Being Laid Off.. Means More Training!

Just finished my fourth week of Sprint Triathlon Training and I am getting really excited about the idea of being a triathlete!

 In the midst of my training I never would have thought I would get laid off from work but indeed I did. My company was recently acquired and about half of the work force did not make the transition. My initial reaction was OH NO! But after thinking about it- there is a silver lining.

First of all I am thankful that I started my Fundraising right away and hit my goals! Most of the people that helped me were family, friends, but also coworkers.

Second of all while I'm searching for the next awesome job opportunity I get to train and workout out more! I get to take classes that are in the middle of the day (that I used to wonder who took.) I've never had the title of "Unemployed" before but when life gives you lemons- make lemonades.

I'm less than $600 away from my Fundraising Goal!!

Happy Friday the 13th!

I cannot flippin' believe that less than 2 weeks with blasting emails and facebook posts that I am less than $600 away from reaching my fundraising goal of $2600!!

I am officially at 78%. I cannot be any happier. Now my goal is to reach my goal BEFORE training starts. My first day of training is Saturday May 19th.

That way I can focus on helping my Mentees reach their goals so they can have fun training for the triathlon.

I know there are other people fundraising for various different charities and here are my top tips:
- E-Mail blast to family, friends, coworkers. I only reached out to people that I can imagine wanting to help out but you'll still be surprised who will help. If you are unsure if they going to donate and don't want to reach out directly that's what Facebook is for...
- Constantly posting your website and status on Facebook will create more urgency
- Don't feel bad reaching out to people that said they were going to help out but haven't- they may have forgotten or been busy but it's okay to nudge them!
- Doing a FUNDRAISER! I've set one up through Aqui's- where 20% of proceeds go to you. All people have to do is come out and eat! Easy enough.

I'll leave you with an inspiring Triathlete photo. That will be me come September!!

Live.Swim/Bike/Run.Donate??

Guess who is going to be doing their first Triathlon this year?! Yes you guessed right- Me!! (Assuming you knew it was me ;)

I am coming back as a Mentor for Team Challenge. Its going to be my third official season! They helped me train for my first half marathon (Napa 2 Sonoma 2010) and I was honored by becoming a Mentor the following season (Las Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon 2010.)

Training doesn't start until May but I mean its only 2 months away. I can't wait for winter to be over so I can enjoy being outside without being so cold!

We'll be doing the Tri-Rock Sprint Triathlon in beautiful San Diego on Sunday September 9th.


What's more important than accomplishing this fitness goal for me is raising money for Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. I am raising $2600.00 in an effort to find a cure! This disease affects over 1.4 million Americans yet most people don't even know about it!

Hope you'll donate (every little bit counts) and I'll make you proud in doing my first triathlon!

Can you tell I'm excited??

Where Does The Time Go?

I can't believe that my last blog post was in January! Flipping almost 11 months ago!

So.. while re-reading what I wanted to accomplish in 2011 I am excited to share that I DID accomplish some of those.. and unfortunately am in the same place for some as well. :(

Nothing to be too down on because tomorrow is a new day and today I have the opportunity to embrace CHANGE. Again always easier said than done.

So some highlights this year was that I DID manage to do not 12 but 14 RACES! I would say it was really aggressive and not sure I can top the type of races next year but I can definitely try.

The races I did were the following:

1. Kaiser Half Marathon in SF (February)
2. Chinese New Year Run 5k in SF (February)
3. St. Patricks' Day Run 5k in Los Gatos (March)
4. LOS ANGELES MARATHON (March)
5. Santa Cruz Half Marathon (April)
6. Presidio 10 miler in SF (April)
7. Mermaid Series Sirena 18 miler in Fremont (May)
8. See Jane Run Half Marathon in Alameda (June)
9. Mermaid Series Duathlon in Alameda (June)
10. Giants Plate to Plate 10k in SF (August)
11. Nor Cal Series Half Marathon in San Jose (September)
12. Nike Women's Half Marathon in SF (October)
13. Morgan Hill Half Marathon (October)
14. Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in San Jose (November)

Ahh its nice to reminisce on all the races accomplished.

My favorite is always Nike Women's but the race that I really enjoyed was Santa Cruz Half Marathon. The Finish Line is on the beach! The yellow lanyard with the pretty metal was nice too.


I'm really hoping to commit to a post once a week.

I have so many new things I want to accomplish next year and finish this year with a bang!!

Getting Rid of the Holiday Weight!

Happy New Years everyone! A whole decade is now behind us and there are so many things to look forward to in 2011!



I would say that since I only started running last February I've definitely come a long way and I have a lot to proud of but... I could be doing more. A lot more. The first half of last year I was so motivated to lose weight and get myself ready for a half marathon in July. The second half of the year since I started a new job my focus was more on that and I did less running and therefore gained 10 lbs! Yikes.

I could blame it on the new job, winter eating, but I know what I was doing wrong. I was eating more and working out less. A horrible combination. New Years came just in time for me to focus and get back on track.

Last year I did 11 races that included 3 half marathons and a handful of 5k, 10k, and a 12k. This year I want to one up that and do 12 races- one each month really and all new ones BUT there are a few that will be repeats and since they are repeats I will train and beat my time.

