Jogging back to the past

I woke up this morning knowing that I had to get my 3 miles in. I started making up reasons why I don't need to run. "It's cold. You can do it tomorrow. You should just go to work early..." The conversation lasted about 15 minutes until I finally said to myself, "Ranny, just do it."

Instead of driving myself to Chambers Bay or the Tacoma water front, I decided that I would jog in my neighborhood - this is the same neighborhood I grew up in. The rain started coming down harder but I sucked it up and just started jogging. I wasn't sure how I was going to run without an ipod and no specific path. So, I created my own path. I headed towards Dominic's house and passed by Chaurita's. I went down the street towards Jennifer and Trung's house. I ran to Alaska Street and passed the house Vany grew up in. I headed north on Alaska and ended up on 84th Street. There was one more stop before I headed home, Kim's house - this was the house that we would all go to after school and on half days - so many memories.

As I jogged through my hood, I became present to all of the memories that were created in my adolescence. I grew up in the same neighborhood since I was six years old. I went to the same middle and high school with the same kids that I went to elementary school with. It's amazes me how far we've all come. Everyone has their own thing and has gone their own way to live their own lives - but no matter where we are, we are all still connected because of a moment in space and time.

Thank you, Facebook.

Week 1 Training Starts

It's official - the booty is back. My sister pointed out that I was getting bottom heavy again. Well... the booty will be here for awhile. The 12-week training schedule officially starts this week. I'm using the Hal Higdon's Intermediate Training Schedule. Somehow, I have to fit 14 miles of running into my existing commitments - not sure how it's going to happen but I got'ta get it in. Let do this!

The Runners' Booty

This morning I put on a pair of trousers that I've had for several years - these trousers has felt the size of my booty fluctuate. I slipped them on and realized that my runners' booty is back.

I had a hard time dealing with this last year as I was training for my first half-marathon. I was drinking gallons of water, eating well and I even gave up alcohol yet I was still gaining weight - especially in a particular area. My booty was abnormal - it was HUGE! My friends noticed my butt get bigger. They liked it while I became self-conscious. I didn't know what was going on. I started asking questions. I even Googled it and came across this blog post "Running into a great butt" by a runner named Lance - it made me re-think my insecurity.

I've always had a butt even at my smallest size but I had never thought about it beings an asset - I was too worried about doing chest presses for them to look bigger. While I was too busy focused on my upper body, my lower body was doing its own thing - my butt was building muscle, my thighs were getting strong and my calves were more beautiful than they'd ever been. I wondered why those petite Asian girls didn't have my problem. I would fish for compliments by making negative comments about my butt. I kept telling myself that guys liked it to make myself feel better - it would work for a minute but didn't make a difference.

Finally, I decided to end the suffering and learned to love it. I loved how running made me feel - I might as well love the strong, beautiful and sexy body it gave me. I learned to love my entire body from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. One night, I put on a dress that nicely hugged my body. I stood in front of a full length mirror, turned around and said to myself, "Heeaaay booo..." ;)

St. Patty's Day 5K Run Result

"Ranny, no sleeping at 3AM," Jennifer says to me for the millionth time before our race. "Okay, honey," I say to her as I'm sitting in the car on my way out to go dancing.

The next morning is race day. We barely left the starting line and I see Jennifer start to get smaller as she smashes up the hill leaving me behind. I think to myself, "Crap, I'm on my own now." Jenn, Joe and John are ahead of me while Tam, Tiff, Nicole and Thea are behind me. I have no idea what my pace is and what time I will chip in but I don't care - I keep running. As I turn the corner, I hear Jenn shout, "Go Ranny!" Then I see Tam and Tiff followed by Thea and Nicole. I sprint towards the finish line trying to beat the clock before it hits 29 minutes. I was happy I finally finished but I was more excited about seeing Thea and Nicole finish their first race.

I didn't beat my personal record but I didn't do bad considering that I partied the night before and raced with a recovering ankle. 27:14 at a 8:47 pace. I'll take it. :)

RICE? I love RICE!

Sunday night, I visited my parents' grocery store. It was the second time visiting my parents since the breakdown I had between my Mom in the beginning of the year. I guess it's been so long that I wasn't use to walking down the same dark lit stairwell that I've been walking down for the past seven years. As I reached the bottom, I missed a step and heard my ankle pop. I was screaming in pain but I was more worried about injuring myself. "I have race in two weeks," I thought to myself as I was crying out, "Please, let it be okay!"

When I got home, I did three of the four things you're supposed to do with an injury - Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate... RICE. I did everything except Compress. My ankle was a little sore but it didn't look that bad but the next morning - I woke up with a sore and sprained ankle.

Because I was sitting all day at work, I didn't think I needed to RICE. When I got home that night, my sore and sprained ankle turned into a kankle, a swollen ankle. Apparently, I had 72 hours of RICE-time left. The next morning I went to the grocery store and bought a bag of frozen mixed organic vegetables and a bag of frozen organic blueberries (for my yogurt). For the whole day, my left leg was elevated on a chair with a bag of frozen goods resting on my ankle as I was speaking to customers on the phone.

Today, my ankle feels 85% healed. It's still a little swollen, which I could have prevented through Compression - this is a lesson learned. I have two days left before my next training day. I expect it to be 100% healed by then. I have a nine days until my next race... eek!

What I've learned is that RICE isn't effective unless you do all four - REST, ICE, Compress and Elevate. Learn from my experience... and don't walk down a dark stairwell.