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nubert
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Name: Will
Birthday: 10/11/1978
Gender: Male
Interests: hanging with my wife and dog, watching reality shows, running, basketball, volleyball, soccer, poker, video games (xbox, psp, pc)
Expertise: all of the above
Occupation: Computer related (Internet)
Industry: Computers (Internet)
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/22/2002
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| europe - been there, done that 
check this link for details of the trip: http://travelpod.com/members/nubert
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| well...eventful weekend to say the least
U2 CONCERT on friday!! that was really fun...it's very different
watching them live than just listening to them on cd. i still can't
believe i managed to get tickets for them 
lucky! yah, they played quite a few songs from their new album and some
classic u2 tunes - bloody sunday, mysterious ways, where the streets
have no name, etc - it was cool
the opening act...i don't even remember their name. we went and looked
at merchandise when they started. i got a tshirt for $45 (yes, it's a
bit $$ but i guess i got caught up in the spur of the moment) and wifey
got a button for $3. i guess that's a little more reasonable 
so we got back to our seats and the opening band was still playing.
they kinda sucked - they were playing very loud with a lot of bass
(where our chests were thumping so hard that it's uncomfortable) and it
wasn't really singing but rather some sort of muffled wailing and
screaming...so that was a pain to sit through.
then u2 came on and all was good after that - a 2 hr set of u2 live was awesome - enough said
then we went home, grabbed some food, and jon and matt were waiting outside to play some poker - played til 5am...went to sleep  http://xanga.com/gizzpooh
saturday - rested
and then come sunday (yesterday) - i guess the day can be summarized into one word - MARATHON
yup, that was the day...my plan was to sleep the night before at 9pm
and wake up at 5am. slept at 10ish and woke up at 5ish - 7 hrs - not
too bad. got up, got ready, did a little stretching, ate a little, and
at 6:15, we were off. headed down to the rackets and runners in
yaletown where we met up with other runners and dropped off our
stuff. headed out to the start line for the 7am half marathon
start to accompany gizzypooh and christine_de_cricketeeeeer. i promptly left that crowd at 6:58am in fear of being trampled over 
i had a 1/2 hr to kill before my start time so i headed into bc place
stadium and stretched a bit and had my last minute pee break - not sure
why there weren't more ppl here using the washrooms instead of lining
up for the porta-potties. also, the area is heated. oh well...not my
problem at 7:20am, i made my way to
the start line. found a groove in the crowd that was actually not too
far from the front - i guess i stopped here instead of making my way
towards the middle. and 7:30 - we're off!!
for the first 30 or so km, there wasn't much happening. my goal was a 5
min per km pace for the entire race. i made sure that i wouldn't tire
myself out too quickly by going too fast at the start. so when ppl were
passing me early on, i was fine with that as long as i maintained MY
pace. my normal reaction would normally be to try and keep up if not
passing them but i think i was disciplined enough to let it be
i completed 10km in 49 mins (a little sub 5min/km) and i reached the
halfway point (21.1km) at 1:41 - still sub 5min/km. at that point i was
thinking..."hmm, if i keep this up, i can be done in 3:20". although i
think i may have slowed down a bit around the 25km mark but not too
much.
then things got interesting when the 30km mark rolled around. at around
2 hrs and 30 mins, i passed the 30km and before i could reach the 31km
mark, my greatest fear for the race of cramping up became reality. the
calves were starting to feel the twitching of impending cramping. i
kept going as best as i could hoping that it'll pass. not a chance...i
stopped to stretch them at a tree for about a minute. maybe that'll do
it...sigh - wishful thinking. a light jog and only a few minutes later,
i needed to stretch once again. started jogging even slower for the
next little while and stopping occassionally to stretch. kept that
going for a bit until i just couldn't take it and i resorted to
walking. it's quite a humbling experience, i guess, when you see all
these people passing you but yet, you cannot do anything about it.
anyways, after a while, i couldn't stretch my calves any more as my
stretching method would start cramping up my quads. so those were next
to cramp up. my quads hurt a lot more than my calves so that was the
only pain that i was able to concentrate on. i think many times, i
would think...i can go again and i would start my running and not even
a few minutes in, i would have to stop once again. the pain was
unbearable. at one point, i even thought to myself..."maybe if i ran
faster, it would hurt less since the faster i go, the less impact i
will have"...that's a good theory - if it worked!! 
at times, my triceps were slightly cramping as well as my chest. it's
amazing how many muscles are working while running. it wasn't until a
little before heading back over the burrard bridge that i was able to
run for more than a few minutes. i ended up going more than halfway up
the burrard bridge before taking another break. my legs weren't hurting
as much now but they were just simply out of strength and power from
all the cramping. then the downhill came and i think at the 40km mark,
i sucked it in and actually ran all the way to the finish line. i saw
my wife, cricket and keith with just a little over a km left. that one
last km was the toughest kilometer i have ever run. usually, i would
have sprinted that but my legs wouldn't let me. i alomst considered
taking yet another break but i pushed on and clocked in at the finish
line at 3:53:09. so i finished and under 4 hours!
