"No Retreat, No Surrender"

It has been a crazy, energy draining, last couple of days. Starting Saturday at Crossfit we did a workout titled "Badger". It's 3 rounds of 30 Squat Cleans, 30 Pull ups, and an 800m run. Honestly, I was really pump to be able to wake up at 9am for this workout. The first round went well, by the second round, I was struggling with my pull ups and the run. By the time I got back to finish the third round, the others, who I was working out with, were already close to start on their final run. I knew I had to push myself a little just to stay close, so I tried speeding through my squat cleans. 8 more to go and I was hurting, I'm not talking muscle pains, this was my tummy. I was feeling woozy so I ran as fast as I could into the bathroom to throw up.
I was out for probably a couple of minutes. By now everyone else was on their run. After my drama with the toilet, I was feeling better, went out, finished the rest of my squat cleans and muscled through push ups instead of pull ups, my hands were close to tearing, and then I nonchalantly ran my final 800m. It wasn't pretty, but I did finished.
Today's workout, Monday, was another test of endurance. For time, we had to do 35 ball slams, 35 pull ups, 35 kettleball swings, and 35 burpees. Luckily there was no trowing up during or after the workout.

On top of everything, today was the final day to get in as many mileage as possible for the running challenge. After a hard workout this afternoon, the last thing I wanted to do was run. But in my head all I can think about was "no retreat, no surrender". The reference is from a 1986 movie, titled, believe it or not, "No Retreat, No Surrender" I felt like I was personally getting beat down by Jean-Claude Van Damme. As a treat, here is a clip of that powerful moment, when those words were uttered.


So after 31 days, here are the final standings. Congratulations to Jill, a true star.

Click image to enlarge

My final run paid off, it put me from 11th place to 10th place, woohoo! My goal was to stay in the top 10 and I barely squeaked by with a total of 17.76 miles.
It's a bitter sweet feeling to say I am glad this running challenge has come to an end, it did get me out running and keeping me in shape. But what did I learn from this challenge? I am competitive to a point, and still, not a big fan of running. Of course I will keep running, to prep for a 5K this summer. So, when there are challenges that face you, and if there are still ways to accomplish them, don't go retreating or surrendering, Bruce Lee would not approve of that. Finish the best way YOU can, and trust me, you'll feel better...after the pain wears off. My next physical challenge will be, to do at least one muscle ups, but that's a whole new post, so stay tune.

Karrie the machine

As a shot out to Crossfit, here is a sketch of Karrie doing what she does best, power lifting massive weights.

Percy Jackson DS

The movie "Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief", will be coming out to theaters on February 12. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" is originally a series of adventure and fantasy books, written by Rick Riordan, on the New York Times bestselling list. "The Lightning Thief" is the first book of the series. You can check out the Percy Jackson books here.

Besides the movie coming out, we at Griptonite developed the Percy Jackson game for the Nintendo DS. We had a very small team, and I was the only environment artist, but the team was awesome, I am pretty proud of them and the game. If you guys ever get a chance to get your hands on a copy of the game, try it out. It's not my type of game, but I actually enjoyed it. Below is the video trailer of the DS game.

Run challenge so far

As of today, this is where we all stand on our running. Jill, the machine, is running strong, and it's going to be tough to catch up with her, at least for me, and I am not going to even try. We have about 2 more weeks left and it looks like I might have to step if up if I'm going to be in the top 10. Have to keep the competitive edge going or else I would just say "forget it!" and stay on my couch consoling with my Xbox.

Sketching Fun

Sooo, I said I was gonna post some type of art each month and so here are some of my attempts to do some cartooning. Last week I ask some people who they would want to see as a cartoon, so far, I just have few for you. Enjoy! There will be more to come.


Sara A
Shin
K.P.

Nike Challenge Update

Surprisingly, I am on the board. I still can't last running for 4 minutes and not have to walk due to my calves and shins from tightening up. Hopefully by the end I will be able to run a full 5k and not have to walk. It's now been a week and here is where we stand on our running challenge. We have a total of 19 challengers, but so far only 12 runners have posted their runs.


Click on image to zoom in

I probably will not win, but as long as I stay within the top ten, I'll be happy.

Ready, Set, Run

Another contest is now on its way. In the next 30 days a group of us, and the Nike+ have gotten together to see who can run the longest distance. The biggest disadvantage I have is the fact that hate running, but being competitive, this will give me a reason to get my lazy self off the couch. I am also high on the accident list, but as long as I can keep myself from having to go to the hospital, I am in good shape.

So to kick off this competition I signed up to run the 5K at Magnuson Park. To be honest, before the run started, all I wanted to do was to hide in bed under the covers, and I kept asking myself why did I get up this early to go run? I mean, its the weekend, it's my day to sleep in.
But I had to suck it up and deal with it, plus I knew this was going to get me 3.1 miles down on the board for the run competition.

One thing that came out interesting was my play list choice. I debated to myself if I wanted to listen to something fast and heavy to get pumped up, but I felt there might be to much shouting in my head. What about hip hop or R&B? It could work, but I might want to dance then run. I thought about listening to books, but I might not be able to focus on the story. So out of the many choices to pick from, I decided to go with the Glee soundtrack, volume 1.
Have you ever you thought what it would be like if life was a musical, that's how I felt listening to Glee.
To start off the run was "Don't Stop Believing" it was actually a perfect song. I was feeling good and knowing I can finish this. By the time the next song, "Can't Fight This Feeling" came on, I was already out of breathe and my calves were tightening up. What the heck? It was only 4 minutes into the run. This was not looking good. I slowed down for the next few songs. As I reached the halfway point of the run the song "Alone" came on. Interestingly and pretty sad, I found myself running alone, no one ahead me, so I turned around, and saw no one behind me. If that wasn't weird enough, on my last push, hanging on for dear life to finish I happened to be listening to "No Air". How convenient is that? That song had to be playing at the worst time. I always wanted life to be a musical, but I never thought it would come from me running a 5k.
But after it was over and I recuperated with some oranges, bread and a bench to sit my tired butt on, life was back to normal. I do like to thank Mike and Adam for making me sign up and for their support. I am glad I did it, but I think I should train a little more before my next 5k.

After the run, I checked to see how accurate my Nike + sensor did and it only calculated me running 2.7k. WHAT? That is just great, there goes me posting my 3.1 mile for the competition. So I have to recalibrate the sensor and do this over again. Well, wish me luck, I probably won't win, but who knows.