Sunday, December 11, 2011

jingle bell 5k

deadlines can be a good motivator. then why is it i'm typing this instead of studying for my finals? i guess because i love procrastination.

last week 7 of us BRS'ers met up to do this little 5k with a few thousand other close friends of ours. we met another BRS'r before the race who is more of a lurker, Todd. i made the call to meet up in front of a bar before the race. no, not to drink, they weren't open at 8 am. i wanted to go for a nice little warm up run before i kicked off my huaraches and went bare for the race. Nick is the only one who joined me.

we met jdleon, suzanne, janson, paraganek, and joshh at the bar. we got our packets from jen who organized the team sign up. PG didn't get his packet for some reason so jen gave him hers. amazingly she got a faster time than me even though i finished before her.

about a mile into the warm up run i had to get rid of excess water. i went to a gas station hoping they would let us in. this place is on burnside which is just across the street from chinatown, skidrow. everything is locked up in soda coolers. i don't think i've ever been inside there and i don't frequent any stores in chinatown so i was slightly surprised to see this. i talked the attendant into letting us use the bathroom. he was reluctant but nice.

i feel i should mention i picked up nick and janson, yes that is his real name, for the ride to downtown portland. both are from small towns. when i crossed the street against the light and in the middle of the road they were hesitant to say the least. they looked at me as if i was the first barefooter they ever saw. ;) i harassed them, what else would you expect from me? they had to follow me as they had no clue as to where we were going.

on our way to the starting line nick and i got to see the kids fun run. we watched in envy as some of the kids had perfect form. we felt sorry for the others wearing tanks on their feet. you could spot the difference even with our old, poor, glasses wearing eyes.

jen called us to get to the start. i'm glad she did as i thought we had like twenty minute until the start. it was only ten. we met everyone and stored our stuff. when we started stripping clothes and shoes people started freaking out. josh had brought a few wigs for us to wear. he, janson, and paraganek wore bright blue curly wigs. i was left with a mullet. ya, i butt rocked it for the race.

we made our way to the starting line. splitting up and finding each other again some how. josh took off to the front. he's fast and competitive. PG would've been there with him if he wasn't in a bit of pain. he hung out with me this time and we picked up nick, janson, and suzanne. jen was with us but went on her  one of her constant potty breaks and started from further back.

suzanne shocked me when we finally started running. she said her goal was to keep up with me for the race. i asked why shoot so low? we laughed. i am doing maf training but decided to just go for it. i was going to speed up each consecutive mile. it was nice running in a pack. everyone was following right behind me. that part was weird. as runners would comment about me the others would pass. they tell me the people got quite uncomfortable. little do they know i heard nearly every comment.

i'm not hardcore. i'm not tough. you guys in shoes are the hardcore ones. you're all wearing a lot of extra weight on your feet. that's what i wanted to say. believe it or not i kept my mouth shut. i'm thinking maybe i should make a tshirt with that on the back for races. i chose not to be such a smart ass. it doesn't help speaking to a large audience but works better more one on one or to a small group.

before a mile came up nick blasted by us. at the time i didn't want to catch him. i just let him go as i wasn't ready to speed up so soon. right after that the front  runners started coming back. the guy in the lead was just coasting at a sub 6m/m pace and he made it look effortless. the others who followed you could see were working hard. joshh was one of them. i yelled loud at him and he smiled. scared the other runners around us who at barely a mile in looked life they were miserable. so i shouted out good morning to everyone. still no response.

we saw joshh and the others at an underpass. this was the roughest section of the race. it was not much fun on the way back. there were way too many joggers and walkers to run on the painted lines. the walkers were supposed to go after all the runners. we all know how people listen nowadays.

after mile two i told janson i was having a good time watching all these beautiful women's behinds. i wanted to grab a few of them. he smiled. as this was only the second time meeting and first true run together he didn't know me that well. by this time i sped up. i saw nick and couldn't control myself anymore. i went to give him a smack on the left cheek. i wound up moving to his right side so when i hit him i hit his hip instead hurting him and my arm a little. he was like wtf. he tried to chase me down to get me back for it but couldn't catch me. too bad for me as i hate not knowing when he's going to pay me back for that.

next pg took off. i tried but couldn't catch him. i was wearing my hrm and still breathing through my nose. the hrm was beeping the whole race as i ran faster than what i have preset. at this time though my hr got over 190. i had to slow down a little. there was no way i was going to catch pg. i kept a pace close to 190 until the end. i felt good but i noticed that i was hungry a lot faster after this race than when i normally run slow and burn fat.

we run to the plaza as we hear josh's name announced. he and todd are on stage singing i can't remember what. actually todd was singing with joshh just smiling and bouncing along. they got on stage to get free tshirts. the whores.

after everyone got together we searched for a bar for the obligatory post race beer. nothing was open. we found one place finally. rock bottom brewery. i wouldn't normally mention their name but they gave us our drinks and food for free. $50. it was way beyond anything we expected. they did it because they weren't prepared for so many people to come in on a sunday morning. i guess they didn't know there was a race going on. we sat about twenty minutes before we got help. yes, we will be going back.

we talked and got to know our newest running members. jen gave us our tshirts and we said our goodbyes. it was a fun day but at 11 am it was only the beginning. time to go do other stuff. here's a pick of the five of us together during the race. none of us ever, so far, brings a camera. well, except for the time when pg brought one to take a pic of chelsea from Germany for our group run with her.





