Music mix offers a rhythm to the run

Now that I am back into working out regularly, there are a few key ingredients I need for a good work out.

One is the proper attire, which mostly means a comfortable pair of yoga pants, a sports bra, a tank top and New Balance sneakers. Though I can hardly believe I did it, I dropped $100 on the pair of yoga pants I have now at Santana Row about a month ago. They are comfortable, the right length (which is an issue for me at 5'1") and as my friend said when we were shopping they make everything look a little perkier and shapelier. Luckily, I get my New Balance shoes and Gap tank tops for cheap at the Gilroy outlets.

Another key ingredient for a good work out is a couple of magazines to keep me occupied while I am working on cardio machines. The truth is I get kinda bored on the elliptical, bike or treadmill so a magazine is a good distraction. I wasn't going to the gym for a while so I had a backlog of People magazines. People is perfect because there are lots of pictures and it's light reading. It doesn't take a lot of concentration and the type is larger than in a magazine like my favorite read, The New Yorker. But after a few months of a six-day a week gym habit, I quickly caught up on the magazines. So now I've been mixing in an issue of Entertainment Weekly here and there, or Esquire or GQ, which have surprisingly high-quality and clever writing.

But perhaps the most important part of my workout routine (and something that has been a part of it since my first fitness stint back in college) is good music. Back when I used to run in college and at San Jose State University, I used to carry around a Sony Discman. When I was using cardio equipment, I'd prop it in the cup holders. When I was using weight machines, I wore baggy men's gym shorts so that I could stuff the Discman in my pocket. It was heavy and unwieldy.

Times have certainly changed. Now I run with my iPod nano strapped to my arm with headphones that have soft earbuds to block out all the outside noise. I have 600+ songs on the iPod so it's easy to mix up the music. I have to say I have eclectic taste in music in general, but especially when I workout. I don't really care what the lyrics are as long as it has a fast pace and isn't heavy metal. When I first started jogging at the gym, I listened to the soundtrack from "Slumdog Millionaires," which has some great high beat per minute music on it. "Mausum &Escape" is what I use to start the jog because it sets the mood and rhythm.

So when I was preparing for the 5K last weekend, I spent some time thinking about with what music I might want to start and end the run. I wanted to use the music to help pace myself - like two fast songs for jogging and then one slower song for walking. But mostly I wanted fun stuff that would keep me going when I got a little tired out.

So below is my random mix:
Hop on a Plane - Tegan and Sara
Mausam & Escape - Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
Blah Blah Blah - Ke$ha
Amphetamine - I Can't Go On I'll Go On (Bandslam soundtrack)
Sexy Mistake - The Chalets
Upside Down - Jack Johnson
Beggin' - Madcon
Mean Girls - Sugarland
Supermodel - Jill Sobule
Walking on air - Kerli
Party at a Rich Dude's House - Ke$ha
Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
Single Ladies - Beyonce
Shake It - Metro Station
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
Get On Your Boots - U2
O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
Gimme More - Britney Spears
Whatcha Say - DJ X-Change

I put on an hour and 10 minutes of music, just in case I really blew my average time of a 40 minute 5K (on the treadmill at the gym.) The songs that gave me the biggest motivation included Mausam & Escape, Supermodel and Girlfriend, perhaps because of their timing in the run. I crossed the finish line to Beyonce's Single Ladies so I didn't even get to the one song by my favorite band U2. But I am sure I will get some more use out of the mix at the gym.

And anyone who has suggestions for other songs to add is welcome to share them.

Resolution No. 16 done in 42 minutes

I finished my first 5K this morning. It's something I've always wanted to do, but I've never entered one because I think I had some concerns left over from my really nonathletic days in high school when I used to be the last one to finish the mile in PE.

So when I added a 5K as one of my resolutions (No. 16) in January, I planned to enter one in July so I would have six months to train. I started out doing 10 minutes on the treadmill and my plan was to add three minutes a week to build up my time and endurance. But about six weeks ago, my mom's coworker mentioned the Wildflower Run in Morgan Hill. It sounded like a good run to start since it has a flat surface and a place that is cool in the mornings. But it was four months ahead of my plan. I immediately amped up my training. The first week I ran two miles on the treadmill. The next week I ran 30 minutes, or about 2.5 miles. Then the week after I went for 3.1 miles just to see if I could do it. I reserved my running for Friday and Sunday, but never got around to running outdoors.

