A Chicana’s running heroes

This is how I psych myself up for a marathon: reading about some awesome runners.

René Cuahuizo and Juan Jesús López
René and Juan are the only guys on this list who are not professionals or runners at the elite level. It doesn’t matter. They’re still fast and I still find their stories inspirational. Last year, René and Juan, were tapped to accompany Edison Peña, the Chilean miner known for running up to 6 miles a day while trapped in a mine, during the NY Marathon. Oh yeah, that was on a couple days’ notice. After the race, they still had to go to work at their respective restaurants. Who says Mexican immigrants don’t work hard?

Desiree Davila
Usually when I think of Chula Vista athletic standouts, I think of Little League teams that go on to the Little League World Series. Now I think of it as the place where Desi Davila was born and raised before going off to hone her skills as a runner at Arizona State. Desi Davila now lives in Michigan and trains with the Hanson-Brooks running team. In April, she was the female runner up at the Boston Marathon. Her 2:22:38 was the fastest ever by an American woman in Boston. Her time makes her the third fastest American woman in the marathon (behind Deena Kastor and Joan Benoit Samuelson).

Ana Guevara
I wrote the following in an old post about my memories of being in Mexico during the 2004 Olympics: In 2004, the hype was all about Ana Guevara, a sprinter favored to win the 400 meter dash. While out dancing one Friday night, everyone in the club stopped to watch one of the preliminary heats. Everyone cheered loudly and ordered celebratory shots when Ana won that heat. On the day of the final in 400 meter, my cousin woke me up cheers of “¡Vamos, Ana!” Almost all Olympics commercials featured Ana. It was pretty exciting. But Ana didn’t win gold, she won the silver.

Leonel Manzano
Things I have in common with Leonel Manzano: roots in Guanajuato, we’re bilingual, he’s on Twitter and he wants to inspire youth to do their best. Differences: a bunch more. Leo made a name for himself winning a bunch of Texas state championships, then going on to University of Texas, Austin and being a standout there. In 2008, he represented the US in Beijing. He’s fast thanks to a lot of hard work and genetics. Leo is a small guy, but he has a large heart that can “pump more blood and oxygen to his muscles than most men his size” (NY Times). Leo’s personal best in the mile is 3:50:64.

Sylvia Mosqueda
We have the same surname and are both from the San Gabriel Valley. The similarities end there. Sylvia Mosqueda is a pro, I’m slow. She’s had a long career winning a 10,000 meters NCAA championsip (1988), qualifying for the Olympic trials several times, and winning or being the runner up for the USA half marathon title. Her personal bests are 10,000 meters is 31:54:03 (1996), 1:10:46 (2002) for the half marathon, and 2:44:47 (2002) in the marathon. Sylvia has also coached at the collegiate level. Once at a running store, the cashier asked Lori and me if we were related to Sylvia. We shook our heads no. If we were, we’d be a whole lot faster.

Arnulfo Quimare
Arnulfo’s Quimare’s talent for distance running is documented in Christopher McDougall’s bestseller Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. In McDougall’s first description of Quimare, he writes: “While searching for a guide, I’d learned that Arnulfo Quimare was the greatest living Tarahumara runner, and he came from a clan of cousins, brothers, in-laws, and nephews who were nearly as good.” He’s amazing and fast, holding his own agaist Scott Jurek, a top American ultramarathon runner, during the inaugural Copper Canyon Marathon organized by the book’s protagonist, Caballo Blanco. Read Born to Run, you’ll be inspired by Arnulfo’s humility and speed as well as by the Raramurí (aka Tarahumara), the Running People, who live in Chihuahua’s Copper Canyons. [Photo by Luis Escobar]

The USATF has a list of other Hispanic runners and coaches in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Listed

27 days (or less) to fix my slacker ways

Goal:
Be as bad ass as the huntress/warrior woman in the mural above.

