Zombies! Run Season 2

When I was living in Saratoga New York, once the snow melts in April, you'll see people wearing shorts and flip flops sitting on the campus green. I never get that, yes, there is no snow, but it's still roughly 50 degrees! Unfortunately the same happens in San Francisco, if we are lucking we get a nice 70 degree afternoon. But we always get steady 55s in mornings and evenings. As my body has no tolerance for cold, I really do not see a chance in wearing a sun dress to work :( 

Despite of that, summer is still exciting, my co-workers were talking about camping trips and hiking, travelling to nearby cities or even Mexico. Ming and I are planning a little fishing excursion... All this sun and fun is just begging me to get into shape. 

Without snowboarding the next sport inline for me is running, people who know me probably know I am obsessed with this zombie running simulation app. But this time motivation to run came from something else:

A couple weeks ago, Ming and I saw a video about a 95 year old skier. I don't think I need to explain anymore. He is sharp, athletic, agile, and he exercises an hour a day to keep himself fit, so he can ski more. After I started working fulltime, regularly exercise seems like a luxury, and maybe it's psychological but I just feel my energy level drop. I sleep longer hours, laze infront of the TV in the evenings... and pretty much that's it. Well, I don't know if I'll be healthy at 95 if I continue to live like that.

So last week, I decided to wake up at 7 to run before work every morning. And, the day I decided to start this new routine, Zombies! Run Season 2 came out! Yes, in case you don't know it's a game you play with headphones on while running with your iphone, and the game makes you sprint away from zombies in intervals. Throughout the game you are running as Runner 5 for a town in a post-zombie-apocalypse world. Season 2 unfolds a whole new chapter to our community, and I can't wait to run the rest of the episodes. 

And best of all, I feel great! Running helps me sleep earlier and better at night, it also energizes my day. That was also related to my decision of keeping the TV off in the evenings. Thanks to the steady exchanges of emails with my Skidmore buddies, they constantly remind me that life has to be lived. Although it feels pretty good to let your brain die for a while watching TV in the evening, there's other things to do: Cook, read, draw, listen to music... That reminds me, I really want to go to the movies.

Last weekend on Granite Chief

It's been a while since I posted anything... Roughly two weeks has past since our company's rebrand launch and slowly I feel I am getting my life back. I can make dinner again, the occasional breakfast, and sometimes pack lunch. Do the laundry in the evening, and kind of tidy the house a bit... 

Although the feeling of insecurity still looms around my work, I think I'm learning to cope with it. Trying not to think about my inexperience, my lack of business/marketing degree, my not so perfect grammer... even if I do suck, working twenty-four seven would not completely make up for it. So mind as well, not, I did my best Monday to Friday, the weekends are MINE! 

This is the last weekend our ski resort, Squaw Valley will be open. Most of the snow has melted away and the mountain looks sadly brown, but we will make the most of it. Snowboarding is always fun, I love the fact it is a sport that's technical and mental. (maybe that's every sport, but I was never involved in any, only hiking I guess) We hiked all the way up to a great run with lots of soft snow, only to have my legs turn to jello when I was about to go down...

What a waste! Hiking with all my winter gear on when the spring sun was piping hot, needless to say snowboard was heavy too. All that hard work, and my legs won't move. All that was going through my head was, this is steep, and Ming and Skye were cheering me on in the back. Eventually I got down, not as gracefully as I imagined. I was so angry about wasting a hike, I hiked it and snowboarded down again :P

So it is this constant challenge about snowboarding that I like, if I was afraid of riding on a feature or going down a run, I try to tell myself how happy snowboarding makes me feel, and do it. It is a lot like life, there will always be risks, uncertainties, and fear of something, but as long as you remember how fun and happy living is suppose to be, then it's okay. Granted there are times that you choose to give up, not every battle is worth fighting, you got to live to snowboard another day. Who the heck invented the word "Comfort zone" anyways? It doesn't really exist.