Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

13 miles from home

New year, new challenge. Word on the street is the annual Giant Race in 2024 will mark the return of the half-marathon. That race distance has been absent from the event since the pandemic years. I was disappointed in 2023 to see its continued absence, having done the 10K in 2022 and ready for something slightly more challenging. Better late than never: 2024 will be the year I challenge myself to run a half-marathon.

And then that would be it. I have no desire to run a full marathon after that (sorry, SF Marathon). Spending many hours to run 26 miles doesn’t spark any joy in me whatsoever (hashtag Kondo). And the training required would be detrimental to my set schedule. I would have to run almost every single day of the week, at about five miles per run. To prepare for such a long distance, it’s all about getting enough cumulative mileage - you don’t really run marathons to prepare for a marathon. Speed and intensity is secondary.

Training for the half-marathon entails a similar program. I’m going to be running at least 10 miles a week, every week leading up to the event. That is way less onerous of a time commitment, since I already run a little over four miles every weekend. I think I will simply add another day of running to accumulate the necessary mileage.

I am excited to finally tick running a half-marathon off my list. Let’s get it.

Running in the 190s

This past Sunday was the first time running with the Apple Watch, and I have to say it was delightful. To be able to run without the iPhone - either in an armband holder, holding it in my hand, or it sloshing around in a pants pocket - is such a luxury. I preloaded my running playlist onto the Apple Watch, and it alone was able to play music through to my set of AirPods Pro. Don’t need to rely on the iPhone for tunes anymore.

I also don’t have to reply on third-party apps to track my running. The Apple Watch’s native workout app does the job superbly, without selling my information to a third party. (As always: if the produce is free, you are the product.)

What the Apple Watch can do that the iPhone absolutely cannot is heart-rate tracking. It’s interestingly informative to see the stats post exercise. For example, my maximum heart-rate during the run was 191 beats-per-minute (BPM), with an average of 175 BPM. That sure seems like a lot of blood pumping to me! What’s most fascinating is that my heart-rate remained elevated for the hour immediately after running. I was just lounging on the couch watching football! I guess the extremities are still crying for energy delivery, even after the exercise is over.

I’ve become that person now: checking their Apple Watch every now and then during a workout to see the progress. Even during the normal day-to-day, I am moving the left wrist up to see my current step count (got to get the daily 10,000!). I hope this gamification of health doesn’t become obsessive compulsive. The Apple Watch is suppose to assist, not become an albatross.

Finally, the Apple Watch

Here I am on a Thursday evening, super relaxed in knowing that I won't be waking up at 5:00 AM tomorrow morning to preorder the new iPhone 15 Pro. Because I am not making the upgrade this year, as I’ve written yesterday. TLDR: not enough improvements in the 15 Pro to entice me out of my 14 Pro.

The money I am saving by not upgrading will go towards buying the Apple Watch Series 9 (announced alongside the iPhone 15 Pro this past Tuesday). This will be my first smartwatch ever, and I’m excited to do one exact thing: be able to go on a run without my iPhone. I look forward to loading my playlist onto the Apple Watch and playing music off of it. No more clumsily holding onto the iPhone in one hand while I run. It can stay in the car for the duration.

Pro tip: if you’re leaving any computer electronics in the trunk for a period of time, be sure to shut down the device completely before tossing it in. Doing so stops the device’s bluetooth and WiFi antennas from broadcasting, thus preventing detection from thieves. Perps troll around parked cars with signal sniffers - that’s how they know to break into your trunk even though your computer bag isn’t visible.

Obviously, nothing you can do if they actually see you put stuff in the trunk. Eyeballs emoji.

Other than tunes whist running, I am also excited about the Apple Watch’s health tracking capabilities. It’ll be nice to constantly monitor my heart-rate, and get notified when there’s abnormalities (knock on wood). A more accurate step-count, too, will be interesting to keep track of. Just when I thought I was saving some money by not getting the newest iPhone, I go spend that cash on something else. Of course!

I’ve still never ridden on one of these.

This is embarrassing

Today is one of the days I am glad my car has an automatic transmission. The day after running a 10K is not the time to be operating a car using both feet (as one must do in a vehicle with a manual gearbox). Not only did I run the 6.2 miles in the morning (freedom units!), but I also then walked another 13,000 steps in the afternoon, doing the usual photowalk in San Francisco’s Chinatown. My legs are a bit tired today, to say the least. Single-foot driving is definitely a luxury worth having. Long live the manual transmission, but these tired old legs prefer a car that can shift gears itself.

The day before the 10K run, I went to the Oakland Coliseum to watch baseball. The Los Angeles Angels was in town to face the Oakland Athletics, and that means the phenomenal Shohei Ohtani is also in town. While it’s sad he’s injured his elbow, and therefore won’t be pitching for (at least) the rest of the season, the two-way star is still serving duty with the bat as the Designated Hitter. Never one to pass up watching greatness in-person, we made the trip across the bay to Oakland.

And it was immediately clear that Ohtani is blockbuster in drawing a crowd. I’m fairly certain that half the people at the Coliseum was there to see him play. A sizable of number that continent was Japanese - some from here locally, some from Japan on travel. We were lined up at security behind a few Japanese travelers, and it was somewhat embarrassing to see them go through bag searches and metal detectors. Embarrassing for us Americans, and for America. Because back in their home country, security checks before entering a stadium is not a thing.

Crime is so low in Japan, and communal trust is so high, that people can freely go into sporting venues as if it’s a grocery store. I know this for a fact, because I’ve been to the Tokyo Dome to watch the Yomiuri Giants play. Meanwhile, here in the land of freedoms, we can’t even bring backpacks into venues now, because god forbid some maniac might sneak in something explosive. For a country that’s all about freedoms, the United States sure have a lot of movement restrictions. We ought to be embarrassed, honestly.

A side of smokiness

Looks like we (read: San Francisco) are finally getting a whiff of that smoke from the wildfires up in northern California and Oregon. The air quality this afternoon was surprisingly bad. A blanket of smokiness seemingly wafted over us unannounced. It was the hottest day of the week, too. Those of us without air-conditioning at the home have a difficult choice tonight: open the windows to cool down rooms, or keep them close because air quality is not great. Which one would you prefer? A warm room, or a cool one with bad air?

Here’s what I am doing: keep the window open, and let the Coway air purifier do its thing. The machine is definitely more active than usual this evening.

Selfishly, I hope the air quality will improve by the time this Sunday arrives. That is when I will be running a 10K in the annual Giants Race. I can safely speak for all runners that we would prefer to run in good clean air. This reminds me of two years ago when a coworker was training for the Santa Rosa Marathon. It was all going well until wildfires erupted locally, creating challenging air conditions. While the race was not canceled, the coworker decided to skip the event. There’s no glory in it: who knows what sort of harm could materialize in the long term.

Obviously, my situation is not as drastic. Perhaps a bit of smokiness will add to the pleasant ambiance at the Embarcadero on a Sunday morning. I greatly enjoy running down that route and back to Oracle Park to compete the 10K distance. This year, due to enough people signing up for the event, they’ve re-extended the route all the way to Pier 39. Last year they made us loop back at the Ferry Building instead, necessitating two laps (instead of the single one when the turn is at Pier 39). That really threw me off my game last year, so no excuses this time.

Who's driving the car?

Lake Merced is where I do my weekly running. It is also where I first learned how to drive. Indeed, that concrete parking lot have played host to many a young driver’s first time behind the wheel of a car. It always warms my heart to see one of them out there learning how to drive, all the while I am prepared for my run. Because that was exactly me, exactly two decades ago.

I’ve been driving for twenty years? Jesus Christ that is amazing and sobering at the same time.

I wonder if the kids of the future will even learn how to drive, especially those living in big cities. UBER and LYFT remains ever convenient, plus the looming prospects of self-driving cars. Honestly, who wants to drive when they could be driven? I certainly would rather get chauffeured around. Drivers these days are freaking crazy. I’ve said it before: if I didn’t love cars, I probably wouldn’t own any right now.

California recently allowed “robotaxis” to operate in San Francisco unrestricted, 24/7. Meanwhile I am still waiting to get off the waitlist at both Cruise and Waymo, the two highest profile robotaxi companies. I am actually quite excited to try riding in a true driverless car. Though not nearly as excited as the person who had sex in the backseat of one recently. I want to ride in one just for fun; if I need to get somewhere promptly, I will still call an actual human driving car.

Because you can’t count on a robotaxi to be quick. Its first order of responsibility seems to be safety. I witnessed a Cruise taxi waiting behind a double-parked ambulance for way longer than a human car would have waited. The Cruise vehicle was stationary for such a long time than those of us watching wondered if it were going to move at all (it did, eventually). If that were me in the car, I probably would have gotten out and called an UBER.

The Giant Race 2022

Yesterday I ran a 10K for the first time in six years. The annual Giant Race was once again held at Oracle Park. Coming out of the socially slumbering pandemic, I wanted to participate in the race again to get the joy of running with thousands of other people. Also, one of my good friends have never done any sort of long distance running event, so I wanted to be along with her for the challenge.

It was a typical mild Sunday morning in San Francisco, though unlike the previous years that I’ve done the race, this year the sun was completely out. No cloud or fog cover whatsoever. It was definitely a struggle through the sections where there were no shade coverage. I am far too used to training in the dense fog of the western side of San Francisco.

Also unlike in previous years, there were not a half marathon category. The longest distance is the 10K. Because of this, the organizers only cordoned off the streets from the ballpark northward up the Embarcadero, and turning around just past the Ferry Building. Two loops of this make the 10K. Back in 2016, we’d run all the way up towards Pier 39 before turning back. One loop of that would be the 10K.

Doing two loops definitely threw me off psychologically. Having to immediately repeat the route I just did created a mental burden which I’m pretty sure affected my overall performance. The second time around was more challenging and not as enjoyable.

With all those excuses fully baked in, I can now say I ran the 10K in about 58 minutes. That’s almost 10 minutes longer than my 2016 effort. Honestly, I probably did not train as hard as I should. Nonetheless I’m quite happy with that time, as getting it in under one hour was my goal. Of course, the runner’s high afterwards is the absolute best feeling in the world. That’s why we all run, right? And also for the big meal afterwards. Because “A victory should be honored with revels!”