2010 London Marathon

LINK TO ALBUM: 2010 London Marathon

Overall: 3:18

1st half: 1:41

2nd half: 1:38

Pace: ~7:35ish/mile

Place: 2,795 out of about 36,549

Tried to keep it simple this race, I basically had to go 8 miles/hour to hit my goal. I kept telling myself to hold back the 1st half and relax. I was a little behind, but there were a ton of people...plus I didn't want to rush out and blow the race too early! I got a bit concerned at the 13.1 mile mark b/c 1:41 was a little off the pace, so I tried to increase the pace to see how I would feel. Strangely, I felt alright and kept getting faster and am very happy w/ a negative split - 1:38! The crowd was terrific and pushed me forward the last 6 miles. I got faster as the miles went on and on!
There was a red line that marked the most direct 26.2 route, which I stuck to like glue!

Nutrition (I think I got my salt/nutrition intake correct!):
Day before: some pasta, extra salt, and about 4-5 bottles nuun water
2.5 hours before: 3 english muffins w/ apricot jam, little coffee, nuun water, 2 tabs of salt pills
Right before start: pack of shot bloks w/ little nuun water
1st hour: pack of shot bloks, nuun tab in water, 2 salt tabs, one gel ---- figured my HR and effort would be lowest so I could stomach the solids
2nd hour: 2 salt tabs, nuun tab in water, 2 gels (one close to end of hour)
3rd hour: one gel

By the last 8 miles, I was feeling relatively good, so just relied on sipping water and gauging my appetite. I was fine the entire time and dumped a ton water on myself at every stop. Weather was a lot cooler than forecasted (prob in the 60's/17's), it rained a bit at the beginning but turned into muggy, then sun, then cool.

I wore my K-Swiss K-Ona's w/out socks (like I usually do) and ended up w/ quite a few blisters, a slightly purple 2nd toe (first time this has happened), and a little sore side of my left knee (I think ITB - not the first time, so it should go away). Strange it's all on my left side... Although, it is a marathon so if I wasn't sore then I didn't try hard enough!!

Now it's time for Ironman training!

Bath Half Marathon

Joe & I just finished our first race of the year, Bath Half Marathon. We both posted out personal best! Joe finished in 1 hour 30 minutes, and I finished in 1 hr 45 minutes. I'm taking a break from racing for a bit, but Joe has the London marathon coming up in April. I'm glad I'm not him :P.

In the photos above I was playing around with the cross-processing effect on my Android phone from the app called Vignette. Like the look maybe I'll try it on actual film! Was testing out a roll of Fuji 160S film while I was in Bath. First roll of colour film I've shot in 6 years! Curious of how that will turn out! Off to NY tomorrow! Over & out. /s

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we gathered the expats and rented an 8 bedroom house in the countryside. What resulted was a massive feast for every meal, and even more dishes! We had a competition to see who could gain the most % of body weight after Thanksgiving dinner. I ended up winning in total weight gained (1.6 kg). Joe was negative weight sometime during the meal and ended up gaining zero weight! What a metabolism!

From album Thankgiving

Fat Duck

Happy New Year! Will catch you up on the past 3-4 months of our lives in the next few blog posts :P. Joe and I visited Fat Duck (#2 restaurant in the world) for my 30th birthday. We had to make reservations 2 months in advance on the day! Was a delicious and fun culinary experience. El Bulli here we come (#1 restaurant in the world in Spain).

From album 30th Birthday

The Wasp Whisperer and a Night at the Museum

Ahhhh! Ahhh! I woke up to Joe yelping that his ankle hurt. What the f*&$#udge?! Buzz coming fast from behind...run into the kitchen! Joe got stung by a wasp in the middle of winter, inside of our flat, in London! Did I mentioned 'in'side. Joe had his revenge when he released fury on the small buzzing killer with an old edition of 'London Time Out'. It's rare that Joe gets angry, so I just had to laugh that he was letting it out on a wasp. To be funny, he calls himself the 'Wasp Whisperer' = one that is able to tame ANY wasp (in reference to the 'Dog Whisperer'). Training method involves some sort of death :).

Thank goodness for the internet because we were scrambling to find out what the heck we should do! After Joe stopped yelping I put on some 'buck fah yiao' (chinese medicine called white flower embrocation on the box haha, never looked at that). Works wonders on any bug bite.

Anyhow, Joe scoured the internet to make sure he wouldn't be poisoned to death and found this video below. It's quite scary, yet you can't look away.

