The end of the decade and that start of another one

It's the end of another year and another decade. These are the time that I reflect on that last 10 years of my life and wonder where I have been and where I am going. What will be the new year be like?

One thing for sure is life is getting shorter and shorter and as I always say, you have to make the most of it and just do it. Life is meant to collect as much experience you can. Life are a collections of moments that not only inspires you, teaches you but makes you a stronger, and better person.

One of my goals is to focus more on my physical, mental and spiritual levels.

On a Physical level, I would like to continue running and working out. I would like to strive to get a PR at one of my marathon. I run for fun, not to compete. I only compete with myself and for my own health. There is an enjoyment and freedom that comes from running. My goal for next year is to run my first Ultra. The Northface Endurance challenge 100 miler run. I am also planning to come back to Ragbrai with probably a brand new team. I have done Ragbrai for 10 years. For those who don't know what Ragbrai is, it is the "Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. 500 miles across the state of Iowa in 7 days. They change the route every year.

On a Mental level, I would like to learn as much as I can for my career and learn 2 more languages. Ruby and Pyhton. I would like to also get back into reading more. I lost the ability to focus and concentrate in reading. My genre of reading material is usually Travel essays or True historical books. I need to get back into that.

On a Spiritual level, even though I was raised catholic, I don't really practice it. I see myself more as a spiritual person. I would like to be able to mediate more and take life easier. Not let the little things get to me. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Happy New year to all and Happy new decade.

Cheers

Grand Canyon Marathon

For my 20th marathon, I decided to do the Grand Canyon Marathon. I have hiked it down 5 times and I can not think of a better place to run a marathon this in my favorite places. I had trouble getting in at first since I was delayed in registering, but Jeannie, the director of the Marathon was able to get me in without a problem. She was truly awesome.

I must admit, I have not been doing much running this year. In fact, very little and I have even gain 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. I ran a Half marathon the Sunday before and felt very very sluggish and had a lot of problems with my left leg. My IT band was bugging me, then my ankle and then my quad. Nothing seem to be going well for me that Sunday on the Monster Mash half.

I got into Phoenix Friday morning and drove straight to the Grand Canyon to pick up my packet at the Grand Hotel, just outside the Grand Canyon NP (GC). The expo was just a pickup. But the goodie back was the best. I got a book on GC, a thermal, a tall GC cup, an LED Key chain and a dry fit shirt. It was great.

After the expo, I went to my lodging at the Bright Angel Lodge and was quite disappointed. It was a very small room, 1 twin bedroom, with a very small bathroom. No refrigerator or TV.

At about 4:30pm, we had a runner's orientation and had no idea what this could be about. I could only guess it would be rules that we had to follow since it takes place in a national park. Sure enough there was a wealth of information. This is the 2nd annual marathon, the first one had only 56 runners and this one had 300 runner. 175 for Half and 125 for full. It took a lot to get this marathon organized and about 7 different permits. You basically have to carry your own water bottle and have it filled up. No trash was allowed. You had to use the porta potty, no bushes. Leave no trace. This was very important.

The mile marker was as close to accurate as it can get. It is not a certified marathon. So it was 98% accurate as far as 26.2. No chip time. So this marathon was basically a very rough one.

The course started off with a nice 1 mile incline. I would have to say this was my 2nd hardest marathon I have done. I did not expect all the inclines and the 7000 feet of elevation, started to get me in the begining. I did however, regain my oxygen levels fairly quickly. Just had to catch some air. During the marathon I met Lawrence who was from Jersey who have ran 67 marathons and is around in his 60s. He is planning to run his 70th on his 70th birthday. Which has inspired me to run my 50th marathon on my 50th birthday. Which I will probably beat, since I am 42 and I have ran already 20 marathon. I also met Karen from NY, who this was her first marathon. I also met Beth from Phoenix who this was also her first marathon. She did awesome and I stuck with her in the last 10 miles. It gets lonely out there with very few runners and we were both alone by mile 17. So we kept each other going.

This marathon was a very unique marathon for my 20th and I am glad I did it. We hit spots in the NP that I have never been to.

The following day went to Sedona for a good 60 minute massage and felt great. Having not trained at all. I was free of any soreness or pain. Muscle memory in action.

Now, that I have ran my 20th, I am thinking about the future. What other marathon should I run.

For 2011 I so far have the following marathon listed.

1. Jan 6,7 Walt Disney Goofy challenge. Half/ Full marathon

2. Jan 27, Key west Marathon

3. Feb Rock and Roll Mardi Gras Marathon

4. May - Big sur Marathon in CA

6. June RnR Seattle Marathon

7. Nov- if I get in, NY marathon.

In between these marathon, I might run others that come in the way.

I would like to also return and do my 11th RAGBRAI, my bike ride across Iowa.

I also am planning to do my first 50 miler and my first 100 miler Ultra marathon.