More specifically…

Health & fitness
1. Run a personal best at the LB Marathon; I have more ambitious time goals than sub 4:23, but I’m not so sure how that’ll work out with the hamstring issues and cold
2. Begin half marathon training (for Holiday Half on December 12th)
3. Start strength training
4. Eat out less
5. Try more new recipes

That dissertation thing
1. STOP SLACKING. Seriously.
2. Chapter 3 drafted, sent to the advisor. Chapter 2 revised.

Job1 & Job2
1. Write my section of the report for one of our external funders
2. Finish the qualitative institutional reports
3. Start remembering the names of the new students

La boda (the wedding) [with Sean]
1. Update our budget, make a plan to save enough and pay any outstanding deposits
2. Schedule our engagement shoot with Michael, our photographer
3. Ask our bridesmaids and groomsmen to be part of our wedding party
4. Ask X to be my maid of honor
5. Meet Sean’s extended family at our informal Long Island engagement party
6. Work with our graphic designers on our save-the-dates and invites

The blog
1. Post two DIY costumes per week

Other
1. Get my Halloween costume together
2. Make an overkill jar for all the words and phrases Sean and I say way too much

Halloween

Halloween on a budget: George Lopez (post ‘Lopez Tonight’)

Whenever I put together my Halloween costume suggestions, I try to include some related to current events or scandals. Frankly, I had a tough time thinking up some for this year. A lot of the current events on my mind are not things I feel comfortable joking about for a fun and festive day like Halloween.

After watching TV last night, the idea came to me: George Lopez… post cancellation of Lopez Tonight

I know a lot of people were upset when TBS cancelled Lopez’s late night show in August. Some people seemed to be upset that yet another hardworking Chicano had lost his job. The recession has hit Latinos the hardest out of any other ethnic group. Others were bothered by the lack of diversity on prime time and late night television. I can appreciate the sentiment, even if you rarely watched Lopez Tonight. I didn’t, but I don’t have cable.

George Lopez (post-Lopez Tonight) costume

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A nice suit

2. White dress shirt

3. Bright colored tie

4. Dress shoes (with black socks! guys, you shouldn’t have to be reminded)

5. Spiky salt and pepper hair

6. Bleached white teeth

7. Silly faces and lots of hand gestures

8. Pink slip with CANCELLED, Lopez Tonight and TBS logos sticking out of your suit pocket in lieu of a handkerchief

If you do something after work on Halloween (a Monday), you won’t even have to go home and change. You can just put the pink slip in your pocket.

Halloween

Halloween on a budget: Luchadora

I started the Halloween on a budget series in 2007 as a way to showcase original, sometimes culturally relevant, inexpensive and homemade costumes. Judging by the amount of hits my blog gets around this time of year, I’d say I’ve met my objective for Lotería Chicana even if I don’t follow my own advice.

When I decided I wanted to be a luchadora (female Lucha Libre wrestler) for Halloween ’09, I didn’t expect it’d be so pricey or time consuming to put together the costume. I had my mom do some sewing, but also visited 5 stores to get the items I needed.

Here’s what it cost me to become la Chicana de Oro¹:

1. Tank leotard – $21 (+ $10 shipping) via Amazon

2. Cape – $10 at Wal-Mart. I know, I know… but it was the only place still open when I needed the cape shortly before the first of a few costume parties. I know capes aren’t really a luchadora thing, but I wanted something that wouldn’t make me feel so naked.

3. Mask – $4, costume shop in Westwood. Luchadores are known for wearing the full mask over the face. Luchadoras’ masks cover their faces (sometimes leaving the jaw uncovered) and snap behind the head leaving their hair showing. I didn’t want to go for either look because covering my face makes me very uncomfortable. Some luchadoras’ masks only cover half their faces, so I figured my eye mask was okay if totally inauthentic.

4. Wrestling champion belt – $5 on sale from a costume shop in Whittier. It was red/blue on gold, but I filled it in with black Sharpie.

