Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Garden pictures

Here are some pictures of my garden - www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7313&id=1606565655&l=7b4f3cac42

We just cut down a tree in the backyard that use to prove us with plenty of shade but I realized that my garden wasn't getting enough sun. So now we're coping with the additional sunlight :D

Finally pictures!

It's been a busy year of races for us. The last one I mentioned was Disney's Duathlon. I've been pretty diligent about posting pictures on FB and now thanks to Norma, I'm now able to link the two together.

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9430&id=1606565655&l=fdda477ed6

This past July 4th, we competed in Ladera Ranch 10k. It was hotter than we anticipated but so it was slow moving. Carlos finished in 50 minutes, I came in under 57 minutes. We ran the route 2x and had to tackle this long hill but we survived!

The following week - Carlos ran Peter's Canyon #2 race (5 miler) I thought of being a bandit runner but instead opted to walk the course with my friend before the race. Carlos finished in less than 45 minutes - it was HOT and dusty.

We head up north to Santa Cruz at end of month to visit friends and do the Warf to Warf 10k. We're excited, the weather should be perfect!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Name Change

Wondering if I should change my blog from "ambitious crafter" to "ambitious runner" or perhaps "compulsive" :D

Thursday, May 28, 2009

I've been lazy

Okay, maybe lazy isn't the right word - I've been unmotivated to write in my blog. I have lots to say, just haven't found the time to write about it.

Here's a recap (pictures as always to follow)
After our 1/2 marathon - I decided to continue with my running regime. I've been running Tues/Thurs/Friday and some Sundays averaging 3.5-6 miles. I do want to maintain my endurance by adding mileage but it's tough. Weekends are the only time that I can really run for more than an hour since I've been training for my upcoming Duathlon at Disney.

Up coming races include: Iron Girl Del Mar (10K) have a couple of friends doing the (5K). I'm so much better prepared for this race compared to last year - so I'm not too worried. I have the Duathlon the week after (they say the course is primarily "flat" but I've heard that before)

It's a run (1.5 miles) bike (10 miles) run (2 miles) and for the costly admission you get to spend the day in the park. I will definitely need a change of clothes and baby wipes to get rid of the funk! I'm doing this one with Priscilla - she's more of a cyclist and I'm more of a runner so I'm hoping we leverage our strengths with one another!

After that, I'm dormant on the races - but I would like to sign up for another 1/2 marathon later this year so I will try to keep up with the mileage (at least 9-10 miles on weekend runs).

I've made the decision to save my pennies and start running on my own, luckily some of the my running mates are the same mindset so I'll have company. I'm also trying to get non-runners on board, so I'll keep you posted on their progress. Kat joined Carlos (+ the dogs) and I on a quick run last friday -she's more of a gym rat and didn't think she could run outdoors. We did awesome time at a moderate pace and she was floored that she could keep up. Most of the time, when we start running we forget to pace ourselves and move too fast so it's easier to give up when we're tired. I've also found that it's MENTAL, it's easy to talk ourselves out of accomplishing out goals!

Gardening & Crafting:
My garden is coming together, Carlos put together an above ground sprinkler system so I no longer have to manually water - it's WONDERFUL. I'm seeing some tomatoes and chiles, I can't wait for the squash and I'm trying to grow melons & watermelons. We'll see how that goes!

I'm seriously considering selling my crafty creations. In this economy, you just never know. I would love to do the tamales but they're time consuming and I really need to do more taste testing of potential flavors before I start advertising. I also need to figure out pricing and all that other good stuff. So I'm looking within myself to figure out what I do best and see if there's a population interested in purchasing. So it's a lot of soul searching and organization - I think that's the hardest part! I'll keep you all posted when I come up with something.

During this past month: we visited the Huntington Library for Mother's day, got to go camping up in Palomar, installed sprinklers in our front yard, hung out by the beach at least 3 times (which is a record for us even though we only live 8 miles away). I took some pictures so I hope to post all of it by the weekend. Patience D:

Pandora!!!

Most people know about Pandora. It's an online streaming radio interface that customizes the stations to your liking. You punch in some artists you like and it develops a play list of similar artists that you might enjoy. You can always move or remove artists from a particular playlist.

It's AWESOME - you don't have to download anything, just stream off the computer.
I found this interesting article, didn't know they had a paid service but it should pretty sweet. At $36 a year how could you really go wrong? Pandora One- Better than the Free Version

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Important Info.

John Hopkins Update
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins:
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.
3 When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.


CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.


Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonou s to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Cast le Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard . He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else.. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Also check out:
Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life - David Servan-Schreiber
SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life - Steven G. Pratt
And Gillian McKeith (Nutritionist from UK) about toned down version of Macrobiotics

We are the CHAMPIONS!

I officially ran my first 1/2 marathon this past Sunday. Carlos offered to run it with me (which was very nice of him considering he goes so much fast than I do)

We did the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation 1/2 in Irvine. It's for a fantastic cause - pediatric cancer rates have risen in the last decades, more and more kids are being diagnosed with cancer. Figured this was a good way to give back.

The race was tauted to be a flat, fast course running through Irvine. Irvine is pretty spread out though and when I looked at the course map, it really didn't seem like we'd be running on streets - so I figured paved trails.

To prepare for the race, Carlos had been doing longer runs about 8-9 miles. I on the other hand, went from 4.5 to 7 mile runs, and was told that I couldn't go too crazy and jump up to 10 miles because I might injure myself. So I got up to 7 mile runs and prayed that it would be sufficient.

Day of the race - we lined up by 7:00am, the day was primarily overcast (perfect running weather). I had all my gear on, my tunes blaring, and had stretched, I was ready to go. We started off at a moderate pace because I didn't want to run out of fumes half way.

The course took us through Irivne's commercial and residential areas. I was happy that it was well marked because I would have gotten lost otherwise. We ran through paved trails, streets, parks, etc. It wasn't as flat as promised, there were various mounds/hills that we ended up climbing.

I was fine at mile 6, but by mile 10, I was wondering - when is it going to end. At this time, a 40 something year old asian woman started us run with us. We had been passing each other up at various parts of the course and I noticed that she was running pretty close to us. She would run between Carlos and I and then right behind me on my shoulder. We finally reach mile 12, the 5k walkers were on the course and it was a little complicated trying to dodge them. I felt my legs getting more and more tried. By this time the sun had come up and had started to warm up the streets.

We opted to move out of the asian woman's way and she was like "I'm not passing you, I'm drafting off her" (ME!!! she was using me) According to wikipedia: "Drafting can be cooperative, in which several competitors take turns in the lead position (which requires the most effort and energy consumption). Or, it can be competitive or tactical, where one competitor will try to stay closely behind another leaving him or her more energy for a break-away push to the finish line." Let me assure you it wasn't cooperative! So as we approach the finish line I see her take off. What a piece of work. I did all the dirty work while she kept it easy :S Now I know better!

Our results:
Time: 2:26:41
Pace: 11:12 min.

I couldn't have done it without Chuck! He's my biggest fan and support system!
After we crossed the finish line he said "I think I could run at least 4 more miles, I feel good" (I'm sure it was because he was running at a significantly slower pace) :D