Some of the races that I have signed up for already so far are:
- Kaiser Half Marathon in February in SF
- LA MARATHON!! My first FULL MARATHON in my home town!
- Napa to Sonoma- will bring me memories as my first half marathon was done at this race.

I'm really excited that I decided to do a full marathon. The training will get really serious with doing runs of up to 20 miles at one time. To date the longest mileage I've done is 14 miles so doubling that sounds very daunting but I'm up for the task.

Aside from the above races I want to find one to do in Santa Barbara- as an excuse to visit my old college town and of course Nike Women's since I had so much fun last year.

I am also thinking about getting bikini ready too! Yes summer is 6 months away but weight loss doesn't happen over night. My goal is to lose half a pound a week for 20 weeks in order to get to my ideal weight of 135lbs. I was able to get to this weight last summer so I have faith I can do this again.

Here's to a wonderful 2011 and doing everything that you set your mind to do!

1 Week Away from my Third Half Marathon!

I can't believe that I'll be running my third half marathon in exactly 1 week. I seriously went from not running at all to having run in 10 races this year. I'd say its been an eventful year and I so look forward to more new races next year. I'm definitely going to be revisiting my favorite races but for the most part I want to do all completely new races. Instead of doing mostly 5k and 10ks I'm going to do more half marathons and also trying to train for a full marathon.

This weekend will be the first time going to Vegas for non partying purposes but you know I'll make sure to get some fun in. I'll have to try my hand at craps and of course hitting the buffet.

I also did the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot this last Thursday and it was soo cold. It was perfect practicing weather for this weekend in Vegas seeing as it may be in the 30's. I definitely want to make it a tradition to run right before pigging out for Thanksgiving.

I am Thankful for where I am in my life right now and look forward to whatever is to come.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Back to the grind tomorrow!

2nd Half Marathon In The Bag! Nike Women's Rocks!

WOW- talk about amazing half marathon! Nike Women's Marathon far exceeded my expectations for a race. I knew they were going to do it big but jeez it was amazing. I have been so excited about this race since I was able to get into it in April in the lottery! I never felt luckier.


Packet Picket Up at Union Square in SF

Went up to the Nike Expo on Saturday afternoon to pick up my packet and the line wrapped around Union Square! It went really fast because they were super organized. We got a great pink draw string bag because I was doing the half marathon while full marathon peeps got a neon green one. The expo had a lot of great booths but the line wasn't worth it for me to partake in them but I did enjoy perusing. Some of the things they had at the Expo were:
- Biking on a stationary bike to earn a smoothie- so good!
- DJ booth
- Facebook area to hook up your race time to FB
- Free Pom, Luna Bar, Gatorade
- Speakers from all over talking about the race


Nike Women's Marathon Sign in front of Macy's in Union Square


"Run To Be" is the theme of this NWM 2010


OKAY I was super excited to go to Niketown in order to see the participant wall! Proud to see that we helped raised 100 million dollars towards Leukemia and Lymphoma society. This Nike wall had all the participants names and I found mine! Once we got into Niketown it was trouble. I was definitely prepared to spend some moolah on cool NWM merchandise. Its hard to NOT get into it. Then its super fun to see other women wear all the Nike gear. Its like we have this bond like wow you got in too! I ended up getting a sweater, hat, water bottle, jersey, and since I spent over 125 bucks got a free make up. This race is great that its for women. ;)


My name is on the wall! They got all the A's in there!

I got soo lucky that my veteran runner/sorority sister/old roomate came into town to run the Nike Women's marathon too! Its her third one so she knows all the ins and outs! We ended up having a little "pasta party" of our own with her mom and another sorority sister Mari at Fino's in SF. It was perfect for carb loading the night before the race.


"Pasta Party" at Fino's

Starting time at 7AM!! We woke up at 5:30am ate a banana, cereal bar, drank some water and was ready to go! It took a good 15 minutes for them to get us out of the starting line with 20k people in the race! I'll highlight the race here:
- Okay really challenging course- lots of hills- I had to walk a few of them up
- Tweaked my ankle at mile 3 so it was pretty painful to run downhill but oh wow it felt so good to go down hill
- Power songs! Every so mile they had great music playing
- Capturing our time at every 5, 10k, 20k, etc and being able to stream that online! Super high tech race!
- Sprinkling lightly at the end and having it pour on the way back to the car
- TIFFANY'S NECKLACE HANDED TO YOU BY A TUXEDO-ED FIREMAN!!
- Having so many different stations for water, Gatorade, chocolate mile, oranges, bananas
- Great goodies at the end! including dri fit Finisher's tee!!
- Tons of volunteers everywhere and people cheering


Waiting to start in darkness at 6am


My friends at the start!


My Tuxedo-ed Fireman with my Tiffany's!

I am also super beyond happy that my boyfriend Anthony showed up to the Finish Line :D I was so happy to see him. He braved the cold/rain weather parked super far, got me flowers, and treated me to sushi after. The best part was that he said he was proud of me. Thanks honey!


Me and my babes Anthony!

I cannot WAIT to enter again next year and hopefully get in! My muscles are sore, my ankle kind of hurts, and I'm under the weather to a potential cold but SUPER worth it.


Tiffany's Necklace!

I'll leave you with a quote that Safeway as a sponsor had a sticker on the ground for motivation..."When your legs get tired you run with your heart"