New Years Resolution 2017 achieved!!! Back in Jan this year, I committed to 365 logged running miles for 2017. It didn't matter the frequency.. whether it was 1 mile/day or 365 miles in one day.. I just needed to run 365 miles by the end of 2017. I opted to keep accountable by focusing on 1 mile/day and to keep a log of the miles monthly.
Certain days and months, I went over the 1 mile/day.. Jan, Feb, and March. If I felt like I had extra time or energy, I would run extra miles to "cash" it for rainy days. Other times when life was overwhelming, such as August/Sept/October when I put 110% of my effort into job hunting, those months lapsed in running miles. However, now towards the end of the year, I'm happy to have achieved 365 miles for 2017 on the day after Thanksgiving.. Nov 24th.
In fact, an ex co-worker took on this challenge as well... but he's a runner, and he achieved the mileage in June/July time frame. A way that I connect with my ex-coworkers are through Fitbit Challenges, and it's nice to know that there are other OCD crazies like me. I'm definitely missing my old work environment, my former co-workers as I am still adjusting to my "new life" as I call it. But we still get together on occasion for Happy hour, Fitbit challenges, or messaging.
This week we had a work-week hustle. I've retained 1st place, logging in 163,309 steps in a 5-day period. It required running about 10 miles a day which I would do in the wee hours (4-6am) of the morning before work, and late into the night after work (9-11pm).
Here's a photo I took to show evidence of such endeavors. Me and my slow-man companion late one evening after putting the kids to bed.
For Thanksgiving holiday week, kiddos were out of school, so we took a week long road trip up and down CA to hit multiple destinations for multiple purposes.
First stop was at Red Rocks for some much needed outdoor bouldering fun. Stress level remained high, from rushing to finish work projects prior to vacation time, to packing last minute, but finally.. a day spent hanging out at the boulders with simply dirt, rocks, sun... doing some light hiking and climbing was the best getaway.
The campsite is a first-come-first-serve and being a holiday weekend, it was overfilled. No campsite available to us, so we had to camp in the walk-in parking lot. Luckily for us, the back of the truck works out. It is not the most comfortable, and changing in and out of PJs in the cold is definitely no fun for the kiddos, and we are all snuggled up right next to each other like a pile of sardines. But it is a unique experience for the kiddos and we have gotten a lot of curious campers checking out Ryan's camper setup and sharing their own stories of similar experiences growing up or rigging their own car sleeping solution setups.
Best part about car camping.. it puts us ~5 minutes away from the trail head to the Red Rocks, Kraft Boulders, where we climbed.
The trail was easily marked... just follow the line of crash pads along the trail. It seemed like the whole climbing community was out there climbing. Ryan bumped into some guys he knew from his gym. We met a couple from Oregon, another group from Arizona and the mid-West. At the specific boulder we were going to climb, there were ~30+ climbers throughout the day.
This time, packing was rushed, so I didn't have a chance to get toys for the kids. They simply had their daypacks with snacks and water, and the trusty shovels from our last trip. That was going to have to be enough (along with the elements of nature) to keep themselves busy for the day.
No photos of us climbing. Only one of Ryan. I spent a lot of time watching other climbers to get beta, check on the kids, analyze and figure out how I wanted to move on my specific problem, check on the kids, warm up the fingers, check on the kids, back to my problem and slip into line for turn to climb, check on kids..etc.
Ryan had a great route for me to work on, the V2 Monkey Bars. Nerves got to me the first try at it.. cause climbing outside is way different from indoors. It took a little bit of working some of the easier V0/V1 problems to loosen up the nerves, and I was able to complete the V2 on my second try. Still nervous at the top out, but it felt great to complete it.
My V2 project was Ryan's warm-up. He was working this V6 (shown below) for the later half of the day.
The kiddos spent most of their time scrambling on kid size rocks, playing imaginary games with whatever they could find, and chatting up friendly climbers around. I don't think they even used their shovels that much. The best playground.. the outdoors. =)
We only spent couple of nights at Red Rocks, one day of bouldering. We wanted to do some more camping and climbing, but a cold front storm was predicted to arrive, so we made the decision to skip more outdoor climbing and continue driving north.
One of the days heading north, we made plans to meet up with our friend, Roger, at Pipeworks Climbing Gym in Sacramento. This gym is pretty awesome. From the outside, it looks like an old, run-down industrial factory... seems sort of sketchy.
But... on the inside, it is like a climbing/workout paradise - big sections for top rope and lead climbing, lots of area with a modern design of bouldering, include a wave wall, and a bouncy, gymnastics floor for additional workouts with various gym equipment...
in the back there was an enormous room with lots of Crossfit rigs and lifting platforms for their Crossfit classes. This gym also had a yoga studio AND a Brazillian Jiujitsu studio/classes.
Kiddos goofing off. Luckily the place was not crowded when we arrived, so the kid had open range free play for the first half of the time that we were there, tho we had to reign them in a little as people started flowing in.
It's funny, the kids are never interested in climbing for the first 3-4 hours that we are at the gym.. but starting from the 5-6th hour that we are at the gym, that's when they become interested and really give climbing a go.
Liam climbing the down climb.
Ryan making this V5 climb look easy.
Emilia working the V0 climb (white hand holds) with any feet.
We've done a lot of driving.. with some climbing in between, but it's mostly been driving and time in the car...
from Red Rocks...
to Sacramento,and then to Grass Valley, near Tahoe. It snowed!
Ryan had a work meeting, so I put the kids to work too with creating a storybook for me. They ended up doodling.. so close enough. =P
and then back down to the Bay Area.. Bay Bridge, SF.
