its friday

1 more day of work. then 2 glorious days of weekend.

recently, i try to trick myself into being content with raisins....nature's candy.... however, judging by the sweettarts wrappers beside me, its not working too well.

tomorrow is my 3rd to last french class. i decided not to sign up for the summer session... maybe i will reconsider in the winter. but i really want to be free and not have to worry about scheduling around it. it dampers my training, and while i do enjoy the class for the most part, it will most likely still be there in the future.

hmm what else...

i'm setting myself up for disappointment....sometimes you just have to risk it.

go to youtube and type in espn spelling bee. look for the girl names rebecca.

my nail polish is scented.

my breathing is off again...so i bought some halls.... halls drops are to jen as windex is to mr. portokalos (my big fat greek wedding)

jordan- i saw a turtle no longer living the other day too.. but it didn't die peacefully from the looks of things. it was run over by a car..

my new toy

i got a bike. a nice one. its a giant brand road bike. its amazing (it better be, it wasnt too cheap) i picked it up sunday. monday i was supposed to run long, but i was just too excited, so i decided to cruise around on my bike. it was so fun. it can go really fast. really easily. tomorrow i am hoping it wont be raining because i really want to go on another ride.

swimming is coming along. i can do 1000 meters with only two- 30sec. breaks. 75% freestyle. its getting easier. (and only week 3)

my running is suffering a bit. its really humid recently. ive been doing about 4 runs a week (7 mile, 8 mile, 10 mile, 12 mile) not to mention that my body is tired from the other 2 sports....


so far my schedule is:
mon: weight training and 7 mile run,
tues: bike 45-60 min and 1000 meter swim, abs
wed: 10+ mile run, abs
thurs: same as tuesday, abs
fri: yoga, body pump class, and aerobics class (sometimes the aerobics class)
sat or sun: long run/ or long bike or both.

im always hungry. haha.



today i have had a productive first half of the day. also today is my brothers bday!!!!! happy birthday BUD!!!

when i run i really like seeing the turtles in the rivers sunning themselves on the rocks. it makes me smile.

in other news, i cooked dinner monday and tuesday and turns out im actually quite talented in the culinary arts. especially the vegetarian realm.... we will see what i come up with tonight. i dont really use recipes, just throw some stuff together and hope for the best. rachael likes my cooking ( i think)


ok well off to work of to work. have a good day!

happy birthday BUDLY

the exciting things that happen at the crack of dawn

so exciting things happen in the morning. and the earlier the better..... i got up at 4:43. ate breakfast. took a 15 minute nap and got ready for my run and headed out. not feeling especially perky. no part of me whatsoever wanted to go for a run this morning. but i got out of the house and plodded on.

i got to the park, only about 50 minutes into my 2 hour run, only to run by a little kitten. meowing really loud. so i stopped and petted it. it was so tiny. alone. sick. hungry and so thin. i didint know what to do. (even if my body is awake at 5:30, my brain is not. ) so i called rachael. (this was a very important thing. so i woke her up at 5:30 or 6ish to tell her i found a cat.) here's and ideo of how the conversation went:


jen- i found a cat. sorry to wake you up, but theres a little hungry sick kitten. what do i do????
rach: well.... you could bring it home.
Jen- i was hoping you would say that.

(lets keep in mind the following information before i continue.... the park is a 25 min walk from my house. rach and i were to be gone most of the day. the cat was really really noisy. and i still needed to run an hour and 10 min)

so i picked up the cat and started to walk home. but all the old people (the park is like a retirement home in the morning) started to yell at me. you cant take the cat home. its sick. just leave it here. what are you doing? this is japan, we dont do that. don't take the cat. its noisy.

i respond (this is what my japanese answer was) the cat is small. it is scared. maybe hungry and noisy because hungry and no mother. it is sick. what about an animal doctor? only a little cat in the big park. its scared.

you cant take the cat home. go put it back. so with my head down, i obey the old people. even though in reality, who cares what they think. ugh. and i formulate a plan.


my amazing plan. continue running for a bit, the old people will get tired, go home, and ill find a box and save the cat. so i go back to the spot about 40 minutes later and search all over for the cat. no such luck. why didn't i just take the poor cat. I'm never listening to old people again. what do they know about scared sick poor cats in the middle of a big park. all alone. and to make me feel even more guilty, it rained all day.

i am a terrible person. i let down a poor innocent cat, just because i got yelled at by some old people.

i'm done. screw it, i'm taking the next cat i see home with me.

