running in nyc

on friday, i thought i'd do at least 30-40 miles, but that wasn't in the plans. sometimes, you need to listen to your body. my head and overall body felt disoriented; i think it was electrolyte deficiency, and i was taking endurolytes, but apparently, not enough. i only ran 23 or 24 mile, but had some good times. i saw some pretty amazing street scenes in chinatown, the kind of scenes that make you think you are in a foreign country. today i ran 15 miles and have spent the rest of the day doing stuff for work (ugh) and knitting and chilling with t. tomorrow i'm volunteering at a 5ok and a wintry mix (the dreaded wintry mix!) is predicted. spring can't come soon enough!

thinking back on 2009

when i made my new year's resolutions a few months ago, i of course had the ones we all have -- you know, lose weight, keep a cleaner house, whatever. but i had a few that i really stuck to:

1. be a better girlfriend. i realized t was putting a ton of effort into the relationship, and really supporting me in ways most people couldn't. ("honey, i'm going for a run tomorrow. i'm leaving at 7 a.m. and returning 4 p.m. then i'll be too tired to do anything but eat and shower. you don't mind me not being present on sat, do you?") so i've tried to be a better girlfriend and not letting running take over my life as much as it sometimes does.
2. be less busy. i remember crista and i sitting on a rock on christmas day in bariloche. the weather was beautiful (80s), sunny, and the town quiet. we had some relaxing good meals, lovely desserts, and wonderful conversations. we both realized how stressed we always are, and how busy. and i vowed to be less busy. it's been hard but i've done it. i've cut out the excess shit (you know, the big group dinner you didn't have fun at anyway, the networking event you hated going to, the errands you really should combine into one trip instead of three...) and i feel calmer. i try to get friends who have more time to come to me -- or i'll combine two birds with one stone by inviting friends over to have dinner with me (i'm eating a lot of yummy homemade awesome foods lately) or share some of my extensive tea collection. i feel less stressed and like i have more time. t and i have had some lovely quiet nights at home, which is truly feeling more and more like a home for the two of us.

2009 is a great year so far!

buenos aires, part II

ringing in the new year with my girl!

beautiful statues at recoletta.and of course, eva's resting place at the recoletta cemetary.

they call this food. crista and i were very frightened.
with some new friends at museum club (wearing cute new dress -- crista and i shopped heaps!)

when it was time to leave, i was sad, but psyched to get home to good food!

mar del plata

who wears the purse in this relationship? me and my friend scott. he's grabbed my purse though!
three running musketeers - cris, scott, and me

nothing captivates me like waves

the beach crew. poor cris reacted towards malaria pills and got bad sunburns, thus, had to cover up.

iguazu

so amazingly beautiful. these waterfalls blew away anything i've ever seen before.

bariloche, again

in bariloche again, i met up with crista. it was different traveling with someone else (i'm honestly not used to it), but quickly adjusted. we had a blast -- shopping, eating chocolate, hiking.at the stupa at the top of a horseback riding, the beautiful prayer flags.

we went horseback riding on xmas eve, and saw this amazing view at the top. the horseback ride would've been more pleasant if crista and i didn't have to go to the bathroom during it.
the amazing lake we hiked to.

the chocolate-obsession in bariloche was insane. i wanted to climb into this case and eat my way out!!!!

amazing view on our hike.

the best chocolate cake of my life. i am still dreaming of it.

el bolson

of all the places i went in argentina, el bolson was my favourite. in the morning before i flew to bariloche, still tipsy, i met some other travelers who had been to el bolson and talked abt how absolutely boring it was. i worried. they were wrong.

i had a blast. my first day was freezing and rainy. the hippie fair, part of the reason i went there, was winding down b/c it was so crazy windy and rainy. i bought some amazing jewelry (v, rachelle, rosa, and others, this is where it's from) and met some amazing artists. i spoke spanish. i bought yarn -- handmade -- from this awesome argentine family (and i'm currently -- as in, tonight! -- knitting with it and it's absolutely gorgeous!). i talked spanish with random people. i ate a waffle topped with amazing fresh raspberries and cream. i fed a stray dog. i met a nice american boy at a cafe who's farming down here. we had some pretty amazing conversations.

