#11 Travel somewhere on my bucket list

Each year, I end up taking a full week to celebrate my birthday.  I get to catch up with various groups of friends through dinner or drinks, I buy something sparkly for myself, and Macy's even hosts a fabulously large fireworks celebration on the Hudson River for me!! 

But this year... as much as I love sparkle... I wanted a memory, not another thing.  I wanted something magical, unique, and unlike anything else out there - a memory that sparkles.

My brother (in law) grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and his entire family still lives there.  So, when he and my sister decided to visit, I decided I wanted to visit as well... and so I booked my flight.  Then, I started to put together this challenge, and #11 Travel somewhere on my bucket list was born.  And while my bucket list is long and continuously growing, one of the places that was top on my lists was the Galapagos Islands, mainly because it is part of Ecuador and I have a direct connection to everything Ecuadorian.  :) So I reasoned "Why not splurge on a life changing vacation?"  I mean, you can get married multiple times in your life (and some do!)... but you only turn 30 once.  Might as well celebrate for months, instead of just a week!

So I booked it.  And, I had the most amazing, incredible, magical trip in my entire life.  Now, I've had the good fortune to travel to a lot of great places, like Italy, Hawaii, Greece, Argentina... So here's why this trip to Quito and the Galapagos was so incredible:

First... I got to see my family.  Not my blood family, but the family that my sister married in to, and who are so awesome. Kind, generous, loving.  And they happen to love me, for some reason :)

Second, I got to visit the one tourist site in Quito that I had not visited the last time I traveled to Ecuador in 2005, and I got to do it with my sister and brother.  This is site is SPECIAL, and is called Teleflorica.  Quito is almost 10,000 feet above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains, kinda like an oval bowl shape, and Teleflorica is almost 15,000 feet above sea level.  It is special because it has GREAT views of the city and makes you feel like you're on top of the world:

Third, while hanging out in Quito, I ran my first 5K in three years, which was a special moment for me.

Fourth, I freaking WENT TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!!  What a truly magical place!!  From Quito, I flew to San Cristobal, one of the many islands in the Galapagos.  After flying in, my cruise ship company came to pick me up, we took a short bus ride to a dock, and were greeted by this gracious welcome committee:

The first night of the cruise, we stayed in the harbor of San Cristobal and went to the "Centro de Interpretación" (i.e. the Interpretive Center), which is a great little museum explaining how the Galapagos were formed, the first documentations of the island, and the "recent" history of the islands, which was interesting.

The Galapagos Islands are actually made out of volcanoes.  The glass panes represent the ocean surface, so you can see what else remains under water!

On my way back to the boat on day one, I captured the sunset, and a few sea lions taking over the public park benches :)

Throughout the rest of the trip, I had many cool moments, such as:

I had the opportunity to be like a sea lion:

I got to see some small sand crabs skitter up the beach:

I got to go snorkeling (many times!)!!!

 

I saw several beautiful fish, one which was smiling (or growling) at me:

One fish was checking me out ;)

I also saw this really cool sea urchin:

I took a pic with a sea lion and my Terrible Towel (yeahhhh, STEELER NATION made it to the Galapagos!!)

I spied a black iguana among the black lava rocks...

I hiked and climbed over several islands of the Galapagos so I could take amazing photos of the view (our boat is in the background):

I spotted a frigate.  This bird doesn't hunt for its own food.  It harasses other birds (literally grabs on and shakes them) so they get so frazzled and throw up their meals, which the frigate then eats.  Crazy:

I took a pic from the southern-most point of the Galapagos... I'm embracing the sea :)  (Notice a theme with the pics???)

I saw pear cactus trees, which were really cool:

I saw a ton of iguanas (yellow colored this time) that were just chilling on rocks, soaking up the sun, and not minding me regardless of the fact that I was a foot away!

I hung out on beaches that were FULL of sleepy (and sometimes horny) sea lions:

When snorkeling, I got thisclose to sea lions:

I witnessed a manta ray glide along the bottom of the ocean floor:

Saw a HUGE starfish:

Laughed at appropriately placed signs (this one was placed right before a steep drop off to the sea below):

I fell in love with sea lions who show no fear... 

