training for a half marathon while building a startup in SF

Life is filled with imaginary starting lines. To learn how to cook, how to write, to play an instrument. I took on the most literal starting line for a race. And with a starting line comes with a finish line, but because it's imaginary, it can continuously be pushed. Once you see what your body and your mind can do, it becomes harder to settle for a version of yourself that never tried. And the finish line will forever move forward. Today I had a slow start to my morning, so I'll be making brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. But oh my god, I'm gonna be making my favorite super high in protein eggs, turkey breast, spinach. Oh my god, Kewpie mayo, ketchup. And carb-balanced tortillas. Okay, I don't know what's going on with me today. A month and a half ago, I decided to sign up for the SF Half Marathon, the first half that goes across the bridge. But I only decided to start training for it for some reason last week, and now I have 13 days left. For the record, I am— I've never really been a runner. I would occasionally go on runs, but I would not consider myself a runner. I just lift. So I am like really nervous for this. Last week the longest run I went on was around 7.1 miles. I ended it early because I got hungry but a half marathon is like 13 miles. I've only done half of it. I'm like— I'm scared. To really hold myself accountable, I'm gonna be vlogging this week to make sure that I'm completing all my runs, hitting my goals, and just working hard. I'm doing leg day today but I do plan on doing 3 or 4 runs at least with my longest run being 10 miles. Hopefully I can also find some time to run on hills because I heard the first half is so hilly. In between, I'll obviously still do my weight training. Ah, I can never close. One of the biggest things I need to learn for my half marathon training is actually fueling my body. So as I said, my long run last week was cut short because I just didn't eat before and my stomach was cramping so, so, so bad. So I finally bought bread. I've been trying to cut out carbs, but I do have to bring some back in, especially for the days I run. And I have to make sure that I'm taking care of myself. I don't do that. Like, I would sprain my ankle and be up and running the next day. Like, it's weird. Okay, I'm gonna make my omelette now. Egg omelette wrap. Quick grocery run before I go to the gym. I still have everything, so I just picked up some yogurt and protein bars. I've just been eating really clean, really easy, so grocery shopping has also been really easy. And this is my holy grail. I think it's so yummy, and I love the thickness of it. Work lately has been pretty hard because it's really open-ended and I— there's just no end to what I'm doing. But I think that's just part of the journey and part of startup life and working in consumer social. You have no, you have no direct target audience, you have no, you have no direct customers, so you are Doing what makes you feel right in a certain way. Like you can't be low-key about it. Minced chicken skewers. Cheers. Okay, cheers. So tender. Put some chili sauce. It's really juicy. It is really juicy. We also got the chicken thigh. Yum. Cheers. Okay. I just saw that they were used to burn like my Korean. It tastes tender but less flavorful, but it's still good. I feel like I'm obsessed with corn. Gyoza! Cheers! It's like so filled out. I don't know if you can see it. My daily yogurt bowl. I'm gonna eat at Startup. So like, if like the computer kills the telegram, if like the phone kills the like normal phone and the landline, like if you kill something, it like— Ah, ooh, my hamstrings are stiff. Like I had that phase, I'm over it. This is my first time going on a run with someone else because I'm shy. Yeah. So we are actually running to In-N-Out. You know, you gotta give yourself a challenge, and you gotta give yourself an end goal. And our end goal is that animal style fries. Woo! Long two golden almonds. Woo! This is so much more chill than I thought. Like, we've been talking this entire time. Ferris wheel. Woo! Steven. In-N-Out. In-N-Out. Explainer for the graph. Good morning! I'm currently making my daily breakfast yogurt bowl. So I actually eat this every single day without fail. Like, I'm not even kidding, because I, I think it takes off a lot of cognitive load of knowing what I'm eating, and I know reliably that I'm getting at least 20 grams of protein in the morning through whole food meat. I'm like quite impressed by my run yesterday, even though it wasn't very long. The fact that I was so conversational the entire time Was like really shocking to me because I've never like ran