I had two people tell me that running outside is a lot harder than on a treadmill. I haven't run outdoors since I was in college and the main reason I stopped was that my allergies really act up outside. One person said she thought it was easier to run outdoors because you get into a rhythm more easily than when you try to stay in the center of a treadmill.

I eventually worked my way up to 3.1 miles in 40 minutes and I've been doing that on Sundays, with a 20 min. run on Fridays. I felt well prepared for the morning run/walk. I made a mix of fast tempo songs to help pace myself and keep me motivated during the trek. I skipped the gym this morning, but warmed up with a mile walk with the dog at the park. I had a bottle of water to keep hydrated.

At 9:15, the 5K started and I encountered my first issue with running outdoors. For some reason, my yoga pants kept slipping down for the first 10 minutes on the run so I kept having to hike them up. Eventually they started staying up on their own. I have to agree with the people who said running outdoors is harder than running on a treadmill, since I had to stop a few more times than when I run inside. And my nose started running thanks to allergies. The mile markers were helpful to keep track of how far I had left and as I came up to the finish line I tried to pick up my pace. I didn't notice what time I crossed the finish line, but it was some time between 42-43 minutes - just a few minutes off my 40-minute goal.

After I finished, I walked back the way I came to meet my mom who was walking the 5K. She wasn't far back, about 10 minutes behind me. The best part of this run is the free Jamba Juice offered at the finish line, along with the oranges and trail mix. And, of course, I have my green "finisher" ribbon - perhaps my first "award" for any athletic event ever.

I am ready to sign up for the next 5K, maybe one at the end of May. Now that I have a time, I can set a goal to improve it a little with each run.

Dream a little dream

One of my coworkers and I often share the things we dream about, especially when they are oddly work related. He has dreamt he had two mountain lines perching on his chest. "It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable," he said. I suggested perhaps his two part-time jobs were weighing down on him.

Most of the time, however, our dreams are a lot more obvious. We both work at a newspaper, which is a deadline driven business so maybe it's not unusual that we both have the same recurring dream. In mine, I am back at school, most often at Gilroy High School, and I suddenly realize that I have missed a class all semester and I have a final or major project coming due. The class is almost always a math class, but once in awhile it is a photography class. The dream just kind of goes around in circles with me thinking I need to get the project/final done, but not really doing anything to get it done. A lot of times in my dream I am semi-aware that I am dreaming.


My coworker has the same dream, and yes, his missed class is often math (we are both not very good with numbers.) He said he doesn't think he stresses about deadlines, but maybe he does subconsciously.

Dreams are a weird thing and that was reiterated by an article on nightmares I read in a November issue of the "New Yorker." According to the article, 20 percent of people have lucid dreams, where they are aware that they are dreaming and have some control over their dreams. And through the years people report differently whether they dream in color or black and white. One expert in the article said dreams are probably more like sketches, and when we wake up our brains fill in all the dimension and color details. My own dreams seem to be in color, and sometimes they are lucid - at least I think they are.


The article was interesting because some of the researchers who are treating people who suffer from extreme nightmares are not trying to figure out what triggers them or what might be the root cause - instead they are trying to teach people how to control what they dream about. They have the patients practice visualizing dream scenarios in the day where they change the scary or disturbing elements into more benign imagery. They are having some success.


I can understand that happening since I will often have dreams that are seem to relate to something I watched or read before bed. A few weeks ago, I watched a video of a friend's baby on Facebook before going to bed. That night I dreamt about babysitting him and that he wouldn't stop crying. I couldn't wait for his dad to pick him up. And a few months ago when I chatted with a guy I sort of have a crush on before bed, I dreamt about him that night. The dream basically clarified that I was unsure if he reciprocated the feelings.

When I reconnected with someone I knew in college while I studied in Ireland, I dreamt about him. I tried to get him to eat jelly bellies and let me borrow his car to drive around Ireland. I don't really get the jelly bellies, but maybe borrowing his car just has to do with my desire to take a vacation in Ireland someday.