And who are adorably cute snuggling together:

I snorkeled with sea lions, and played with them... they were so curious and playful!!!: 

I was able to capture some video of sea lions playing with me :).  Just phenomenal.  They were so curious and playful, and had no fear, as they hadn't needed to fear mean humans.  Such a cool experience!!! 

I got to try on a large shell from a deceased tortoise that weighed about 50 pounds... this pic is of me doing a plank :)

I nicknamed a giant tortoise Frank, and he allowed me to get close to him for a photo op:

I saw the BLUE FOOTED BOOBIE!

... who have a really funny way of walking, which is why there were named the bobo in Spanish...

...and I also saw the Albatross...

I saw sea lions attempt to scare the tourists by pretending to be sharks (they were floating on their backs with their fins in the air!!):

I met a lot of incredible people:

Me and Socrates, the guide I spent the most tours with.

My newly adopted parents, Rila and Mark from Toronto :)

My new friends from Slovenia, Jersey (originally Phillipines and Switzerland) and Germany :) - we were the United Nations!

Some of the fabulous crew from Tequila night... Mario and Roberto :)

My newly adopted fairy godmothers... Candy and Diane!!!

And I jumped off the cruise ship.  7 meters, 21 feet to the surface.  Here's the composite image of me flying through the air:

This trip will go down in the history of Kimmy as one of my favorite vacations... the sites, the activities, the people, the scenery, the animals, the snorkeling, the blue water... it was perfect, and magical.  This memory will definitely live in my mind, and now on the internet, forever.

I highly recommend a visit to the Galapagos, and HIGHLY recommend the Santa Cruz (the boat that I traveled on).  Great staff, great tours, great food.  Thanks to my brother-in-law and the Andrade Montenegro family, thanks to Southern Explorations for finding this tour for me and working out all the details, and thanks to everyone on the Santa Cruz for making the Galapagos sparkle.

#8 Run my first 5K in 3 years

Some of you might know that three years ago in May 2009, I ran my first half marathon with my incredible sister, Tara, and amazing brother (in law), Diego:

 

Tara and I crossed the finish line together around 2 hours 17 minutes, and we were both SOOO happy to have finished!!

What I didn't know at that time, however, was that I was running on an injured leg.  Now, I knew my leg hurt, but I didn't consider that I could be injured.  I thought that I just needed to "push through the pain."  Plus, I had set a goal, and I didn't want to back out of it.  As you all know by now, I like challenges. 

So, after the half marathon, I took a few weeks off from running, thinking that would fix the problem.  I ran my next race, an easy 5K, on July 14, 2009 in Hoboken.  I ran it in my best time ever - 28 minutes - and I felt great, except for the pain in my left shin.  At this point, I realized that I couldn't ignore that I might have a problem anymore.  So I finally booked an appointment with a doctor, and after several tests (bone density scans, x-rays, radiation, etc.), it was confirmed that I had a stress fracture in my left shin, as well as two stress reactions (would have become fractures had I continued) in my pelvis.  Sweet, right?

Not really.  The injury meant I had to stop running.  And to add insult to injury (ha), not only did I have to stop running, my doc didn't want me doing ANY exercise, and even asked me to limit walking!!!  Not walking is impossible in New York. And while this sabbatical from exercise was only supposed to last 6 weeks,  it ended up lasting 9 months, as I continued to have pain in my leg.  It might have been phantom pain, but still it was pain.

So after 9 months of depression and no exercise, I finally ventured back in to the gym.  I was hesitant to start running again, as I didn't want to reinjure myself.  I realized that there were bike races that I could train for, so I started biking.

So.  That's the long story of why this challenge - #8 - Run my first 5K in 3 years - is personal and daunting.  I might be able to bike for 60 miles with no problems, but running 3.1 miles?  SCARY.  Scarier than watching a horror movie with my brother-in-law. :)

On May 23, 2012, while on vacation in Quito, Ecuador, I decided to run my first 5k. Now, Quito is roughly 10,000 feet above sea level.  Which means the air is thinner (i.e. has less oxygen in it), which makes physical activities more challenging for those who are not used to the altitude. So, running a 5K in Quito is more difficult than running a 5K in Hoboken, which is at (and sometimes below!) sea level.  Just saying.

