Updated: 9 September 2016
Rock 'n' Roll Pasadena Half Marathon17 February 2013: my first half marathon, guided along by my sister Karen to a 02:06:42 finishing time. I was 1697/4964 overall, 564/2720 of women, and 112/512 in my (age-gender) division. |
Women's Half Marathon San Diego24 February 2013: my second half marathon, finished in 01:43:20, and it hurt; check the heart rate profile. I was 51/1699 overall, 46/1664 by gender, and 11/238 in my division. |
Into the Wild OC Trail Run 21k23 March 2013, Irvine, CA: my first trail half marathon. Could they please have been more descriptive than "Elevation gain: 2800ft." Crikey! Anyway, at a finishing time 02:19:59, I still managed to be 40/120 overall, 12/49 by gender, and 4/20 by division. |
Foxy Trail Half Marathon28 April 2013, San Diego, CA: my second trail half marathon, much, much easier than the OC Trail Run. I finished in 1:57:59, to make me 79/291 overall and 7/48 for females 30 to 39. |
Safari Park Half Marathon5 May 2013, San Diego, CA: This was a super fun run! Not as much in the park as I would have liked but a fun day. (And surprisingly, it really helped to force myself to walk around for a few hours after finishing.) Ok, a couple of minutes later than I wanted but finished in 01:52:11.2, as 259/2331 overall, 59/1405 by gender, and 14/252 by division. |
Marine Corps Historic Half19 May 2013, Fredericksburg, VA: Who needs a start gun when you have a start cannon?! I felt very honored to be running around with so many Marines handing me water, gatorade, and energy beans and generally being awesome fans. My personal result: 01:52:40, which means I was 946/6,284 overall, 201/3,082 by gender, and 38/542 by division (F 30−34 year olds). |
Billy Goat's 1/2 Marathon Hill Climb22 June 2013, Corona, CA: My will power wasn't with me but it was an awesome course. Unofficial time, 1:25:10 up 2,400 ft in 6.5 mi and 56:14 down the same way for a total of 02:21:24.8. Official time was 02:21:48, making me 26/64 overall and 5/26 by gender. |
Costume Party Hilarious Half Marathon7 July 2013, San Diego, CA: Still having some will power or something problem. I hit The Wall around mile 8; up until then I was on track to best my personal record (Women's Half San Diego from February). But I looked awesome (in a legit costume, handmade when I was around 16 years old!) I finished in 01:51:09.6, making me 128/1810 overall, 27/1183 of females, and 8/215 by division. (Clearly not a competitive field.) |
Jet to Jetty 10K24 August 2013, Playa del Rey, CA: Ok, clearly not a half marathon (not by half!) But I won my division (F30−32) with my 44:02 time and was third of the approximately 119 women (also 35/257 overall). It was a pretty run, and it's a fun distance. |
Catalina Island Conservancy Half Marathon28 September 2013, Avalon, CA: My ninth and final half marathon of 2013; there's no October run I can fit in in SoCal and no later runs on the Big Island of Hawai'i. This was a great run! I had a good time camping, hiking, and kayaking with my sister. I felt great, no issue at mile 10 like so many previous races. It was a tough course. I finished in 02:16:32 to be 25/222 overall, 8/118 of women, and 1/18 in females 30−34 division (though the 3rd female overall winner was in my division and she beat me by almost 10 minutes, so she should have a third medal. She deserves it!) By the way, since I had had a Facebook discussion of competing in the Athena (women over 150 pounds) division: there were seven women who competed, and I would have won that division by almost 13 minutes. (Clearly, my Garmin GPS watch failed on the track...) |
Volcano Rain Forest Half Marathon 201416 August, Volcano Village, HI: First Hawai`i race, and it just happened to come after a 3-day observing run at the summit of Mauna Kea (14,000'). I'll ignore my under-training and focus on that as the cause for my un-inspired finish. But finish I did, in 02:01:28, making #13: 69 of 234 overall, 31 of 128 of females, and 9 of 40 of F 30−39 yrs. |
Volcano Rain Forest Half Marathon 201522 August, Volcano Village, HI: My plan is to run the Volcano Half every year because it comes at the end of the summer, when I can train. Thus, I'll enter the academic year in reasonable shape... so I can decline throughout. I was more undertrained this year (got some tendonitis in my Achilles) but I did better: 1:56:03; 55/277 overall, 20/155 females, 9/45 F30-39. |
I bought my first camera (Kodak Advantix F620) right before I went to Chile for the the CTIO REU, because I had been told that it's worth it to have a good camera for such once-in-a-lifetime adventures. This was around January 2001. I used 16 rolls of film in those 3 months.
I had that first Advantix camera through my stint in Switzerland for the CERN REU around June 2002. I was in Switzerland for 2 months, and I used 13 rolls of film. Between Chile and Switzerland, I bought a scanner in addition to making really nice Hallmark scrapbooks.
Then my first camera broke. :( Something about the insides rusting...
I bought another Kodak Advantix (T700) circa November 2002; this one was waterproof. This is the camera that went with me to Korea for a post-baccalaureate month of traveling with my mother and sister. I used 12 rolls of film. I continued to use this camera until the fall of 2004, and it took beautiful pictures of my first time in Maui and the wonders of Santa Cruz. Then it broke. :(
It broke in much the same manner that my last Kodak Advantix camera broke. :|
I called the company and complained violently that my second Advantix camera broke in the exact same unexpected manner as my previous one. They "kindly" sent me a new camera, after receiving the broken one, though my warranty had expired. They said they valued me as a customer, that the Advantix line was being discontinued, and this malfunction had been reported by others. Hmmm...
I appreciate their valuing me as a customer but I'd more appreciate honesty.
I received a Canon Elph S410 for Christmas 2004. I passed my replacement Advantix camera on to my friend, whom I owed a camera. Now I'm happily in the digital world. (Update: For earning my PhD on 4 August 2009, I was given a Canon PowerShot SD970 IS, which is another Elph. The first Elph wasn't dead but I did crack it open and put a piece of metal in to make the shutter button connect with the circuit. I love the new Elph.)
What this means (I did have a point) is that all photos taken prior to January 1, 2005, are scanned (so not that great though the prints are beautiful). My second point would be that I wasted a lot of money... two Advantix cameras for ~$150 total + about 50 rolls of film at $2 per roll and $6 for developing + $100 for the scanner = ~$650. Boy, could I have bought a nice camera with that! Of course, with my prints I made excellent scrapbooks for Chile, Switzerland, and Korea. It's a trade-off, I suppose.