i guess i'm a little disappointed at the time as i know i could/should
have done better but at least i can now say that i've completed a
marathon and that's an accomplishment in itself. if only i didn't cramp
up for 12 kms. that's a LONG distance to be cramping. 1 hr and 20+ mins
for the last 12kms...oh well - next year - yes, i am already looking to
next year. crazy! yah, i know!
so that was my first marathon experience. i'm still reeling from its
effects. all day yesterday and so far today, my legs are VERY sore 
hobbling everywhere i go and i can't do stairs very well. they are
especially bad after sitting a long time at my desk and then getting
up...man, they're stiff! eeks...i wonder how many days before the pain
will go away?
anyways..that's the end of my marathon saga for now
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| WE'RE GOING TO SEE U2 TMR!!!!!!!!
i just got tickets from ticketmaster as they apparently release tickets periodically before an event...i finally got some!!
U2 TMR!!!
MARATHON SUNDAY!!!!
eventful weekend this will be
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| so this is it..the final 3 days before my first marathon on sunday...
i'm in the final phase of training which is the tapering part - no
serious runs and a time of rest so i can be refreshed for race day
42.2 km - eeks - not sure if i'm ready for it. i've gone through all
the training but yet, i don't feel like i'm 100% ready. at least for
the half marathon (21.1km), i was able to do 20km and other mileages
close to it during training and still felt ready for the race. this
time around, i have only gone as far as 32-34km and even at those
distances, i have had tightness in my body. another 8-10km...i'll echo
what i said earlier - eeks
another thing, it's been quite sunny and warm here in vancouver as
summer seemed to have come a little early. so far, my training has been
in colder and wetter weather. i'm hoping for some clouds, and some coolness for that day...
well, let's just hope all goes well...i'll guess i won't know until race day.
on a good note, i did the sun run a few weeks back and i raced it. my
time was 45:30 which is a personal best for 10km as far back as i can
remember. wonder if i could have done better if i didn't start out in
the back of my colour group or if i didn't run 23km the day before . wifey also had her personal best of 56:49. yay wifey!! 
i know i have been talking about running for a while now and an idea i
thought of is starting a running group at the church. i guess the goal
of that would be for the neighbourhood folks around the church to be
exposed to us. seeing that the church isn't going anywhere anytime soon
and seeing that running is a very popular activity nowadays, i thought
this would be a good thing to try out. i haven't talked to anyone else
about this except my wife and now all you few who check my xanga site.
this is just an idea in my head but i decided to share it here so i
won't forget if it pans out, it will be a few months down the road as i'm hoping to sleep in saturdays as training will be over soon
3 more days...
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recent athletic milestones
so to all you lucky nubert-xanga-followers, i am adding another entry and it hasn't even been 2 years yet!
i thought i'd share about recent athletic milestones which all happened just this past weekend.
let's start with the church soccer league in which we played our last
game on sunday. i can't believe that i managed to get a total of 5
goals this season. a 500% increase from last year. let me tell you
about my "goals" (note the quotation marks)
#1 - dat made a really long pass/shot from somewhere around the half. i
jumped up intending to head it or deflect it or something. i did manage
to deflect it but it was off my arm just a little above the elbow. i'm
not sure if that's a handball but the ref didn't call it, the goalie
didn't call it and i wasn't about to question my first goal of the year
#2 - johann passed the ball to me from the sideline (can't remember if
it was a corner kick or not) and as it was coming towards me, i flicked
my foot to deflect it and it went in. that goal - i meant to do
#3 - it was dat again making a really long pass to me when i was really
close to the net. my plan was to kick it in while the ball was still in
mid-flight. i kinda did that as it barely (and i mean barely - maybe
just a shoelace or something) skimmed my foot and went in. i get credit
because i did "touch" it last
#4 - the other team had the ball deep in their zone after a goal kick
and i was pressuring the guy who had the ball. i guess he decided to
pass the ball back to the goalie but the goalie was not expecting that
and as he stuck his hand out to catch it, he deflected it into his own
goal. and since this league doesn't implement the own goal stat, i get
credit for being the closest :)
#5 - derrick calls my name as i'm sprinting down the field pass the
lone defender. he makes a really long chip shot that the defender
couldn't reach - i jump up, make contact with the ball using my head,
and the ball goes in. where was the goalie, you ask? he was right in my
face trying to catch the ball or something cuz i could taste the
leather of his gloves when i made the header. this is my last goal which happened this past sunday. it's also my best goal.
now do you see why i put "goals" in quotes. only 2 of them are deserved
goals in my books. heh - 3 goals out of 5. mind you, nobody else on the
team had even one of these "goals" but yet i manage to get 3.
interesting... 
funny quirky things always seem to happen to me. although i can't name
any of the top of my head but i do seem to carry this persona with
me. if i ever come across any more, i'll will let you know.
so we ended of our season with a pretty good run. the last five games
were loss, win, win, win, and overtime win. maybe that record has
something to do with the fact that all my "goals" were scored within
these last five games or the fact that i just started playing midfield.
