Here’s Hoping Mt. Rubidoux

Posted on by
Reply
Will the cross remain?

Will the cross remain?

In 1838 the Mexican government gave what was then known as Mount Pachappa to a man named Juan Bandini. In 1847 a man named Louis Rubidoux established a ranch called Rancho Rubidoux and renamed Mt. Pachappa to Mt. Rubidoux. In 1906 Frank Miller, the owner o the Mission Inn, along with Henry E. Huntington and Charles E. Loring, formed what they called the Huntington Park Association and purchased Mt. Rubidoux. In 1907 after completing initial improvements to the mountain (a road and very large cross), the top was  dedicated to Father Junipero Serra (of the famed California Missions). In 1909, the first Easter sunrise service was held at the top of the mountain. The tradition grew and other things like the 1925 Peace Tower were soon added.Wanting to give a gift back to the city, in 1955 the heirs of Frank Miller gifted Mt. Rubidoux to the City of Riverside. Their were only two caveats to the deal: the land had to always remain open to the public and the cross had to stay.

A plaque memorializing the first Easter Sunrise Service.

A plaque memorializing the first Easter Sunrise Service.

That of course is all history, fast forward to today and Mt. Rubidoux park is a wonderful park enjoyed by all of Riverside. With a city improved trail one can enjoy many miles of trails. Climb to the top and you can go right up to the cross, and if you can survive the wind enjoy a full 360 degree view of Riverside. You can still bounce along the  Peace Tower bridge. Or, my favorite thing to do, race down the hill at full speed. At least you can still do that until Thursday.

On Thursday, April 11th, Mt. Rubidoux will be sold to the highest bidder at auction. About a year ago the ACLU threatened to sue the city because they said that the cross on top of Mt. Rubidoux was a threat to religious freedom. This is the first complaint in the 60 years of the cross’ existence and the letter came from Virginia. Times being how they are the city has no money to battle the ACLU, so the decision was made to auction the site rather than to have to risk a lawsuit.

A nice view of the Peace Tower and bridge.

A nice view of the Peace Tower and bridge.

A group called Totally Mt. Rubidoux is trying to raise funds to keep the site open and the cross intact. I commend their efforts, but it is difficult to say what will become of Mt. Rubidoux after Thursday. With that in mind I knew I had to make a trek the mountain one more time. Once again I took the curvy road up to the top. I stood at base of the cross, felt the wind rush by me while I watched Riverside slowly awake on a Saturday morning. As I came down I read each one of the many dedicatory plaques memorializing the people and events that make the history of Mt. Rubidoux. I passed under the Peace Tower bridge. I ran as fast I could down the mountain. It was fun, I got up to a 5 minute mile pace!

I had to make sure I got to see the cross one more time. I wonder if in the future it will be there and if so will we still be able to go all the way to the top.

I had to make sure I got to see the cross one more time. I wonder if in the future it will be there and if so will we still be able to go all the way to the top.

As I passed by the park gates at the bottom I paused for a moment looked back and wondered if I would ever be able to do that again. Things I suppose have to change. Sometimes it is good, sometimes not so much. Hopefully, the top of Mt. Rubidoux stays open, but that cannot be guaranteed.I have hope the cross will stay on the mountain and I know most of the land will remain open to the public. What I don’t know is if the cross will stay and if it does stay how much access will be granted to see the cross. Will we still be able to touch the cross? Will we still be able to cross the Peace Tower bridge? It is good however to hope and it was good be able to see the cross one more time. I just hope it isn’t the last time.

Speaking of hope and change I do have some good news of change. That of my continuing weight loss. I weighed myself in on Saturday and I was 192.2. That is 5.8 pounds from when I started this new sugar challenge. Not as much weight loss this week, but my body fat is down to 20% (it was 21 percent last week), so I am confident the fat is starting to burn. I had to stop the Vitamin D supplements. My body broke out in hives, I think it was from Vitamin D toxicity. Even though I have been able to keep up my challenge it has been hard. Mostly it is awkward. We were invited over for dinner the other day and for dessert everyone was having lemon meringue pie and I was eating a mango. Although, I believe in follow through so I am sticking to it. I am confident in the outcome, so awkwardness or not I will continue as planned.

