Another raffle. More Sparkle Skirts!

Please check out the RESULT here!  Congratulations for all the winner!!

What do you know.  I love Sparkle Skirts.  I can’t remember when was the last time I ran without wearing one.    The skirt is not just pretty and flattering, but it super functional.

Disclaimer:  I am NOT employed by Sparkle Skirts or get any sort of compensation from them about the product.   I’m just their die-hard fan and really, really adores the products.

Anyway, I’m all about spreading the love and sparkles and I just happened to have an encounter with yet another generous donor who will donate THREE Sparkle Skirts of your choosing for the raffle.   HOW AWESOME is that??   I’ve done quite a few of these raffle and I’m always amazed with generosity of others to support a great cause that so dear to my heart.   This is your chance to get ANY skirt you want (with any embellishment if any), with such a minimal cost AND contribute for great cost (tax deductible!).  ALL PROCEEDS ARE FOR LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY.

So here’s how to get into this fun shenanigans.   Please read through it as it is slightly different than previous raffle I had.

1. Raffle ticket is $25.  Everyone get one entry so it’s fair chance for everybody.   Of course, you are more than welcome to donate more than $25 but you only get one entry just like everyone else.
2. Get your entry at http://pledge.yannirobel.com .   Please do NOT make your donation as anonymous as I will need to know who you are to enter your name on the raffle.    Please also put:  More Sparkle on the notes so I know this is an entry for the raffle.  You should get email from me within 24 hours to confirm your raffle.
3. I will close the raffle on February 4, 2014 at 11pm PST and will announce the winner on February 5, 2014 at 12pm PST to ensure the winner will get their skirts on time for Princess Half Marathon!
4. I will use random generator site (http://www.randompicker.com/) to select the name of the winner.  You will be able to check your entry to make sure your name is entered to the system (and if I messed up and skip your name, you are guaranteed to received a free skirt, just sayin’)

That’s it.  Pretty simple, peeps.
SPARKLE ON!

Recap and Goals

Yes.  I’m fully aware is January 6.   I’m about 6 days late on this, but hey — I’m still recovering from cold/ear infection/flu things that I’ve been having since a month ago.   So. Annoying.

A lot of things happen in 2013 but I’m going to steal Tom LaRock‘s style and did something different.  Instead of listing my accomplishment or things that I did (because I already did that on my Facebook wall.  What?  You’re not my Facebook friends?  Well, too bad!), I’m going to list things that didn’t happen.   Things that I’m publicly hold myself accountable.   So here goes in no particular order:

• I did not serve in the ministry at my church.   I was part of Children Ministry and I used to serve in the preschool classroom.  I loved it and enjoyed the interaction with the kids while teaching them about faith.    I didn’t do anything in 2013.  Not even once.   It was beyond me that I had time to do so many races and run, but I didn’t make the time to serve.   This definitely is going to change in 2014
• I did not write a single post on technology subject.  Nada.  Not even one.   Shame on me.   I work in pretty awesome company, and my new role gave me so much new and cool things to learn in such a massive scale.   I wanted to share it, but I didn’t get around to do it because would require me to put aside the time, and I did not make any priority to do it.   This is going to change in 2014
• I did not do any triathlon.   I wanted to do something different and I thought that I can finish at least one sprint triathlon in 2013 .  I bought a bike (and yes, she have a name.  Her name is Ariel) and hired a swim coach to help me with the swimming part.  Somehow, life happened and I had to make a choice to drop it for 2013.   I’m looking forward to resume my swimming lesson and ride my bike around again when the weather is a bit warmer (I’m a winter wimp.  Get over it)
• I managed to sneak a trip to Mount Rainier on December 30, so this actually should not be here.  But I’m going to put it anyway because that’s not really the ‘spending time in the mountain‘ that I’m going to mention here.   I did not spend (enough) time in the mountain.  I really, really love the mountain.   I’m a mountaineer.  I love, LOVE hiking (more than running, believe it or not) and I didn’t really do that last year.   We did one short moonlight hike to Rattlesnake Ledge and drove to Mount Rainier once.  That’s it.  For the whole year, and that’s kinda sad especially because I’m blessed with so many beautiful trails and mountain around me.   This year — we will focus our summer to explore the mountain again.   John and I are planning to come back and climb Mount Rainier this coming summer.  Stay tuned for the detail
• I did not attend PASS (Professional Association of SQL Server) Summit last year.   I attended PASS since 2005 and never miss one since.  Until last year.   It sucks, but I really didn’t have the choice as I had to do this ‘therapy’ thing for my health challenges.
• I did not file my taxes on time.  EVERY year, we had to file an extension then we scrambled on October 14 to file it.  I’m a queen of procrastinator when it comes to file our taxes.   I don’t get it.  It’s not like we own our business and have some complex return.   It’s just pure laziness.    2014 will be the year that I will file it on time.
• I did not build my Death Star and Star Destroyer Lego.  Again.   For those who know me, you know that I’m also a big fans of Lego.   I owned classic Death Star and Star Destroyer set and those (along with many sets) sitting on the corner, unopened.   That babies are going to be built this year, and everyone will see picture about it when I’m done.   That’s a promise

