Running Revelations

This past Sunday my team lost 4-2 in a game we should have won. Every team will say this, but for real we could have! In an effort to transition from midfield to defense, I was out ran and scored on. In the last 2 minutes, I was scored on - but I was forced to play keeper, the 4th keeper of the game because we don't have any. Anyhow, my revelation is I desperately need to get back into shape. Although I'm playing with girls 19 to 25, I still need to show my soccer maturity including being able to keep up. I couldn't beat their forwards in a foot race and it was embarrassing. Back in high school, I was obsessed with being fit, but my definition of 'being fit' was to not be the last girl to finish the timed mile. This definition grew into an obsession that was near the definition of eating disorder. Although I lost a lot of weight, achieved top running times and received sly looks from guys that never looked at me that way before, it wasn't an ideal lifestyle. I would practice 2 hours at school, run 2 miles before after school practice, then 2 hours of after school practice and then hit the gym for some elliptical and weights. All this exercise was supported by a peanut butter and jelly diet. Believe it or not this was a daily routine. This past weekend's embarrassment makes me rethink about those days and how much time I had to 'being fit'. I'm a working girl now, but I can't handle being the last in a foot race. For the last 6 months I wake up at 6am atleast 3 days a week to run 5k around the botanical gardens. It started out as a quest to run a half marathon, which hasn't been abandoned. Is it enough though? Should I leave these dreams of high school soccer glory? I'm kind of glad we lost. I now have more motivation to perform better in our next games. I'll see how this goes, but seems to me I'll have to take on the working girl who runs marathons regiment-you know who I'm talking about. They are the power women who eat tuna and crackers for lunch and who you see running across the Sydney Harbour Bridge or around Central Park wearing a backpack with their suit packed inside. They dominate at work and on the pavement without thinking twice about time management. Any training tips are welcome.

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

When you're hiking in the mountains looking for waterfalls, you can't help but sing TLC's 'Don't go chasing waterfalls'. This was the theme song of our hike through the Blue Mountains.


Autumn settled right in, but I didn't seem to see it. Living in Sydney, the few parks I have are full of tropical flora. Many of the trees keep their leaves and if they do fall, they don't go through the colour changes you would see throughout America. That sort of makes me sad that children don't have the chance to enjoy piling a yard's full of leaves together and jumping in with making a huge splash of red, brown, yellow and green.


To enjoy the crisp Autumn air (Australian's do not call it the Fall), we took a few friends to the Blue Mountains for the day. Sydney is really an amazing city because it is a bustling metropolis surrounded by beaches on one side and mountains on the other. The Blue Mountains is only 50km away and is accessible by the City Rail train system. There are different train stops throughout the Blue Mountains. Today we were stopping at Wentworth Falls.


Wentworth Falls is less than 2 hours by train and is perfect for a short half-day hike. I'll be the first person to tell you that I don't like hiking. Dating Dave, who's been hiking his entire life, makes trips like these tough. I don't enjoy elevation or the feeling that one misstep can send me tumbling down the mountain. Back in Korea, my friend Christie and I went hiking at Suraksan, a local mountain. On our way down, I lost my footing and tumbled 20 yards down the mountain. On another hiking trip, Dave and I were climbing Seoraksan with our colleague Hannah. We went all the way to the top, or so we thought. I would still have to scale the side of a rock face with the help of a rickety handrail. I broke down crying.


Ever since that day, I have avoided hikes, walks, expeditions etc. Luckily for Dave, he has found a group of work colleagues who like to go on hikes around Sydney - there is great bushwalking all around the greater Sydney area.


For this hike through Wentworth Falls, Dave was comfortable leading the way because he had gone with his work friends previously. He consulted their favourite website for trail mapping called Wild Walks. He found a trail starting only a five minute walk from the Wentworth Falls station.


We boarded the City Rail train at 8am with our friends Ben, Blake, Max, Sophie, Jenny and Mike. Four couples cozy in our train car faced each other catching up and admiring the scenery as the train whizzed out of Sydney and through the Inner West towards the Blue Mountains. In less than 2 hours as the train scheduled promised, we arrived at Wentworth Falls station. We took in some coffees and picked up a few snack items for the trail and headed off.