So back to the story.  Diego, Tara, and I head to Carolina Park, which is a beautiful park right near the family's apartment.  Tara (who as you know, is my amazing sister, and who is pregnant with my incredibly talented nephew, who I know is already talented because he high fived me through my sister's belly, at 21 weeks in utero.  Told you.  Incredibly talented) will be walking.  And Diego decided he would run with me, even at my slow 10 mile a minute snails pace. Diego was my personal paparazzi:

Me at Mile 1.  Looking good, right?

Me at Mile 2.5.  Only .6 more to go, but man, I'm having a hard time breathing!!!

I had to stop every 5 minutes or so to grab a drink of water and catch my breath for a minute, but I kept going.  And then, all of a sudden... it's over!  3.1 miles done.  I completed my first 5k in almost 3 years!  Let me tell you, a 5K in 35 minutes is a LOT shorter (and easier) than a 60 mile bike race in 5 hours :).

And I felt great!!  I had Diego snap a victory "I'm strong" picture:

A HUGE thank you to my amazing brother-in-law Diego for running slow with me and taking pictures, and also to my incredible sister, for walking with us.  It means the world to me to have such wonderful support, and I really appreciate it.  I don't think I could have done it without them =)

My sister and I after my first 5k in 3 years.  Isn't my nephew super cute?  :)

Week 7 & 8 Update

As you know, I was on vacation for the past two weeks, and was out of the country working on #11 (travel somewhere on my bucket list), so had little to no internet access.  It was kinda awesome, although I did miss regularly blogging about the fun activities I was doing =). 

So, this update is for Week 7 and 8.  I was able to knock a few things off the list:
#7: Bike in the Gran Fondo
#22: Splurge on something sparkly

And, I did the following two things, just haven't had a chance to post about them yet:
#8: Run my first 5K in 3 years
#11: Travel somewhere on my bucket list

Progress so far:
#9: 30 new recipes: 1 new recipe!  Total 13 of 30 recipes cooked (43.33%).  While in Ecuador, Mari was gracious enough to teach me how to make a traditional Ecuadorian soup - Plantain meatball soup.  It took two hours (!!!) to make, and wow was it tasty!!! Thank you, Mari! =)

#29: SIX books read in the past two weeks!!!!  Vacay is good to me :)  Total 10 of 30 books read! (33.33%).  Books read over vacation include:

• Groundswell by Katie Lee
• Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer
• Storm by Brigid Kemmerer
• Clash of Kings (Book #2 of the Game of Thrones series) by George R R Martin
• The Paper Princess by Marion Chesney (a free book through Amazon.com)
• Anathema by Megg Jensen (also a free book through Amazon.com)

Incredibly, I only have 5 weeks left of this challenge, and still so much more fun to be had!  17 recipes, 22 posts, 20 books, 30 hours of community service. I'm getting nervous that I won't finish it all!!! 

But, I am having the TIME OF MY LIFE. =) =) =)

#7 Bike in the Gran Fondo

As you already know, I like challenges.  "To do" lists.  A race to train for.  Etc.  It's how I operate.  If I don't have a deadline, I'll be lazy and not do anything.  With a clearly-defined deadline (i.e. I paid $X00 to complete this race on MMM DD, YYYY), I can figure out the steps I need to take to achieve that goal, put a plan in action, and start working on it.

So I signed up for the Gran Fondo NY on May 21, 2012, and there you have it.  #7: Bike in the Gran Fondo, an Italian-style bike race in NY.  Why is this such a challenge?  Well, the Gran Fondo, to put it nicely, is a b*tch of a challenge.  It's a very hilly century (100 mile) bike ride.  Them Italians really love to bike up and down hills.  Me? I'm a fan of hills, too, just as long as I'm flying down them, and not climbing up...

Now, last October, I completed a century bike ride with my brother (in law), Diego, so I figured I could do another one:

At Mile 60 of The "Seagull Century" bike ride in Maryland

The last 10 miles of that October Century were mentally torturous, but I figured I could do it all over again, no problemo.  So in December, I signed up for the Gran Fondo, and then just three months ago, I realized "ahhh... I think I need to start training?!?"  So I dusted off the plan I had used to train for the October Century bike ride.  This plan (which assumes you are already doing 20-25ish mile rides on the weekends) consists of several "short" rides during the week, and one long ride on the weekend, with the long rides progressively getting longer... and longer...

