Frederick Marathon 2009 Race Report

My goal for this marathon was to get under 4 hours and 30 minutes.  That didnt happen. I’ve been training all winter since mid January to make up for my humbled experience with the Marines Corp Marathon in 2008.  I finished in 4:34:57 A LOT better than MCM but failed to meet my goal. The thing about setting goal is that if you exceed or meet your expectation its a great feeling but for those that couldn’t quite make it due to various reasons there’s a huge sense of burden. Dissapointment will always linger until they confront what happened. The easy thing to do would be to find excuses and blame it on factors that are outside of our control.  I didn’t have the drive and motivation to push myself . There’s no sense in beating myself up about it, I am already in too deep. I must train harder and smarter in preparation for the upcoming Baltimore marathon in October. 

Now that’s out of my system, let me just take a moment to mention the weather. IT RAINED!!! The first 2 miles was fine as there was a little drizzle and everyone welcomed the nice breeze. After mile 3 it started pouring, there was no sign of it slowing down. Everyone was completely drenched and it took extra effort to shuffle on in wet and heavy clothes. But as marathoners go, we’re somewhat masochistic so a little rain doesn’t really put anyone off. A lot can go wrong in 26.2 miles, rain is but another inconvenience that we have to put up with . If anything, it makes for better post race stories.  

This was my first experience with the Frederick course and I must say, it is HILLY. The rolling hills punished the unprepared, myself included, and reminded us why it was a bad decision not to do any hills workout during our training.  I had to walk some of the hills to save my calves from cramping and locking up.  Unlike MCM I didn’t experience any sort of cramps at all for the whole distance. The decision to forego water and stick to only gatorade at the water stops was a big influence. 

I met a lot of interesting people as I made my way around the course. The most interesting was “barefoot Todd” running his 250th marathon today. He was quite an inspiration and a witty conversationalist, as there were other runners asking how he does what he does ? to which he reply “You guys have jobs” this is mine. There was a brief moment of silence as everyone within earshot wonder what it would be like to live a day as Todd.  Another interesting character was a tall and big build gentleman that have calves the size of my thighs. These things were freakishly huge and everyone couldn’t help but look at them. He overheard us talking about them and looked back to remark  ”Yea ya like it huh ?” I am not sure what it was about them but I just couldn’t look away. 

Overall it was a pleasant experience, I am a little dissapointed that I didn’t make my time but I WAS running with a callus on my right foot  <—- excuse  :) 

Frederick Marathon 2009 Official Results

 

Me at the Frederick Fairground

Filed under: Running , frederick marathon, frederick marathon 2009 race report, Running

Pike’s Peek 10k 2009 race report

 Preliminary 2009 Men’s Results
Preliminary 2009 Women’s Results

So there I was lying in my bed, tossing an turning. All I could hear was the incessant chirping of birds outside my window. chirp chirp chirp …  Why the heck did I leave my window open ? It wasn’t that hot and I know those damn birds would wake me up. Then it hit me, omg I actually planned this  and intentionally left my window open so the birds would wake me up early enough for the Pike’s Peek 10k today. I have an instantaneous reaction to the sound of my alarm where I spring upward, extend my left arm and index finger just enough to hit the snooze button and roll right back into bed. The plan worked out beautifully, it was 5:30 AM and sure enough, the birds were there.

I had been training all winter the for Frederick Marathon on 5/3/2009, Pike’s Peek was a little preview to see if my training paid off. Last year I ran it in 57:09 at a pace of 9:12 minute per mile. My goal for this year was to make it under 50 minutes.  For the first 2 miles I was cruising along at 7:30 minute pace. I kept checking my garmin to see if it was malfunctioning, to my surprise I really ran at that pace. This is huge for me, I was training at an 11:00 minute pace.  I’ll never figure out how I did it but just felt really good that it happened.  

In order to make my goal time I needed to keep a pace of 8:03 minute per mile. The first 2 mile felt easy but knowing that I need to conserve energy for the last half, Islowed down to an exactly 8:00 minute pace and went along merrily in my own little world thinking to myself “OMG I AM FREAKING AWESOME 7:30 PACE RAWRRRRRR!!!!” I might have let out the RAWRRR!!! a few times, if I remembered correctly there were a lot of awkward vibes as the runners around me were giving me that “SHUT UR TRAP” look. IT was hot and they were tired so I hold no ill feeling towards them.

The main strategy I wanted to try today was to not stop at any of the water stop. I made sure I was well hydrated enough before the race so I would be able to push the pace the whole distance. Its extremely hard for me to stop for water and start back up again. I always walk more than I want to and that end up costing me a lot of time.

I didn’t have to run the race by myself this year, I was able to con…vinced 2 of my friends to do it also. My training partner is just as crazy as I am so she was definitely in, we both had different time goals, it was a little weird not running along side her but its just something every runner have to do. Run at your own pace.  We BOTH made our time goal. I finished in 49:24 at a   7:57  pace and she made her’s with over 2 minutes to spare. This is a huge confidence booster, we’ll be heading off to Frederick next Sunday ready to take it on. John & Amy just wanted to finish and they seemed to really enjoyed it. Still trying to talk them into a marathon

One complaint I have about the race was that they failed to let us know that only the first 250 people can get the beanie hat. I really wanted a beanie, I signed up before the February deadline. But I was denied the hat when I came to packet pickup Other than that the race was well coordinated, I really like the beach towel, I have enough shirts, don’t really need anymore.

 

The four of us after the race.

Frederick HERE WE COME!!!

Filed under: Running , MCRRc, pike's peek 10k, pike's peek 10k 2009 results

the race day

Hellooooooooo… he screamed from the top of his lung, hoping for a response from anyone nearby to acknowledge his presence. Nothing, saved for the faint rustling on the sidewalk as squirrels and birds hurriedly scavenge for food. HellloOOOoooOOOOOooo… this time varying the pitch of his voice to see if it make a difference. Again, nothing was heard except the vibration of his own echo.

Panic begin to set in as he realized that he might be alone. He looked at his watch, its 5:30AM on a misty Saturday morning. A confused look begin to form on his face as he lowered his right brow and puckered his lips while bringing up his right index finger tapping it on the right side of his temple wondering why there aren’t anyone here yet. Isn’t it today ? someone should be here by now, its not that early. He paced back and forth with the same confused look on his face, unable to stay silent for long he let out another helooooooOOOOooooOOOooo, this time adding in two CaaaaAAAAAw cAAAaaaawww for extra measure.

Almost 2 minutes past by and again nothing …. wait, sound like someone from the apartment complex a few blocks down just cracked their window. FOR F*CK SAKE STFU ALREADY… THE RACE IS TOMORROW DUMBASS!!! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!! @#%@#%@ @#$@#!

~the end

Filed under: product of boredom , fake race report, i need to increase my words stock, i was bored so i wrote this

Macro

My first attempt at macro photography.

Image is zoomable. Courtesy of http://www.closr.it

Filed under: Photography , macro, tulip

Sakura Matsuri 2009

    

the Big Pencil

 

the big Pencil, originally uploaded by nguyenhaimd.

I was out in DC last Saturday for the annual Sakura Matsuri parade. This was one of my favorite shot of the day. More photos available at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nguyenhai/

Filed under: Photography , sakura matsuri, washington monument

Jailbroken iPod Touch 2 weeks later

Its been two weeks since I’ve jailbroken my iPod touch and well I’ve went deep into the rabbit hole. Cydia is the greatest thing that ever happened to the iphone/ipod touch jailbroken scene.

I highly recommend iPhone Browser http://code.google.com/p/iphonebrowser/ to browse and edit files on your device.

Below are the screenshots of the current set up I have on my ipod Touch.

I am using the Much Small Icons theme for Winterboard. With hacks enabling 5 rows and 5 columns for icons.

All this is available from Cydia as long as you have the correct Sources installed.

Home screen

2nd page

3rd page

4th page

Ask in the comments if you have any questions

Filed under: Gadgets , cydia, ipod touch, jailbroken ipod touch, saurik

Jailbreaking ipod touch 2G

Update 4/23/2009 : A group known as Apple2All have released Pwn2All an application that further simplify the process of jailbreaking your ipod touch 2G. Download it @ http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wwgemn5nnwh

 

Pwn2All

 

Until recently, jailbreaking was only available for the ipod touch first generation. Those of us with our shiny new 2nd generation ipod touch have no way to escape Apple’s grasp.  That is until the iphone dev team made an announcement relating to the effect that the ipod touch 2G is now “another member of the “pwned for life” family“

Using Dancool999’s Quickfreedom GUI application its now possible to completely jailbreak 2G ipod touch with firmware 2.2.1 without having to deal with the hassel of tethering.

First thing first, download QuickFreedom version 1.1.1 from http://www.mediafire.com/?jmfjygyeemz

Main Menu

Quickfreedom is great for people that are uncomfortable with the the CLI instructions available at http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155816
As of 3/23/2009 the latest version of QuickFreedom is 1.1.1 However a 1.2 version should be release in the near future.

update 4/1/2009 You can now download Quickfreedom 1.2 beta from http://quickfreedom.com/

Click on the “Jailbraek iPod” button to start the process

Step 1

Step 1 outline the requirements necessary for a successful jailbreak. Click on “Install LIBUSB” to install the necessary USB drivers for QuickFreedom to be able to recognize your iPod.
Click on “Download” to download the original 2.2.1 firmware. Once download is completed, click “Browse” and browse to where the ipsw file was saved. Quickfreedom will confirm andp process the firmware
If everything goes accordingly you will see “Firmware copied! Press next to continue…”

Step 2

Step 2 will allow you to create a patched custom firmware. You can choose to use your own custom boot log by ticking the “Use Custom Boot Logo” checkbox and click on “Change” to select your logo. Click on “Create Firmware” to let QuickFreedom create the patched ipsw file. The file will be saved to the desktop as “Custom Firmware.ipsw”
Click Next to proceed to step 3

Step 3

Step 3 will prep your iPod for jailbreaking. Click on DFU Instructions and followed the onscreen instruction to put your iPod into DFU mode.

DFU Mode

Pay close attention to the timer. If you’re off by a second the entire process will need to be restarted. Once the iPod is put into DFU mode the screen will be entirely white.

Step 4

Step 4 will be the actual jailbreaking process. Unplug your iPod from the computer and plug it back in again. Start iTunes to restore the firmware using the patched custom firmware that was created earlier.

Restore custom firmware

Hold Shift and click on Restore and browse to the Desktop to select the custom firmware. Once the restore is complete your iPod will be completely jailbroken. Congrats !!!

Filed under: Gadgets , firmware 2.2.1, jailbreaking ipod touch 2g, pwn2all, quickfreedom, untethered jailbreak ipod 2g

My new toy Nikon D60

My trusty Nikon S3 point and shoot camera died a few months ago. I realized that itwas in my pocket a few seconds after I jumped into the jacuzzi. By then it was too late, the damage was done That’s what I do, I have a tendency to either lose or destroy small electronic toys, my poor ipod shuffle is still MIA. I have no idea where it is.  Its my cross to bear, but enough about my clumsiness.

Ever since my S3 died I’ve been researching cameras and decided to move up and shell out for a DSLR camera.  After researching the styles of photography I want to pursue and the monetary constraints I’ve decided to go with a Nikon D60. I especially like the small size of the D60, for a DSLR camera its rather compact. Granted its a very basic DSLR, I considered the D80 also but that’s out of my price range.  Since I am only pursuing photography as a hobby I don’t see myself spending too much on extra lenses even though I’ve read that “lense lust” is a condition that all new DSLR owners succumb to sooner or later.

There’s so much I’ve to learn, I’ve been reading up on the subject as much as I can. Although it seems that the only way I’ll improve as a photographer is to just go out there and shoot shoot shoot. 

My baby! Look at that sexy beast RAWR!!

The kit I bought comes with 2 lenses, the Nikkor 18-55mm VR and 55-200mm VR. One of the main reason I wanted to step up to a DSLR was to explore the world of macro photography, since the kit lenses aren’t suited to the kind of photographs I want. I also invested in a macro lense, the nikkor 50mm f/1.8 The larger aperture will definitely make for great macro and portrait photos. 

 

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Hopefully I’ll have some pictures to show off soon. Still trying to figure out Lightroom and shooting in manual mode.

Filed under: Photography , new toy, nikon d60

Summer is almost here

Old man winter had his last say a few weeks ago.  Over the past 2-3 months I had gradually gained some excess weight. Bears store fat to hibernate during the winter, so why not me ? Two weeks ago I finally got out of my winter hiatus and went to the gym again in an effort lose the extra weight and start training for the Frederick marathon in May.  My first goal was to be able to do 100 pushups. I started out at 50 and literally died on the 50th rep. 

I am proud to say that I am finally able to hit 100 pushups today.  I was definitely pushing it (<bad pun>) after 90 but managed to grunt out 10 more. Surprisingly I wasn’t really that tired. I felt so pumped that I went for 5 pullups.  Not satisfied I got on the treadmill and ran a back breaking  sweaty 5.7 miles. 

It sound like I am tooting my own horn but this really was a huge accomplishment for me. I was sooooooooo lazy during winter. Barely trained or did anything physical at all. The one thing that I did was eat and eat some more

Next , I need to work on my diet so I can lower my body fat percentage to the 10-15% range and be able to finally train hard to break the 4 hours marathon goal.

100 pushups is nothing really, Lu Di, a 6 year old chinese kid did 10,000, YEP 10,000 pushups in 3 hours and 20 minutes. Yea that’s him, looking all pump! Damn the boy got mad endurance.

 

10,000 pushups in 3:20 hours

Reading about him inspired me, I just might aim for 150 pushups next

Filed under: Fitness , 100 pushups, winter training

tight pants

Due to my exceptional time management skills I was once again rushing off to work. I just got back from the gym and haven’t much time to figure out what to wear so I grabbed what was available, threw it on and rushed out the door.

The shirt was decent enough, had collar so its consider business appropriate attire. The pants however was NOT a good choice.

these don't fit me too well

It turned out to be one of my skinny pants in my old days when I was able to fit into a pair of 29W x 30L pants. That was a long time ago.

In my haste to leave the house I didn’t realize how snugged it was. This realization didn’t come about until I got into work, while walking to my desk I noticed that I had picked my wedgie at least 5-6 times already.

This is way over my daily wedgie count. Normally its 5-6 for the entire 8 hours I am there.  I looked down and sadly realize that I am now one of those guys that wear tight snugged pants to work.

As I was walking to my desk, having came to the conclusion that I am currently wearing the tightest pants in the world, a coworker walked by and greeted me. I offered the same courtesy and greeted her back but for the life of me I don’t know why my tone suddenly changed and instead of a normal “hello” it was one of those high pitch “helllllllllooooo”. Great! now I am not only wearing tight pants but greeting people weird. This cannot be my legacy, I refuse to be known as the” dude that wear really tight pants” and the weird high pitch greeter amongst the office gossip.

It goes without saying that I didn’t have much room to put my man parts.  Another reason for the exceptionally high wedgie pick count. Its too late to head home and find another pair of pants, I don’t have many options now that I am  at work having picked my wedgie for the 8th time.  The only viable option was for me to limit my walking around as much as possible and go into ninja mode avoiding direct eye contact.

Luckily my job doens’t require a lot of interaction with my coworkers because if I have to bend over for any reason, my pants might rip and they will see more of me then they’d like to.

Excuse me while i pull… Damn it, these pants are too freaking tight.

Filed under: When at work I think about any and everything but work , dude that wear tight pants to work, high pitch greeter, old navy pants, tight pants