80s are back

Yes I know they have been back for a while, but I have refused to cave into the high waisted jeans. But now the 80s are hitting our house. Splish was having a sale on the rainbow brite bathing suit, and I thought if these two girls wear it (scroll down to see the matching suits), then there must be something to it. So I got one. The suit in all its neon glory arrived yesterday and I cant wait to try it out.

It has been really cold and windy here lately, so I have wimped out on getting in the water, but I plan to this weekend. The 80s have made a comeback in other areas as well. See Chris's tightrolled pants. I taught him how to do this since he was a baby in the 80s and never actually tightrolled anything, but he has taken to it like a champ. And no, this is not a joke, this was how he wore his pants at dinner. Gotta love him.

Christmas in Hawaii

Each time I have spent Christmas in Hawaii I get a little sad because it just doesnt feel like Christmas. I miss the cold weather, hot chocolate, and building fires. However since it is my last Christmas here, I now realize how much I am going to miss it here this time of year. Instead of snowmen, we have sandmen...

Instead of snow, we have sun....


Instead of real snow covered trees, we have fake snow covered trees...

But we still have my favorite - Gingerbread houses! This is a picture from the HUGE gingerbread village that one of our hotels created. This picture is just one little tiny portion of the village, and it looks delicious! I cant remember the full details, but it took them an unbelievable amount of time to build and way more icing than I could even fathom. Hmm, I wonder where the leftovers are.


All in all Christmas was great this year - both moms made it to visit, and we had some much needed beautiful weather. The dogs got more gifts than anyone and as I type they are fighting over everything. I am glad to have had this last Christmas here, but am definitely looking forward to being back home with the family next year. Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope you and your families are happy, healthy and safe.

My views

I am starting to realize the benefits of paying attention to HR while running. In the past I have been doing pretty much the same pace no matter how long the runs were thus causing my long runs to be a little too hard and my short runs to be much easier than they should be. Sunday called for a 12 mile run with a HR below 130 for the first 8 miles and then I was supposed to pick it up the last 4 miles to half marathon pace. The first 8 miles were very slow. I kept hearing the garmin go off that my heart rate was too high, but I couldnt really go any slower. I was putting along at times over a 10 minute mile. Way too slow if you ask me! But this allowed me to enjoy the views that sometimes I forget to notice:




This is something I will miss in Mexico - running outside with these amazing views. I am hearing more and more that I have to live on a treadmill during the week and head out of town on the weekends to run in order to save my lungs from all the smog in the city. I hate treadmill runs. I dont really like running, but treadmill runs are the worst. At least outside I can distract myself with this...

After the first 8 miles my legs were a little tired, but other than that I felt like I hadnt really done anything. I was excited to pick up the pace and see what I could do. I started out with 8 min pace, and that felt good, so I picked it up to a 7:30 pace. I was able to hold between 7:15 and 7:30 for the entire 4 miles. The legs were burning, but it felt good. I am getting excited to see what I will be able to do in Houston.

Yesterday my legs were a little sore, but I was supposed to go for an easy jog. However, the day got away from me and everyone wanted to have sunset drinks. I had an iced tea and planned to run after. The plan faded when it got dark and I got hungry. So I went home and got on the trainer for a while. Here we are having the drinks. See I had good intentions! I am in my running clothes and everything!



Legs are feeling great again today (the spinning really helps) and I am off for another hard-ish run around the island. Then we are off to Barak-stalk. Hopefully I will have some pictures to show everyone.

Some may call this a wasted day...

While the rest of the island is on Obama watch 2008, my mom, Chris and I had other plans. Dog was having an autograph signing! For those of you that don't know, Dog is one of my favorite people to stalk on the island. I have seen him a total of four times (once on an airplane when I used my stealth skilzzz and took some photos of him and his wife). We got to Da Kine Bail Bonds right around noon and were surrounded by the most interesting group of people I have ever seen. We really didnt fit in. We waited in line for three hours - I kept saying that I could have brought my running shoes and done a really good workout while they were waiting. Here we are in line - we were required to buy something (proceeds go to charity) in order to meet them so I bought his book and got through about 12 chapters while waiting.