• Week 1: 27 miles during the week with a 30 mile long ride on the weekend
• Week 2: 30 miles during the week, 35 mile long ride on the weekend
• Week 3: 35 miles during the week, 40 mile long ride 
• Week 4: 38 miles during the week, 45 mile long ride
• Week 5: 41 miles during the week, 48 mile long ride
• Week 6: 45 miles during the week, 52 mile long ride
• Week 7: 49 miles during the week, 58 mile long ride
• Week 8: 53 during, 67 long 
• Week 9: 67 during, 35 long
• Week 10: 25 during, RACE DAY!

While this plan worked well for my first century, not so much for the Gran Fondo.  In hindsight, I should have done more hill training... but hills kinda suck, not sure if you knew that. (Next century ride?  If I ever do one again, it will most DEFINITELY be flat...)

Now, a few weeks before race day, they posted the final official route, and it ended up being a 110 mile race instead of the traditional 100 miles.  Right around the same time as they posted the final route, I completed my last long training ride of 67.5 miles, which covered part of the course, and ended up with a swollen knee for three days after.  So... I decided 110 miles is out of the question, and decided to do the metric century route, which is roughly 60 miles.

So, fast forward to race day, May 21, 2012.  I'm all ready.  I've done my training. I wake up at 4am, my buddy Jon arrives at 5am, and together we take an (expensive) cab ride to the Jersey side of the George Washington bridge, and then cross the bridge:

We make our way to the start line (which we have to detour about 20 blocks out of our way to get there)...

Lining up at the start!

And we line up on the lower level of the GW Bridge...

On the GW Bridge, waiting to go...

...and then, finally at 7am, we're off!!! While I was constantly being passed by the faster riders with real cycling bikes, there were a few times where I was going up hill and passed one or two riders.  (Inside I was laughing maniacally that I was passing the one or two odd rider on a road bike, outside my legs were screeeaming in pain).

See me smiling on the left?

I received a few compliments on my choice of bike, which was a hybrid.  If you don't know anything about cycling, there are different types of bikes... road, hybrid, and mountain (and maybe more, who knows).  Road bikes are super expensive and really light weight, and thus are best for these longer races.  Hybrids are a cross between road and mountain, but aren't really meant for long races... whatev.  That's how I roll. I'm kinda awesome (my future nephew already owns a "My aunt is awesome" onesie, therefore it must be true!)

Me, climbing a hill, laughing maniacally, and passing riders on road bikes!

It was a beautiful day - no clouds, 70-80 degrees.  All but a few of the intersections were "ride through" intersections where we didn't have to stop and could continue pedaling, as police officers in both NY and NJ state would stop traffic for us.  (THANK YOU NJ AND NY STATE POLICE!  Much appreciated that I didn't have to un-clip out of my cycling shoes!) 

There were a few killer hills around mile 22-30, and I was glad that I chose not to do the Gran Fondo, as the next 50 miles would have contained 4 massive hills...  and the ones I had already done were "massive" enough for me!

Focusing hard on climbing yet another hill

At 12:15 pm, I ecstatically crossed the finish line!!  Four hours and 45 minutes of riding, with three 10 minute rest, refuel, and water-replenish breaks.  Just in case you were interested, here's a video of this year's Gran Fondo (I'm not in it haha).

SUCCESS!

The Finish Line was in Weehawken NJ, with a gorgeous view of Manhattan in the background...

Right before I crossed the finish line, some guy in an official volunteer shirt said to me "You win the prize for being the first straight bar bike to finish!"  First, there is no award, second, no way for me to actually prove that this was true, and third, I'm pretty sure I was the only one riding a hybrid that day so even if it was true... there was no one else to compete with, but it's all good.  Always cool to get acknowledged for doing something more challenging than the actual challenge hahaha. Plus, I love my bike!

So, I finished.  And I was super happy.  But, the hardest part was yet to come... Since it had warmed up to almost 80 degrees, and we were wearing black jerseys (requirements for all fondo riders), I was just so damned hot.  The beverage options at the finish line were Coke and water (?!?!?! Who does that?!?!?!).  I didn't want Coke, so I had water, and since I was so hot and thirsty, I ended up drinking four bottles of water.

The black jerseys that all Fondo riders wore (we also got a bottle of wine, bottom right corner!!)

