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Here I was thinking that I’m finally home free again, able to run freely without any aches or pains in my legs. Well unlucky me, I have shin splints right above my left ankle. I guess I’ll have to take some time off again before I put in any more miles…luckily with my move coming up, my next run probably won’t be until I’m in Denver. My next race is a 10K in mid-October, so it’s better to let my body rest now rather than right before the race. Running at one-mile elevation…that’ll be exciting. I ran 5 miles yesterday, the first time since Jan. 14, 2008. I think it was basically after that when I started accruing a bunch of running injuries and had to cut down on running mileage. I will probably stay at the 5-6 mile distance for a while so I can build up my leg strength and stamina again. Who knows…if I can stay healthy, maybe I will do a half marathon in the future! Well you know the multi-year dilemma and fiasco about which running shoes I was eventually going to get? Well I finally bit the bullet and got a pair of Vibram Five Finger Bikila, the first VFF specifically designed for running. I took them out for a 3.5 mile run today and they felt great. They’re a huge improvement over my Nike Free 3.0 running shoes in terms of flexibility, toe space and weight. Compared to my Vibram Five Fingers KSO, the Bikilas are a little stiffer throughout and therefore not quite as flexible. The tradeoff for feel and weight is worth it though, as the superior road traction and the extra 2mm in the sole makes the run much more comfortable and not quite as hard on your feet. My only gripe about the Bikilas is that the velco strap doesn’t strap the heel of my foot in snuggly, since unlike the KSOs, there is no nylon that goes across the heel.
Do me a favor, please click through this Amazon banner if you buy anything from Amazon.com. It costs you nothing, and you still get to enjoy the same great prices on Amazon. It helps offset the cost of renting server space with my webhost. Thanks! If you’re using AdBlock, click through here. Considering how much free time I have/had in the past, I guess it all boils down to me just being plain lazy at updating my website. I suppose you can chalk it up to lack of interest…I don’t think many people read this website, which in all honesty, doesn’t come at a surprise or serve as an insult. I mostly just do this for me, and if anybody (preferably friends & family) reads and enjoys, then so much the better. Since Twitter let’s me micro-blog my thoughts instantly, I feel demotivated to sit here and type everything out. And since Facebook is the best medium for sharing pictures, I usually just do that now instead of sitting here uploading, formatting tables, captioning, etc. So in summary, I’ll update this website when I update it. Moving on, I’d say the biggest news for me is my upcoming move to Denver, CO. I will finally be pursuing my Masters in Business Administration at the University of Denver (DU), so I will be there for about 2 years. I’m excited, anxious and nervous at the same time, which is a given considering I’m moving 1,000 miles away on my own. It’s not my first time striking out alone, since I got my B.A. from UC Santa Cruz. However, I think the relative closeness of Santa Cruz to Anaheim was comforting since I could basically go home at any time (6-7 hour drive or a 1 hour flight.) Additionally, the mental aspect of moving to a different state adds to my anxiety. But, this will be a new experience for me, and even though I’ll be back in school cracking the books, I think I’ll have a pretty good time. As for everything else, I’ve been enjoying some success on the water with my dragonboat team, the Aerodragons. At the Long Beach race a couple weeks ago, I won my first hardware at a dragonboat competition: 2nd place in the mixed division 500m with the Aerodragons “B Team.” After that, we made it to the 200m semi-finals and were able to handle ourselves, but unfortunately did not medal. This past weekend, I went up to Lake Gregory for a local race, where I won 2nd place in the mixed division and 3rd place in the men’s division with the “A Team.” These victories are bittersweet for me, since I am leaving the team until next summer. But this serves as motivation for me to come back and continue paddling next summer to hopefully win a place on the “B Team” again for the Long Beach race.
