Holiday approaches
Yesterday morning, sun was out, with flurries. It was windy in the East River Park, flurries danced around joyfully while I did my laps around the baseball field. The greatest season for running is upon us. I enjoy the cold weather very much, and less crowded parks. Mercury dropped further today. It was very busy delivery night and that made our delivery boy happy. A box of amazing tree-ripe oranges arrived from Texas. Gearing up for Thanksgiving.
on november 20, 2008 @ 12:29 am [link]
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soy diary
SOY or DIE
I called my Jewish grandmother Beverly and she asked me, "Did you run the Marathon?" "Yes!" "I heard two people died. You have to stop! People die running a marathon!" No, I won't die. I eat at SOY every day! So our original T-shirts have arrived- available at SOY for $25. The design is by Gerald from Psyop- he draw it in our first "Book of SOY." Very nice quality shirt from American Apparel, and they are in colors I like to wear. After a whole day of different kind of manual labor in front of computer, cleaning up graphics and writing html, I finally finished the t-shirt page. Here it is.
on november 17, 2008 @ 11:31 pm [link]
I called my Jewish grandmother Beverly and she asked me, "Did you run the Marathon?" "Yes!" "I heard two people died. You have to stop! People die running a marathon!" No, I won't die. I eat at SOY every day! So our original T-shirts have arrived- available at SOY for $25. The design is by Gerald from Psyop- he draw it in our first "Book of SOY." Very nice quality shirt from American Apparel, and they are in colors I like to wear. After a whole day of different kind of manual labor in front of computer, cleaning up graphics and writing html, I finally finished the t-shirt page. Here it is.
on november 17, 2008 @ 11:31 pm [link]
Post race report
My other victory was from last sunday's NYC marathon. Four long months of training was finally over. The week before the marathon, of course I was feeling that I didn't train enough, but kept telling myself that there was nothing more I could do running-wise. I tried to rest as much, but my right leg was still quite tight sunday morning. Coco also woke me up every two hours, plus from pre-race anxiety I didn't get good sleep. I was tired and cranky when I woke up, but as soon as I headed off to Staten Island Ferry at 7 am, everything seemed to be fine. At the entrance to the terminal, I ran into Vincent and his company. We rode the quiet lower level of the ferry across the bay- it was a beautiful crisp morning. We took Japanese pictures with Lady Liberty in the background. From the ferry, we took a shuttle bus to the start. Trees lining the streets were changing colors beautifully. Smooth and comfortable travel, except at the gate of staging area, which was terribly congested. I said good-bye to my friends and hurried across to my corral. Professional women were already heading to the start. Although the race has grown to 40,000 runners, it seems so much more well organized than years ago. Porta johns were sufficiant, and we didn't wait in the corral for an hour. We still had to wait at the start for half hour, and this time as "Local Elite" I was in the top group for green start. Until last year women had separate start on the bridge, and running at the front on the upper level was so much more exciting and dramatic than this year's green start, where we waited for the start crammed next to parked busses, and there were no PA system set up for our area, so no announcement, no star-spangled banner for us. Only signal was the helicopters above then the race was on. The wind was so cold and brutal on the bridge, but it was not as bad for the rest of the course. Past the bridge my teammate Micheal caught up with me and we ran along together to half-way point. A lot more music along the course this year- over a hundred bands! We were cheered on by enthusiastic crowd, loud music, and of course at some point Rocky's theme was heard to fuel us. It never fails. I saw many friends along the route, Dave and Mia with enormous belly (she's expecting just about NOW) before mile 8, Yuko on Lafayette, Mark with his dog at 15k, Kyomi with a Japanese flag uptown, Sara by Marcus Garvey Park, I was dying a little going slight uphill on Fifth avenue when Stacy spotted me, then past the cheering section from my team as I entered the Central Park, more familiar faces in the park for the tough last three miles, Bola, Frank, Sid, John, and countless unknown people who called out "Go SOY!" because I was wearing the "SOY" headband again. I ran a pretty good race, finished in 3 hours and 19 minutes and 58 seconds, which was the third best marathon record for me. At the subway station, I was about to swipe my metrocard, but a MTA worker pulled me off to the side and let me go through the service entrance. I forgot that runners get free rides on Marathon day- although I don't know if it's an official MTA rule. I came home and called Orly. "How did you do? What was your time?" "3:20" "What time did you say you were going to do last night?" "3:20" "You're so Japanese," she said.
