A birth (my niece), a marriage, and a funeral, all in the past week.  I thought that sort of thing only happened in the movies?

The one question I hate above all others:
Any good news? 

Only three words, yet packed with so much pressure.  How can three words make me cringe so badly?  
 
Most entries are now friends-only posts.  Meaning, if you don't have an LJ account, you gotta create one first and then ask me to add you.

I ran my second 10k race two weeks ago.  This time it was to benefit the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation.  From start to finish the race (and I) sucked. And although the overall experience really wasn't much fun, I still feel the need to document it here.

First of all, that morning was cold. And windy. Like -8C (around 15F) Cold.
Plus we got to the race area 30 mins early, which meant 30 minutes of standing around in the -8C degree cold winds!  I tried to do some light jogging around the area to keep warm but as soon as I would stop, I felt instantly cold again.  
When it was finally time for the race to begin, I made the rookie mistake of going too fast too soon.  Basically that meant my time for the first 5K was great :) BUT that also meant I had nothing left in the tank for the second 5K :(  
WORSE 5K RUN OF MY LIFE!!  In the end the good time I made in the first 5k was not enough to make up for my terrible time in the second 5k and I ended up with an overall 10k time of 1 minute SLOWER than my first 10k race last fall.  1 minute may not seem like a big deal, but my Goal was to run this race 4 minutes faster than my last race.  Which meant I was 5 minutes slower than my goal time for this race.  

I do think I learned something from this race. Like STOP RACING.
...or that I need to be more conscience of pacing myself, and maybe a February race won't be as good as an April or October race.  And really, I don't think I ever want to stop racing, in fact I'm looking at races in March and April already!


Before the race, I was definitely a lot happier than After the race. 

At least once a day my husband will pause from whatever it is he's doing, look at me for a moment, then wrap me up in a big hug and whisper in my ear "You're so pretty."
Sweet, I know. 
But that also means that at least once a day I respond with "No, I'm not." or "No, I'm so fat!"

I don't really think I'm even conscience of what I'm saying, it just blurts out somehow.  I've never really had major self-esteem issues (you know, beyond those awkward teenage years) and overall I think I'm happy with the way I look.  It's just something about receiving a compliment that makes me want to refute your claims, show you all the evidence to the contrary, and prove to you that I am but a humble Korean girl from the suburbs (you can't get more suburban than LANGLEY).  Why is that?  Is it the Korean in me? What is it about a compliment that makes me so uncomfortable?   Because they do. Compliments. They make me uncomfortable.  That taxi driver, the one who told me I was beautiful, he's just a creepy old dude looking for a big tip.  The ex-boyfriends, they're just looking to get laid or they've never dated an Asian woman before and we all look exotic to them.  My parents, well that's a given, they're obligated to tell you you're pretty and have been bias from the very beginning. See! So many reasons and so many excuses. Why??

I don't know. But next time, I'm just going to say Thank You.

About once a month my good friend Em and I like to get together for dinner, just me and her, no husbands allowed! We usually find ourselves at some back table of a sushi restaurant where we'll park ourselves for the night, talking long after they've given us our bill and re-filled our tea cups multiple times (I know, awful restaurant patrons, but we at least try to tip well). We call it our "Date" and I look forward to it every month. 

During our last date, while munching on eel and salmon makis, we commiserated over the fact that we both live so far from our families and wished we could be closer (she also has family in Canada).  But then we realized something important.  Given that our families are so far away, it really was up to us to turn our friends into our own extended family. Lucky for us, we have found a great core group of friends here in Boston. When push comes to shove, when times are tough, when all you need is a little support, we know we can turn to each other.  It's those small comforts you appreciate when you pause long enough to enjoy the taste of a great seared scallop and the company of a dear friend.

Wow. A brand new year and yet so few updates.  Is anyone else finding it really hard to update their LJ blog? It seems like there's so much going on with so little time to sit and savour those moments, plus no one seems to bother to update anymore.

Where to start...

November and December were a COMPLETE blur.

• Spent my 30th birthday in New York City with my love and two great friends. 
• Spent Christmas with my family in Vancouver, including my parents who drove 8 hours on Christmas day to be with us, then two days later, turned around and did the whole drive back home again. 
• Realized we were so busy visiting family and friends, it never even occurred to us to head downtown and check out the Olympic preparations.  Oh well, friends and family beat the Olympic games anytime!
• Got to spend some quality time with my adorable nephew.  Didn't take very long for him to warm up to us, mom and dad even let us babysit for an hour while they ran errands SANS the baby for the very first time!!
• Spent New Years Eve with Des's family in Edmonton where we also got a surprise visit from his aunt and uncle.
• Was the coldest New Years I've ever experienced with temps hitting a "high" of -25C (that's about -10F). When I got back to Boston the 32F actually felt warm.

