for Miss Girl Crush

I just wanted to give a special shout out to Cheryl T., Miss Girl Crush. She ran the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon today (along with One Worlders Jen S. and Anna P.; my friend Davidson also ran the event. Kudos!). Girl Crush is a paleo eater, so trying to convince her to have some celebration cupcakes was a bit challenging. She did, however, mention that she might have a celebration halo-halo. With that, this halo-halo is for you, Girl Crush! I hope this deliciousness makes you weak in the knees! (Ahem. I was referring to the photo of the halo-halo - not the fabulousness that runs this blog! ha ha!)

For those of you who don't know, halo-halo is a Filipino dessert made of candied beans, fruits, coconut gel, ube, leche flan, pinipig, shave ice, evaporated milk, ice cream, etc. Translated, halo-halo means mix-mix because you have to mix all the elements of the dessert together and then eat it. Admittedly, I'm the queen of clean halo-halo mixing. It's an art that I happen to excel in! While living in the Philippines last year, I lived on halo-halo. It was how I coped with the heat. Pictured here is one of my favorite halo-halo. It comes from a restaurant called The Aristrocrat. It's currently a chain restaurant in the Philippines. However, it holds a special place in my heart because my parents' wedding reception was held at the original Aristocrat restaurant way back in 1965.

All the running talk has gotten me craving for a little running. I'm seriously thinking of doing the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco in February. I've always wanted to do another half marathon in San Francisco and this one seems to be a cool, low key event. If you want more information about some half and full marathons happening in California, click here. Running is a great way to explore new places. If there are any takers out there for February, please let me know. Training starts soon.

That brings me to my next topic: training. I'm one of those people who has to face the fact that I'm not a natural athlete. In the realm of all things physical, there is nothing I can take for granted. If I'm going to run a half marathon, I can't assume that CrossFit will take me to the 13.1 miles. I know it can't. CrossFit is an amazing exercise system. But it doesn't make me invincible. For me, running requires gear, nutrition, training, and respect for the course. When I ran a half marathon last year, I supplemented that training with CrossFit. CrossFitting helped me avoid injuries I endured previously when I ran a full marathon. Granted, I respect invincible CrossFitters that can walk into any sport and rock it. I'm modest enough to know that I'm not that talented. (Yes. This makes me jealous too. ha ha!)

A while back, I wrote this entry about a woman I know who signed up for a marathon (26.2 miles) but didn't run more than five miles before the race. I still don't know how she did, but I hope the course bit her in the ass. I firmly believe you have to respect the sports you decide to commit to. Nothing, not even CrossFit can make you invincible because at some point, karma will catch up to you. Case in point: Lance Armstrong. It would be too easy for Lance to jump from cycling to running. It would be too easy to think that he can transition with very little training. However, I respect that Lance put himself on a training schedule. All the Tour de France accolades are not going to help him with the marathon. He still has to train. He still understands what it is to respect a sport. What I love even more about Lance's bout with the marathon is that during his second time around, he admits the importance of marathon training. Lance knows that being a world class athlete doesn't make you invincible. Even world class athletes need a plan!

Warm-up
Prep for the clean.

CrossFit One World WOD
Work on cleans. I started with the 33# bar and ended with cleaning 83#, and had a few failed attempts at 88#.

Notes (to myself) about this workout: Today we weren't really trying to get our max cleans. Instead, we were focusing on technique. This was fine because I really needed For some reason, I couldn't lift anything heavier than 83#. My feeble attempts at 88# resulted in failure. Like with many things in CrossFit, I just need more practice. I'm also seriously thinking of buying some weightlifting shoes. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

One final thought about cleans (and other weightlifting moves).... It SUCKS to have boobs if you're doing some of these movements. On my failed 88# attempts, I ended up hitting the weight on my chest. On another attempt, the bar got caught on my bra. (I'm not even going to try to explain this one.) When you experience 88# of metal and rubber slamming against your boobs, you can tell me how great the recovery was. If anyone in the peanut gallery has any friendly advice about boobs, that would be greatly appreciated. (Um, I'd love it even more if you kept the boob advice clean. Thanks! Yes. Puns intended.) Just so you know, "CrossFit women don't have boobs" is not acceptable advice (Jason K.!).