13.1

This past weekend I completed America's Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego. It was a really pretty route that started in the naval base in Point Loma, went across the airport, through downtown, and up some intense hills to end in Balboa Park. While it was very beautiful, I am not going to play down this course's difficulty. It was tough. By the time I crossed the finish line, I wasn't even happy to be done. I was just cussing at how tough it was. The last two miles were straight uphill. My legs felt like wood, my ankles were sore, and I was in great need of water. I was also pissy because I only beat my previous time by a minute.

As I thought about it more, I realized I've come such a long way in the past three years that it is crazy for me to be so obsessed with my time. It would be foolish of me to not celebrate that this was another half marathon completed. Another goal set. Another bar raised. And I'm running another one in October.

I went back and found a blog I wrote after I completed this same race 3 years ago when I was living in San Diego. You can check it out here:

Half Marathon? Check.

I hope you enjoy reading about my journey. I enjoyed looking back on it.

~LT

The Elevator Abyss

Today I stayed late at work and rushed home to unpack my laundry from the weekend, eat dinner, and get ready for dodgeball (yes, I'm still playing). I had my keys in my pocket like I always do. When the elevator arrived, I bent over to pick up my laundry basket, and my keys just dropped right out of my pocket. It took about 5 or so seconds before I head the plunk of them landing into the abyss below. They fell in between the crack of the elevator. I couldn't believe it, what timing! Now I was sitting there with my laundry basket and locked out of my apartment. Great. But at least I had my cell phone.

This happened to Christine a couple months ago back at the Maple building. I'm so glad I heard about this happening to someone before so I didn't completely freak out. I knew they could be retrieved. Now I have to wait until tomorrow for the elevator company to come out here and fish out my keys. I guess this was a sign that I need to slow down and take it easy tonight, so that is exactly what I'm doing. So much for dodgeball and my evening workout!

Tribute to Michael Jackson

I remember being a kid and asking my parents "What was it like when John Lennon died? What were you doing?" I asked the same questions about Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. They remembered what they were doing at that exact moment these rock icons passed away.

With music being as diversified as it is today, I always wondered which musician would die during my lifetime and leave a profound impact on my generation. I remember Jerry Garcia dying years ago and being mildly affected. But it hit me today with Michael Jackson. I was at Kate Mantilini for lunch with my co-workers. It was a great lunch. We're a tight group and really look out for each other. As we're walking out, we see on the news that MIchael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital and was reported to not be breathing. My first reaction was "oh, shit" but I didn't really think anything would happen to him. I figured he'd go to the hospital and be fine. I didn't want to believe TMZ when they were the first news source to report him as dead. But when LA Times confirmed it, I knew it was for real.

I remember being in 4th grade and driving in my dad's mini van listening to "Dangerous" on repeat. He never ever changed the CD's that were in his car and this one and Elton John were staples. I loved the song "Black or White" and I was so in love with Micauly Culkin's lines in the beginning of the song - "Dad, hold on! This is the best part!" That was so me as a kid and I loved it.

So many of his songs were just so seamlessly interwoven into my life I just really had no idea how wide his impact was on pop culture. Thriller was big when I was in diapers, but it was a must at any halloween party. "Man in the Mirror" made me want to have a positive impact on society. Seriously,it did. "Beat It" "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" are songs expected to hear on a dance floor during a night out. And "Smooth Criminal" was a catchy tune that I remember getting even more into once Alien Ant Farm covered it. "Billie Jean" was a timeless classic. So many of his songs were just that - timeless classics.

I know he had his troubles in the limelight for liking boys, and what not, but it never undermined his tremendous musical talent. It will not be forgotten. I will always remember this day - hearing words about Michael Jackson's death on TMZ, not wanting to believe it, and then having to sit through an hour long meeting while I desperately wanted to check the news and see what's going on. I am proud of our staff for getting information on MJ's death posted quickly and timely. Earlier today he had 60,000 plays and as I'm writing his he currently has over 3mm plays on MySpace.