So, I had biked for 5 hours in the hot, sweltering sun, and then went ahead and drank a ton of water... and I started to feel horrible.  My head pounded, my body was moving slowly, I felt slightly dizzy, and I just... pulsated.  Yes, my body pulsed.  In time to the head pounding. 

After feeling that way for several hours, I finally called my parents for help.  They made me realize that I had drank too much water, was over hydrated and had not replenished the salt I had sweated out in the hot sun. I had an "electrolyte imbalance".  I needed Gatorade... and of course I didn't have any Gatorade.  So they instructed me to make my own salt water - 1 teaspoon per 32 oz.  And when I drank it, it actually tasted good... my body clearly knew what it needed!

I slept the rest of the afternoon and evening, and the next morning, I finally felt like a normal person.  Perfect timing, too, as I needed to board my flight to Ecuador!  Lesson learned.  If you exercise, don't chug a ton of water.  Try mixing it up a bit with OJ or Gatorade.  Trust me.

My finisher medal... which doubles as a bottle opener!!!

This challenge was definitely challenging. Every time I do a long bike ride, I enjoy the ride, the beautiful scenery in NY (10 miles out of the city is STUNNING)... but I also can't help thinking "When is this freaking over?!?!"  And I experienced that for 10 weeks in a row.  Now, I like having something to train for, but I think I'm done (for now, at least) with these long distance bike rides.  A nice half marathon of "only" two hours of running sounds like a fabulous idea right about now ;)

SO, what do you think.  Should this count for ten items?!? Haha =)

#22 Splurge on Something Sparkly

There is a reason why they say diamonds are a girls' best friend - the sight of something sparkly just makes our heart skip a beat, plus the sparkle attracts the eye, thus hopefully drawing some male attention our way ;)

While diamonds are nice... I am an equal jewelry-wearer.  Blue topaz, amethyst, rubies - they all get my attention, although maybe only for a few hours before I swap one out for another pretty bauble in my jewelry box.

So this post - #22 Splurge on Something Sparkly - could go in a variety of different ways.  I enlisted your help with a poll. I gave you a couple of options and asked for you to vote on what I should splurge on for my next birthday gift to myself.

The options included:

1. A Michael Kors watch, such as this gold one or this silver one 
2. These Gold CZ and green onyx starfish earrings 
3. The Apple iPad (not traditionally what you would think of as "sparkly", but has that same effect)
4. A gorgeous David Yurman ring (way out of my price range) 

Now, what I found funny/interesting is that a lot of you voted for the gorgeous and way-out-of-my-price-range David Yurman ring! But, we ended in a tie... and I chose the item that tied for the David Yurman ring.

Drumroll please...


....


I splurged on the Apple iPad.  Now, before you get upset at my choice, listen to why.  I decided to go with the iPad over a piece of jewelry for a couple of reasons... budget and practicality.  While a big piece of bling might make my heart sing, so does the iPad.  Seriously.  You open up the box, and you hear angels singing "Ahhh!!!".  And then you turn it on, and it's shiny, and you can play games and watch movies and read books and be entertained on 5 hour long flights... and I didn't want to take my heavy laptop (also a Mac) to Ecuador, so I decided to get a very light iPad that easily fit in to my purse and didn't break my back lugging it all over the world.  Finally, it cost less than the David Yurman ring (but not by much hahah).

I went to the incredible new Apple Store at Grand Central Station.  It's not like any other store... it's completely open air, no doors... you just walk up a set of stairs and boom.  Apple products and Apple personnel all over the place, as well as envious people wanting to buy Apple products!

I arrived, walked directly up to the counter, and said "I want a 32gig black iPad, and a camera connection, and a iPad cover. Stat."  And they got it for me.  Stat.  $800 later, I was leaving Grand Central, and on my way back to Hoboken to finish packing for my trip to Ecuador, and to play with my new toy :).

The iPad was perfect for the long trip.  I was able to read a ton of books, watch movies, and free up space on my camera so that I could continue taking endless quantities of pictures of the Galapagos Islands.

I'm very happy with my splurge.   Useful, shiny, has the "wow" factor... perfect for me.  But, I want to know what you think?  Do you agree with my decision?  Are you disappointed that I didn't splurge on a piece of jewelry?  You know, my birthday is coming up soon ;) hehehe...