someone else) just write down my info or something? Then seeing as though I won't be home during that time since I'll be at the race, then burglarize my house? I would have rather had the personal info on the inside of the envelope, so that only I could access it after opening the packet. Who knows, maybe I'm the only one that is paranoid about this kind of thing.

Stanford football:
Stanford has played 2 road games, beating Duke 44-14 and Arizona 37-10. In both games the team started out slow in the first half, but then ran over the other team in the 2nd half. Only problem is that during the Arizona game it was like watching an injury horror show: 3 players got injured - Chris Owusu (our best wide receiver), Cody Fleener (our best tight end) and Shane Skov (our best defensive player). The serious injury was to Skov, who has a knee injury and will miss the rest of the year unfortunately. Watching him got me thinking about my own knee injury, and I wish him luck in rehab. Owusu and Fleener should be back for this week against UCLA. Other guys will have to step up to fill in while Skov is out - he was the heart and soul of the defense. I'm going to the game on 10/1 vs UCLA, we should demolish them. Tailgating with Toby the Van as usual!

(I realize that this is Duke scoring a TD against Stanford, but it's a pretty awesome pic, check out those guys in the back, haha)

49ers football:

Opening weekend on week 1 the 49ers were able to hold off the Seahawks 33-17 behind Ted Ginn's 2 touchdowns (punt and kickoff return).
Then in week 2 the team really should have beaten the Cowboys, but ended up losing 27-24 in overtime. This loss was really hard to take, because the Niners simply blew it in the end. 2Slow4Boston would be happy, but that is about it, haha Tony Romo played the game with a broken rib and a punctured lung, which I was shocked that he was able to finish the game like that. A lot of props to him for coming back and playing, that sounds pretty dangerous to me to play with a punctured lung. One thing that really annoyed me is that the game was in SF but it almost looked like a Cowboys home game, they took over our stadium! No idea how so many Cowboys fans found their way to SF, they need to find their own team in their own area and go back to Dallas.
Week 3 followed with the Bengals, who the 49ers were able to hold off 13-8 in a very ugly showing by both offenses (dare I say it was offensive to watch? haha). Regardless I'll take the victory! The team could easily be 3-0 right now.
Next up they take on the Eagles, who are wondering about the condition of QB Michael Vick. I have no idea what is going to happen, I just hope they put up a good fight. I see the Eagles winning it, but hopefully the Niners prove me wrong. The NFC West is horrible, so seriously maybe 7-9 will take the division (because the Rams, Cardinals and Seahawks all look pretty bad right now).

Ted Ginn after his 2 touchdowns in week 1 vs the Seahwaks

Last day of baseball season:
Not sure who is a baseball fan on here, but the last day of the baseball season yesterday was nuts! My team (the A's) were already out of it, but it was fun following other teams. I was at the gym, and was able to see the Rays beat the Yankees, and the Red Sox lost to the Orioles, which meant the Rays made the playoffs! I have relatives in Tampa, so it is nice to see the team do well. Evan Longoria of the Rays hit a game winning homer, he's only the 2nd player in baseball history to hit a game winning homer in the last game of the year to put his team into the playoffs (only other player is Bobby Thompson for the 1951 NY Giants - aka "The shot heard round the world"). And in the NL, the Cardinals won and the Braves lost, which meant the Cardinals made the playoffs. The Red Sox blew a 9 game lead on 9/1, and the Braves blew a 8.5 game lead.

EMZ referenced the song Honestly by Cartel in a prior post, and it got me thinking about the band. I was a big fan of the Chroma CD back in 2006, and popped it into my car CD player again this week. My favorite song is track 12 - "A". No surprise that song 11 is called "Q" lol

Do you have a suggestion for a running rehab plan to follow?
Have you seen Moneyball yet?
For those running the Chicago Marathon, did you get freaked out about your info being on the outside of the mailing envelope?