Trek Days 2 and 3

No shuffle song

I am in so much pain, I can't even stand it. My entire body is stiff and aches. This is what I get for being such a lump for so many months.

Yesterday, I decided to do the Jillian Michaels Banish Fat Boost Metabolism workout on Comcast's On Demand. That chick is nuts, and I mean that in the best way possible. I actually really liked her workout for a few reasons: 1) It was really tough, like I'm getting a little dizzy tough. 2) She gives great tips and good explanations as to why she's doing what she's doing. 3) The cardio circuit format helps keep things interesting. You're never doing the same thing for more than a few minutes at a time.

And now today, I am in serious pain. I thought when I woke up yesterday, that was going to be as bad as it would get. And then today came, which is why I decided that today would be a rest day.

So at some point in this little journey, I need to start counting my calories so that I'm not sabotaging myself with my extreme love for all things fried, sweet and fatty. Sigh.

Mileage Earned: 60 miles

Trek Day 1

First song on shuffle: Eye of the Tiger - Survivor

Long time, no see, eh? I have no excuses for why I've been away so long so I'm not even going to bother. Instead, I'm going to start in on why I'm posting today. I haven't started running again just yet. The reason for today's post is that it is the very first day of the BBK (Body By Kathy) Trek to Honolulu. Now you may be asking, who is this Kathy, and are you actually going to Honolulu?

Kathy is my kick-a$$ sister who just happens to be a kickboxing instructor and personal trainer (in addition to being a phenomenal wife, mother and baking entrepreneur) who created this BBK program last year.

And no, I'm not actually going to Honolulu (well, not anytime soon at least). The idea here is that you commit to working out one hour a day, six days a week, for 12 weeks. Each workout you do earns you miles towards your trek to your goal (or destination Honolulu).

So today, sb and I started our trek by doing the workout plan Kathy created for the participants. Allow me to say without doubt or remorse...ow. My legs and arms are already starting to ache, which means by tomorrow morning, I'll be begging for my pal, Ben-Gay.

However, we did earn 60 miles each with that gut-busting workout, and we're on our way to beautiful Hawaii. In addition to finishing, another goal of mine for the next 12 weeks is to lose 15 pounds. I am currently tipping the scales at 150 pounds (cringe), a good 20 pounds heavier than my ideal weight. I figure if I can lose 15 pounds during this program, I can finish off the last five and continue to maintain that afterwards.

Another great thing that will come out of this will be running again. SB and I plan to build up slowly but surely this time so as to avoid injury. We'd like to do a destination race, possibly the Surf City USA Half Marathon in Huntington Beach in 2011, so this program will be a good way to get our motors running before we start really training.

Fasten your seat belts...

Mileage Earned: 60 miles

Team Strangely Asian Does It Again

for the third year in a row, sb and i competed in chicago's citychase. not only did we complete all 10 chase points in less than six hours, we shaved a good 45 minutes off our best time. it turns out, being out of shape but having iphones is better than being in shape and relying on maps and guessing our way through the clues.

as for the official stats, we finished in 80th place out of a total of 689 teams, and we were one of only 297 teams that finished all 10 chase points. our final time was 5:10:05. not too shabby, eh? eh.

and now, for the run down...

will you marry me?

scared ya, didn't i? no, sb and i are not engaged so stop freaking out. before the race started, there was a really big and sweet surprise. one of the chasers asked his girlfriend to marry him! the race organizers were in on the plot, and it was a really nice moment.

getting the clue sheet

and finally, the race begins. they brought back the scavenger hunt this year as the start to the race. we had to find eight out of 10 items in order to get the clue sheet. after running to walgreens to buy a few items, digging through some of the things we brought with us, using our handy dandy iphones, and asking strangers on the street for help, we managed to get our eight items.

chase point #1: if you can dodge a wrench...

after figuring out a few of the clues, we realized that there were quite a few near our new place in the west loop so we hopped back on the blue line and headed to our first point - the ffc gym connected to union station. once we got there, we found out that we had to hit someone 10 times with a dodgeball. the only problem was logistically, it was a mess. the poor volunteers couldn't keep up with all of the people hurling balls at each other. it got to a point where the volunteer just said, if you say you hit someone 10 times, i'll trust you. and with that, we were off.

