Quick 2024 Recap
So much happened! So much to happen!
(writing this mid Marh 2025 so probably forgot a lot of details) 2024 was a great year. Did a lot of new things, did a lot of old things. Travelled more than ever, ran more than ever, content created a lot, and just did a lot.
Will just do a quick month to month recap then just some bullet points of overall highlights?
January — Company kickoff thing in Scottsdale, I got tased. Watched suns game. Mostly chill aside from that
February — Went back to Toronto for a week and went to Macau for family trip! What a grind getting there was solo and getting barely any sleep to start things off because of scheduling! Got to NRT basically 24 hours later date-wise then ran 5k in the airport for the first time ever which was so dumb because I left my bag unattended :O. Then to HKG where I was able to navigate nicely to Macau after that all solo. Got to the hotel around 1am to drop off my bags. Then literally explored a bunch of casinos xdd then reached a McDonalds then got a combo then literally took a nap there at like 4am like a homeless person for like an hour. Then walked to Guia Park which is like a nice hill park thing with a nice loop that I did my next 5k in the next morning. That was one of the craziest stretches of time ever and it was so cool. So much exploration of the areas in the late and early hours. Literally went to a few different casinos to charge my phone trying not to look sus at the same time.
March — The trip continues to Hong Kong and Japan which were both goated. Much more fun than the Macau experience. The only hard part was hiking at Suicide Cliff when the rest of the family had plans with friends etc. Literally had so much scrambling in it. I was following the apple maps route so it wasn’t the best at most times. So clutch that it had great cell coverage throughout otherwise I would be gg’d. Like they had rope on some parts because of how steep it was going up/down and i was kinda hanging on for dear life lol… especially with some minor rain in the past it was a bit slippery. a few close calls, a few times almost got lost. Yeah so scary. But it was like extreme solitude throughout which is something I have never experienced while hiking so I guess that was cool. And awesome views of the city of course. Oh yeah I also had 0 water or nutrition throughout the hike which made it super bad. Good thing Luckily it was only like <10km total. Holy smokes.
Aside from that it was a awesome smooth trip. And literally a couple hours after getting back home, my friend Ajay was crashing for a couple nights — very overwhelming and no time to relax :P
Also cousins visited and I drove a minivan for the first time in my life! Fun too.
April — Finally did the Boston marathon! Yeah my shin was super off and I was not feeling too good overall. Blew up after heart break hill I guess. But still a good experience overall. Then went to Montreal for a bit, Ottawa for a lesser bit, Toronto for a bit, then New York for a bit to run the (bootleg) Brooklyn Half! Had friends doing it too and had a blast! My 2nd fastest half marathon. 2 days later ran my fastest ever Fleet feet tuesday route run! Which was crazy how fast I ‘recovered’ I guess. Then got invited to run the istanbul marathon with some other people from that group!
May — Did the Vancouver half! Slower, but I ran to the start so it was like a 10k+half total. Which was a fun throwback of running to the race which I have done a few times previously. Then idk why, but spur of moment, I booked tickets to Denver for 1 night to run the Denver Marathon that was 2 weeks away. Somehow I was confident my body can handle it? I guess running 4 marathons in 5 weeks last year made me realize I can spam these races out lol. So yeah did that one — altitude+hot weather made it hard. My slowest marathon of the year by far.
June — Visited my cousin in San Diego finally and did the San Diego marathon! Had a great time overall, things were super chill and marathon was pretty fun. A minuteish off of PR but happy that I gave it my all! Then the week immediately proceeding, I did a bunch of run stuff — my first WWTBC run on international donut day. Then flew home to Toronto for my sister’s convocation. Then back to Seattle, won the seattle summer 5k thing that I came in 3rd place for 2 years ago (got free entry by emailing night before lol) and got $100. then ran around green lake for 16 laps. then did my first real trail run. Yeah a huge month
July — Yeah 3 days after that big weekend I ran my first official sub 5 mile. Wonder if I can sub 4:45 with proper rest loooooool. Then a couple days later trail race half that I came 2nd place in while on call with a laptop on — jokes and fun. I guess got injured a bit with my right MCL, but still managed to keep running and fight through it on a easier pace. Did 50 howe street stairs rep for lower impact training, then ran the SF marathon the week after which was decent except I spent 2–3 minutes on a bathroom detour break. Then 3 days later decided to race a track 5k which shredded my shins apart since I was still partially dealing with it pain. Was not able to go sub 17. Oh well.
August — The week after decided to run 18 miles to a 12 mile trail run thing at Redmond Watershed. The week after that ran 14 miles to the 14 mile trail race then 5 miles to the bus stop. The day after PR’d in the lake union 10k with a nice 36-low. Maybe I can sub 34/35 with proper rest lol. Then the week after ran 24 yards/100 miles in a backyard ultra. Fun long weekend excursion. Yeah it got quite mental near the end, but surprisingly recovered decently as I was able to run like >10km the Monday after. Then 5 days after ran like 19 miles to Tiger Mountain for a nice birthday potluck trail run thing which was another 8ish miles. Was quite dead but surprised how I was able to do all that lol. Then actually rested from these super long runs and joined a marathon training program that all my friends did!
September — Yeah not much in terms of racing but did 3 14 mile days in a row. Saturday was the training program long run. Sunday was the usual volunteering stuff. Monday (labor day) was a nice vashon island adventure with annette and vinay. Hitchhiked for the first time in my life which was :O also did more training program stuff. Hardest run was for sure after being out till like past 2am, only got like 3ish hours of sleep then ran to discovery park to do training program run which was like a 18ish miles total. So hard because I had a couple beers and barely any sleep. But in the past I would do well for the goal marathon if I did one of these super low-sleep long runs. And a nice 18 mile saturday + 23 mile sunday double long run thanks to ericas track trot
oops to add the literal hardest run of the week — the day after covid booster was destruction but still woke up early and did WWTBC trail thursday at arb. It was so hard running sick. But yeah built so much mental toughness ig.
October — The marathons start! Portland marathon was pretty amazing (for me ig). Lots of free nice overall. A bit annoying that it intersected with the half marthon runners quite a bit. But it was the easiest sub 2:53 I have ever run! Literally was so relaxed and controlled throughout, apple watch heart rate was <160. Was able to pick it up controlledly for the last few k’s and felt like I was barely breathing after I finished (though legs exhausted I guess). The week after was Chicago, which was the one I was planning to go all out for! And man it was a tough one grinding out the last 5–8km but so worth it as I was able to get sub 2:45 which was my main goal! Wondering how much faster I would get with more optimized training. Or at least not run a marathon the week before lol. Toronto the week after was nice throwback since I did my very first one 6 years ago. This one I went hard but not too hard and it was a nice 251.x. Super fun that it was also my sister’s half marathon debut too! Ending was super hype. Oh yeah ran the 5k the day before (super conservative but slightly off my goal of sub 18) — super hype since it was a lot of my friends’ first running races ever :)
Next one was Frankfurt. Still a nice sub BQ (the new one) despite porta potty problem early which miraculously got better after sitting down for a small one? Just picked it up the second half controlledly, not out of control. But man it was tiring (in an annoying way?) near the end I guess.
November — And finally Istanbul. The reason why I was able to meet a lot of people through running cause I was added to a (extremely large) group chat. So many of those runs (esp trail ones) was cause of that; and other really OP experiences. So it was nice. Went really hard for this, but I guess body just couldn’t go any harder and this was my slowest marathon of the 5 in a row. Still BQ. But so windy and hard on the way back. Grindfest. Then yeah spending a week (coughing) in Turkey was cool!
Back to Toronto for a bit, then it was the Eras Tour with TDragon! That was amazing too especially since Taylor played Mr Perfectly Fine < 3!
Then back to Seattle for a nice thanksgiving!
December — Literally no breaks. Seattle Marathon thanksgiving weekend was nice, sub 3 with jake! Had porta potty problems twice. With the second one I was able to nicely catch back up with pace group with sub 6 min pace for ~2 miles which was solid (I still have some decent speed left from Fall training!). Then the Saturday after ran to the reindeer romp trail run with priyam, then did the reindeer romp half which was like 50k for the day. Hella rainy and cold-ish. But yeah. Then literally the week after did my first official ultramarathon — deception pass 50k! Yeah nutrition was slightly off but happy with a almost top 10 finish I guess. 4:44 was meh. But I suck at trails so it was okay for now.
Then back home to Toronto for fun christmas stuff. Got back to spinning a bunch, a nice 2021 throwback! But also after doing a podcast with samir, I ended up visualizing some of the most impossible things for 2025…… the ugliest nightmare born from the prettiest of dreams.
So yeah overall it was nice. So much time spent exercising, in particular running. Successfully signed up for the 2025 rubik’s cube world championships in seattle. uploaded >250 youtube videos (almost 300 if you include shorts?) — lots of content! Revived the zesty zoy pod for a bit which was nice too! Made a couple of songs here and there which was okay. Made a lot of new friends which was great (mostly running ones!). Basically quit the pokemon go grind/meetups/etc because of the prior. And some more stuff here and there. Literally did 2 airport 5k runs. But the run streak is still alive. I hope it will end soon damn. Hit plat in ranked flex in league (lol in January) and had spurts of nice aram stuffs. Overall everything was super nice! uh not sure what else to say maybe ill make another post about it at a later time!