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This weekend has been themed the 'do a few things we never do in London'.
1) Last night went to Camden to check out 'Outside Royalty' at Dublin Castle. An indie band that came from the states to London in hopes of finding a record deal. The violinist, Echo, is a friend of Eurie's (one of London Transplants).
2) Finally went to the Natural History Museum, and saw the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. It was crazy to see 14-17 year olds commended for their work. You read the descriptions of the photos and it goes something like, I was with my parents on an African Safari shooting photos with a $2000+ camera. What a life. Well, their photos were not bad either :).
3) Go party in the East Side, Shoreditch. Joe and I live in West London and it takes us about an hour to get to the East side! Gonna go hang out near Old Street tonight at Favela Chic, considered the very cool and hip, yet still slightly rugged/raw (like Manhattan East Side :). Wish us luck with London transportation. Not sure it will help though :P

Inside London Natural History Museum
(Click to view other photos)

Happy Holidays from London!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from London! :: luv Joe and Sko!

Us 'happy and cheerful Californians', otherwise known as the London Transplants (some new - welcome Jon Eng and Alice, some old, and some joined through their better halves) did a 22-way White Elephant gift trade last Saturday. Click above (on photo) to view the winners and the losers :).

Joe and I can't believe we have almost been in London for 1 whole year! Time really flies. We'll be heading back to California for a couple weeks - next Thursday, so just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a safe trip (if you are traveling), cabs/taxis are our friends (don't drive drunk or even kinda faded), and if we don't see you in Cali - we hope to see you in 2007! -- When you come visit us in Europe :).

//Travel Schedule//
Bay Area - Dec 14 through 19
Santa Barbara - Dec 20
LA - Dec 21 through 23 (sko), Dec 21 through 26 (joe)
Bay Area - Dec 23 through 27 (sko)
Barcelona - Dec 29 through 1

You can reach us on our old cell phone numbers while we are in the U.S. Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween (in America)

Postcard from London (Kew Gardens)

Isn't that view beautiful? I have it on my desktop right now. Kew Gardens is in the South Bank just outside of zone 3. Going there is like walking around in the country.
(Slide show of photos from Kew Gardens)

Joe and I have been super busy since our last blog post. We've been zipping around California for some amazingly sweet weddings, which prompted us to actually start planning our own :). We are not sure where/when yet (kind of looking at Santa Barbara), but we'll let you know! Just checked out the photos from our friends' weddings again. Don't you just love it when the parents get down on the dance floor?
(Slide show of photos from Kerey & Stephanie's Wedding)
(Side show of photos from Ben & Maria's Wedding)

Sadly, we celebrated Halloween this weekend with a few Americans at a kind of half hearted Halloween party. Londoners are not really into this holiday, but it seems like stores try to market it hard core. Joe and I were not motivated enough to out do our winning costumes from last year (sko 2005 costume, joe 2005 costume). Sigh -- Hope you all had fun at costume parties this weekend, and continue the fun on Tuesday! Send us your favorites!

If you happen to be in NYC this Sunday, look out for Joe who is running the NYC marathon along with Lance Armstrong. He'll be wearing this shirt below. Funny story -- he wore the shirt during a run this weekend only to hear some Brits say 'Go on! Go on Joe!'

Upcoming Travel Plans
+ This week: Joe in Amsterdam
+ Nov 3-6: New York
+ Nov 9-13: Sko in Iceland
+ Nov 16-17: Sko in Dublin
+ Nov 20 - 26: Sko in Madrid, Joe coming for the weekend
+ End of Nov: Joe in Tel Aviv
+ Dec 15 - 27: California for the Holidays
+ Dec 29 - Jan 1: Barcelona for New Year's

Vacancies Available

Joe and I have been fortunate enough to see a few friends drop by London recently -- Chief Resident Jack Liu and his girlfriend Angela, crazy UCLA-ers Jimmy, Robert, Shane and Alan. Our cozy little flat has been playing host to a few lucky lads that got to learn the secret to turning the hot water on in the shower, and feel the frustration of unlocking 5 locks before getting home. Thanks for coming by Eddie, Simon (sko's brother), and Frankie! Vacancy will be available starting this Friday. Book soon! :)

Also had lunch our friend Rich Won today, who filled in 'El Escritor' as his job/company when he had to make a name tag for himself at Google Reception. He's a writer :). Rich said everytime he looks at our photos he feels like we're rubbing it in everyone's faces - how much fun we are having living in London. Well here's more! :) (And we genuinely hope this will convince you to visit us soon!)

It was nice to have my brother visit us. We got to do all the touristy things we never had time to do :). Science Museum - Pixar Exhibit, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Bath (city outside of London).

My brother and I had a ball taking photos of everything sight. Finally got the chance to break in my new Canon 30D digital SLR. Here are a few of my favorite shots...

I also made a new friend in Stonehenge. His name is Sheep :). I've been wanting a sheep stuffed animal ever since our 3 Peaks hike last month, where we saw sheep every where! His new home is on my desk at work. I showed him to my boss, who said "mooooo!" (he's French, nothing else can explain that).

Joe and I had the opportunity to see Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter, Aurélia Thierrée, perform a surreal yet playful show called Aurelia's Oratorio. I'm bringing Simon, Frankie, and a group of friends to see it again this week. Happened to catch some great shots outside the theater the first time we went. I luv how it doesn't get dark in London until about 10pm now. If only it could be warmer! Still in the 40's, and I'm more pale than I was when living in New York!

(Click on photos to view set from Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath)

(Click on photo below to view set from London in May)

And lastly, confirmed travel plans through July:
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+ Amsterdam and Paris: This week (Joe)
+ Berlin, Germany: June 2 -8
+ Stockholm, Sweden: June 20-25
+ Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Israel: June 28-July 4
+ Greece: July 28-August 4

The Sun Will Come Out...

Did that just want to make you bust out singing a song from Annie? I did. :) Well the sun did make it out briefly in London last Saturday. See below for example of how pale Londoners react to sunshine:

Silly silly :). And now we would like to proudly present...

Sko and Joe's New Flat (aka apartment)

	The Entrance: We are on the top floor of a 2 story building. After going through the door to our flat you walk up this flight of stairs. I luv the artsy painting on that wall.
	The Living Room: The first thing you see when you walk up the stairs is the living room with vaulted ceilings. Inclusive of 2 futons, a gas fireplace, and lots of room for books! It's bit cold in the winter so we need to get some space heaters
	The Kitchen: To the left of the living room. We have a teeny tiny refrigerator. But it's okay since we don't cook that much anyway :) We initially didn't have a freezer, but asked for table top one so we can have a place to keep our ice cream and frozen potstickers.
	The Loft: Above the kitchen is the greatest feature of this flat. The loft, aka lots of storage space! If you are a bad visitor, you might end up there. :) The previous tenant did have an airbed up there, but we thought it would be too dangerous at night if you had to go to the bathroom.
	The Bath Tub: I can imagine lounging in this thing in the summer with all the light coming through the window. Unfortunately, it is a bit tricky to turn on the hot water! Arg.
	The Bathroom: Opposite the bathtub in the same room, we have a statue of a naked lady, which I think adds a lot of character. Joe wanted to take it out, but the landlady asked him to try to lift it - Impossible! :) So it stayed. Tiling on the floor is delightful as well.
	The Bedroom: We actually do have a lot of closet space on the far wall that is not visible in this photo. It's the warmest part of our flat so we tend to hang out here most often. Complete with plants and reading lamps.

And that ends this edition of cribs :) Looks forward to your visits! Cheers!
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Just a reminder that you can still help us out with our 3 Peak Challenge fundraiser. Joe and I need to raise 500 GBP between the 2 of us which equates to $872. Donate here please. Many Thanks to Tran and Shirley for their generous donations!!

The Good Stuff

Good news! Joe got a promotion *and* we found a flat! Settled on a flat near Fulham Broadway which is in the western part of London. It's not the closest thing to work (about 40 minutes by bus to work), but the place had so much character and storage space (very key), we couldn't say no. And our future visitors would be happy to hear - it has 2 futons! We should be moving in early next week. Will do another episode of cribs after we get it all spiffied up.

It was a weekend of fun fun fun. One of those weekends that will take the whole weekday to recuperate from. Being our first official visitors since we moved here - Winnie and Shirley showed the Londoners how New Yorkers party. Amongst this weeks featured activities (aka consuming alcoholic drinks), we were able to check out many of London's more cultural aspects.

::Tate Modern::
Saw my first Jackson Pollock painting in person, a very cool sculpture by Rachel Whitereadand, and had a leisurely lunch in the restaurant at the top floor of the Tate with a view of the Thames River and St. Paul. Joe was running 16 miles at the time so that is why he's not in the photos.

::Flamenco Festival London::
Saw the Ballet Nacional de Espana perform at Sadler Wells Theater. Lots of clapping, tapping, and beautiful costumes. We were so exhausted when Sunday came around, that we would have all fallen asleep if it wasn't so lively. Viva Espana!
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And another shameless plug for our little 3 Peak Challenge fundraiser. Joe and I need to raise 500 GBP between the 2 of us which equates to $872. So far we have $0 :(. Donate here please. Many Thanks!

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Reference List for London Party-Goers:
Red Bar - 5 Kingly Street, Soho, W1B 5PE

Tantra - 62 Kingly Street, London, W1R 5LR (Club open until 4am)

Kabaret - 16-18 Beak Street, Soho, London, W1R 3HA (Excellent hip-hop music, open until 3am)

Beach Blanket Babylon - 45 Ledbury Road, London, W11 2AA (Don't eat there, but great atmosphere and drinks)

Kingly Club - 4 Kingly Court, London (Teany tiny place shaped like a tunnel, but yummy drinks and good music)