Louie Tri

Every year Team in Training’s Iron Team organizes an Olympic distance triathlon in honor of Louie Bonpua. Louie is one of our team’s honorees, who lost his fight with Leukemia in 2002, but not before he had completed Ironman Canada with Team in Training. This year, in his honor,we went down to Monterey to do Louie’s first tri: Pacific Grove. The day was overcast and cold, the water looked menacing and was full of kelp. I really didn’t want to get in the water. But I thought, so many people suffering from cancer would do anything to be able to have this opportunity. So I jumped in the freezing cold water and swam for 30 minutes.

When I first got in, I was freezing! I couldn't breathe. I'd try to put my face in the water to swim, and it would take my breathe away. I kind of freaked out, and turned on to my back and did back stroke for a while. I thought 'this is what is must feel like if you don't know how to swim'. It was so scary!  But luckily I warmed up after a bit and by the second and third lap around the buoys I was feeling good. 

Once we got out of the water we had to do four out and backs on a road that ran along the coast. I don't really like doing the same thing over and over again, but it was a beautiful ride and I kept getting to see all of my teammates.

Once I was done with the ride, it was off to the run. Of course I had to stop by the potty...because I know there are people out there who will pee on themselves during a triathlon to save time, and although I once considered this idea, I have come to the conclusion that I am not one of those people.

The run was three out and backs. My back was sore, and I kept thinking, is that where my kidneys are? Are my kidneys ok? I really wanted to walk, but it was only a 10K, that's just 6.2 miles and I knew I could run 6.2 miles without walking...so I did. Well...if you can call jogging at 12 miles an hour running.

At the end my friend Nic caught up to me for a photo finish!

It was a great day. I remember when I first started training with Team in Training 3 years ago, and I spent 3 months training for my first Olympic distance triathlon. Now the same distance is just a fun training day. It makes me thankful for my health, and my friends, and Team in Training. It also reminds me how powerful every single one of us can be if we just choose to stick with something.

And the best part (besides raising money and awareness for cancer research, which is really the best part) was that we got to have an incredible seafood meal when it was all over!

Where Does Motivation Go?

Iron Team started about 2 months ago, and after wanting to run the Honolulu marathon, and then the Paris marathon, I finally decided I would fundraise for Ironman California 70.3 with Iron Team (a half Ironman which will take place in Oceanside, CA on March 30).

So I transfered my fundraising money, and signed up, and then, well, then I didn't do much. I'd workout once in a while. I'd go to the team workouts once every couple of weeks. I was busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas, busy with work, and not feeling that great and really not feeling motivated.

In fact I thought that I had lost my motivation. But where would it have gone? Was it hiding in the pizza boxes filing up my recycling bin? Or maybe it was lurking around in the early mornings that I had started to sleep through as much as possible.

Maybe I had just used up all the motivation I had. Since training for my first Olympic distance triathlon with Team in Training in 2010, I'd done 6 century rides, 5 Half Ironmans, 2 marathons, 2 Ironmans and fundraised over $16,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I thought that maybe everyone just has a finite amount of motivation, and once you use it up, it's gone.

Was my motivation all used up? Was it hiding somewhere? Could I ever find it or get it back?  I sat for a while and thought about it. If my motivation was lost, where would it have gone? Where could I find it? What did I use to do?

And it came to me: my motivation could be anywhere. At times I've been motivated to go and see my friends and workout with them, at other times, I am just on a mission to follow the training schedule, I just do whatever it says to do. Other times I've been motivated because I know that people have donated money to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society because I asked them to believe in me. Motivation doesn't come from one thing. It comes from my desire to help others, my desire to help myself, my desire to have fun. I was looking for something I thought I had lost, but I realized I still have all those things. My friends and family still believe in me, I still want to be healthy and happy, and I still have that training schedule I can get out and start following. It's all right here with me. Now I just have to get out there and do it!

Where do you find your motivation?

