26point2medals.com

All runners feel this way at least a little bit. I do it. You do it. No, not running to a port a pot to do #2, or the snot rocket, or even talking to yourself during those last miles. But, those all qualify too!! What we all have in common is that we all like the stuff we get for racing – at least a little bit. Race bibs, ribbons, and race medals are all fun to collect. I even like the free *gasp* cotton race shirts that you get. I consider all of the stuff that I get when I sign up for a race as “free” and consider the race entry fee payment for all of the logistics for putting on a race. I like them even more because I am super cheap and love free stuff. In fact, I have a goodie bag of free crap that companies gave out a job fairs that is coming up on 10 years old! Of course, that doesn’t mean that I need a ton of bells and whistles when I race. In fact, my favorite race memento to date is a florescent green piece of paper stating to the world that “I beat the turkey”.

Ok, I have to say it AGAIN.... Check out 'grouchy' in the background. CRACKS me up every time I see her.

So, when I finally decided to run the Hogeye marathon in Arkansas, I tried to find the medal to see what it looks like. Honestly, because it is a smaller race, I didn’t have much luck. However, I did run across a really cool website that has a LOT of marathon finisher medals listed on it. Check it out!

http://26point2medals.com/

If you have some free time, send them some pictures of the medals that you have collected. It is a really neat idea and a really fun resource to cruise around on if you have some time to kill. Does anyone else know of a similar website?

Week of 2/23 Runs – INJURY BLAHS

2/24: 4 miles 8:32 pace
2/25: 0 MILES GAHHHHHHHHH
2/26: 4 miles 8:18 pace

Tuesday: As I alluded to earlier, I tweaked something on the inside of my right foot / ankle. Based on my extensive experience of….. having feet, I think that it is basically the part on the inside that seems to connect the inner ankle nub to the toes. (maybe my little sister the doctor could help out here….). I did it during my 16 this past weekend. It honestly doesn’t feel bad at all during the day, but I feel a bit of pain / warmth when I am running. I think that it is the weight and the subsequent spring off that does it. I considered holding off on today’s run, but I thought that I would give ‘er a go. I purposely ran slower to not stress it any more than necessary. When I got done, it felt fine and after I took two Advil it felt totally normal.

Wednesday: I woke up at 5:45 like I normally do on the long run day. I got completely dressed including nipple band aids and my headphones on. You know – side note…. I tried some little circle band aids that came in my multi pack and they SUCKED. I am allergic to the adhesive in the band aids causing me to break out where they were, but having these things on was a whole new level of suck. The sticky part was squarely on my nipple causing a LOT of “discomfort” when I yanked them off. Anyway, the net result here is that I decided to let my foot heal one more day and take the day off. I was REALLY hoping to avoid missing any days during this training period, but alas missed day 1 is on the books.

Thursday: I had planned on hitting the bike last night but life got in the way. Work has been nuts and I just couldn’t do it. However, I did get my 4 miles in today as per schedule. My foot / ankle didn’t hurt too bad at all. There was still a bit of soreness towards the beginning of the run, but it went away after about a mile. Afterwards, I did the hotel version of an ice bath which is just running your ankle under the cold bath water. It was COLD. But, it felt really good and eased any lingering soreness.

I am really glad that I was able to get out there today (Thursday). I think that I would be really frustrated if I would have had to take another day off. That said, instead of my MP run on Saturday, I’m going to hit the bike and ride it hard for an hr or so to make up for the time off. I’m still planning on 17 this weekend which would make my mileage 25 for the week instead of a planned 38. Not a big deal though, next week I’ll hopefully get back into the swing of things!

Missed Connection: The Gym

For any of you that buy anything off of Craig’s List, this will certainly ring true. Craig's has a section where people can post messages to other people who they saw throughout the day. People that they think they shared a secret 'connection' with. I had one of those situations yesterday at the gym.


You, were grunting HARD while doing curls on the curl machine…. Face all red and gruntish, veins ready to pop.
I, was trying not to stare… for the most part, sorta.

