My 2nd Marathon (and I PRed).

Posted on May 20, 2013 by jerlyn

I’m actually writing about my training journey on 30for30fit for the Tough Mudder and future races but I’m repeating this entry here since I wrote about my first half marathon here.

I did my personal record on my most recent Half Marathon race. My very 2nd half marathon ever (yes, I know I did two full marathons before). It was the Brooklyn Half Marathon and I had trained this past few weeks to get my body in the condition to run strong and fast. I didn’t go super fast but I did better than my 2:04 and dropped to 1:48. I just wanted to do better than 2 hours, and I did. Shaving off 16 minutes is a big deal for any runner. It’s because when I ﬁrst attempted this race 2 years ago I was inexperienced and I got injured at mile 7 and limped all the way to mile 13.1. I honestly wish I knew what my splits were like that year. I must’ve started off way too quickly and affected my knees. I felt the most excruciating pain which had me traumatized to even attempt this race again.

However, this weekend. I did it. I faced my fear. I even ran the entire 13.1 miles without music.

Bib: 22559
Overall place: 5742
Gender Place: 1370
Age place: 446
Finish Time: 1:48:18
Pace: 08:16

It was my ﬁrst post-Boston marathon bombing race and of course security was tight. I’m happy that it was arranged that way. NYRR did a great job at organizing the runners the way they did. Sending over 20,000 runners in two waves. I was in wave 2. Each corral had their own portable potty (smelled god awful and ran out of paper rather quickly but worked well to relieve ourselves right on time before we took off).

Talking about things that they don’t tell you about running (I need to write a post about this)… Sometimes you just need to bring your own hand sanitizer.

I woke up that morning and had some carb rich meal with some peanut butter and jogged a mile and a half to the train to take it a few stops over. I dropped my bag off and headed to my corral.

At around 7:35am we were off. It took awhile to navigate through the crowd but my splits showed that I paced well at 8:30, which I wanted. I felt strong. I actually thought that I was going too slow. The park was a breeze because it was what I was used to running. Prospect park is my home park. I breathed well all the way up that infamous climb because I knew it was all downhill out of the park.

When we got out of the park out to ocean parkway, I took a Gu to make sure that I had enough energy. I went a little faster but cautiously because I knew that I was reaching the mile that affected my knees. There was a steady incline for a little and I climbed carefully. Since I’m always worried about dehydrating, I stopped at every ﬂuid station (I kid you not it’s a bad habit). I know it affects my time (thanks to my friends who laugh at this).

Anyway, I did great pace and negative splits all the way to the end thanks to some tips from my coworker Carolyn. I even passed many runners from Wave 1.

Another different thing this year is meeting a great deal of coworkers at my current job who love running. I feel very fortunate for wanting to get better and better at it. I met up with one of them after, Wendy who I’m doing the Tough Mudder with, and we celebrated with a few beers. She also did her personal record! Anyway, next up, Tough Mudder and gosh I’m so happy to get my time on NYRR to be lower than 8:15 pace because I’m so much faster now. Dare to dream. Up next: Tough Mudder.

My fourth annual AdobeMax

Posted on May 10, 2013 by jerlyn

As of this week, it was my 4^th time attending what’s considered the biggest Adobe Commercial. It’s actually something that I enjoy because I’m what I consider a loyalist (I like tools that work and Adobe does it for me—also, I get to mingle with all sorts of creatives and fellow loyalists). Many others are absolutely against the new direction that Adobe has taken (I do invite you to comment).

There were difference reactions to the announcements this year but mine is pretty positive—being bias and all. I’m pretty excited about the features and how it will affect my career moving forward. I want to thank my very amazing boss for approving this and I can’t wait to share all this new info with my company at H4B Chelsea. This is the first time that any agency has paid for my attendance and I’m even more grateful for being employed there.

Usually, when I attend AdobeMax, I write about the experiences daily and post them on my blog but this time, I’m writing this in one entry and I decided to separate them with anchor tags so you could:

1. Choose what you’re interested in or,
2. Read this experience in its entirety.

So, feel free to select from the Table of Contents (TOC):

—Short summary and my reaction to Creative Cloud
The Cloud
Digital Publishing
Responsive Design
Price/Subscriptions, etc

—Social events at Adobe Max (Max Bash, Sneaks, New Friends, Shoutouts)

Short summary and my reaction to Creative Cloud:

The Cloud

If you are on Creative Suite 6, you’re aware of the cloud features of Adobe Suite. If you’re not, this shouldn’t come as a shock to you if you’re familiar with other cloud storages like Dropbox (which I love) and Google Drive (who provides 100gigs for less than a Starbucks coffee that I also use—I just make my coffee). Having access to a cloud that supports various devices makes life as a tech savvy gal, yours truly, run quite smoothly. I can think of many nights when I’d rather work at home where I’d drop a PSD in my DropBox from Manhattan and continue working from my iMac in Brooklyn and download it at work the following day. So kudos to cloud feature!
However, with Adobe CC, I can turn off layers on the web, share my file with other users where I can collaborate and publish them on behance (or to my site).
Back to TOC

