...I finished a mile non-stop!

(Graph is a little fucked up)

The best part is I wasn't even tired afterwards!

coold:

// Due to my crappy internet, I'm gonna have to keep this blog post very, very short...

Thanks for your patience, everyone. It took me a few days longer than expected but 300 photos are up on my Flickr! (There's actually a total of 853 photos and videos which I'll make available for download soon)

What can I say? It was a very chill reunion, filled with a lot of nostalgia and laughter; it was a nice change of pace for once, compared to our past wild reunions. Once again we find ourselves as a group of people in the middle of no where, doing what we do best -- chilling, drinking and finding ways to amuse ourselves.

The highlights of the reunion are all in the photos.

Randoms:

Loren: you'd think it was only us kids that were drinking and partying but really it's just the adults were a lot better at dodging us than we were at them.

Mel: petting the dogs
Alan: hey Loren, do you have any peanut butter? (Reference to the movie Road Trip)

Mel: quick, deep, hollow fart
Samir: what?
Loren: dude, was that your ass??
Samir: oh shit! I thought he said "yo"

Re-Created Picture of the Moment:

In Closing...

In the movie Garden State, a wise Zach Braff one said:

Home is so much more than just a house to put your shit in.

The more I think about that quote, the more I realize how true it is. Home isn't just a house. It's not just a town. It's a time. A moment. It's the people around you in a certain phase of your life. It's the world in the eyes of someone before all that real world stuff.

Home is an experience when you're there, and a state of mind when you're not.

Let's face it, none of us will ever truly be able to "go back." Even if we decide to go to that Ar@mco sponsored reunion in Saudi next year, it wouldn't be the same. It's not that same time and it's not the same place.

But the people -- us -- we'll always have. And that will never change.

Maybe that's what 'family' really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

View Photos (289) | Downloads & Videos coming soon!

Tonight, I finished my 1.2 miles in a record time of 10'03", baby! Eight weeks ago, I did my first run in a dismal time of 15'54".

That's an improvement of 5'51", baby!!

Big thanks to everyone that supported me and joined in on my little Nike+ running buddies. After the Oregon Reunion, I'll be jumping right back on the saddle to complete my next goal -- one mile, non-stop.

In the meantime, all I have to say is...

Completed my first marathon in 10 years! Took me just over a month to do it. :chill:

Here's my first run compared to my last run:

5/6/08      1.25 miles      15'54"
6/8/08      1.25 miles      11'03"

I've narrowed down my walking intervals from 5 to 3 and those intervals are getting shorter and shorter. By this time next month, I should be able to run .65 miles non-stop and cut down my walking intervals to two. :fingersx:

And on top of all that, my back doesn't hurt anymore and my body recovers a lot quicker. :bigthumbup:

19 Days 'til Oregon!!

According to my Nike+ SportBand, I lose around 230 calories when I run. Knowing that number, it's totally had an affect on my outlook of food.

Now when I look at that ooey gooey icing goodness on warm, fluffy, freshly baked Cinnabon cinnamon rolls I think to myself, "That's like 4 miles worth of calories..."

I really don't want to run that much...

(Good thing I still have cheat days. :chill: )

James has issued you a Nike+ Challenge. The challenge: most distance in 90 days. May the best man, women or Samir win.

It's on!

So tonight I finished my calibration sets, which means tomorrow will be my first official run!

I originally proposed to run 50 miles before the Oregon Reunion, but cuz it took so long for my SportBand to get here, I'm gonna have to cut down that goal to 40 miles. I know, I know...40 miles in 8 weeks isn't much at all -- that comes out to 1 mile per day, 5 days a week 'til 4th of July -- but really my short-term goal is to be able to jog a full mile non-stop.

I've been in this position before. In 6th grade, I was a chubby kid that would eat two hot dogs & fries everyday for lunch, struggling to not be the slowest guy in my class. In 7th grade, I was convinced by Mike H. to join cross-country for fun. By 9th grade, I ran my best mile at 6:48 minutes and was just 2 inches shy of getting the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.

I've done it before. I know I can do it again.

Anyways, you'll be able to track my progress with this little widget that'll be plastered on my blog:

In other news, James hit me up earlier tonight and told me www.nikeplus.com has restocked on the new SportBand, so order yours today while you still can!

Once you get yours, here's a few things you should expect:

• You need to calibrate your SportBand in two separate sessions -- one for walking, one for running. Reason being you can only calibrate from your last session.
• Do the walking calibration at a track, sync it with your computer and make note of the exact distance you completed.
• Do the same as above but with you running the whole way.
• These two calibrations must be over 0.25 miles (i.e. one lap around the track). I suggest doing at least 0.375 miles (one-and-a-half laps) so you don't get the dreaded "your last run was not good enough" error.
• After calibration, the sensor will know when you're walking and when you're running.
• You can do multiple sessions before you sync it with your computer.
• You can pause in the middle of a session if you really, really, really need to.
• There is no backlight on the SportBand, which kinda sucks if you plan on running at night like me.

That should help you get started. Lemme know when you get yours! In the meantime, starting tomorrow, I'll be working on my 40 miles.

Happy trails!

:bowdown: The Edge Brownie Pan for the corner-piece-lovers of the world?! Every single slice is has two baked edges!? GENIUS.

// thanks Will

Love love love this speech.

Good Morning.
In less than an hour, aircrafts from here will join others around the world.
And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind.
Mankind -- that word should have new meaning for all of us today.
We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.
We will be united in our common interests.
Perhaps its fate that today is the fourth of July.
And you will once again be fighting for our freedom.
Not from tyranny, oppression or persecution.
But from annihilation.
We're fighting for our right to live...
To exist.
And should we win the day.
the fourth of july will no longer be known as an American holiday,
but as the day when the world declared in one voice:
We will not go into the quietly night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We're going to live on.
We're going to survive.
Today, we celebrate our independence day.

Taking advice from Sherwin, I spent my Saturday afternoon getting fitted for new running shoes at a runner's store. As soon as I get there, they ask me to walk over this foot scanner thing so they can record my weight-distribution on the computer. Next they use a video camera to record my feet while I run on the treadmill. After analyzing everything on the computer, here's a few things I learned:

• I overpronate.
• My left foot is one size smaller (size 9) than my right foot (size 10).
• My left foot's arch is one size (inch?) smaller than my right foot's.

With all that in mind, it was time to pick a shoe -- the Brooks Beast 9.

For once in my life I pick a shoe based on performance & stability instead of name brand & looks. I mean they're definitely no Nikes or Adidas...but these babies feel :bigthumbup: . And as an impulse buy, I also bought this sexy, high-tech weight scale that also measures body fat and body water percentage. :coold:

So yeah, I'm going all out with this running thing. I'm just waiting for my Nike+ SportBand to get here so I can log my first run -- which I know will be completely abysmal & pathetic -- and use as a baseline for my progress.

Can't wait!