Category Archives: My Life

Two time marathoner

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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).

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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.

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

A whiff of August

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I had my first drink after 32 days the beginning of August, it was a Guinness—what did you expect?

I initially asked the bartender for seltzer water but he laughed at me and walked away. Rude. Fine, my challenge was up anyway, I told him that I enjoyed whiskey a bit and he tried to entice me with the bottles of Maker’s Mark and Jameson.

“That’s quite alright, the Guinness will do,” I responded.

One drink. Nothing happened—I felt tired. I joked with the bartender for a little, finding out his real name (Chris), that he refused to tell me for fear that I would report him to his manager for refusing to give me seltzer water.

I left after thanking Chris and informing him about my 30-day challenge. This month, I get to meet a stranger each day and compliment them. I’m failing at it. I think it’s because I find it difficult to be genuinely interested in people if I’m not truly interested. I was trying to record some of my encounters on instagram. You can follow my over-shares there. My username : jerlynthomas.

The drinking vs. not drinking result: I’d rather not drink. It’s counterproductive to my lifestyle. I grab a drink with friends but it’s not necessary. I love wine and will always have a glass now and then but, it won’t be in excess because recovering from my healthy lifestyle isn’t fun. It’s just like cheat days when I have foods that I don’t normally have. The aftermath is never worth it.

We are in August. August in the past few years has been particularly difficult for me. The 1st would have been my brothers 23rd birthday. I didn’t feel like mentioning it but my sister posted a photograph of him on the first. It’s strange that you think of someone less and less over the years. Time definitely heals pain (or tries to). I often wonder what he would have went on to study in college or what incite he would have given me at this point in my life, he was always mature for his age. I truly do miss him and his advice.

The couple of weeks that we are in now have been quite interesting. I went to an art show, birthday celebration and comedy club so far. I don’t get to go out as much these days because of training (which isn’t as intense as you’d think). So it was nice to get out and have too much to drink (I don’t think I’ll be drinking as much in the upcoming months).

Over this weekend I logged 14 miles. At this point I’m a tad disappointed only because I should be a lot further (The week earlier, I did 17 miles) but I’m slowly losing the discipline. I did buy a pull-up bar that I’ll enjoy getting used to in the next few weeks in a few days I have a 10 mile race. If I run like I do now, it should be easy peasy (or I’ll possible beat my PR by 10 minutes). I’m looking forward to it.

I’m struggling to keep my weight at something that I can manage though. Sometimes I can lose about 5 lbs after my long runs, I’m sure that’s not normal. If I wanted to lose 15 lbs I figured I’d run a marathon when ever necessary (not a healthy idea). So, trying to keep up weight while training = très difficile.

I’ve also recently added some time in to draw! I’m a little fascinated by girls with Afros now. I’m now a girl with an Afro ;) .

I had my hair in a style that I saw online for two weeks:

The woman did an incredible job but it’s nice to have my afro back:

Anyway that’s updates, look forward to a huge revamp and branding coming up in the next few months. I’m excited!

In the meantime:

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Follow @jerlynthomas on instagram and @jerlyn on twitter.

I went natural, a short hair journey

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Disclaimer:

I am in no way a natural hair enthusiast. I don’t know enough about hair to be one, especially with my hair. I never had any interest in caring about how it looked.

I think people should do whatever they want in their hair that makes things easier.

However, since some relaxers have been damaging people’s scalps and extensions have ruined healthy hair, I think people should be concerned about what goes into their hair (just like I am very concerned about what I’ve put into my body lately).

Relaxers never bothered me (photo on left) however, after some highlights the texture of my hair changed (Thanks hairdresser!) and with my constant running I could no longer worry about my hair.

Once it got highlighted, although it looked amazing, it was short-lived. I’m definitely all for hairdressers to make money on styling however, I asked all the right questions about whether it would be low maintenance. It turns out that it wasn’t. Prior, I could have run to my heart’s content and never batted an eye if I washed my hair and pulled it into one right after. With the highlights, it was extra work to detangle and as my hair grew out, thicker and thicker… It just got worse.

(hair with highlights that I didn’t need)

A few weeks ago I went to visit my sister in Virginia and she took a pair of shears to my hair.

My sister has had natural hair before her daughter’s birth.