UPDATE: Totally Mt. Rubidoux won the bid. They bought the park for $10,500. The good news is that their plans include keeping the park open. How they achieve that is going to be interesting, but rumours have it that they have raised $300,000 in a trust fund, so that should be a great start.

He Is Risen: Celebrating Easter

Posted on by
Reply

Never can go wrong with a picture with a person in a huge bunny suit.

Like most holidays in the USA, there is a religious side to the holiday and a marketing side to the holiday. I guess living in a capitalist nation such I do it is bound to happen. Unfortunately, most holidays in the USA have (in my opinion) gone too much to the marketing side.

Luckily with Easter the marketing has gone so overboard that the marketing part has been pushed to a different day than the holiday. Easter is always celebrated on Sunday but with all the egg coloring, bunny festivals, chocolates, and eventually egg hunting there is no time for the marketing gimmicks on Sunday. So what happens is that it all gets played out on Saturday.

Which I think is great because I have no idea what bunny rabbits and colored eggs have to do with Easter, but if someone wants to have a party with them on the Saturday before Easter it doesn’t bother me.

So with that we spent our Saturday afternoon downtown doing all sorts of crazy things with peeps, gathered lots of chocolate, and even got a balloon penguin. Hey, if a egg laying bunny can magically appear, why not a penguin too?!!

Sunday, however is a totally different matter. Sunday is the day, there are lots of religious holidays, but this is THE DAY. There are many important religious aspects to my life but I can think of none more powerful than what Jesus Christ has done for me and all of humanity. I have read a lot, but I do not claim to begin to know what exactly what the atonement means for me in my life. I do know that he has risen and that because he did I have a chance. I just need to find a way to accept the gift.

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20:31

 

Running Away From Death, Literally!

Posted on by
1

As I was running I kept singing in my head “I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of the rain…”

Last Thursday the RPD Baker to Vegas team went out to practice their legs in the race. For those not familiar with the Baker to Vegas race, it is a 140 miles relay race that as the name describes goes from Baker, CA and ends in Las Vegas, NV. The event is huge with law enforcement teams from across the nation participating.

Running in the middle of the desert was interesting. First of all, there was the matter of getting to the start line which is actually 21 miles outside of Baker, CA. The road I was running on was called Death Valley Road. Yeah, that’s right I was running in the middle of Death Valley. If that doesn’t sound insane, I don’t know what does. Amazingly, I did really good. I ran at a 8:01 pace which is the fastest I have ever run. Does that mean I am solar powered?

In other news the sugar busting challenge is seeing really good results. The first three days were hard with the sugar cravings. To make it worse they had a birthday party at work and I was handed the first piece of cake. Yeah, I can hear people now saying “oh you didn’t have to eat it” but it isn’t really that easy. There are definite social repercussions from abstaining. Not saying the benefits don’t override the negatives, but to not be aware of everything is dumb. In the end I ate a few small bites and then went back to work. In my line of work the social interaction is worth a few bites of sugar. Despite that minor setback I have been true to my challenge and the results are really good. I am down to 192.8 pounds (shorts, a t shirt, no shoes). That is 5.2 pounds in one week!! Can’t beat that. What is funny is with my anemia problem I have increased my calorie intake and I am still losing weight . As far as that goes, I just visited my doctor and things are going good. Still a little low on my Vitamin D and Iron levels, but the trend is getting better. The doctor says if I can get my Vitamin D level up higher it might actually help increase my metabolism and burn off more fat, so I am excited about that.

 

30 Day Sugar Busting

Posted on by
4

I have once again reached a plateau in my weight loss strategy. I have had so many plateaus now in my weight loss journey that I now know that a plateau means that my body has now reached a new set point. It isn’t something that I can point to right away, but after three weeks of steady weight (not really going up or down) I know something new has to be added to the mix. I have been avoiding giving up sugar for a long time, but now it is time to cut down. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in eliminating anything from my diet, but you do have to understand your body and keep it in moderation. What is good for me is not necessarily good for someone else.

Anyhow, in order to get through this next plateau I am going with a reduced sugar plan. It is very simple plan. For the next 30 days I will not any anything that would be labelled as a “sweet food”. This includes (but not limited to: cake, candy, chocolates, juice, honey, most breads, and artificial sweeteners. I know artificial sweeteners are not sugar, but I have found they cause a reaction in me and I often crave more sugar after eating them. I am giving myself some exceptions. If I make the juice myself I can drink it (because I know I am not going to add sugar), once every other day I can eat up to 70 calories of dark (70% or higher) chocolate (good for the heart), whole fruit is unlimited (I never met anyone get fat by just eating fruit), and small amounts of peanut butter is ok (good protein source for running).

