So, last night was my dad's stunning raging heart warming retirement party. I scooted down to my parents house by 2:30p and we were off to the gathering. This retirement is from chief tech at St. Lukes but many of the people he worked with at UCSF had migrated over after he left there (of 25 years there). So, the party was at an old victorian million dollar home in Burlingame in a perfectly manicured back yard. The beauty of the house, the luxiurious amounts of food (quite overwhelming in quanity and quality), and most of all the ubiquitous people made my mouth drop to the ground. I felt like we were celebrities! Nonstop people just poured in and seemed so excited to meet his family. Little puppies jaunted around and laughter ruminated the jasmine smelling warm summer air. People sat down as the "book" was passed their way to write furiously all the last comments they wanted to say to my dad. Tears were flying either from hilarious stories he told, the funny stories they told of him, or from sadness as nobody wanted him to go. There was an occasional yell, "youre too young to retire!" ...and then they'd break out into song, "FOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW..." A very lively crowd.
What amazed me the most about it all was the fact that when my dad arrived to St. Lukes to take his new position as the manager the xray dept was in shambles, struggling to stay afloat, people were disorganized and disunified and morale was as low as a snail. He went in, gave them ample amounts of his time, showed he cared, unified the team, got them all raises, and more. The friendliness, unity and bonds among the coworkers there was unlike anything I've seen before. The young, the old, and every cultural background and personality type was there. Even those he had to lay off were there!! That was shocking to me.
I got to talk with one 24 year old guy who calls my dad his "mentor" and has become like a brother to us four. We talked all about martial arts and now I'm highly interested in a new challenge and am thinking either Korean or Chinese is what I will be looking into. His favorite is the Chinese kind and he knew every detail. I guess after church today he's going to bring some reading material on the different types so I can make an educated choice on where to start. I had NO idea there were so many different kinds. The Chinese even have one specifically for w0men called, "Wing Wan (something)" can't remember.
Anyway, it was so wonderful to see my dad in his element. I used to work with him at UCSF and knew he was excellent with patients and great with people but as a part of management I had no idea the kind of impact he made! People wrote things like, "you have become more than a colleague but rather a great friend. You've helped me so much, not just learn about work, but so much about life." I couldn't believe their tears that were falling throughout the whole party! It was extremely touching.
Lastly, my dad worked three jobs to make ends meet in the beginning so that my mom could really be a mom...not a half ass'd mom like we see so often these days. She was home with us, cooking us healthy meals, teaching us lessons that daycare providers could care less about. She was home to shower us with her love. This was all made possible by my dad who almost killed himself at one point working three jobs, going to school, and still found time to take each one of us on a weekly date to connect and also shower us with love, and be a husband. He also started a mini Tiburon kids running club on the bike path, trucked our friends to the pool and played dolphin tag, or "jump or dive" gathering all the kids together who were there. On our one-to-one dates we enjoyed soup at La Petite (hey, that's French!) or an ice cream at thrifties (no starbucks back then...haha). He had family meetings every night (all neighborhood kids were invited) and he encouraged us to talk about whatever we wanted or needed to, and we prayed together and read the Bible together. This carried through high school! So sweet!!
Emily, Erin, James and I are so extremely blessed and we know it!
He get's the best father award!!
with tremendous gratitude,
Jen
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Ride with Holly (last Friday)
Well, I had the privedge with riding with Holly last Friday. She's the triathlete who won France last year!! So, I met her in front of her shoe store and we both took off for an easy 50 mile ride with some good climbs in Petaluma. She calls me her mentee and I'm soakin' it up!! She was All American THREE times! She just qualified for world's a few weeks ago (which takes place in Florida) and had a TON of great advice for me in regards to France!!
I would say the best advice she gave me was to be prepared to be ON YOUR OWN in that race. She said she rarely saw a sag car out there and the bike shops are useless. She reviewed the USAT rules with me. She talked about the importance and the how to of nutrition during the race...and mostly the workouts I do now I need to be training my stomach! I never heard it put that way. She basically said it's one thing to train, but it's a totally different thing to train for an ultra-distance race...and with that comes the higher level of training your stomach. In other words, to do the extreme intensity for short distances or even something like a century without much food is totally tolerated. But, to go hard in a race for 12-14 hours long or longer depending on mishaps and such, well your stomach needs to be tough. You need to be able to race hard with a full stomach. UGH!!! I HATE EATING SO MUCH!!! BUT NOW I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THE RATIONALE!!! She said especially for France...we'll be seeing ALOT of vomit because people didn't train with a full stomach.
