Taking Running and Blogging Back to Basics
Several readers and friends have noticed my sparing and sporadic posting behavior lately. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those who have expressed their concern, and tell everyone that I’m perfectly okay! The reason I was unable to blog as frequently was that I’ve been quite busy – mainly with traveling and volunteering. Below is an outline of what I was up to in the past month.
New Jersey Marathon
I managed to run quite a bit in the first week of May. In fact, I ran my first official marathon (signed up and paid for) along the lovely Jersey Shore. Although it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, I was still happy with a shiny new PR. Including the New Jersey Marathon, the first week of May would constitute the bulk of my mileage in May because I started traveling shortly after.
Atlanta, Georgia
I had a special road trip planned out following my marathon debut. On May 19, Sean (@aspirasean), a close friend of mine (and an avid runner himself), got married in Georgia. I drove down with a photographer friend, so to sightsee some states on the way down. As a side note, coincidentally Sean wedded on the same day as Mark Zuckerberg!
Saw this when I drove by Virginia. I almost jumped out of the car and went for a run on this delicious road.
The wedding ceremony and reception were hosted in Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta. It turned out to be an amazing event in front of gigantic dinosaur skeletons!
The front fountain at Ferbank. There were dinosaurs in this wedding!
I had the pleasure of experience the famous southern hospitality at full blast. I’m not sure if I was just in tourist mode entirely – but people were a lot nicer down there (no offense to my fellow New Yorkers)!
As far as running went, I did a hot and steamy 6-mile run, right before a thunderstorm, with the husband-to-be at the Silver Comet Trail before the wedding – as well as a 5 mile run on the dreadmill in my hotel. In addition to the wedding, I also visited Coca Cola and did some touristy stuff with the very limited time I had there.
This trail was a bit hilly but beautiful and serene - highly recommended for a run!
I searched the Coca Cola Vault. Nope, I didn't find the secret formula.
I tried 60+ soda flavors at Coca Cola so you don't have to. The worst of it all, by a long shot, was Sparberry available in Zimbabwe. There is no word to describe how bizarre and unsettling the lingering taste of this soda was. I think I had a nightmare from trying this flavor.
I stopped by Fat Matt's Rib Shack in Atlanta - this was yummier than anything I had at the wedding.
On the way back, I took the Amtrek because I’ve never taken a train for such a distance. I have to admit that train was much more comfortable than airplane; but the trade-off was that it took so much longer (18 whopping hours).
Boston, Massachusetts
One week after the Atlanta trip, I drove up to Boston to visit a friend for a couple of days. In the past, I’ve passed by Boston several times but never had the opportunity to stay and check out this historical city. So naturally I was quite excited for this trip because my friend lives right by the famous Heartbreak Hill. Once there, I did a little scouting of the Boston Marathon course and then proceeded to South Boston for Dinner.
I had dinner at The Barking Crab. It was packed!
This was my friend's dinner - it sure looked delicious.
I was told to stop by Mike's Pastry for dessert. This place was jam packed by tourists. Maybe that was the reason the lady handling my business was giving me an attitude. Honestly, other than the gargantuan size of the cannolis and the variety of available flavors, it wasn't all that special. The overrated pastry and terrible costumer service left me with a bad after taste of disappointment. I will never return to this shop again or recommend it to others.
This trip was extremely spontaneous. When I finally checked in to my hotel, I ended up going for a swim in the hotel pool and had a blast in there. Keep in mind that I haven’t swam (or swum?) in YEARS – so I was happy that I didn’t drown in the 4-foot deep pool…
The following morning I got up before the sunrise and went for a brisk run. I planned to run from South Boston to MIT, then back to the hotel – a total of 8 miles according to my plan. And of course things never work out the way I plan them – I got lost on the way back. Because I wanted to take a different route back to my hotel (for sightseeing purposes), I had to rely heavily on my iPhone’s navigation. As it turned out, either due to technical difficulty or my lack of navigation ability, I couldn’t tell left from right. I ended up getting lost for 10~20 minutes in the outskirt of Boston and finished back in the hotel with 2 extra miles – good thing I brought my legs to Boston!
The first major landmark of my run was TD Garden and the Zakim Bridge
Another shot of TD Garden
Saw this almost "pixelated" statue along the river bank during my run in Boston
The turn-around point of my run - MIT over yonder
I also ran by the Boston Public Library that morning
I got a little homesick when I saw this sign during the run
My run for the day. Notice I was supposed to take the green route at the yellow dot, but instead I somehow turned right and ended up getting lost for a while.
I drove by New Balance on the way home. I want to stop by next time I'm in town!
Found this under a bridge somewhere right before I left Boston. Perhaps this is some troll's reading space!
World Science Festival
I love science as much as I love running. In the last week of May and first week of June, I volunteered for the World Science Festival here in NYC. This is something I do every year – and it was as amazing as usual this year. Most of my assignments were hospitality – either backstage or in the hotel where VIPs stayed. It goes without saying that I met some amazing pioneers in science as well as interesting volunteers. The coolest person I met this year was no other than Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet. I almost thanked him for giving me the Interwebs!
My assignment for the 2012 World Science Festival was hospitality at the W Hotel
Somehow I ended up on the catwalk of NYU Skirball Center
Got a group shot of volunteers and the co-founders, Brian Greene and Tracy Day, of the World Science Festival
Next – Back to Basics
After setting foot in 10 different states, plus DC, in the past month, now I’m home again – and my schedule is less hectic. It’s my wish to get back to where I was a month ago, training and racing consistently. As I am toying with the idea of doing another half and full marathon this fall, this is not the time for me to slack off, especially when I’m trying to claim the time goals that I missed earlier this year. Also I’ve been a bit backed up with shoe reviews because I wasn’t able to log a lot of miles lately. At the rate that I’m receiving new shoes to review, I’ll probably need a 3rd leg to be able to keep up with my testing and reviewing process. But busy is good business – it keeps me accountable and on track as far as blogging goes. So here’s a little preview of what shoes I’ll be reviewing in the coming weeks (or months to be exact):
The Skechers GOrun Ride
The Cloudracer from On
One more thing (to quote some famous computer guy)… I am in the final stages of adding a new voice to this blog. Currently I’m reviewing a few strong candidates who are equally over-qualified. I’m planning a smooth integration process for my prospective colleague, as well as figuring out a more specific direction of articles and information on this site. So stay tuned because it’s entirely possible that I end up having more than one new blogger…
Let’s be friends: