Eureka Stars

If you have a random candy that you would like me to judge and give out some Eureka Stars, please let me know. or even better, please send it to me.

magical stones

マジカルストーングミ magical stones gummy candy. the package is really cute. a little wizard. the candy is cute too. pink and green gummy "stones" with sugar crystals. they look like magic stones for real. they also taste really really really good. easy to eat on the go. 10/10 eureka stars.

Eureka stars

I've decided to become a judge. A candy judge. I will buy random candy and document it and give each one Eureka stars.

todays candy:
ねるねるねるねメロン味
nerunerunerune melon

Its green. tastes like melon. you mix a blue and yellow packet of sugar with water, then open the 3rd packet of small colored sugar crystals. get a big glob of green goo and stick it in the sugar crystals. then eat. its good. a nice mix of sweet and tart. while not convenient for out on the go, it is a nice mid afternoon snack. Eureka stars: 7/10

i like candy

i like candy in all countries. I especially love the random candy that I can find in japan. This for example is pancake candy. you can see the small disk-like yellow parts that are the pancakes.... they taste and have the consistency of razzles, but they dont turn into gum. before you eat them, however, you must put some sugar chocolate flavored butter and syrup on top.

this candy is not the most practical to take on the road. its not so clean and simple, but for what it lacks in those areas, it more than makes up the the uniqueness of the candy. i give this candy 6/10 eureka stars.

weekend

today i had a nice day. watched a friends basketball game. lunch with a friend. shopping. surprising another friend.

tomorrow i have to get up early. i have another race tomorrow.. however, its only 4.8 km. i haven't trained for this short of a distance for a long time. we'll see how its end up.

tonight has been a fun night of being crazy with rachael. singing loud. dancing. laughing.

1 more week of february. wow. 2008 is cruisin along.

i wish everyday was saturday.

just call me simple susan

so tonight, i was complaining to rachael about how noone commented on my blog (but then i checked and cara and joel did...so i perked up) and i told rach i needed to write something shocking to get more comments. i suggested writing a blog about me being engaged or pregnant.

rachaels response:

just call me simple susan, but why not just ask people to comment.


but then again....i dont respond to peoples emails, so who am i to complain? hahah

tokyo marathon pictures 東京マラソン２００８

tokyo marathon

i did it. full marathon number 5. it was amazing.

i got to tokyo friday night. met up with a giggly jim. went to his place. we talked and hung out.

saturday jim and i met my marathon running friends for lunch. then jim left, and i went to the expo with the other girls. the expo was AMAZING! every brand that sells running products was there. it was so much fun. i bought a pair of shoes. then we hung out. went around to the Ginza area. we met up with my friends friends. one guy reserved an okinawa restaurant. he planned the menu and so about 20 of us ate a bunch of food that was good for runners... pre racing. it was really fun to meet everyone. people were so nice even with my limited japanese speaking ability (this weekend was about 85% japanese speaking-maybe more) then we went back to our hotel. packed up and got ready for the big race the next day.

sunday morning

6:00 -7:00 get up, get dressed, pack up my stuff, eat my corn flakes

7:30-9:10 leave and get to race start check in our bags at the race. find out where we need to go. i was in E block. my friends were in G block.

9:10 the race starts 5 minutes after the start, i cross the starting line and am on my way. fans line the street!

for the next 4 hours and 13 minutes i run. i ate a banana, a lemon lime gel, and a lot of sports drink. i gave high fives. i listened to my favorite songs, enjoyed the nice weather.

i was cruising along.. feeling good. then kilometer 33 i lost it. for the next 7 kms (about 4 miles) i struggled. i just knew i had to keep going. i gave high fives. i smiled. i tricked myself into thinking i felt good.

2 kms to go. i sped up. i had to beat my last time of 4:15. i pushed. i fought. i perservered. i saw the finish line. i looked at my watch. 4:12. go jen go.

i did it. 4 hours and 13 minutes. my best time ever. (although not my smartest race) i finished my 5th marathon 13 minutes faster than my first marathon. its the fastest one i have run in 2 continents.

columbus 4:26
nagano 4:46
kanazawa 4:31
ibigawa 4:15
tokyo 4:13

after the race i was exhausted. i got my medal. free food. found my bag. changed in the middle of a huge changing room. went upstairs and met another friend who just finished before me. then i waited for my 3 friends who i was with.

we met up and went to foot bath for the runners. we decided it would be best to go get our public bathing on and head on over to the onsen. we showered and soaked our tired muscles. then began the trip back to nagoya.

i was tired and hurt. but only sunday and monday. i am good at recovering. resting up for my relay race (i run a 5k part) this weekend!

hope you enjoyed my take on tokyo marathon. it was an excellent race. i have no complaints. i would run it again. it was the best out of the 5. i give it five stars. eureka stars.

happy valentines day jon

happy valentines day to all of you. now let me explain the jon part.

one day a student came to one of my classes to observe. to see if he would be able to join it. he was nervous. he called me jon. the other students found this halarious and fast forward 4 months.... they are still calling me jon. if we do class surveys, and interview one another, they write my name as jon. if they have a question, they call out jon. today being valentines day, and me giving away chocolate they call out-" happy valentines day jon!" sometimes if they dont like the homework i've given them, i get "jon, be quiet." i am not so sure why its so funny, but it is. they are 5th graders.

so i did what any self respecting mature jen/jon teacher would do. i gave them names. we now have erika (erika her name just pronounced in english) matt (moto) danny (daiki) romeo (ryuhei-he picked this one) thomas (taiki) and tom cruise (tsubasa) i can only imagine what someone would think watching this class. but at least they are really good and enjoy english and try really hard. yeah for jon-sensei.

now off to pack my bags. i leave tomorrow for tokyo straight after work. im getting ready. i bought a nice windbreaker today and a neck warmer than can cover my face if i need it to.

sucks

so i just checked weather.com. not only is the coldest day of the 10 day forecast on sunday (marathon day) it also was the only day to have the words "strong winds" written in red and next to the "check for flight delays"

this sucks. tomorrow im going to buy a good solid wind breaker and a face mask.


so much for that PR...

coldness

its cold. saturday it snowed. and by by snowed i mean it snowed a lot. i was in the middle of my run. and hour from the end when it started to blizzard. i took my poncho out of my backpack and put it on. i looked like a snowman. i running snowman. i wasntt he only crazy runner out there. i got to my destination. cold, snow covered and wet. but it was a great adventure. i hung out at my friends place for awhile and watched her kids play in the snow. so cute. it was like ohio. about 5 or 6 inches of snow i think.

monday was a holiday. i slept in. went for my run-expecting cold- and got spring weather. not complaining, i took off a few layers and enjoyed the run. then i went and played in the park with my other friend and her kids.

this weekend is the big race. i am a little concerned about the weather. if it snows-ok. cold-ok. wind-crappy but ill manage, rain-suck it up and try to not hate every cold moment of it. lets hope for good weather and so all this training i did wont be wasted.

the pics i put up in my last post are from the february birthday party last weekend. it was fun. however, after the party, i went to one of the family's houses and played wii. i rocked at guitar hero. not so great at mario party. maybe i should get a wii........

valentines day is tomorrow. happy valentines day.

pictures!

what a week

its been a long week. now that my rib is healing, i caught a cold. i've just been trying to hang in there and keep up my training. 9 more days till the big day. only 1 more day of work. then a 3 day weekend for me!!!! yeah!!!!

wednesday i met up with a friend for breakfast/shopping/looking around/lunch/etc... fun times! always a nice time.

tonight i finished work at 8, went to the grocery store, and then i came home and cleaned cleaned cleaned. for like 2 hours.


rach and i bought a few candles the other day to replace our dwindling collection. i really like candles. i really like the atmosphere when the lights are off and the candles are lit. its so calm. and our candles smell good too. nothing like drinking a cup of tea, writing emails, and smelling nice candles.

well time to go to bed.

monday monday

i had a great weekend. as usual. friday night i went out after work and met my friend (she works at my favorite restaurant and she speaks french) so we met up along with another one of her friends, went to a pub and ate and conversed in french and had a great time.

saturday. i got up. i met my friend who lives 2 stations away and we ran together. for 4 hours. it was ok, but i was so hungry. haha. then we finished and i got really cold. but i didnt bring a jacket becuase we met at her station and started running. so when i went to leave, i just missed the train and had to wait 7 minutes...freezing and hungry. then i got on the train for 4 glorious minutes of heat. got back to my station and ran to the bread store. bought the first items i saw and ran to the bike parking garage. i got my bike and just told myself "get home FAST" i got home. turned the heat on in the living room. started the shower water and started eating my bread while undressing for the shower. then i had to choose. the warm shower or the food. taking a big bite of bread, i jumped in the shower.

saturday night hung out with rach, we had a wild night of nothing and both fell asleep at 10pm. ex- ci-ting.

sunday went to church, lunch, then i went and bought socks and cleaning supplies... and people wonder why i dot write more often..... this is not exciting hahah. we came home, tried not to snack. watched the movie no reservations" such a cute movie. we had some discussions. i love discussion time with rachael.

today i got up and the the weather was GREAT! i skipped the gym, put on my running clothes and ran a great run. i ran my favorite 7 mile course- and found out i can do it in 60 minutes easily!!! (before i was always close to 65-70 min) but due to my training, the weather, and getting some good rest, it was encouraging to see my improvement as i had to take a few days off becuase of my ribs.

my ribs. still hurt, but not when i run. just have to tough it out.

now its monday. back to work. 13 days till my race in tokyo. coming up soon!

questions of the week:

what makes you confident?

can guys and girls be JUST friends? explain.


have a good week!