So, in honor of today's mark on history, here is my Tribute to MJ playlist on MySpace Music:

Tribute to MJ playlist by Lindsay

Beach Cruising

Last week was Marion's birthday and I surprised him with a beach cruiser. He lives in Manhattan Beach near the boardwalk and we spend a lot of time on the weekends walking places or spending unnecessary time looking for parking. I had been researching bikes for awhile and found this sweet place online that sells affordable beach cruisers. And they run their business via MySpace. How could I NOT go through them?

I ended up getting myself a bike too. I mean, I can't let him ride alone! I do have a pretty sweet mountain bike, but it's way too nice and I don't feel comfortable riding it around the streets and risk getting it stolen. So I've made a commitment to myself to try and hit the trails at least three times this summer.

Here is the bike I got for Marion:


And here is my bike:


We went for our first cruise to the Manhattan beach pier on Friday night and went to an italian restaurant called Mama D's for dinner. Here's a pic from our first ride:


Over the weekend we rode all the way down to Redondo Beach and rode to the Marina the next day. Already getting pretty good use out of these bikes. I can tell it's going to be a fun summer. These beach cruisers open up a whole new way of getting around on the weekends. We're pretty stoked!

LT

Boarding House Mentors

The new Boarding House Mentors website is live! I am working on it as a side project with a couple other MySpacers. Check it out: boardinghousementors.org

Volunteer orientation is this Sunday if anyone is interested in coming out!

Much Love,

Lindsay

P.S. I know I am lagging on updating this blog so I'm going to post shorter snack bites from here on out. That's why social media is moving towards status updates and activity feeds. People are simply just too busy.

Yoga

When it comes to flexibility, mine is non-existent. It's pretty bad. I can't even touch my toes. And over the past few months, as I run more, my flexibility just becomes worse. So, I decided to do something about it. I started doing yoga.

Yoga and I have an interesting relationship. As a teen my mom practiced yoga pretty regularly. She had the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" in our bookshelf at home and I always thought the he or she? on the cover looked pretty weird. Check it out and tell me what you think:



Basically, I thought of yoga as some weird sort of practice. And then my mom finally took me to a class. It was a class focusing on a type of yoga called kundalini, which focuses on the breath. They had us start by doing this exercise called "breath of fire" where basically you breath outward through your nose really fast for 30 seconds. It makes a weird sound, and it cracked my friend Maryam and I up. We never looked at yoga the same way!

Now I'm doing yoga about 1-2x a week at a studio here in LA. With all the fast paced, crazy days I have at work, nothing feels better than walking into that yoga studio after a long day and being greeted by the aroma of incense and lit candles inside the studio. It instantly calms me. I feel so much more relaxed after doing yoga. And it challenges me both mentally and physically. I like that.

I'm really glad my co-workers convinced me to come out and do yoga with them. It's definitely making a difference in my moods. And guess what? I can touch my toes now :)

BHM Snowboard Season

Tonight Jarett and I attended the BHM info session for their upcoming snowboard season. As mentioned in my 2008 recap blog, this past summer I volunteered my time on Sunday's teaching inner city kids how to surf. And this winter, we'll be taking them snowboarding.

After attending tonight's info session, I'm more pumped than ever on this program. Basically we spend an entire weekend with these kids. We pick them up on Friday evening, and each volunteer is assigned 2-3 teens. They are your group for the whole weekend. You drive to the mountain together, teach them how to snowboard, and participate in activities together. I love the surfing program, but one thing I felt was missing was a deep connection with the kids. Every time I taught, I had a different kid. Hard to build a relationship when you only spend a few hours with a kid and then move onto the next. I can already tell this is going to be a really amazing experience.

One thing that was interesting tonight was how the president of the mentoring group was telling us how most people don't want to work with teens. They want to work with the younger kids, the ones that are still impressionable and think they need to listen to you when you tell them to do something. But teens are at the point where they realize they DON'T have to listen to you, and they cause trouble. Serious, life threatening trouble. And that is scary so people shy away from that. But teens are really the ones who need the mentoring the most, and they also benefit deeply from it. This is why the program targets teens 14-18 years old.

The program will be two weekends this winter. If anyone is interested in learning more, let me know and I'm happy to pass along more info.