Digital Publishing

So, not many of you know that although I’ve dabbled in InDesign for college, I hardly ever had to use it post-graduation. In fact, I often wondered why it came with my Suites at all. I love all things digital and my focus had always been Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash (I just use Dreamweaver for coding at times but I code directly in my CMS (wordpress). InDesign to me had “print” and “paper” splattered all over it and although I get hot and bothered over a well-printed piece, I always figured wasting paper myself was only increasing my carbon-footprint—no thanks.
Then came the iPad… and the over 600 books that I have on it.
People use this device… a great deal. Also, they love the kindle and they spent lots of time on their phones. So why not target them right?
I need to reach them, I want to make my work interactive, I probably don’t want to write too much code. I want to create an app but I don’t want to develop one. Voila! Adobe answered… you can create an interactive ePub and publish via the iTunes Store that reaches 10s, 100s, 1000s—oh you popular social butterfly!
This was my favorite part of Adobemax because I remembered when I first got my illustrations published as a teenager and I always wanted to put another piece out there for kids. Now, I can make it for a device that appeals to them (and do it myself now).
InDesign allows you to create layouts for all eReaders and create experiences that bring your work to life. With FolioBuilder you can organize your publications, set meta data, etc.
When it comes to using tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator, collaboration with behance helps you to publish your portfolio online as well to get the feedback that you need to create your last piece, as an individual.

Back to TOC

Responsive Design

So, have you seen all those parallax trendy websites that work on the desktop, and when you view them on the iPad it works (or has a different version for that experience), then suddenly, you try it on your mobile device and there’s an even cooler experience?
Well, you can set that up in like 10 minutes after you set up your website structure it’s so easy! Sorry devs!
No more to explain.
Just kiddin’! I started using Dreamweaver when it was v2, and I think I stopped using it as often since CS4. Opening up Dreamweaver CC and setting up fluid grid layouts was so intuitive. I was shocked how very little coding that I had to do to hide_mobile and align divs. I do have a small freelance responsive website that I’m working on now, I’ll be using Dreamweaver (or possibly MUSE) to recreate (I hope to share how it looks later… Probably on behance)

MUSE! My new favorite… because InDesign has grown on me, Muse is. It uses Masters like InDesign and I think that even print designers will get it. In the labs at adobemax, I was able to create layouts, include spiffy add-ons like sliders and publish with business catalyst. Of course I got reactions via social networks by bitter developers about this not being useful and only applies to people… The thing is, developers are always going to be needed for sites that are heavily data driven but, it’s nice to be able to start the skeletal structure and hand it off.
I’m also really happy that most of the Adobe apps are starting to look similar. Eventually, hopefully they’ll be integrated? Meh, why not.
Back to TOC

Price/Subscriptions, etc

@JeffCutler and @SocialJulio asked my reaction to this for their blogs and youtube channel and this is what I said (yes, I’m sharing this even if I hate myself being recorded). Embeded from youtube:

YouTube

This is what I really think:

Yes, I’m probably one of the many people who have had torrented programs so I know how they work. I won the Adobe Creative Suite CS4 Master Collection when I first attended AdobeMax back in 2009 so—I’m good. I also paid the $200ish for the student version of suites that I needed prior to that. Anyway, I’m very aware of many users of earlier CS versions who have torrented copies because of pricing. I didn’t even upgrade until CS6 was available for us who attended max because $900 seemed a bit much for me back in the day (still is a bit much!).
So, is the price worth it?
Coming from someone who can actually afford it now and is no longer a struggling college student (I might have to give up my gym membership for a while and run outdoors) the answer is YES.
Let’s break this down economically and consider it an investment. Creative Suite was possibly valued at $2500+ for access to the Master Collection right? The upgrades in the past could cost you along the lines of $900 right?
As a New Media Design Graduate, I loved using all the software in CS from Aftereffects to Flex/flash builder to Premiere to Dreamweaver to Photoshop, etc. They weren’t always all in the Premium packages.
Now, with the new CC subscriptions there’s just one version: CC. Meaning, as soon as the upgrades occur, you get them. You don’t have to pay another $900. You’re subscribed and it’s ongoing but think about the $2500+ you never had to pay and another 900+ on top of that for each released Suite.
I’m aware that this isn’t the best option for everyone. If you’re a student: “A subset of CC applications are available via Design & Web HED Collection, Design & Web K12 Collection, and the Adobe Video Collection, plus more add-ons are available (sold separately).”

Here are some of the other pricing (I’m rounding up the prices to the nearest 10th)
New users pay $50 monthly
For users with CS3+ you pay $30 monthly for a year
Students and teachers $20 monthly
For only one app $20 monthly
Teams are $70 per month
Existing teams pay $40 per month for a year
If you’re new, or want to “test,” there’s a 30-day trial

See a breakdown of the prices here, all available in June

Back to TOC

Social events

This year we had The Black Keys, I went not really knowing their music but realized that I knew at least two songs. Last Adobemax we had Weezer.