2010 is already off to a busy start.  Des is off to San Francisco this week for some big laser conference. Work is going well for him and I'm proud to brag about the fact that he is definitely the Superstar of the company! 
I am training for my second 10k race happening in the beginning of February.  At first I was intimidated by the idea of running in the cold, wintery weather but once I actually got out there I realized, I LOVE running outside in the winter.  Am very much looking forward to the race, this time its to benefit the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation.
Winter semester for school just started.  Bought my textbook today for over $220!!! What the heck happened to textbook prices? Criminal I tell ya...

So, lots going on and no time to waste.  Better see if I can borrow my nephew's new wheels to get 'er all done:

Just as a follow up to my previous post, I just want to point out that NEVER at any point did She need to worry or stress out about a medical bill.  There was NEVER a question of how She was going to pay for the surgery or whether She would have to choose between feeding her family, selling her home, or having the surgery to save her life.  That includes both the mastectomy, the follow up scans, the Extra bone scan and Extra skin surgery (as a precaution) required to clear her of all cancer.  Say what you will about Universal Health Care, but when someone you love is saved from the stress of having to deal with insurance policies YET receives some of the best care that even money can buy (her surgeon actually had Americans flying up to her and paying for the same procedure themselves), I say the system works!

***

Yesterday, on Canadian thanksgiving, the day of my first 10k race finally arrived.  It was a crisp, cool, and sunny day, perfect for running!  Des accompanied me to the site and was the perfect cheerleader (meaning he took pictures for me and carried all my non-essential running gear).  Overall the race was fantastic, I ran at a much faster pace than any of my training runs.  With over 7000 runners, the start of the race was a little frustrating.  You were constantly forced to weave in and out of people as you tried to find your pace and the water stations were just littered with tiny paper cups that crushed under your feet.  The highlights for me were running past the redline train as the passengers waved and cheered you on, my friend Emily showing up at the 2 mile mark and again at the 4 mile mark just to cheer me on, and running across the Mass Ave bridge with the Boston skyline and thousands of runners looming ahead of you.  I had originally hoped to finish around 66 minutes (as that was my pace during my training) but actually finished the race at 64 minutes.  I guess the energy of the crowds and my competitive nature (I think I can pass her!) really helped.


So Many Bananas!


There go the Elite Runners.  I believe the winner of the race finished at around 32 minutes.


And me at the start of the race, wearing Red and White for Canada.  When Des asked me why I wasn't wearing the shirt they gave me for signing up, I replied that I had to wear this shirt b/c I am Team Canada!

This Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving.  I am most thankful for the people I have in my life, my family and my friends.  I will fully admit it, when it comes to people in general, I tend to be a hater.  I get so annoyed by crowded places, hate having strangers bump up against me, glare at those too stupid to realize their backpacks are shoving into my side during the busy morning commute, and even hold a special amount of hatred for those who deliberately hurt me, my family, or my friends.  BUT with all that hate is AT LEAST an equivalent amount of love.  My friends and family mean the world to me.  I hope they all know that if they EVER needed me I would try my absolute hardest to be there, anyway I could. 

So it hit me hard when I learned that someone very special to me was diagnosed with breast cancer and that She would have to undergo a mastectomy.

Let me back up just a little bit...

Last spring I was feeling out of shape and unmotivated.  Normally I don't have a problem playing sports or doing weight training but for some reason I can't stand long distance running.  All throughout high school I was the worse runner in the class and I was convinced that my body just wasn't cut out for long runs. So in an effort to challenge myself, I decided to start training for a 10k race.  It went well for a little while, but then I worked myself up to the 4mile mark and just couldn't get past that point.  It was "too hard" so I just gave up. I felt guilty for awhile but eventually found excuses for why is was Ok that I stopped running. 

Then I heard the news.  She had breast cancer, would undergo surgery, and was hoping to be able to recover in 3-4 months provided they got all the cancer out.  If they didn't get it all, then they would start talking about Chemo.  WTF.
She had to be strong enough to work through the stress of cancer and through the pain of surgery and I can't even be strong enough to run 4 miles?? What a wimp! That's when I decided to stop being such a wuss and re-start my training.  Whenever I started feeling like the runs were "too hard" I would remind myself of what She is going through.  I would remind myself that this was NOTHING compared to the strength She had to find.  

