How Much Would You Pay to See Me Jello Wrestle?

So, the thing I love about triathlons is that it pushes me to stretch myself. In the end, I find that I have accomplished significantly more than I ever thought I could.

So in the name of doing things I never thought I would do, I am considering Jello Wrestling for a Cure!

I must admit that there is something strangely enticing about doing this. I mean, really, how often do you get the opportunity to Jello wrestle? And how proud are my parents going to be of me? (Hi Mom and Dad!) But, to actually do it, I need your help. . .

Here’s how it works:

• My friend Pam is holding this event to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It’s a ladies wrestling event only.
• Help me reach $5000 by the end of March, I’ll throw my name into the ring and wrestle for a cure! (I'm about $700 shy as of today. See fundraising page below for latest stats)
  
• Help me raise $5500 by the end of March, you all get to choose which outfit I will wear for said wrestling content.

The sooner the money comes in, the sooner we will get to discuss outfits!

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/MelissaCheung2008

The event is in San Francisco on April 5th. The location and time will be disclosed upon my entering the content.

Sincerely,

Melissa, who may live to regret posting this.

Endless Pool

I was talking with one of our teammates who works at Google. He told me that they have one of those Endless Pools in their gym. For those who don't know, this is one of those inventions you may have seen in your late-night-don't-admit-to-anyone-that-you-watch-infomercials-with-glee. It's a small pool, about 15 feet long, just long enough for you to do a few swim strokes. The water has some sort of strong jet that create a current, which you swim against. In essence, you are going absolutely no where, like a salmon swimming up stream. Only, you don't actually make it upstream, and hopefully you don't die at the end of your swim.

Anyhow, this got me to thinking about how we do the same thing over and over and over again. For example, this weekend I took about:

6000 steps (2 mile run)
2000 strokes (2500 meter swim)
7200 revolutions (18 miles bike ride)

It's pretty mind-boggling when you think about how far you can get by doing the same thing over and over and over again. And all of this repetition adds up to a whole lot.

The weekend works out were great. My friend Diana came out to ride with us, so we had a nice chat on our bike ride. Diana and I first met on a bike ride through Tiburon last season. It was my first bike with my clipless pedals. She was probably trying to chat with me then, but I only remember two things about that day, really. 1) Our coach riding behind both us and saying, "Melissa, keep your heels down." and "Diana, relax your shoulders." and 2) The blinding and catastrophic fear I had of having to actually unclip and come to a complete stop.

So on this past Sunday, Diana and I were once again riding together. This time, I do remember having a lovely conversation with her. My fear of stopping has diminished to more of a quiet zing in my stomach that flares up only when I approach cars or a crowd of people.

The same coach rides up behind us and says, "Ladies, Have I taught you nothing? Melissa, keep your heels down. Diana, relax your shoulders." Ah! We are caught in the Endless Pool of training and bad form. Hopefully, we will be able to break out one of these days!

Mondays

Each Monday morning last tri season, Chris and I would have this exchange:

Chris: It's time to get up.
Me: (unintelligible groaning from under the comforter)
Chris: It's almost 7am
Me: (groaning and rolling over and ignoring him)

10 minutes later . . .

Me: (finally semi alert) Ugh. Guess what?
Chris: hmm?
Me: I don't want to get up. And I'm sore ALL OVER.

Sunshine, Hunger, and Generosity

I've been incredibly focused on all of the training details lately-- with the bike fittings, my injury, the getting up extraordinarily early on weekend, and general adjustment to being super active again. I must admit that has taken quite a bit of emotional energy. There were moments when I wondered, yet again, why I signed up for this. It's not like I didn't remember how hard this was last season.

But this past weekend, I got three gentle reminders:

1. It was a stunningly beautiful weekend in San Francisco. Mid-60's, sunny. These are they days when I am so very thankful to no longer live in Boston or NYC. I mean, it is February, for god's sake. We ran along Ocean Beach (more on this fiasco later) watching the waves crash on the shore. We hung out with terrifically nice people at a post-workout brunch, staring at lemon and orange trees in her back yard. The swim was invigorating and the bike was rolling and sweet. It was definitely good to be back!
   
   
2. This week, the hunger returned. No, not some spooky horror film (though I often look like one after biking). My appetite has returned and I find myself hungry all the time. This is like saying to a young child, "You can eat all of the candy you want, any time, and I won't make you stop." Hooray!!
   
   
3. On Sunday, I logged on to my computer to check how my fundraising is going. My jaw dropped to find that I have already raised over $3,100 in two weeks time. Again, I am floored by people's generosity. Truly amazing! Thanks to all of you who have donated! Even though I've come this far, there's so much more work to be done to cure these cancers. So I hope that I can EXCEED my fundraising goal. Wouldn't that be amazing?!

Tri-ku - do you?

I recently attended a digital storytelling workshop at KQED. As part of the 2.5 day workshop, we created a personal multimedia story. (Thank you, Leslie!) We were to write a short script about something from our own lives.

As per my usual school days, I left the assignment to the very end. The night before, I found myself furiously scribbling on the back of an envelope in my car while waiting for Chris to finish his run with the team. With the vastly entertaining history I call my life, the topics for the script were infinite. After completely covering my envelope in scratches, I knew I had to impose some structure on this assignment before it quickly spiraled out of control.

Then it came to me. Less is more. Fewer words. In fact, 17 syllables. The beautiful, concise, sensual, and sometimes obtuse Haiku. Or rather, the Tri-Ku.

I'm sure there are some ancient Japanese poets turning over in their grave right now, perhaps even saying:

Procrastinator
Mutilates our ancient art.
Curses to your bike.

Anyhoo, Tri-ku to the rescue, I produced the following account of my last season with TnT. Without even thinking about it, I created myself a lovely little fundraising PR piece. So please enjoy (and DONATE!!)

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/MelissaCheung2008

Drowning

We're two weeks into this. Thus far, I've:

• Bought a new pair of running shoes
• Had my bike adjusted
• Run: 0 miles
• Bike: 3 miles
  
• Swim: 10,000 meters

Not exactly preparing me much for triathloning, you say? More of a mono-athlon.

I have injured my left foot and have been hobbling around San Francisco and complaining the whole way. Under the advice of my doctor, I've spent a lot of time forgetting which lap I was on, wishing that sitting in the hot tub counted as swimming, and washing my hair alot to get the chlorine smell out.

Today, however, I got the green light to start running and biking again this weekend. Hooray! So now I just have to muster up the energy to not be freaked out again about using my clipless pedals.

Onward!!