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6 Month Check-in With New Years Resolutions: The 30 lb Difference and a Half Marathon

June 23, 2012 by Laurel

Meet January Laurel, and June Laurel
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Well, I’ll say this: I’m pretty sure this is the first year I’ve ever truly stuck to my New Year’s resolutions.

In January, my main goal was to lose weight. Later in the month, when I learned about the Disneyland half marathon, I knew I had to do it. And so my official New Year’s resolutions were to get back to my college weight by losing 40 lbs, and to run the Disneyland half marathon without stopping. I was satisfied with my weight in college, but it was never perfect and still a little overweight, so I amended my weight loss goal to lose 60 lbs. Daunting, but if I was going to train for a half marathon, the weight would come off with dedication.

I’m down 30 lbs as of this week, which means I’m half way to my weight loss goal! I got a lot of positive feedback from my “20 lb Difference” post, so I thought I’d take note of some differences I’ve noticed now that I’m 30 lbs lighter:
*I said this last time, but again, my clothes are roomy and I’m constantly adding to my “donate” pile. Some of my work pants are laughably huge, but I don’t have any smaller sizes with me here.
*Beyond just fitting into smaller clothes, I’m more comfortable all the time
*I feel taller!
*I fall asleep faster
*Even a couple pairs of SHOES are roomier
*I can skip a few days of running, and my times are still far lower than at the start of the year, just because I’m lighter on my feet
*When people talk about food at work, I feel like I can say, “Yum!” or “I love that!” without wondering if they’re thinking, “of course you do, Fatty”
*I crave water all the time
*No more acne!!
*High heels are more comfortable (so I just treated myself to a new pair!)
*There are visible bones in my feet!
*My oversize pajama tees are oversize again

*And the big one: I FINALLY, consistently, weigh less than Dan.

Needless to say, I’m enjoying the progress I’m making and hope to continue moving toward my weight loss goal. I’d love to complete my 60 lb goal by Christmas this year.

Next up on tackling goals: running a half marathon without walking! I’m hoping to accomplish this in the next week or so. I would LOVE to get it done this weekend so I can say I did it before my birthday.

So here’s to goals! And resolutions! And being healthy and getting what you want out of life! I’m so happy where I am now, and knowing I’m only getting fitter and healthier. Believe me, there were struggles and bland meals and boring runs and fits of rage when the scale didn’t seem to move and mopiness on the couch when I dreaded going to the gym. But I’d absolutely do it all over again. I look forward to the second half of 2012 🙂

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Father’s Day Weekend

June 22, 2012 by Laurel

Dan and I had a fantastic weekend hosting his dad, Bob. He’s from San Francisco, but travels frequently for business, and last week he found himself in China and decided to hop over to Tokyo for the weekend. We don’t often have visitors so the company was welcome!

He arrived Friday night, and we took him to our favorite yakiniku restaurant (yes, the grill-your-own-meat place). We stuffed ourselves substantially, and then headed home, chatted for a bit, and hit the hay.

Saturday I had to work, but Dan and Bob met me in Meguro after, where we enjoyed some ramen and then headed to Asakusa for a day cruise down the Sumida River. After, we went back to Meguro to try a delicious tonkatsu (fried pork) place Bob knew about. I was skeptical. Usually, the tonkatsu places we go to are just deep fried fat.

But I was so wrong.
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It was absolutely delicious and Dan and I plan to go back sometime soon.

That evening we returned home to relax, then Dan and Bob headed out for a couple beers. Since I had woken up early for work, I took the time to relax and get caught up with some reading with Penny in bed 🙂

Sunday we were out and about most of the day. We went to have brunch at Beacon. So good.

Happy Father’s Day!
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After brunch we walked around Shibuya a bit, then headed to Shimokitazawa to go to a cat cafe
Bob and Dan playing with cats
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After some cat time, we enjoyed some vegan ice cream and headed home to cool off. More ramen was enjoyed that evening, and the boys went out for more drinks. Bob was off the next morning, and like that, our whirlwind weekend was over! It was so fun, I hope he comes back soon, with his wife Ann.

