There's a woman here who's wearing leather pants. It doesn't look right.

Did some mile repeats, with a half-mile thrown in, yesterday at marathon pace. It felt relatively easy, and I felt energized afterwards. I don't want to get to confident for this race lest I create false expectations in my mind, so as always it will be a race day decision to see if I can run at the pace I want. I'm taking today off and then tomorrow I'm heading to the track again for some a few short repeats(~500m-600m), and then more running until race day. I'm excitedly nervous.

I got my jewelry box for placing in my age group for the Nike Half Marathon, but they sent me the wrong box. I finsihed second but they sent me the box for 3rd place. I want my 2nd place silver, circular, blue suede interior jewelry box dammit!

In the early hours of the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, the son of my mum's neighbor got in a car accident after coming back from a sale at CompUSA. His car, a volvo, ran head first into a tree. He luckily survived the accident with minimal injuries, but the kid, who is ~22y/o, doesn't remember a thing. He might fallen asleep at the wheel. I think he's still in the hospital right now, but thankfully he wasn't hurt more. Everyone, from emergency personnel to family, was saying that if he hadn't been driving a Volvo he could have been hurt much more.

A lot of people commented on my weightloss. Earlier that night my mum and I went to a little get together at the aforementioned neighbor's house. Everyone who remembered me was sort of shocked at how different I looked. The funny thing though, the next day we went to Chinatown with another set of my mum's neighbors, and on the way we picked up another friend who I hadn't seen in a while. She didn't even recognize me and thought I was one of the neighbor's foster kids.

As I was driving back yesterday I happened to get stuck behind this one truck. Under normal circumstances I would haved passed the truck, but the genius behind wheel was taking up both lanes of the freeway. When I say truck, I mean to say huge friggin' sky blue Suburban. I had already noticed that this guy was driving erratically because he was tailgating other cars and weaving somewhat in and out of traffic. However, at some point he figured that he wasn't getting anywhere fast so he decided to just stay where he was in the fast lane. I was a few cars behind this guy when I finally got directly behind him, but by the time I was behind him he had drifted into the other lane of the freeway. Consequently he had a quarter of his truck in my lane, and the other fraction in the adjacent lane. Apparently if he wasn't going to get anywhere fast neither was anyone else. I started honking my horn repeatedly, but he didn't hear a thing. I must have been on my horn for at least a minute or two until he finally decides to pick a lane. I'm not sure if this was any of my doing since he didn't seem to move with any urgency but with a more lackadaisical attitude.

So finally he picks a lane, and I start to pick up my speed to close the gap between me and the car in front of me. But just as I thought I was about to pass he drifts back into my lane again. Yeah, I was a bit pissed. Well I said to myself fuck it, and just sat back and let a couple of cars get in front of me so I had a buffer in case this guy did anything crazy.

I did end up finally passing this guy. He turned out to be a really wiley looking old fellow with a scraggily beard and trucker hat. I didn't expect that. If I had passed him earlier I know I would have flipped him off but instead I just drove by and blew his ass away with my 9mm. Oh wait, I'm not that guy.

Well despite that one little hiccup I made good time driving back up North. I actually made it back in under 6 hours whereas it took me about 8.5 on the way down.

Went home for Thanksgiving and a lot sure has changed back home. My mum has given the house a makeover, not a an extreme makeover: home edition though. First the inside has been painted a bunch of really nice but differing colors. Also crown molding and bottoming? has been put on the ceilings and floors. There's no more carpet since that's been replaced by tile and maple flooring. The house looks really nice. My old bedroom has now also been changed into a computer room for my mum. I have no idea where all my stuff is now, but I'm not really worried about it.

I did run a couple of times while I was down South even though I was trying to recover from a cold. I went for a 4 mile pseudo-tempo run Thanksgiving morning, but I think I was still a bit down from my cold because I didn't run as fast I thought. I ran again on Saturday for about 6 miles at an easier pace. I felt much better on that run since I had almost recovered from my cold.

I'm considering Michael's advice and will probably run without a watch for the marathon this Sunday. It will take a lot of pressure off me, so I can just run without that added burden. Thanks Michael!

Last year my mum and I went to Best Buy at 4am in the morning to check out all the bargains. We both managed to snag some pretty decent stuff but was it ever hectic and crowded. This year I was lazy and didn't do that. I slept in and rested. My mum on the other hand woke up again to go to WalMart because they had a $400 laptop for sale. She tried to get me to come along but I was just way too lazy, so she went out by herself. Not more than 20 minutes later I hear some noises from downstairs, so I figured she came back. When I woke up a couple of hours later I asked what happened. She said she went down and circled the parking lot, saw the lack of parking spaces, and the long lines and decided to come back home. I don't think I will ever wake up that early to go holiday shopping again. It's not worth the effort. I'm not camping out overnight just to get a deal on laptop or some other crazy thing. It's like these people are camping out in line for the next Star Wars movie.

Speaking of movies, I watched an assload of them at my mum's. She has really great cable with OnDemand. I ended up watching Hellboy, Eternal Sunshine, Ray, part of The Aviator. I may have watched other movies, but I'm not really sure. I really like Eternal Sunshine and Ray. I love movies that mess with your mind so Eternal Sunshine was a great movie for me. My mum and I also watched the latest Harry Potter movie, which we both really liked. It was sad at the end though.

Traffic was an ass coming down but a breeze coming up. I left at just the right time on Sunday.

I can't believe my next marathon is coming up in under a week. Holy crap.

I got home yesterday and my mum said I looked like an Ethiopian because I looked really skinny. I really don't know how to take that.

TURKEY! BOOYAHKASHA!

Well it's less than a couple of weeks away from my marathon and I'm getting nervous. I'm not sure how fast I want to run. I have a couple of choices. I could run with the 3:10 pace group for a while and see if I can qualify or I could run with the 3:20 pace group and take it conservatively. I suppose I could run with the faster group, but I don't want to blow up near the end. Ack. Hopefully either way I run I'll PR but by how much is the big question...

Get these instead!

Been in launch rehearsals all week, so I haven't had time to post anything lately. I actually came in early just to catch up on some other stuff.

I took off running yesterday because I was feeling tired and overtrained. I'll get back into tonight with a tempo run or maybe some repeats.

I went on a date last night, which went really well. It seemed like it was shorter than it actually was.

Only a few weeks until the marathon. I'm starting to get a bit nervous.

I've eaten Italian food everyday this week.

Dry cleaned shirts look nice.

I might run a Turkey Trot 10K in Long Beach when I'm down in SoCal to visit my mum next week. It's on Thanksgiving morning, so I'm thinking of driving out there, running, and then driving back. I might even have a chance of winning the race, maybe by some miracle.

Yesterday was my 5 year anniversary at my company. It really doesn't seem that long. I actually just got my transfer in last week. Hopefully come January I'll also get a promotion. I'm actually hoping I can grease enough wheels to get this position that's a couple of grade levels above where I am currently. Let's see. I have the basic job description down just not the years of experience.

Wheels in the sky keep on turning.

Well we did our 20 mile run this weekend in Santa Cruz at the dreaded Natural Bridges. I like Natural Bridges as a place, but as a venue to run it's horrible. Nothing but running on pavement, and concrete for 20 miles just destroys my body. Another thing is the last 3 miles are always the hardest no matter how far I've run. We did our 14 miler earlier this season at Natural Bridges, and I had the hardest time running those last few miles. Once again last weekend the last 3 miles were killer. I was cursing up a storm because I was pissed. I was so happy to finish though. I stretched for a bit and then dipped my legs in the nice cold ocean water. The quick dip did wonders for my legs because I hardly felt any of the effects from running 20 that day. I actually felt really good. The run went really well. I coasted the first 5 miles or so, and then ran "hard" for about 12, then of course of the last three tortuous miles. Oh well, I'm finally in taper!!! It didn't actually hit me until someone said it to me.

I didn't run Sunday because I had run every day of that week since last Sunday, so I needed some rest. I'll be doing an easy 5 today and then some boxing tonight.

I ate entirely way too much over the weekend. Saturday night after the long run, I headed to a friend's house for fondue and stuffed myself with crackers, chips, dip, and the aforementioned fondue. Sunday was okay until dinner when I went to a birthday dinner for another friend where I stuffed myself with garlic bread, caeser salad, and all sorts of past and pizza. I'm taking it easy this week in terms of food. I did make a nice Italian inspired chicken dish on Sunday though. I can't decide whether I want to eat it with brown rice or whole wheat pasta. Oh the choices!

I also bought a new pair of jeans, which some ladies I run with helped me pick out. I also bought a couple of shirts from Nordstrom Rack. I am once again slowly rebuilding my closet. I hate having to periodically toss everything out. I have 3 big bags of clothes in my car waiting to be taken to Goodwill.

I'm going to be moving pretty soon to a place in Saratoga. Only one roommate this time as opposed to four. It'll be nice.

What does hippy stoner Jay look like?

Not much different from normal Jay.

Woke up at 5 this morning to do a 4 mile tempo run. I ran in my new shoes, which I absolutely love. We were running at about a 6:35 min/mi pace. I was a bit tired and was almost pushing my lactic threshold, but I think I could have pushed a bit harder. I could probably whip out a decent 5k time right now.

haha, just kidding. I'll eventually finish that post.

I bought a new pair of running shoes yesterday. The racing flats that I'd been waiting on. My excitement for these new shoes sort of subsided a bit because I wanted to race in them over the weekend, but they weren't delivered as expected. I was going to get them Tuesday but didn't have any motivation or energy to get up at 5:00 am to go run and pick up my shoes. Well I finally got them yesterday and my excitment level went up a few notches. These are really comfy shoes. I can't wait to run in them tonight for a bit to try them out. Yay!

Saw U2 last night with my buddy Jon. Good show, expensive beer, and In 'N Out afterwards. I'm a bit sleepy right now, and I could really use a nap. I'm debating how far I should run at lunch today.

My dad's birthday today. He would have been 63.

Awesome. That's the word I would use to describe this weekend. It was also the adjective of which I made frequent use on Sunday after finishing the half. If you can't tell already I had a really good race. I went bowling Friday with a bunch of friends which was really fun, although I managed to go the entire night without one strike. I usually get one, but this night was not going to be one of those nights. I got tons of sleep that night and didn't wake up until 9 on Saturday, which is very late for me since I normally get up at around 5 for a track workout.

I've discovered that getting a good night of sleep the night before a race is nigh impossible, so I use the night before the night before to get my sleep.

I made some breakfast and went to look for some shoes for the presentation I'm giving this week. As I was walking through Macy's I wandered through the cologne department. I was also immediately bombarded with two women asking would you like to try our colognes? I ended up leaving with no shoes or shirt but five pieces of nicely scented cardboard and a very aromatic wrist.

I did some grocery shopping(I love samples) and then packed for Big Sur. I had just enough time to look up directions before heading out the door. We had all planned to meet at 2:30, but I was running late. I showed up a couple of minutes behind schedule but no biggie since no one was in any real rush. I sort of spaced out on the ride down to Monterey and don't remember much of anything. I know there were a few conversations here and there. I think I mentioned along the way that I wanted to get a frozen banana and some fudge. One girl in the car excitedly agreed with my suggestion. I'd never actually had a frozen banana before that weekend, so I thought I'd try to get one.

We arrived in Monterey after getting directions from another person who was running the race. We really came prepared because we didn't know where the expo was located nor where our hotel was located, but we managed to figure everything out eventually. After parking we headed into the hotel that was hosting the expo. Me and another fellow walked around a bit after picking up our bib numbers and then we met up with the two girls with whom we drove up and walked around the expo a bit more. The next stop was dinner.