(photo taken by @anissat on twitter)

As usual, Adobe creates magical experiences at the Bash (and really good food).
However, I appreciated the free drinks from the pre-conference parties and the chance to mingle with friends that I know from social media. Thanks to @mayhemstudios, Calvin who I met a few months ago in person finally, I got introduced to @JeffCutler and @SocialJulio who I hung out with the most. I also met some of his other friends @andysowards and @grantfriedman. The funny thing about hanging with social media folks are their stories. They were the ones setting the paths to influence before it became easier to follow celebrities.

The general session and announcements on day 1 and 2 were quite wonderful. I always love the creativity because it makes me reconsider my work.

Here are the keynotes.

I also got the opportunity to play a game and win the Jambox by Jawebone:

We had the opportunity to create Adobe Fingerprints with the Brother printing machines so I worked on a piece of art from my iPad and went to the pavilion where I got it on a T-Shirt.

Also got some colored pencils:

I didn’t get to hang out with @stefsull this year and @asciibn couldn’t make it but I ran into @rufusd, @Beatlejase, @martineno, @anissat (who made me introduce myself to @denisejacobs whose TED talk helped put my life in perspective). I want to thank @aprilclark for trying to help me QA my work with that phantom Adobe viewer app during my lab session.

Thank you so much for making Adobemax wonderful guys, hoping to see you next year? I heard it will be in Chicago. Who really knows?
Back to TOC

Wearing nothing new for 30 days

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jerlyn

My 30-day challenge of wearing nothing new and wearing eye shadow daily has been great so far. There’s only 2 more days. I’m really trying to mix it up so that I don’t wear the same thing twice but that’s also tough since I tend to revert to outfits that I’m most comfortable with. I’ve done well though, I’ve not worn complete outfits twice (maybe the same bottoms twice). You can find the rest of the outfits for the remaining of the month under Instagram but so far here’s the first half of the month after these paragraphs that I actually liked.

As for eye shadow, I realize that I’m a pretty simple person. I know bold colors look great on my skin tone but I’m somewhat critical about makeup making women look like clowns haha. I’ve tried to avoid going overboard. I do enjoy the blends and I have followed the likes of bhadrina, xmelissamakeupx, mickipeezie, etc on Instagram.

What I love about this is realizing that:

1. I do have clothes to wear.

2. I’m saving money on clothing.

3. I need to donate clothing that I do not wear.

4. Wow there are outfits in my closet that I’ve never worn!

Here’s the gallery view the rest of it on my instagram.

I love the geometric shapes in my necklace

I loved my hair in this one

I felt classy in this and the jacket made me more serious

I loved my makeup in this one

One of my regular looks I love purple

Another hue that I love

Warm day, one of my favorite dresses

One of my best dresses but ended up having a horrible date

I made this skirt.

I absolutely adore this color!

I really love this top

Did I mention that I love purple?

Starting to get warmer

Dressed down, I feel the best like this.

Dressed down and hair just washed

I really enjoyed this look

The whole 30: changing my habits in 30 days.

Posted on April 1, 2013 by jerlyn

If you’re one of my friends you’re aware that I do these 30-day challenges to improve my life ever so slightly. I’ve done them for a couple of years now but I started mentioning it last year. I’ve done things such as: be a vegetarian for a month, be sober, have no coffee, do 50 push-ups daily, learn a yoga pose per day, run everyday for at least 1 mile, workout everyday, try Paleo, compliment a random stranger, remove refined sugars, limit salt intake, catch up with a different friend on Facebook daily, etc… just to name a few. I’ve learned something new for each experience and my friend Gardenia suggested that I document this. I’m about to.

So, I’m the type of person who cannot quit learning to improve myself so this works for me. I’ve tried so many things from tap dancing to getting a bar tending license, scuba diving, parasailing, pole dancing, shooting guns, paint ball, massage classes, drama, studying personal training, running a marathon, etc. However, I’m trying to encourage others to do the same now… in 30 days. Just choose 1 activity, or 2.

This month my challenge to improve myself is: try different eye makeup and wear nothing new. I’ll try to document most on Instagram and partial updates on this blog (which is currently being revamped since it’s about that time). Last month I ran everyday for at least one mile and I ran a total of 86 miles which was 15 miles more than what I did last year during the month of March.

I think it gets easier for me after 2 weeks has gone by since its starting to become a habit. You already do things daily that developed from creating a habit. Here’s a few other ideas if you’d like to try a challenge:

Drink a gallon of water daily
Dance everyday
Add protein and veggies to every meal
Practice a new language (I’m still trying to revisit this habit).
Take a photo per day
Sketch daily
Write daily
Cook daily
Talk to a different friend daily
Make up your own (let me know what it is!)

To start off. Here’s my outfit of the day (OOTD):

and what I did for eye makeup:

By the way… While I continue my permanent habit of remaining fit 30 days at a time follow what I’ve learned on 30for30fit on Facebook and launch of the website. <3.

Advice on men for women

Posted on March 25, 2013 by jerlyn

I’m not sure whether Oprah really said this but if she did, I’m not surprised. I do agree fully with this advice and I thought it deserved a repost (it has been reposted hundreds of times online I’m aware). Maybe after this people will stop asking me why I’m unmarried and without child.

There are many roles in life that doesn’t include playing house—lots of adventures. I’d never written out a goal that involved getting married and procreation. I’ve always wanted to make the best me that I can possibly make. Self improvement is a huge priority in my life. There’s also millions of men in the world, we all need to realize that. It’s not about settling but finding that one person that will make you the best you possible—yes, I think that may exist.

It’s unfortunate that some women want to get married so badly that they settle or get into situations what make them unhappy for years before filling their lives with bliss before they meet that special someone. When that special someone is met you will continue the adventure together.

So here’s what has circulated and unfortunately snopes couldn’t figure out whether Oprah really said it. Share:

“If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay. Stop making excuses for a man and his behavior. Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache. Stop trying to change yourself for a relationship that’s not meant to be. Slower is better.

Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.

If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can’t “be friends”. A friend wouldn’t mistreat a friend.

Don’t settle. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is. Don’t stay because you think “it will get better.” You’ll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better. The only person you can control in a relationship is you.

Avoid men who’ve got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women. He didn’t marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?

Always have your own set of friends separate from his. Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up. Never let a man know everything. He will use it against you later. You cannot change a man’s behavior. Change comes from within. Don’t EVER make him feel he is more important than you are… even if he has more education or in a better job. Do not make him into a quasi-god. He is a man, nothing more nothing less.

Never let a man define who you are. Never borrow someone else’s man. If he cheated with you, he’ll cheat on you. A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you. All men are NOT dogs. You should not be the one doing all the bending…compromise is two way street.

You need time to heal between relationships…there is nothing cute about baggage… Deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship. You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you… a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals… look for someone complimentary… not supplementary.

Dating is fun… even if he doesn’t turn out to be Mr. Right. Make him miss you sometimes… when a man always know where you are, and you’re always readily available to him – he takes it for granted. Never move into his mother’s house. Never co-sign for a man. Don’t fully commit to a man who doesn’t give you everything that you need. Keep him in your radar but get to know others.

It’s my birthday! I’m too busy living life to write about it

Posted on February 19, 2013 by jerlyn

I made promises over the year to keep this blog up and running but lately I’ve just been doing drive by posts. I’m doing one again on my birthday. I wrote one last year and the year earlier. Each year, it’s difficult to let the day pass by without reflecting on what I’ve learned about myself over the last year, but this time, I want to think about something that John brought to my attention a few days ago.

Currently, the celebration of this age means he would have known me for half of my life.

I wonder what I was like all those years ago. Actually, I know exactly how I was all those years ago because I have the blogs to remind me. I was this kid whose dad agreed to allow to work on John’s websites. My dad was very protective (I am his oldest daughter) and I had no social life. In retrospect, I’m extremely happy things worked out that way although I had to learn certain survival skills once I moved out. I love being who I am and spent the thousands of hours gaining a skill that I still use today. I was discussing a timeline of my life growing up online when I realized that today, on my birthday:

“I’m too busy living life to write about it.”

Every time I think about what I should blog about I realize it’s something that I don’t care as much about, like all those years ago when I first got a blog.

I don’t really want to share angst about beliefs, unfairness, relationships, weaknesses, disappointments, etc. I realized that as a kid it was easy to have people comment on posts that touched on those subjects because we all hurt together. However, at this moment in my life: I’m content. My life is fine. I’m not going to rub it in anyone’s faces about how great of a time I’m having because that isn’t the truth at all—absolutely isn’t. However, I’ve learned to let life be as is. Accept things I can’t change and work on areas that I can. I’m also not going to say life is what you make it because a great deal of us struggle unlike others. Most people don’t have choices, so we can’t say, you have a choice to get yourself out of certain things. With my experiences, I still think that:

I’m very lucky.

Very lucky to have met the people who have influenced my life and very lucky to have experienced all events that make me who I am today. I’m very lucky to moved from where I was to carry out things that were beyond my reach. I’m so fortunate to not be jaded with my experiences. I believe that if I ever tried to be absolutely honest about situations that I chose not to write about I’m sure you’d wonder why I still have a positive attitude towards people and life itself (definitely not an understatement). I think that’s growth. I think that’s what I love about getting older. I’m really happy to have lived this long and I hope that I’m blessed with more to come. I never want to lose my positive outlook on life.

Happy annual 25th birthday to me!

Oh yea, if you want to give me a great gift: Donate to two of my favorite charities: Girls on the Run & Battle against Breast Cancer.