As for the past week, I had a great milestone, but I’ll wait til the next entry to share that. But these 2 events did happen…

Dan and I signed up for another half marathon in January!
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My nephew Big Nate turned 2 months!!
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Expect an update sooner than soon. 😉

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Happy Weekend!

June 15, 2012 by Laurel

A quick update now since it’s looking to be a busy weekend.

This week has felt really long! But it’s finally my Friday, which means Dan and I are having a visitor! His father was doing business in China this week, and is coming to Tokyo for the weekend before heading back home to California.

The week was pretty uneventful. Work and running. I had my best distance to date last night though which felt great!
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Just a little over a mile away from half marathon distance. Exciting! I’m also officially down 29 lbs, 1 lb away from my halfway point weight loss wise! I’ll probably stall a bit since we will go out to eat this weekend, but then it’ll be back to dieting and running.

We’ll be spending the weekend with Dan’s dad, and I unfortunately have to work all day Saturday. But I’m sure Dan will enjoy the alone time with his pops! Have a good weekend everyone!

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Shopportunities

June 14, 2012 by Laurel

Dan and I left the apartment on a mission the other day.
1. Find Gu
2. Ride a boat
3. Score free shelves

But I’ll back up first to clarify the need for Gu. I have heard of many distance runners carrying a packet of Gu with them for longer runs. Gu is an ounce or two of protein and sugar filled goop. I’ve read enough running blogs to hear people say it was truly a godsend, so I decided to try it, and had my lovely Seattle bestie send me a box of Gu. She chose the flavor Chocolate Outrageous for me.

I put off using it because I was skeptical something could taste as good as these runners bragged. Finally, I was going to set out on a 10 mile run, and brought a packet of Gu with me. 5 miles in, my half way point, I pulled out the packet and tore off the top.

Honestly, I was just hoping it tasted remotely like chocolate. I imagined it tasting “healthy”, like fake sugar.

I pulled the top off and got some on my finger, so I licked it off. I was SHOCKED. It tasted like frosting! Chocolate frosting! I started squeezing the packet’s contents into my mouth and was sad it was gone within a couple slurps. Just the deliciousness alone gave me more strength to run. I felt good. My legs were still a little achy, but I pressed on. I noticed in a minute or two, the achiness was gone from my legs.

Conclusion: Gu rocks!!

So Dan and I trained out to Harajuku to go to our overpriced Oshman’s Sporting Goods. Normally they have a good size sale rack with clothes at normal prices, but this time they only had a few things, and I almost didn’t look, but they had an awesome bright neon hot pink dri-fit Nike tee. So I excitedly grabbed that while Dan and I went to check out to Gu situation.

Unfortunately they didn’t have any Gu, but they had other brands of “sport paste” as they call it here. So we each got a flavor or two to try. I also finally picked up a Spi-Belt. I’ve wanted one for months, but held off. It’s a snug fitting belt that expands to hold a camera, phone, keys, whatever you want, without jiggling or making noise. Dan also got some protein bars and a new workout shirt.

My new goodies! I assure you, the shirt is much brighter than the picture depicts 😉
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My SpiBelt loaded up with my phone and some gels
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SpiBelt all closed up. No jiggle or bounce! My North Face fanny pack has been passed on to Dan for his bike rides.
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After Oshman’s we went next door to a store called IciSport, which is more outdoors/ hiking/ camping gear, to see if they had Gu, but they didn’t, so we walked up a few blocks to Omote Sando station. On the way we stopped in Japan’s first American Eagle Outfitters, but it was so packed we just left right away. We also may or may not have had lunch at Wendy’s. Whoops. I REGRET NOTHING.

Dan and I trained out to Asakusa, where we saw the Hotaru festival (blue lights on the river).
Asakusa in the day time
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Both when Kelsey and Jim visited, and Dan’s aunt and uncle visited, they took an hour long cruise down the Sumida River. We decided to do it too! So we boarded our little boat and cruised under 10-12 bridges and enjoyed a melon soda.