For 4 hours total, we hiked (rather leisurely strolled) through the Wentworth Falls area. It wasn't the tiring and treacherous hiking experience I thought I was going to have. It was relaxing and hard to notice elevation because as we walked we would gradually go up for a while and then gradually walk down. There were a few instances where we had to climb very high, but there were sturdy hand rails and large steps. If hiking is walking, then I can handle it.


The views were breathtaking. Being a clear day, we could take in the views for miles. The place does live up to its name. There were over 10 waterfalls, all with water because it had previously rained. One of the most disappointing things you could do is go see a water fall and there be no actual water falling - similar to seeing volcanoes. They are actually just big hills.


One of the best thing about hiking with friends is that it's a good time to catch up. We not only caught up on each other's present lives, but learned a lot about our pasts and future pursuits. We talked about past hikes we've done. Things we miss about living in America. Where we want to be in the next 2-5 years and even started singing random 90s tunes - hence Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls.


By 3pm, we were back at the station. Dave and I had to go back to Sydney because I had a soccer game the next day. The rest of the group were going to stay the night in Katoomba and enjoy a bit more of the Blue Mountains. Dave and I rode back to Sydney admiring all the nature stills we took and began discussing a return trip to see the Three Sisters and more of the Blue Mountains.


If you're ever in Sydney and looking for a quick day trip out of the city, I highly suggest going to Wentworth Falls for a lovely hiking experience. It's only a train ride away!

The Wentworth Falls Circuits

Enjoying Our First Waterfall

Waterfall Number 2

Gorgeous Day For A Walk With Your Love

Girlfriends on the Trail

Jenny, Me, Blake, Sophie

It's Not All Mud

Waterfalls in the Shade

You Can Walk Right Into A Waterfall

The Just Keep On Getting Better

I Like Waterfalls With Streams

The Top of a Really Tall Waterfall

The Rest of the Really Tall Waterfall

The View of the Tall Waterfall from Ground Level

View of Tall Waterfall Number 2

Amazing Isn't It?

The Outlook

This Waterfall is a Gusher

This One Looks Like It's Taking a Light Pee

It Goes On For Miles and Miles

Our Group Looking Over the Handrails

Getting a Little Cloudy

A Bit of Drizzle

Another Gusher

Just Can't Get Enough

The Last Lookout

Wentworth Falls Panoramic

Soccer Shady Returns

Some of you may or may not know how my nickname ‘Shady’ came about. No, it’s has nothing to do with my personality, sexual nature or love of Eminem. It derives from my best friend’s Emily Strinden and Catherine Allen – two of the most outspoken soccer player’s I’ve ever played with. I grew up with these two and became even closer because we played club soccer and high school soccer together – extracurricular activities that take up all of your adolescent life if you know anything about Texas sports. If you don’t, high school soccer is played from January to April. Club soccer is played April to June and August to December. Between June and August, you are expected to go to soccer camps and train with your club team. So in short, we take sports seriously in Texas.

When Emily, Catherine and I grew stronger as players, so did our leadership skills. By senior year, we wanted to develop a team that was close. After all, we lived and breathed soccer, as did our teammates. As any team does when they bond, they develop nicknames for each other. Because the name ‘Shadiyah’ is so long and difficult to say while in play, Emily and Catherine took up the shortened version ‘Shady’. From when I was a bartender at Fordham to teaching in Seoul, Korea to doing PR/Marketing at Taurus Marketing in Sydney, the name has stuck and is my preferred nickname.

This week, I had the opportunity to bring this name back as I joined my first women’s club soccer team since being on U-18 Lufkin FC in 2004. It had been 3 years since I graduated from Fordham in 2008 where I founded and captained Team Mabuckyao, Fordham University Intramural co-ed champions all 4 years. Being new to Sydney and looking to meet people who enjoy my passion for soccer, I figured it was about time to get on a team. Just my luck, registrations were happening in February and my 20 year old interns at Taurus were giving me all the information I needed. I blindly emailed the Eastern Suburbs commissioner who placed my name on an open list. Luckily, one girl contacted me saying she was starting a team. As everyone began to go to their practices, my interns kept asking me how my team was. After 2 weeks of email silence, I figured this girl backed out. I blindly wrote 2 coaches and asked if they needed players and they did. I provided a description of my past experience and now I’m a bit regretful because now they’ll think I’m stellar. Both replied with enthusiasm. Before, I had the problem of not having a team at all. Now I had the problem of choosing between two. I ended up picking Maccabi FC because they trained in Rushcutter’s Bay, a short 10 minute walk from my apartment. The other team practiced in North Bondi, an hour long trip from my neighborhood. My one hesitation was that this team was formed traditionally as a Jewish club.