It really looks incredible on her:

Prior to her cutting it off, I tried a variety of hairstyles since I basically ignored my hair’s need for a relaxer.

This is how my hair looked after my sis cut it. I don’t even consider it a “big chop,” it seems like my hair was long enough to have been cut months before. It can almost go into a ponytail (or puffy tail haha).

 

What’s really interesting: Now I have to reconsider how I style my hair. I hadn’t my hair like this since 7th grade and it turns out that it’s a lot easier to manage. After my run, I simply shower from head to toe. Then I slide a band and I’ve started accessorizing:

The only thing that seems bothersome is getting helmet hair after I bike to the gym:

Other than that, I really enjoy the new look:

(realize the texture of my hair changed in this pic, I flat-ironed my hair and it might have damaged my curls *tear)

Anyway, that’s the update. My new look (and I can’t wait for it to  grow longer):

Now to stop people from touching it! Other than that, it seems to have improved my dating life :) .

Is your hair natural? What do you do to it? Any advice?

At a quarter century, interviews with my parents

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Well, most of you have been around me enough to know me but I decided to spotlight my parents. I came from amazing ones :D . Now it’s time to get to know them a bit.

My family has a pretty interesting history.  We were born in the Caribbean and island called Dominica in the West Indies. A land where it’s normal to live to 100 (my great grandmother was one of them she lived to almost 115).

My sister and I were among the first generations in our immediate nuclear family to start our careers on the mainland, also known as the United States.

At 25, I’m starting to reflect a great deal on my life (mostly reflecting on my lack of culture of loss of culture). I decided to interview my parents — wondering how they were at my age. My mother is one of 20 siblings (yes 20 by both parents) and my dad is one of 7 or 8 (according to which grandparent you asked growing up).   I decided to interview my parents mainly because our lives are so different. By the time they were my age, they already had all 3 of us (my brother passed away). My parents are currently in their 40s (yup young) and migrated to the Virgin Islands where we lived briefly with my dad’s parents.

This was a portrait done of me for my 25th year:

Here’s the recollection from my mother:

Where did you live when you were 25? Dominica

What did you worry about the most when you were my age? How to take care of you three kids.

What did you want for your future? At that time, I was hoping for a career after you guys grew up and hoping to have a close family.

What do you love about your age now? I’m more experienced and I make better decisions/judgement.

What do you plan for your future? To be rich (she laughs). To tell the truth: I just want to be able to keep being happy and content in my life. To handle anything in my life and that’s pretty much it.

What advise do you have for me now that I’m 25? Put yourself first and whatever choices you make in life make sure it benefits you before anyone else. Whatever you choose to do think about it so that you don’t regret it in the future.

What advise did you wish that your mother had for you when you were 25? I never knew my mother then but I wish she could have told me what she did at 25 and how I could better myself for my future.

Here are my Dad’s answers:

Where did you live when you were 25?
 Dominica.

What did you worry about the most when you were my age? I wasn’t worried. When I was 25, I already had you kids.

What did you want for your future? I had children, so I just wanted to have a good home and have the children grow up well. It was all about you guys. I was working to get a house, and send my children to school.

What do you love about your age now? I love the idea that at my age I can’t be easily swayed by anyone. I have my own mind and thinking and no one can fool me. Age brought reasoning. I love that. Young people these days don’t seem to have the same. Young people are easily led astray. I know good from bad easily. I can hear it, I can sense it… that’s knowledge.

What do you plan for your future? Not very positive. It’s unpredictable. All I want for it is to prepare for when God comes (my dad’s religious). Make sure my life is order. I seen too many people my age who have passed away and gone already.

What advise do you have for me now that I’m 25? For you now, I’ve spoken to you many times… you have to take your life seriously. Live and enjoy yourself but make sure what you do is something you won’t regret. You’re supposed to live without regrets but there are things that you can do that will cause you to be so. Just live it to the fullest with necessary caution. Usually people say that they don’t regret anything but according to what you did it can leave you with consequences… i. e. hurting yourself intentionally might cause you not to be as reckless anymore.

