Every year the members of St. Joseph Parishioner puts together a fiesta to celebrate their annual Hermana Hermano. This year they held the fiesta for Leonora as the Hermana. Congratulations! The fiesta was spectacular with Filipino cultural dances such as the Rigadon Royale and the Rigadon and many others. There was also plenty of music and serenades. Here are a few photos.
"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the
ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that
yells 'CAN'T", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you
hear the voice whisper “CAN”. And you discover that the person you thought you
were is no match for the one you really are."
- Unknown
Ironman Lake Tahoe has been on my list of “A” races to do
since its inaugural day in 2013. It’s a beautiful venue with spectacular views and
warm welcoming people. The best part is its challenging course! Earlier this
year I raced Ironman St. George 70.3 as my race leading to Lake Tahoe. Although
I didn’t register for the full until 2 days prior to race day, I knew I was
going to at least do the half. We
arrived Thursday evening and planned an early morning swim at Kings Beach at
7:00 AM and bike ride to acclimate to the elevation and extreme temperatures.
Pre-Race:
Day 1: We arrived at Kings Beach around 7:45 AM and swam 700 yards for 15 minutes according
to my Garmin data. It was difficult to breath at an elevation of 6000 feet and needed
another day to acclimate. We headed back to the house to prep for a short ride
from Squaw Valley to Kings Beach. We ended up not making it to Kings Beach and
rode for an hour for 20 miles.
Day 2: Bike Check-in was at 10:00 AM and we decided to head to Kings Beach early
for another swim to acclimate then bike for 20 minutes to test for proper
functionality. I felt a lot better in the water today and swam 20 minutes for 1000
yards. Good thing we checked in early because
the traffic was horrible heading into Kings Beach from Squaw Valley.
Race-Day: I slept for a good 7 hours on and off the night before andgotup
at 3:30AM to prep my nutrition and reassure my Morning, Bike, and Run Special
Needs gear bags were ready to go. I hopped on the shuttle to Kings Beach to
drop off my nutrition and water bottles filled with Vitargo and water. As the
clock neared the start time of 6:40 AM my blood started to rush through my
veins increasing my heart rate. I was
still in the port-o-potty line as my fellow teammates waited for me.One of the volunteers stated to us that
transition has been closed and to head to the swim start immediately!
SWIM: Self-Seeded Rolling Start! My strategy as usual on the swim is to take it
easy until I got into a rhythm. I headed towards the start and searched for the
pace time slot of 1:15 to 1:30 and rushed through the crowd to squeeze in. I started my Garmin and walked into the water and
headed for the 1st yellow buoy for a clockwise swim. I tried to swim
as close as possible to the buoy’s but I ended up in big crowds bumping into
each other so I chose to swim a little wide. I finally got into a steady rhythm
at the number 6 buoy and started to increase my swim stroke for 2 loops. On the
final loop and turn, I felt really great and comfortable in the water and
started to swim a little harder knowing the swim finish line was in site. Despite
the freezing water temperatures and high altitude, this has been my fastest 2.4
mile open water swim. I glanced at my Garmin and it read 1:11! Actual time from
Ironman was 1:13:53.
BIKE: I’m not fast in transition and take my time to get changed. I finished T1
with 15:00 minutes and jumped on my bike. The bike portion consisted of 2 loops
from Kings Beach and then ending in the Squaw Valley parking lot for a total of
112 miles and elevation gain of 5,972 feet. From Kings Beach we would ride the
rolling hills of N. Lake Blvd. through Dollar Point and head north on Hwy 89 to
Truckee then 267 South towards Kings Beach. My strategy on the bike was to take
it easy so that I can have more energy for the run portion. I stayed on track
of my plan and felt great keeping my heart rate between 135 and 145 bpm’s and
my cadence of 90 rpm’s to save my legs for the infamous climb up Brockway for a
total of 1500 feet gain from Truckee to the top of Brockway Summit at 7200 feet
elevation. The temperature increased as the day went by and on the first loop
through Brockway I averaged 6 mph and then 4 mph on the second loop. I set my Garmin to notify me every 30 minutes
to intake my nutrition and on the second loop climbing Carnelian Woods by the
Bike Special Needs area, I noticed my system would no longer accept my Vitargo nutrition
and felt like regurgitating.I grabbed a bottle of Gatorate from the
volunteers and filled up my bottle on my aerobar and took several sips. I thought
to myself that this should be no concern since I ingested majority of my
nutrition and 3 bottles of Vitargo on the ride and then half a 4th
bottle after climbing Brockway for the second time. After riding the 2 and half
loops my legs felt great and no fatigue noticed at all. I was ready for the run
portion! I finished the bike portion with a time of 6:27:36. Not bad for almost
6000 feet of elevation gain!
RUN: After mounting off the bike in T2, I handed my bike over to the volunteer
and grabbed my bike gear bag and headed for the changing tent. After 8 minutes
in T2 and waiting in line for sunscreen, I headed up towards the finish line in
the village to start my first loop. The run portion consisted of a full
marathon of 26.2 miles with a total elevation gain of 857 feet around the
trails and roads of Squaw Valley according to the athlete guide! Haha! Yeah
right! My strategy for the run was to take it easy for the first few miles and
then get into my rhythm for a 5 hour marathon. For the first 2 miles I was on track
to reaching my goal taking it easy on a downhill trend towards mile marker 3. With
the temperature increasing and the sun behind my back I started to feel nauseous
so I slowed down and tried to ingest some nutrition. My system would no longer
take it and started to feel like vomiting. I started walking so that hopefully I
would feel better. That didn’t happen at all. I continued to try to sip some
nutrition and solids as I reached the aid stations but nothing would hold and I
vomited whatever I ingested. I thought to myself, “Oh no! will I finish?” I
looked at my clock and there was plenty of time to finish. It was just before
4:00 PM and if I walked the entire 26.2 miles, I would make it across the finish
line just after 11:00 PM. I continued on and for the next 6 miles I felt even
worse. My body temperature felt high, my stomach was making all sort of
grumbling sounds and I felt like quitting. I said “No! I can’t quit I have plenty
of time.” So at the next aid station I took a break and asked the medic to take
a look at me. She took my temperature; it was normal. I told her that I can no
longer ingest any food so she offered some chicken broth and chips. Those went
down slowly with success. I remained there for roughly 10 minutes with another athlete
having the same issues. After resting, we
got up and continued on our journey to the finish line. At mile 9 at one of the
aid stations it started to get cold and I tried to take in some chicken broth and
a small piece of Cliff Bar and they immediately came right back up. I stopped
on the side of the trail to vomit and anther athlete checked up on me to see if
I was ok. He then offered me some ginger
candy to chew on and said it would help with my stomach, which it did. After walking
another few miles, I made it to the Run Special Needs area and picked up my
cold weather gear, headlight and sat down to rest again. I tried to ingest my
spam musubi but was unable to. The volunteer offered me some Ensure and I carefully
sipped my drink to see if it would hold and it did. I continued to walk towards
the village stopping at aid stations for some chicken broth. I started to feel
better as time went by and started to run and walk to speed up time. Before
reaching the Village, I stopped at our FilAm Tri support tent and requested
some soup to help me get through the night. David ran with me and brought me
some warm soup as I continued to the village to start my second loop. I continued
walking and jogging one foot in front of the other! With my GI and nutrition
issues, I made it across the finish line just before 11:00 PM with a total time
of 16:13:47.
Here's me crossing the finish line.
Now that it has been officially announced that this year is going to be
the last Lake Tahoe race, it was a pleasure to be a part history and
race with many friends.
Here are a few photos from the event with some teammates and friends.
Getting my pre-race recovery for my legs with Normatec
A few of us checking in to pick our race packets
It's Official! Registered for Full Ironman Lake Tahoe
The famous marathon runner Nadia Ruiz and I
Lunch at the Irish pub at Squaw Valley Village
Local newspaper
Dropped off my bike in Transition 1
Race Morning at the swim start in T1 with some friends
Wearing my new Ironman Lake Tahoe Finisher jacket
Photo of my medal with Squaw Valley Ski Resort in the background
Last month was an exciting month for Heidi and Justin. I packed up my gear and went for a drive up the coast to San Francisco to shoot their wedding. It was a perfect day to get married, beautiful church, and best of all - a beautiful bride and groom. They stated their vows at the The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in the city. Along side me photographing their wedding was Rosaura Sandoval of Rosaura Sandoval Photography. She was a very exciting photographer with so much energy. It was a pleasure to work with her. Congratulations Heidi and Justin!
Laura and Ben celebrated their wedding in Los Angeles at the Park Plaza Hotel. With the presence of a live band playing music, they started a new beginning as they say I do atop the grand staircase of the hotel. Photographing their celebration was a great experience! Here are some photos from their wedding.
I recently shot the wedding of Shemane and Melvin in Los Angeles and finally set some time aside to write about it on my blog. They were a great couple to work with and were ready for anything! It was like they had everything planned out for taking photos. They knew what poses they wanted, where to stand and when the right moments to laugh, smile and giggle! I was just amazing how easy it was working with them! Shemane and Melvin exchanged their vows at the beautiful St. Columban church in Los Angeles. Shooting along side Aileen Secord of Aileen Secord Photography was a great learning experience! Here are some photos from their wedding.
Name: Jonathan A. Ruiz, MBA
Occupation: IT Consultant, Part-Time Photographer
Status: Single
Children: Proud Parent
Computer: Apple MacBook Pro
What I Enjoy: Time with family, Photography, and Mountain Biking
Triathlon
Contact Information: jon@shuttersensestudio.com
I have always enjoyed photography. I first started learning about photography in high school taking photos of anything that I thought would be pleasing to the eye and memorable with my first Canon film camera, AE1. Then came the digital age of the point-and-shoot camera.
Contact Info: jon@shuttersensestudio.com