Here we are with Beth and Dog.


They were incredibly nice, and Dog made Chris's day when he told him to "Have a Merry Christmas bruddah". So we waited in line for three hours to get a total of about 30 seconds with each of them, to some people like my brother this may be a waste of a day, but we all felt it was totally worth it. With all the rain and my workout complete, what else were we going to do? Tomorrow we are going to head to Kailua to join the rest of the state to stalk Obama. Since it is a Monday I am hoping that it isn't too crowded.

Also, my blogger friend and fellow Vandy grad Beth got engaged this weekend. I am really excited that I am going to get to "meet" her in real life in Hawaii at the Honu tri where she will proceed to kick my ass in the race. Congratulations Beth!

Two More Weeks

The 'rents are in town right now and we are doing all sorts of touristy stuff. Partly for me as well because yesterday I realized I only have two more weeks left on the island until I head to my new city. I guess I will need to change the name of the blog, but traininginhawaii sounds way more exciting than traininginmexicocity doesnt it? Yesterday my workout called for a 4 mile run at lactate threshold. Prior to that I walked up most of Diamond Head with my mom. I have been told going up stairs is really bad for my leg, so i stayed away from the last 100 steps to the top. Here is a picture of me where I had to turn around. Notice how much vog there is (you cant even see the water that is behind me) - I am definitely getting prepared for Mexico City.

After that was the 4 mile run home while everyone else went to get coffee and malasadas (a huge guilty pleasure for me-basically fried dough with flavored filling). Oh did I tell you my no sugar diet took a turn yesterday? I am back on it today though. Three malasadas and a huge stomach ache later.

The run was pretty much entirely downhill, which made the workout much harder. Normally on flat surfaces I can get my heartrate up fairly quickly, however downhill, I wasnt at my target HR until I was running a 6:30 pace. I know that is standard for many of you out there, but for me this was really fast. But I did complete it and I am happy to say my leg really didnt hurt that much. The new contraption I have around my leg must be working.
And The photos from the marathon just came back. This is my favorite of Chris - it is the only one where he looks like he is having fun and not about to throw up. This is how I expect him to cross the finish line in his next marathon.

Pain Pain Go Away

Sunday was the Honolulu Marathon. It has been raining all week long and Sunday wasnt any different. I was in bed by 9 with a 2AM wakeup call that came REALLY fast. We woke up, got ready, ate a breakfast of bananas and toast with peanut butter and made our way to the start two miles away.
Here we are right before we left...
Notice the full grown stache. And how totally unhappy he was to be racing.



The weather was great outside - a little chilly (for Hawaii) and no rain. We walked up to the start and got pretty close to the front. This race is sponsored by Japan Airlines and has thousands of Japanese that come over and race, so we were surrounded by non-English speakers. Right as the gun went off there were fireworks - best marathon race start ever! Then the rain came. It came down hard. Like Houston-rain hard. I love running in the rain so I was loving this. I started out really slow which is totally not like me, but I knew that I needed to go easy to try and preserve my leg as much as possible. Miles 1-4 were fairly uneventful. It was totally dark outside since the start was at 5AM, so we were running through downtown Honolulu barely able to see anything. I was wearing a new band on my leg to add compression to my IT band and hopefully give me less pain, and I guess it worked a little. Instead of no pain after 2 miles, I had no pain until 6 miles. We were in Waikiki at this point, and my leg was killing me. I was willing it to go away. We climbed up diamond head and when I got to the top, I knew I wouldnt be able to make it 26 miles. I have never ever pulled out of a race for anything, so this was a really tough decision for me. It even took me another two miles to actually pull out. We got to a point where I could run the 3 miles back home, or head out to Hawaii Kai and finish the race. I decided to go home, and after 5 minutes of running towards home I contemplated going back. But I knew if I finished, I was going to have to start my therapy all over and miss the Houston race, so I continued home. I am still bummed about it today, but know it was a good decision.
I got home and started tracking Chris on the computer so I could meet him at the finish line. After 20K he was estimated to finish at 3:15 in his first ever marathon. I got dressed and left to head back to the finish line. I was watching from 2:55 - 5 hour finishers and never saw Chris, so I decided to go back home and see if he was there. He wasnt, but came home a little later. Turns out he was killing it up to mile 15 and then it all went downhill. He got really sick (either from the gatorade or cliff shots) and couldnt run anymore, so he walked the whole way home. He was pretty beat up when he got back, and vows never to do another one. I told him that feeling will last about 2 months until he forgets the pain he went through and actually wants to better his time (I think he can definitely do a 3:10 if he gets his nutrition down). All in all it was a bad day for team ryerson-huk, but I am so proud that Chris finished even when he felt that sick and I hope he decides to do another one with me! I am also glad I decided to pull out when I did. I know in my head that I have to lay off running to get any better, but I really hated to quit. I am hoping that the Houston race will be pain free.