I try not to analyze my dreams too much, but it is funny to swap stories about the most odd ones with my friends and coworker. And lucky for me, the nightmares are few and far between lately.

Munro stories collect tragedy and hope

Last week I finished reading the third book of the year (Resolution No. 1.) It was not one of the many books piled in a box in my room from birthdays and Christmas, but a book I picked out somewhat on a whim.

I always read the book reviews in magazines and try to keep in mind the ones that sound interesting - but usually I forget them all by the time I get to the library or a bookstore. There was one review that stuck with me, however, a review of short stories by Alice Munro, "Too Much Happiness." There was a line taken from one of the stories that struck me enough to make me want to read the book.

A few weeks later I was at Barnes and Noble with an ample supply of gift cards and I happened across the book. Unlike a novel, the short stories sort of fit into my schedule the way a magazine would - I could read one story a night the way I read one article a night. There was no desire to stay up way past my normal bedtime to find out what would happen next. And with a mix of short stories, there is always a chance that if one story is not so great, the next one might be good. With a novel, if it's bad at the beginning, it's probably bad all the way through.

Though the stories in Munro's latest collection are unrelated, they do have some common themes. Most of the stories are told from the point of view of women, and several of them are women who've made it to late life without having children. There is something of a dreary outlook on relationships to the collection.

My two favorites in the book are the first story and the last. I liked the stories because they are the most different from the rest of the pieces in the book. The first is about a young woman who is travelling on a bus to visit someone who is in an institution of sorts. Long before much is revealed I guessed what had happened to the woman's family. But it is told in such a way that I could feel the young woman's pain as she struggled to come to turns with the worst tragedy of her life and move on.

The last story is the one that made me want to buy the book. It is the longest piece in the book, and the most moving one. It is about a woman who settles for a marriage of convenience so that she can study mathematics in an era and in a country where women are not encouraged to do much beyond raise a family. Then when she is older, she settles for a man who isn't really interested in a commitment. She accepts a lot less than she really wants from him. And she rethinks every moment she has with him, trying to find any sign that he might want more.

A friend reminds her to "Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind. When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her."

It is such a succinct reminder of how two people can experience the same moment in such different ways.

A lot of the stories in the book are a little heartbreaking - and in taking a break from reading "The New Yorker," I was disappointed to see that several of the stories were ones I'd already read in recent years in "The New Yorker." But there are some pieces where a little ray of hope shines through in the most unusual of circumstances.

Pluto's - good food, bad design

Okay, I really don't hang out at Santana Row all that often, but I found myself there again last weekend after a shopping trip to Valley Fair, which is right across Steven's Creek Boulevard. Since my mom and I had to be in San Jose anyway, we figured we'd grab lunch and a movie at Santana row.

It seemed a good chance to continue on with Resolution No. 2 and try another new restaurant. The restaurant I really wanted to try was the gourmet burger place, The Counter. But instead, keeping in line with my healthy eating kick, I opted for Pluto's a few storefronts down. As it turns out, Pluto's is one of the more affordable options at Santana Row (aside from perhaps Subway) and the food is quiet tasty. They offer large salads with all the fixings, sandwiches and sides. I opted for a green salad with my choice of dressing and toppings. You can pick up to seven, plus a meat. I went with tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, eggs, croutons, grilled chicken and corn.

The only problem with Pluto's is the system set up for ordering. The best way to describe it is a really busy college dining hall, where every one queues up and waits for their turn to go through the line and select what items they want - only it's really noisy and hard to hear what the servers are saying and there is not a whole lot of space as three or four servers try to help three or four customers at a time. When I was waiting in line, I got a dirty look from the guy behind me for not hearing the server call for the next person. Apparently he was really anxious to get his salad.

The servers basically toss up the lettuce, toppings and dressing in a big metal bowl and then dump it onto a plate. It turned out to be pretty heavy for a salad. Once I had it, my mom was still in line for a turkey sandwich - the line hadn't moved yet. So I stood holding my very heavy salad while I waited in line. There were a lot of people waiting in a small space for their sandwiches and sides before they moved on to pay.