What advise did you wish that your father had for you when you were 25? Well, he wasn’t the type who would sit and talk and I wish he had. I don’t blame him for that. He just didn’t have that upbringing. I wish when I was younger that he would sit and talk about life to tell me: Look, Education first. He did his best to give me everything I wanted but I felt like I raised myself. He couldn’t go through my books to tell the difference of whether it was right or wrong. It wasn’t like when you guys were growing up and I could correct you myself. I wish that he was educated. If he were, then I may have taken a different path. However, as I get older, I realized this is the best thing about my life right now realizing that I can’t blame my parents. Whatever he did for me, that was his limit. That’s what he could have done and it’s now left to me to pass it on. He didn’t have the technology or things that I had growing up. Just like you guys have new technologies. At a certain age, you want to focus on certain things. I wish that he went to school (he couldn’t read or write). He thought he did the best for us by farming (his trade). He was happy enough to know that we were eating and could laugh and be healthy. That was his accomplishment. He didn’t abuse us, although we were scolded, he did the right thing.

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It’s interesting speaking to my parents about this now. I hope to have more interviews with them. Our family has changed so much in the past few years.

What am I worried most of at my age: Maybe failure. Not making them proud? They always seem proud of me.

For my future now: I hope to be content. I hope to acquire knowledge along the way and never regret anything. I hope that if I do decide to or get the opportunity to settle down that I can share this with children of my own.

AdobeMax Take 2

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I’m in Los Angeles again for the Adobe Max conference like I went to last year. I had such a blast that I decided to do a take two with some encouragement from Shweta and Russ of course!

This time around I took some work with me so I’m coding from the hotel. We are at the same hotel again. My trip here was pleasant enough however  I couldn’t get enough sleep in (restless passenger was sitting next to me).

I got to see my sister today (she picked me up from the airport). I still find it humorous that we live in two separate parts of the country. She’s on the West Coast, and I on the East Coast (New York is better *wink*).

Anyway, I’m here and I know this year will be pretty exciting! I wonder whether I will win the Master Collection again this year (like I did last year – 2 of them). C’mon lady luck?

I already saw @stefsull and @garazi at the Airport (didn’t get a chance to say hi). However, I had a great time at their sessions last year and I’m definitely sure they have something amazing prepared.

I’ll keep you posted when they announce cool things here. Follow me on @jerlyn for real time updates.

Fortune of Love from my friend

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Tonight I got home a little late because I stayed late at work and had to pick up a few things. Sadly I wasn’t able to help complete the project but I had to go :-( .

I got home and saw a tiny box had been delivered. I wasn’t expecting any packages. My cousin was very curious (my cousin and aunt were with me). I joked that it was a box with Antharax and she needed to back off before she got hurt (and I pretended to open the box cautiously with a pair of scissors).

I thought it was a random box sent with something that I had to pay for so I was preparing myself to send it back. It was a tiny Chinese take-out box, immediately I wondered who would deliver food to me (I wasn’t going to eat it!)

Then I read the paper that looked like an order receipt: Ok I won’t share what it said but I will share what it looked like.

This was incredible sweet. Then I saw something else inside:

It was Silver.

A silver fortune cookie.

With a message inside, that I hope you can’t read.

I loved it! It made my day.

Not saying that I fell in love today but I feel loved and appreciated and I want to thank Chad for that. I am fortunate to have such good friends. He sent it because he felt I needed it. :-D . I have been having a rough year and I am eternally grateful, I will not forget this day. Anyway, just wanted to share.

Thank you my great friends, you’ve made my life amazing!

P. S. I just finished packing – to go off on the adventure that I planned :-D !

Two Day Blog Entry

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Yesterday

I am off to Jun’s birthday dinner right now. I am super late for it because I had to clean up my place. I really hate clutter but sometimes I feel like I have my entire life with me in the apartment, so it’s difficult to clean up sometimes.

I also invited Oliver over, he’s going to replace my lock. My current roommate – who it’s definitely not going to work out with picked the lock and I had to change it because I don’t want to be in a place where it’s easy to unlock. Oliver’s really nice and I love hanging out with him.

Today I also streamed some new music from my pandora account. They were lots of good music so i added them to my iPod. I got some from the Goo Goo Dolls – I haven’t heard them in ages.

Right now I stared across from where I am sitting in the subway and I noticed a woman with lots of piercings on her mouth – it looks interesting but I doubt that I will ever do that to my face. Whenever I get a new piercing I feel so addicted to it and want to get more. I think the last one I had may be one of my lasts. Hehe.

Part 2.