And even though it doesnt feel like it in Hawaii, it is almost Christmas, so I decided to torture the dogs again and dress them up. Here is Liko in his elf hat.

The Candyman can

What is the worst theme for an office Christmas party when a candy-aholic is off of sugar?

Yes, our office party theme last night was Candyland. Unbelievable. This was the first thing we saw after we walked through a real life gingerbread house that I wanted to eat.

There was a HUGE center area full of mini cakes. Key lime, Strawberry Shortcake, Tiramisu, Chocolate, Carrot, I could go on, but it is making my mouth water.

And here I am next to a centerpiece. These vases were on every table.

All my chocoholic coworkers were in heaven, but not me. I had to make a couple of trips to the bar in order to not go crazy. It was this that really got me sad.

WHAT??? A cotton candy maker? Are you people serious? Any other year I would have welcomed this heavenly surprise, but not this year. No, I have decided that this is the year I try and give up sugar. I am starting to question my sanity. For those of you that dont know, Cotton candy is my absolute favorite. I can go without chocolate forever, but not cotton candy. On my 26th birthday the cake was a huge martini glass full of cotton candy. But I didnt give in. No sir, I didnt eat any of it. The only little ounce of sugar i had was a gumball. And this was required. We had a bubble blowing contest, and I said I can eat sugar while training or competing. And this was definitely a competition. There was smack talking and all. I still dont think we have agreed on a winner, but I am pretty sure it was me since I still have gum all over my face.
To satisfy my sweet tooth, I went home and made this....


I am actually pretty impressed with myself for not eating any of it. And all I had to do was eat 5 servings of the main courses to keep me too full to want to walk to the cake buffet.

I also want to give a HUGE shout out to Beth. She ran a 3:03 at the Las Vegas Marathon - her first marathon. Now that is FAST! Way to go!

Christaccio

After almost two weeks of eating sugar free, I am feeling a little bit better than I was during the withdrawal phase. My face is totally clear,I have lost a few of those Thanksgiving lbs and I can see where my stomach muscles used to be. I think I am going to stick to this. Hopefully this good feeling with transfer to my running long distances and I wont have any gastric distress and end up behind a tree somewhere on the way to Hawaii Kai.

The Marathon is a week away and we are busy getting ready. I still have not decided if I am going to run the whole thing or just run the first 10 miles and pull out and watch the finishers come in since Mile 10 is also the finish line. With my favorite race only 4 weeks away, and the problems I have been having with my IT band, I have been contemplating not doing the whole thing. It will probably be a race day decision. Chris "Christacco" (named for his growth the has been sporting above his upper lip) is in full marathon mode. He has been growing a mustache for a week now because he is planning on going retro in the marathon. What does that mean?? Yet another reason to pull out at mile 10 would be to take some sweet shots of him crossing the finish line!
Here is an early stage shot of Christaccio and his new do...Notice my t-shirt - I'm sporting a shout out to my new country!


And another one from a few days later. Also on the couch is my inappropriate dog begging for someone to pet her.


I will continue to status everyone as this leech continues to grow as I know you are on pins and needles waiting to see what it looks like.

From Aloha to Hola

Some bittersweet news. I will be leaving this place...


