Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Finally logged in!!!
Its been a while since my last post, but I lost my original comcast email when I moved, which was linked to my google account, which is linked to my blogger account. Finally was able to log-in. I will post soon.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Have to go to the bathroom during a movie...
This is an interesting site I heard about, called RunPee.com. Yep, there is a website for everything! If you ever wanted to know when a good time during a movie to run and go pee, then this site is for you. What if you don't want to miss a crucial scene, and you are always wondering would this be a good time? Should I go now, or wait until after this scene? Well, look up your movie here and it will also tell you without spoiling the plot. So have no fear and order that LARGE 44 oz Coke (as well as buttery popcorn) and you'll be fine if you check this site.
Go to www.runpee.com.
Go to www.runpee.com.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
5th 3rd River Bank Run
Amanda and I ran the 5k 5th 3rd River Bank run. Race started at 7:30 am sharp and we lined up in the 10:00 min mile mark. We were lucky it didn't rain on us until after we finished. Poor 25 k'ers got the rain! I am waiting for my race results, I don't think I beat my time, but we'll see.
This was a large race and the best turnout they have had. Over 16,000 people raced, about 38,000 watched (I counted them as I ran, I was bored), and 2,000 volunteers. According to WOOD TV, this is the largest 25 k races in the nation, but I think I will stick to 5k and 10ks.
Here are some photos taken by Keith with the zoom lens. Glad i gave him the zoom, because he was sitting in bleachers at the finish line along with Jason. I am in the pink shirt and black pants with the pink stripe, and Amanda is on my left behind me in the 3/4 length gray pants. CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER IMAGE.
This was a large race and the best turnout they have had. Over 16,000 people raced, about 38,000 watched (I counted them as I ran, I was bored), and 2,000 volunteers. According to WOOD TV, this is the largest 25 k races in the nation, but I think I will stick to 5k and 10ks.
Here are some photos taken by Keith with the zoom lens. Glad i gave him the zoom, because he was sitting in bleachers at the finish line along with Jason. I am in the pink shirt and black pants with the pink stripe, and Amanda is on my left behind me in the 3/4 length gray pants. CLICK ON PICTURES FOR LARGER IMAGE.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
HDR photos - Daytona Beach
Shot with my Canon Rebel XT. All of these pictures were taken with my Sigma 10-22mm Wide Angle Lens, my fave lens! I shoot in Raw format, and have a process of turning them into HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. I import them into Adobe Lightroom and color process here and there. Then I create 5-8 different exposures of the same picture and export. I then import my different exposed files of the same image into Photomatix and start tone mapping the image. Click on a picture to see a larger image, because the small preview doesn't do it justice. My favorite is the last one.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
5 Days til Florida!
Its 5 days until a Daytona Beach, Florida vacation with the family. We are going back to the resort that we use to stay at when growing up during many Spring Breaks, the Sun Viking Inn.
I have 2 more pounds to lose until we leave on Thursday and will reach my 5% goal from Weight Watchers. Its going to be close!! I have been eating the Weight Watcher veggie soup last week, and that helped lose 2.2 this past week. I will need to keep up with my Triathlon Training in Florida, so hope to maybe do some open water swims in the ocean, although I don't want to swim into any jelly fish or sharks. I can already picture myself running on the beach down to the pier and back in the mornings!
I have just finished registering for the May 9 Fifth Third River Bank run 5k, the Seahorse Challenge Tri on 5/31, and have rented my wetsuit and purchased anti-chaffing cream. Its complete! I am pretty much all set, but will need to purchase new running shoes this week at Gazelle's as mine have been getting old.
I am also thinking of doing the Reeds Lake Run 10k on 6/27.
So far my summer schedule is looking like this:
5/9 - 5/3 River Bank Run - 5k
5/31 - Seahorse Challenge - Sprint Triathlon
6/20-6/21 - NSA Potterville Softball Tournament
6/27 - Reeds Lake Run - 10k
7/11 - Kalamazoo Softball Tournament
7/24-7/25 - ASA State Softball Tournament - Grand Rapids
8/23 - NSA State Softball Tournament - Potterville
9/12 - Reeds Lake Triathlon
I have 2 more pounds to lose until we leave on Thursday and will reach my 5% goal from Weight Watchers. Its going to be close!! I have been eating the Weight Watcher veggie soup last week, and that helped lose 2.2 this past week. I will need to keep up with my Triathlon Training in Florida, so hope to maybe do some open water swims in the ocean, although I don't want to swim into any jelly fish or sharks. I can already picture myself running on the beach down to the pier and back in the mornings!
I have just finished registering for the May 9 Fifth Third River Bank run 5k, the Seahorse Challenge Tri on 5/31, and have rented my wetsuit and purchased anti-chaffing cream. Its complete! I am pretty much all set, but will need to purchase new running shoes this week at Gazelle's as mine have been getting old.
I am also thinking of doing the Reeds Lake Run 10k on 6/27.