there was a blurry pic online of josh at the starting line. amazingly no one can find a pic of jen. she's a ginger with BRIGHT red hair so you would think you could find a pic of her easily. no such luck.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

boxing

i feel the need to get this off my chest. i love boxing. its the best sport there is. two men in the ring to see who is better. no one to blame but yourself if you lose. sadly, someone or something else always takes the blame for the loss. rarely do you see a true man say "it's my fault".

tonight's fight is a rematch between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. they had a good fight last time. Margarito took the win with a knockout of Cotto in the 11 round. Cotto admitted the defeat was his fault, at the time.

a couple of years ago Margarito fought Shane Mosley. Mosley's trainer felt Margarito's hand wraps before the fight and told the ref they didn't feel right. they had him undue the wraps and redo them. testing later showed his hands were wrapped with chemicals in plaster of paris. the press went on to say he wrapped his hands with plaster. this is not the case. there were two chemicals on his wraps present in plaster of paris, true, but not the plaster itself.

now, forgive me here if i got it wrong as i no longer follow boxing religiously. he may have felt the wraps after the fight. either way Cotto went and looked at the tape of his fight. when the ref raised Margarito's hand to signify him as the winner, Cotto thought he saw something funny. he's been calling Margarito a cheat publicly.

Margarito says he had no clue his trainer did this in the first place. he fired him for it. a man who was like a father to him. it hurt him deeply to fire the guy but he had to do it. he's now cast as a villain in boxing. to accept his role he's grown his hair long and has a goatee. he's loving the attention. his wife hates it. its really eating him up inside but as a boxer he knows any attention is good attention and attention sells tickets and pay-per-view.

i look forward to seeing what i believe will be Margarito redeeming himself tonight. Cotto is a good fighter. i just don't believe he has the mental capacity to beat Margarito. Antonio is a warrior. he won't stop coming forward, which is how Cotto likes to fight. only difference is Margarito can bang where as Cotto just taps away. he'll get discouraged and won't be able to take the barrage of punches Margarito will dish out. i think he will either quit or get knocked out, again.

i still see rumblings of people calling Mayweather a cheat. he's an ass and among many other names i don't want to take the time and mental energy to call him, is he's not a cheater. he hit Ortiz after the ref told them to box. he was polite and professional in hugging Ortiz for the intentional foul. i myself would not have been so forgiving. he showed himself to be a true professional and i respect him for that.

it was Ortiz' choice to not keep his hands up at all times, like every boxer is warned to do at the beginning of every fight. after the hug Floyd saw an opening and took it. who could blame him? the guy had just intentionally head butt him. i would have kicked the guy myself. he was perfectly within his right to hit him and by no means did he cheat. Ortiz knew he was wrong for doing so and didn't blame Floyd afterwards or talk bad about him because he knew he got what he deserved. besides, he knew he had no chance of winning the fight.

Pacquio won his fight two weeks ago. i know he looked horrible and was beat up. problem is Marquez stopped fighting after the middle rounds. i guess he doesn't know his history. the fight, if close, always goes to champion. in order to win the belt you have to BEAT the champion. sad thing is, Marquez was thoroughly beating Pacquio. he should have won that fight. Pacquio had a look of defeat on his face throughout the fight and at the end didn't believe he won.

Marquez only has himself to blame. had he kept the pressure on those last few rounds the fight and belt would be his. instead everyone is talking about how he got robbed and Pacquio was given a gift. no. Marquez GAVE the fight away. history has proven this over and over. if you're beating the champion you have to keep beating until the end of the fight. not stop in the middle because you feel you have a comfortable lead and don't want to risk getting knocked out. if you don't want to risk getting knocked out then don't get in the ring. period.

school

i feel like a hypocrite. i tell my girls to get good grades yet here i sit ignoring my own homework. i should be writing the paper that was due last wednesday but i'm not. instead i'm surfing the web, eating, walking the dog, and now blogging.

procrastination should be the first definition for man in the dictionary. we all do it. we all know better. there are very few of us who will go knock out an assignment upon receiving it. we will sit and wait as we find other "important" things to take up our time. like blogging.

i have plenty of organic chemistry reading and problem solving to keep me busy, yet i'm not doing that either. i go to lecture everyday and i felt a bit lost the time i showed up an hour late. hey, i was sick and didn't even realize i was late. usually ten minutes but an hour and ten minutes? i must have been more out of it than i thought. i went home that day instead of going to lab because as i sat in the back of class, i didn't want to cough up a lung on my neighbors, i noticed i stepped in dog poop. horrible morning.

shit, i sit here now after my bfast wanting to take a nap. there goes the dog scratching on the door to be let in. he made me take him out and asked to go on the patio after. so i let him in, made some tea, and washed the dishes. all in about 5 mins.

now i just have to refocus and type out that paper. it's not something i wanted to do. i would have dropped the class when i found out about the paper on the first day. i was approved for financial aide and i got a note from the counselor that this would be the last time at PCC since i've exceeded the allowed credits there so long as i stuck to my submitted plan. great. i have another dilemma now that the class i was supposed to take next term is at the same time as my o chem. i'm not changing my o chem for an elective so i will find something suitable and deal with the consequences. it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.

that's one premise i plan to put into my paper. i emailed my teacher about a problem i had with it. he never got back to me. i forgot about it and every time i tried to talk with him after class some one else was. time goes by. i don't do any interviews, like i'm supposed to, and the paper is due. great. now it's late, no interviews, and i have another field trip to do and write about next week. fuck.

well it's not going to write itself unless i start it. i'll let you know how it goes. i just better not fail. a C would be much better than the F on my transcript. oh, that's the reason i'm taking this class. state and local government. i apparently took it in my youth and got an F. i guess that explains why i don't remember the class or the other two on my transcript with F's.