In order to accomplish this feat I am going to need to monitor my food intake a little bit better. All food we eat turns into glucose (body sugar), but if I can keep my glucose levels regular I am hoping to avoid insulin spikes. Anytime there is a increase of insulin in the body it tells the body to store energy, which turns into fat. If your glucose level goes down, you get hungry and with the level of exercise I am doing my body screams at me to bring the glucose level back up. That is bad however because it is almost impossible to bring it up without overshooting. The best way is to keep it steady. My plan to do this is going to be by eating more protein. Protein also gets converted to glucose in the body, but a lot slower than refined sugar. I am going to attempt to get my protein sources from more stable foods such as meats, avocados, and nuts.

We shall see how it goes. As with any goal if it is not measurable, it isn’t a good goal. My current weight is 198. I plan to post again in 14 days to see how I am doing. If you don’t see a post by 4/7/13 feel free to give me a call and ask me how I am doing.

Being Healthy on the Streets of Bakersfield

Posted on by
Reply

Being that we were in the grapevine you have to assume they were going to promote veggies.

You would think Bakersfield would be a very healthy city. It is pretty much the capital of the California’s bread basket. Carrots, corn, tomatoes, grapes, you name it they pretty much grow it in and around Bakersfield. Despite the plethora of farm fresh foods Bakersfield is not a healthy city. Bakersfield ranks #7 in national obesity rates. I can’t blame the city, there is a lot of good food in Bakersfield (Dewar’s is a personal favorite). Not only that, the city is kind of spread out and there isn’t really good public transportation. You might think I am just being down on the city but there is data to back me up. According to the California Center for Public Health and Advocacy44% of Bakersfield students are currently overweight.

Bakersfield however is a very resilient cityand it is making some really good strides to improve on their growing obesity problem. Spending a day in Bakersfield I was very happy to see some of the ways Bakersfield is tackling the weight problem. Early in the moring I took a run along the Kern river. I ran 10 miles, five miles out and back. Not only do they have an excellent running trail, I saw 5 parks along the way. That is a park for every mile!

Mercy Hospital had the biggest presence at the health fair.

As if visiting Bakersfield’s parks weren’t enough we just happened to be in town for the annual Bakersfield Health Fair. It was held at the Rabobank Theater. It was a fun fair. Not that big but it was free and there was lots of information given out.

AJ was really excited about the appearance of Curious George. AJ also enjoyed playing a giant Dance, Dance Revolution. As for me (John) I enjoyed reading all the information. I even got a basic health screening:
Blood Pressure 91/54: Heart Rate: 59 Cholesterol: 100 Blood Sugar (non-fasting): 90
Not too bad. I also got my feet checked out. Turns out my arches are a little low, but I was able to get some really good insoles (a REALLY early birthday present).

Overall, it was a good day. I learned a lot. I hope Bakersfield learned a lot too. Obesity is not something you really for which you want to be recognized nationally.

Guatemalean Food Adventures

Posted on by
Reply

Riverside is a very interesting place to explore. We live in the neighborhood known as Arlington. It isn’t a very rich part of town. Normally a poor neighborhood means that it is a bad part of town, but that is not the case with Arlington. Mostly it means that Arlington is a very ethnically diverse part of the city. When I walk home everyday I can often smell lots of interesting smells and wonder what my neighbors are cooking. What is cooking beyond those doors remains a mystery, but there is one note of condolence in the action. There are a lot of ethnic specific stores where I live.

Denise and I had passed by Tzuluma many times. I have always wanted to check it out. When we were in Guatemala I didn’t really see much diversity in the food. If I were to describe the food of Guatemala based on what I saw when I was there I would have to say fried chicken and pizza. Seemed like they were selling those two things on every corner when we were there. So it was with a lot of curiosity that I entered Tzuluma on Magnolia Avenue, trying to see if I could find anything that resembled a regular Guatemala staple. This is what I found:

There were lots of things, but I found the snack food the most interesting. There were lots of different chips and cookies available, but I settled on the Tortix chips and the Chiky cookies. As it turns out they were not that exotic. The Tortrix chips were basically Fritos and the Chiky cookies were just vanilla wafer cookies covered with chocolate on the bottom. Good but nothing that remarkable.
Surprisingly, it was the “cereal” Incaprina that was very different. Notice I used quotation marks. The package was in english and when I thought about the prospect of hot cereal made out of corn and soy I was kind of thinking of cream of wheat or maybe grits, but that was not the case. I followed the instructions exactly like it said on the back of the package. It was really simple 4 tablespoons of Incaparina, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, a little bit of cinnamon to taste, and 1 liter of water (luckily I have a measuring cup that can measure that). I boiled it like it said for 10 minutes, but it didn’t get thick. I was wondering if I did something wrong but after watching a few videos I found out I did it exactly right. The consistency of the drink was what I would call atole (a Mexican cornmeal based drink). It was sweet like hot chocolate, but I found it was a very energetic drink. At first I thought the energy was coming from the sugar, but reading the back of the package I found out that Incaparina is very nutrient dense. It has a lot of Iron (which is good because I am low on that these days), Protein, and Vitamin D. I am not lactose intolerant, but I could see how this would be a great milk substitute for those that were. As it is I think I might start using this as a post run recovery drink.

In other news all goes well. It has been rather busy. Lots to write about, but not much time to write about them :(. I am hoping to have some more time to write. I like to write, but it seems to become the last on a ever increasing list of things to do.

Out of the 200s

Posted on by
1

Side shot of me at 198 lbs.

I was going to write about this last week but I got busy so today will have to do. As of last week I am officially out of the 200’s. I weighed in last Saturday (1/19) at 198 lbs. This morning (1/26) I weighed in at 196 lbs. after my morning run. So far the total weight loss since September 2011 is 109 lbs. Some weeks it is up, but luckily most weeks it is down.

These days I am concentrating a lot on working on my speed. I have been running on Tuesdays with a running group called the Riverside Roadrunners at UCR to do interval training. Interval training is when you run laps at different speeds in an effort to increase your overall performance. The track at UCR is 400 meters. Actually, that is lane one, we are only allowed to use lane 4 so we run 420 meters. By running at different speeds around the track I have been able to safely push myself to faster paces. It is also a really good fat burning excercise. As of this morning (1/26) I measured my body fat at 19.7%. I haven’t been as aggressive on targeting my body fat, but I am trying to get it down to 15%. I probably will not do that until after I reach my weight goal of 184 lbs. but it is still good to keep it in mind. At the grocery store I put my arm in one of those automatic blood pressure things it was 117/66 with a resting heart rate of 57 BPM.

Most of what I do is the same old thing I do everyday. It is still a lot of trial and error. I learn whatever I can, then I experiment on it for a bit, if it works I keep it, if not I try something different. The follow is another pictorial progress shot…

Me at 305 lbs.

Me at 255 lbs.

Me at 220 lbs.

Me at 198 lbs. 1/26/13

2013 Citrus Heritage 5K Run, Riverside, CA

Posted on by
2

A big thank you to the Riverside Roadrunners for putting on a great race.

I don’t know what exactly happened with my alarm but when I woke up and and the alarm clock said 6:44 AM I was in a panic. The pre-race email I got the day before said the race was going to start promptly at 8:00 AM. Not that I actually believed the email (haven’t had a race start exactly on time yet), but you never know. So getting dressed as fast as we could, it was a quick splash of water to the face,we piled in the car, and raced off to Arlington Sports Park as fast as we could. Luckily for us 1) the race did not start on time, and 2) it is only 4 miles to the Arlingto Sports Park from our apartment (given enough time I could have walked).

I had brought my UCSB (go Gauchos) windbreaker with me. My plan was to hand it over to Denise right before the race, but in 28 degree weather I was not up for giving up my jacket. It was really cold. It was so cold that when the starting horn went off and I started running I knew I was going fast because my lips were literaly freezing due to the windchill. At first they hurt, but then they got numb. My Scout training said that was bad, but my feet were just flooring it. After a few minutes I looked at my GPS and it told me I was going at a 5:34 pace. Despite running with the leaders I knew that was not a good pace for me. I could have probably kept it up for a little longer, but it would have meant risking a potential crash on the course.