Dan and I
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Enjoying the boat ride. You can definitely tell there’s a spicy chicken sandwich and Frosty in my belly!
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Enjoying the view
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After we disembarked, we headed to Ginza so I could go to an H&M and try to scout out a pair of sandals I’ve fallen in love with on their website. But alas, just like the H&M in Shibuya, they also didn’t have them.

We then trained out to my coworker/ friend Eddie’s apartment. Eddie is sadly leaving us to move back to Brazil, and is giving away a lot of his furniture. He posted some pictures and I fell in love with a drawer set I thought would be good for my craft supplies.

Eddie has an amazing apartment on the high floor overlooking Tokyo. I’d love a deck with an amazing view! Dan’s and my deck just looks to other apartments. Anyway, we got there and chatted with Eddie for a bit, then headed out with my new giant drawers. I might have underestimated their size a bit. Well, A LOT. But I knew if I could get them home I’d put them to good use!

So Dan and I walked 20 minutes to the train station with them, up and down countless flights of stairs (honestly, I don’t know what handicapped people in Tokyo do for transit), and on 2 trains. Because they’re made of plastic they weren’t heavy, but they were definitely big and awkward.

But I got them home and filled them up!! I was pleased to see it would fit under my desk as I had hoped, but underestimated its depth and forgot my desk had a back, so it juts out a bit.
New drawers! Please pardon my messy craft desk during this remodeling
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In the bottom drawer I have all my paper cutting supplies- cartridges, mats, cutters, etc. Middle drawer is fresh paper packs, and the top drawer is my deliberate chaos scrap drawer.
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At this point we were exhausted. We finished the evening with Dan’s Famous Tacos and called it a night!

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Take me out to the (indoor) ball game!

June 11, 2012 by Laurel

This Friday was a busy one! To start, I’ve had a rash on my arm for a while now, so I decided to go to a doctor in Japan for the first time. Dan helped me find a dermatologist, and I had my appointment Friday morning.

It was the fastest and cheapest doctor’s appointment I’ve ever had. I went in and did some paperwork, then waited maybe 10 minutes. I was called into a room, and the doctor and I sat on opposite sides of a desk. She asked me some quick questions, looked at my rash, asked more questions, prescribed an ointment, and sent me on my way. I went to the front desk and paid about $22 and was out of there.

Since I didn’t have to work, I stopped at an H&M on the way home. I found a pair of sandals on their website and went to see if they carried them here in Japan. I didn’t find the shoes, but I did pick up a cute pink sun dress! As soon as we get some sunny weather, I’ll post pics.

Later in the afternoon, I met Dan at the Tokyo Dome for my first baseball game in Japan! We were there to cheer on the Yomiuri Giants, and Dan treated me to a new hot pink hat to show my spirit 🙂
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We headed in and found our seats, and chatted. It was so strange to be indoors for a baseball game! I didn’t even realize the game started! In Japan, baseball games don’t have announcers, so it’s pretty quiet.
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Want a beer? These girls run up and down the stands with beer kegs on their backs! I don’t know how they do it!
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Dan enjoying his beer
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Baseball games in Japan have cheerleaders!
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We stayed the whole game, and unfortunately the Giants lost 6-4. We cheered, booed, had snacks and had a great time. I hope we get a chance to go to more this summer!

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Thoughts of a Distance Runner

June 6, 2012 by Laurel

When people hear I ran 8, 9, 10 miles before coming into work, first they ask, “oh my gosh, why?” and then I’m often asked, “don’t you get bored?” Well, the answer is, I sure do! Having the physical strength to run is just one aspect of endurance. The other is keeping your mind focused on the task at hand. I’ve only been at this running thing since January and I gotta tell ya, it’s hard to stay outside sometimes.

So I thought I’d devise a list of things I think about when running for hours at a time. Enjoy!

