Townie 7 speed, electrabike.com

This bike is super fun! It’s like riding high up in a SUV compared to a sedan, just like the Electra marketing says! (“We rotated the traditional road bike position… so the upper body is straight up and relaxed…”) DDDaimond was at the shop too and reassured me that the Townie isn’t too weird-looking & that it’s good for riding around town.

(By the way, if you get this bike [which is a nice bike], don’t get the matching accessories! So expensive… it makes more sense to get the fancier model that comes with all the accessories already.)

LisNAP sent me some fun biking links:

• Ride the City: “We’ll help you find a safe bike route. Enter your starting and ending address (or drag the cyclist and stop sign icons to the map). We’ll take it from there.” Super cool! It also has nearby bike shops marked.
• Nashbar: Online bike shop w/good deals on all possible bike things.
• Bike Snob NYC: Welcome to the club, sort of. I hope I don’t run into him.

These are the bike shops that were the nicest. I still think bringing a friend is the best though, because the shops can get busy:

• Recycle-a-Bicycle (Dumbo): All used bikes, fixed & tuned up as an after-school program. There’s also a location in Manhattan.
• Brooklyn Bike & Board (Prospect Heights): Mostly single speed bikes, new & used. I think they will build a bike for you if you ask…
• Ride Brooklyn (Prospect Heights-ish): New bikes, really nice staff, kind of busy on the weekends.

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Post tags: bikes, Brooklyn, Electra Townie, shopping

The competition

The run in the Bronx Zoo was awesome! Coco & I ran the 5k in 36:36. Once we started, we never stopped, and we totally blew by a bunch of little kids and moms with strollers. (They might’ve passed us in the first mile, but we caught up!)

I wasn’t sure if I would make it — the most I’ve ever run without stopping is 15 minutes. But running with a giant group of people magically makes running much less exhausting. I was even carrying a huge waist pack with 2 water bottles the whole time (I do not recommend this product for running, but only Target was open & I wanted to be prepared for as many minor emergencies as possible). Fortunately, the bag was not necessary. There were water stations everywhere.

I’ve tried running several times, but always gave up after a couple weeks. I think this time is different though.

Preparing for the 5k took a long time. Lunchbox was skeptical that I would ever lace on a pair of running shoes, but he regrets doubting now.

Months 0–5: Mental training

1. Subscribed to Runner’s World & read it every month until running sounded unbelievably fun & cool.
2. Watched reality tv shows about overweight people (Big Medicine, The Biggest Loser, Bulging Brides, etc.) and felt impending doom.
3. Watched makeover shows (What Not to Wear, Extreme Makeover, etc.) to strengthen my vanity muscles.

Month 6: Planning

1. Asked Coco to do a race together & signed up for one that seemed 4 weeks too soon.
2. Asked Lunchbox to be my running buddy. Came up with a schedule (4x a week in the morning) that was frequent enough for us to flake out once. Came up with a backup plan in case we woke up too late to run.
3. Printed out Couch to 5k and Beginning Running and taped them to the wall.

Months 7–8: Running!

1. Followed a mix of the two running plans. Never, under any circumstances, ran more than was required of the plans. Ending the runs with a feeling of “I can run longer/faster than that” lead to anticipation (instead of dread) for the next run.
2. Kept a running log.
3. Told everyone that I was running the 5k in the zoo. Found out that lots of other people run too (it’s fun to talk about something other than work). Invited everyone to do the run with us (it’s fun to do something other than drink). We were a group of six by race day!
4. Rewarded myself with running gear & ice cream whenever possible.
5. Made plans for another 5k after the completing the zoo run.

The whole process was pretty fun. The only problem I had was with my knee caps, they would feel kind of wobbly and misaligned. I would take a break or cut a run short whenever they started to hurt. I tried to pay more attention to how my feet hit the ground, especially when going downhill. I also did some knee stretches & strengthening exercises.

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Post tags: 5k, how to, knee, running

Run for the Wild: Pre-run chillaxin'

I signed up! I think my knees & lungs are going to stick with this super-slow training program that I’m mashing together from Cool Running & Runner’s World.

My old roommate, Coco, has been running and she is the reason why I signed up for this race. Also I am getting fat. Tbone(-004) runs also, and has plenty of tips on how to stretch and run safely. This is going to be so much more fun than not smoking!

If you would like to sign up for the race (you’ll get a gorilla tshirt & free admission to the zoo!) or donate some money to save gorillas (they’re endangered, you know?), you should visit this page.

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Post tags: gorillas, running

Persona 3 FES

This game, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES, has been sucking up my life for the past 3 weeks. Having multiple-choice interactions with highschool anime characters who battle demons at night and take tests during the day has become more important than meeting up with real people. I need to beat this game. I hear the theme music even when I’m not playing.

In an attempt to get my ass off the sofa, I took an intro muay thai class with my friend Pacific at The Wat. He’s had dreams of being in the UFC for years, and is pretty ripped. I’ve had dreams of being able to beat other people up for years as well, but I can’t do a pull-up. I giggled through the first half of the class, especially during shadow boxing. Everyone else was so serious that the staff had to drop towels all over the floor to wipe up the sweat.

Finally the instructor split me and Pacific up and assigned me to a partner who was more my size. She looked maybe 15 years old, was wearing a tight t-shirt with rhinestones on it in the shape of a skull, and was chewing gum the whole time. She was a great partner. We did our punches very slowly.

That was two days ago and it still hurts to move my arms.

Persona 3 Cheats

List of personas & skills
List of Elizabeth’s requests & cheats
Social Links cheats
Bosses

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Post tags: muay thai, persona 3, video games

p.s., The “strength training” section will not make you sore.

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Post tags: exercise video