For this place...


The job gave me a promotion and along with that came a move to another city. I have always wanted to live internationally, so this is an exciting opportunity, but it will be hard to keep up with the triathlon stuff at least while I am getting settled in. I will be spending most of the first few months running and getting used to training at high altitude and high smog. Scheduling my 2009 year has been a challenge to say the least, but I know that I will be back in Hawaii for the Great Aloha Run and for Honu. The boyfriend has to stay behind in Hawaii until he graduates, so those two races happen to fall on the weeks that I will be visiting and/or moving our stuff to Mexico. I have some other races up my sleeve as well, but most are running races since my bike will be sitting on the trainer in the home on Oahu until it makes the trek to Mexico. The good news is that I will be much closer to home and a quick flight to some other amazing beaches. The bad news is I wont be able to run outside after dark (or really ever if I care about breathing in all that smog!). I have spoken to some people and there are a lot of running and triathlon clubs, so I am sure it will all be ok. And if not, the Mexico years will be the years where we improve our knowledge of salsa, tequila and mexican beer.

The best news of the weekend is that my mom was able to bid me a place in this race...

It was my first ever running race that I trained for and I love it. I have been trying to get in this year for a while, but it was sold out, so when I saw that you could bid on entries I called my mom. And she came through like a champ! She left her hair appointment early with wet hair in 45 degree weather just to get me this spot. Actually she called me on the phone to tell me those exact words, and I have never been happier hearing mom's guilt trip. She had to bid on it and all proceeds for this entry went to the Humane Society (where I rescued my older dog), so it all was very exciting news. Houston here I come! I guess I have to get through that other little race before I should think about next month. But at least race 1 of 2009 is planned. Now all I have to do is find some races in Mexico!

The Weighting Game

Two days after arriving in Houston Chris told me that he had gained 5 lbs. He is 6’4” so I couldn’t tell at all, but I am 5’5” and we had eaten the same stuff. Had I gained THAT much weight? Hmmm, I didn't think so.
Then came the Turkey Trot. It was only a 10K race and it hurt BAD. Luckily no diapers were needed. The first two miles were really slow – mostly because we were having to dodge the other 10,000 people running and there were a lot of walkers and slow runners that were up in the front. After that it thinned out, and I started being able to pick up the pace. Although what felt like a 7:30 mile was really an 8:30 mile. I am guessing I shouldn’t have had the extra fajita or three last night at dinner. So I tried to pick it up even more, but the heart rate must have gone way too high because those fajitas came back up around mile 5. Ugh! All I wanted was to finish at this point. So I took it back down to a real trot (probably a 9:30 mile, but I stopped looking at the garmin at this point). I also saw two other people who couldn’t keep their breakfast down. At least I wasn’t the only one. I finally finished and did beat one person in my family. Chip time said I had a 9:23 pace – not my finest showing. But gaining 5 lbs over a week will do that to you. After feeling like that for a 10K and seeing the photos of us running in our outfits I decided that it is time to get back to training again.

Actually, I probably should have been training all along as I have a marathon in just over a week. Um, yeah, that will be really fun.



So in order to get ready for this marathon and to try and get rid of the extra weight I have been using my new juicer constantly (I am OCD and this is my newest compulsion). I have also cut out sugar from my diet. I have been feeling crappy since doing it, but I hear after the first week I will feel better. I will update with results in a week or so.

And here are pictures of my less smart dog from the other night. Apparently he thinks his pee pad is a blanket. I guess hitting his head so much as a baby has finally caught up to him. Chris looked at me last night with a sad face and said "Baby, I think Liko is slow". Uh, ya think?

The Less Loved One

This is how I feel when I bring the boyfriend to Houston. Not only does he get more respect from the family but my friends love him more than me as well. One of my best friends told me that if the BF and I broke up she would break up with me. Great - no pressure! Anyway, the trip was a blast - we had a very successful 60th birthday for my dad and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Race update and photos will come tomorrow when I upload them to the computer. It has been a busy week of catching up on all the shows I DVRed over the vacation and playing with my new juicer.