After over two years, I finally ran my first “competitive” road race this past Sunday at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. I put competitive in quotes, because 1) it was just for fun and 2) I’m not good enough of a runner (nor ever will be) to compete against any REAL runners. But to be honest, it was really fun just to be running with a group of people again. Weaving through the throngs of joggers and walkers, conjuring up the energy to blow by slower runners and just running with like-minded people are some of the reasons I love running these races. With me possibly moving to Denver, CO in the next couple of months and leaving my favorite sports teams behind for the time being, being able to run the warning track again was special. What’s more, my “return” to races couldn’t have come at a better place, since I ran the Angels 5K at the same place 3 years ago. That was also my first 5K, which I finished at an abysmal 33 minutes or something. I finished this year at 28:41:00 which gave me a pace of 9:14/mile. I think I could have done maybe 30-50 seconds better, since there was a lot of congestion at key areas of the race, but I’m happy with my time; This just gives me added incentive to improve my time and train harder/smarter.
Okay, after my two week trip to France and another two week hiatus from my blog, I am back! Catalina Day 2 coming soon, but for now, here are my pictures from France to tide you over. Also, it seems like World Cup fever has gripped America! I’m not going to have time to upload pictures of Day 2 for a couple weeks (or more) since I’m going to France tomorrow for a couple weeks (ooh-la-la.) So for now, here’s my photo album on Facebook of Catalina days 1, 2 and 3. So au revoir for now!
I’m a week late, but I’m finally getting around to posting pictures and a trip-report for my Catalina Island backpacking trip with my brother-in-law Vu. I brought along my AMOD AGL3080 GPS Data Logger and it worked fabulously; the trip log of our first day is the picture above. The weather was pretty good hiking weather for both days; since it was nice and overcast we didn’t get too hot and fatigued. But the downside to that was that our pictures of the coastline weren’t as nice as they could’ve been, since the water is normally multiple shades of crystal blue. For day one, we started in Long Beach and took the Catalina Express to Avalon. We grabbed lunch with my sister, niece and mom and took off on a shuttle that would take us from Avalon to Catalina’s airport, the ‘Airport in the Sky.’ Our goal for day one was hiking from the airport down to Little Harbor, a little over six miles away. Day two would take us from Little Harbor to Two Harbors, a small town on the north side of the island.
Yes, I’m using the same image I did the last time this happened because I just became the victim of credit card fraud on the SAME CARD (different CC numbers obviously.) It’s been almost two years since my last credit card fraud happened, but luckily, Bank of America has been just as vigilant now as it has been in the past and caught the mistake(s) before me.
I got this e-mail a couple mornings ago and they asked me to call them regarding some charges I made. They listed off a bunch of purchases made at fast food restaurants, like El Pollo Loco, Pizza Hut and KFC. Some of the charges were ridiculous ($200 at El Pollo Loco? What did they do, order catering?) while the rest were multiple $50 charges (these idiots must have been feeding families of 20, sheesh.) These fat assholes must have thought they were pretty clever by making repeated charges in low denominations, rather than four-figure charges at upscale clothiers. Well obviously they weren’t smart enough because they got exposed within a day. The most disconcerting part about this though is the fact that just like last time, these charges were made at brick & mortar stores, not online stores. That means that somewhere and somehow, the information on my credit card’s magnet is being cloned and duplicated by some unscrupulous individuals. I don’t know if they can steal this information online and then imprint it onto a blank credit card magnet, but I’m assuming that they physically need the card in their hands in order to duplicate. And if so, I can only assume that this is happening at a gas station or at a restaurant because those are the only times the card is out of my sight. The moral of the story: Use your credit card, not debit card! When these assholes scam your credit card, they’re screwing with the bank’s money, not yours. BofA already reversed all the charges and are sending me a new card. Update 5/20/10: I finally got an itemized list of the fraudulent charges: Without going into too much detail, there were repeated charges of $50 and $250 at two fast food chains in Irvine, CA. Since the charges are local, I am going to have to assume that my credit card was cloned when I handed my card to a waiter; I can’t think of any other situations where my card would be out of my sight. |
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