chase point #2: i fail my people yet again

we had planned on going to another chase point in the UIC area, but just like last year, the point had a huge line. we stood there for a couple of minutes and decided it wasn't worth it, so we moved on to a clue called "hoop there it is." when we got there, we saw people in bike-driven rickshaws riding around a basketball court. one of us had to ride the rickshaw in one full circle around with the other as the passenger. then, the passenger had to make a basket, and then take over the driver's seat and the partner who drove first had to make a basket, too. sounds easy enough, right? wrong. sb drove us around the court quickly and smoothly, i made a basket, and then i hopped onto the bike. and then that's where it all went downhill. i couldn't get the damned thing to go straight to save my life. it was horribly embarrassing, especially since at least 15 teams were in line watching and waiting for me to stop being such a spaz. eventually i got close enough to a hoop for sb to make a basket, and we were finally off running again.

chase point #3 and #4: fleet feet and special olympics

at this point, we realized that there are many more chase points in the west loop than we had originally thought, so we just kept trying to find more of them. the next one we found was in union park. it was a hurdle challenge hosted by fleet feet. we each had to jump 10 hurdles and then run back in a team time of less than two minutes. i managed it in 48 seconds while sb blazed through in 40. at that same chase point, we also handed in the donations we raised for the special olympics. thanks to ebq and kos for their support!

chase point #5: it's not beef, it's pork

as we were running to the next point, we saw another team and let them know that the fleet feet point was worth it because it was quick and easy. in return, they let us know that the chase point at the butcher was quick but not to do the gallery one because you had to get naked. we figured we would do both anyway because they were only two blocks away from each other. so we got to sam's meat company, cut up some pork and were on our way in less than two minutes.

chase point #6: ohhh...OHHH

and now, the dreaded naked point. sb knew immediately that i was not about to get naked, so he sacked up and took one for the team. the point was at this classy art gallery, and when we got into the room, we saw four guys and one girl completely naked and posing as their partners sketched them. while we were waiting, we heard the artist who was approving all the sketches scold everyone for not giving any forward-facing poses. she said the more you show, the easier it will be to get the picture approved. so when it was sb's turn to strip and pose, he let go of all inhibition, and let it all hang out...literally. when i presented my picture to the artist, her only remarks as she looked from top to bottom were..."ohhh...OHHH...that's nice." sb is a trooper.

chase point #7: is that a snake down your shirt?

once sb got dressed, we ran off to heritage green park, which is one of the dog parks where we take our girl barley. there, a volunteer was waiting with a very large snake. i had to put it down sb's shirt and he had to pull it out the bottom and vice versa. it was yet another quick and easy point.

chase point #8: best volunteer reception of the day

we now decided to head north to lincoln park. when we got to the chase point, we were greeting by a bunch of cheering and clapping volunteers. it was a nice pick-me-up because at that point, we were getting a little tired. the challenge we had to complete here was to get someone to buy a non-perishable item, larger than a fist, in exchange for either a sticker or a pen. the items would then be donated to a food bank. so we took off running and just at the end of the block was a starbucks. we went in, and i asked one of the customers if she would be willing to buy a bottle of water in exchange for the sticker. she quickly agreed, and we had our non-perishable item in just a few minutes.

chase point #9: stupid #11 bus

we knew the next point was about a mile north of where we were, so we decided to try and take the bus to give our legs a rest. big mistake. we used the handy dandy cta bus tracker, and after waiting about 12 minutes, the tracker suddenly said the bus was delayed. we finally gave up and started walking. when we got to the chase point, there was another team waiting for us to do a tug of war. the catch here was that whoever lost had to get dirty in the big mud pit in the middle. sadly, we ended up losing, and scott went face first into the mud. good thing we were smart enough to bring a towel.

chase point #10: stroke...stroke...

we were headed to the last chase point, and we couldn't believe we had about an hour and a half to finish. it's a good thing we had all that extra time because the line was terribly long for this point. we waited for about 30 minutes just to get to the front of the line, but once we were there, it all went pretty quickly. we had to jump in a canoe, paddle out to a sign, turn around and report back to the volunteer telling him what was printed on the sign. in less than 10 minutes, we were back on the road running to the finish line.

