Category Archives: my life

LAX, here i come.

tonight i’m catching the red-eye to LAX and i could not be more excited to see my family and friends for a quick 4 days.

see ya from the west coast!

(there is a chance i will be running the turkey trot 10K in burbank early thursday morning when i’m on my way home from the airport.  is anyone else running that race??)

val nolasco half marathon.

sunday i ran my 8th half marathon in honolulu with my good friends aimee and natalie.  (note to you mainlanders:  if you decide to run race in hawaii and are going to spend the money on flights, hotels, etc., no offense to oahu, but i would definitely recommend going to maui or kauai for their races.  honolulu races are not scenic like you would imagine and if you are going to suffer from the humidity, you might as well have some nice ocean views along the course.  big island might be nice, but it’s HOT.  think lots and lots of black lava surrounding you.)

my recap of the race:

cheap race ($30 race fee, holla) with about 1,000 runners and well organized by 808 race hawaii.  the honolulu marathon is in december and they have a training series of 5 races that starts in september and this was the last race in the series.
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start was at 5:30 AM.  yes, 5 freakin 30.  i wanted to chuck my alarm clock out the window when it went off at 3:45 but i was actually super glad it started so early because running in the hot and humid sun is death.  it was pitch black for the first 6 miles but relatively cool and nice and great for running.
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the course was okay — nothing too exciting especially since most of the races in honolulu are on the SAME course through residential areas and a main highway.  and since i’ve run the majority of races this island has to offer, it’s getting a teensy bit boring.  great course support though!  lots of water and gatorade stations and super awesome volunteers.  there was a steady climb (ever heard of that famous landmark called diamond head??) about a mile long i think from miles 10-11.
i felt pretty good for most of the time and kept a steady pace.  after the hill though, my legs were DEAD.  they felt like lead which has never happened before and i was not a fan.  each leg felt like it weighed 100 pounds.  i turned up my music and trucked through the last mile and finished in 1:50:37, average pace of 8:27.  3 minutes from a PR but i’m still happy with my time!  plus it was super fun to have friends who ran too!  and our fan club who consisted of our significant others.

so supportive they are.

i did get a free 10 minute massage after and it was super painful but amazing…the good kind of hurt.  the masseuse lady told me that i need to stretch and my muscles were so insanely tight.  it’s true.  i never stretch.  foam roller? it collects dust in my closet.  an ice bath?  not convenient.  it’s horrible i know and i need to make the time, but i am always in a rush and if i can run one extra mile or stretch, i choose running.  i really don’t want to get injured so i’m going to try my hardest to stretch more.  overall, this race was awesome.  races are not as plentiful in hawaii as they are on the mainland, so when a half mary comes up, i jump all over it!

happy birthday to reis.

today is this creeps mcgee’s birthday!  he is growing out his mustache for “mustache movember” with some other med students to raise money for prostate cancer, so i’m glad it’s for a good cause, but i think it is the MOST FOUL looking thing.  it is so disgusting and since he is currently in pediatrics, i keep telling him that he is probably giving the little kiddies nightmares and giving them even more reason to hate the hospital.  oh well.  all in the name of charity…
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saturday night we went to one of our favorite places, shokudo, for dinner to celebrate with our friends.  sunday afternoon we had lunch with his parents on the north shore.  and tonight i am taking the creeper out on a hot dinner date!
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dang, he sure knows how to milk his birthday to last 3 days.  he’s a pretty decent guy though, i guess he deserves it :)

(not only is this guy one of the coolest people we know and a very good friend, he is also one of the creators of this RAD company.)

banana pancakes and a celeb sighting.

yesterday reis and i went to our favorite breakfast spot, haleiwa cafe, before church.  i love going out to breakfast but i don’t really like any breakfast foods. (basically i don’t eat any and all kind of eggs.)  yep, i am a weirdo.  and getting oatmeal when you go out to breakfast is kinda boring.  i got banana pancakes and they were pretty good.  after church we beached it and it was pretty ironic that i got banana pancakes that morning because guess who we saw at the beach?  mr. jack johnson, singer of the song himself.  its not a big deal for people on the north shore to see him and i’m not one to be super starstruck, but since he was sitting right in front of us, i snapped a pic.

i was taking a pic of my friend ashley and then used the focus of my cam to sneak a paparazzi pic of jack.  sneaky sneaky.  

dinner, bookstore browsing, and a movie.

a few nights ago reis and i went to whole foods for dinner and then cruised around barnes and noble.  i really loveee bookstores.  they are so calm and peaceful and make me feel like i’m smart because everyone in there is reading thick books.

i got so excited when i saw mama pea’s ny times best seller!  sarah is one of my all time favorite bloggers and writes a hilariously witty food blog.  her family is so dang adorable and if she lived any closer, i would hire her in a heart beat to cook me dinner every night.  that darn pacific ocean seems to be getting in the way an awful lot lately…

while reis got caught up on his surf news, i read these mags.

and then we watched lincoln lawyer at my place and drank hot chocolate.  i know that movie came out awhile ago and we are way behind the times, but i really liked it!  basically if a movie keeps me awake the whole time, it gets 5 stars in my book.

happy thursday!  tomorrow is FRIDAY!  yip yip yipeee!

thrifting with laura.

laura is a thrifting pro.  i’ve never had luck in thrift stores for clothes and have only really looked in them for furniture and stuff for my house before.  but saturday was a different story.  we spent a good hour in salvation army trying on some of the ugliest threads known to man + some of the coolest blouses that had pleats!  i walked out of there with 6 shirts for $30.  yahhh baby.  i am always on the hunt for vintagey work shirts.  i get sick of my work clothes since i wear them all the time, but can’t afford a j. crew shopping spree every month.  problem solved.

we had so much fun in the dressing room.  apparently the girl in the room next to us thought it was karaoke hour.  she was BELTING it out, let me tell you.  it was hilarious.  and we were dying laughing.

and p.s. these are my real glasses.  i am seriously blind as a bat.  i often get asked when i wear them if they are “fake” because that is the trend now.  but no fakies over here, these are the real deal.