3 year anniversary

its been 3 years of the adventures of jen eureka blog. here's to another 3 years. enjoy! thanks for reading!

tokugawa park

So i went to the tokugawa museum and park with my friends about a week and a half ago. it was a really interesting museum and i like learning different things about japan and different things in japanese. after the museum, we went outside to the park. it was so nice and green. so peaceful (a wednesday afternoon) i didn't want to leave. in the pond had so many fish. and the fish was GOLD. im not saying orange. i mean really golden. it was so amazing. enjoy the pictures!

Eureka Stars- パチパチパニック

My next Eureka stars go out to the pachi pachi panic japanese pop rocks. my favorite student brought a pack of them to class for the sole purpose of me judging and giving out some eureka stars. so you can thank her!!!

they are so loud and popping.... we were sitting in the classroom laughing and popping. the pieces are really big. they pop a lot and they taste like cola. i give them 10/10 Eureka Stars!!!

turtle crossing

today i am going to a walkathon in nagoya with some friends. should be fun. im leaving in 20 min to meet a friend for breakfast before we head over to the walkathon.

this morning i woke up early. 4:30 to be exact. because (what it sounded like to me) a neighbor must have given their dog a squeaky toy and put the dog out on the balcony or porch. all i heard for 1 hour was this squeaking noise. really loud and obnoxious at 4:30. i tried my best to go back to bed, but i knew my sleep was over. so i laid in bed, trying not to hate my neighbors and their stupid dog. i was out the door and running around 5:30. it was such a nice morning. (i didnt even start my day with cereal....shock!!!) i saw a running friend also out enjoying the nice morning.

at about 20 min left in my run, heading home, i saw a lump on the bike path. as i got closer, it was a turtle!!!!! he crawled up this pretty steep hill from the river and was just chillin on the path. it was neat. i took some pics.

swimming

day 2 of swimming. i swam 740 meters. with 2 breaks of 30 seconds. swimming is hard. i cant do the same stroke for the whole time so i just change things up.... my question to my lovely readers is........ what is a more efficient way to train to be able to swim continuously for 1000 meters?


my bathing suit/goggles/swim cap combination is horrific. i wont win any beauty contests anytime soon. however... they all are pretty convenient. im a new swimmer right, so the swim cap i so nice to keep the hair out of my face. the goggles keep the water out and i can see to stay in the same lane and not run into anyone. the swimsuit, while ugly, is a one peice that doesnt move at all when i swim, so i can swim without any worries.


so todays training: 10 mile run, 30min abs and stretching, and 30 minutes swimming.

now lunch and work.

and for my loyal readers, i have a eureka stars blog coming in the near future.

every morning battle

so i get up early. 6ish is the goal. (that doesnt always happen) but i usually dont have a big problem getting up. i think it comes from my love of cereal and the peacefulness of the morning.

the real struggle comes around 7. when i need to put on my running clothes and go. i like running. once i start, its great. however, the transition from bed/breakfast to running, is not an easy one. i always have to talk myself into going.

its a beautiful morning. i am looking forward to my 10 mile run. but i just cant get moving.....(and you can see how im writing a blog instead)


after my run, its off to the gym for swimming.


the good news of the day is.....i get off of work at 8! whooohoooo....

and 3 2 1 im outta here.

its already the middle of may???

its may 13th. wow. this year is going by so fast! i cant believe it!

its a beautiful sunny day today! i went for a run this morning, just a short one. 3.5 miles. now im off to the gym to lift and swim.

i went out with rach on saturday to a party with some of her coworkers and students. it was so fun! we had a good time chatting with people and laughing a lot!!!!

this is the first full week back after two 3-day weekends. ugh. i am waiting for summer vacation. i have to wait till august.


ok, im off to the gym. have a good day everyone.

post marathon depression

so for the past year, i have always had a race coming up. this week was kind of sad..... no races signed up for.

i changed that.

june 15 meijokoen half marathon.

i think i have a problem!

Kanazawa. Golden week. marathon No. 6

from friday to sunday (5/2-5/4) rachael and i headed to kanazawa with another friend. we took the bus. it is a town about 4 hours by bus from nagoya. This was my 3rd trip and rach's first trip. Friday, we arrived around 2:00 and checked into our hotels. from there on, we went to the samurai part of the town. (kanazawa is really interesting-there is such a mix between new and old) we wandered around the old streets along a river and went to a house museum that has a beautiful garden in the back. then we wandered our way to the old castle grounds and the 3rd best park in japan. wandered around a bit more found a restaurant for dinner. got very lost returning to our hotel and then finally making it back, i went to bed to rest up for the following mornings marathon.

last year I also ran this marathon. its small. its along a river and you go up and back 4 times. the people from last year remembered me and i had a nice time actually being able to communicate well with them this year. it started our well. i did the first loop in 52 minutes (7 minutes ahead of schedule) the 2nd loop put me at 1h 55 minutes (4 minutes ahead of schedule) the 3rd loop put me at 2h58 (right on schedule) but also i fell like crap. the sun was hot. it was hot. there was no shade. i didnt train in the heat very much and i was feeling bad. i told rach i couldnt finish. she walked with me for 10 minutes. after that, i knew i had to finish...no matter how long it took. i decided to enjoy myself. to enjoy this race, and the fact that i can run. i talked to the other runners, cheered them on and encouraged them, chatted with the volunteers and smiled at everyone.

i felt pretty good and strong the last 10km. i knew i was going to finish. i just didnt know how long it would take. with 2km to go, i looked at my watch and smiled. i wouldnt be getting a PR but i would get a course PR. i took off. i ran those last 2km with everything i had left. i crossed the finish line in 4h 17 minutes. only 4 minutes slower than my best. i smiled. i did it. full marathon # 6 finished.....now only 94 to go to get to 100!!!! hahah.


after i finished, i rested for a bit (tried not to touch my sunburn-i got burnt badly! ) then rach and i headed back to the hotel. walking the 30minutes with a japanese women to guide her to the station (i love it that we were actually able to show someone to the station!!!) then i showered and got ready. rach and i walked to starbucks, talked and read books. then we headed to dinner. i was sleeping before 10pm.

sunday we got up, and feeling very good for just having run a marathon (each time gets easier) we walked and we walked. we walked for 5 hours (except for sitting down the 10 minutes before our tour and then again at lunch.) we went to the ninja temple. the ninja temple is awesome. its full of hidden passageways and staircases and traps. so cool. then we went to some shops and i got some nice gold leaf cups (goldleaf is famous in kanazawa.) we wandered around looking at things, then we went to a cute tea house for some dessert. by the time we left we had about an hour and a half till out bus, so we wandered around some more and then bough some dinner and got on the bus.....

overall it was a great trip to a great city. I look forward to next year!!!!! また来年

amanohashidate

2 weekends ago, I went to a city in kyoto prefecture (on the Japan sea side) called Amanohashidate. I went on a bus tour to this city with my friends Mr. and Mrs. Nozao. (I met them at my gym) they took me for my birthday. it was so fun! the bus ride was a little long, but the bus tour guide talked a lot so i could study. we also went past Obama city. you could buy hamburgers from Obama city.

When we arrived at our destination, we went to an all you can eat sushi lunch. it was good. then we went on a 3.3 km walk along this small pine tree peninsula-like path. the weather was perfect. then once we finished the walk, we went up a sky lift thing and we could look at the great view of the place we just walked. coming down we took the ropeway chair lift thing. i was a little nervous as there was no seat belt and i was wearing slip on shoes. it was a nice day and an enjoyable time spent with 2 special friends!