On Thursday, I met my team for the end of their practice to pick up my uniform. I was greeted by a sweet group of young girls – I’m talking mostly 19 years old. And they were all Jewish. Feeling a little out of place, I decided to talk to the coach, who is Brazilian. He said the team was pretty average with a third being good, a third being okay, and the last third with very little experience. This made me wonder where I fit into the thirds. I swallowed my insecurity and thought about the reason why I decided to join – to play soccer with no matter who the team was or how good they were. Luckily we are royal blue and white, a tribute to Emily’s alma matter University of Kansas where she became captain of her Division 1 soccer team. I took home my new Nike uniform and felt proud. I did pay $450 for registration fees after all.

Today, we played our first game. I was picked up by Julie, our manager and resident soccer mom. She reminds me of the suburban Jewish moms on Long Island, completely devoted to her children, yet trying to act young and understand the partying ways of 19 year old girls. We arrived at Alexandria School Park near Redfern station in Sydney where two boys’ teams were playing the 9am game. We warmed up with drills, small sided scrimmage and stretches. This was the first time these girls had seen my touch a ball and I did show off a little leaving me exhausted in just the pre-game warm-up.

Half-time Break

Large Barren Soccer Field

Covering This Girl & Scolded by the Ref for Wearing a Stud in my Ear

Watching My Shot Go Slightly Wide

Julie, the Manager & Renato, the Coach and Carl, the Assistant Coach

With summer winding down in Sydney, the weather was still a scorching 27 Celsius. We played a full 120 x 75 yard field with 45 minute halves. Ouch! During the first half I had 3 shots on goal, but none converted. Playing center midfield (a position I’m not used to), I did show off some of the famous Mike Fray (Lufkin FC soccer coach for 4 years) footwork, which impressed both my teammates and sideliners. We ended the half at 2-0. I quietly and carefully sipped my water hoping to not be too full for the second half and too pooped from the first. We went back onto the field and I lost my stamina 20 minutes in. My coach saw this and put me back in center back position, another position I’m not used to. In the end, we won the game 4-1 with no subs and no goalkeeper. We had two inexperienced goalies volunteer to keep goal anyhow.

One downfall for my performance today is that most of my teammates have played together. So, it was tough to get them to pass to me because they aren’t used to my voice or my presence. The other downfall is my lack of sprinting and stamina, but I have to remember that I’m nearly 7 years older than these girls. Overall, I am proud of the way I played. With all the skills I learned over the years, I showed my young team mature playing style; fancy footwork, playing to space, kicking corners, and shooting goals. The season lasts until August. It will be very interesting to see how I develop over this time. With a 4-1 win today, I’m thinking Maccabi FC is a good contender for the finals. Now, I just need to figure how to deal with my sore feet full of blisters.

The Shady Travels Global Network

My Friend Map App

Found a pretty neat app on Facebook the other day. That's the great thing about apps. They are noticed and soon become popular because they appear on your news feed - the new form of 'word of mouth'.

So, I saw this particular app featured on my news feed and wondered why so many people had it. My Friend Map is an application that visually shows you in relation to all your friends around the world. Don't you want to know where all your friends are now? Guess Facebook is now the new CRM too.

I've had Facebook since it's inception in 2004 (beyond the Harvard network). Over the years, I'd say I've garnered quite a few Facebook friends especially from my high school, Fordham, Seoul and Sydney networks. With over 1500 online 'friends', I can't keep track of all of them, only the ones who are active on a daily basis. Some are active on an hourly basis. With my moves from Texas, NYC, Seoul and then Sydney, I hope that my friends have also embarked on some adventures over the years. It's great to see that some have based on their current location.

My favourite part about this map is that there are connections in the ocean - well they appear that way. I clicked on one connection in the Oceania region and found out that one of my friends from Semester At Sea decided to give up the corporate life to sail around the South Pacific, starting in Tonga. I wrote Facebook messaged him to let him know we're on the same side of the world and he promptly replied with his adventurous plan and asked if I'd like to come. Too bad I'm still stuck with a corporate seat belt on at the moment.