I had to go to a different part of the gym because I could not hold in my laughter - so I thought that I had lost you forever.

That is, until I saw you in the locker room, shirt off, flexing your muscles in the huge mirror above the row of sinks. I admire your audacity to not worry about all of the naked guys who practically stopped mid step to shake their heads (among other things that were shaking) at your “awesomeness”. I realize that most of us do this in the mirror at home, but the fact that you could not wait for the drive home proved to me that you are one of a kind… The kind that dies in an electrical fire after your hair jell oozes into your flat iron.

House Update

Short post today because I am crazy busy at work.... We received a house offer today! As you would expect with the current economy, the offer was quite a bit lower than I would like (~%10), so we countered. I am still waiting to hear back – but am very hopeful that by the end of the day we’ll have something locked down!

Of course, I will keep everyone posted! :)

My Valentine

With all of the “single awareness” that was floating around about a week ago, I didn’t want to gloat about my un-single status. (Well, maybe I did want to gloat a little bit I guess.) So, since I hope that all of bitterness of the commercialization of Valentines has subsided, I wanted to share with everyone what my wife got me for V Day!

It is a Sport Hooks by Heavy Medalz race medal display! I have actually wanted one of these for quite some time. In fact, I posted about them previously both on this blog as well as on the Runners World forums. It is very cool. There are 5 hooks to hang medals on that you receive at the end of each race. I don't really want to show them off per say (I don't offer up to people that I run as much as I do unless they ask specifically) but I don't like that they are just stuck in a closet somewhere.

As the name suggests, it is VERY heavy duty. It is 1/8” metal which means that as long as it is anchored into the wall really well it should have no trouble holding 10 or 15 medals. (On a side note, searching for that race medal display is probably the most searched running related thing that points people to my blog. Here I thought it would have been about me freezing my giblets off or about being hit by a car or something…. I guess everyone else doesn’t have the same odd internet habits that I do)

The bad thing is that I can’t really put it up now because we are trying to sell the house. I would have to drill a few pretty good sized holes in the wall that couldn’t easily be patched up. Since I am pretty much past wanting to do ANYTHING more on the house that I am in, that is pretty much a no-go. So, I am thinking about putting it on my desk and just admiring it. I may even try to rig up my medals on it somehow. Either way, I now have NO excuse not to run at least two more races. It wouldn’t look as good all lopsided.

2/21 Weekend Runs

2/21: 5 miles, 7:51 pace
2/22: 16 miles, 8:28 pace, 174 average heart rate

Saturday MP Run: 5 miles at marathon pace. I was able to keep the marathon pace even though it was pretty cold and I was running into a very stiff headwind. I will admit, this run was tough. I found that I am going to be in real trouble if there is a strong headwind during any of my races. My legs felt heavy and it seemed like I was always running uphill. But, I guess I was able to meet the pace - even if only for 5 miles.

Sunday Long Run: 16 miles at a target of 8:30 pace. This run went really well. Two things that I really liked about this run. First, my HR was 5 beats below the previous week. This is probably due to the lower speed, but that is OK. I finally was able to run this distance at the speed that I wanted to - pretty consistently too. Second, when I was done, I wasn't completely spent. In fact, I'll bet I had a few more miles in me. However, I did have a bit of a 'glitch'.... When I had 1/2 a mile left, my right ankle had some pains on the inside. I'm going to take it easy for a day or two and keep a very close eye on it so that it doesn't turn into anything serious.

35 miles this week! The mileage is really ramping up. I'll be at nearly 40 miles next week!

