1.7 mile repeats

it was a beautiful evening so we decided to take the 1 train up to 72nd street and walk east across the park towards ps6 for our 6:45pm nyrr running classes. the magnolias and cherry blossoms were in full bloom! and we saw a cardinal on the park ground, about five feet away from the walking path. it was the first time we had ever seen a living cardinal, and it looks exactly like cartoon depictions (and st louis cardinal jerseys).

as we approached ps6, some of the coaches were hanging around the entrance and smiled at us as we entered the building, bellowing "the couple that runs together, stays together!" that's the second time i've heard that expression yet, and i think it makes both of us smile :)

practice sounded not too bad initially, but was actually quite painful today, partly because i have not moved the legs since last wednesday.  one mile jog each to and from the starting point, and then we did 2 x 1.7 mile repeats. i joined pace group 2 this time, since i felt fairly comfortable in pace group 3 during the last running class.

baaaad move.

i found it difficult to keep up during the first loop, but managed to finish within my pace group at 12:14 (7:11 mile pace). the second loop was another story, finished towards the end of my pace group at 12:25 (7:18 mile pace). but anyways, i guess that's how you get faster!

wore my new asics quick lyte single tab socks (got them at the asics sample sale last week) and they were AWESOME. super thin, breathable, and kept my feet cool through the workout. definitely going to get more of these for the upcoming training season!

framing

happy hump day!

rather than hopping off the desk multiple times to accept deliveries, i took the day off today to take care of a few things around the apartment and accept delivery for our new credenza from bludot, dip-dyed stools from serena & lily, and planters from terrain. 

for the last few months, we've been making weekly trips to the goodwill to donate clothes and shoes, and to the strand to donate books, and slowly accumulating furniture and plants. with the exception of dining table chairs which we still haven't decided on, i think we are finally done with furniture for the living space. in fact, after visiting our neighbors in 11BC the other night, i think we have far more pieces than them, and need to be careful about keeping the space open.

now, onto the walls! :)

we have three pieces which i want to get framed. the first is a print called "festival on south street 1930" by kuo hsueh-hu (郭雪湖). it is a colorful depiction of taipei’s famous dihua street (迪化街) during the lunar new year festival on south street (南街殷賑). i found the piece in a fun hakka blue shop on dihua street in march and kevin and i both fell in love with it instantly.

the other two pieces were paintings by my currently 95-year old grandmother. a few years ago, my grandmother sustained a few injuries in a series and as a result was feeling feeble and sad, and beginning to pull away from her painting, dancing, and mahjong activities. in an attempt to motivate her to resume those activities and regain confidence in her own health, i asked her to paint me two paintings that i could hang up in my home. she seemed reluctant at first, but upon my next visit to taiwan (kevin and my first trip back together) in december 2012, she proudly presented me with three gorgeous paintings! i will describe them and their significance in a separate post.

so i spent this afternoon looking at frames and mattes, and speaking with custom framing specialists at michaels on 22nd street and aifriedman on 18th st. i have framed just two pieces before, and basically just picked a simple frame and dropped them off at a framing shop in the west village years ago. it was amazing to speak with the custom framing specialist, lionel, at aifriendman. previously, lionel had worked at different galleries in the city, and still works to set up shows for friends and artists. his knowledge about the different mounting techniques and frames was extensive, and i respected the advice he offered and his aesthetic abilities.

in the end, i am thinking of going with a thicker white beveled-edge matte with a thin walnut frame and uv protection glass for the kuo piece, and a light taupe silk matte with a wooden frame with gold detailing made in france for the pieces by my grandmother. the kuo piece will go above the new credenza in the living room, which is flooded with southern light throughout the day, so without the uv protective coated glass, the print would inevitably fade. the other two pieces will go in our bedroom, which has northern light and blackout shades, so it shouldn't need the uv glass in this apartment.

price tag? ridiculous, but hey, you only do it once right?

green coffee

for the last few months, kevin has been preparing pourover coffee and packing it into our toppot insulated mugs in the mornings. i usually need more time than him to get ready for work in the morning, so i try to line up my hair, makeup, and accessorizing time with his coffee making time. LOL. usually i still need more time though and he's waiting for me with his jacket and shoes on at the front door.