with a friend, so I've never you know just like talked while running. But it was so comfortable; we felt like we could keep going. We only did like 4.2 miles from the OpenAI office to In and Out. But next time we want to try run all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, which is seven miles, which should not be too much of a problem for me since I've been able to do that lately. But we'll see. Maybe that'll happen later this week. Hardest part of this challenge is definitely. Fueling myself. I actually have a very flexible work schedule, so timing is not the issue at all. It's more so like my energy, you know? Like, I— another reason why I was surprised that I was okay last night is because I started the run at 7:30, which is when I'm usually pretty tired, but I was able to hold up pretty well. Yeah. This is my completed yogurt bowl. You guys saw it yesterday. She's so beautiful. And then I'm gonna get to work. It's way too boiled. Oh my god, I just realized that I just made hard-boiled— soft-boiled eggs instead of poached eggs. I'm so dumb. Topped it with some chili crisp, but this is my lunch for today: eggs, yogurt. It was supposed to be Turkish eggs, but I just did the eggs wrong. So I'm thinking that now 1 AM and I'm still wrapping up work. I'm not gonna lie, this is like not a good time for me to be training for a half marathon. We have like a deadline, which is YC Startup School that happens Literally the same day as the marathon, so I've been really stressed out getting my deliverables in because we're definitely trying to do something for that while training for this. I just haven't been sleeping enough. I've been sleeping late to get my stuff done, and I've been waking up well attempting to wake up early to get my runs in. But I well obviously this is not sustainable long term. But right now I really am surviving purely on like Celsius and Pure will. I'm really tired right now, but I have to, have to submit it for the App Store reviews and people are counting on me. So hopefully I can sleep soon and get around like 6 and a half hours of sleep before my hill run tomorrow. We'll see. Taking a step out of the office right now to go to the Asian Art Museum because their last day showing this exhibition. I think it's something to do with the red string theory, which is very soft. Okay, before my run, I'm gonna have half a bagel, some peanut butter. I'm not gonna make the same mistake. Again of not eating anything before my run. Okay, the plan for today's run is a hill run, so I will be attempting to run up and down Portero Hills. I already see the hill coming. It's like right there. It's so freaking steep. I ran up the first hill and I have to stop. A super simple 10-minute bulgogi ground beef with some beans. Today I get to sleep a little bit earlier. It's 11:48. I still have some stuff running, but Oh my god, we are on the App Store. I wish I could have filmed it when I first realized this, but we were in a museum, so I didn't really want to make a ruckus of it. But if you search up Sonder: Your Connected Story— we need to work on the SEO— we're right here. Like, oh my god, this is what we've been working towards. I'm so happy. I don't know, I kind of feel like I want to keep working to make sure that people coming on have the best experience ever, but I do know I need some sleep. So, oh my God. Come do the SF Half Marathon with me with my Insta360 Ace Pro 2. I can't believe this is happening right now. I signed up for this on a whim a month ago. Trained like three times somewhere, and now we're really doing it. I haven't had so much fun training for something in a long time. I feel like life is about doing hard things, and this is a hard thing for me because I am a lifter. I don't run. I used to play rugby though. I have good stamina but not endurance, so this is a whole different challenge. Mile one, mile two, first hill. Mile three in the marina. Look at how beautiful she. She is. Mile 4, past Chrissy Fields. Mile 5, we can see the Golden Gate Bridge. I can see it from here! Mile 6, incline up to the bridge. I'm gonna take my first pause and get some gel. Onto the bridge we go. Mile 7, halfway across the bridge. Mile 8, looping around. Still feeling pretty good actually, I don't feel tired at all. I think it's the adrenaline getting to me. Downhill break now. Mile 9. Mile 10, slow and steady incline up. Mile 11, uphill. Gel number 2 time. Back on the bridge. Cross the bridge, final stretch. Mile 13, you got this. Let's sprint. Commander, congratulations! We're done. I wish I sprinted longer. That was so good. This is a must-do path. Like, holy, it's so beautiful. I look like chopped shit now, but at least the weather is good.