You’ve arrived at my blog, but I’m unfortunately not here at the moment. I am with Kelly and probably my family. We’re probably doing something really fun, getting ready to have some fun, or sleeping it all off.
We will not be back until June 24th. If you need something, please leave a message after the tone, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Last week was the 2009 edition of the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey. This is that crazy 178-mile running race that I did lastyear, and I enjoyed so much that I signed myself up for to do again – and probably will do again next year. The RGJ has a decent article on it, which even includes a small interview with my team’s captain, Joe Dito.
This year, I was runner number 5 (out of 12). The course is divided in 36 legs, so each runner gets to run 3 legs of about 5 miles, on average. My leg assignments added up to 13.4 miles, and here’s the breakdown of how it all went.
Leg 5: 5.8 miles – Moderate rating.
The weather was great. Overcast skies, and the wind that an hour earlier was making me concerned was now a gentle breeze. I don’t think I’d ever ran such a long distance (even in my training!), but I was ready for it. My goals were to finish it in less than an hour, to never stop to walk and to avoid getting passed by someone running behind me.
I accomplished all of my goals, and ran this bad boy in 48 minutes, putting me at a pace of a mile in 8 minutes and 16 seconds.
Since this was such a long haul, and there were a few hills to climb, I brought along some Luna Moons for a little energy boost. They’re designed marketed for women, but I got them in my goodie bag for the race, and I was sure I’d put them to good use… and I did. I’m not sure how much they helped in my actual performance, but they certainly took my mind off of the task at hand when I had to go up a steep grade. The flavor was good, but the best part was that they’re so chewy that they got stuck to my teeth and gums, and I was too busy trying to clean up the mess inside my mouth with my tongue to wallow in the effort I was putting in.
For the last couple of miles, I had a horrible side ache (aka Side Stitch). I wanted to walk it off, but I also wanted to perform well, so I exercised a little bit of focus, controlled my breath a bit more, and kept on pushing.
Soon enough, my leg was over, and I was finally able to catch my breath and rest up. I was dead tired, but as soon as I found out that I beat my goal by 12 minutes, a feeling of accomplishment overwhelmed me, and I wasn’t in pain anymore. Or at least, I didn’t feel it.
Leg 17: 4.2 miles – Easy rating.
I thought this was going to be my strongest leg, but I feel like it was my weakest of the three. It was a pretty flat course, without much traffic. My goals were the same as before, and I was shooting for 25 minutes.
I finished in 30 minutes, but I didn’t get passed, didn’t walk, and I also didn’t get eaten by a bear… which was a concern while running through the woods by South Lake Tahoe, at midnight.
Maybe I was going fast (after all, I was doing a 7:08 – mile pace), but I felt like I was just cruising along. I blame the beautiful starry night and the silence, the feeling of being so small when you’re running in the darkness with a tiny headlamp lighting up only 20 feet in front of you, the lack of sleep and the fatigue from the earlier undertaking.
The temperature was around 50 degrees, but I once again finished my leg nice and sweaty. No side ache this time, which added to my feeling that I didn’t push it hard enough to make my goal. Oh well.
Leg 29: 3.4 miles – More Challenging rating.
Saturday. We woke up at 4AM, south of Carson City. Our Odyssey was almost over, but we still had quite a few miles to go.
I was nauseous, sleepy and starting to feel tightness in my muscles. One by one, the runners in my van did their legs, and my turn was coming up.
My leg was going to be the toughest one yet, going up from Highway US 50, into Silver City. A whole lot of uphill. And even though it wasn’t even 7am when I started running, my shirt came off less than a mile into it, thanks to the sun and the toughness of the road in front of me.
I was tired. I was going very slowly, yet I never walked. I just kept on going, hoping to finally pass someone. I hadn’t been passed by anyone, but I hadn’t gotten any “roadkill”, and some of my teammates had gotten to pass more than a handful of people.
