8th rule of bootcampsf is "if it's your first session of bootcamp sf, then you have to fight!"

is here and if this is your first session of bootcampsf then you have to fight! okay, so not necessarily fight but it's test day to see how far you've come. time for a quick mile and a half, crunches bootcampsf style and chin-groundhitting pushups till you drop. also for those of you wondering what the other seven rules are, stay tuned and they will be unveiled over time(i.e. i haven't made them up yet).

i know that some of you may be nervous to see your results, but as long as you've been coming to class consistently then i'm betting you've improved upon your first day stats.

*****beginning of tangent*****
as for myself, i've now been through 12 weeks (2 sessions) of bootcamp and i know i've gotten healthier just by how i feel. i'm still not particularly fast, but on my off day workouts i can now go for a one hour jog and still go for another hour. granted, the first time i ran for over an hour i totally overestimated my speed and at the one hour mark i was still on the other side of the park! so there you go, next time you go for a run 45mins to an hour away from home (and don't bring your clipper card!) before you turnaround. even if you end up having to walk or jog really slowly, i bet you'll find it totally doable. sometimes you get your best workouts by accident!
*****end of tangent*****

okay, before i take off on another tangent, here are a few tips for your test day:

1.5 mile run/6 lap test at Kezar: find someone to pace yourself with. preferably someone who was faster than you that first day. if you are that faster person, wear a watch and pick a pace that is faster than the time you ran the first day. for example if you ran your 1.5 miles in 18 mins, that comes out to 3mins per lap. shoot for 2mins 45seconds or 2 mins 30 seconds per lap. (please check with your instructor if that is advisable!)

crunches: DON'T WASTE ANY!! every time you finger tips miss your spotters hands, you get nothing. don't waste!!! another thing i remember doing is doing mine in spurts. do 5, take a couple of breaths. or do 10 and take a couple of breaths. whatever number works for you.

pushups: just like crunches… DON'T WASTE ANY! make sure your chin touches the ground. it's your sixth week of bootcamp and it's no time to be afraid of the ground and getting dirty. in fact, if it's test day, then you will be using a mat which is probably cleaner than the ground(i make no guarantees on that!).

hopefully some of you get to read this before your test!! good luck and see you during no excuses week!

*foxbehungry*

Painted Stairs at 16th Avenue and Moraga..163 to be exact!

looking for some stairs to run when you don't have class? check out these stairs at the intersection of 16th ave and moraga. i bet there is a story behind the stairs and the mosaic, but first let me give you the important information. there are 163 stairs and 12 landings(including the top) for you to do different exercises. i could be wrong on that stair and landing count so if you do check the stairs out, let me know if i was right (or wrong)!
(the whole shebang of stairs!)

for more information behind the tiles and mosaic, check out http://www.tiledsteps.org/

do you have any stairs you recommend checking out? if so, let us know and send us a picture and location so we can share with everybody!

below are pictures of each individual flight. for some reason i can't put them in the correct order, so just treat it as a puzzel using the whole shebang as your template(dang that is a weak template... go to the website instead). also, i am not a professional hence i didn't notice that my shadow was in most of the pictures. enjoy!

somewhere between forrest gump and forrest chump

running, jogging, walking… whatever speed you are moving it is just one foot in front of the other. some of us love it and can go on for miles without a care in the world. i was not one of those people.

just six months ago (january 2011) i went for a jog to kezar stadium from my apartment. a whopping 3 mile round trip. the next day i had shin splints and didn't run for another month. but now that has all changed. i've done everything i can so that running is not the bane of my existence.

i'm not going to sit here and tell you that i can just run out the door for two hours and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature as i breeze through golden gate park and along the great highway becoming one with nature. every run i start begins with me thinking "why am i doing this? why am i so slow? isn't there some fried chicken in the fridge?"