i'd assumed that kevin was making artisanal coffee each morning in part because it tasted better, as a personal hobby, and to kill time waiting for me, but today he mentioned to me that it was also in part to save on buying coffee and wasting paper cups day after day.

this put a huge smile on my face ... we both keep nalgene's at the office for drinking water and i also keep a pair of chopsticks (as not to use the bleached wooden chopsticks from various food vendors). a next step would be to reduce the use of plastic cutlery at the office - currently i use one spoon and one fork a day at the office. if everyone did this, it would create a whole lot of unnecessary trash.

so maybe next week i'll bring in my own spoon and fork. this will require a little time each day to bring my cutlery to the kitchen and wash them, but it's the least i can do for mother earth :) we try to be as green as possible at home too, reusing and repurposing as many disposable containers as possible, and recycling the others. in fact, our recycling container fills up many times faster than our trash bin.

i talk about reducing reusing repurposing and recycling too much though :p

on another note, my friend from japan has officially moved to the USA!!! welcome, yvonne! i was so happy to bring her for your first officially american meal at chipotle ~ chicken burrito bowl ~ this afternoon! and i have a new friend for spa trips in flushing!

asics gel-excel33 3

i was the first and the only one on-line at the VIP asics sample sale at 30th/fifth ave this evening. maybe it's the japanese in me ... but i managed to pick up my first pair of asics shoes - the gel-excel33 3! 

we took them for a short spin on the west side highway afterwards and it was quite heavenly. literally. the shoes have fluidgel and rearfoot gel cushioning systems in the midsole and heel, respectively, so there's an extra bounce in each step. i can see why so many senior citizens wear sneakers, in particular, asics. while they may not win awards for aesthetics, the construction and technology seems good so far.

having not run for a week (me, not kevin, who has been consistently getting out for his 6-8 mile runs, rain or shine!), i ran just 3.5 miles and had a difficult time even with that. uuf.

i was recently very impressed by a fellow strava-runner who takes down mileage on a daily basis. i'd like to be able to do that. it's not a matter of physical exertion either, it's more having the mental strength and consistency to lace up the sneakers and get outside for a run, even if it's just a short one. we'll see :)

the new guys (middle shelf on the left bookcase) are assimilating quite nicely!

plant propagation

i spent a couple hours this afternoon repotting a few plants, and using the cutting method to propagate one of our snake plants. kevin had a little fun with his new canon g7x and here are the results.

best: spaghetti with parmigiano reggiano and parma prosciutto and linguine with uni are my unequivocal favorites at basta pasta. tonight we shared them with simon, one of kevin's best friends from college. and followed up with momofuku milk bar's cereal milk soft serve with cereal crunch. a delicious way to end the day!

worst: sunny blue skies and and earlier sunrises will mean setting my alarm earlier on the weekends to get our runs in. i think in july/august last summer, we were starting our runs/rides around 4:30am to avoid the harsh and sweltering rays of the sun.

smile: we met kevin's mother's sister's husband's brother (<-- hahaha), wife, and son, for brunch this morning at the midtown landmarc. they are total foodies and love exploring cafes ~ oodles of energy and so much fun. difficult to believe they're our parents' generation!

scotland run

we ran the nyrr scotland run 10k this morning, our first race of the season, and the weather turned out pretty nice! 48F and 61% humidity. kevin now starts in a faster corral than me, so we no longer start the race off together or run any portion of it together. i miss running with him, but it's better for him to be competing with faster peers who can challenge him to improve and it's working!

since i haven't really done a run longer than 3 miles in a couple months, my plan was to take it easy and treat it as a long training run. the first mile went quicker than expected though, and i hate increasing splits, so i tried my best to hold on for the next five. since we ran clockwise in the park, we did harlem hill backwards to our benefit, but i still wasn't able to pick up the pace for miles 5 & 6. finished the race with 7:40 mile splits, about the same pace as when i raced it two years ago. haha ... no improvement :p

after the race, we ran into brian yuen for coffee and a fun post race recap & analysis at bouchon at the time warner center. it was the perfect way to spend a saturday morning.