The dinner was great we went to KTown. I am at the west 4th waiting for my transfer right now and I just overheard a guy screaming, “Obama!” makes me remember this article that I didn’t get to read about people who were campaigning for him and they do not know what to do now since he won. I sort of feel the same. Now that we did it, a black president has been elected, what happens next?

I am content that my peers all wanted him to win. Makes me happy that tv rest of the world sees a significant change in the country that I am now a part of. Wow, a black president.

Some much has happened this year. The good news is this president.

Ewwww a guy just farted next to me. I am only 3 stops away thankfully. How rude! So my client told me that I needed some “me” time so he gave me time off and my vacation in a few days included when I go off to Santa Cruz. I need warm, fresh weather where I can bake my skin and bring memories of my past to light.

Yesterday I was mistaken for Santo Dominican (I think that I should just learn Spanish). It’s because of my red skin and slanted eyes – at least they were looking at my eyes. I descended from Kalingo Indians aka the Caribs. They were hunters and carnivorous according to some history. I do want to learn about them more so hopefully I can visit in the future.

Today:
So I am off to the gym. I haven’t been there in a week because I was sick. I even want to start a protest against DayQuil because it didn’t work well for me. I have no idea why I would be sick since Halloween night until now. I still have a dry cough. I guess I will only do weights today – I need to. Mostly because my abs are starting to lose definition from laziness.

I can certainly do 2-3 hours working out today so I am going to grab a snack and some gatorade and have a work out session that is going to hurt tomorrow. However, it’s going to be a long day so I might be up tomorrow to work out again so a 6am workout is already in the works.

On the train now, I see a man holding Obama’s printed portrait with a superimposed portrait of MLK in the sky. It’s an interesting study of how he is idolized. I am certain that the man who has the portrait in his hands will remember how Obama looks like but he needed one to hang on his wall or in his office, etc to remind him. Well, that is my guess.

I am certainly ecstatic about his election but I can’t help but observe reactions from everyone. I love it.

Back from gym:
I took a long ass time at the gym – well 2 hours. I worked for awhile on mostly my arms and legs. I only ran 3 hours. I was walking on my way back and I was tempted to go to a psychic reading for $5. I go to them randomly. Maybe she can let me know what’s up with my love life. Well that’s what was advertised on the ad that I saw passing by.

Anyways heading back to my home to straighten my hair. Au Revoir.

Sent from my iPod Touch.

Jerlyn

Sharing a name

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I’ll write this on the list of things that you do not know about me:
I share a name with someone else, Jerlyn Thomas. Infact, I realized I shared the name, Jerlyn Thomas, with more than 1 other person – thanks facebook for making me realize that I’m almost common.

However, only one other (that I am aware of) lived in Dominica as well – and she is my cousin, so when I received a facebook message today that said, “Wow! I see you are doing big things now!” I was wondering who this person was. I viewed his profile and realized that he was from the area of the island that she grew up.

Many of the folks who tried adding me knew her, I suppose I sort of found it annoying. I sort of wished that my parents named me differently (now it’s too late). I often wonder whether she feels the same way.

Much has happened

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heiwork.jpgI went to see Step Brothers with Heiesuke, my idol. He’s a badass retoucher and digital illustrator. We always had to meet so finally we did! I had to take the LIRR (which I took for the first time ever). I only had to stop in Mineola. Step Brothers was hilarious, we laughed all the way through that movie. Also Heiesuke is a really cool guy. I asked to be his apprentice since he seems like he loves sharing info. I tried some of his lenses from his Canon camera on mine and I am so for trying a new one now! I want a wide angle lens. It was nice to just get out to cleaner air and a new spot besides congestion in Manhattan.  Initially, we were supposed to go to the movies here. However heading over there allowed me to get photos on the way…

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Yesterday I went to Buddha Bar to hang out with some new friends. I had great fun, it was one of their birthdays. I loved inside of the bar. There was a tunnel and a lot of buddhas :-) . Apparently it was my first time there.

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Earlier that afternoon, I hung out with my new friend Peggy. We were supposed to go to a concert but we went to get Sangrias and dinner instead :-) .I did take photos there also.

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They were nice about posing for me.

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This is Peggy with her bike.

I took a 1/2 day off on Friday so this was great to do. I went after I went to the gym, speaking of which – since it’s almost 6 AM, I am going to bed so I can wake up in time to go to the gym again.