back at my hostel, i chilled with silvio and jerome. they were both really interesting. also met a nice argentine boy, marco. at the hostel, we cooked, chilled, knitted (well, that was me, and eden crocheted) by the fireplace. i drank a $3 bottle of red wine that was quite delish.


silvio and i went on an amazing hike to this waterfall. we got lost hiking there and coming back. it was absolutely stunning, truly a vortex. it took our breath away. it was phenomenal. el bolson truly is a special place.

jerome, silvio and i headed to a type of commune outside of el bolson where we celebrated the summer solstice with yoga, chanting, and meditation. it was freezing but pretty amazing. i don't know the spanish words for some of the asanas, but i figured much of it out...it was an amazing and special time.

el bolson is one of those places -- kind of like burning man or dominical, that takes you breath away. the combination of nature and amazing people and some sort of truly special vortex...i did not want to leave. it was truly a peaceful and wonderful place. i miss it.

bariloche, argentina

i got to bariloche, exhausted from clubbing all night long. i immediately went down to the water and lost myself in the amazing view. i met a nice argentine jeweler who invited me to a party. unfortunately, i was way too hired and almost felt like i was on some sort of crazy drugs - i was that out of it from exhaustion. i went to bed at 8:30 pm

buenos aires, part I

buenos aires was great. it had the same intensity as new york city, only more chill and less stressful/in-your-face. i met a rad woman from queens who was staying in my room. we ended up talking about burning man while walking around the japanese gardens and in a modern art museum.

the other big thing i did was go clubbing. pretty fun. here's me and one of my hostel friends, while drinking caipirnhas. we went to the legendary club 69, with drag queen performers and too much fun. i came home at 7:30 a.m. (you don't go clubbing until at least two a.m.) and i was tipsy. i sat on the balcony of my hostel, chatting with other tipsy and tired backpackers. and then i flew (on less than two hours sleep) to bariloche.

salta

in salta, i spent a lot of time walking, thinking. i did a pretty amazing hike (here i was sweaty after the hike), met some rad peeps, and really fell in love with mate.
my view from my hike.
another view from my hike.
the architecture in salta was just stunning.


i ended up knitting frantically to finish crista's xmas gift. here i was, chilling in the sweaty salta afternoon, knitting on the hammock. it was quite nice and relaxing...i had a great hostel, met some amazing people. it was here i made some realizations about my life, about love, about needing time to think and be and live.

full reportback on argentina trip

sorry for the delay. i'll be posting photos and brief bullets on my argentina trip in the next few posts.

what kind of idiot i am

"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon."

--Alan Cabelly

valentine's day ode: things i love

my morning started off all depressed, but quickly got better. i headed out for a good 43 mile run. my mood has greatly lifted, though i'm absolutely exhausted.

to counter my crapola mood earlier, i thought i'd highlight some of the things i love:

1. t. duh. since 1999 (with breaks here and there), we've been madly in love, each other's everything.
2. running. as if i even needed to put this. if t. completes me, running makes me who i am. (once i asked t, "would you still love me if i weighed 500 pounds?" and he said, "no, because if you were 500 pounds, you wouldn't be who you are. you wouldn't be a runner, and you would be very different."
3. chocolate. today is my favorite day of the year for that!
4. my family. my parents never give up on me, and always believe in me. my sister is still totally nuts and i love her for that. my grandparents are all kind as well, though they definitely don't understand the running.
5. yoga. it's often after doing yoga that i get the full mental benefits.
6. writing. i don't do it enough lately, but i love getting into a groove and completing something i'm proud of.
7. dancing. i love to dance and feel totally free and alive. at burning man, i went out alone during a dust storm and ended up dancing and hula hooping to some amazing old skool hip hop, and i felt so alive and amazing and ecstatic.
8. traveling. what's not amazing abt seeing new and fantastic places?
9. reading. i love to lost myself in another world.
10. crafting. it's so rad to create something fantastic yourself.
11. vegetarian cooking. i love baking and cooking. being vegetarian (and to be honest, not always the easiest eater to please), this is the best way to have a satisfying meal.
12. my kitty.
13. aid stations. you can pig out all you want (though if you watch me shovel my food at an aid station, you would probably think i was revolting!).
14. burning man. ah, to be totally free and alive and carefree and ecstatically happy...!
15. good mail, like letters from v or love letters or my running mags.
16. my kickass friends, like v and rosa and all the runners and everyone else who contributes amazingly to me being as happy as can be.
    