Which brings us to Today.  Today, She is officially cancer free.  The surgery was a success and because She is such a strong fighter, her recovery period has been miraculous!  We have to remind her to take it easier, that her body is still healing, because She feels great! 

And I pushed right past that 4 mile mark and am running 6 miles comfortably.  My 10K race is on Monday, it's the Tufts 10K race for Women, and I am running it for her.  She is my source of motivation and every time I feel tired or need to find that extra ounce of energy I'm going to think about her.  My goal this time around is simply to finish this race strong!  I'll worry about my time during the next race ;)

Happy Thanksgiving eh?!

The good thing about blogging is that it allows you to capture certain milestones, like an anniversary!

Today is our second anniversary and I can't believe how quickly time has flown by.  I always get a little bit sad on our anniversary though, just because I remember how wonderful that day was and how much I loved being around all my close family and friends.  Now I look from left to right and everyone is so far away!

Des is actually flying to San Francisco for a conference today, but delivered to my office this morning was a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  I still never expect flowers, so it was a really nice surprise! 

Overall, we've been together for 5 years now, lived together for 3.5 years, and married for 2.  On one hand it feels like we've been together for forever, and I mean that in a good way.  We're so comfortable and relaxed together, I feel like I get to hang out with my best friend everyday.  Then on the other hand things are still just as playful and fun as they were during our first year of dating.  For instance, we were folding laundry together the other day, a totally mundane everyday task, and he tells me how when we first starting living together and he did our laundry for the first time he totally panicked because he thought he had shrunk all my clothes.  He had never lived with a girl before and was amazed at how little my clothes looked.  "See look!" he would claim as he held up t-shirts and a pair of jeans up against his own frame.  And I had to admit, even though Des is not that big in terms of build, my clothes looked ridiculously small next to him.  A pretty silly admission, yet it had me rolling on the ground laughing as he continued.

It has certainly been an amazing two years. And in the end, I know that no matter how many happy or sad, healthy or sick, or big or small experiences get thrown at us, we'll tackle them together with some "happy dances", "towel hats", and "grape lamps" thrown in for good measure.

Been thinking about posting for awhile now, but somehow never got around to it.  Also been thinking about starting a new blog, a non-LJ blog.  Maybe...

While I've been thinking about that, summer has zipped by way too fast.  Good thing I LOVE the fall (especially here in New England) because it feels like it's here already.  I've been getting up pretty early during the week to try to get in a workout before I have to head to work but the darker mornings aren't making it easy.  I love my quiet morning runs, the air is so crisp and clean and there's hardly any people or cars around.  While it's those qualities that make my morning runs so wonderful, it also makes me a little cautious when it's still dark out.  But I can't keep delaying my start time until the sun finally comes out too much longer or else I'll be late for work.  Why am I so concerned about this?  Because I'm training for my first 10k race in October!  I'm already excited/nervous, I just hope I finish with a decent time.
Aside from running 3x a week and weight training 2x a week, Fall Ultimate starts this week.  Des and I decided to play on two teams this fall which means I'll also have games 2x a week.  On top of that, another semester of school starts for me tomorrow!  Which means papers, case studies, readings, and exams.  Yuck! I just hope school doesn't get in the way of my life ;)

With my race, Ultimate games, school papers, our second anniversary, and my 30th birthday (!), I expect Fall to fly by even faster than summer did.
Speaking of summer, here are a few pics of what we've been up to:


Whale watching in Gloucester MA.  We saw SO MANY whales (over 30), including these two humpback whales that were working together while feeding.  They had no fear of the boats around them and came up pretty close.


"The Breakers" in Newport RI.  The former summer home of the Vanderbilt family. Stunning mansion with just over the top decor (no pictures allowed inside).  We also really loved the town of Newport, so quaint and beautiful.  While we were there, we dined at the "Salvation Cafe"



Des had the tandoori rubbed sea bass while I had the seared scallops with lobster risotto.

Also, been cooking a lot more Korean food these days.  Experimenting with spicy chicken wings and soy bean stews (sorry forgot to take pics) as well as this old favourite that my mom use to make:

Fried tofu with a chili pepper-soy sauce.  Finally I found a tofu recipe that Des really likes! 

Hope everyone else is doing well.  No one really seems to blog anymore these days and I miss reading (snooping) through your lives.  At least email me and let me know how you all are doing!