on november 7, 2008 @ 08:04 pm [link]
My other victory was from last sunday's NYC marathon. Four long months of training was finally over. The week before the marathon, of course I was feeling that I didn't train enough, but kept telling myself that there was nothing more I could do running-wise. I tried to rest as much, but my right leg was still quite tight sunday morning. Coco also woke me up every two hours, plus from pre-race anxiety I didn't get good sleep. I was tired and cranky when I woke up, but as soon as I headed off to Staten Island Ferry at 7 am, everything seemed to be fine. At the entrance to the terminal, I ran into Vincent and his company. We rode the quiet lower level of the ferry across the bay- it was a beautiful crisp morning. We took Japanese pictures with Lady Liberty in the background. From the ferry, we took a shuttle bus to the start. Trees lining the streets were changing colors beautifully. Smooth and comfortable travel, except at the gate of staging area, which was terribly congested. I said good-bye to my friends and hurried across to my corral. Professional women were already heading to the start. Although the race has grown to 40,000 runners, it seems so much more well organized than years ago. Porta johns were sufficiant, and we didn't wait in the corral for an hour. We still had to wait at the start for half hour, and this time as "Local Elite" I was in the top group for green start. Until last year women had separate start on the bridge, and running at the front on the upper level was so much more exciting and dramatic than this year's green start, where we waited for the start crammed next to parked busses, and there were no PA system set up for our area, so no announcement, no star-spangled banner for us. Only signal was the helicopters above then the race was on. The wind was so cold and brutal on the bridge, but it was not as bad for the rest of the course. Past the bridge my teammate Micheal caught up with me and we ran along together to half-way point. A lot more music along the course this year- over a hundred bands! We were cheered on by enthusiastic crowd, loud music, and of course at some point Rocky's theme was heard to fuel us. It never fails. I saw many friends along the route, Dave and Mia with enormous belly (she's expecting just about NOW) before mile 8, Yuko on Lafayette, Mark with his dog at 15k, Kyomi with a Japanese flag uptown, Sara by Marcus Garvey Park, I was dying a little going slight uphill on Fifth avenue when Stacy spotted me, then past the cheering section from my team as I entered the Central Park, more familiar faces in the park for the tough last three miles, Bola, Frank, Sid, John, and countless unknown people who called out "Go SOY!" because I was wearing the "SOY" headband again. I ran a pretty good race, finished in 3 hours and 19 minutes and 58 seconds, which was the third best marathon record for me. At the subway station, I was about to swipe my metrocard, but a MTA worker pulled me off to the side and let me go through the service entrance. I forgot that runners get free rides on Marathon day- although I don't know if it's an official MTA rule. I came home and called Orly. "How did you do? What was your time?" "3:20" "What time did you say you were going to do last night?" "3:20" "You're so Japanese," she said.
on november 7, 2008 @ 08:04 pm [link]
Victory!
It was a long day. Now my cat woke me up at 5 am after the daylight saving time ended last weekend. It was my first Election Day. And I was so proud to be a part of it. At 7 am, I went to cast my precious vote for Obama. While I was getting my garbage out at 11 pm, I started to hear cheers and howling all over the neighborhood. After the long day, I am very proud of our victory. Change will come. After 20 years in this country, I am officially the part of it.
on november 5, 2008 @ 01:13 am [link]
It was a long day. Now my cat woke me up at 5 am after the daylight saving time ended last weekend. It was my first Election Day. And I was so proud to be a part of it. At 7 am, I went to cast my precious vote for Obama. While I was getting my garbage out at 11 pm, I started to hear cheers and howling all over the neighborhood. After the long day, I am very proud of our victory. Change will come. After 20 years in this country, I am officially the part of it.
on november 5, 2008 @ 01:13 am [link]