Two time marathoner

Posted on January 30, 2013 by jerlyn

My marathon week started when I received this very thoughtful basket from my great friend Dee:

I just returned from Miami. I ran my 2nd marathon… The selfish one. It was an incredible experience. I shaved 17 minutes off my last time placing me at 4:01:46. Unfortunately I didn’t make sub 4 like I wanted but I did better than I anticipated. I placed 891 overall out of 3784, 185 in my gender out of 1377 and in my age group 38 out of 220.

I flew into Miami on Friday to adjust to the weather and was really happy that I did. I was 15 degrees in NYC and I was beginning to feel ill. When I landed in Florida it was already 70s.

I had gotten a room with Airbnb a few months prior with an amazing hostess who lived up to her positive reviews. Catalina is a student who lives downtown and she rents her master bedroom. The place had an amazing view. I also found out last minute that it was 0.1 miles from the finish line (which was fortunate when the race ended). She showed me the pool and gym so I took a visit to the weight room an worked out my upper body.

Chris joined me in the evening where we grabbed a couple beers (carbed up). On Saturday I did an acclimation run of 2 miles with Chris, who was super excited about the weather. We also got to hang out with Vladimir and Shanna throughout the time there who were incredible hosts. They truly made my vacation. On Saturday, Vlad took Chris, Manny and I to the expo to get our badges. Chris changed this half marathon to a full (he was happy that he did). Lawanda found me and I attempted to contact my aunt who we didn’t find that afternoon. Nonetheless, we went around to explore the area. We did more carbing up, took photos with a snake (I kid you not) and headed home.

On Sunday, Chris and I woke up and had some of our subway sandwiches at 4 am. I took a shower, applied my KT tape and dressed up in the running gear that my very thoughtful boyfriend got me. We headed out at 5am to meet with my aunt at corral D. My aunt looked amazing! She’s really into challenging her body and living a fit lifestyle. I hadn’t seen her in years! Read some of her story here.

We started a little after 6:15 with the half marathoners. It was a little slow at first but Chris and I tried to maintain a 8-8:30 mile pace. I popped a salt pill about half hour in and checked the time (I needed to take 1 every hour). We stopped at every station where we grabbed water for each other and I poured it over my afro, my face and gulped. I was able to cross the half marathon mark with him around 1:52 (although we have better half marathon times, a marathon is a completely different beast). I felt great and pursued on with him. We loved the energy of the crowd and kept dodging slower runners. Unfortunately Chris headphone began malfunctioning during the race, he had bought it only the day at the expo. By mile 13 however, I realized that my KT tape started coming undone. It got completely lose and my knee started hurting. I got overwhelmed, I needed to walk. Chris asked if I could make it to mile 16 and we could slow down. I couldn’t even if I had it in me. I allowed him to get ahead. After all, he needed to make his own goal as well. This was only mile 14. However the crowd made us feel great (thanks to the person who made the “you’ve got this stranger” sign.

No longer pacing with Chris, I found a marathon pacer who kept me at 3:55 marathon pace. I did fall behind eventually (thanks knees). On my way, I saw many runners who had fallen, needed IV or cramped up. I was praying for God to keep me strong through it all. No promises just thankful that he was able to have me stop at every aid station and replenish. I took in water, ate pineapples, sipped concentrated Gatorade and snatched a Gu pack. I took time to check the beautiful surrounding but I loathed going over the bridges. By mile 20 I felt confident that I could be sub 4 if I tried however the walking began more frequent. My legs started to cramp so I stopped to stretch out my calves. While walking a woman passed by to tell me that I’ve got this to stay strong! I thanked her and started again. She had passed me along the way and I caught up with her, this time, with her cramping to the side of the route. I sent her motivation.

By mile 23 I felt good again. I had only 3.2 to go. I thought that I could still be sub 4 if I pace up to a 10 minute pace but that didn’t happen. I had a final bridge to cross and when I did my knees hurt like they never had before. My face probably showed the pain that I was in. Crossing the finish line felt so great! 2x marathoner! I looked at my stopped Garmin and smiled. I did it in 4:01:46… Didn’t beat Sarah Palin’s time again but I beat my own record by 17 minutes! Chris found me. We took finisher photos. We met up with Vlad and Shanna. After stretching, we went to grab a beer. That beer was the best!

I took a photo for my babe, had a phone call with him and that set the mood for my day.

Shanna spend the evening with us and Chris and I dragged ourselves to get sushi. Shanna got us cupcakes. We basically crawled back (well I did… I was in ridiculous pain). Vlad picked her up after midnight (I didn’t even get to see her leave, I was knocked out).

By the next morning Chris had to be back to NYC so he went to sleep and was off before day break. Then I had the place to myself. Vlad took me to ocean drive later in the day after Lawanda passed by for cheesecake I had baked.It was great to share our experiences. Apparently Chris and I were the only ones who were trying to push to beat a personal record. The girls said they had no desire to complete another marathon (well, to each their own). I plan to do a Ragnar relay with Lawanda’s group in 2014 (God-willing).

Later that evening, I soaked in the jacuzzi where I met a cute couple: David and Hayley. We discussed pharmaceutical advertising which I absolutely love chatting about. After half hour I headed back up to the flat and relaxed. On my final day, I took it absolutely easy. Vlad and Shanna dropped me off and this vacation is definitely one of the best I’ve ever had.

Now back to 43 degrees… Hope I didn’t miss anything.

I’m running another marathon

Posted on January 24, 2013 by jerlyn

It’s only a couple of months later. Initially this marathon was all about me pushing my mind and body to a level I’d never been to but in retrospect, I want it to mean even more.

I was able, with assistant from peers and coworkers, raise some money for Girls on the Run at the last marathon. This time around, there’s no charity but that’s ok. I’m still running for women. For all women who think they can’t because I first thought that I couldn’t. What I want everyone to know that running this isn’t impossible if you have limbs (even if you’re in a wheelchair, there are people who will be racing in those). A marathon covers 26.2 miles. No matter what, the women I’m running with have one goal in mind: to finish. Why? Well, everyone who participates and completes it gets a medal so why won’t you crawl if possible? You have 7 hours before the course closes.

I’m not sure whether Miami marathon will be my last but I know that, God-willing, I intend to show everyone else what else isn’t impossible. I didn’t have the months to train like he last one but I have determination on my side even if I had an injury.

Pain has gone away but regardless of my knee being strapped up for the race, I intend to finish.

We have one body, take care of it. It can do more than you can ever imagine.

Thank you John

Posted on January 9, 2013 by jerlyn

I believe that periods of people’s lives are made up of pieces of puzzles meant to be solved to create a bigger picture. Each of these puzzles pieces has a story, and those involved were catalysts for getting each particular person through said time period. I know that getting to this time period wasn’t just by myself, after all, I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and I fit one of the profiles (I think I’ve had over 10,000 hours working on the computer learning code and designing). Each experience I’ve had got me to where I am today, my story wasn’t meant to have been written this way. In another dimension, I may have lived on another continent or still lived in Dominica. None of those are bad, I mean, those experiences could have possibly been great also but at this moment, from where I’m jotting these notes on my iPad, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Before I go off on tangents, I’d like to note that I don’t usually write about specific people highlighting them by entire entries on my blog. I highlighted my friend, Gardenia, quite awhile ago and I still believe that she’s an amazing person. I made the right judgement of considering her a friend and I wanted people who read this continuing autobiographical digital recollection of mine to know that she was important. Trust is important to me because I don’t trust easily. I seldom consider women as friends (now you know) but, I feel like I can trust her and a handful of others and that’s pretty huge—considering. When you meet people who want you to succeed with no ulterior motives, you should appreciate them. My lifestyle has been sporadic but I still value all those memories, and experiences she shared with me. Gardenia is creative, talented, bold, driven and embraces life like no other person I’ve met before. I feel like I aspire to be just as driven.

Now, another person I’d like to highlight, who I’ve mentioned before is John Boyd.

John’s an interesting character (and this is entirely based on my point of view from my experiences with him). I’ve always felt challenged when I had a conversation with him. My first employment was with him and he took me under his wing. I often wondered why he found me intelligent at all but, communicating with him made me aspire to be as brilliant as I could possibly be. Now after reading Steve Job’s autobiography (if you read it you’d get this next point) I wondered if John was using the smoke screen concept that Steve used with his employees. However, he often repeated: “If Bill Gates can do it, you can do it.” Funny that now I just see Gates as a someone involved in a company that pretty much rips off other companies (many companies do this).

However, his approach was to succeed at tasks such as morphing illustrated children story characters into candlesticks with now obsolete imaging software that has made me feel like I can tackle problem.

Here’s a few other John points that altered my life:

John thought that if he paid me to learn he would benefit from it. My first programming language was PERL when I started working with him. I had spent much of my previous years discovering pedophiles in yahoo java chat rooms and learning about HTML by search engine since google wasn’t available yet. I was also knowledgable at using Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash 2. Sometimes I used Netscape Composer and Frontpage Express (the web had low standards back then). Then we stumbled upon PHP. Coming to work after awhile wasn’t about the money but because I was exposed to a faster connection, lots of literature and I had the passion to learn.

John believes that you’re not too old to learn. When I started working with John at the age of 14, we journeyed together in the abyss of the www by learning languages as we go. I was fascinated by how educated he was and thought he could do everything (because he learned to do them as he went along, I do the same today). I think all you need is the drive to tackle anything and you can.

John told me that it was ok to be selfish. At age 14, I felt like the world was on my shoulders to impress my peers and parents…To survive, to succeed, to get out of the Caribbean. If John hadn’t told me it was ok to be selfish and take care of myself first in other to help others, I may have lost the person I am today. I’m selfish with my happiness and always will be. This is how I survive.

John found it quite alright to challenge everything. I spent some time trying to hack into the security holes in websites back in the late 90s. It was a little hobby of mine where I emailed the company and told them where their sites weren’t secured. John always challenged everything from technology to politics.

John told me it was important to invest in myself. I hadn’t figured out my plan for college during my final years of high-school and he made me believe in investing in myself even if I had to take out loans for college. It was a great investment in my self worth and future (even if I have to pay it all back). He and his late wife, Dolores, took me to the U. S. and introduced me to art and history. I am forever indebted by this experience because I can appreciate works from Picasso to Rodin.

John called me a polymath a few years into my career. I always wondered why I couldn’t stay focused on one hobby just like most of my peers. He made me feel like mastering each interest and moving on was healthy. Or, maybe it’s just ADHD haha.

These days, John lives on St. Croix and started Hike St. Croix (which you should check out). The hike we went on can be seen here.

I hope I’m making him proud because John bought me my first domain (Jadersworld) where I started blogging before blogging was a term. Now as I blog this on designladynyc, I hope he realizes how significant he was and still is in my life.

Thank you.

Au revoir 2012

Posted on January 1, 2013 by jerlyn

(I apologize for the lazy formatting of this post)

2012: what a year. I’m wrapping it up again like I did with 2011 and prior. What I love about these yearly recaps is the lessons that I have learned. Sometimes I try to apply them to my life the following year. I have no idea what 2013 has in store for me but 2012 has been a whirlwind, however a whirlwind of mostly good. I had a great deal of preconceived notions at the beginning of the year (I was wrong for most). I gained friendships, lost people, made career moves and embraced life… And finally some sort of religion (whatever it is, I’m more spiritual). I also ran my very first marathon. Before I get ahead of myself, lets recap from January 1st:

January: Premonition

I worked at my very first pharmaceutical advertising agency and had been there for little under a year. I had the worse boss (and it’s difficult to talk about my job on my blog since many people have gotten in trouble for it). I was incredibly burned out. I was gaining weight and didn’t know why. I saw the NYE photos and got pretty self conscious.

Gaining weight

I ran almost everyday but I wasn’t getting enough sleep and getting home after 10pm daily sucked. I felt unappreciated. I needed a break. My birthday was coming up the following month so I asked for 3 days off a month and half ahead of schedule. I was given a hard time. I sort an escape. I trusted no one. I loathed my team, everyone seemed so fake I was out of energy for politics. I didn’t know who to trust. I couldn’t understand why work had to be my life. Why did the thing that I love the most start to feel like a chore? Dating was a nightmare and with some sort of narcissism I started using it for an outlet. It was pure comedy. People was weird, I was weird. I learned to laugh at myself.

I built an art bin container by gathering supplies from home depot, I’m not a carpenter but it felt amazing using powertools and a saw:

I purchased the Wacom Inkling:

February : Awakening

I was approximately 400 feet in the air parasailing when I made the decision to quit my job, even if I had no plans.

I was interviewing and didn’t care if I caught nothing. I was in the middle of the bay in St. Thomas and it was my birthday. I really hated my boss by then. I even dropped the F-bomb at work after getting off a phone call with him. He had made me look bad. Something was about to give and I know I couldn’t last another month of being out of control of my life. I hated him because I had lost respect. I thought he was incompetent and a manipulator. I wanted a better role model. I went to work daily with fear of losing my job and I cried everyday because I believed he would have sabotaged my career. I thought I was pretty good at what I do. When I got back to NYC, after the few days away home in the Virgin Islands, I decided to give it another two weeks before I put in my 2 weeks notice. A past colleague reached out to me. I interviewed at his agency. Everyone seemed to like me. I wondered if the grass greener and was ready abandon ship.

March: Cabo

I climbed the Rockefeller center in 16 minutes for MS climb to the top. It was one of the events that made me sad about leaving the first job. It was the first time that I got to hang with the CEO (not like we did any talking). Emily and I went to Cabo as soon as I started my new job. It was just 49 hours and perfect. I provided tickets, she provided boarding.

It was a blast to me, I needed it. I relaxed, I had just started a new chapter at a new job.

The clients loved my team, they immediately loved my work. I was wondering whether they were just joshing me but I felt love for them anyway.

April: Daredevil

I started paying attention to my body more. I started loving my job! I signed up for the Miami marathon.

I started earning my body with 30 day challenges. Did boxing for the first time and I enjoyed it so much! I hated that I was interested in too many things. I thought that’s why I was so stressed out. I signed up for zip lining for the first time to face my fear of heights. I wanted to learn to let go and I love it. I also started to really appreciate people around me.

May: Challenges

I exercised everyday for at least 1/2 hour and found out that I had 17% body fat. I bought a fitness bike taking after my dad’s cycling hobby. It’s now one of my most treasured possessions.

I ran a great deal. I had went the furthest I’ve ever gone.

I visited my old job and was happy that I didn’t work there anymore. It’s because I realized very few people liked me there and I bided adieu wholeheartedly. Later, I tried a Russian rotten bread beer for the first time. I tried to learn capoeira and appreciated the history.

