Friday, April 27, 2007

Skiing in Gifu

My first skiing experience in Japan ...Wing Hills,Shiratori, Gifu prefecture....with my co-worker Yuko and her friends who are all professional skiers and snowboarders.... Hideya, Machie and Mika...










I had a difficult time with the slope....it was difficult to balance myself...





So I ended up falling soooo many times.........





I was so lucky coz Hideya was so patient with me...I felt bad coz he couldnt ski as much as he'd want to coz he was stuck with me.......he was very kind.he taught me the basics..but I guess skiing really needs a lot of practice.







Since I couldnt do the moves well, and it was very difficult for me to get up, I just sat for a long time watching people ski and snowboard.












I tried again......It took me about 15 mins to try to get up but I fell again after less than 5 seconds....this little boy was passing and was kind enough to give me back my bonnet....




And then I tried again.......

And I ended up like this.....



I couldnt get up anymore....and I think I badly hurt my knee (the same one injured from climbing Mount Fuji last summer) so Yuko and her friends called the emergency car to pick me up....

It was very difficult to walk back to the car but Yuko and her friends were very helpful. I had muscle pains for 3 days. Was difficult to walk and even get dressed. Im glad Gold and a lot of pain killers helped me get thru it.




People asked me If after this experience, Would I still want to try it again next winter.....My answer is YES. But I think I'd enroll in a Ski school first. Seriously.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

My friendster blog

Ive been blogging in Friendster too. I havent been writing constantly, but Ive got some stuff there. Since not all of my friends have friendster accounts I'll give u the link so you'd know what has happened in the last 2 years.....Here's the link

http://tarasensei.blogs.friendster.com/travel_with_tara/

Cheers,

Tara

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Marathon and Bronchitis

Yes, you read it right. I'm dying.

Not! hahaha.

No, I have bronchitis. Ive been having difficulty breathing since Tuesday night and when I finally went to the doctor last Friday, I was diagnosed with Bronchitis. Nothing serious though. I mean, the doctor didnt tell me I only have 6 months to live but he did tell me to be more careful from now on. Which means I have to stop smoking...soon! More of that later.

I joined a marathon today. I have signed up for the 6th Enakyo Half Marathon on March 3rd and had exactly 6 weeks to prepare for it. Ive been going to the gym regularly for the past 6 weeks and have been running in the treadmill to improve my endurance. I also had my "outfit" (the most important part of a Kikay girl's list) all figured out since March. And because Im still experiencing some pain in my left knee ( injury I got from climbing Mt. Fuji last summer), Ive also been going to my chiropractor for some therapy. And I went shopping for a very expensive knee protector because that's what my Chiro doctor specified I have always whenever I do any strenuous physical activity.

Everything's ready. Except me and my health. 2 days before the tournament, I was diagnosed by my doctor with Bronchitis and told me NOT to join the marathon anymore. Ive been prescribed some meds and have been taking them since Friday which made me feel sleepy and drowsy most of the time. I called my best friends, Joyce and Je, on Saturday night to ask for some moral support and prayers. Although they were cheering for me, they were also worried about my condition. But as I told them, I can't be defeated by my body. I had all reasons to back out. I had all excuses. Especially that on Saturday night, I had a terrible headache. So I wasnt able to sleep well. I set my alarm for 6:30
am to make sure I"ll catch the train to Ena (1.5 hours train ride from where I live). But as soon as I woke up, I was having headaches again. Bad ones. But no. I have to go. I know I had to. I couldnt face myself every morning If I didnt go.

And so I went. I was dressed well. My friends know that whenever I dont feel confident about anything, I make sure Im dressed well to boost my motivation. Plus, Im really into taking lots of pictures so i want to make sure I look good in them. Haha. When we got to the Marathon Venue, there were about 300 people there already.





After we registered and got our numbers, I began putting on my knee protector and doing my streches.








Yuko (my co-worker who's also joining the marathon) and some other people in the area were telling me that I looked like a PRO runner. Haha. I told them it's my first time to ever run. and i was sick so I wasnt feeling 100%.

So, I started running. God, was it tough! The slopes were really difficult plus the other runners were really fast.

I was running out of breath. I was very thirsty and the next water stop is about 4 kms away.

After running about 3 kms, I can feel pain on my right knee. remember, this was the "healthy" knee. The left one is the injured knee--the one with a knee protector. And then it became very difficult to run. So I stopped and moved the knee protector from my left knee to my right. I felt better when I walked but running was out of the question.

Some cars were following the runners. Just in case something happens. And a woman, upon seeing how I looked like I was in pain, approached me and asked me If I wanted to stop and just ride in the car. I said no. "Im going to finish what I started" "Thank you, but I'll be fine" And after 2 kms, a man approached me again and asked me the same thing. I replied the same.

I did it! I finished the marathon! I didnt win(I wasnt thinking of winning when I joined, anyway) but the feeling I have now is more than winning. I am very proud of myself. I didnt give up. I fought to the end.