maybe i should play midfield next season :)
so that was sunday. let's backtrack to saturday. since i have started
training for the marathon, this past saturday, i ran a milestone 32km!!
 it's the longest i have ever run and the longest i will run until the may 1
vancouver adidas marathon. can hardly believe that just last january,
the further i have ever run was 10km. now i've done 32km on my way to
42.2km. even though i ran half marathons all last year, you would
figure that another 10km isn't too much more but there's a whole lot of
difference. that extra 10km is quite difficult both physically and
mentally. and to think that i will have to run yet another 10km
more...eeks.
so i ran the 32km in 2hrs 44 mins. it's ok i guess - that works out to
be about 5:08 per km. my goal is to be around 5:00 per km. maybe if
there weren't traffic lights...although my body did start to stiffen up
towards the end of that run. i wonder if my body can handle another
10km. i sure hope it can!!
it's amazing how much i've run the past while. all of last year, i did
a total of 4 half marathons. within just the past 5 weeks, i've run
more than the distance of 4 half marathons. in fact, i've done the
distance of more than 5... i've done a 21km, a 14 km (due to ankle
injury), 26km, 29km, and 32km. i'm just surprised that i'm able to do
all this...
now i'm gonna describe the route i ran this saturday and my thoughts during the run:
started off at rackets and runners on oak and 23rd
- feeling good
- was running with ghislaine, and the other girls (cricket, izzy, bonnie)
headed up to king edward
- at some point, i left them all behind. the faster i finish, the quicker we get to go home
west along king ed until cypress
- found josh running at the head of the pack
- ran with him
turned on cypress and headed to 16th
turned on 16th and headed to arbutus
turned on arbutus and went all the way down to water
ran along the seawall/false creek around science world
- left josh at the start of false creek
- still feeling great at this point
turned up on davie street until i hit burrard
- had my first gel pack - mmm...cola
turned on burrard until i hit pender
ran along pender until it merges into georgia
ran along georgia and into stanley park
- had my second gel pack - mmm...more cola 
- still feeling good at this point - i mean i think this is only about 15 km
ran around the seawall
- the portion of the run i think is where i experienced the most ups and downs
- the first little bit was still going good but as
the route curves and winds, it's hard to tell how far you've gone and
how much further to go
- then i think i started to feel the wall coming - the barrier that i would have to overcome
- but before the wall got a chance to hit me the
song "great" by ten shekel shirt started playing on my ipod. i
looked
around me and i can see the lions
gate bridge, the never ending water
in the distance, the mountains, the little bit of sunshine that managed
to break through the clouds. i felt invigorated, i felt empowered, i
felt inspired, i felt relief, i felt peace...i felt the
presence and
spirit of god at that time. and then i felt like smiling so i
did .
i
think i must have run a few hundred meters looking around and smiling.
wonder what opposing pedistrians were thinking...
- the next song after great was a song by usher
(...random playlist...) so i replayed the
"great" song again and again. must
have been around a 10 count
before i stoped repeating it
- then not too much longer, i took a look at my
watch to see how far i've gone and when i saw that it was only about 23
km, the wall hit me mentally - the winds and curves seem to never end. physically i was doing ok but the mental wall wore me down a bit
- then i finally reached a part of the seawall that
i know of and i knew i was close to exiting it. that got rid of the
mental barrier
exited
stanley park and followed the seawall until the burrard bridge
- had my third gel pack - mmm...coke flavoured is my favourite
- i had overcome my mental battle but the physical
one had just inched in now. started the feel the stiffness in my legs
creeping in. last week during my
29km, i had a really rough last 2km when my calves started to cramp so i was worried
that the same could happen
again
- got to the burrard bridge but there is a flight of
stairs that i needed to climb and i took a "mini" break by walking
up
the stairs -
that helped
crossed the burrard bridge and continued along burrard until 12th ave
- i ran up and down the bridge with no problems
- legs felt good again
- had my last gel back - mmm...what would i do without cola?
- eeks...started to tire again
- when i ran by 6th and 7th, i was
thinking...hmm...home is only a block away - too bad i don't have the
keys and also ghislaine is waiting for me at starbuck's
- hit a lot of the traffic lights so those provided
me with some mini breaks
turned on 12th and ran to oak
- still tired but again the lights helped me once again
then up oak back to the store
- tired but knowing that the end is near, i pushed
myself and made it back
so that was my 32km...
here are the lyrics to the "great":
I have always wanted to be somebody who is great
To be great in, great in your eyes, is my dream
To be the one who makes you smile is everything
To love my enemies
To serve others until I become the least
To be great in, great in your eyes, is my dream
To be the one who makes you smile is everything
Greatness in this world is different
than greatness in your eyes
To be great in, great in your eyes, is my dream
To be the one who makes you smile is everything
To be genuine in my love for others
and for you is to be great
i will be doing another 32km in 3 weeks...maybe i'll have something interesting to share after
back to work. ciao
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