Going with the mantra “nice and steady”, I backed off my sprinting pace and made my way into my first curve. It was a good thing I backed off my early sprint because it wasn’t long before I faced the first of three very steep hills in the race. Luckily, they were not very long, but they were long enough to knock the wind out of me. The only two times I really stopped (walked) during the race was at a water stop (I didn’t bring any with me) and at the last hill. As soon as I got up that last hill however I started to “rev up the engines” once more. The last half mile was mostly down hill and I took the advantage. On the last .2 miles I could see the finish and I pushed it to my max. Looking at my runkeeper I was running a 5:01 pace at the end, that is about 12 miles an hour if you were driving in your car. Not as fast as a lamborghini, but your not going to be catching me in your golf cart.

Finishing, I knew I had done well, but I was a bit too tired to stick around for the official times to post. Luckily, we live in a modern age where you can access your email from your phone, and so I had my official time by noon. The official time was 26:17, for an average pace of 8:27 per mile (or about 7.1 miles an hour). This was also an official PR (Personal Record) for me in the 5K category. I placed 48 out of 302 finishers which puts me in the top 16%. It also makes me a contender for the “Corral A” group (you neeed to have a sub 25 race to get in). They get a guaranteed spot at the starting line in the really big races and a really low number (my bib number was 319). I am getting really fast, but to put it in perspective the 2012 5K Gold Medalist for the London Olympics ran his 5K in 13:41. I am not quite ready for the big time, but I will say that even an Olympian can’t lap me now, and that is saying something!

Mr. Ramen, Little Toyko, Los Angeles, CA

Posted on by
1

 

Sometimes it is OK to try new places.

I could talk about my first food of the new year but that was an apple. Apples are really good, I mean it was a Fuji apple, but I don’t think many people would get too excited about reading about it. If you got here via Google Search you are probably really disappointed right now in this whole post because the picture to the left is about ramen and here I am talking about a dumb apple. An apple that I didn’t even take a picture of, but I keep writing about it as if it were the best apple ever, and it wasn’t!

OK! OK! I will talk about the ramen. It is what I titled this post. Today after seeing the Tournament of Roses Parade we decided to take the Gold Line Metro a little further and go into Little Toyko. Our goal was to go to Daikokuya, my favorite ramen shop, but when we got there the line was long. Very long. So long that after waiting for hours on Colorado Blvd. I knew I had no hopes of getting my family to wait another two hours for a bowl of ramen. So thanks to Yelp I found out that the #3 rated ramen shop in Los Angeles was just a few doors down the street.

Overall nice presentation.

As far as ambiance goes I have to say that Mr. Ramen has none. The restaurant consists of a few sparse tables pushed up to a really long wall and a few random paintings on the wall. I tried to figure out the theme, but between the hugging fish, the left over napkin drawings, and the sumo posters I was stumped. The music was reggae music, which was ok, but kind of weird for being in Little Toyko. It wasn’t that bad though, overall it was clean and we were really there for noodles anyhow.

As far as the noodles go they were pretty good. I had the pork Shouyu (soy) ramen with a side order of Gyoza. The Gyoza were good nothing special, but they were good. The noodles were thick and al dente, which is exactly how I like my noodles. They looked like they were made by a machine, but they tasted good. The broth was hot, but felt a little thin as far as restaurant ramen goes. The egg and pork were a bit cold, and the egg was not boiled in the broth. The ramen had a good presentation with all the usual accompaniments. The price for the combo was $9.95 (a bit high overall, but normal for the area).

Overall, I have to say I enjoyed this place. It was a very good ramen shop, better than most, but it was not the greatest. Don’t get me wrong. If you are an American and all you have ever had is Cup O Ramen Soup, this is going to be a whole different world to you. The type of ramen I write about is a whole different ballgame than what you are probably used to. That said, so far the greatest in the CA ramen market is still Daikokuya (in my opinion). If it were up to me I would have waited 2 hrs. for Daikokuya. If I really pressed my family I could have done it, but then I would have made everyone miserable and who wants to do that?! I am not sure if there is anyone out there better than Daikokuya but there is still one big player in Little Tokyo that I haven’t tried yet, Orochan Ramen. So I guess I am going to have to go there and see if there is someone who makes a better ramen than Daikokuya, but I doubt it.