1. I wish I wore a different outfit.
2. Is it going to rain? Should I call it a day and head home?
3. Does Penny have enough food?
4. If it rains, I’ll have to head home because I left laundry on the laundry line.
5. I love this song!
6. I should play this song at my wedding some day.
7. This song won’t be popular by the time I have a wedding.
8. Why is this guy staring at me?
9. Aw man a hill! Maybe I should be done for the day.
10. Juice sounds delicious right now. If I run at least 7 miles, I’ll have juice when I get home.
11. I really need to take this song off my iPod.
12. I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer.
13. I wonder if Penny’s napping on the bed or couch. A nap sounds awesome right now.
14. I could run pretty far today. I mean, I only have a mile under my belt, but I feel good.
15. These gardens are gorgeous. I should take up gardening on our balcony.
16. I wish it would rain. It’s so hot out!
17. I wonder if we have garlic at home.
18. What should I do for my birthday?
19. A frappuccino sounds delicious right now.
20. I like when my sweat dries and my skin looks salty.
21. This is tiring. Why do I do this?
22. I’m going to look amazing when Dan and I visit California in September.
23. This run + chicken dinner + no snacks= good weigh-in tomorrow.
24. I want to buy a pair of colored pants.
25. And I need some new makeup.
26. I really just want to go shopping.
27. I’m still running?
28. This guy has to hear my feet shuffling, and my furious panting. Share the sidewalk buddy!
29. By Saturday I’ll have to do laundry again.
30. Need to remember I’m guest teaching at a different school tonight.
31. If I run faster it’ll be over quicker.
32. If I run faster, I’m tired faster.
33. Why don’t they make Squeez-Its anymore?
34. Is this a rash or a bug bite?
35. Why do I sign up for races?
36. I wish I was at Disneyland.
37. here are tons of books I want to read right now.
38. I miss driving sometimes.
39. Turning 27= late 20’s. Should I be freaking out?!
40. I wish we lived closer to Costco, just to buy tons of fruit.
41. I need to download new music.
42. I could totally be done running right now. How has it only been 3.5 miles?
43. Stick with this. Gotta earn my shower!
44. I love when Penny sleeps with her head on a pillow. Like a little person.
45. I really want to take a nap.
46. I can’t wait to sing and dance with my nephew!
47. I hate socks.
48. Is this a chipped nail? I just painted them 3 days ago!
49. My shins hurt.
50. If I quit now, I’ll come back out later and run even further.
51. I’m thirsty.
52. I think I need to take a bathroom break. Maybe.
53. Is that a leaf or a bug?
54. I wonder when I should switch to my new shoes.
55. At least when I run the half marathon in CA, I won’t have this killer humidity!
56. I’m really sweaty today.
57. Old lady smiling at me. Hello.
58. Another lap, another hill.
59. I wish Tokyo had more green. Grass, trees.
60. Tonight I’m going to come home from work, hit the gym, then have dinner with Dan.
61. Or dinner then gym. Hmm.
62. I miss the cereal variety in America.
63. Tomorrow I should do this run again and ADD 2 miles!
64. Tomorrow should be a rest day.
65. I need to make some greeting cards.
66. I am so ready to be done.
67. I could just stop.
68. It’s so hot in the summer, I wonder if we should ever shave Penny.
69. I run to look good in sun dresses this summer!
70. 3 miles to go. That’s not so bad. Just pretend you just got out here for a 3 mile run.
71. I’m tired.
72. I’m going to get in bed early tonight to spend a long time reading.
73. Oatmeal sounds good right now.
74. NO! Guacamole! I would absolutely eat guac right now.
75. I need to be done running.
76. Picture yourself on vacation, by a pool w a pretty drink…
77. I miss getting pedicures
78. Does this song have a music video?
79. I could finish a mile early. Would that be SO bad?
80. I wish I didn’t wear a hat today. it’s not even raining!
81. I need to wear my retainer more.
82. I wonder if these people think I’m crazy for running past them 8 times now.
83. This man is totally taking a picture of a rock. But why?!
84. I want to bake more.
85. I should use my Momofuku cook book.
86. I should just go to Momofuku restaurant in New York.
87. I really want to take Dan on a cruise.
88. We should go to Europe!
89. I should use sunless tanner again. That time of year.
90. I can’t believe I’ve made it this far. Now if I want to quit I know I have it in me to finish.
91. I can finish! Then work, then Dan and I having dinner together on the couch watching The Simpsons!
92. I’m the only person on the planet who can be so close to being done, and still want to quit.
93. I’ve come so far from an hour and a half ago!
94. I really love these running capris. I really love anything from Lululemon.
95. I’m going to go home, take off my shoes, stretch, guzzle water and eat baby carrots.
96. I could have time for a 20 minute nap…
97. Oh thank goodness, I see my street.
98. Phone out, iPod out, ready to stop my running apps.
99. Yes! I’m done! I’m so done!
100. I could have gone further.

