Pai Wing

2007th Ain’t Too Bad

fabian — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:57:25 +0000

I’ve never thought I would be proud to say that I am the 2007th best at something. But, after finishing the 2008 San Francisco Marathon in 2007th overall place, I feel pretty damn good. At the time of making the decision to the run in the marathon with my two friends, my main goal was to finish. After running consistently for a few months, my goal shifted to finishing in under 5 hours and after running for four months, I had set my sights on beating Oprah’s personal best marathon time (4:29:20). I’m proud to say that I accomplished all of these goals and then some. When it was all said and done, I crossed the line in 4:24:08.It all began at 4am with my obnoxious alarm clock. Had I known that I would have to wake up so early to run the marathon, I probably wouldn’t have signed up. It’s not that easy to get out of bed when it is still dark out and you know you are about to run 26 miles. I managed to get out of bed, get dressed, eat a quiche, drink a cup or coffee, and tried to poop (didn’t happen). The not pooping before the race kind of scared me because I didn’t want to get hit somewhere along the route with a dodgy belly. Luckily, my belly held up throughout.

Seth and Rowan picked me up and we drove down to the Embarcadero. The closer to downtown, the more people we saw streaming out of hotels down to the Starting Line. After parking and ditching our excess clothes in the car, I started the feel to the adrenaline work its way through my body. I got a little bounce in my step and was actually looking forward to the start. We passed one middle aged guy, pretty plump, wearing a coke bottle glasses, and not too athletic looking walking in the wrong direction, who asked if we knew where the start of the second half marathon was. Ummm, shouldn’t you figure that out before 5am the day of the race?

We got down to the Embarcadero just in time to see the first wave of elite runners take off. They run fast. I am definitely not an elite runner. Making our way to the staging area of the Wave 4 runners, I could see just how diverse a group of marathon runners are. Granted that the half marathon was starting as well, but I was still very impressed with the eclectic group of people running, which pretty much represented all ages, colors, shapes, and sizes. I’m now pretty much convinced that anyone can run a marathon or half marathon.

Corralled in our little Wave 4 area, the sun was starting to come up over the east bay hills, they sky over the bay turned a metallic grey-blue, and the annoying P.A. announcer implored all the racers to ‘have a look at the beautiful Oakland Bridge behind us.’ (Note to race organizers: Next year get an announcer who actually knows the names of major San Francisco landmarks. I’m not complaining, but this guy just sounded dumb.) There was a little count down for our group and then we crossed the Start Line buoyed by with inspirational sounds of Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. One of the most over used, but unheralded songs our time.

The first part of the run along the Embarcadero and across the Golden Gate Bridge was pretty mellow, but cold. At this point, running 8 miles is no big deal. Getting out in to park into the park was nice as well because your legs weren’t hurting too much and it was a bit warmer. It’s also always nice to run in GG park. Just after the halfway point, I saw my roommate who was manning one of the water tables with the SF Hashers. If you like to run and drink, I recommend checking out the local Hash House Harriers wherever you are in the world. I took a couple pulls off her Bloody Mary and chomped on the celery stalk. I figured the nutritional value of a Bloody Mary couldn’t hurt. And it didn’t.

Through the park I ran and then popped out on Haight Street. I got a laugh out of the mix of people out to cheer on the runners and the street urchins who had just been awoken from their Schlitz induced sleep in the gutter. The amusing run down Haight quickly led to a painful decent down Haight at Buena Vista Park. Running down a 2-block hill when your legs are dead tired is not fun. In fact, it’s painful. It sucks. I made it to the bottom of the hill with a very sore right ankle. But, I knew I had people waiting for me at about the 20-mile mark and I didn’t want to cruise up to them all gimpy. I popped a couple ibuprofens and kept on running.

Cruising down Duboce, I could see a familiar outline of a girl hanging out with the bikers who were manning the intersections. One of the coolest parts of the marathon was a local Harley motorcycle club was working the race. At every intersection there was Harley and a biker in full leathers. It’s always great to see a big burly dude with a handle-bar mustache, massive beer belly, and missing teeth cheering on marathon runners. My future girlfriend Ashley was there on the spot, passed me a Vitamin Water, and gave me the extra push I needed to keep on going.

Through the Dog Patch was kind of a bitch, but once I reached mile 22 and realized that I only had 4 mile left, it was easy street. Great tunes were flowing through my ipod and I just kept telling myself that 4 more miles was nothing. I could run four miles in my sleep. The last twenty minutes or so or the marathon was a joy. I couldn’t feel the pain in my ankles or knees anymore and I running at a pace that I usually run when only doing 5 or 6 miles. I couldn’t believe how I good I felt in the 25th mile of my run. Another runner ran past me and out of nowhere burst into three consecutive front flips then kept running. All the spectators cheered, I laughed, then cruised to the finish line.