thankfully those questions didn't linger too long. my ever faithful companion on my runs is my ipod. some people prefer music, maybe something upbeat to help get them into a rhythm. i prefer to listen to what my girlfriend calls "talking," i.e. podcasts and audiobooks. podcasts and audiobooks help me pass the time so i don't keep asking myself questions as i run. (currently i'm switching between Bossypants by tina fey and American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by kai bird and martin j. sherwin)

with the help of my friends tina fey and oppie (that's the name that one of the father's of the atomic bomb went by with close friends), i stepped out of my apartment door and started jogging through the park. before i knew it i had criss-crossed my way through the park, to the cliff house and back to 19th avenue and saw that i had run 7.7 miles!! (i knew this because i was using the runkeeper app on my droid. click here to see if compatible with your phone)

i had never run more than 8.5 miles at a time before and here i was at 7.7 and i still had some gas. more importantly, i was really into my audiobook that i still wanted to listen to so i said to myself "what the heck, why not go for TEN!" so back into the park i ventured. i ran past the tea garden, by the de young museum and california academy of sciences, while every once in a while i would check to see how close i was to ten. soon enough i was there! i had just run TEN miles! i couldn't believe it. so what did i think next? i thought "who knows if i'll ever run this far again. might as well go all out and get me a half marathon!"

3.1 miles. that's all i had left to get to a distance i never even contemplated running. i had no desire to from a start to finish line with everyone watching, but here i was, so close. no an achievement i was doing for anybody but myself. i ran those last 3.1 miles with only the light from street lamps illuminating the road ahead of me. and there i was. a half-marathoner! yeah, i make it sound all dramatic, but as i said, just six months ago i could barely jog 3.1 miles, let alone 3.1 PLUS TEN!

so now that i've run a half marathon will i try to go for a full marathon? i guess that all depends if using an ipod counts as a performance enhancer! if it is, then i'll just have to run an unofficial all my lonesome! (maybe tina and oppie will join me for an encore)


helpful links (let me know if these don't work for you)

free trial membership to audible.com with TWO free audiobooks
http://www.audible.com/t1/amazon?source_code=AMZP0345BN062410&AID=10273919&PID=3640155&SID=skim115X178X6d2426487a1aa315b0cfae9005d49178

descriptions of Bossypants and American Prometheus on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056863
http://www.amazon.com/American-Prometheus-Triumph-Tragedy-Oppenheimer/dp/B000OZ0J0W/ref=tmm_aud_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

link to runkeeper website so you can see if your phone is compatible (cheaper than buying a gps watch, which admittedly would be pretty cool if it wasn't for the fact that my cell phone has gps which i carry in something akin to a fanny pack but which i will not call a fanny pack)
http://runkeeper.com/

Water, water, water!! Just 64 oz a day? No problem.

ever hear that you should have at least eight 8-oz glasses of water a day? [seriously? 8 right next to 8? figured it would be clearer to spell one of the eights rather than write out "8 8-oz glasses." i think i made the right choice. please carry on with your blog reading pleasure.] some people swear by it, and some say it is bunk. all i know is that i'd rather have 8 glasses of water a day and have to go to the bathroom all day rather than have chapped lips and cottonmouth!

as bootcampers, we are especially susceptible to dehydration. please feel free to use the google to find out all the good and bad things about drinking 8 glasses of water a day. is it just an urban myth? please comment or post links so we can all be properly informed. here is one link i found that has tips for getting to your 8 glasses of water a day and some other information:

http://www.wikihow.com/Drink-More-Water-Every-Day

just one quick tip, don't get too overzealous and drink 128 ounces of water (16 cups). i have done it several times and it always resulted in severe headaches. apparently it has something to do with electrolytes being imbalanced. i could be totally wrong on that so please call me out on it. the comments section here and in Facebook are ready for you to fill in and set me straight=)

just one more quick tip, don't down a liter at 9pm just to make your quota because it is not fun waking up at 2am to use the bathroom!

last but not least, see the pictures below. i think it's easier to get to my 64 ounces a day if i can picture what i'm up against. if you can do it at work or on the road without anyone looking at you funny or thinking you are a lush, i highly recommend attempting the 43 shots of water throughout the day!