v-day

no, i'm not unfortunately talking abt the day where we celebrate how great v is, but i'm talking abt valentine's day. what is today? is it really a hallmark holiday?

as the years have gone on, i've continued in the same relationship, but i can honestly say it's never been boring. hard, yes. painful, yes. complicated, yes. but NEVER boring.

t's job requires him to be at sea away from phones and work nonstop for 1-2 wks at a time. he's working right now, on v-day. we normally don't place such importance on v-day. in fact, we've probably been most often apart on v-day. it makes us realize how important we are to each other.

this year, we were supposed to be together, but t's work schedule changed (what else is new?). our plans were spend the day together, maybe get a hike in upstate or go to a museum and have a romantic dinner at home, but he's out. and it's weird -- no one is telling me it's v-day, and i haven't even seen any signs (it's 8 a.m.!) but i'm filled with this sadness...lately, him being away for work is harder and harder.

so i'm going to turn v-day around this year. i am abt to head out the door for a good, looooong run -- maybe 7 hours or so. we'll see. i'll be happy if i can do abt five hours. then, some good cooking (lentil stew or granny's barley soup), some knitting, eating chocolate and drinking wine, and seeing a good friend dj. this v-day, i'm going to skip the commercialism and love myself.

for the love of it

i had an awesome run home today -- ran fast, it was 50, i felt great. running along the east river in manhattan and brooklyn was beautiful and quiet.

i just signed up for a notoriously tough 50 miler with cutoffs many of my friends did not make. they altered the course, but still, i worried. the terrain is technical -- will i make the cut-offs? i emailed my friend nelson, who wrote,

As far as whether you will complete the 50M in time? So what if you do not? 13 hours outside in May! Still, it is hard work...

he's so right. i'm getting away from the point. i run because i love it. i had a huge smile on my face, running through the streets of nyc today. running makes me feel free, alive, amazing. yes, i will be disappointed if i don't make it...but i'll be elated if i do! i'll never know unless i try, and it will be challenging AND fun, no matter what.

i love my mommy and daddy

i'm 29, but sometimes, i still feel like a child. tonight i had a fantastic run home, made a kickass dinner of risotto (yes, what a pain but oh-so-yummilicious!) with pesto, butternut squash, cannellini beans and broccoli, and am abt to put a pot of tea on. i'm happy, my apt is clean, i may start some knitting...but just talking to my mom made me realize how important my parents are to me. they still do so much for me, and i feel SO comfortable there. if i had a car, i would go to fortunato brother's, get a box of pastries (i'm really hardcore craving their lemon cookies), and drive over there to snuggle in my granny nightgown (which my mom bought me a few years back) under those amazing blankets we love in my family and watch the bishop's wife or some movie we all love. home is where the heart is...but seriously, lately, t and i have done heaps of organizing, we got a bunch of plants and i love it. i feel so comfortable, so happy, so at home and lovey here as well.

i'm so sad that our country is based on hate

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

it's even worse after an ultra, people!

sick

i hate being sick. i've been sick since sunday night...i went home sick monday and tuesday from work, have been sleeping a lot, not really running. today i worked from home. feeling rather drained and weak, but hoping to get back in shape for a good long run this weekend.