Halfway there, a lady in her late 30s (I guessed at the time) ran right past me. Holy smokes, she had energy, and she was going at least 2 mph faster than me. I try to go a bit faster, and I see her passing someone else, not too far ahead from me. I think to myself that I might not catch the lady that passed me, but I made it my goal to catch up, and pass, the other person that she’d just passed as well. At least to break even with the roadkills: get passed once, pass someone once.
On the steepest part of my leg, I caught up to this other person. It was another lady, with a tattoo of a maple leaf on the right calf. I was right behind her for a good 5 minutes, slowly but surly closing in, and feeling like if I kept up the effort, I’d pass her.
Sure enough, I passed her. Damn, I felt good. But I also noticed how tired I was right after I passed her. I wanted to give her a high five, say “good game” and walk the rest of my leg. But to hell with that, I kept on pushing, making sure she wouldn’t catch me. If I maintained my gain, I would finish the race proud of my performance, and that was my motivation to not give up.
Less than half a mile to go, my teammates are cheering me on. They’re telling me I’m almost there.
Eric hands me some water and tells me that if I really push it, I’m going to pass a guy right before finishing. And then, he starts running next to me, even though he’s dead tired and he’s all done with his assigned legs.
I turn up the effort to “balls deep” and I see the guy. Eric tells me that right after a curve about 100 yards away, I’m done. I think I can give it my all, but I’m really hoping that he’s not lying so that I turn up the heat, because I’m really running out of juice.
Turns out, he wasn’t lying. I’m doing my best impression of a sprint after going 3 miles uphill, and I pass the guy. In less than a hundred strides, I’m also done. Once again, covered in sweat. But also, with a huge smile on my face, feeling like I truly did give it my best shot.
I ask what my time was, and they tell me that I finished my leg in 32 minutes. Slow, but I didn’t care, because I really didn’t feel like I could have gone any faster. I also don’t care because I’m done, the race is over for me. And I finished with a positive roadkill ratio, 2 to 1!
However, it wasn’t just about me. A big part of the fun of this race is the teamwork, the encouraging of your teammates as they run for miles and miles. I was very lucky to have an awesome crew, which definitely enhances the experience.
I’m not a hardcore runner, I do this kind of stuff for fun. I can’t imagine being in a team where everyone is dead serious the whole time, and I’m very thankful that that wasn’t the case.
Josh, Eric, Karin, Bryan and Amy: Thank you for making the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey about a lot more than just running. You are all wonderful people on top of being speedy runners.
Nevertheless, this was a race. Sure, we had fun. In fact, we had a lot of fun. But we also kicked ass. Our team, Venetian Skunk, ended up placing 7th overall, and there were 110 teams signed up. Oh yeah, we kicked a lot of ass.
Now, I leave you with a picture of me at the finish line, after having taken a shower and a quick 20 minute nap. If you click on it, you can get to the album with the rest of the pictures that I took.
But first, let’s spend Saturday hanging out and relaxing, and not getting stuck in traffic with everyone else.
Instead, we left on Sunday. We checked in at the Oakland Marriot at around 2pm, and right away we got in the BART headed to San Francisco. More specifically, to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
We’d eaten a small breakfast, so by the time we made it there, we were ready to sit down and eat. And what better place to do that than Cha Cha Cha! The place was busy, but luckily we got to sit at the bar right away. A pitcher of sangria, and 3 different dishes later (plus an awesome caramel-covered bread pudding for dessert), we were feeling quite good, and more than satisfied. This is definitely a cool place to eat, and the food is delicious.
After eating, we went for a little walk around Golden Gate Park. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating, so we didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful gardens as much, but that’s not saying we didn’t have a good time.
We walked through one of the many gardens, took some silly pictures, and headed back to the Haight.
We went into a few of the shops, killed some time and had some fun. Kelly even found something to wear at Burning Man that we could afford -because there are LOTS of things that would be great for Burning Man, but they’re just too expensive.