5. Boots – borrowed from my sister

6. Wrist cuffs – borrowed from my sister’s Batgirl costume

7. Knee pads: made by my mom, fabric and elastic purchased at Jo-Ann crafts (about $10)

8. Leggings – I’ve had these in my closet for a while. The luchadoras I’ve seen wear nude pantyhose or elaborately decorated pants, but I didn’t have time for that and liked the black and gold look.

9. Gold/black sequined butterfly face mask (pinned to the back of the cape): $5 at Shelly’s Dance shop in Westwood

Total: about $65.

It was definitely not a low budget costume, but worth it. I loved my costume and have thought about re-working it in the future as some type of superhero costume. I loved that my costume was original. I didn’t see a single other luchadora both times I wore it. Also, it made me feel sexy without having to worry about showing too much at the slightest gust of wind.

After losing 50+ pounds, I wanted to show off the results of 9 months of running and eating healthier. I felt more confident in my body but not so much that I was willing to take off the cape. Still, I wasn’t hiding behind a coat, glasses and a big hat like with the Carmen Sandiego costume in ’08.

Notes:
^[1] I chose the name la Chicana de Oro because I couldn’t think of anything more original. This was before I read about the luchadoras in Love & Rockets.

Fotos, Randomness

September summarized

September was a good month.

Labor Day weekend

Sean and I traveled to Napa/Sonoma for a wedding. We spent the rest of Labor Day weekend hanging out friends in San Francisco and Berkeley before going back to work.

Long Beach Marathon training

I got in to the dreaded peak weeks of marathon training and knocked out an 18 mile run followed by a 20 miler and a 21.5 miler. They were tough and the new aches in my knee and hamstring reflected it. I got a new pair of my trusty Brooks Adrenaline (in purple, of course).

Getting some culture

We saw the National at the Hollywood Bowl. They put on a great show (setlist and review at the LA Weekly). Sean and I were reminded once again that we really need to put together our Hollywood Bowl concert bingo. It’ll be ready for the 2012 season. Sharon van Etten and Neko Case opened for the National. (Not the National in the photo.)

A few days after the National concert, we saw “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity” at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. We saw the show off Broadway last year and had a moment to chat with playwright Kristoffer Diaz then. I’ve known Kris (via the internets) for about 7 years now and it’s neat to see his career take off. I remember when he was working on Chad Deity. The show was equally enjoyable the second time around even though our seats were up in the mezzanine rather than a few rows in front of the stage. The production was almost identical to the NY show and featured the same set design, actors (most of them) and director. Kris tweaked at least one line for the LA setting, but I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t tweeted about it. It’s tough for me describe the show, but Kris can tell you in his own words.

We went to our last Hollywood Bowl show of the season: TV on the Radio, the Arctic Monkeys, Panda Bear, Warpaint and Smith Westerns (we missed them). It was a great show (see the <a href LA Weekly review. I’ve had Arctic Monkeys’ “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” in my head since then.

Birthday celebrations

Adrian’s birthday was on the 17th, but we celebrated a few days before with a surprise BBQ at his girlfriend’s house. Alexis insisted we park our cars on a different street so we wouldn’t ruin the surprise. He had no clue we were hiding in the backyard. When Adrian came out, we yelled “surprised” and he was stunned. He responded, “you wasted the good surprise on me!” I wasn’t surprised that he quoted Big Daddy.

Two days later, my family hosted my 31st birthday party. That was a lot of fun, but also a lot work both before and after.

The following week, Alexis (brother’s girlfriend) celebrated her birthday. We joined a big group for a late dinner and drinks. I’m not sure Alexis remembered much.

Starting fall quarter

Zero week (September 19-23) is always busy for me at Job1. I work with the rest of the staff to pull off our two main events that week, a chemistry diagnostic exam and a welcome reception. I’m used to it after 6+ years at Job1, but I still find it difficult when students get the results from the exam and I have to find a tactful way to advise them about their courses for fall. It’s not easy to tell someone you think they’re unprepared for a class they’ll need.

I’m working less hours at Job2, but the projects are picking up. It’s weird how that works out.