We stopped by this one Italian place, but they weren't open, so we walked down the street to another place that I remembered seeing on the drive into downtown. We were in luck as it was open and serving. It seemed like it took forever for our waitress to get our order, but she explained that she was the only person serving and was waiting for the others to show up. Still that didn't explain why it took so long for our food to come out. The food was okay but really greasy but that didn't stop me from eating a lot. I had lasagna, ravioli, minestrone soup, and garlic bread. I liked the soup.

Following dinner we stopped by Starbucks and then Walgreens for a few odds and ends. We then went in search of the frozen bananas. Luckily we had gotten directions from someone in the restaurant, so we weren't blindly searching for the phallicly(?) shaped chocolate and nut covered sweet treat.

Okay I'll end part I right here. I'll gear up for part II mañana.

I'm working on a post about this weekend, but here are my splits for the race.

(Mile 1: 7:08.64) Warming up here, my legs were a bit sore
(Mile 2: 7:23.84) I think there was a hill here.
(Mile 3: 6:57.54) Yep, here I am going downhill. Whee!
(Mile 4: 7:12.63) I don't remember this part. It must have been flat.
(Mile 5: 7:13.18) Nice consistency.
(Mile 6: 7:20.46) I'm thinking a little bit of an incline here.
(Mile 7: 7:19.62) At least I'm consistent though.
(Mile 8: 7:12.23) Ooh coming downhill a bit again.
(Mile 9: 7:07.15) Still going downhill?
(Mile 10: 7:12.23) I've hit a flat part.
(Mile 11: 6:58.13) I think it was around this point that I said I was tired.
(Mile 12: 6:50.60) I don't know why I'm speeding up.
(Mile 13: 6:34.94) I can feel the finish! Here comes my finishing kick.
(Mile 13.1: 53.14) I stopped my watch late after crossing the finish line. Boy was I out of breath.

I just got back from running the Big Sur Half Marathon. I PR'ed again with a time of 1:33:06. More later.

Bowling tonight. I get to show off how good I am at handling balls. Maybe that isn't such a good thing.

I just realized I'm half the age my dad was when he died.

I don't look like that. At least that's what I think every time I see a photo of myself. I think most of us have pictures in our mind of how we look and mine is completely different from reality. I have always pictured myself as the chubby guy and am always surprised when I see this skinny fellow in pictures. I know it's a carryover from when I was a big guy, but it's hard for me to break that preconception and imagine myself as anything other than fat.

I'm sure it affects my self-esteem in some ways because since I think of myself as this big guy, I imagine others think of me in that way as well. Consequently I think people think of me less since I think they think I'm a big person. Weird thoughts and an oddly worded sentence huh? I'm trying to build up my self-confidence and also get pass this odd self-image. Maybe I just have to constantly remind myself that I'm not that big guy anymore, so I shouldn't think of myself as that person. I've worked hard to get my weight down and I should be proud.

That's another thing, I feel ashamed when I say how big I used to be because I always felt that I should have never gotten to that point in the first place. When people ask how much I've lost, I'm a bit reticent to say that I've lost 100 lbs because of that shame I feel in once being so big. Weird hangup, yep.

Oh well, that's enough of introspective Jay for now.

I have another half marathon this weekend down in Monterey, and I'm getting nervous again. I'm hoping to run between a 7:00 and 7:20 pace, but I'll see how I feel that day. I'm waiting on a pair of racing flats that I tried the other week. I want to get at least a couple of miles in to see how I feel in them before actually racing.

Gah. I've got all day meeting tomorrow and Thursday, then another meeting on Friday. I have to give a presentation on Thursday next week, and I have to come up with a general overview of how I think a piece of hardware will interface with some software I'm developing. It's good to be busy.

I was able to run my first sub 6:00 minute mile this morning. Yay! We started off with a 20 minute warmup around the block and then proceeded to do intervals. We started off with a mile, which got me in the mood to run. I did that in 6:25. Next we did a half, which got my turnover going and then we did another mile. I felt like I was flying on this one and managed to just get in under 6:00 minutes. I was pretty beat after that but managed to do another half and then call it a morning. I'll be co-leading a buddy tonight for TNT so that should get me nice and tired. I'm seeing how tired I can get myself before the big sur half this weekend.