So, tomorrow I'm going out hard and long with lots of climbing...heat will be starting in mid 60's and end in low 80's and im going to stuff my face and climb harder!!! I'll blog how it goes. She taught me so much, and we'll be riding again so I'm excited to learn more from her. She's a God-send for sure!! Because I surely am inexperienced in it all!
Ok, that's all for now.
Mildly stressed, moderately excited, ready to go hard!!
J
I would say the best advice she gave me was to be prepared to be ON YOUR OWN in that race. She said she rarely saw a sag car out there and the bike shops are useless. She reviewed the USAT rules with me. She talked about the importance and the how to of nutrition during the race...and mostly the workouts I do now I need to be training my stomach! I never heard it put that way. She basically said it's one thing to train, but it's a totally different thing to train for an ultra-distance race...and with that comes the higher level of training your stomach. In other words, to do the extreme intensity for short distances or even something like a century without much food is totally tolerated. But, to go hard in a race for 12-14 hours long or longer depending on mishaps and such, well your stomach needs to be tough. You need to be able to race hard with a full stomach. UGH!!! I HATE EATING SO MUCH!!! BUT NOW I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THE RATIONALE!!! She said especially for France...we'll be seeing ALOT of vomit because people didn't train with a full stomach.
So, tomorrow I'm going out hard and long with lots of climbing...heat will be starting in mid 60's and end in low 80's and im going to stuff my face and climb harder!!! I'll blog how it goes. She taught me so much, and we'll be riding again so I'm excited to learn more from her. She's a God-send for sure!! Because I surely am inexperienced in it all!
Ok, that's all for now.
Mildly stressed, moderately excited, ready to go hard!!
J
Last week 250 miles in 4 rides and 30 miles running
Well, last week was all about doing the next workout with minimal recovery time. While I was somewhat fatigued the level of soreness was surprisingly low. Does that mean I'm improving??? Does that mean all the hard workouts are starting to pay off??? OF COURSE IT DOES!! What a concept!! Doing the workouts is one thing, but actually believing they'll really do anything is another. Now, I'm seeing first hand the positive results from my training...and it's starting...just touching the edge of the tip of the FUN iceberg...ok dir.
So, we moved my parents out of their beach house this weekend and they'll be spending two weeks with me...yessssss!! But, man, i gotta tell ya, i don't think i've EVER worked so hard in my life!! My sister and my mom were calling me my dad's other son! Ha! At one point my dad and I lifted the metal, razor sharp ping pong table and one half collapsed onto the other pinching our forearms. Then, we were stunned stupid standing there as the table started leaning to the right. So, we got our witts about us and started straining our backs trying to save the table from flying to the right. After what seemed like an eternity of pinched forearms we got the table safely to the ground. We were both pretty cut up, bloody, and a little shakey. Within ten minutes we were laughing hysterically at the shocking event!! OMG! You would have died laughing had you seen us two...out of control!!! It's been a very bonding time for our family, going through pictures, and all kinds of ceramic things we made for our parents from kindergarden. Amidst the fun times lies a strong presence of sadness too. While there's much fun ahead there is also realization that time is short and moving forward very quickly. A tear or two hits the ground as big changes are on the horizon.
Today I did sprints after a quick 3 mile run then stretched and then some yoga. I'm seriously contemplating a 2 hour run in the middle of the night tonight (talk about fun!!). Haven't made up my mind yet because I do want to be careful of not overtraining and tomorrow I have about a 7 hour training day with a bike climb up Pine Flats...a 21% grade (the steepest climb in sonoma...well bullfrog is that steep and a little bit longer but they're both like sisters).
I gotta post another blog so that's all for now.
TICK TOCK...
So, we moved my parents out of their beach house this weekend and they'll be spending two weeks with me...yessssss!! But, man, i gotta tell ya, i don't think i've EVER worked so hard in my life!! My sister and my mom were calling me my dad's other son! Ha! At one point my dad and I lifted the metal, razor sharp ping pong table and one half collapsed onto the other pinching our forearms. Then, we were stunned stupid standing there as the table started leaning to the right. So, we got our witts about us and started straining our backs trying to save the table from flying to the right. After what seemed like an eternity of pinched forearms we got the table safely to the ground. We were both pretty cut up, bloody, and a little shakey. Within ten minutes we were laughing hysterically at the shocking event!! OMG! You would have died laughing had you seen us two...out of control!!! It's been a very bonding time for our family, going through pictures, and all kinds of ceramic things we made for our parents from kindergarden. Amidst the fun times lies a strong presence of sadness too. While there's much fun ahead there is also realization that time is short and moving forward very quickly. A tear or two hits the ground as big changes are on the horizon.