Iron Embo's California Voter's Guide

I'm pretty sure most people know who they are voting for for president, and for those of you who are still undecided, I figure there is enough info out there for you to make a good choice (Obama of course).

But I was talking with my dad this morning about the California propositions, and I realized there are some sneaky ones out there. So for those of you who have a liberal leaning in politics, but might be too busy to look in to the issues yourself, I've come up with a nice short voter's guide for California voters.

1. Prop 30: YES
Why: Tax the rich to support our schools? Yeah, I'm down with that.

2. Prop 31: NO
Why: It adds bureaucracy and adds layers of restrictions and poorly defined requirements and leaves key decisions up to unelected bureaucrats. Plus my dad is voting NO, and he's pretty awesome.

3. Prop 32: NO
Why: Let's see, campaign finance reform that was written by billionaires to make sure they, themselves are excluded from it? I think not!

4. Prop 33: NO
Why: it's another deceptive insurance company trick to raise auto insurance rates for millions of responsible drivers in California. And they tried to be sneaky and make it seem like we are voting for discounts. (Mercury Insurance's billionaire chairman George Joseph has spent $8 million to fund this prop. When was the last time an insurance company billionaire spent a fortune to save you money?)

5. Prop 34: YES
Why: My religious and ethical feelings and beliefs aside (I don't believe any one has the right to take away another person's life) there are two major flaws with the death penalty: 1. It costs more to put a prisoner to death than it does to keep them in prison with no possibility of parole, so it would save the state money. 2. There are always cases where a person condemned could possibly be the wrong person, and then you would have killed an innocent person.

6. Prop 35: YES
Why: I think human traffickers should receive increased prison sentences and fines. We need to take a stand and show that this is unacceptable!

7. Prop 36: YES
Why: Because it will save the state money, and I don't think a person who has only committed non-violent crimes should be condemned to life in prison. We need to save those spaces for violent criminals. Yes, I've been a victim of a non-violent crime. My car was stolen, and it sucked! But if the kids (I don't know if they were kids, but it seemed like a prank a kid would play) had been caught and it was their third non-violent felony, I really don't think they should have gone to prison for life for stealing my 1997 Saturn Coup.

8. Prop 37: YES
Why: I'd like to know if my food is genetically engineered or not. Plus, even though there may be flaws with this proposition, we have to start somewhere. And I'm sorry, but Monsanto is funding every single No on Prop 37 commercial I have seen. If Monsanto doesn't want this, then I definitely do!

9. Prop 38: NO
Why: It taxes people who only make $17,346 a year to fund schools. It is a massive income tax hike for the middle class, your rates could go up by as much as 21% over twelve years. When Prop 30 is also being voted on to tax the rich to fund schools, I don't think we need to have this tax as well.

10. Prop 39: YES
Why: It requires that all corporations doing business in California pay taxes determined by their sales here, no matter where they are based. If they are getting the opportunity to use our incredibly large consumer market here in California, I think they should also be paying their fair share of taxes back to the citizens in the state who are buying their goods.

11. Prop 40: YES
Why: Seems like even those opposed to this proposition are no longer opposed to it, so why should I be?

10 Things I Learned at the Chicago Marathon

1. Don't ever trust Hotels.com: George and I made reservations with them months ago for a one bedroom apartment, and the place canceled our reservations the day before! (I had confirmed on Wednesday, and they canceled them on Friday). Hotels.com wouldn't help us at all!

2. Be patient and kind and persistent and good things will come to you: After 3 hours on the phone ,with the place that canceled our reservations, George got us very nice one bedroom at the Courtyard Marriott, which was on the race course.

3. If you are going to Chicago in October, be prepared to run in COLD weather: Otherwise you might be forced to buy a cute penguin hat to keep your ears warm, but all your friends might think that you are wearing a fried egg on your head.