met up with glenn and nick (in town for the long wkd from chitown!) for brunch at the dutch, where i had the fresh cheese omlet with a side of bibb salad and ale bread, and kevin had the smoked salmon & bagel with soft scrambled eggs and trout roe. our meals were delicious, and relatively healthy feeling too - not greasy at all, which is my kind of meal! i paired my brunch with a clean green juice blend, which contains kale, spinach, cucumber, lime, pineapple, and mint, and kevin had his third cup of coffee for the morning. LOL.

for dinner, we met up with glenn and nick again, as well as a few other cmu friends, at jack's wife freda's, to welcome grace and dallas back to nyc. it was a nice reunion for us all, as we haven't seen dallas since last summer before his most recent and last deployment. after dinner, we hosted an impromptu gathering at the loft to watch wisconsin kick some kentucky butt in the final 4s. 

wisconsin vs duke REMATCH on monday for the 2015 ncaa championship!

best: malva pudding at jack's wife's freda's! it doesn't look too special, but it tastes oh so good and relatively light. it's basically a soft caramelized muffin-texture dessert with a side of creme fraiche.

worst: still jetlagging this weekend ... we were able to keep ourselves up by doing mind-numbing activities such as box folding though. managed to clean up the office after an hour of box folding and paper shredding.

smile: one of kevin's colleagues at work was also running this morning's race and, for some reason, felt the need to hype up the race and start a market with all their former colleagues about their race times. what was supposed to be a fun race ending up being somewhat of a stressful pissing match as former colleagues were betting on kevin beating this guy by as much as 8 minutes. i was very annoyed because now kevin would be stressed out about the race and had people pinging him all week long about how much money they had on him, this spread, and it was basically our first race of the season. in the end, kevin kicked that guy's ass big time and beat him by 8:05 minutes :) regardless of how he performed next to that jerk, im proud of him for the vast improvement in his time!

squishy shoes

best: it was raining out, but we attended our first nyrr running class at central park this evening. i still can hardly believe that the reknowned bob glover was our coach and came out with us in this pouring rain (!!). i ran 3 sets of 1600m at 7:35 mile pace with 3 min jogging in between, with a half mile warm up and cool down. first lap felt quick, second lap felt breezy, and final lap felt a bit too slow.

worst: pretty great start to the day waking up at 4:30am (jetlag) and enjoying some slow time with kevin in the morning over coffee and congee. as today was month-, quarter-, and year-end for our firm, and my first day back at the office, it was hectic to say the least, but good. it felt good to be back, catching up with clients and colleagues, and getting my product back out. unfortunately a last minute meeting with a senior salesperson turned my entire day around and i arrived at practice pretty upset and defeated. 34 years old, and i'm still learning to manage stress - actually it seems to get harder as i get older. but hopefully i can put it behind me and move on by morning.

smile: haven't trained with a team in 15 years, and totally forgot how great it feels to have the coaching, camaraderie, and competition. i'm really looking forward to getting out for our race this saturday and to the next class. and i think my goal will be to move up comfortably by the end of these 8 classes from my current pace group.

台北

taipei. we were still suffering from jetlag, so we got up early for an easy run along the keelung river this morning. it was super windy, but it was a pretty peaceful place for a run. i like exploring new routes, and along this run, we actually ran past my grandma's neighborhood and around the songshan airport. there was also a route on the northern side of the river, which we'll have to try another time.

at 8am, we arrived to 奶奶's place for breakfast and she was up and dressed, and all made up! it's been a while since i've seen my 95 year old grandma in such a good mood, dressed up, and even with lipstick on :) after breakfast, my 大姑 picked us up and we drove out to 金山 to visit my grandpa's gravesite. it started pouring right after our run, and continued raining hard throughout the morning, but my grandma was determined to take us to the gravesite as it was kevin's first time to pay the visit. we fell in and out of sleep during the hour long drive, catching glimpses of the pacific ocean and the gorgeous taiwan shoreline to our right. it reminded me of driving along the 1 in oahu.

it was raining so hard and very windy when we arrived at 金山, and we had to walk four treacherous flights of stairs up the mountain to my grandpa's grave. i was very worried about my grandma, but with kevin and me by her side, and my uncle and auntie in front and back, we made it up and down with no problems. that is the last time i will let my grandma take us on a rainy day though - i regretted it immediately as we were trying to come down the mountain side.

after the tomb sweeping, we stopped by 野柳 (yeh liu) to bargain for dried seafood, and bargain we did. between my grandma, aunt, and me, we left with +20 kilos of fish floss, scallops, sakura shrimp, and various other types of dried seafood cooking products. i can't wait to put them to use!

for lunch, we dined at the taipei 101 鼎泰豐 (din tai fung), and met my close friends from tokyo days at 雞窩 (gwoo) for dinner. after being suckered into eating an obscene amount of food at breakfast and lunch, we were glad to sip on delicious chicken soup and the light-flavored dishes at dinner.

it was actually emily's last night in taiwan before her month-long australia trip, so a few of her friends came out. they were so so so funny ... after dinner, we all had drinks at a speakeasy-type bar, ounce, where PDT bartenders from nyc were mixing drinks! feels like tokyo days ...

a day of potting

it was 42F out and cloudy - perfect for running weather! we ran to the FDR and back, for a total of 5.2 miles this morning. out of shape and a few pounds happier, i mean, heavier, i was winded by mile 3. uuf.

after the run, i took my princess time getting ready - la di da - i love long baths and showers on the weekends, and we headed to chinatown for lunch at nyonya. i let kevin run with the ordering and we had roti canai, prawn mee, bean sprouts, and half a hainan chicken & rice order. i tend to eat too much at nyonya and make myself sick, so i nibbled a little here and there.

then we made the long-awaited trip to the sill together! i chatted with eliza and andrea for a while about their plant recommendations based on location, lighting, and level of care needed. we have so far managed to keep healthy all the plants in the loft: a 4 ft fiddle leaf fig tree, a few snake plants, and a handful of succulents, so i'd say we have a non-black thumb. yellowish-greenish even perhaps.

we decided on a few additions to add to our small collection and a couple of custom-made stoneware clay pots and saucers. from the top right (clockwise), they are: vining philodendron, marble queen pothos, neon pothos, and dwarf zz plant. they are supposed to be relatively drama-free and easy to care for. 

i spent the afternoon repotting them and placed them around the apartment. it feels much livelier around here already :)

had a spontaneous roundabout with daisy at the new harbs around the corner (yay finally!). we shared the sakura tea, yuzu sencha tea, strawberry tarte, and rare cheesecake. the cakes were very light, fluffy, and tasty, and the teas, not too sweet, were a nice complement. we were wondering - what exactly is "rare cheesecake"? as it turns out, it's the japanese way of saying it's a non-baked cheesecake. LOL. im pretty sure that's the way cheesecake is traditionally made in the US as well. it was a fun, relaxing way to spend chilly sunday afternoon.

oh and HARBS. what exactly does it mean? the explanation is almost as classic as the "rare cheesecake" logic. harbs is derived from the word herbs, which are tasty and lovely to the taste. funny :)

and below are my potted friends! welcome home.

crybaby run

the sun is starting to rise a little bit earlier and sun a little bit later, so kevin and i left work a tad earlier to go for a run with a little light out. kevin claimed it was warm out and changed into shorts, so i did the same. and as a result of my naivete, i left all my cold-weather running gear (gaiter, hat, and gloves) at the apartment. noticing kev was wearing his gaiter in the elevator, however, i ran back quickly to grab mine too. 

it was only when we got outside and started moving that i realized he was wearing his hat and gloves as well. darn, i had taken him too literally. it was not "warm" out at all, it was 36F and temperatures were falling. on top of it all, i think my gps watch may have been malfunctioning due to the cold temperatures and it was measuring our pace at 8:40 at times and 7:30 at other times.

the combination of being out of shape + frustration of not being dressed properly + having no idea what our pace was + running on an empty stomach was too much for me. i stopped after mile 4 and walked the last half mile up to meet kevin at the piers.

what a lousy evening!! i titled it my crybaby run because inside i was having a seriously lame tantrum.

flashback

what is this?

this was after my desperate attempt to stay warm on our walk back from the chelsea home depot on sunday. i cut a hole in the bottom of the HD bag and stuck it over my head, putting my hands through the handles. it looked a bit foolish, but when it's 36f and im wearing shorts and a dri-fit long sleeve shirt, it was worth it!