June: Au naturelle
I went through a natural hair transition:

I ran the pride race again this year beating a personal record.

I beat all my PR this year. I also lost a follower because I ran that race… I still believe that we should just accept people no matter their sexuality. I got to see my aunt get married.

Took watercolor lessons.

Bought my first pair of Cole Haans.

Learned a great deal from Gary Mack. Went zip-lining and signed up for a local marathon, another one besides the Miami marathon.

July: Sobriety

Did an entire month of sobriety. Someone accused me of bullying fat people, it was hilarious! I wrote about the fat topic in a response. Found out my ex boyfriend since 4 years ago had plotted to have me beaten up. His ex girlfriend at the time tried to befriend me (which was short lived because I’m hardly ever friends with girls, she’s a talented comedian though). Started doing 60 day challenges in motivate and get in shape group which became super fun. I really enjoyed boxing classes:

August: Affairs of the heart

Bought myself a pull-up bar.

I overslept on my first race.

I also signed up for a race with the guy I was dating. Also convinced him to runs marathon with me.

I biked 20 miles on my own:

I read fifty shades of gray and committed literary suicide (after wondering where I could find a mr. Grey). By dating the perfect guy I realized that he’s not so perfect (but that’s months later…). It was very nice to have him in my life. He balanced my life a great deal.

September: Growth

I did a 30-day challenge of push-ups, also had no coffee for 30 days. My boyfriend at the time saw me run. I was so happy that he made it to my race. He was the first person to ever come out to my race. I think from now on I’d love spectators. There’s just something about running for a purpose.

October: Enlightenment

I tried a Paleo diet.

I ran my first race with my then boyfriend. It was fun and I hope that whosoever I end up with in the future will be as active and into fitness as I am. Sandy also occurred and I was humbled by how fragile New York could be. I was stuck in Maryland for a few days after running The Glo Run, with my then boyfriend, and I appreciated the fact that I lived alone.

I met Calvin Lee @mayhemstudios. He was surprised that I was tall in person.

November: Dreams of a marathoner

I exercised my right to vote. Tried a yoga per day challenge for the month of November mostly for my group on facebook: 30 for 30 fit.

I ran a marathon and made it in 4 hours 18 minutes.

Then I hurt myself a week later from patella tendonitis with anterior knee pain. My quads are stronger than my hamstrings. I realized that I had to stop training with my personal trainer and I start physical therapy because I am still going to do that marathon in Miami. I felt accomplished and I will forever applaud anyone who has attempted a marathon.

I spent quality time with my niece and sister <3. Family is so important.

December: Single and seeking religion
I started experimenting with a new type of illustration on my iPad:

I started physical therapy:

I became single shortly after discovering some sort of spirituality. I went back to my “home” in St. Croix to transition from breakup to being an eligible bachelorette.

I realized I only loved like this once in my life so I’m not prepared to do it again as yet. I’m still not sure where I stand on religion but I seem to be learning a great deal. Although I fear introducing this topic to my blog, I believe that it’s a personal journey and I’m quite content with where I am currently. I’m constantly challenged and I do believe that I’ll be considered a heretic eventually, but for now, I’m quite amused by the events around attending church and reading the bible. If its worth anything, I thoroughly enjoy challenging and discussing it. As a scholar, I can’t consider being anything than apathetic agnostic, so that’s where I am. I just believe that I don’t know everything, it’s difficult to determine whether any religion is right or wrong—no matter how much people will try to indoctrinate me. Just a few days prior, I went to a church where I couldn’t enter without wearing a very long skirt (I met a cousin who found my blog)… then the day after I went to the church that i frequent with acceptable conservative dressing:

One thing’s for sure: I’ll always be moral. As for being single, well that’s not abnormal of my lifestyle, and well, who knows, maybe I’ll find love in 2013 (or just be fabulously single as usual). I’m always very optimistic about it. I realize that I can’t plan or control matters of the heart no matter how I feel at a given time. You can change or the person can change. I’m not sure what the future holds for me, or my ex, but I’m happy that I went through it. As of now, I’m not prepared to be married or have a family as many of my peers were this year. I also learned to take no one’s advice on relationships because everyone just gives advice based on their own experiences and what’s right for them. I still struggle to find what’s right for me but it’s my own journey.

I can say this: 2013 is going to be my fittest year ever if all goes well and I’m continually blessed. Check 30 for 30 fit for updates as I try to make 2013 my fittest year ever. Now it’s less than a month until my second marathon.

Love you, hope your new year is fullfilling!

Design Lady NYC

Life in New York City, as written by @Jerlyn Thomas

My 2nd Marathon (and I PRed).

Like this:

Wearing nothing new for 30 days

Like this:

The whole 30: changing my habits in 30 days.

Like this:

Advice on men for women

Like this:

It’s my birthday! I’m too busy living life to write about it

Like this:

Two time marathoner

Like this:

I’m running another marathon

Like this:

Thank you John

Like this:

Au revoir 2012

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: