nguyenhai's Blog

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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.

The four of us after the race.

Frederick HERE WE COME!!!

Filed under: Running , , ,

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 , , ,

Macro

My first attempt at macro photography.

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

Filed under: Photography , ,

Sakura Matsuri 2009

    

the Big Pencil

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 , ,

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.

iPod Touch 1

Home screen

2nd page

2nd page

3rd page

3rd page

4th page

4th page

Ask in the comments if you have any questions :)

Filed under: Gadgets , , , ,

My Upcoming Races

The Frederick Marathon
Date: May 3, 2009
http://www.frederickmarathon.org

Completed
Official Finish Time: 4:34:57

The Nation's Triathlon
Date: September 13, 2009
http://thenationstriathlon.com

Can't swim 1.5k Had to drop out :(

The Baltimore Marathon
Date: October 10, 2009
http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com
Official Finish Time: 3:56:43

Marine Corps Marathon
Date: October 25, 2009
http://www.marinemarathon.com

Official Finish Time: 4:12:57

JFK 50 Mile Ultramarathon
Date: November 21, 2009
http://www.jfk50mile.org

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