Half Iron Man (becase my first New Year's Resolution was not enough)

I think this is going to be it...

http://laketahoetri.com/lake-tahoe-half-triathlon/

1.2 mile swim

56 mile bike

13.1 mile run

New Year's Resolution

Run a sub 5 mile.

I only ran track my sophomore year of high school - I can't exactly remember why but I assume it was because other extracurriculars to get into college got in the way.  Or maybe it was because sprinting in the 110 degree summer heat of Stockton was unappealing...

I was good at the 800 (I think I finished 5th overall in our league), but I was never good at the mile.  I think my best time was around 5:10.  Here are the top mile times for sophomores in my league from 2009 - present.  This is a good gauge of what the fastest people I competed against were like - I believe my teammate hit a 4:50 that year.

Did not get below 5 minutes, but it only started bugging me recently this past year.  No better time than now to conquer it, so I'm setting the goal for 2016.

I've been working really long hours this fall/winter, so I just got back into running the past 2 weeks over the holiday break.  Just slow distance runs to get back into shape, I'll start training shorter distances soon.

I did a benchmark mile today and I surprised myself.  I thought I would be somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45, but I actually ran a 5:16.

Cheers to 2016.

July 14th - My first ultramarathon is scheduled

Signed up for my first ultramarathon and will be ready to go!!!

50K = 31.06 miles

(An ultramarathon is anything longer than a marathon)



SP2 Highlights

I was watching SportsCenter's the other day.  Thought..do I have a Top 10 sports highlights from my life?  I thought of five - good and the bad:

1.  Stockton Shoguns basketball - 6th grade - The other team was shooting the back end of their free throws - up by 2.  They miss.  I grab the rebound in the low block.  I run down the court.  I see my Dad on the sidelines yelling the count, "5,4,3."  I run past to shoot a running jumper at the buzzer.  Hits the back rim and goes down.  Buckets.  Grant Mizuno jumped on top of me.  Everybody swarmed me.  We lose in OT.

2.  Pittsburgh Pirates Little League - 7th grade - I'm pitching against one of my friends on the Mariners.  He's one of the best hitters in the league.  He comes up for his first at bat and I strike him out with a high fastball.  He comes up for his second at bat and smiles at me.  First pitch - strike.  Second pitch - he smashes it about 600 feet over the fence. Laser show.

3.  Stockton Soccer - 4th grade - Corner kick.  I remember this vividly.  My friend runs up to me and says, "Steve.  He's going to kick it to me.  I'm going to fake the shot and pass it over to you.  Then you score." Looking back at this now I find this hilarious.  We were the worst team in the history of soccer.  We scored a total of two goals in an entire season.  Like the kid is actually going to get the corner kick in?  More likely he's going to trip and fall trying to kick it in...anyway, he kicks the perfect corner kick.  My friend passes me the ball.  Perfect pass.  I kick my leg out.  Money.  Hits the back of the net.  Wait...no...that's my shoe that went into the goal.  And the ball went out of bounds. My mom always told me to double knot my shoes.  When I got to the sideline she said, "I told you so."  Whatever, I still got my orange slices and capri sun.

4.  Lincoln High School Cross Country - Senior Year - I missed the first three months of the season with a stress fracture.  Section meet consisted of Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.  Only two teams make the state meet.  I have the best race of my life and place 13th overall.  We go to state.

5.  Elementary School Recess - 7th Grade - Two of my friends and I played basketball 3 times per day the whole school year - rain or shine.  We called ourselves "Team Korea."  We played almost every game against "Team Europe."  We lost every single game for an entire year.  Do you comprehend how bad that is?  It's worse than my soccer team.  We finished with approximately 0 wins and 540 losses.  (180 instructional days * (1 recess + 1 lunch + 1 pe)).

07/14/2012 - MOOnlight Classic 10k (6.2 miles)

13th out of 1,089

A 5k/10k combined race is always confusing. It isn't always clear who is running the 5k and who is running the 10k so you don't know what pace people in your race are running.  The gun went off and like 30 people took off past me.

The whole race I was questioning whether I was running too slow.
















 

The race is at night which is unique

My parents came out!  They're both on their phones...those hipsters

Bronze medal in 25-29 yr old division

1,000

I made a bet with a close friend...1,000 dollars on who can run the most total miles in a week.  My week started on Thursday at midnight and I have exactly one week to run my heart out.

The best thing about this bet is that there is no communication during the week.  Therefore, you have to assume that the other person is out there everyday, giving it their all.

Once the bet results are finalized I will post on my total miles.

Now, I am off to run the Moonlight 10k Classic tonight in Davis!!!

04/22/2012 - Capitol City Classic 10k (6.2 miles)

Check out the "Chip Diff" statistic.  That means it took me a 1 minute 32 seconds to even cross the starting line - that's how far back I was from the line...look at everybody else in the top 15...what does this tell you?  No swag.


I'm always worried that I'm going to get in the way of the 5:00 and 5:30/mile runners.  But who usually ends up standing at the front?  Middle aged women running a race with their 12 year old kid and old men who walk the race.  Wtf.

When I win my race I hope that it's different.  I want to stand at the very front, look down at people on the starting line, and be confident that I'm going to "Usain Bolt" all of them.

I think that I am to running as Mike Miller is to basketball.  We both look like we can be good.  We both remember that we used to be good.  We look fit, we feel good.  We even have some accessory swag: Mike Miller sports his gnarly tribal tattoo; I rock multiple power balance bands.

But as Sebastian Telfair would say, "When the lights are on, it's time to perform."  (This actually sounds like it rhymes when you have a Brooklyn accent.  'Bassy also didn't go to college.)

I wonder if Mike has swag in shootaround.  I wonder if he tries to bully LeBron in the post during practice.  I swag out when I'm training at the track.  VROOM.  Whenever somebody tries to run faster than me I run faster.  VROOM.  Nobody passes me.  Who do they think they are?  That's MY track.

So if you're at the start of a race and you think, "Where is Steven?"  Look further back.  You'll probably catch him next to the sorority girls with matching t-shirts and the lady with the double wide stroller.