The Joy's of Bike Commuting

I like the idea of bike commuting. I can just imagine a perfect world where everyone pedals along smooth and winding paths that weave next to flowing crystal-water streams. Think ‘Sound of Music’ and ‘Life is Beautiful’(before the tragedies of war parts). After greeting other riders with a ‘Howdy’ or ‘Mornin’, we’d all arrive at the office, school, or shop and step inside with an energized and renewed outlook on life, our neighbors, and ourselves.
Instead my bike commute is more like the Bowser’s Castle in Super Mario Bros. You know, a gauntlet of fiery lava pits, spiky hunks of rock trying to smash you, turtles throwing nun-chuks… Actually, it isn’t that bad, but between dodging the massive potholes in Oakland , buses that constantly stop in front of you, pass, and stop again, and drivers who apparently think bikes shouldn’t be on roads. Then depending on the route I take, I can either end up on the bike path where joggers run unaware as they blast their ipods, or go through the mostly empty park where the more unsavory characters hang.

On today’s ride I went near 4th St., a popular high-end area of shops and restaurants, as well as a common place for day laborers to wait in the morning to find work. I had one of those moments like when you show up at a costume party, only to find out by the surprised faces of everyone else that it wasn’t actually a costume party. Then the guy controlling traffic at the road construction said to me, “You be careful on that bike”. What was that supposed to mean?? That streets are too dangerous for bikes? That the giant pothole they had made was something to watch out for? That I personally might not have the skills to navigate around the pothole? I rode past, turned the corner and just had to laugh. Now I was home free! A few more blocks to the office on quiet, traffic free streets. I rolled inside, fee energized, happy, and with a renewed outlook on life! I beat level 1 at Bowser's Castle and freed the princess. I must admit, a ride through town is never boring. The adrenaline gets going, especially on rides home when traffic requires some tricky maneuvering and being on high alert. I still don't think it is quite as fun as riding for fun, but it is still an adventure. Now only if I didn't arrive at work so sweaty.

Mission Murals

Today my roommate Erica and I went over to SF and decided to take a free walking tour of the Mission District murals. A non-profit called SF Cityguides runs walking tours throughout the city and with the wonderful weather and free time, what better way to spend an afternoon!

I hadn't been to this part of the Mission in a long, long time. In fact, my only memories there are from middle school when my spanish class went for Dia De Los Muertos. I remember walking past bakery windows with pan ducles, altars, and decorated sugar skulls. Our class had some assignment to do with the murals and after we had finished our walk around, we went to a Cuban restaurant where I had platanos con frijoles. Amazing what stays in our memories! This trip we didn't stop for pan ducles or platanos... Erica and I are doing South Beach (getting our butts in gear for her wedding) and are currently in Phase 1 which means the Mission's authentic and tasty food was no doubt off limits.

Below are some photos of the murals and a bit of info on each. The colors were just so brilliant, even the photos don't do them justice! I recommend clicking on the pictures to see all of the detail.

The ocean scene was done on the wall of the local community pool. Each of the swimmers worked at the pool at one point in time!

The mural two up was dedicated to the Dali Lama.

Above- Many of the murals represent contrast. Loss on the left panel, life on the right.

The mural above is dedicated to Aids victims.

Brilliant golds and reds show a wife and child in El Salvador during the civil war. Faces of those who died are seen in the green mountains in the back.

Amazing what a simple garage door can show. Can you see the "army" skeleton with a gun?

This is suppose to represent struggles of war in Nicaragua. On the left there is a girl in fear of a soldier pointing a gun at her( out of frame), while the right side shows a new and hopeful Nicaragua

This one was done by an artist who was unhappy about the gentrification of SF neighborhoods. Notice the condo "transformer" in the middle.

An older women in Nepal(left) breaking a chain to free the group of women on the right.

Each piece has so much symbolism, but most of all community is a central theme throughout. I think my favorite one was the one with the eyes!

My First Triathlon (with Mono?)

It feels like ages since I did my triathlon (only about 2 weeks ago), but so much has happened to distract me from it. Despite having to stay in bed the few days before heading to L.A. for the tri, I really felt healthy the day before and day of the triathlon. I would attribute it mostly to the excitement of all five of us getting ready for the big race and seeing the hundreds of other women at the expo who would be competing. The race was great, I certainly felt like I could have done much better, including preparing better for the open water swim and run, but I felt like I gave all I could. It became clear to me when I arrive back in Oakland that despite feeling better, I hadn't magically healed. Once home after the 6 hour drive from L.A. I found a box waiting for me on the front porch. It was my new pair of running shoes! On any normal day in my life this would be a wonderful day... a chance to test drive the new shoes, but instead I threw the box inside the house and collapsed onto my bed. That was one clue something was wrong.
From then on it was sleep, doctors visits, blood tests, swollen icky tonsils, and temporarily moving back to the parents' to be cared for. After a week of constant throat pain, inability to swallow, and extreme fatigue, I am finally back at my house attempting to get rest (although this has proven tricky with voting, blood tests, constant urge to clean my messy place). Luckily, whenever I think of doing something too active, my body puts me in my place, usually by sending a wave of exhaustion over me. Now that my brain is allowing me to focus on something other than the pain, I am getting a chance to reflect on my race.
I'm proud that I was able to finish, and who knows how much the mono affected my race, but I can't wait until my next tri! I feel like I have a base ( a mono base?) and I can only improve from here. There really is no way to know how many weeks or months it will take before I have my normal energy back, but I just hope I still have the same enthusiasm. Once I'm no longer at risk for rupturing my spleen (glad that didn't happen on the race) I'd like to start swimming, maybe join a masters team.
To sum it all up, I may not be able to do much now, but I haven't forgotten the energy, fun, and excitement of the race and I can't wait to train for the next one!

Update!

So I went to vote today! I was worried about having enough energy to stand in line for up to an hour, but to my surprise there was only one person in line in front of me.

A few hours later I walked on over to the hospital to get my 3rd blood test of the week. The lab that I had become so familiar with from previous visits was a sight to see. Only one other person was in the waiting area and he had already been helped. Instead of waiting in a crowd of 20 like my earlier visits.

Since it has been a while since updating the blog, here are a few photos of what I've been up to this summer!

Here are some of my friends in SF celebrating Bronwyn's (pink dress) Birthday

At a wedding with old friends from high school

Playing with M-Bear at Jackson Plaza in Portland

Rogue River

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time.... Things have been busy, but fun! Since I don't have time to post about my rafting trip right now, I'll at least send you to my photo album link. Sorry, there are a lot of random pictures (of course, non of me). I realized that rowing your own boat takes a lot of work- packing gear, loading the boat, rowing, scouting rapids, unloading.... doesn't leave much time for picture taking.

Here are my Rogue Photos

Where am I?

Sprint distance____________ Where am I now?

Swim= .75k/33 lengths/.46 miles________ 1/2 length without lifting my head or stopping

Bike= 6.2k /12.4 miles________________ I can actually do this, Must work on time.

Run= 5k/ 3 miles ____________________ 2 minutes- tomorrow I aim for 3.5 min!

Tri Training: Swimming Part 1- What did I get myself into?

I'm planning on doing a Sprint Triathlon in San Diego with my cousin Erica and sister Jess. I don't know how they convinced me to do it. Actually, I love these ladies so much, they could convince to do almost anything! I wish you could all hear my inner voice during all of my attempts to be athletic... I really find me quite humorous, but since you can't, I figure I'll give you the jest of it in this blog.

Swimming, Part I:

I have a very real, but very irrational fear of jumping into water. Recently I have realized (within this last week, and confirmed tonight) that I associate the pain of water up my nose to putting my head underwater. Similarly, I do not swim with my head in the water, that was, until today.

My friend Amy (a swimmer) took me to the pool at her condo complex tonight to give me pointers, general breathing advise, etc.

Within the first 5 minutes in the pool-
-Oh look, I can put my head underwater and not drown or feel like my nose, lungs, and throat are burning!
-I made it across the pool!!! It only took me 2 minutes and 3 breaks!
-Now I just have to do this 40 more times, in open water, in a big crowd, in the ocean

Yeah, it was pretty bad for the first 30 minutes. I'd make it halfway across and would take in some water, freak out and stop. It definitely had one of those, 'What the Crap was I thinking' moments. After a while I moved to a different part of the pool where it was shallower and half a pool length. I figured it gave me an easier goal. Get to the other side without stopping using 2-3 breaths. Soon I moved onto taking a breath every other stroke, getting used to where my head should be and making fishy lips to avoid getting water in my mouth.

I finally took it as a success when I could go a half length of the pool without stopping. Not much, but I figure its the most I've every done considering I've really never been swimming with my head under. Learning breathing I guess is like riding a bike. If I can keep building on it, I might have a chance.

Other successes- swimming down along the bottom of the pool for extended amounts of time.

Swimming is quite a workout- different than biking or hiking... I was getting tired by the time I was done!

Well, I've rambled way more than I wanted. A few quick things though- If I can keep building on this start, I think it might be possible to be ready in Oct. Amy said I had good form, just need to work on the breathing. Next issue to tackle... running??? AHHH, that's worth it's own blog. I'll let you know how that goes... still building up from a 2 minute jog.

If you didn't notice, this is pretty much my brain spewing out random thoughts. Feel no obligation to read all of this Tri stuff. I figure it is a good way of seeing my progress, keeping my thoughts in one spot, and working to verbalize any challenges I might come across.

Booyah!