Good Day Everyone

These past couple days have been filled with so much; and it all culminated in it's finality this morning as I dropped off my girlfriend and her mom at the airport for their flight to Germany.

Yesterday, on Friday, I had two clients in the morning. Both were great and I was glad to have seen that go as quickly as it had. I then went of to Jeet Kune Do class at Ekata Martial Arts and Fitness (www.ekata.net) at noon for the Friday class that I assist in on a regular basis. It was a great class which focused on self-defense against an armed (gun-wielding) attacker. We had a few police officers in the class which is always refreshing because you know how vital this is to their safety, and everyone elses as well.

After class I went home, showered, and ate lunch. After all of that was taken care of I packed a few things and then drove to Sandy's for the night.

As always we had a great time, we hung out at home first and then went and got pizza. We ate with her parents, and then when it cooled down a little we went to the Americana in Glendale, CA and had some tea and talked. We took random pictures of one another with our phones, and enjoyed being together. She truly is the love of my life.

It was hard to sleep last night and we probably only got a couple hours at best. The 4am alarm came sooner than desired but we had to get up, get dressed, and head to the airport.

LAX was well...LAX. Anyone who's been there understands that statement. It's unfortunate that they have such a terrible terminal though because we didn't even get to wait together before they boarded the flight. As soon as I no longer could see them, I left. I got a couple calls from her on my way home which was nice. I stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things, gatorade for the long runs, more chocolate milk mix. Stuff like that.

When I came home I talked to Sandy a few times before she boarded her flight for Detroit, MI. After we got off the phone for the last time I went for a 3-mile run.

Lately, I've felt that it was necessary for me to have something to strive for on a physical level. Since Sandy doesn't like the idea of me fighting in kickboxing or MMA, I had to come up with something else.

One day I was talking with some people at work and one of them suggested we run the half-marathon here in SCV. Now, I've always wanted to participate in some sort road race, and even got so far as to sign up for one but had gotten sick before being able to do it. Therefore, I decided to start training for the half-marathon. I feel very excited about it actually, and think that I am even looking to one day run a full marathon if things work out well with the half.

So I've been doing a lot of research and started building up my mileage in order to run that distance with getting completely destroyed in the process. So today, I ran 3-miles in 37min, and that's with one minute walk breaks every five minutes with hard running, and a two minute cool-down walk at the end.

As time goes on I will write up what I am working on with both my mileage and my strength and conditioning. As a side note, I am NOT following some high-rep resistance training routine nor am I CUTTING OUT my lower body exercises. It boggles my mind that people think that because you are running that you do not have to "work on your legs." If anything that is MORE of a reason to work on the lower half of your body. And I don't just mean the leg press, leg extensions, and leg curl. I mean squats (front and back), deadlifts, romanian deadlifts (stiff-legged), good mornings, lunges (all variations), and so forth. IF YOU ARE GOING TO RUN LIKE AN ATHLETE, THAN YOU SHOULD TRAIN LIKE ONE!!!

Well, that's it for now, more tomorrow.

Take care!

Recent Activities....

It has been awhile since I've first posted; it's been a combination of being too busy with school, work, life, and just plain forgetfulness. As I type this I am actually supposed to be getting ready to go see Sandy before I go to Physics class.

Sandy.

I am so proud of my girlfriend because she recently graduated from UCLA with not one, but two Bachelors degrees in Linguistics and Germanic Languages. It was a beautiful ceremony that really still did not describe the effort and sacrifice she had to make to achieve what she did. I guess the important thing is that I know, and that's why I am proud to have her in my life.

Earlier today, I had one client at 7am and then lifted myself.

I warmed up by light-heartedly, and quite spontaneously, grappling with a co-worker; and then skipping rope for three minutes. Then for lifting:

Power Snatch: 4x5x105lbs
Side Squat: 4x10x135lbs
Single-leg Hip Extension: 4x10xbodyweight
Close-grip Bench Press: 4x10x105lbs
Standing Unilateral Pulldown: 4x10x37.5kg (82.5lbs)
Stability Ball Weight Roll: 4x12x10lb med ball

It was a great workout and the last in the current 3-week cycle. After lifting I foam rolled and then did some stretching the TRX suspension ropes.

Well, I need to go get ready to leave, but I will attempt to keep writing here so that others can read. Also feel free to comment.

Take care.