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A Very Boot Camp Weekend

June 4, 2012 by Laurel

It’s Monday afternoon, after a weekend of strict diet and exercising. I can’t believe Dan and I kept this up for months earlier this year!

I worked Saturday, but after Dan and I biked a few miles away to have sushi for dinner. But yesterday we went all out! We spent most of the day cleaning out our apartment. Scrubbing, tossing, reorganizing, washing and folding. After that Dan went to the gym to lift weights and I rode my bike in the park for 45 min. We came home to have some dinner and relax, then went out for a run. I’m still having calibration issues, mainly the GPS for the app I use on my phone loses a signal and shorts me distance wise. Luckily before I headed out I mapped out my run on the computer. It take a mile to run to the park, and a mile to run a loop. So even though my app said I only ran 6.7, I know I did a little over 8 miles. Frustrating, but as long as I put the time in I can’t complain!

The next month won’t be terribly exciting, as Dan and I will be focusing on diet and exercise. It is, however, my birthday month! But that’s not til the end of the month so in the meantime, it’s just another day of working, dieting and exercising!

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Getting Strict Again

May 30, 2012 by Laurel

When I started dieting and exercising this year, I made a promise every time I lost a pound, that I’d never weigh that weight again. I’m thrilled to say that I’ve kept that promise, but I’m not trying as hard as I was earlier this year. I’m full of excuses- tired after work, don’t want to be tired for work, don’t want to get sweaty before work, it’s hot out. You get the idea. While I’m so pleased I’ve been able to maintain my weight, I think I’m ready to dedicate my time and attention to weight loss again. Also…

MY HALF MARATHON IS 93 DAY AWAY!

I gotta get in gear! The furthest distance I’ve run so far is 10 miles, so I’m still looking to add 3.1 miles! I’m hoping to achieve this goal in the next couple weeks! And to help motivate me a bit, I got some awesome new kicks…
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I just love them! They’re bright and really lightweight. They aren’t designed to hold up for tons of distance running, so I may just use them for race days and getting close to races. But I think they’re very me 😉

I got out for a brief run today. I ran to Roka Park, ran 2 laps there, and came home, for a total of 3.5 laps.
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Anyways, back to being strict. Some guidelines I followed earlier this year I’ll be adhering to now…
Run 4 times a week (I think I average 3 now, so I’m doing ok. beating the heat will be a pain though!)
Hit the gym 2-3 times (Dan and I thrived in “daily doubles” in the winter- running in the morning and gym at night, or vice versa)
No alcohol (not too hard, we’re not big drinkers)
No dairy (gonna be hard now that it’s summer and I want ice cream! Going to really try on this one though)
No ramen (this one hurts my heart. Nothing is more delicious after a long day than a giant bowl of noodles with egg, bamboo and onion.)
Less eating out (when we do, it’s usually ramen)
Plan ahead!!! (pack snacks for work, don’t eat before bed)
No soda (pretty easy, I only have soda maybe once or twice a month)
Limit juice (for some reason I crave it like crazy after a run! So I might have some postrun, and then maybe with dinner, and then maybe at work, so it creeps up on me).

I have high hopes of giving you a good update soon! I’m hoping to do a 6 month New Year’s resolution check in at the end of June, and I want to be able to have something to talk about!