We will see.

Thanks

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3 Mile run with my Beagle Tyko

Danny and Tyko


The 3 mile course

Last sunday, I decided to take my Beagle for a run. He has ran 1 mile before, but since I was lacking any motivation to run, I figure let me get Tyko to run and see if he can do a 3 mile run with some water breaks in between. Well sure enough he hung in there. My little beagle sure ran his little heart out. He did it. We took about 3 water break but ran around the park with no problem. Good boy

Naperville Half 2010

Well, still trying to get some motivation in me, I decided to see if I can do the Naperville half Sunday 9/12. I found Srihari, my friend and boss and we started off together but soon he took off. I wanted to take it easy and slow, since I have not had any running time this year and I have gained 10 pounds. It was a great day for a run and I felt great. I finished, but probably almost 20 minutes slower then usual. The only time I struggle was after mile 12, when I ran out of water on my camel back. This is the first time I ran out of water during a HALF Marathon.

Here is the course and stats

Life Changing

Lately, I have been thinking about life. I have dreams, lots of dreams... what the question is how do I make these dream a reality? Change. I think you need to figure out what you need to change to make your dreams come true. There are many life’s questions that often goes unanswered.

• Why am I here?
• Why did this happen to me?
• What is my purpose?
• Can I do better or is this the best I can do?
• Who am really am I?
• Do I pretend to be someone else to others and to myself?
• Is my existence just a fake?
• Am I holding myself back from my full potential?
• What do I really want out of life?

These are some thoughts that I tend to ponder on. Often when i am running or going for a long bike ride.. my thoughts drift off to these topics.

First, what I need to do is purge all negative energy around me. There are so many negativity that it soak up my soul and vibe. I need to defend or avoid these negative influence, people or activities, events. It is not only harmful for my soul but it sucks out my entire energy and I left drained out. I need to created a surplus of positive energy that I can take in. How do I do this. Probably by doing positive things and hanging around with positive people. Taking time and becoming more calm and more forgiving of myself. Who is the hardest person on you, but yourself.

Changing my way of thinking is important. I don’t know how yet, but I am hoping that one day I will be able to automatically do this. I guess loving yourself would help because, in my case, no one does.
Living your life the way you want to is important. I have always believed you have to live life like it is your last without any regrets. You only have one life to live. Take advantage of every opportunity. Forget your past, but learn from it but don't dwell on it. Experience will make you wiser as you get older. I want to be 89 years old and have people say, wow, he is living the life.. he has had such a full life and have done what he wanted to do.

Give yourself some goals... and take them in baby steps to reach them. If you fail, keep at it until you succeed. Life is not perfect, and we are going to fail millions of time, but as long as we learn from each failure we will eventually succeed. Don’t ever give up on yourself. Stay focus and don't let anyone tell you different. Remember its your life not their,so they should not care about what and how you do things.

Naperville Century..... what happened

The Road

To get to the location was a challenge itself. I had programmed my GPS to take me to 111th street in Naperville, once there, I could not see a thing. The fog that morning was thick, I could barely even see the traffic light. I then programmed that GPS to take me to Crone Middle school. For some reason it took me on the corner of a farm field. I decided to make a U turn when I saw a van in front of me taking a U turn with bikes on it. We both looked at each other, shrug our shoulder and proceeded to the next obvious destination when one is lost, the Gas Station. He direct us down the street.

I finally go there and met the couple who followed. We were all into riding the century. I registered on the spot, checked my tire pressure, put on my gear and away I went, with the new friends. The first 10 miles was easy, talking to them was fun. In Fact inspirational. The guy, Mike, have been running ultras and gave me some good tips. My plan is to eventually run my first ultra next year.

We stopped at the first rest stop and I had to use the bathroom, I told the couple to go ahead and move one and I will catch up. Well, after I started riding, it looked like I took a wrong turn to the direction I came from, so Went back and noticed I had to go ahead. There are marks on the road that tells you where to go and what color to follow, depending on the distance. It got a bit confusing since, I did not yet see my color. At about the third rest stop, this is where I took the Real wrong turn. Instead of making a right, I took a left. I saw the purple arrows and that is what I follow to do the century. After awhile, I came t realize that I was riding back where I came from. Not good. According to my calculation, I was at the 55 mile turn around mark and should have gone right but did not observe any arrow.

During the ride, I somehow got stung by a bee right in my left ear. Never before has this happened to me. What that? The stinking was painful and it burned. I had to stop for awhile to check it out. But the pain slowly went away in about 5 minutes..

So overall, it was a good ride. The next day, i was not sore and did not feel a thing.... Which is good.

Goal Cycling 30 miles in under 2 hour.. DONE

Well, I got out there no matter what.. and hit the trails. Did 30 miles and felt pretty good. At first my IT band started to hurt, so I got a bit concern, but it did subside, so I was happy with that. at times, I flew by over 20mph at times I took it easy and slowed downed. It was an awesome day for biking.