Fear and Respect

fabian — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:42:23 +0000

Wayne has put the fear and respect of 26.2 miles into me. I recently met Wayne, who is a friend’s dad, at an Indiana-style cookout. Wayne is no ordinary friend’s dad. Wayne is the type of friend’s dad who has run a few marathons and volunteer coaches a high school cross country team. Wayne also logs 15 miles every weekend and routinely joins the team of high schoolers for 7 to 8 miles runs. Oh, and I also should mention that Wayne is over 60.

Yes. 60. years. old.

The man can run and knows what it takes to properly train for a marathon and get your body in proper condition. When he was told that I was running a marathon, he began to quiz me about my training and the distances I had already run. At the time, my longest run had clocked about 17 miles. This was about three weeks ago with the San Francisco Marathon quickly approaching.

He seemed a bit dismayed that I had only reached the 17 mile mark and only had a month to go. I, on the other hand, thought I was doing pretty good. We talked a little more as he relayed to me what to expect and I kept nodding. Nodding, while thinking, ‘Oh shit…I’m totally screwed. What have I gotten myself into?’ I found out the next day from my friend that on their ride home, Wayne had expressed concern for me and my lack of training. According to Wayne, it is imperative that you ‘fear and respect those 26.2 miles’. Well, now thanks to Wayne, I fear and respect the 26.2. I just hope it’s not too late.

Training Run #43 – 17.5 mi – 9.42 mi/min

Training Run #44 – 6.47 mi – 9.05 mi/min

Training Run #45 – 8.82 mi – 9.46 mi/min

Is Montreal Too Cool For Fixies?

fabian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:42:23 +0000

I just spent some time in Montreal and had done a considerable amount of walking and running around the city. One thing that has really jumped out at me is the number of bicycle and people cruising around the city. I’m sure it’s mainly a summertime thing, but people were out in force in Montreal. Just about every twenty paces you see a bike locked up to one of the ever present bike posts. Bikes everywhere.

But, when you think about it, Montreal does seem to be an ideal place for biking (in the summertime). The city is pretty flat and geogpraphically pretty small with only a few mild hills. The only major climb seemed to be getting up into the ‘plateau’ neighborhoods from downtown. However, this climb was very mellow compared to San Francisco standards. Streets are laid out in a proper grid with lots of one-ways and there are a number of bike lanes as well.

Maybe it’s living in San Francisco with a close proximity to the fixie obsessed Mission, but I expected to see a ton of fixies in Montreal. I mean, the city seems build for it. But, it took me about 6 days before I finally saw a fixed gear bike. And, I only saw a couple more after that! It seems like Montreal would be the perfect place for them given the flat straight roads, proper grid layout, and bountiful bike lanes. The only way it could get better would be if Montreal was actually a velodrome. But, that’s not gonna happen. Montreal seems to be a much better place than say, San Francisco with the hills, Muni tracks, and convoluted layout of the city. So, what gives? Where are all the fixies in Montreal? And why are there so many in San Francisco?

Training Run #41 – 7.84 mi – 9.03 min/mi

Training Run #42 – 9.22 mi – 9.46 min/mi

Feed the Animals – Name Your Price!

fabian — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:32:12 +0000

A friend twittered that he was listening to the new Girl Talk album while waiting to catch a flight. That got me thinking…I need that album. Girl Talk’s debut was pretty awesome and I’ve rarely seen the Fillmore ever go off in ways that were witnessed last September when entire stage was crowded with kids freakin’ out almost swallowing a little bearded man twisting knobs and pounding on a lap top. As I was looking for the album on bit torrent site, Girl Talk’s MySpace page came up with a link to buy the new album by naming your price. For $5 bucks you got a little added bonus and for $10, the actual cd would be sent to you once they were out. But, the bottom line is that you could PayPal Girl Talk two bucks to download the new album. You could PayPal whatever you wanted. Given this choice and knowing that most if not all of this revenue would go directly to the artist and not Steve Jobs or a major label, I quickly stopped the bit torrent and PayPal-ed some cash for the new album. Given this choice, I think most people would do the same. Ask Radiohead.

Yes, this post has absolutely nothing to do with running the SF marathon. This marks the first time I’ve posted to Paiwing twice between runs. My toes still hurt.

