Lake Tahoe

My mom loves Lake Tahoe, so naturally I call her whenever I'm up there to make her jealous. Just a little payback for all the times she calls me to tell me she cooked this and that and it's too bad I'm not there to partake of it. You know I find myself falling for the place too. The more I visit the more I love it. Lot's of good memories in Tahoe which includes finishes in the two 100-mile ultra-marathon races held there every summer.

Last weekend was a big one at the lake. It was my friend Jessica's birthday and they were celebrating it again in Tahoe. The last four years she and her guy Jeff had headed up there for her birthday weekend and taking part in the TransTahoe relay. They organize the whole thing; house rental, boat rental, food and drink and swimmers for the relay. It's swimming so technically it's "outside running" so I don't mind posting here. I was just along for the ride, a spectator. While all the other teams used small water ski type boats we had a sailboat, so spectators were welcome and encouraged. Basically 6 swimmers take turn swimming across the lake and the route is about 11 miles long or just under 18 kilometers. Boats shadow their swimmers all the way across. A friend had told me that the lake water is so clean you can drink it as you swim.

Got in on Friday and stopped off at Carson City which was home base for another 100-mile ultra which was also happening that weekend then headed to Jessica and Jeff's house rental. We were up before sunrise Saturday for the swim relay, done by lunch, grabbed a huge lunch complete with margaritas, napped in the afternoon and enjoyed each others company for the rest of the evening. We all need days like this. Sunday was clean up then we headed out for some group activity. Some biked the roads, a couple of folks mountain biked the trails and I went on a solo run with my camera. We then got back together for a short dip in the lake, a quick lunch and then it was back to San Francisco.

The weather was great that weekend, blue skies, a bit on the warm side but better than cold and foggy like we have here. Wish I was back there now. Enjoy the pictures.

Saturday morning in the Lake, headed towards the swim relay start at Sand Harbor. We were the only sailboat in the relay, most were using small waterski type boats. Somewhere to the right is the start of the TahoeRimTrail 100.

Ariel, our star swimmer. Lake Tahoe is one big freshwater pool, surrounded by mountains and a mile up. We are not at sea level.

Blueberries and beer, a quiet moment during the relay. Birthday girl Jessica is the one with the cowboy hat and a beer.

Birthday girl Jessica, getting ready to take over from her guy Jeff.

Late lunch and celebratory margaritas at Blue Agave.

Solo time on the trails Sunday to snap some pictures of the views.

Great views.

More views.

One more.

For the complete photo set, click here.

Food and Family

My mom has just reminded me that I have yet to post the pictures from her birthday. She was right! June has been such a busy month for the whole running thing. First was my race early in the month then it was pacing at Carrie's race at the end of the month. Then what followed was all the reports, pictures, yada, yada, yada. After her 100-mile race, Carrie went up to Wisconsin to join her boyfriend who was visiting friends and family. She also stopped by Chicago to visit her sister, her family and her friends. She had quite the recovery tour I must say. My recovery from my race was hanging with mom and relatives. As you can imagine after these big races we just want to sit down for awhile, hangout and eat. In my case, eat, eat, eat and eat some more. Is there anything better than sharing a good meal with family and friends? It just so happened in was a her birthday so there was an even bigger reason to celebrate.

Food I wish was on my table right now.

Birthday lunch with mom and the relatives.

Mom cutting her birthday cake.

Hanging out with mom.

For more images click here.

Pinoy Ka Ba?

Are you Filipino?

Filipinos are the only people I know who will ask each other this question, at least those born and raised in the Philippines. And usually when they ask, they already know you are. The question is the ice breaker. I get asked all the time and when I say yes I automatically get an extra smile and a little more attention. They also start speaking Tagalog (national language). I understand most of what I hear and read but the speaking part is a challenge. In my defense I'd like to say that I'm not Tagalog and that I left the Philippines a month before my 12th birthday. I was at that age where it was easy to get in the groove of a new language but hard to hold on the old one. It comes back to me when I'm home especially my native language - illongo. They say I speak both with an American accent. As a child I went to a prestigious private school and my education included extensive lessons in English and Tagalog. I was educated for a life, a world away from the farmlands of my native province. Considering the way my life turned out, I am deeply appreciative for the foresight of my parents and the relatives who took care of me, especially my grandmother who raised me for the first part of my life. We were not rich but I was given a priviliged life. Not everyone leaves the old hometown of course. My uncle Ambrosio (don't you just love that old school/old world name) lived in Manila for three decades. It started with college then on to the the high energy life of a hard working, hard playing advertising creative to eventually landing the high stress life of an advertising executive. He has traveled the world like my mother and yet after all he has experienced, has chosen to retire in the more laid back, middle of nowhere farmlands of our home province. Something admirable and endearing about that. He has traveled, crushed deadlines with the best of them, partied like it was 1999 way back before Prince even coined the term and still his heart returned to the dusty, small town vibe of Bacolod City.

This thoughts got started today as a fellow Pinoy at the United ticket counter asked me if I was Filipino. When I was younger I used to laugh it off as sentimentality of the old but I am older now and perhaps much more appreciative of my culture. In a country that is so culturally and ethnically diverse I've come to celebrate my own.

My running has taken me to heights and accomplishments that I would never have imagined. Believers in Christ sometimes use the Cross as an illustration of growth. You grow vertically towards God (vertical stroke) as you also continue to grow horizontally to the people and communties around you (horizontal stroke). My path in running is the same way. As I've ascended to new levels of accomplishments and experiences my support base has also gotten wider. I've met a lot of people through racing and volunteering. My involvement with blogging and the online community network Facebook has brought even more people into that community. I guess it was only a matter of time before I started reaching out to other Filipino runners. Oh I've always known a few but this past year, through the internet, I've contacted Pinoy blogging runners directly. I gotta tell you, it's been a lot of fun.

Anyway I am headed to Orange County for a race. I will be spending the night with my mom. I have permission to use her car for the weekend and tomorrow morning I head out for San Diego where I pick up my friend Jessica who will be helping me with my big race this weekend and Chris Marolf, another runner who will be car pooling with us. The race is a long one and we will be there from Friday through Sunday. I'm looking forward to meeting some folks I've only conversed with online, a couple of them Pinoys. Sunday afternoon after dropping off Jess and Chris I will head back to Orange County to spend another night with my mom. The next day, Monday, is her birthday and she has planned a big lunch with relatives before they drop me off at the airport for my evening flight back to San Francisco.

I'm looking forward to the race, hooking up with family and eating a lot of Filipino food.

Myself, the uncle Ambrosio and cousins.

My mom in her high school years. The photo resides in our farm house where other family pictures are kept. My high school picture is up there. I wish it wasn't, hahaha.

Downtown Bacolod City, small but busy.

A family gathering with my cousins, a gathering isn't a gathering without lots of food. Every time I visit for 3 weeks I gain at least 6 pounds, at the most I gained 9 or so.

A Day Down South

Caltrain

No not LA but in the Palo Alto / Stanford area. I have a big race coming up and I find myself with only one good pair of shoes heading into this race. I need another and there is a specialty running shop in Palo Alto that caters specifically to ultra-marathoners. They carry a line of shoes that I cant find here in the city. What is this race that I dont feel comfortable having only one pair of shoes? Well thats a topic for the other blog.

I've been wanting to visit this shop for some time but beacuse I dont have a car I havent been able to find the time. You know how it is with public transportation, it takes much longer. Well work is slow again after a busy month so I decided once and for all to head down. Work has been like the hilly trails that I run and race on, up and down, up and down; but God has been good, not only providing a means to survive but means to support the comfort and priviliges that I'm used to which of course includes my running habit, my running addiction.

I caught the train down, an Amtrak type, double decked commuter train that runs back and forth between San Francisco and San Jose. It takes a long time with all the stops but it's comfortable. Catching the train brings back memories of my last year in art school. A friend and I worked as interns for one of our favorite teachers. She had an office in San Francisco but when she and her husband decided to start a family they closed down the San Francisco office and asked if we would be willing to continue working for her in her home office. After some deliberation my friend and I decided to do so. It was no small sacrifice. Door to door a one way trip could take an hour and forty-five minutes. We would have been fools not to take it however. We had this great paid internship with a most excellent teacher who let us work on actual projects, was generous with everything especially her guidance and the use of her equipment. Most of all she treated us like family. A little known fact is that Rozanne was the one who inspired me to take up running. She was a marathon runner in her younger years.

When Sara was born, Rozanne's eldest, we took on the additional role of "nannies". We would have "Playing with Sara work breaks" several times during the day. I also helped with bathing her, back when she could fit on the bathroom sink. I was always good at avoiding diaper duty though, hehehe. I always managed to be indisposed at those moments which is no small miracle in a home office. By the time her second child was born a couple of years later, Jason, I was already working at another firm but I visited regularly and had babysitting duty a couple of times. Yes eventually I had to learn how to change diapers. Something parents know very well, kids are pooping machines. The life; eat, play, sleep and poop. Over time the visits became less and less frequent. I got more involved with my running and these days I hardly see them.

