2010: The Year in Review

Can you believe it’s been a year since I started this blog?? Sometimes I feel like days and weeks last forever, but time really does move fast. So.. was 2010 all I hoped it would be? Yes and no.. here’s my year in review.

Some words to live by...

Swim… Bike… Run… and now let’s RACE!

All in all, I’ve participated in 32 races this year… THIRTY-TWO RACES!!!! 2 marathons, 1 road bike race, 8 trail runs (as part of three different series). 12 mountain bike races (including one series), 1 off-road triathlon, 3 sprint triathlons, 2 Olympic distance triathlons, 1 mudrun, and 2 half-iron distance triathlons. CRAZINESS!!!

The HIGHLIGHTS

Getting fitted to my tri-bike:

Finished my first MARATHON: Surf City Marathon - Huntington Beach, CA

Went biking in the rain for the first time (and my first road race): Bulldog Bike Race - Camp Pendleton, CA

Actually FINISHED an Olympic distance triathlon: San Diego Triathlon Classic – Liberty Station, San Diego, CA

And the BIG accomplishment for the year in fitness… finishing my first HALF-IRON DISTANCE TRIATHLON: Ironman 70.3 California - Oceanside, CA

Travels: On the road again…

Minh and I went on quite a few trips this year. Let’s see…

Got some culture in SALT LAKE CITY at the Sundance Film Festival



Headed to SEATTLE for a wedding

Cruised to ALASKA

Flew to the DC area for another wedding

And a few shorter trips for races.. like weekends in:

Oceanside

San Diego

Lake Perris

Las Vegas/Henderson

Did I really not take my yearly trip to San Francisco this year? Sorry Angie!!! I’ll make it up to you!

In SUMMARY

2010 was a big year for me in terms of racing. It was my first full year of racing, and I did fairly well.. but I know I could have done SO MUCH better if I stopped making excuses, started focussing on my training, made my workouts more quality, and just dedicated more time to improving my technique/form, speed, etc. I’m hoping that I can regain some focus for 2011, but my “off-season” is already not panning out as I had planned. So much time has already been wasted that should have been spent building up my base for 2011… and now all that time is lost. But.. it’s not too late yet.

2010 was good, but 2011 will be GREAT!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Image by Christophe Neimann

 

The Great $1 Push and a Silhouette Giveaway

Want to help out this little guy?

Life Rearranged is raising money to help Cliff - an orphaned boy with Down Syndrome in Eastern Europe… ONE DOLLAR AT A TIME…

Everyone can spare a dollar during this time… Skip the soda with lunch and donate it to a good cause.

While you’re over there reading Cliff’s story, check-out this awesome, unrelated giveaway for a new Silhouette .

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy with Christmas non-Traditions

Of all the normal Christmas “traditions” my family has, we only kept one of them this year. First, let me clarify the idea of “traditions” in my family. I wish we had more traditions, like Christmas pajamas and expected stocking stuffers, but we don’t. Out typical Christmas traditions are as follows:

• Prime rib roast for Christmas Eve dinner
• Opening presents with cousins and aunts on Christmas Eve after dinner
• Midnight mass
• Wake up Christmas morning to open presents with Mom, Dad, Anni and Grandma
• Make french toast for Christmas Day breakfast
• Eat prime rib leftovers for lunch/dinner
• Catch a movie that night

Pretty much the only “tradition” we kept this year was having prime rib for dinner (that’s a Christmas staple!). Everything else was pretty much thrown out the window, which bothered me at first, but eventually turned out for the better. Anni and Morgan were able to spend Christmas Eve at Morgan’s house with his family for their traditional Christmas tacos and enchiladas (now there’s a family very set in the Christmas traditions and sometimes not very flexible about them). Anthony and Nina were actually able to EAT dinner with us instead of showing up for dessert (as they usually do for our family dinners). And my aunt was able to get here BEFORE 6:30PM because she got off work a little earlier on Christmas Day than she did on Christmas Eve… so overall.. it was a good Christmas.

Mom was too tired to go to Mass a Midnight (which was fine by me), so we ended up going to mass Christmas morning. When we got home, Anni made GF chocolate waffles..

chocolate GF waffle batter.. YUM!

Then we opened presents!

The MORNING tree...

Awesome "Italian" presents from Minh and a super comfy, cute scarf from Anni

I spent the rest of the day getting dinner ready, which turned out AMAZING!

The COOKBOOKs used for Christmas Dinner

The Christmas Dinner Menu:

• Ribeye Roast with Roasted Root Veggetables
• Garlicky Green Beans
• Baked Beets
• Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Creamed Corn
• Croissant Chocolate Bread Pudding
• Gluten Free Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream

The DELICIOUS ribeye roast... cooked perfectly...

After dinner, we all gathered in the living room to open presents.

The EVENING tree..

Grandma got a BRAND NEW 32″ LCD HDTV, that we all watched Morgan and my uncle mount to the wall.

"What's THIS???"

Didn’t get any shots of everyone else opening presents, but it seemed like everyone like what they got, which is always a good sign.

Finished off the night with Croissant Chocolate Bread Pudding.. DELICIOUS!

Here’s a shot of my Christmas HAUL:

The 2010 Christmas "HAUL"

• From Mom and Dad: Coach make-up bag and a camping light
• From Anni: Hand-knit scarf and three flavored sea salts (Wild Porcini, Hickory Smoked, and Herbes de Provence)
• From Minh: Marcato pasta maker, The Silver Spoon Pasta cookbook, Bialetti Moka 3, Illy coffee (I think it’s a hint that he wants Italian food in our future)
• From Minh’s parents: 14-piece Pyrex round glass container set
• From Anthony and Nina: two bracelets from SEED
• From Di Nhan: $50 giftcard to REI
• From Michele:Fiesta Head Chefs cooking utensils
• From Angie: Cuisinart Electric Fondue Set and Melting Pot cookbook
• From Lampa: Wine from Opera Prima and cheese/crackers/salami
• From work gift exchange: Dexter Season 1
• From Scott and Laurie: Beers of the World

And here are some things I see in my future from other’s presents:

• A pair of homemade socks from Anni’s Sock Looms
• Homemade icecream with Dad’s Cuisinart Icecream Maker
• Beef jerky and dehydrated fruits and veggieswith Mom’s new NESCO Dehydrator
• Home-brewed IPA from Minh’s Beer Making Kit
• Camping food cooked in a CANcooker

Overall.. it was an AWESOME CHRISTMAS!!! and all traditions can get thrown out the window as long as holidays are like this. Now just waiting to close out 2010…

Dad and Minh.. just chillin’, waiting for waffles…

chocolate GF waffle batter.. YUM!

GF Chocolate waffle and maple syrup (from the Christmas penguin)

The MORNING tree…

Anni knit Grandma a nice beanie

Mom opening up her NESCO Dehydrator (with jerky gun)

Dad opening up his Cuisinart Icecream Maker

Anni’s sock looms (from which we are expecting many PAIRS of socks)

Electric bug-zapper racket from Minh… it was this or the extendable fork..

Minh opening up his CANCOOKER

Awesome Beer Making Kit from Anni

Super soft and cute scarf handknit by Anni

Awesome “Italian” presents from Minh and a super comfy, cute scarf from Anni

This is how Minh will look after his first batch of beer

The COOKBOOKs used for Christmas Dinner

Board and knives ready for action

Roast is in the oven, ready to get cooked to perfection..

Food is cooked.. table is set.. Where is EVERYONE?

Anthony and Nina

The DELICIOUS ribeye roast… cooked perfectly…

Baked beets and rosemary garlic mashed potatoes

Creamed corn and garlicky green beans

Mom had the honor of slicing the roast…

… while the rest of us just watched and waited..

My dinner plate… can’t wait to dig in!

The EVENING tree..

That’s a BIG box you got there, Grandma!

“What’s THIS???”

Morgan and Bac Vinh mounting the TV…

… while the rest of us spectate..

Croissant Chocolate Bread Pudding was a HIT, too!!

The 2010 Christmas “HAUL”

Making GF Whoopie!

I recently got my hands on (read: “bought”) a copy of Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell. To be honest.. I don’t think I’ve ever had a whoopie pie before… although the idea of snack-sized cake and frosting is treat that anyone would go for.

One of the Christmas Dinner desserts I made was gluten-free whoopie pies with chocolate cake and salted-caramel buttercream. I followed the cake recipe from the book, but had to take some liberties with the salted-caramel buttercream.

mmmMMMmmmm.. salted caramel...

The chocolate cake turned out different from expected. I was expecting the batter to spread more in the oven and get a bit flatter and smooth out on top. The batter spread a little bit in the oven, but also rose just as much, so I still ended up with rather tall cakes instead of round, flat ones. The cakes also came out rather cracked (like cookies) instead of smooth on the top as whoopie pies should be. This is probably one of the times when a whoopie pie pan would come in handy. We’ll see if the non-GF recipes also result in cracked, semisphere-shaped cakes.

The book doesn’t have a recipe for salted-caramel buttercream. It has a salted caramel recipe and a classic buttercream recipe. So I made both, and then poured the salted caramel (slightly warm still so that it would pour and mix well) into the buttercream frosting (sans vanilla extract and salt). The frosting ended up runnier than it I liked and also very very sweet. So I mixed in another stick of softened butter and then stuck it in the fridge to cool. But then it got hard, so I guess it needs to be room-temperature and runny in order to fill the sandwiches.

The resulting whoopie pie was okay. Not “to die for” delicious, but not horrible either. The cake was a little dryer than I had wanted, but probably because of the GF nature of it. Next time, I’ll substitute oil for butter and hope for a more moist cake (this is what Anni does with her cupcakes). The buttercream was good, although a little on the sweet side. Next time I’ll have to reduce the amount of sugar to account for the extra sweetness of the salted-caramel. All-in-all, a good experiment and I will definitely try it again with some tweaks to the recipe.

Tagged!

This is my first time being “tagged” on my blog.. heck.. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until Stuart tagged me on Christmas Eve Eve. So.. without further adieu…

1. What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2010?

That’s an easy one.. HANDS DOWN, my biggest and most proud accomplishment of 2010 was finishing Ironman 70.3 California in Oceanside back in March. I was so happy to finish that race, especially with the short experience I had with triathlons and the lack of preparations.

Crossing the FINISH LINE (!!!) of IM 70.3 CA!

The next big and proud accomplishment of 2010 is deciding to torture myself again with another half-iron distance race with even less preparation (if that was even possible).

Not the most graceful of my triathlon performances.. but still a FINISH!

2. What are your running goals for 2011?

I’ve already posted up my race schedule for 2011, but the main running goal isn’t to just finish races. I really want to start being competitive instead of ending up in the middle of the pack (which is still better than the back, but only marginally). So the real running goal for 2011 is to get faster. Key milestones: sub-25 minute 5k (ok.. that’s not THAT fast, but it’s faster than what I can do now) and sub-2 hour half marathon (aiming for 1:45 at Disneyland Half Marathon during Labor Day Weekend).

3. What is your favorite race?

It’s hard to pick a favorite race for 2010 since I did so many. In terms of running, I absolutely LOVED Xterra Trail Race #1 – Point Mugu State Park. That’s one race that affirmed my preference for trail running over street running and made me realize that running is actually fun when the scenery and terrain changes and challenges you.

Awesome course.. and I'll probably come back and do it again!

4. What is your most embarassing running moment?

I’m lucky enough to NOT have had ANY embarrassing running moments to date, let alone in 2011. Although, on a personal note, the San Diego Rock’n'Roll Marathon was pretty much a DISASTER for me. I was grossly unprepared for it (as I have been for most of my 2010 races) which was ok at the start, but escalated quickly from uncomfortable to painful to downright depressing. My legs throbbed and my spirit broke.. I cried.. I almost gave up.. and then somehow I managed to find the will-power to keep going (it mainly had to do with running into my cousins just about when I was ready to throw in the towel).

One of the many "eye-opening" races that told me: "You better be prepared next time!!"

So… that was my first attempt at playing this blog-tagging game… Now it’s my turn to do some tagging…

Elise, Kelly, Skyler, and Allison (you can change it to biking, as that is more applicable)… TAG! YOU’RE IT!

Best Part of a Office Christmas: POTLUCKS!!

Christmas is upon us!!! The week before Christmas is one of the best times at work. Essentially, it’s a week-long potluck of cookies and chili/soup and ham and cheese & crackers and candy and other good food. And the food is out pretty much all day, so there’s a lot of eating going on at work (stretching the stomach out for the Holiday feasts at home). Here’s what I brought it for the week-long work potluck..

Day 1: Rainbow Broken Glass Jello, Spicy Chocolate Cookies, Chewy Gingerbread Cookies.

Pretty colors!

Recipe from The Food Librarian – hers turned out much prettier than mine. Probably because I didn’t take the time to cut it into nice bite-sized pieces

This is what's left of the 6 dozen cookies I made for work

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies Recipe from Martha Stewart 2010 Holiday Cookies Magazine

Pretty much a perfect looking cookie (one of the few)

Chewy Gingerbread Cookies Recipe from Guilty Kitchen

Day 2: Cheese Ball Three Ways: (1) Cheddar-Apricot with Dried Cranberries, (2) Goat Cheese and Scallions, (3) Gorgonzola Walnut

mmm.. cheese balls...

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Day 3: “Idle Hands” Bars (or PB Nanaimo Bars)

Didn't turn out as pretty.. but still tasted delicious!

Recipe from Guilty Kitchen

and MORE Rainbow Broken Glass Jello, but cut up nicely this time.

Like edible "abstract" stained glass... YUM!

The nicely cut up pieces of jell-o were pretty when I packed them up the night before, but didn’t survive the trek to work (sliding around.. I guess I didn’t pack it tightly enough, and should have probably used foil cups rather than paper ones)… but it was still delicious.

Day 3 of Christmas Potlucks was also our White Elephant Gift Exchange at work. I came with a useful work lamp from OSH and went home with this…

Season 1 of DEXTER!

Guess what I’ll be watching while spinning on the trainer or running on the treadmill?

Day 4: NADA

I didn’t have time to make anything for Day 4.. but there was still plenty of food to go around. Plus, our management made their annual breakfast burrito feast for our facility (all 500 of us)… YUM!

And lastly.. here’s a shot of my FAVORITE Christmas tree this year:

Where Christmas bicycle presents go to die... (image taken from somewhere on the internet)

This green beauty is on display at The Rocks in Sydney, Australia. So PRETTY!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Oh.. and sorry for the crappy quality of the pictures. Minh has BOTH cameras (the point-and-shoot and the Nikon) in his possession.. so I’ve had to resort to the camera phone.

Simply having a WONDERFUL Christmastime!

I’ve been wanting to make wreaths for the holidays, but never got around to it. I had a plan to make five, and bought supplies for one… which just sat around my room for weeks. Last night I decided to finally put it together, and here’s what I got:

Pretty cool, huh? Kept it simple with small clusters of ruffles rather than covering the entire wreath with ruffles. All-in-all, it took about 40 minutes to make… Only 10 minutes to actually make the wreath, and 30 minutes trying to tie a pretty bow and deciding how to hang it.