Lots of stops at restaurants along the way, and that has it's own challenging experiences dealing with Liam's food allergies. Egg is much more common than one would think! No PF Changs! We thought surely we could get rice, something with meat and veggies, but they coat all of their meats in an egg marinade. That is soo not Chinese!
Apparently we hit all the restaurants that had egg in things that Liam eats. =P Mac'n'cheese, grill cheese, burgers, pasta ... all are suspect for egg depending which restaurant we go to. This was one of our better food stops, Cattlemen's in Davis.
We made it in time to visit family, the night before Thanksgiving day. It was great to see the family. The kiddos miss their cousins and its great to see how they play together right away.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos from the family get together. It was a good kind of chaotic, gluttonous feast that will take me at least a month of exercise to work off... just in time for Christmas. We spent the remainder of our trip with family. Lots of eating, but did manage to get the kiddos and some cousins to a trampoline park for some trampoline dodge ball. Again, no photos, but it was fun.
We did a one day drive back down to go home, with a pitstop again, at Bravo Farms in Kettleman City, a Tex-Mex joint for food with an Old Western town themed playground and shops. They do have egg in their pasta and burger buns.. but the grill cheese is okay.
Sante Fe Cobb salad with Tri-Tip... yum!
It has been a long week. The driving and traveling is tiring, even though we are just sitting. The trip, even though it was a week long, still feels too short. But on the other hand, I am ready to get back to routine.. eat home cooked meals, exercise, and get a full nights sleep on my own comfy, warm bed. =)
Ryan and I ran the Spartan Beast (13 miles, 30 obstacles) again recently. Harsh conditions again this year, and the race was informally dubbed as Hellmecula 2.0. This was our make-up run from last year's cancellation race. Both of us had started to get back into training mode mid-June, but work, kids, schedules, and unexpectedness of life hindered consistent training. So even with sporadic training, we were able to manage completing another Spartan Beast, in 90+ degree temps.
I am super proud of Ryan on his finish! He placed top 3% overall out of 3,402 racers, top 5% out of all 2,243 male racers, and 6th place for his age group. I can just imagine how he would do if he REALLY trained for this race.
I did not prepare well for this race, with ~two weeks of consistent training after taking most of August rehabbing a rotator cuff injury. I went into this race with low endurance and strength and fully expected to place poorly in all categories. So, all in all, I'm happy with my results, placing in the 25% for women and 28% for my age group, but 50% for overall.
I was planning to retire from doing Spartan races, but I feel I can do better, so maybe one more Beast before I retire. I did back-to-back races again this time, running the Sprint (5 miles) on Sunday for fun with a co-worker. This weekend completed my first Spartan Trifecta for 2015.
The kids unfortunately did not get to run the kids race again because they got sick! So.. looks like our family is not quite yet done with Spartan. We'll have one more hoorah!!
Here on out, we rotate taking turns on doing our long distance training run. While he's out for his 15 miler hill/distance/elevation training run, the kiddos and I hang out somewhere and chill. Found a nice shady faux-grassy spot for the kiddos to color and run around.
Running is not fun. It's physically hard work and mentally challenging to have your mind dictate over a tired, dehydrated body. But, no one can dispute the high that comes towards the end of a run, hitting the target goal whatever that may be. These last few minutes, especially seeing the kiddos cheering, are the best!
And then consuming massive amounts of food and water that tastes like the best meal you've ever eaten!! We are so proud of Ryan even though it's not race day yet.
Kids coloring and having a brunch date with me while we wait for Ryan to finish his run.
Ryan and I are officially in training season since the beginning of June. We both have separate races coming up in a few months time, and we both have our own training regimen and program. So even though it is summer, our schedules are again a fine juggling act. But well worth it! It feels great to be back in training mode. Of course, seeing Ryan train motivates me even more to train!
Our conversation goes something like this:
C: How many miles are you going to run for your long run this week?
R: 14 miles.
C: Oh. Well, I'm going to do 12 miles (even though I planned for 10 miles, and am only capable of 6 miles).
R: I'm running ----- Mountain (the steepest local mountain with the highest elevation gain).
C: (thinking to myself.. I can't do that, so I'll do an alternative)
C: Okay, I'm going to do 12 miles on some kind of terrain, then another 5 miles the next day, and throw in some ninja obstacle training on top of that. Yeah.
R: (sighs. and rolls his eyes.) The kids and I want to come and watch.
So what did we do? I found a local mountain and did my 12 miles Friday, and then obstacle course training with additional running on Saturday. And Ryan followed it up on Sunday, with 14+ miles of THAT mountain.
Yup. That's just our way. It's how we do things.
Here is Ryan, at the end of his 14+ mile run, at the base of the mountain where kids and I were waiting for his return after our brunch.
Thinking of our friends and family and their families, that have served our country and those that are still serving our country for all of our freedoms to live a life of our own choosing. (*Hokesters.. thinking of you!)
I grew up as an only child, and my parents taught me that in my culture, cousins are just like brothers and sisters, and family always is fa...
About
Ryan and Connie officially began our journey in life together (wedded bliss) on August 1, 2009. This blog chronicles our journey through whatever life throws at us.
On February 27, 2010, we welcomed a new addition to the family: Emilia Ying-Zhi. She tipped the scales at 7 lbs 2 oz, and measured in at 19-3/4".
Liam Noboru joined the family on October 20, 2011. His fighting weight is 7 lbs 4 oz with a length of 19-1/2".
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