sometime ago we joined a running club that meets every sunday. we’ve been active with the club for the past 2-3 months. i might have blogged about it before…i guess i’m getting a little old.

the training is beginning in preparation for the LA marathon in march. we did a 10 mile run yesterday. 10.4 miles to be near exact. essentially twice the distance we usually do every sunday.

i feel a little sore but notice my recovery rate is much faster. after the half marathon last month, it took 3 days before i felt rested. i’m figuring by tomorrow morning i will be regenerated for tuesday night basketball.

as promised, i got up at 5 am and suited up for a morning run. put on the nike sweats and two t-shirts (short sleeves unfortunately). oh and let’s not forget the iPod for logging the run.

it was a cold, dark, and quiet run this morning. not a soul in sight except for the rare car passing by on the run up and down the hill. not one person walking their dog or jogging. no one crazy enough to get up for a leg beating i guess! because it was so dark, i could barely see the pavement – i actually hoped there were more cars coming up and down to get a better survey of the terrain. my pace was slower than normal for fear of turning an ankle while running virtually blind. it also took about 2 miles for me to warm up. i actually never did warm up completely.

it was 5.26 miles in just over 45 minutes for a pace of 8:39 min/mile.  some 25 seconds slower than my usual pace.

not looking forward to the coming winter months…it cuts into the running!

いまかぜがつよい！

it’s near the end of october and my blogging posts have been few and far between. it’s time to post an update.

after a late night coming back from an after work meeting, i’m fortunate to come home to my baby and to a clean home. to my delight, i find all of my work clothes freshly washed and hanging in the bedroom! she even used woolite and ran the washer on delicate cycle! nice!

the trees are rustling outside and the bedroom hovers around 70 deg. F. i’m reading my nihongo book to study a bit before going to sleep…

REMINDER: run tomorrow at 5 am!

おやすみなさい！

we did the LB half marathon this morning. we woke up about about 4:30 am (something not very common for us) and headed over to LB. we had to use the restroom RIGHT before the race so we ended up missing the start of our wave. the weather was very cool – perfect for running! i’d say 60-65 deg. F all morning.

our times?

rie – 2:26:39
me – 1:56:48

we got a picture of us after finishing. i also took a snapshot of the times from the main website off of the iPhone. we will probably train harder next time. our next goal? the LA marathon!? stay tuned…

rie and i after 13.1 miles…we later pigged out at the trump golf course brunch buffett…

our official times…rie kept pace all the way through and i started to fatigue toward the end…

sunday rie and i will do our first half marathon together. this will be her first race ever. this will be my first race since doing the 2006 honolulu marathon.

i got 13 fish today. we just came back in from san diego on board the daiwa pacific. great boat!

5 aku – skipjack tuna
5 ahi – yellowfin tuna
3 hamachi – yellowtail

broke the new pole…suits me for going ‘cheap’ and not getting the most suitable gear for the job.  i got a $110 californian 15-40 lbs. pole.  got a daiwa spinning reel with it.  now that i know better, i should have gotten an open face.  much stronger for deep sea.

here are some pictures from the trip.

me with some yellowfin…mmm sashimi!

the gang…as always, nishida hooks it up with the trip!

until next year!

yesterday i equipped myself with a nice fishing pole for our upcoming deep sea fishing trip down in san diego. our hope is to get some yellowtail, yellowfin, bluefin, and some mahi mahi. i picked it up from turner’s outdoorsman in redondo beach. it’s my first fishing pole – usually i have been renting poles when we head out to catch. this time i have my own gear!

15-40 lbs. 7’-0” pole and a decent daiwa spinning reel – good beginner grade pole and it set me back just under $200. i already have a slew of hooks from previous trips. my feet will stay dry from the waterproof boots – tip for first time deep sea fishermen…the deck gets wet and bloody when the action is up and dry feet goes a long way for making the trip fun. so get some rubber boots!

all i need to do is bring ebisu (god of fishermen, the ocean, and good fortune) along with us for the ride. this means inviting him in spirit – through use of ebisu stickers and charms on the pole!

and finally in the words of hawaiian fishermen, it’s time for some hana pa’a!

it’s about 6:00 pm and i’m about to take a run before the party – the party we are about to host for aya and mitsy to celebrate their birthdays. meanwhile, riechan is preparing dinner for us and the guests. i do a personal best (ever?) for a 5 mile run in 38:31. this amounts to a 7:41 per mile pace! not bad ‘eh? well i attribute the speedy run to the anticipation of a great dinner with guests over at our house. i tightened up my breathing and concentrated on this – it helped with each step!

riechan and i prepared food for the night starting early afternoon. first thing in the morning, we headed to mitsuwa to pick up some groceries. next we went to IKEA – a side trip for some housewares – and then went to albersons and trader joes. she actually should get most of the credit for the menu. but i did do something to help out – spam musubi!

everyone came over to our house at around 8:30 pm. the menu was: tsukune, tofu, spam musubi, nigiri sushi (arigatou aya), secret chicken, smoke salmon spring rolls, shishito, and a nice passion fruit cake (arigatou yoko). we had a great time talking story about our wedding and what’s everyone is up to. it was too bad kenjisan couldn’t make it to the house – kare no atama ga itai deshita. ganbatte kenji san. erichan and machan were also not able to make it. it was erichan’s birthday a few days ago too and this get together was to celebrate her birthday too – unfortunately they were M.I.A.

tanoshikatta!

work furnished me with an iPhone 3gs. now i can (or should i say must?) check emails all day and night. i already have an iPod touch so getting used to the iPhone was not such a difficult task.

today i attempted to do some work on the 2003 toyota matrix. it needs the rotors changed and the oil changed. the oil has been due for the past 2,000 miles. also, the brake rotors are very wobbly. the car has 123,000 miles +/- so i think the rotors are ready to go.

i got the jackstands, jack, wrenches, sockets, and everything else i thought i would need to perform the brake job. but the job came to a screeching halt when i started to break the wheel nuts loose. i ended up snapping my socket extension – it sheared right off!

NOTE TO ANYONE DOING WORK ON YOUR CAR OR ANYONE ELSES WHEN PUTTING WHEELS BACK ON. USE A TORQUE WRENCH PLEASE! THANK YOU!

after some struggles and using some intuition, i got the last nut loose. i ended up using the jack to get some mechanical advantage to break the last nut. it worked and i was able to move to the next step to get the brake caliper off to lift out the brake pads. then i came to another stop. i couldn’t find the 17mm wrench or the 1/4″ socket. it was probably lost during the move. after a few feeble attempts with a crescent wrench, i succumbed.

tools i need:
1/2″ socket extension
17″ wrench
1/4″ ratchet wrench

this week i have to remind myself to pick these up…hopefully i can make a post about how my brake job was a success soon.