Sorry for the crappy picture.. we have bad lighting in the house and I was using my camera phone. The wreath is wrapped with forest green ribbon (leftover Williams-Sonoma present ribbon from wrapping). The felt ruffles are white with maroon pom-poms glued inside.

And here’s a shot of our Christmas tree at home..

It's been a good several years with this tree..

We’ve decided that it’s time for it to get donated to a better cause, so this will be it’s last year at our house… Good bye fiber-optic Christmas tree..

Race Report: Xterra Trail Run – Crystal Cove

As much as I’m not very good at it, I do in fact love running. Trail running, to be more specific.

Sunday marked the 3rd race in the Xterra SoCal Trail Run Series. This one was held at Crystal Cove (YAY! for local races) and at the not too early time of 8AM. It’s still a little bit of a drive from home, so we got up around 6:15AM (or so) to make sure we had plenty of time to grab breakfast, find parking, and get checked-in. Met up with Elise and Skyler, who were also running the 17k.

Race started a little after 8AM, and I made sure to stay at the front. Even though I’m a slower runner and should probably start in the middle somewhere, I like to start near the front because it’s a more accurate race time for events that don’t have timing chips (like most trail races).

I'm not ahead of Elise for very long.. that girl is A LOT faster than me..

The course was a little different from what I was expecting, but I had run most of it before during my training runs. I did feel extremely out of shape, more so during the race than I did during the previous weekend. It was a bit of a bummer not being strong, but I did my best. Tried to run/jog when I could (especially up the hills), but my quads and glutes just felt like jello. Ended up walking quite a bit more than I was expecting to, but finished strong on a long downhill.

Overall winner.. James Walsh

Female winner and 3rd overall.. Michelle Barton.. missed the female course record by less than a minute..

Smiling on a nice long downhill to the finish..

I’ve decided that this is an AWESOME course for hill-training, since there are so many rolling hills that you don’t have to keep doing just one, you can still do a loop. Plus, Crystal Cove has some nice single track for running along the Fenceline at the top (not part of the race course, but I wish it was).

Overall, I’m satisfied with my results. Finished in 2 hours and 4 minutes, 6th in my age group out of 14. I’m a little bit bummed for Elise and Skyler, who had to “jump” age groups for this race since race age is based on your age at the end of 2011 (lame). But they both still did really well: Elise getting 4th, and Skyler getting 7th.

Didn't feel so great afterwards.. but was happy to have finished!

And with that.. racing is OFFICIALLY OVER for 2010! Now I REALLY REALLY need to get back to training.

December 1 – Blackstar Canyon

December is upon us!!! ALREADY?!?!?!?

Sometimes I feel like days and weeks move so slowly in the moment, but then out of nowhere months past and we’re at the end of the year… CRAZINESS!

After Friday’s adventure in the mountains, Minh and I headed out yesterday for a nice night ride up Blackstar Canyon (gate-to-gate). It was cold, and got dark fast (as the days are in December). Minh was having a hard time since his legs had not yet fully recovered from Friday’s ride. He ended up having to walk a lot. I took this opportunity to do some sprint and out of the saddle hill “intervals”… stopping occasionally to let him catch up. For a while, I thought we should turn back because he was huffing and puffing and I though he was going to throw-up.. but he stuck it out and we made it to the top.

Made it to the GATE!!!

View from the TOP.. much better in person..

And here's MINH!!!

On the way down, we took it a little easier since it was dark. Even though we were going slower, the darkness actually made me a little bit braver going over rocks and crevices and such. I think it was because I could only see where I was going and couldn’t see all the other things around, so I was a bit more focused. It actually made me think that riding in the dark would actually help improve my (lack of) technical skills because of the added focus.

This nice bit of TRASH was waiting for us at the car... :-/

It was definitely COLD, but the ride was well worth it in the end. We were out for a while because we had to stop a lot, but I still got a good workout.