I’m also going to try GU for the first time. It’s a little packet of energy goop that’s supposed to help you maintain energy on runs. I don’t think I will need them for my half marathon (maybe), but I plan to use them when I start marathon training, either this summer or in September.

That’s all for work out stuff! Wish me luck as I put myself through boot camp!

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Scavenger Hunt and Hakone

May 28, 2012 by Laurel

As usual, Dan and I had a busy weekend!

Friday night we met in the afternoon and went to Tokyo Disneyland. They celebrate Easter through June, and for April, May and June they have an Easter egg hunt for people to do throughout the parks. This one was hard!
Our map of points in the park to find
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liked that they still had Easter decorations up!
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One of our favorite electric parade floats. We love Aladdin!
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While looking for a clue in Toon Town we spotted a duck in the fountain 🙂
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My camera also gets great shots of fireworks!
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I taught extra classes all day Saturday, so nothing too exciting happened then. Sunday, Dan and I planned to go for a good hike in Hakone. We got up early and hit the trains, since it would take an hour and a half or so to get there. It was exciting because we were going far enough away that we’d get to ride the bullet trains, which are much nicer than the daily commuter trains. everyone has a reserved seat, no standing, and you can buy drinks and snacks.

We got started by walking out to the trail head. On our way we had a nice view of Mt. Fuji from some pretty gardens
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Caught sight of this lil guy!
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We walked along the water front and saw all the cute shops and boats on the water. There was even a pirate ship that takes you to the other side of the mountains!
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Since the hike was going to be 2 hours up and 2 hours down, we decided that we’d spent too much time looking around and didn’t want to be out too late, since we also had even plans to celebrate a birthday back in Tokyo. So we decided to ride the paddle boats!
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The weather was fantastic and it was a good leg exercise considering we weren’t hiking anymore.
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We decided instead of hiking to the top, we’d ride the cable car, which was really fun. On the way we saw Mt. Fuji with a torii gate to the right of it
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Shot of the cable car we rode
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View from the top! it was gorgeous!
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Dan striking a pose
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We headed back down in the cable car and walked around the waterfront area a little more before heading home. There was a little petting zoo set up that we visited. I think those places are dirty and full of germs, but the animals are cute!
Pelican
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Monkey
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Ducks!
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Before we headed home, we indulged in a sweet treat because it was so hot out. Dan got frozen yogurt and I got a giant sno-cone 🙂
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We headed to the train station and rode back to Shinjuku, then met my coworker friends out in Ikebukuro for birthday celebrations! We had snacks and a drink and had fun chatting with everyone outside of work. By the end of the night we were exhausted!

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Running and Calibrations

May 25, 2012 by Laurel

I realized I’ve fallen very behind in my running/ dieting/ fitness updates!

I’ve had a setback that’s been getting me down. I use Nike+ on my iPod, and have always questioned its accuracy a bit. So I decided to download a cell phone app my college friend uses. It’s called Endomondo, and it uses GPS to track you as you run, communicating w satellites for a pretty accurate readout.

I had my first big run with the new tracking app the other night. I decided to track my run with both the new app on my phone and still my Nike+, to see how accurate it was. I set out for an 11 mile run, and needless to say I wasn’t pleased with the results…

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What I thought was 11 miles ended up only being 10! Which means what I thought was an 11:58/ mile pace ended up being 13.09. While it’s absolutely possible and likely the satellite connection glitched for a second, it’s still depressing to think I’ve been running for almost half a year now and I feel like I’m having this set back.

But enough complaining! Disneyland half marathon is only 97 days away! Dan and I have started looking into flights and hotels which is always exciting.

I’ve also been riding my bike much more lately. I learned if I bike to the next train station over, I can get to work quicker, so I’ve been doing that this week. I’m getting better every time I go for a ride! Also, Dan and I found a new park to run it, with fewer tall building surrounding it, so our running app will have fewer glitches. It’s about a mile from the apartment so it’s nice to bike out to the park to run.

Busy weekend coming up! Disneyland tonight and hiking in Hakone Sunday! Be ready for pictures 🙂

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