So far my summer schedule is looking like this:
5/9 - 5/3 River Bank Run - 5k
5/31 - Seahorse Challenge - Sprint Triathlon
6/20-6/21 - NSA Potterville Softball Tournament
6/27 - Reeds Lake Run - 10k
7/11 - Kalamazoo Softball Tournament
7/24-7/25 - ASA State Softball Tournament - Grand Rapids
8/23 - NSA State Softball Tournament - Potterville
9/12 - Reeds Lake Triathlon
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The First Race of the Season!
Well, race day finally came. The Irish Jig 5K on March 21, 2009 in East Grand Rapids.
This was my third race ever. First being the 8k Mackinaw Bridge race in 2008 and the 5k Run for the Hills in Forest Hills in 2008.
My race didn't start until 9:30 am, but still, I am an early bird, and got up about 6:30, anxiously awaiting Keith to pick me up at 8am so we can head over to Gas Light Village in East Grand Rapids. The previous days leading to the race had been quite nice, about 50 degrees. But no, I wake up to a balmy 35 degrees with a light snow on the ground! Now, I have to rethink my outfit. I decided to go with green pants (well, greenish brown) and I wore the long sleeve Irish Jig race shirt that I received from picking up my registration the night before. I still wanted to wear a pink shirt over my clothes so I could hopefully stick out for Keith when he takes pictures. I also wore gloves, a pink hat and a black zipped up sweatshirt, over my pink shirt, because it was just too damn cold!!! Here is my ensemble:
I also was scrambling to find safety pins to pin my race number 3259 on me. All other races I have been in has given me the safety pins, I am not the type of person to have safety pins lying around. But, I remembered I was given a first aid gift from one of my vendors at work, so inside I found 2 pins, 3 would have been ideal, but 2 worked.
I also had to put my disposable D-Tag race trip on my shoe, I always get nervous that I will do it wrong, but I seemed to get it right. This a new technology in the past few years where you don't have to turn your chip in, you just throw it away after. Just a lot less hassle. Here is what it looks like:
Keith arrived at 8am and we were off. I made sure I grabbed a water and skipped breakfast because I hate to eat before working out, although if I was doing something longer for an hour, I would have some fruit and a little peanut butter to keep me going.
We had a bit of a hard time finding parking at first, but parked in the parking ramp in the middle of Gas Light Village. It such a cute area, very upscale neighborhood with trendy shops and restaurants, and of course the beautiful Reeds Lake.
It seemed to take forever for my race to start. We walked down to race festivities at about 8:40am and waited on the side for the men to start, their race was at 9:00am. It was so cold, but jumping up and down to the music they were playing over the speakers helped a bit. Seeing racers in shorts did not help! I debated jumping in to join the men because it was so cold and I didn't want to wait any longer, but, I decided to race with the women. It finally hit 9 am, and the men were off!!!
After the men's start we had some time to warm up and went into the D&W Foods Grocery store to get some heat. We weren't the only ones with that idea, tons of racers were hanging out in the store, I am sure the manager was pleased because no one really bought anything.
Ok, time to get ready for the women's' race. We didn't start until 9:45a or so. Keith snapped a pic of me and I wasn't ready for it. I gave him my telephoto lens (70-300mm) because I wasn't sure where he would be standing in relative to my running. He only had to use it at 70mm, so we could have gotten away with my standard lens of 18-55mm. Oh well, we learn.
I was off an running! I made sure to start my stop watch as soon as I crossed over the timer.
When everyone starts at once, its hard to maneuver between slower runners. They didn't line people up by pace at all, I finally passed the slow runners and got into a groove on a sidewalk. Most people were in the street, but there were a few of us running on the sidewalk, I at first thought, will I be disqualified if I am running on the sidewalk? But others were doing it. It was nice. Three songs went by on my iPod playlist (Love Story remix by Taylor Swift, Walk Away remix by Kelly Clarkston and Lose Yourself by Eminem) I was already at mile 1, and there were tons of people cheering on. It motivated me even more! All of a sudden I saw Keith in the crowd and he even ready and snapped a picture! Cool! I was grooving on to mile 2 with my new favorite download, Sandstorm, an 8 minute song! I could feel myself get a little tired around mile 2 and after plus there was a bit of a hill on Hall St, I think I start out too fast sometimes and tucker out, but I never quit running, that is my rule. But when I felt like it was 2.5 mile, I started picking out people that I thought were my age group and tried to pass them, a little game I play. And then I see the East Grand Rapids Higschool and a big crowd. I am so tired at this point, I see the 3 mile marker and think to myself, I still have .2 miles afterwards (but then I forgot it was only .1). ha! I stared sprinting to the finish line as soon as I saw it, and saw Keith again really quick. He took a picture really quick, its a little blurry, but I attribute that to my fast speed, ha right!
My race results time was 30:37. Not bad, I accomplished my goal of under 31:00. I plan to run in under 30 for the Fifth Third River Bank Run on May 8.