4. Marathons freakin' hurt! I thought since I had trained for this one, actually trained and followed a marathon schedule, that this would be a nice long jog. Well by mile 13 I had to switch from running 9 minutes/walking 1 minute to running 4 minutes/walking 1 minute, and my legs started to feel like a jack hammer was hitting them. Or actually, like they were jack hammers hitting the pavement really hard, over, and over, and over again.

5. Counting down makes things easier: At the half way point, I told myself: "Hey, I just have 13 more miles to run. I can do that. I've totally run 13 miles before!" At 14 miles I told myself: "I just have 12 more miles to run! I can do that, I've run 12 miles before!" At 15 miles I told myself: "I just have 11 more miles to run I can do that! I've totally run 11 miles before"...and so on. You get the point. Basically I had to keep telling myself over, and over that I could do it. I'd done it before and I was going to do it again!

6. Don't kid yourself: if you can't run for 10 minutes at mile 15, then you aren't going to be able to run 10 minutes at the end of the race either. At mile 20, I started thinking: "Wow, just 6 more miles left, if I was running 10 minute miles then I would be done in an hour" (BTW, I was NOT running 10 minute miles, but whatever). I thought: "I can just run it in, no more walking breaks!" Ha! That lasted until the next 4 minutes when my watch beeped, and I decided that maybe I would stick with the run/walk until mile 23. At mile 23, I knew I could just run it in. I mean, it would take me only 30 minutes if I was going 10 miles per hour (which again, I wasn't). But again, the first time my watched beeped after I had passed mile 23, I stopped to walk. I thought: "Well, 3 miles is a little long, but I will definitely run in the last 2 miles." Let's just say, I did run in the last .2 miles, and running down that finish line shoot is quite amazing!

7. I am actually an ultra-marathoner: No need to sign up for the ultra team next year. I did an ultra last Sunday. First we had to walk 1.75 miles to the starting line. Then we ran 26.2 miles. Then it was .5 miles just to walk down the finisher's shoot to get our medals. Then we had to walk 1.25 miles back to the hotel. Then we had to walk 1.4 miles to get to dinner and back. So my little legs took me 31 miles on Sunday, and that's an ultra marathon!

8. Nothing Beats Zachary's! I love Zachary's, but I thought being in Chicago, I would experience the true Chicago deep dish pizza and be blown away. But what I learned was that nothing beats Zachary's. In fact the pizza in Chicago didn't even come close! I didn't even want to eat the leftovers for breakfast!

9. Friends and family support is so important: Knowing that my parents were out there on the course waiting for me to come by and cheer me on, and knowing that my friends were out there running with me, made my day!

10. And most importantly: It may not be a good idea to do something new on race day! So I thought it would be cute to wear my Jasmine Barranti underwear. You know, that way I could pretend she was running with me. Well, normally I don't wear underwear, and they started chafing at mile 2, and I had to spend the entire race sticking my hands down the front of my pants trying to readjust them, which wouldn't have been so bad, except that the streets were literally lined with spectators, so I had to do this directly in front of people staring at me and yelling at me to not give up, and keep going!

All in all, it was a great race, a great weekend, and a great vacation. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to run a marathon (or watch other crazy people run a marathon). 

Spooky, Scary Zombie Run!

Ok, so maybe it's not spooky yet, but it is definitely scary. I am attempting to organize a 5-K Zombie Run in October (20 or 21) for a fundraiser for both the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Diabetes Hands Foundation. Yesterday I met with Claire Blaney, who was wonderful and told me everything I need to do in order to make this even successful. It was quite a lot of things to do! I think the hardest part is the unknown. I'm scared that if I put all this effort in to the Zombie Run, it might be a waste of time if enough people don't show up and I don't make any money!

But I guess the only things I need to pay for are the permit: $160 and the race bibs: $150 and a $300 deposit. Hopefully I will be able to make that back and then a lot more, but I've never been a fan of throwing fundraisers that cost money, because there is always a risk that you could lose money.

But you know what? Enough being scared. I am just going to take this head on. One step at a time, which means today I will apply for the permits (or at least contact the Parks department to see if those two days are available). Once I get permits, I'll set up the event on EventBright and then start working on sponsors and volunteers. It looks like I might need at least 20 volunteers!!! Oh my, I hope I can find that many.

Anyone interested in volunteering? Of course that would mean you couldn't run in the race...which will be totally awesome if I can get it all together! There will be runners and zombies. The runners will all start with at least 3 lives (flags on a yarn belt that can be yanked off by zombies). Runners can only win the race if they complete it and still have lives left. Zombies can win by finishing the race with the most lives taken (in under one hour). I think it'll be a little crazy...I'm going to have zombies running the course both ways, but if it works out, we could make a lot of money for cancer research and to help connect, engage, and empower people touched by diabetes!

42 Last Week, 41 This Week

No, I am not getting younger, and by the way, I am not even in my forties yet, thank you very much! 42 is the number of miles I ran last week for my marathon training and 41 will be the number of miles I will run this week for my marathon training. Crazy, huh? I mean, I know I just did two Ironmans, but when training for them we were swimming and biking, and working out A LOT, but we never had to run more than 40 miles in a week, in fact, I think I only ran over 20 miles in a week a couple of times.

So do I like it? I think I do. I really like not having to swim. Chlorine is yucky, and my goggles always leak, and since it's never warm in the Bay Area, the thought of swimming never seems very appealing. I also like not having to drag my bike and all my gear around with me every where I go. I mean, I still love to ride, and get a ride in every Tuesday with my OSB buds (if you are free on Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 you should join us!) but it's so nice not to have to bring it with me every weekend!

And you know what? Running is kind of fun. You might think it would get monotonous, doing the same thing every day. But each run is so different and unique. Last Wednesday night I ran 9 miles at Inspiration Point. The fog was rolling in, the wind was blowing so hard, I felt like I was going to fall over. I was out at the very end of the trail all by myself, thinking that zombies were probably going to come out and chase me:

And then on Saturday I was running 5 miles on the American River trail. Even though it was only five miles, we didn't start until 11am, so it was super hot, and I felt miserable. It took every ounce of determination for me to keep going and not stop and walk. But then the next day we woke up at 6am, started at the exact same location and ran 18 miles. That 18 miles was mentally easier than the 5, since it was so early, and nice and cool, and there were so many people out running with us. It was really enjoyable.

So far I'm loving training for a marathon (ok, well two marathons). Maybe after this I will go back to tris. But for right now it's a good break.

Running from the zombies at Inspiration Point

Already Needing Encouragement!

So I thought when I signed up for a marathon that it was going to be super easy compared to training for an Ironman...but I already slept in this morning and missed running the ten miles which is on my Chicago marathon schedule (yes...I am training for two marathons right now...but there are 2 months between them, so I figure I should be totally fine). Yesterday I mapped out my course, and was super excited to wake up at 6:30am this morning and go do it...but then this morning I was super tired, and in a lot of pain from track yesterday! Coach Al made us do pushups and crunches, and squats and supermans..and well I hadn't done strength training in about 6 months...so let's just say I am hurting more today than the day after Couer d'Alene.

Anyway, I guess the reason I am writing this is because I need encouragement. I know I can still run the ten miles today..but since I missed doing it in the morning, it all of a sudden has become so much more daunting. But isn't that what this is all about? Physically I know my body can do it...but this isn't about what my body can do...this is a mental struggle more than anything else. Leave my nice comfy house with my adorable kitty cat to go out and spend 2 hours hitting the pavement. Right now it doesn't sound like too much fun...but just writing about it right now is making it more and more likely that I will do it. In fact the more I write about it, the more I am thinking, this is silly. I just need to get out there and do it. Someone who is getting Chemo doesn't get a choice about whether or not they want to. They fight ever day. That's what I need to do!

Ok I guess it's time to stop talking and start doing! I'll update you all later today!