Good-bye, 2010, and good riddance. 2010 was a pretty disappointing year for me running-wise, and I am glad that it's over. My total mileage for the year was a dismal 987, which was 25% less than last year. Thanks to a butt injury that never fully went away and some other unfortunate occurrences, I lost a great deal of my fitness level, gained a ton of weight, missed out on the New York City Marathon, and felt that I lost a part of my identity.
I try to look on the positive side, though, and 2010 did have some good moments. I managed to run a decent Boston Marathon (though 12 minutes off my PR) despite only about 25 miles per week of training. I didn't let my team down (and had a lot of fun) at Reach the Beach and the Lockport 100-Mile Relay. And, thanks to both the FRNY Multisport group and the Tritons, I've grown to enjoy, and have become somewhat decent at, swimming. My biking, though, still leaves something to be desired; I guess I'll work on that in 2011.
Here's my running log for 2010. I also kept track of the number of times I went swimming (62), biking/spinning (26...that needs to go up) or did yoga (22). I'm kind of embarrassed to post it since I feel like the numbers are so low and there's so much blank space on it, but hopefully this will inspire me to train better in 2011 and have a really great year.
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My last race for 2010 was the half-marathon course for The Christmas Marathon, part of a series of free (that's right, FREE) races called The Holiday Marathons organized by a bunch of "passionate marathon-crazed local runners." The race took place on the trails of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and consisted of 1, 2 or 4 loops of a 6.55-mile course, depending on whether you were doing a 10K, Half, or Full Marathon. And especially considering it was free, the race had a lot of fun goodies: candy canes for all finishers (varying in size from normal to humongous depending on how far you ran), Santa hats for everyone, bib numbers for everyone (well... they all said 1225, haha), photographers, bananas, apples and bottles of water. I was very impressed.
This was a particularly special race for me because my parents were in town for Christmas, and I got to participate in the race with them. My parents walked the 10k while I ran the Half; it was our first time ever doing a race together. I think they had a lot of fun, and it was great to be able to take part in the race together, to give them an idea of what plays such an important role in my life. It was definitely a nice way to celebrate Christmas.
The race itself was tough but fun, and my performance OK. Although I haven't run this course before, I've run in Van Cortlandt Park several times, on the 5K course or in the VCTC 2 x 2 Relay. So I knew it was going to be hilly. And hilly it was. Right at the start was a steep downhill really rocky trail, where I pretty much had to walk down or risk spraining my ankle. And about a half mile later was what has apparently been dubbed "Holiday Hill"--a steep but short climb that almost stops you in your tracks. Of course, they stationed a photographer there to capture everyone struggling up it.
There were only about 100 runners total in all three events, so after a couple of miles, I was just running by myself. It felt nice, actually, to run in the woods alone. I never get to do any trail running, so this was a welcome change of scenery for me, and I felt really at peace.
My first loop was about 55 minutes. When I saw that, I couldn't believe it! I knew I wasn't running particularly fast, but it definitely felt a lot harder than 8:23 miles. I tried to speed up a little bit for the second half, but there were just so many hills and obstacles that I was never able to maintain it. I lapped my parents at around mile 11.5 (their mile 5), and they looked like they were enjoying themselves.
At around 12.5, just as I was turning onto the final finish flat area, some guy passed me. At first I was like, "whatever," and let him go ahead. But then my competitive side took over, and I decided I wasn't going to let him win. So I busted it out and tried to outkick him. But he had the same idea. It was a final sprint to the finish, and I even heard people standing by the finish line commenting on how we were neck-and-neck. With about 20 yards to go, I kicked it up as hard as I could, didn't look back, and ran right to that finish line. And I won! Yayyy!!! Of course, it was an untimed race, and no one will ever see the results, but it always feels good to outkick someone at the end of a race. :-)
Despite the strong finish, my second loop was quite a bit slower than the first one, and I ended up finishing in 1:54:57. Not really anything to brag about, but I was satisfied.
The Lin Family Racing Team
Daniel ran the full marathon (he's nuts!) and Manja did the 10K
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One of my goals for 2011 is to be a better biker. To that end, I recently got a new baby--a brand new, gently used 2005 Cervelo Dual, my very first Tri Bike. Cervelo doesn't make this bike anymore, apparently deciding to replace it with the Cervelo P1, which, as far as I can tell is pretty much the same thing. The only difference I can see is that I saved about a thousand bucks by not buying something shiny and brand new. Back when they did make the Dual, it was consistently rated the best Tri Bike for under $2000. So I think I got a good deal.
I haven't taken it for a ride yet...but I can't wait!
The seat post looks a little weird because I couldn't figure out how to stick it in when I took the picture. I later learned to unscrew the little screw.
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Some of the runners and I recently got together for a potluck. I always love a potluck! But this one had a theme ingredient (or two) that we had to include in our dishes. We either had to use a gourd or cranberries. And it had to be vegetarian.
I decided to forgo this tasty looking Cranberry Soy Sauce Tofu recipe that I found online and go with a traditional Chinese dish, hoping to broaden people's taste experiences. My gourd of choice was bitter melon--and I was on a mission to make it palatable.
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, bitter melon is extremely, extremely, extremely bitter. Nothing else can compare to it...it's like dandelion greens, arugula and broccoli rabe combined times a thousand. It's also known for its various health benefits. In particular, many scientific studies have shown bitter melon to have anticancer, antiviral and lipid lowering effects. But I like it just for its bitterness.
Nonetheless, I didn't think everyone at the potluck wanted to know how bitter bitter melon could be, so I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I decided to make a stir-fry of bitter melon and scrambled eggs with black bean sauce. I thought the sweetness of the eggs and the funkiness off the black bean sauce (they're actually soy beans, not black beans, which turn black in a fermentation process) would offset the bitterness.
In preparing the bitter melon, the white pith inside is the most bitter part, so I was careful to scrape out every last bit. Then I blanched the slices of melon in boiling water to remove some of the bitterness. And in the stir-fry itself, I added some sugar and lots of spices to temper the flavor of the melon.
Despite my efforts, when I got to the dinner, I was totally nervous. In fact, I was sweating bullets throughout the appetizers because they were so tasty and I thought everyone was going to get turned off by my bitter melon mess. OMG, I should have just stuck with the cranberry-soy tofu!
But to my surprise, people actually enjoyed it! I think I had done a good job of balancing the bitterness so you could tell it was obviously bitter melon, but it wasn't quite as aggressively bitter. It went really well with the eggs and black beans. Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it out. Enjoy!
Bitter Melon with Eggs
2 quarts water
3 medium sized bitter melons (about 1.5 - 2 pounds)
6 eggs, beaten
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T. vegetable oil
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. sugar
1 T. fermented black beans or prepared black bean sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
salt, ground Sichuan pepper, ground white pepper to taste
1. Bring water to boil
2. Cut off ends of bitter melon. Cut in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and pith. Cut into slices on the bias about 1/4" thick. (Note: do not peel the bitter melon)
3. Blanch bitter melon slices in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain.
4. In a skillet or wok, heat vegetable oil and garlic. Add bitter melon, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and beans/bean sauce. Stir fry until bitter melon is tender. Add eggs, stirring slowly until egg is cooked. Season with salt and ground pepper. Remove from heat and serve.
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