Tag: running

I have never wanted to do anything more than this in a long time

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The skinny: A 5K run in Bumfuck, Maryland, that has obstacles, rugged terrain, and oh yeah, ZOMBIES.  October 22nd (A Saturday), and it apparently costs like $67 entry to run, and prove your survival instincts and physical prowess. I’m trying to temper my expectations since zombie paintball in Kissimmee kind of blew, but damn I would be lying if I didn’t say my heart was excited and greatly looking forward to this event.

Naturally, I post this information, because I really really want friends to get in on this, even if it means the rigors and expenses of travel, lodging (possibly camping), and the physical nature of the event, but seriously, this looks like it could be the very most fun event in the entire world.

The new world, off kilter

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Superman screamed across the Atlantic, going at a speed undetectable by human eyes.  He got a late jump on the missiles, and he actually worried if he would make it on time.  Superman narrowed his eyes and focused hard on trying to fly faster, thinking if he could hit the speeds in which he could essentially turn the Earth the opposite direction on its axis, and turn time back to just a few minutes ago, to where he could hope to prevent the launch of these nukes.  But as hard as he flew, he couldn’t catch up.

He was within visual sight of the first two mushroom clouds that emerged from Moscow.  Superman slouched in failure, as the savior of the world couldn’t prevent such destruction.  This moment of desperation was ill-timed, however, as screeching right past his head were several more missiles, headed in the opposite direction, at an amazingly fast speed.  Superman took off, hoping to intercept these Russian missiles, but again, his moments of hesitation proved to be costly.  By the time he got within visual of the remains of the New York skyline, all he saw were clouds of smoke, and dark skies.

I wake up in my dad’s old Caprice Classic station wagon.  My family is together, my mother, father, and sister.

“We’re here,” my dad says.  Where is “here,” I’m thinking?  It’s our new home, it’s explained to me.

New home?  What happened to my old home?

Continue reading “The new world, off kilter” →

It’s a different world before sunrise

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

After four months, give or take, of opting to do a cardio routine in the morning instead of running, I feel like I have regressed.  Sure, I’m getting my heart rate up in the mornings, and physically, I feel like I’m exerting myself more, than when all I did was run 1.5 miles.  Considering I’m doing roughly 33 minutes of cardio, plyo, yoga, and core as opposed to the typical 15 minute pace in which I circle Zombieland, I thought I was making a good choice in opting to stay indoors to workout than going out into the bitter cold of winter mornings.

Long story short, I simply feel like I’m regressing, with going the route of superman-bananaing, as opposed to running.  So until further consideration, I’m going to limit the cardio routine to Wednesdays only, and return to running most mornings, since it’s no longer ball-shriveling cold anymore.  That being said, I started with this morning.  And throughout the last few years, I’m starting earlier than I’ve ever started, due to the time it takes me to get my shit together in the morning, and attempt to get in by 8:30 a.m., so typically I’m out the door and beginning to run by around 6:40 a.m.

Needless to say, it’s like a different world out there at that time.  I’d like to think of those ass o’clock early hours to be quiet, and leisurely outdoors, but at the time in which I began running was anything but.  Legions of worker ants all departing their homes for whatever early shift and/or long commutes they’re gearing up for.  Me, having to dodge cars zipping out of their driveways in the dark, their drivers not expecting any studious morning runners.  Black people driving way too fast in the 25 mph residential neighborhood, with me, praying that they don’t run me over.  Trucks I’m suspecting are full of stolen goods as I jog by, sitting on the curb, idling, while spouting clouds of exhaust, me holding my breath while passing by.

Nobody has ever interrupted me while jogging before; color me surprised when a FedEx van stops me before 7:00 a.m., asking for directions to a street that doesn’t exist, with me telling them such intel.  And then at least ten more cars fly past me, driving too fast before I make it back to the house.

I’ve jogged around Zombieland at various times of the day; and once this past weekend when it was the nicest weather in the world.  But never, have I seen this place so busy, bustling, and active, than during a time of day, in which I simply imagine everyone in the world in some state of sleep still.

Oh goody

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Just as I’ve really been able to settle into a nice routine of working out, sleeping sensibly, doing boring work while affording myself a lot of time for brogging or other personal writing endeavors, all while getting paid well, slightly seeing a little bit of financial breathing room, and dealing with a 30-mile commute that believe it or not, doesn’t suck . . . I find out today that tomorrow’s my last day, barring an apocalypse of work that would warrant needing me to stay longer.

I’ve been mistaken for a lot of things in my life

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

But Hispanic has never been one of them. When I was 17 and had shoulder length, mostly blond hair, I was once mistaken for a woman (despite standing in front of a urinal at the time). When I lived in Harrisonburg, where nobody knew what a Korean was, I was once actually called black.  While lunching in downtown Toronto during the film festival, someone once thought I was a particular director that I had never heard of.

But today, while I was out jogging, I was passed some little kids who were all mesmerized by the not-black person, apparently training to burglarize in broad daylight.  Couldn’t have been any older than maybe eight years old.  As we reached the range of earshot, one of them says to me “hola,” and not in the “I’m using Spanish because it’s cool” kind of way, but in the “I think this guy is Spanish” kind of way.  I acknowledged him with a nod, and kept jogging.

Mistaken for a Spanish person.  There’s a first for everything.  Silly batarians.

One positive to a rekindled angst

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

With my head not necessarily on straight these past days, I’m finding it easier to run in the mornings.  Furthermore, due to the fact that the current gig is 47 miles from my house, in the worst traffic part of Metro Atlanta, I’ve forced myself to wake up at 6:30 a.m., instead of forfeiting any working out at all.  And at least for the last three days, waking up at 6:30 has been less troublesome than when I awoke at 7 a.m. in order to run and do some working out prior to getting to whatever gigs want me there at 9:30-10.

Or maybe it’s the subconscious reminder of rejection that is unconsciously driving me to want to improve myself further again, starting with the physicality, and making running and lifting in the mornings less of a nuisance, and more of a motivation.  Maybe it’s just the structured routine that I’m always aspiring to have that’s doing it.  Either way, good for me, for exercising.

The work itself is easy, time-consuming, and in a way, therapeutic.  I can more or less turn off my brain and mow through assignments like a weedwacker.  Two freelancers were brought in to undertake this project, and I felt that it was unnecessary.  Turns out that I was right, and that while I’m still here, the other guy was sent home.  Not to toot my own horn, but I know I’d be an asset to any fucking company that just had the balls to actually hire me.

A cranberry vodka sounds like a fantastic way to end the day.

A Bad Direction

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Lately, I’ve been struggling getting up in the morning to run. A combination of not regularly working, but mostly the fact that at 7:00 am, it’s as pitch black as Wesley Snipes outside, and I can’t really fathom running in it. So, I’ve been skipping my morning jogs far too frequently, which obviously, is not a good thing.

Worse, I’m posting such thoughts from a Five Guys. I’m going to become a (worse) jealous fatty again at this rate.