I have more, but at the moment, I don’t have enough brain cells to remember it.  I blame it on this cold medicine.

There you have it.

I wish you a very blessed 2014!

2013 Seattle Marathon – Recap

Yes.  I just completed another marathon.   2013 Seattle Marathon was my FIFTH marathon since I started to run a little over 2 years ago.    What a journey and I am patting myself in the back as I’m writing this post for such an accomplishment.   No, I didn’t break my personal record or even have spectacular time, but this race, in particular, very special to me.

I spent a whole month of October trying to battle my health challenge.   Needless to stay, it was quite a month and it was a major set back in my fitness.    For those who knows me, this should not come as a surprise but the whole thing just lit a fire under me.   I consulted with my coaches and they came up with a quick plan to get me ready.   I already have the base training and endurance since I just did Portland Marathon in early October so I just need to keep it up.    Easy peasy, I said.

November arrived and I totally flunked the training.   Even on the “easy” plan that my coaches put together for me, I fell short.   I didn’t have enough energy to even follow it.    I did the best I could, with sweat, (no blood) and tears.   I was worry and nervous leading up to the race day and kept wondering if I had it in me this time to finish it.

Race Day

The alarm went off at 5:30am.   Groaned.  I hate this early morning race day routine.   The husband woke up before me, made sure my pre-run breakfast ready (he is awesome).   It took me another half hour before I actually rolled out the bed and got myself ready.   I supposed to be at the team meeting at 7:30am and I knew there was no way I could be there on time, so I left message on our team FB page to let the coaches know that I wasn’t going to be there.   We took the monorail to Seattle Center (yes, I didn’t want to walk 3/4 miles from Westin Seattle to Seattle Center) and I was by the Seattle Center House shortly before 8am.   I decided to use their bathroom (real bathroom!) instead of the porta potties by the start line and head out about 8:10am to the corral.   It was not as cold (about 45 degrees) but it was pretty windy.    I ditched my running jacket and gave it to my husband, but kept the light shell.

8:17am — I crossed the start line.

First few miles went by really quick.  I took off my light jacket about mile 1 and put it on my waist.   We ran on 5th avenue towards the freeway and I was feeling great.  I maintained my 2:30-1 ratio and being really consistent about it.   Leigh Anne, a fellow teammate, who volunteer her time to be Team in Training sweeper (which means — she will run with the last TNT runner– ME–until the next hand off to another sweeper) kept me company.   We didn’t talk much as I never much of a talker when I run but she was there with me.      About mile 4.5 — I started to run at I-90 bridge.   I was a bit worry about the wind, but thankfully, it wasn’t bad at all.   In fact, the weather in overall was awesome.   Overcast and 55 degrees.      We did out and back on the bridge and turn around at Mercer Island.   I was still feeling great

Mile 9 — I started to feel fatigued.  Uh-oh, I said.   I had a long way to go for being fatigued this early.   This reminded me of Nike Half SF as I was feeling somewhat the same.     I started to breath heavy, since every step required more energy for me to take but I kept on going.   I caught up with the one of our teammate who walked the marathon (they had an hour head start), so Leigh Anne stayed back with her.   I kept going, and ran with a fellow runner who told me he was an TNT alumni (and I can’t remember his name!!).   He kept me company until we entered Seward Park and he had to take a quick stop at porta potties.   I kept going and out of nowhere, Jeff Barber and Kelly Brennan (another TNT alumni — Kelly was my winter season coach) showed up and they started to run with me.   I was so happy to see them and actually teared up a bit.. not sure why.   I am a cry-baby, after all.