The only plus of the whole, weird ordering process was that a lot of the tables were empty because so many people were still waiting for their food. I decided to grab a table - and put down the huge salad while my mom waited for her sandwich.

Once we got the food, it was quite tasty. Unlike other salad bars, the veggies were cooked a little so the broccoli wasn't as tough as it can be raw and the mushrooms were sauteed up nicely. The turkey sandwich used freshly carved turkey - we know because the bird was sitting on a counter under a heat lamp. For a large salad, a sandwich, a side of onion rings and two drinks, it was $20, which anyone who has eaten at Santana Row knows is comparably cheap. I definitely would eat at Pluto's again - and next time I'll listen more closely for the server to call on the next customer in line.

Oscar surprises and predictability

I watched the Academy Awards last night - sort of. My version of watching the Academy Awards is setting the DVR to record it, letting it record for at least an hour and then watching it. That gives me the ability to fast forward through all the speeches by people I've never heard of before. It really speeds up the three-and-a-half hour show.

I found the hosts this year, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, funny enough most of the time. I have to give the edge to Alec for the funnier lines. The show was produced by Alan Shankman, who is a judge on "So You Think You Can Dance" and has been involved in dance movies such as "Step Up," "Step Up 2: The Streets" and "Hairspray." Knowing that, I wasn't at all surprised when a dance troupe took the stage for the presentation of the award for best score. But a lot of other viewers may have wondered about it.

The presentation of the best actor and actress awards also was a surprise. This year, five people took the stage and paid homage to each of the nominees - most often a costar, sometimes a director and in one case a producer. It was a little too much of a pat on the back for me. Yeah, we all know the Academy thinks these people are great. Do we really need an awkward tribute as the camera switches back and forth between the nominee and the person talking about how awesome they are? Of course, it was nice to see Jeff Bridges get a little weepy-eyed as Michelle Pfeiffer talked about him. The only tribute that was truly worth listening to, however, was Stanley Tucci's to Meryl Streep. He was funny and clever in a way that paid respect to the great actress without feeling overly earnest.

As always there were some surprises among the winners and some that were totally predictable. This year I'd seen more of the best picture nominees than I usually see - partly since I see a lot more movies since I've started writing a movie column for the Weekend Pinnacle and partly because there were 10 movies nominated. Of the nominees I saw "Up in the Air," "District 9," "Blind Side," "Avatar," and "Up." Back when I wrote up my predictions in February, I was rooting for "Up in the Air" to win though I thought the honor might go to "Avatar" for James Cameron's awesome new technology.

In the end, the best picture award went to "The Hurt Locker," which has long been on my list of movies to see since a few people I know said it was really good. I will be sure to see it now since one of my resolutions is to see all the Best Picture winners.

When I wrote my predictions back in February, I wanted George Clooney to win for his performance in "Up in the Air." But then I saw "Crazy Heart" and Jeff Bridges blew me away as Bad Blake, a country singing who is more than just a little down and out. Bridges just encompassed the role so much I forgot it was him on the screen. Bridges turn is heartbreaking and moving, and he does his own singing on screen. He won and he deserves it.

One of the big surprises for me was the winner for best actress. Though I had not seen the movie, I thought Helen Mirren had the best shot at the award. But the Oscar went to Sandra Bullock for her turn in "The Blind Side." It was a great performance.

The one category I was certain about was best animation. If there was ever a cartoon that deserved an Oscar it is "Up." The movie somehow condensed a life worth of loving someone into a four-minute interlude. When they showed the clips during the Award, I almost got weepy again just thinking about it.

Avatar, surprisingly, did not get wins for Best Picture or Best Directing. It did get Oscars in two deserving categories, including Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. The art direction award was deserved for the creation of Pandora, with its lush forests, wild creatures and the way it looked. Of course, a great cinematography was needed to make it all look great.

See the complete list of winners here.

A few go-to lunch spots are a must

It's a necessity to have a few good restaurants within walking distance of where one works. Even though I bring my lunch from home most days, there are those occasions when there are no leftovers to pack or when I just don't feel like eating a meal two days in a row.