the finish

we were less than a half a mile away, so we just started running and before we knew it, the race was over! originally, we went into this year's chase figuring we'd just have some fun and do the points that sounded cool. we didn't think we'd actually finish because we're both out of shape, but thanks to our unwavering competitive spirit and our super smart phones, we had the best finish yet.

and another amazing race for team strangely asian is in the books. as always, we're looking for anyone who wants to join in on the fun next year - so friends, get over your fear of snakes, put on your running shoes, and don't be afraid to take your pants off. we'll see ya next year!

update: citychase official results

team strangely asian finished 97th in the citychase...again! we landed in the same exact place as last year even though our time was a few seconds slower.

however, there were about 250 more teams than last year, and it looks we were one of only 111 teams out of 750 total to finish all 10 chase points in 6 hours. and it seems that almost 2/3 didn't finish. so based on those numbers, i'm feeling pretty good about what we did.

yay, team strangely asian!

citychase chicago 2008

team strangely asian does it again! sb and i geared up and successfully finished our second citychase race. while this year's race seemed tougher (and sometimes more annoying) than last year, we still had a great time. we haven't gotten the official results yet, but we did hit 10 chase points in somewhere around 5 hours and 57 minutes.

our goals were all pretty much the same as last year, but the order of importance changed slightly:

1) finish all 10 chase points in the allotted 6 hours
2) don't get injured (this got bumped down a spot because we're not training for anything)
3) don't break up
4) have fun.

now, on to the race itself:
getting the clue sheet
last year, they had us do a scavenger hunt to get our clue sheet. this year, they simply decided to give us two different locations, and we had to run to get them. this turned out to be a logistical nightmare because people were shoving and yelling trying to get a sheet. cs and tw did the race, too, and apparently cs got knocked down during this debacle.

chase point #1 - michael phelps' swimming domination will not be threatened by our sorry asses.
after about 20 minutes of trying to figure out as many clues as possible, we decided to take off for chinatown. however, while we were on the train, we decided that it would be better to head to the university of illinois chicago campus instead, and it turns out we made a really good choice. From what we heard, the lines down in chinatown took forever. anyway, once we got to UIC, our challenge was to find the olympic pool and each swim 100 m. i'd like to think i'm in decent shape, but shit. i was dying during the second lap. sb isn't much better either - he always recounts the story of how he never made it past the apples group in his swimming class. nonetheless, neither of us drowned, and we got our first point.

chase points #2 and 3 - what do michelle wie and i have in common? we're both asian. that's it.
this year, they decided to give us a couple of chase points that we could complete ahead of time. one of them was to gather a bunch of business cards fitting certain categories. with the help of my boss ck, i was able to get this one done, and what was even better was that we could complete that chase point at the same place as another point. so i handed in our cards to complete point #2, and then a few steps over we did #3, which was a putting course. we had to roll a die three times, and that would be our par for the course. first time, we rolled a 10 and failed miserably. we were down to two strokes left for the last hole, and i choked. so we went to the back of the line, rolled another 10, and this time, we managed to complete the task with one stroke left over.

chase point #4 - daley is really trying his damnest to get the olympics to chicago in 2016
we had planned to hit up a couple of points in the river north area, and on our way there, we stumbled upon what would be our fourth point. it was an olympics-inspired point hosted by chicago's olympics 2016 committee. i did the shot put, sb shot a bow and arrow, we both played wheelchair basketball and went 250 m on a rowing machine. our final task was to sprint 50 m in under 9 seconds. and the big catch? one of us had to be blind-folded, and we had to be tethered together by a string. so sb took one for the team, put on the blindfold, and i dragged him across the finish line in just under 9 seconds.

chase point #5 - always listen to your pop
our next point was a quick one. we showed up at haray caray's restaurant downtown, and next to the building was a huge cow. fitting, right? our challenge was to milk the cow and fill the bottom of a small dixie cup. luckily, sb's pop grew up on a farm and showed him how to milk a cow. he was so good at it that i didn't even have enough time to get my camera out to snap a picture of him doing it. so all i have is this picture of bessie.

chase point #6 - i might be a rageaholic
after sb dried off his hands, we took off for crunch gym on grand and wabash. there, we found out we'd get to spar with an olympic boxer. the thing was, only one of us could get in the ring. sb, being the nice guy he is, let me be the one. so we warmed up by doing some exercises and punching drills, and then i got a pair of gloves and headgear and jumped in the ring. apparently the guys watching told sb i hit hard and was doing a nice job throwing out some combos and that he should "watch out for me." it's not good for your boyfriend to be scared of you...right? yeah...

chase point #7 - there's a reason why sb never enlisted.
there were a few mandatory chase points we had to hit, and we thought we had this next one figured out. last year, one of our points was bulldog bootcamp at north ave. beach, which we joined this summer. well, there was a bootcamp there again, but this time it was hosted by real marines, and boy were they serious about their jobs. it's all really a painful blur, but what i do remember is that the sand burned the shit out of my feet, i got yelled at a lot, and i dropped sb while i was trying to carry him across the sand. it sucked...hard.

chase points #8 and 9 - 2 people + 4 academic degrees between us (5 come june 2009) = failure
i wasn't quite sure i was going to be able to finish the race at this point because both of my legs started cramping up really badly. however, after writhing on the ground for about 5 minutes and scaring the life out of sb, i got up, and we kept trucking. our next two points were doubled up at the same spot like the golf one. we went to the kaplan testing center at century city mall and turned in our donation receipt for the special olympics to get point #8. then for #9, we had to take an SAT-like test and pass with a score of 71%. let's just say we had to try 3 or 4 times before we passed. sadness.

chase point #10 - the technicality
our last point couldn't have been in a better spot (or so we thought at the time). we were to go to moe's cantina up in wrigleyville, which was perfect because we could then hop on the red line and head straight to the finish line. well, we got to moe's, and one of the volunteers told us they had run out of materials and they shut down the point early. however, they said that because it was their fault and since we were able to find them, they would give us the point anyway. not the way i really wanted to get our 10th, but we really had no choice.

the finish
by the time we took off for the red line, it was about 3:15-3:30, and we needed to get to the finish before 4. the odds were clearly stacked against us. the cubs game had just let out, and the streets and the red line station were packed. once we finally got on a train, we figured out that it had been re-routed due to construction and that we were going to have to run about 6-7 blocks to get to the finish line. we got off the train at around 3:50 and took off running. sure enough, we made it with a few minutes to spare again this year and crossed the finish line hand-in-hand.

a HUGE thank you goes out to sg for taking all of our frantic calls and figuring out clues and directions for us.

this was another great race filled with excitement, frustration, pain, but most of all, fun. i can't wait for 2009!

3.67 miles

soooo, yeah. sb and i skipped bootcamp today. i just felt like running, and sb gave in and came with me. we've tried running longer distances on our own, but we just couldn't pace ourselves well enough to go any longer than like 1.5 - 2 miles.

today, however, was different. we set out hoping to do between 3 to 4 miles, and we actually did it. the pace was really comfortable - we talked most of the way - and i never felt like i was dying (like most of our previous runs).

we came home and after doing 30 push-ups and 50 sit-ups, i mapped our route, and it turns out we did 3.67 miles at 11:21 pace (41:40 minutes of running total).

i'm pretty pleased with that actually. it makes me feel a bit better as we get closer and closer to this year's citychase. t - 16 days! woohoo!

(the pic is one i took during a nice walk sb and i took about a month ago in lincoln park.)

a little behind

whoops. i haven't been very good about posting apparently. no, i haven't been out of commission this whole time due to the ankle injury. i didn't actually take any time off at all. it seems to have healed - it's still pretty stiff, and it hurts when i turn it certain ways, but i don't usually notice it at all when i'm working out at bootcamp.

speaking of, in addition to all the workouts i haven't posted about, we also did our third and final assessment. so here's how it went down:

• push-ups: 29 (21 or 23 in the first, 23 in the second)
• sit-ups: 40 (36 in the first, 35 in the second)
• 1-mile run: 8:54 (10:06 in the first, 8:48 in the second)
  

so the 1-mile run wasn't so great, but i'm happy with the push-ups and sit-ups.

we're winding down to the end of our 12 weeks. i can't say that i've enjoyed all of it (mainly because a lot of hurt pretty badly), but i can say that i feel a lot stronger. now i just need to use this as a base to keep getting stronger and build up my endurance.