queensboro bridge repeats

we're told that the most difficult part of the nyc marathon is around mile 16-17 when you're coming out of queens and getting onto the steepest climb of the course: the queensboro bridge. from bottom to top, it's approx 475 ft of gain and from one end to the other it's approx 1.5 miles long.

so kev and i decided to practice and ran over after work this evening and did queensboro bridge repeats (4x). it is quite beautiful in the evening with the sunsetting in the background, and it amazes me how many people are walking, running, and cycling in the pedestrian walkway. for some, it could be a part of their daily commute! and the views are gorgeous, a welcomed distraction when the lactic acid is building up in your muscles.

strava map of our workout

queensboro bridge, linking queens to manhattan

best thing: blueberry muffin from corner cafe bakery and a glo juice (grapefruit juice, lemon juice, orange) for breakfast! i was treating myself after getting some decent training on the calendar for the last two days!

worst thing: cyclists riding in the pedestrian lane on the queensboro bridge. it's not safe for anyone!

someone who made me smile: these guys :) i was stuck at my desk today and didn't have too much interesting interaction otherwise :/

wsj: surfing pups take to the waves in california
(full slideshow: http://online.wsj.com/articles/photos-surfing-pups-take-to-the-waves-in-california-1412014208)

20-miler complete!

kevin and i have been training for the ny marathon since july, though we were only doing 5-10 miles/wk in july and upping it to 10-30 miles/wk in august. overall, the workouts haven't been as consistent as either of us would have hoped, but i think we may finally be getting into the groove of things, especially with his princeton ironman 70.3 out of the way now (completed on sep 21st)! we have been logging about 15-30 miles/wk in sep, though i think ideally i'd like to bring it up to 35-40 miles/wk, with swimming and plyometrics as XT on the off days. what do i really know though ... but i do feel guilty on the mornings that we sleep in and don't get a workout in.

anyways, today was our longest run to date - 20 miles! starting at 5:45am, we ran from 14th street up the west side highway to the start of our nyrr bronx 10-mile race at 168th street by yankee stadium. who is crazy enough to suggest running at 5am as to beat the sunrise? ME. who is the sweetest, most caring and considerate husband in the world to appease my insane request? kevin, hands down.

the first ten were basically in the dark, so absolutely divine for sun-allergic me, also quite peaceful. the latter ten were a bit too sunny, but it was great to be running amongst 10,000 fellow runners and the crowds were cheering us on! there was also a "fun" hill on 155th st coming off the WSH. we took it nice and easy, but i wouldn't mind going back and owning it. repeatedly.

our awesome 20-miler today!

with just three more weeks left for long runs (oct 5, 12, 19) before we're supposed to taper (oct 26), hopefully we can get some nice weekday tempo runs in and nice long weekend runs as well. we may try to check out the north brooklyn runners at mccarren park as well!

and finally, our dinner tonight! spaghetti with homemade bolognese sauce, parmesan reggiano, and maison kaiser cheese bread. soooo delish and pretty easy to make so we made a big batch which we'll be able to save for a couple dinners later this week.

tomorrow morning will be our first day of commuting from williamsburg to work in the city! hope the trains aren't too crazy ... 

best thing that happened to me today: not hurting my knee or ankle on our long run! YAY

worst thing that happened to me today: in the company of a girl that i was once friends with, but had a falling-out with a couple years ago. we have some mutual friends so we do bump into each other from time to time. i personally want to just forget about what happened, but her de-friending me from FB leads me to believe she feels otherwise. lol. it just feels like unnecessary drama!

someone who made me smile: kaira, my friends' susan & hode's baby girl who turned 1-year old on friday, in her gold polka-dotted shirt and bright pink tulle skit and matching bright pink hair piece which mom also handmade and sported herself! kaira also started walking on her own on thursday, the day before her birthday - happy birthday, lovely girl! i can't wait to watch you grow up :)

ps. i logged in 43k steps on the walkertracker, which put me in 3rd place overall with 207k steps. first place is coming in at 232k steps, so even more reason to get those morning runs in and catch him!