Well it ended being a day well spent. I got the stuff I needed, there was a 15% sale on everything so not only did I get a pair of shoes but picked up a new flashlight for night running (the old one broke) and some water bottle holders. Met up with Rozanne for lunch, she's still the same and I stuck around long enough to spend time with the kids too. We picked them up after school and I went to see Jason practice Wushu at the martials arts gym before catching the 5PM train home from Palo Alto. The kids are so active and getting BIGGER. Sara has her Taikwando after school then swim team stuff, Jason also does the swimming and martial arts thing. Sara is 11 and she already has some of that teenage attitude going. Jason who is turning 9 in two weeks is still a sweet and funny boy. I can't believe I used to change his diaper! Time flies.

Kids they grow up so fast.

Jason, Rozanne and Sara

Myself with the kids

Around the art studio

Jason after his Wushu class

Coffee and Chocolate Cake Moments

Tough choices.

Coffee and Chocolate Cake, just perfect on a sunny but chilly San Francisco Saturday afternoon.

Samantha just had to get the salad.

Ah yeah, a nice cozy Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. The unseasonably warm weather that we have been having is out and the fog and cold wind is back but at least it was sunny. These guys worked out and wanted to get together at 6PM for a little dinner. I on the other hand did not workout and was in all day working so I was more than happy to come out and play for a bit. I already knew what I was having before I left the apartment. Oh I have some work due early Monday and I'm out all day tomorrow.

These are some of my good friends. We workout and play together, do dinners, movies, etc. Dana is running her first 50k trail run race tomorrow and Cheyenne and I are coming down to support her. I'm also volunteering, well since I was going to be down there I wanted to be useful. It's in Santa Cruz and it promises to be a good day. By the time dinner was done we also got Samantha on board. It wasn't hard to convince her.

This place that we are at is called "The Grove", one of two coffee shops in San Francisco. Well it's really more than a coffee shop now, they have a full menu, great desserts and a bar. It's not cheap but it's good. It has a cozy atmosphere and lots of pretty girls stop by:) What's not to like.

I just finished a big race last weekend where it was 95 degrees, quite hilly, where the trails were quite tricky with all the loose soil and rocks and I wormed my way to the top 10. So I've been spending the week in recovery and rewarding myself with treats. Not too often and not too much but since it was Saturday I had to do the chocolate cake. Beer, Wine, Meat and Sugar, pleasing me is as simple as an abundance of all four. Partly why I run really.

Life is good.

Dana, Samatha and Cheyenne.

Myself, Brian, Dana's guy who eventually joined us, Dana and Samantha. Photo courtesy of Cheyenne.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. A little humor courtesy of SnorgTees.com. They've got some funny and amusing shirts. I gave up chocolate for Lent and with my cravings on a rampage because of all the run training it was somewhat hard. I didn't want to give up something super tough, just enough of an inconvenience that would keep reminding me about Lent and Easter.

Later this afternoon I'm going to join my former church for their Easter baptisms on Ocean Beach. Brrrr...it's cold, I've done it. It will be good to visit with old friends on such a sacred day. Sacred for us anyway. I can't promise a pound of chocolate won't disappear between now and midnight. Okay maybe a pound is a bit much, a half pound.

Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Night at Jessica's

So on my last post I told you guys about Jessica's plan to make our Friday Wine Nights cheaper by eliminating the wine bar until the economy gets better. Well we held the first one at her place and it was big success.

She is about a 20 minute walk from my place but in the two years that I've known her I've actually never been. She has a cozy place with a great view. I'm glad we had it there. Besides I'm a stereo-typical guy when it comes to home furnishings and I do leave stuff on the floor. I won't show you any pictures, just take my word for it.

Gary joined us and it ended up being a really fun night. Jess made enough food for 10 people, two large home made pizzas with mushrooms, bbq chicken and other good stuff. We polished off...well that's better left unsaid, ya'll will think we are such lushes. I'm up next, don't know what to make yet but it will probably be back in her pad since my oven doesn't work. I need something inexpensive and simple, the underlying theme and challenge for the new Friday Wine Nights. Inexpensive wine + inexpensive good food = good times on the cheap. We are also looking to get more friends from the neighborhood to join in.

Still thinking about what I can make. Suggestions are welcome. Enjoy the pictures.

Our dinner, about to go into the oven

The view outside

Jess' Ironman Coeur d'Alene finishers medal and a picture of her finishing

Organic wine

Gary and the wine that he brought

Spanish organic