Mile 11 to 15 flew by because both Jeff and Kelly kept me distracted.   The wind started to pick up and wowza, it hit me hard sideways!!  I maintained my ratio but I know my pace dropped a bit.   Coach Lisa joined us at mile 15 so I had THREE awesome people literally run around me.    We said good bye to Jeff and Kelly at mile 17 and I kept on going.

Mile 18 – I looked at my watch and it said 4:02.   I did a quick calculation in my head and told myself, okay, I had 2 hours to get 8 miles!  That’s doable and I will break my PR!

Mile 19 – Coach Glen joined us and I was so happy to see him.   I had asked him to ehm… pull me to finish.. so to speak .. haha.   We ran together, took some pictures and at mile 20, we said good bye to Coach Lisa as she need to run back to our other teammate who was behind me.

Mile 20 – I was still feeling decent.  No longer great, but it wasn’t as bad.   I was still maintaining the run-walk ratio until about mile 21.5 when we hit BIG hill.   When I said.. big hill… I really meant… BIG HILL.    It’s 120 feet elevation (based on my GPS) from mile 21.5 to mile 22.   That’s the first time I decided to just walk.    So we walked the hill and I can feel that my head spinning and I get dizzier by the minute (sorry I didn’t tell you, coach Glen).   I felt cold, like REALLY cold.    I kept on walking until the top of the hill and started to run again on the downhill, and walked again on the hill.   My pace started to drop tremendously even on the run part

Mile 22 – Coach Rod joined us and I continue to run/walk again as the street started to level up a bit.   Both of my coaches kept me entertained and distracted!  It was awesome.

Mile 23 – We entered the Arboretum and it was ehm.. a lot of hills.   That stretch is not foreign to me because that’s one of the coaches favorite for practice.   My right calves started to cramp badly that I had to stop and stretch (and hug a tree!).   I continued to walk and saw the mission mile about half way into the Arboretum.   Mission mile is a stretch of mile (or less in this case) on the course that filled with pictures of many that lost their life to blood cancers.   I started to cry when I saw Tyler Bledsoe photo in there, then Siona, a daughter of my fellow teammate, and Heather, a sister of my coach.   It was yet another reminder on why I run.   I run for them, because they can no longer run.     Jeff Peterson, our campaign manager,  was around the mission mile and he ran with us for a while

Mile 24 – Coach David joined us.   I knew we were close and my spirit was up.   I started to jog/walk again (see I said jog instead of run) and felt okay.   Then from a distance, I saw someone familiar.   IT WAS MY HUSBAND, JOHN.   There he was, standing on the side of the street around mile 24.5.   I sprinted (yes, I said SPRINTED) to him and leaped into his arm.   I was SO HAPPY to see him!!!!   He brought me banana, which I devoured within a second and he joined us.

Mile 25 – Coach Glen and Coach David said good bye and I continued with Coach Rod and ran into Coach Ginny.   I continued to walked until I saw my friend, Kat, with her sparkle skirt and Santa hat.   I ran and hugged her, took the pretzel (which was awesome) and continue on.

Mile 26 – The stadium is around the corner and I started to run.  Coach Ginny and Coach Rod stayed back when I entered the stadium and I continued to run, lifted my hands, big cheesy smile and cross the finish line!   I did it!   My FIFTH marathons!!

No, I didn’t break my personal record but by far, this is the toughest race I ever done and with perseverance, determination, stubbornness and a lot of support from coaches, TNT volunteers and alumni, I managed to move my body with my own two-feet for 26.2 miles.   I hugged my husband after the finish line, cried on his shoulder as well as on Coach Rod and Coach Ginny’s shoulder.

I did it.

Friends, if you are reading this far, and you are questioning yourself about your ability to complete a long distance event (half marathon/marathon), know that if I can do it, please believe that you can do it too.    You can’t complete half marathon or marathon if you never cross the start line.

Dream big, reach for the sky and you will surprise yourself on how far you can go.

Until the next race.