Next goal.. how small it is but it is a goal... Bike ride to work tomorrow Monday.

Next update

Goals

Still trying to aquire my mojo and trying to get motivated again to run and cycle. I am actually more excited to cycle then run. Bought my new Nike Structure TriX 13 and they are soo super light. I should be going out soon for a short and easy run.

I hope that once I start running I should get bitten by that bug. So the plan today is

1. run an easy short 4 to 6 mile run.

2. Hit the hot tub

3. relax and take a nap or just work around the house.

More updates later and more pictures

Its time

Ok.. its been a while since I have even updated my blog, but just to let you know.. I am back.... back to life again.

My current plan now is to get my ass into running and cycling again. I have been so preoccupied with personal and negativity all around me that I have lost my motivation.

For my next challenge, since I just turned 42 years old, I decided to do a bday challenge.

I will bike to work, run back home,

run to work, bike back to work. I will repeat this 42 days... let see if I can do it

Cafe Media article

Cafe Media wrote an article about me and cycling in Chicago and what Chicago can do to improve it. They did such a great job.

Thought I would share this article with you

Looking for Marathon #20

This year.. I am undecided as to either run another marathon or not and If I do, where and which one. I ran Suntrust Marathon with absolutely no training at all and my recovery was none, but in order to run a good marathon with a good time, I do need to find some time for training long runs. There is no way I can run a marathon without training and expect a good time.

I could, however, run a marathon just to run it. There are several marathon on my mind that I would love to run:

1. Seattle Rock and Roll - June 27th

2. San Francisco - July 25th

3. Minneapolis Mararhon - June 6th

4. Las vegas marathon - (again) Dec

5. Adirondack Marathon

6. More to come.....

Washington DC Marathon #19

Sorry for the late post, but time seems to escape me so fast now a days.

Well, I did it. With only 12 miles of total training for the year and a crazy out of the blue idea, I ran the Suntrust National Marathon in DC. My 19th marathon. I decided to be kind to my body and run 1 mile and walk a minute. I did this for 10 miles and still felt good. The weather was good and the temperature was just right. It reached a high of 70 degrees. Although I did not run my best marathon, in fact I was over an hour from last year... I still finished it.

The last 6 miles became tough, it was so hot and the sun was just beating down on me that I was so overheated. They had cold water so that helped a lot

I struggled the last 6 miles, my legs were tired but my breathing and my heart was fine.

After the marathon I was fine, just tired. My recovery was great. Sore for one day and that was it.

I don't think I will do this the next time. Training is a must.

Marathon #19th with little training?

Well, just out of the blue, I decided to run the Suntrust National Marathon in DC. This is my second time I am running it, but my 19th marathon overall. Not hoping for the best of times, since I have not ran since chicago marathon in October. Ran 8 miles last sunday in about 1:14 and still feel good.

So at this point.. I am relying on total muscle memory. My strategy will be to take it nice and slow and reserve some energy for the last 10 miles.

Uncovering secrets to a longer life

Uncovering secrets to a longer life: "In the same way organisms select for characteristics that favor the survival and well-being of its species over successive generations, so too do cultures. With organisms, we call this process evolution and it represents a sort of accumulated wisdom. There is no word for this process in cultures, but there is one for the result.

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3D TV: Comcast CEO Talks Pricing [VIDEO]

3D TV: Comcast CEO Talks Pricing [VIDEO]: "

When he was interviewed by CNBC at CES, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts discussed Comcast’s acquisition of NBC-Universal, but showed real exictement about 3D TV.

Major manufacturers are bringing out 3D television sets this year and already DirecTV, ESPN and Discovery have announced plans to launch 3D cable networks.

You can watch the clip here. The discussion about 3D TV takes place in the first two minutes:

Some analysts predict that more than 40 million 3D TVs will be sold by 2014. The rationale for that sort of growth? As Roberts says in the video, the pricing for 3D TVs is going to be nominal in comparison with current LCD HDTVs.

For instance, Vizio is launching its 3D TV lineup in August, and a 47″ LED backlit 3D model will have a MSRP of $1,999.99 U.S. Vizio’s non-3D LED backlit HDTV sets are priced at $1,799.

I predict that 3D will essentially become a standard feature in the higher-end TV market, which lowers some of the barriers to adoption. Plenty of households are just now switching to HDTV or are looking to upgrade their sets. If given the option to get HDTV or pay a little bit more (or even about the same as a high-end set) to get 3D capabilities as well, that 40 million mark might actually be conservative.

What do you think about 3D TV? What does it need to offer for you to consider making your next TV 3D?

Tags: 3D, 3D TV, CES, CES 2010, comcast, television

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