Today I did sprints after a quick 3 mile run then stretched and then some yoga. I'm seriously contemplating a 2 hour run in the middle of the night tonight (talk about fun!!). Haven't made up my mind yet because I do want to be careful of not overtraining and tomorrow I have about a 7 hour training day with a bike climb up Pine Flats...a 21% grade (the steepest climb in sonoma...well bullfrog is that steep and a little bit longer but they're both like sisters).
I gotta post another blog so that's all for now.
TICK TOCK...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wildflower Half Ironman May 2, 2009
Woke up at 4am in my own comfy bed, finished throwing some last minute things into my car and zipped down to my parents house to bribe sweet Emma out of bed with the word, "COFFEE...oooh la la!" She and I packed my parents van and I was ecstatic that she was still wanting to come on a last minute decision...how blessed I am to have such a fun and supportive family! We love to support each other whether it be my dad's ping pong competitions, Erin's basketball, Emily's nonprofit organization for orphans in Peru, or James in his world of acadamia, and mom in her walking races or body boarding! Or my billion marathon/triathlon races. Ugh! Just way too much fun to be had by all!
We started toward socal rockin' out to Guns n Roses...an all time favorite cd! Great conversation, frequent stops for food and more Starbucks of course. Gorgeous weather! I did have a few health issues...a back pain that hurt to take a deep breath and some other ailments but since I paid for this expensive race I figured I should press on regardless.
We got there around 2pm, without an idea of where we were going to stay...$75 to camp out! Forget that! We did plan on staying in the van but there were absolutely no places to stay along the long road out to nowhere! We went to the expo, enjoyed sunshine, ate a burrito, listened to just a few speakers and then headed south to the next town (45 minutes away) Paso Robles. The drive was freakin' gorgeous! Emily was in awe! Just nothing but beautiful rolling green hills and very large lake San Antonio.
As we arrived we were pretty tired so we parked the van and napped. We hunted down a starbucks (couldn't believe that there was only one and pretty far off from the main happenings). We spent the whole evening in America's Living Room (starbucks) and it was a sweet comfort amidst my pre-race anxiety and health concerns. The rain was pounding from evening through the night.
We parked our van and slept like a baby...well i did at least. Emily didn't sleep a wink as she was fearful someone was going to break into our car!!!! Haha!!! I woke up early, got more coffee and ate a good breakfast before heading back to the race camp grounds. Everything went perfectly smooth before the race and the timing of everything. As I set up at the transition site I noticed the wetsuit that I borrowed from Holly (her husband's) was rather large on the upper body...oops...not good!! The sun was bright and the clouds were mostly gone!! WOW!! The predictions were for lots of rain!!
Em and I waited for 1 1/2 hour before my wave lined up. I was so full of dread and there were points I was beyond tempted to forget it and just go home. The pre swim dip was frrreeeezing!! I felt the water rush through the top of the wetsuit and instantly knew I was in trouble! So, i started at the back of my wave...90 women. As we ran into the water I automatically had to swim over most of the girls...i don't know, it's just innate i guess. I got toward the front end and after the initial sprint settled into a rhythm and knew today was my day I was going to focus on drafting since my suit was a big drag (no pun intended). I mostly had to pull with my right shoulder as my left back was pretty painful. I focused on a 3:1 stroke/breathe pattern and just worked hard the whole 37 minutes/1.2 mile.
Transition one was the slowest transition out of everyone in the whole race!! I absolutely couldn't not find the strength to battle the wetsuit off. My entire body was to the point of failure fatigue! I had to stop and let my body recover for a few minutes and then finally was able to take off on my bike. The winding start was mixed with the mountain biker race and it was a massive amount of people...fun! I learned the importance of starting SLOW to let my legs warm up and focused on recovering from the swim before focusing on the ride.
The ride went surprisingly well! I was steadily increasing my speed and mostly passed people during the whole 56 miles. There were some challenging climbs but nothing like the run! I remember eating my tuna sandwhich at mile 34 while going 24 mph and passing riders!! That did me right and it's always fun to figure out a piece of the puzzle! The weather was progressively hotter and even though I kept my big jacket on the entire ride (even as women rode in their bathing suits) I still managed to get sunburned on my face.
Transition two went three minutes faster but still slow. I took off on the run probably around 9:30-10 min/mile for the first 2-3 miles. I made sure that my breathing was comfy and that my legs moved with ease, feet low to the ground, and stayed in my own game as runners passed me frequently. I really noticed after mile 3 that my legs started to warm up and my pace picked up too! There were three massive climbs and I pressed on and didn't stop ONCE!! On each of those hills not one person was running, except me! I could not believe it! The sun was scorching at this point and I never cramped nor did I hit a wall! I ended up racing the last mile (downhill) at a pace that even surprised me! I passed a TON of people in the end and placed 11th in my age group on the run! WOW!!!!!! I patted myself on the back BIGTIME...something im learning to do more often and finding it most necessary as I build on my confidence which points me in the direction of success! Finishing time 6:10.