We later found out that mile 1 picture didn't take, but no big deal, I just appreciate Keith waking up early and standing out in the cold for a couple hours to cheer me on and take a couple pics. Here are some other pictures from the race, including a man in the 70-85 year old age group that had a finish time of 27 minutes! Impressive! This old man can beat me!
Also the goodies that I received post race, long sleeve shirt not shown, not bad for $22 registration fee?
This was my third race ever. First being the 8k Mackinaw Bridge race in 2008 and the 5k Run for the Hills in Forest Hills in 2008.
My race didn't start until 9:30 am, but still, I am an early bird, and got up about 6:30, anxiously awaiting Keith to pick me up at 8am so we can head over to Gas Light Village in East Grand Rapids. The previous days leading to the race had been quite nice, about 50 degrees. But no, I wake up to a balmy 35 degrees with a light snow on the ground! Now, I have to rethink my outfit. I decided to go with green pants (well, greenish brown) and I wore the long sleeve Irish Jig race shirt that I received from picking up my registration the night before. I still wanted to wear a pink shirt over my clothes so I could hopefully stick out for Keith when he takes pictures. I also wore gloves, a pink hat and a black zipped up sweatshirt, over my pink shirt, because it was just too damn cold!!! Here is my ensemble:
I also was scrambling to find safety pins to pin my race number 3259 on me. All other races I have been in has given me the safety pins, I am not the type of person to have safety pins lying around. But, I remembered I was given a first aid gift from one of my vendors at work, so inside I found 2 pins, 3 would have been ideal, but 2 worked.
I also had to put my disposable D-Tag race trip on my shoe, I always get nervous that I will do it wrong, but I seemed to get it right. This a new technology in the past few years where you don't have to turn your chip in, you just throw it away after. Just a lot less hassle. Here is what it looks like:
Keith arrived at 8am and we were off. I made sure I grabbed a water and skipped breakfast because I hate to eat before working out, although if I was doing something longer for an hour, I would have some fruit and a little peanut butter to keep me going.
We had a bit of a hard time finding parking at first, but parked in the parking ramp in the middle of Gas Light Village. It such a cute area, very upscale neighborhood with trendy shops and restaurants, and of course the beautiful Reeds Lake.
It seemed to take forever for my race to start. We walked down to race festivities at about 8:40am and waited on the side for the men to start, their race was at 9:00am. It was so cold, but jumping up and down to the music they were playing over the speakers helped a bit. Seeing racers in shorts did not help! I debated jumping in to join the men because it was so cold and I didn't want to wait any longer, but, I decided to race with the women. It finally hit 9 am, and the men were off!!!
After the men's start we had some time to warm up and went into the D&W Foods Grocery store to get some heat. We weren't the only ones with that idea, tons of racers were hanging out in the store, I am sure the manager was pleased because no one really bought anything.
Ok, time to get ready for the women's' race. We didn't start until 9:45a or so. Keith snapped a pic of me and I wasn't ready for it. I gave him my telephoto lens (70-300mm) because I wasn't sure where he would be standing in relative to my running. He only had to use it at 70mm, so we could have gotten away with my standard lens of 18-55mm. Oh well, we learn.
I was off an running! I made sure to start my stop watch as soon as I crossed over the timer.
When everyone starts at once, its hard to maneuver between slower runners. They didn't line people up by pace at all, I finally passed the slow runners and got into a groove on a sidewalk. Most people were in the street, but there were a few of us running on the sidewalk, I at first thought, will I be disqualified if I am running on the sidewalk? But others were doing it. It was nice. Three songs went by on my iPod playlist (Love Story remix by Taylor Swift, Walk Away remix by Kelly Clarkston and Lose Yourself by Eminem) I was already at mile 1, and there were tons of people cheering on. It motivated me even more! All of a sudden I saw Keith in the crowd and he even ready and snapped a picture! Cool! I was grooving on to mile 2 with my new favorite download, Sandstorm, an 8 minute song! I could feel myself get a little tired around mile 2 and after plus there was a bit of a hill on Hall St, I think I start out too fast sometimes and tucker out, but I never quit running, that is my rule. But when I felt like it was 2.5 mile, I started picking out people that I thought were my age group and tried to pass them, a little game I play. And then I see the East Grand Rapids Higschool and a big crowd. I am so tired at this point, I see the 3 mile marker and think to myself, I still have .2 miles afterwards (but then I forgot it was only .1). ha! I stared sprinting to the finish line as soon as I saw it, and saw Keith again really quick. He took a picture really quick, its a little blurry, but I attribute that to my fast speed, ha right!
My race results time was 30:37. Not bad, I accomplished my goal of under 31:00. I plan to run in under 30 for the Fifth Third River Bank Run on May 8.
We later found out that mile 1 picture didn't take, but no big deal, I just appreciate Keith waking up early and standing out in the cold for a couple hours to cheer me on and take a couple pics. Here are some other pictures from the race, including a man in the 70-85 year old age group that had a finish time of 27 minutes! Impressive! This old man can beat me!
Also the goodies that I received post race, long sleeve shirt not shown, not bad for $22 registration fee?
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