On Monday, Memorial Day, we headed out to Berkeley. We stumbled for a while looking for a place to eat, and we ended up going into Ann’s Kitchen, which served a glorious American style breakfast, perfect for the occasion.
The weather Gods (or the spirits of all those fallen soldiers) made this day much nicer, which we welcomed as we walked up and down Telegraph street, and checked out the shops and the diverse crowd that was doing the same thing we were.
We also checked out the UC Berkeley campus, where we proceeded to shmoop on the grass by the library. Good times.
With a lot of time to kill, we went on Wikitravel to see what we could do in the area, and that’s how we found out about the Indian Rock Park. Finding it curious enough, we went and checked it out.
Sure enough, it was just a big rock. But lots of people were there, mostly hanging out, and some practicing rock-climbing, some others photographing and at least a couple smoking marihuana.
From the top of the rock you can see most of the Bay. Sadly, it was mostly covered in fog, but despite that, we enjoyed the panoramic view.
However, the main event of our trip was a Flightof theConchords concert. They toured the US in 2009, and this was their last stop. We HAD to see them, since Kelly and I both enjoy them.
At around 6pm, we sat on the balcony of the Berkeley Community Threatre. The opening act for FotC was ArjBarker, who played Dave in their HBO series. Little did we know that he’s a stand up comedian, and his routine was a great ice-breaker for what was to come. His style was sometimes very close to Dane Cook, but that’s alright by me, since it makes me laugh.
But then, it actually happened. Lights went dim. And …
Of course, that video is not from the same performance that we saw, but it was similar, and set the tone for what was to come: over an hour of silly songs, and the goofy kind of humor that only New Zealand’s fourth most popular digi-folk paradists provides.
There were lots of laughs, some songs I’d never head before, and a lot of singing along with Bret and Jemaine. It was a great live show, and some of the antics that they put on onstage were worth the ticket and the traveling.
To sum it up, we had a great time, and it was a weekend that won’t be forgotten. Or, to use the vernacular, an EPIC WEEKEND.
Today is the official Bike to Work day in 2009. I hope you rode your bike if your commute is less than 10 miles one way!
As for me, I started the day early. I took off at around 6.45am, and headed to one of the participating coffee shops, the PurpleBean. I showed my helmet, and they hooked me up with free coffee! Yeah!
The barista was very friendly and attentive, and asked me what I wanted. I told her I had no clue, since I never drink coffee… so I asked her to make me something sweet, and she served me a Mocha. It was delicious! I sat outside while I drank my coffee -it’s kind of hard to sip on a very hot beverage and ride in traffic- and watched the day roll by. A lot of people in their car checked me out as they got their coffee at the drive-thru, but at least there were banners everywhere that explained why there was a silly guy sipping on coffee next to his bike. I nodded at those that established eye contact as I chilled out.
After finishing my coffee and leaving a small tip, I moved on to the Reno Bike Project.
Just like last year, they were doing free breakfast, which included pancakes, bacon, hash browns, fruit and coffee. However, this year was better than last. It was at their new location, which is a lot more visible, welcoming and easy to find. There was also a DJ, who was playing some very cool chill-out music.
The RBP staff did a great job at keeping the food available, and there wasn’t even a line to get food! They opened their garage door and set up a small kitchen facing 4th street. It was perfect, and it showed that they thought it out very well. The RBP continues to be a kick-ass place, and I’m really glad that they’re only a couple of blocks away from work. I hung out at the Pancake Feed for about 30 minutes, and chatted it up with a few strangers. JP Zunini (whom I met when I was an exchange student) from KRNV was there and interviewed me, so I might be on the news.
A great way to start a Friday, and now I have a lot of positive energy from having had such a good start to the day. If you’d like to see how my ride went, you can check out my bike route here.
Monday, April 13th: After getting up at 8am, and going to get a car window replaced, we were ready to get on the road by 11am.
It took us about 9 hours to go from Reno to Huntington Beach. We took US 395all the way south, and then went from there.
We arrived at the house of Kelly’s aunt and uncle, Ginny and Gary. They welcomed us and fed us leftover Easter dinner (which we missed thanks to the car theft that delayed us by a day and a half). We talked, and went to sleep to recover from the long trip… and be ready for the next day!
Tuesday: I hadn’t gotten much sleep. It was hot, humid and I guess I still had a bit of anxiety about the burglary. It also didn’t help that I woke up at around 8, ready to go… because we were going to Disneyland!
The lack of sleep didn’t get in the way though, because as soon as we set step upon the happiest place on earth, I was too excited to be tired. Kelly had promised to buy me a Mickey hat and a churro as soon as we walked in the park, and that was exactly what happened.
It was my first time in Disneyland, and I was enjoying every minute of it. Everyone was so happy!
My first ride ever was Star Tours. It was a great start to the day, and my experience: old-school, classic, fun and silly.
From there, my memory gets blurry in a haze of laughs, rides, cartoon characters and feelings of happiness.
My favorite parts were the rides that involved movement, screaming and laughs: Screamin’ (in California Adventure), Big Thunder, Indiana Jones Adventure and Space Mountain (Kelly’s favorite ride!). I also really enjoyed Toon Town, because it really made me feel like I was in a cartoon, and it was just so goofy and happy!
Kelly and I also enjoyed observing all the park-goers, specially the little ones. Early in the day, most kids were litteraly bouncing up and down, running around as the excitement overwhelmed them. But later in the afternoon, the sight was quite different: temper tantrums, kids crying and our favorite: just passed out, so tired that they couldn’t even stay awake, and crashed on a bench somewhere.
Wednesday was a much more laid back day. We slept in for the first time since Sunday, which we deserved since we were on vacation after all.
The plans for the day were quite simple: go visit some relatives. And that’s how I ended up hanging out with Kelly and her grandpa for about 3 hours. Propitiously, he had a large stack of old pictures, and it was very enjoyable to see pictures of Kelly when she was a young one.
On the way back, we drove a little bit of the Pacific Coast Highway, from Orange County to Huntington Beach. The scenery was beautiful, and we both longed to go hang out at the beach, which we would soon do.
For dinner, we met up with Kelly’s cousin Gillian, her husband Dave and their 3 kids, at their house. We had pizza, some beer, and chatted for a good while. It was very laid back, relaxing and enjoyable.
On Thursday, we had major plans. In the morning, we traveled across LA, through some really shitty traffic, to arrive at the gorgeous Getty Center. We spent a few hours there. Kelly gave me a private history lesson about art and the Renaissance, and we enjoyed the sun and warm weather in the beautiful gardens.
While at the Getty, I couldn’t help but think of my parents, who would love the architecture of the place (my mom is an architect, my dad a civil engineer). It also was when I was hurt the most about not having my camera, because I really wanted to take some pretty pictures.
Afraid of what getting back on a freeway -at rush hour- would do for my mental sanity, we decided to take an alternative route to our next destination. Kelly’s excellent navigational skills determined that we could take Sunset Boulevard, so we did just that. It was another great drive!
We went from the Getty, through Bel-Air and Beverly Hills, seeing incredible houses mansions and fancy cars, and into Hollywood and LA, where the feeling was not quite the same, and we got to see a bit more of the “west side” feel.
Anyway, our final destination for the evening was the LA Dodger’s stadium. It was time for another First Ever for me! I’d never been to a baseball game, and this was the perfect opportunity to cross that out of my list.
It was awesome! There were a lot of people, and we got some pretty good seats, so we were able to even see the ball as it got pitched and swung at.
In an attempt to get the real experience, we got hot-dogs and beer. I wasn’t quite ready for the wallet shock that this was going to be: three hot dogs at $5 each, and four beers at $10 each. An expense of $55 for something that was really worth less than $20. Oh well. Had to do it at least once.
The game was entertaining, and we got to learn about the Dodger’s fans and their passion for Manny. The other team was the S.F. Giants… and I could have probably pitched for them and gotten away with it, because they were horrible at it.
The Dodgers won, and that sealed my first official baseball experience as a very positive one.
After such a long day, Friday was time to finally go to Huntington Beach, aka SurfCity USA. The temperature wasn’t very hot, so we laid out on the sand to enjoy the sun, and watched some surfers do their thing.
Before we knew it, a couple of hours had gone by, and we were getting cooked. We decided to take a break, go have dinner with Kelly’s aunt and uncle, and to come back to watch the sunset.
So nice! A cool breeze blew as we sat on the sand and saw the sun slowly disappear. It was very romantic, and I hope we can do it again on beaches all over the world.
On Saturday, we did it all over again. Beach, sun, relax. I even got in the water and went for a very short swim, since the water temperature was of only 58 degrees.
The day ended with a big birthday party for Gary, with all of Kelly’s relatives that live in the area. It was fun to be in such a big family setting, with the kids being noisy playing, and everyone chatting it up. I think I did an ok impression on everyone, other than the couple of times when I called someone by someone else’s name. Oops.
Sunday was the sad day of traveling back to Reno, but it had to be done. We decided to just come up the same roads that took us down there.
We stopped in Mammoth to visit the CoachOutlet store, and found Kelly a replacement wallet for the one that had been stolen from her. We saved about 60% by shopping at the outlet! And by we, I mean me, because it was Kelly’s advance birthday present. Win-win, all the way.
The trip ended on a very high note when I got a phone call from someone that had found Kelly’s purse in their garbage can. The irreplaceable bag from Fiji was safe, and saved! The rest of the items were not there, but the most important one was the bag, and that made us happy to be back home.
It was a very long one week, and an excellent vacation. Kelly was an excellent tour guide, and it was a great road trip from beginning to end. We drove a little bit over 1300 miles total, and we were apart only when the other one was using the bathroom. Oh yeah!
Last night, someone broke a window in my car and stole a bunch of stuff. The stuff is just stuff, but the two biggest pains that this has caused are:
Kelly’s purse from Fiji is gone, and it’s irreplaceable.
Our trip to Southern California is delayed, because there are no places that do car window repairs on Sundays – specially Easter Sunday!
So anyway. Reports have been filed with the Reno Police Department, and now we’re hoping they catch the guy when he tries to sell either my camera or my iPod. If anyone sees the following, please be weary and contact me ASAP:
80 Gb video iPod, color black. Serial number 8K730DA0V9R.
Alpine IDA-X200 car stereo. Serial number D80332449. Which I doubt will be re-sold, since they broke it and left half the circuitry in the car’s dash.
Canon Rebel XT camera. With a Tamron 18-200mm lens, a 50mm Canon, a Speedlite 430 EX, in a nice Canon backpack, with a bunch of other small accessories (8Gbs worth of flash cards, remote, filters, manuals, a no-brand flash and wireless flash triggers). The serial number is either 2420701145 or 1874266151. I’m not sure which one, since Lightroom and Aperture are giving me different numbers in the EXIF data.
We’re still going to Southern California, so if any of these items pop up while we’re gone, I’m hoping someone can buy them, and get a picture of the guy selling them, and a phone number or email address.
Hopefully that’d lead to finding the rest of the stuff, and more importantly, getting a criminal out of the streets.
If nothing happens, oh well. Kelly and I will still have an awesome trip, and we’ll eventually recover all the stuff that was stolen. Including a purse from Fiji, which we’ll just have to go shopping for… in Fiji.
I remember doing this while I was incredibly bored, back in 2003. I was housesitting, in a house in Stead.
The lady that owned the house was in Afghanistan, and her dog was named Ghork, which means “wolf” in some language (possibly Farsi, Pashto or Dari). The dog used to shed a lot of hair…
Speaking of hair, check mine out! I wish I still had the long hair, it was so suave!
If someone who you thought was a friend suddenly quits, and is gone, and you never found out: does that prove you were wrong the whole time?
about 7 hours ago
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