The whole race, while I wouldn't call it fun, was surprisingly an amazing learning experience and maintained the momentum I was looking for during this entire year...which actually started in socal the weekend before.
Em and I enjoyed the sunshine and live music afterwards for a couple hours. My legs were tired but not painful like after a marathon. We drove back home both so happy and thankful! What a race! I did it!!!
J
We started toward socal rockin' out to Guns n Roses...an all time favorite cd! Great conversation, frequent stops for food and more Starbucks of course. Gorgeous weather! I did have a few health issues...a back pain that hurt to take a deep breath and some other ailments but since I paid for this expensive race I figured I should press on regardless.
We got there around 2pm, without an idea of where we were going to stay...$75 to camp out! Forget that! We did plan on staying in the van but there were absolutely no places to stay along the long road out to nowhere! We went to the expo, enjoyed sunshine, ate a burrito, listened to just a few speakers and then headed south to the next town (45 minutes away) Paso Robles. The drive was freakin' gorgeous! Emily was in awe! Just nothing but beautiful rolling green hills and very large lake San Antonio.
As we arrived we were pretty tired so we parked the van and napped. We hunted down a starbucks (couldn't believe that there was only one and pretty far off from the main happenings). We spent the whole evening in America's Living Room (starbucks) and it was a sweet comfort amidst my pre-race anxiety and health concerns. The rain was pounding from evening through the night.
We parked our van and slept like a baby...well i did at least. Emily didn't sleep a wink as she was fearful someone was going to break into our car!!!! Haha!!! I woke up early, got more coffee and ate a good breakfast before heading back to the race camp grounds. Everything went perfectly smooth before the race and the timing of everything. As I set up at the transition site I noticed the wetsuit that I borrowed from Holly (her husband's) was rather large on the upper body...oops...not good!! The sun was bright and the clouds were mostly gone!! WOW!! The predictions were for lots of rain!!
Em and I waited for 1 1/2 hour before my wave lined up. I was so full of dread and there were points I was beyond tempted to forget it and just go home. The pre swim dip was frrreeeezing!! I felt the water rush through the top of the wetsuit and instantly knew I was in trouble! So, i started at the back of my wave...90 women. As we ran into the water I automatically had to swim over most of the girls...i don't know, it's just innate i guess. I got toward the front end and after the initial sprint settled into a rhythm and knew today was my day I was going to focus on drafting since my suit was a big drag (no pun intended). I mostly had to pull with my right shoulder as my left back was pretty painful. I focused on a 3:1 stroke/breathe pattern and just worked hard the whole 37 minutes/1.2 mile.
Transition one was the slowest transition out of everyone in the whole race!! I absolutely couldn't not find the strength to battle the wetsuit off. My entire body was to the point of failure fatigue! I had to stop and let my body recover for a few minutes and then finally was able to take off on my bike. The winding start was mixed with the mountain biker race and it was a massive amount of people...fun! I learned the importance of starting SLOW to let my legs warm up and focused on recovering from the swim before focusing on the ride.
The ride went surprisingly well! I was steadily increasing my speed and mostly passed people during the whole 56 miles. There were some challenging climbs but nothing like the run! I remember eating my tuna sandwhich at mile 34 while going 24 mph and passing riders!! That did me right and it's always fun to figure out a piece of the puzzle! The weather was progressively hotter and even though I kept my big jacket on the entire ride (even as women rode in their bathing suits) I still managed to get sunburned on my face.
Transition two went three minutes faster but still slow. I took off on the run probably around 9:30-10 min/mile for the first 2-3 miles. I made sure that my breathing was comfy and that my legs moved with ease, feet low to the ground, and stayed in my own game as runners passed me frequently. I really noticed after mile 3 that my legs started to warm up and my pace picked up too! There were three massive climbs and I pressed on and didn't stop ONCE!! On each of those hills not one person was running, except me! I could not believe it! The sun was scorching at this point and I never cramped nor did I hit a wall! I ended up racing the last mile (downhill) at a pace that even surprised me! I passed a TON of people in the end and placed 11th in my age group on the run! WOW!!!!!! I patted myself on the back BIGTIME...something im learning to do more often and finding it most necessary as I build on my confidence which points me in the direction of success! Finishing time 6:10.
The whole race, while I wouldn't call it fun, was surprisingly an amazing learning experience and maintained the momentum I was looking for during this entire year...which actually started in socal the weekend before.
Em and I enjoyed the sunshine and live music afterwards for a couple hours. My legs were tired but not painful like after a marathon. We drove back home both so happy and thankful! What a race! I did it!!!
J
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