When I worked at San Jose State University, I had an hour lunch so it was easy to select a place that I could walk to, order and eat while still getting back to the office on time. Grande's, an Italian and pizza place, on the corner of Fourth and San Carlos streets was the go-to place. It was just up the block from my office in MacQuarrie Hall and I ate their countless times with my friends. I think the keys where that it was close and it was relatively affordable. Other favorites included Togo's, also on Fourth Street, Iguana's taqueria and (at least when someone else was footing the bill) Il Fornaio.

Since my job is a busy one now, it helps to have a place that will take phone orders and is a quick walk from the office as my go-to place.

When I was working in the Pinnacle office in Gilroy, I went home for lunch most days. But on the days when I wanted to eat out, it worked perfectly that my favorite Mexican restaurant in town was directly across from the building in which I worked. Cielito Lindo is a little whole in the wall place in downtown Gilroy that has the best flautas ever. The service is good. The food is good. It's a place that only locals know and I make sure to take friends visiting from out of town there.

Now that I've been working in downtown Hollister for a while now I know most of the restaurants within a few block radius. The top choice most times I want to grab a quick lunch is The Elegant Touch. They serve sandwiches, homemade soups, a daily special and mini eclairs that are delicious. The main reason it's at the top of the list is that it is right across the street, I can call in my order and they have the menu up online so it's easy to decide what I want.

This week I wanted something light for lunch and decided to try a new restaurant that's been open for a while in downtown. The spot on San Benito Street has been a bit of a revolving door for restaurants. I stopped going to it when my friends and I went for lunch one day to eat in. We ordered sodas - and had drunk half of them - when my coworker noticed ants floating in the drinks. When we informed the girl at the counter that there were ants in the soda, her response was "Oh yeah. that happens every morning in the soda machine." That was enough to make me not go back.

But the place is under new ownership again, with a new chef, a new menu and a new name. My coworkers had been mentioning how good the food is at the Knife and Fork Cafe for months. So finally this week when I didn't have much of a lunch packed, I decided to try it out. The restaurant doesn't have a Web site, which is a minus, but the staff was willing to fax me a copy of the lunch menu. I selected a Mediterranean salad with greens, kalamata olives and feta cheese. The salad was slightly overdressed for me since I usually prefer my dressing on the side, and it had green onions in it, which I don't really like. It came with a couple slices of ciabatta garlic bread. But overall the ingredients were fresh and tasty. The salad was about the same price as others at downtown restaurants. I'm not really counting this as eating at a new restaurant (Resolution No. 2) since I didn't technically eat at the restaurant. But the salad was good enough I will be back to try the sandwiches or specials.

Risotto requires virtue - or at least patience

I bought a new kitchen gadget at Crate and Barrel a couple weeks ago - a microplane zester. So to make good use of it, I looked for a recipe that would make use of it. I found an Alton Brown recipe for mushroom and asparagus risotto on the Food Network Web site. The zester would come in handy for the freshly grated parmesan cheese as well as freshly grated lemon zest that the recipe required.

Most of the recipe seemed simple enough. But the only thing that worried me a bit is that the recipe calls for arborio rice, cooked slowly over low heat. I don't have a good track record when it comes to cooking rice dishes. I always try to make the Spanish rice my grandma used to make, but I've only gotten it right once. Most of the time some of the rice turns out mushy and other bits remain crispy. So unless the rice is instant rice or a box of Rice-a-Roni, I don't do well.

But I read over Alton's recipe carefully - several times - and I thought I could manage it if I followed it carefully line by line.

Apparently the key to making a creamy risotto is slowly adding in liquid, allowing the rice to absorb it, and then adding more liquid. The recipe said it would take about 35 to 40 minutes to cook. So after stirring the rice almost continuously for that long, I took a little taste - and the rice was still crunchy. I had a lot of liquid left still so I added more to the pan and continued stirring. Another 15 minutes and the rice was still crunchy. Nearly an hour and a half later, when I was about ready to give up, the rice suddenly turned soft. It was almost an instantaneous change.

The risotto was amazingly tasty and well worth the wait. But it won't be a recipe that makes it into the weekly rotation - it will be reserved for once in a while.

Photo by Melissa Flores


Mushroom and asparagus risotto takes a lot of stirring and time to make right.