My Toes Hurt

fabian — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:58:22 +0000

After roughly three months of running more than I have ever run in my life, I think I am really starting to feel it. When I say ‘it’. ‘It’ refers to the pain. The long runs are starting to feel real long and the creaks are getting creakier. I’m definitely not 19 anymore. But, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to bounce back from the longer runs. Walking up the stairs to my house is usually problematic the day (or two) after a long run. On the bright side, we a heading down the home stretch with this *training* regimen. On Sunday we hit the 16 mile mark. Then, I promptly came home, drank a gatorade, and zonked out for a few hours. It’s now Monday and I’m still pretty sore. My toes actually hurt. The thought of running 26 miles in one go somehow doesn’t seem that appealing anymore.

Training Run #38 – 4.17 mi – 9.11 min/mi

Training Run #39 – 7.67 mi – 8.51 min/mi

Training Run #40 – 16.02 mi – 9.43 min/mi

Offline

fabian — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:45:53 +0000

Last Thursday, a router busted and the good people at 369 Oak Street were without access to the internet for a whopping six days. SIX DAYS. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like too big a deal, but I challenge you to go for an entire weekend without accessing the internet in the comfort of your own home. It kinda sucks…more than I thought it would. I wanted to go to a movie, but couldn’t find movie times. I wanted to do a little research for my upcoming trip to Montreal, but couldn’t without walking to a bookstore. I needed a recipe for flounder dish I like to make, but couldn’t get to my bookmarks. I wanted the morning news on Sunday without leaving the house, but was thwarted. Hell, for all I knew there could be a black man running for president or the Lakers playing the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Oh, wait…that actually did happen.

Lack of internet nonwithstanding, I did manage to hit the pavement with the boys and we turned in the longest run to date at nearly 15 miles. I still can’t imagine tacking on another 10 to complete a marathon. Should be fun…and painful.

Training Run #34 – 4.82 mi – 8.46 min/mi

Training Run #35 – 4.93mi – 9.39 min/mi

Training Run #36 – 6.62mi – 8.47 min/mi

Training Run #37 – 14.6mi – 9.27 min/mi

Am I Making Progress? Or am I Falling Apart?

fabian — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:45:16 +0000

After slightly falling off the training schedule due to the annual Bay to Broken recovery period and spending too much time in Thieves Tavern watching the Lakers and the Machine drive to the NBA Finals, I’m finally starting to get back to normal. On a side note, if you ever need a pint and a boiled hot dog and you only have $3, go to Thieves between 5 and 8pm. So far, Thieves hasn’t let me down.

Ever since Bay to Breakers, random little parts of my body have been hurting. I don’t think I can chalk it all up to B2B, but I think the cumulative effect of running 25 miles a week is starting to wear me to down. My knees hurt, the inside of right knee hurt, my left ankle hurts, may lower back hurts, and my Achilles is starting to hurt. Considering I’ve never done this before, I’m not sure if this is how your body is supposed to behave. On the positive side, I’m running faster miles and an 8 mile run doesn’t seem to phase me too much. On the negative side, I have lots of little aches and pains. Hopefully, they stay little.

Training Run #27 – 4.94 mi – 9.1 min/mi

Training Run #28 – 8.1 mi – 9.38 min/mi

Training Run #29 – 7.09 mi – 8.55 min/mi

Training Run #30 – 6.18 mi – 9.34 min/mi

Training Run #31 – 9.66 mi – 9.09 min/mi

Does 2/3rds of Outside Lands Kinda Suck?

fabian — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:21:30 +0000

I realize that’s it’s all personal preference. I have a friend who thinks Cake is the best think since sliced bread. Personally, I don’t really get it. Another thing I just get is plunking down $250 for a weekend of music. Unless, of course, it is a stellar line up. Outside Lands…I’m not so sure.

I don’t think you can really argue the quality of Friday with Radiohead (!!!), Beck (!!), Manu Chao (!), Cold War Kids (?!?), and Black Keys (?). Couple that with the once in a lifetime opportunity to freeze your balls off in Golden Gate Park. Maybe there’s a reason there has never been a night time concert in Golden Gate Park…I’m digressing. Back to the lineup. Is $250 really worth it after Friday night? Tom Petty is pretty cool. Wait. Tom Petty was pretty cool when I was 15 and saw him at the Forum in L.A. and he wore that goofy top hat and sang Free Fallin’. Ben Harper??? Maybe if I still had my Snodgrass piece, my pony tail, and paid $30 for a weekend at High Sierra. Does High Sierra still exist? Ben Harper? I’m already getting sleepy. Primas…I definitely can’t dis Col. Les, but with 50,000+ people? I’m kind or scared. But what really makes me happy/confused is Steve Winwood. Yes, Steve Winwood. Maybe I am too young but I just can’t get over cheesy ’90s Steve Winwood. When I think Steve Winwood, I don’t think Dear Mr. Fantasy. I think ‘Give me a higher love…wo ohh’. I’m still not sure how he fits into this night. You can go down the line on Saturday and it just doesn’t excite me too much, if even at all. Yes, I’d like to see Cafe Takvba, but Galactic is playing and they don’t even have the House Man anymore! I’m having trouble mustering the motivation to type GOAPALE. What is a GOAPALE?

On to Sunday…All I can say is that I really don’t want to be anywhere near a festival show that involves Jack Johonson, Widespread Panic, and The Mother Hips. I’m getting bored just thinking about it. Could someone explain to me why I should pay close to $250 for this 3-day lineup?

Training Run #22 – 11.31 mi - 9.33 mi/min

Training Run #23 – 5.96 mi - 8.58 mi/min

Jihadi Outfitters

fabian — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:37:15 +0000

A funny thing happend while at the Kanye West show last week with Zozo and ‘Gela. I can’t remember if it was after N.E.R.D. or Rhianna (both of which pretty subpar), but we stared noticing a trend. Actually, we started noticing a couple trends. I hope my yet to be conceived daughter will never be overweight, yet wear tiny denim shorts, heels, halter tops, and fedoras with a tramp stamp. Don’t forget the tramp stamp. If I had a dollar for every prominently displayed tramp stamp I saw at the show, I could have paid for my $80 ticket five times over. No, it wasn’t that trend. It was the trend that started with the guy sitting in front of us. It was that scarf and that pattern.

I think it was Zozo who said, ‘Yeah, it’s the same scarves you sees kids down in the Gaza Strip wearing while they throw rocks at Israeli soldiers. Now they sell them at Urban Outfitters.’ Then we started looking around and the scarf and pattern was everywhere.

We didn’t even have to get out of our seats to find this guy.

Then we looked and saw this girl. She was rollin’ with the Jihadi inspired print on her fashionable lid.

Not to be outdone, this chicka was sportin’ the Jihadi hand bag. I wonder if this look would ever catch on in the Strip.

Thanks to the hard work and superb research skills of one of the PaiWing interns, this blog post was uncovered explaining how Urban Outfitters stopped selling knock of Jihadi scarves stating, “Due to the sensitive nature of this item, we will no longer offer it for sale. We apologize if we offended anyone, this was by no means our intention.” Good on ya’ Urban Outfitters. Looks like the kaffiyeh has gone mainstream. I love how convenient Urban Outfitters made it to pick the color of your kaffiyeh using nifty little drop down menus. It’s just as easy as ordering khaki pants form J Crew.

So, how does Kanye West fit into this? This is how. Kanye is bringing Terrorism Chic back!

So, how does this post fit into my quest to run the San Francisco Marathon. It fits because it lets you know that I am still running and Teddy de Burca Jr is still probably sitting at a bia hoi in Hanoi dreaming of the Ragin’ Rooster from Extreme Pizza.

Training Run #16 – 4.98 mi -8.55 min/mi

Training Run #17 – 5.19 mi – 8.49 min/mi

Training Run #18 – 4.61 mi – 9.27 min/mi

Training Run #19 – 9.68 mi – 9.45 min/mi

Training Run #20 – 4.86 mi – 9.17 min/mi

Training Run #21 – 5.20 mi – 8.57 min/mi

It’s Easy Being Green!

fabian — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:34:01 +0000

In commemoration of Earth Day, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight those thoughtful little things people are doing to save the planet. Running down the embarcadero today, I saw an unusually big crowd gathered around the Hard Rock Cafe. I thought this was odd. Perhaps people were waiting in line to get a taste of the Hard Rock’s chicken wings. This thought was quickly scuttled as I remembered there is a Hooters right across the street. Everybody knows Hooters has much tastier wings. As I got a little closer, I realized that everyone was gathered around a 50-foot tour bus with Tommy Lee’s surgically enhanced face plastered all over it. Okay. But, then I got closer and saw stamps all over the bus with catchy ‘green’ slogans. Turns out Tommy Lee is riding around the country in a ‘green’ tour bus. What a guy! Sacrificing in the name of the environment and limiting his carbon footprint. I mean, nothing screams sustainability more that a 50 foot tour bus hauling around an aging rock star. I bet Tommy Lee even has a personal sustainability plan. If Tommy can reduce his carbon footprint, so can you!

Training Run # 15 – 7.28 mi – 9.33 mi/min