+FillUs

Sore was the first thing that came to mind when I woke up this morning. I dragged my weary body to the pool, swam three events (100 Free, 200 IM, 200 Free Relay), and watched a lot of amazing swimmers putting in good times. After this meet, training for Nationals will go into full swing. While I don't have any qualifying times, I am still allowed to swim up to three events. As of this moment, the three will likely be a long-distance free, short/mid distance fly, and an IM. Part of the Swimmac crew after the meet. Free mimosas! On a separate note, this week's transrockies training went well. I didn't miss any workout but overdid a little on the long run. Sunday (22nd) - 12.5 mile with long run crew (1:42) Tues (24th) - 8 easy trail miles at Francis Beatty (1:13) Thurs. (26th) - 7.5 miles Strides work out at McAlpine with Kate (1:00) Sat. (28th) - 19.7 miles at Fellowship of the Idiots (2:43) Total: 47.8 miles / 6 hr. 48 mins

When two good events are on the same day and I can't pick either/or, the result is both/and. Fellowship of the Idiots, a 19.7 mile run from downtown Albemarle to the top of Morrow Mountain and back, and the 38th annual Sunbelt Swim meet both happened today. (Un)fortunately, the F.O.T.I. run is at 5:30 a.m., and my first event at the meet is at around 2 p.m. Just enough time to run, turn around, and head to the pool. There were a lot of familiar faces from Charlotte and Gastonia at the run. Frankly, I wasn't the only idiot-wannabe who was willing to drive an hour to a 5:30 a.m. run. We started in the dark and the cold was almost unbearable. From downtown Albemarle to Morrow Mountain was about six miles with mostly gradual hills and some rolling hills. The steep incline begins at the entrance of Morrow Mountain State Park with two particularly challenging climbs. I'd say it's around 6-8%. Mapmyrun indicates that the average grade of the whole run is about 3.6%. Overa

So much for not liking wet and muddy trails. Snoopy-danced eight miles through Francis Beatty trails this afternoon. It has been awhile since the sun is out. The warmth feels so good. While I was on trail, I had a moment of self-awareness. I caught myself composing my facebook status, which I was going to post after the run. Up till that moment, I've always considered my solo-runs as times to unplug, to be quiet, and to be prayerful. Maybe not so much. It is both sad and absurd to postulate that everything I do, I do it with the mindset of a show and for the applause from others.  What would I do differently if there's no facebook audience or twitter following? Will I still run marathons/ultras? Will running still be a source of joy? What if there's only the audience of One - only between me and God? While I love my friends -- they are the one that keep me going to the point of loving every painful, air-gasping moment, I firmly believe that the purpose of everythin

Credit: Kevin Arnold January 9th marks the beginning of our Transrockies training. Two weeks into it, I've managed to miss two training days already and have decided that blogging about it will help me take seriously the training plan and thus sticking to it better. I've never had a training plan before, but the Transrockies is a different animal, or monster. It's a six-day staged race that "runs from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek, through the heart of the White River and San Isabel National Forests" in Colorado. This August, we'll need to be ready to run 120 miles with nearly 25,000 feet of elevation gain at altitudes over 12,500 ft. Here's the breakdown of each stage: Stage 1: Buena Vista to Railroad Bridge - 20.9 miles, 2,550 feet elevation gain Stage 2: Vicksburg to Twin Lakes - 13.3 miles, 3,250 feet elevation gain Stage 3: Leadville to Nova Guides at Camp Hale - 24.2 miles, 2,800 feet elevation gain Stage 4: Nova Guides at Camp Hale to Red

"Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference." Christmas Eve, when the Broncos lost to Buffalo Bills, Comedian Bill Maher posted an inflammatory tweet, ridiculing Tebow's faith. What he doesn't understand is Jesus is not about winning a football game. When you win, it's not because Jesus' showing favoritism towards you. When you lose, it's not because God hates you and neglects your prayers. For all I know, God cares about how we play more than anything else. He has a different perspective on success and

This post is dedicated to my friends -- to thank them for celebrating my birthday, and making me feel loved and overwhelmed by it. My pastor David Chadwick is right when he says our love for Christ is directly proportional to how much we know about our sins. And so is the amount of gratefulness and love I have for all my friends because I know I do not deserve any of it. Thank you Alis, Chantal, and Sabina for the post-practice celebration, the wonderful gifts, the hand-decorated bag, and the time it takes to do it. Thanks Kate for the best birthday party ever -- I really mean the best ever and I am still overwhelmed by your thoughtfulness and care. The Jedi birthday pin will stay on my backpack for at least a year. And thank you for picking my glass of wine for me. Reading that wine list was like looking at a page of foreign language. Like you've said, here's to many more miles and movies and more. Thanks Ellis for the box of Clif bars, especially when you "ran"

Nine days into 2012 and a day before entering into a new age group is an opportune time to nail down some New Year's resolutions. 2011 was a good year, one that filled with transitions and norming --  be it moving from California to Charlotte, from being a student back to an architect, or starting fresh in a new territory to establishing roots and relationships. My new running and swimming communities had made the transition easy and welcoming, and partly because of that, much of my attention in the past year was on either sports, like running my first 50k and participating in my first swim meet. Having just graduated from seminary was probably the other half of the reason why I had been keeping a distance from structured studies / reading in 2011. With that said, my 2012 focus will be on balanced growth. While I still have a long list of goals in swimming and running, I need to make sure I allocate enough time and attention to spiritual and intellectual growth. Here are my five