Tornado Funzies

I love running outside. I love traveling. So, as you can assume, if you put those two activities together awesome times most always follow. However, this past week in Atlanta was most certainly the exception to the rule.

http://www.nbcaugusta.com/news/local/39842462.html

On Wednesday, when I landed in Atlanta from Cleveland and hopped in my rental car, the first thing that I heard on the radio was that there were multiple severe thunderstorms currently in the area. "Well, this is really going to F up rush hour traffic" was my first thought. Once I started to actually listen to the storm warnings, I realized - I have no IDEA where these things are! This became especially urgent when they changed from severe thunderstorms to tornados! The radio was listing off counties that were affected.... South X county, North Y county, etc. All the while I'm driving along, watching the clouds turn darker and darker and the rain getting harder and harder. I considered calling a guy I know in the area (and would have had the wind really started to pick up) but, like the stubborn man that I am, I decided to just keep on truckin'.

The thing that frustrates me the most is that I was really considering going for a quick run to try to limber up after the long flight. So, I went to the gym walked right past the treadmills and over to the weights to try to work on my girlish figure. Nothing makes me feel more like a man than doing pull ups. I'm not sure why - but they are the best!

Of course, since I am typing this all is well. The storms I found out later were north and south of me but not directly in my path. I did take a picture from the gym parking lot. Both are a bit ominous, but I think one may show a little suspicious looking cloud.

Man Dinner - Maybe a side of Prozac?

I travel for work. As a result, that normally means spending a lot of time in hotel rooms. It is pretty fun most of the time. I get lots of quality "Adam" time, I get to sing in the shower (and think of the people walking down the hall who I know can hear me), and I get to watch whatever I want on TV.

However, I will admit that there are times when traveling is a little annoying. For example, this week I am gone all 5 days. Being gone 5 days is rough. Very rough.

After going to the gym, I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat. So, I did one of the most depressing things that an out of towner can do. I went to the grocery store and bought dinner there. I had every intent of going to the grocery store and buying a deli sandwich. But, when I drove up I saw a sign for sushi that was too hard to pass up. So, I wandered in, found the sushi, tried to NOT smell the super stank coming off of the crab legs, and started looking for something else. I can't survive on sushi alone.

I walked into the cookie / cracker isle and contemplated getting an entire bag of Pepperidge Farms cookies. I honestly did the math on how many miles I would have to run in order to burn off 10 servings of 200 calories. (20 btw) My inner voice got the best of me and I went straight for the wheat thins. However, when I walked by the 100 cal packs, I noticed that the Oreo/Chips Ahoy ones were on sale. Score. No math necessary on those - double score.

Now, something to drink. Since tomorrow is a rest day and I don't have to run, I had decided on beer. However, when I went to the beer isle, it was 6 and 12 packs as far as the eye could see. Now, I considered getting a 12 pack and sharing it with the front desk guy. He seems pretty cool.... but, CLEAR down on the end of the beer isle were two "single" beers. Fosters and Sapporo. I chose Fosters. Looking back, I guess with the sushi the Sapporo (a Japanese beer) would have made a lot more sense but I think that I was feeling a bit odd.

So, my 'dinner' tonight consisted of:
- Grocery store sushi
- Two 100 calorie packs
- A 25 oz Fosters beer.


I think the only way that it could have been more depressing would have been if I would have added a Playboy and some Prozac. LOL :-D

I honestly didn't even realize how strange it was until I got into the car and took inventory of what I bought. Here is what I ended up with in the hotel (via cell phone cam):



Check out the beer! It is MASSIVE! 25 oz - or 750 ml. That is right, I bought a can of beer the same size as a bottle of wine. Of course, that means that it is a PAIN to drink. It never did flow quite right. Oh well, it is totally worth it.

Week of 2/16 Running

2/17: 3 miles, 8:34 pace
2/18: 8 miles, 7:34 overall pace with 7x800 at 6:53 pace
2/19: 3 miles, 8:09 pace

2/17: Tuesday’s run was a forced run on the treadmill. I haven’t ran my normal 3 mile runs on the treadmill in a long time so this was a bit different. Fortunately, the treadmills were brand new Life Fitness models (I think) with a 20” HDTV attached to them. Very nice! I had to run on the treadmill because I was in Cleveland and forgot to bring the cold weather running clothes that are 100% necessary. That is, hat, gloves, long pants, long sleeves, etc. Fortunately, I was able to force myself to slow down a bit to give myself some rest. The slower pace felt really good and I had no trouble hanging on to this pace throughout the entire 3 miles.

2/18: Speed day! I added an additional mile to today’s run which I think played a bit of head games on me. I was able to run all of the fast intervals that I wanted to, but I actually took a break between interval #4 and #5 to walk for 0.25 mile or so. I think that I slowed it down to 15:00 pace which seemed to be a pretty good clip for a walk. Funny, while I want to run faster and faster, when walking (in the mall etc) I would much rather plod along. I was thinking while I was running, the treadmill sessions will actually be a bit good for warm weather training. They should hopefully get me used to not only running in the heat, but also running with a shirt on! See, I much prefer to not run with a shirt on. I sweat a LOT and a shirt just makes me even hotter. In fact, if I were a girl I would certainly be arrested because not even a sports bra would stay on me.

2/19: 3 pretty uneventful miles outside. It was a bit chilly so my wrists got cold, but once I got inside the normal sweat of the run started to flow.

SHIT: I just looked at my training plan and I was supposed to run 4/8/4 this week. Well crap. Lesson learned – look at that each and every week and not assume what the miles are. I guess I got the 8 in, and I know that two miles isn’t going to matter in the grand scheme, but I really liked that I was basically on track. Either way, I’ll hopefully have 35 miles this week. Not to shabby!

Yes Sir!!

While in Cleveland this week, I got to meet a lot of new people. A lot of the people are installers or were previously installers. It isn’t important so much what they are installing so much as they were (or are) a blue collar workforce. After I had met a few people and conducted a few meetings, I was asked by one of the guys if I was former military. Once he asked, a few people also commented in the same conversation “Yeah, I could see you as military”. I was shocked! I had never heard that before.

However, to be honest I was a little honored. I keep the armed forces in very high regard. In fact, I almost went to the Air Force Academy. I even was working towards the Congressional recommendation that is required. I can only assume that they thought that I was previous military because of good qualities: Discipline, Honor, Duty, Snappy Salute, Yelling "Yes drill Sargent!" Forest Gump style after each sentence, something else?? Hopefully it wasn’t some sort of post traumatic stress induced rage that they saw in my eyes. I mostly try to hide that during the week.

So, what do you think? Do I look like I could be military? I like my hair high and tight, but I’m not sure what else there is to give someone that impression. Here are a few samples of my most militaristic pictures:

Happy Birthday!

No, it isn’t my birthday – it was my wife’s on Friday. With her birthday and Valentines Day so close together, my wallet, really takes a beating. Not a normal beating, I’m talking a WWF smack down style one complete with oiled up guys in Speedos. That is OK though, I am either stupid, naive, or both but I don’t mind the commercialism of Valentines Day. Gotta spend my money on something. As I sit on a plane on my way to Cleveland HOPING that Drew Carrey was right and it really does rock, I was killing time looking through my pictures and ran across a funny one that I thought that I would share. (Bare with me, this does relate….)

When I was on my last project, team member birthdays slowly escalated from the obligatory card that everyone signs to an all out extravaganza with cake, cookies, and usually a super depressing song STRAIGHT out of Office Space. Towards the end of my tenure, two of my team members had a birthday party together. My right hand woman (I sound like a dictator…. Bow to me underlings muwahahahaha) and some other people went out to a bakery to buy cookies, brownies, etc. They put them in a conference room with the goal of surprising the birthday guys later in the day. When the time came for the surprise, not only were there people in the conference room, but they ATE the cookies / brownies! There were only a few left! That also meant that not only were there not many cookies left for me, but the brownies that were to be used to hold the candles were gone and this was the result:



So, to go with my crappy singing, these guys had to hold their own candles and didn’t get to eat any birthday brownies. What a celebration. Makes me think that a WWF style smack down would be better on the self esteem!!At least then some of the oil and self tanner would have rubbed off and you would look good for after work happy hour.

2/14 Weekend Run

2/14: 4 miles, 7:47 pace.
2/15: 10 miles, 8:10 pace, 180 HR.

2/14: 4 miles at MP pace. It was a good run that had a pretty constant speed. Oh, well I guess sort of. I just looked at my splits and they were 7:25, 7:51, 7:51, 8:02. I only recently turned on the lap timers so I have TONS of random information that I shouldn't have access to. So, I guess I was a bit fast on the first mile but fell into a good MP groove after that.

2/15: 10 miles. Goal pace was around 8:25, so I ran this a bit fast. I am really going to work to slow this down next week to around 8:30. But, it was a good run. I felt like I could go for quite a while afterwards which is good. However, I did feel a slight tingle or something in my knee. I iced it down and it was fine afterwards, but I need to keep an eye on it and really be careful of my speed so that it doesn't turn into something larger.

Saturday Funnies

Since it is Valentines day and I, much like every other married man who is going out tonight, am waiting for my wife to get ready. I thought that I would post some funny observations from ruminations.com. I've been saving these for a while, but the first one seems to be especially appropriate for Valentines day. :)


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If a new girl wants you to wear a condom, it's probably safe to talk her out of it. If she doesn't care whether or not you wear one, you should probably wear two.
So last night for dinner I chopped jalapeños, as I finished chopping I brought them over to the table and then went to use the restroom. About two minutes later my crotch felt like it was on fire; I got jalapeño juice on my boys! Suddenly I was in immense pain keeling over like a 10 year old boy kicked in the nuts. After many failed attempts at making the burning stop, the only thing that did work was the same thing that works when your mouth is on fire... Milk. So I dunked em like an Oreo and the pain went away.

Even though I know it's physically impossible, every time I work out, I look in the mirror and think "Yep, definitely skinnier."

I hate it when I have run in to Target to pick up a few things and I happen to be wearing a red shirt and khakis.

My 4 year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

I've always kind of wondered what my dog is thinking when I play fetch with him. I bet it's something like "Son of a bitch, what the fuck are you doing? I just brought you that.".

For the most part, I can handle being a grown up. But how perfect would life be if we could still fake sleep in order to be carried from the car to bed late at night?

Flight 3407

I was recently told that a friend of a friend knows at least one, if not two people who were on this flight.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100667269
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200902130811DOWJONESDJONLINE000533_FORTUNE5.htm

I don't want to get overly dramatic, but it gets me thinking about the possibility of my buddy being on that plane or, as much as I fly, me being on that plane.

I've always said that I am never comfortable when I fly standby because whenever a plane goes down inevitably you hear stories of people who were going to catch the flight but then didn't because of one thing or another. This flight is no different. There was a lady on the Today Show who was going to catch flight 3407, but didn't because of a long line to get on it. I guess it wasn't her time?

Week of 2/9 Running

2/10: 3 miles, 8:02 pace
2/11: 7 miles, 7:30 overall pace w/ 7x800 sprints at 6:53 pace
2/12: 3 miles, 8:19 pace

2/10: This was my first run in awesome warm GA. It was the first time this winter season that I was able to wear shorts and a T Shirt which was a nice change. Soon I guess I will join the ranks of the people that Midwest people hate – those that brag about their 70 degree January days and pina colada nights. The run was about as average as it gets. Not too hard, not to easy. I had lifted leg weights the night before, so the first part of the run served to burn off all of the built up acid.

2/11: Speed day. Blah? NO! Hurray! Today’s speed run went great. I was able to hold my pace at 6:53 during the fast times and hold my pace at 8:00 during the recovery times. In fact, I was able to drink while on the run which I am still playing around with. Oddly, this pace resulted in an overall time of 52:30 which is exactly a 7:30 pace. I’m going to try another two weeks at this pace and then try kicking it up another 0.1 MPH which I think should take me down to around 6:45 pace. I’m going to try kicking it up a notch (BAM) about once a month until I am running 30 mph. I figure I’ll hit that when I am 95 or so. (If you watch the office, there is a GREAT intro clip where the staff is running past a street side radar detector. Basically I’m a walking talking Michael Scott.)

2/12: The 3 miles today was a little tough due to the compounding effect of being really busy at work and not sleeping well in the hotel bed. I’ve found that I’ll sleep a lot better during the weeks after the first week. I am feeling a slight tweak in my knee that may be because I need to get new patellar bands for my knees. The velcro is going bad on the ones that I have which is causing them to slip down on my little chicken legs.

I'm on a BOAT!

Well, not really, but Ulyana posted this on her blog and it CRACKED me up. Now, as I commented on her blog, it may be because I am ~5 beers into the night (catching up with Atlanta friends is funnn) but I just may buy this on iTunes and use it while running!


You should go check out Ulyana's blog. She is trying out a new HR based training program that is very interesting. Not sure that I would have the dedication that she has to keep my HR in zone 1-2.



Side note on Andy Samberg and his crew. Andy Akiva Jorma is by FAR the #1 thing that random people search for and come to my blog. I posted an awesometown video a while back and it seems to keep people coming for more! Poor Jorma, didn't get to go on the boat. Stuipd T-Pain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

For Sale

Well, today our house goes on the market – maybe. I asked to see the listing before it was posted but I have not heard back from the realtor. However, she has called my wife and told her that it was going to be difficult to do. Why would it be difficult to send me what she is going to be posting on the internet for MY house? Wouldn’t that just be a simple copy / paste out of the form that it goes into? *sigh* I’m sure that there is a good reason, but I can’t think of it.

It is times like these that my control freakiness really comes out…..

Short post today due to some work things that are firing off. Side note, my wife is a teacher and there was a drive by shooting near her school (on the same block) yesterday! Maybe moving to Phoenix wasn’t such a bad idea after all……

5 Travel Tips

Since I started to travel again, I’ve run across a few tips that I’d like to pass along to all who are willing to read them. It is funny how quickly I got out of the traveling routine and how quickly I am getting back into the new grind.





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There is something to be said about good service. While on the flight to Atlanta, the Delta flight attendants were great. They even went so far as to close window shades and remove trash if you were sleeping. Now, if I could only get them to listen to my grope campaign….
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Make sure that you double check that the hotel TV is on a swivel before you assume that it is, pull it out of the entertainment center, and end up with it in your lap.
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While I thought that being cooped up in the germ tube that is a commercial flight was bad, apparently being staffed in town is worse. Having kids and being staffed in town is the germ death sentence. Everyone who is originally from Atlanta is sick!! In fact, the guy in the cube next to me has pink eye. Ewwwwww. If he starts leaving a goo trail like a snail, I’m outta here.
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When at the gym, I kept getting super bad deja vu. The Lifetime fitness in KC is exactly same as the one in ATL. Except, I guess people in Atlanta like to walk around their gym a lot. The machines didn’t seem to be much busier, but there were probably 3x the people in there. Maybe tonight I’ll spend 1 hr lifting and 2 hours just walking around flexing. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
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Free front desk hotel cookies are, I assume, the best pre AND post workout “fuel”. Gotta get my calories in.

5:00 Somewhere

Sorry bloggies, I have been a bit out of pocket because I am now staffed! Gone are the days of vacation whenever I wanted. Of course, with that kind of freedom, also came the risk of being laid off. Give and take I suppose.

This morning I had to catch a 5:40am flight. That means that I needed to be at the airport by 5:00. Well, honestly I would not have HAD to get there that early, but I wanted to because I was flying a new airline that I wasn’t used to and wanted to make sure that I had their system down. Because it was so early, I did something that I haven’t done for the first time in order to squeeze every last bit of sleep I could out of the night. I didn’t take a shower in the morning. Honestly, it wasn’t all that bad. I don’t feel all that particularly dirty, so I must not be, right?! I assume those flies buzzing around me must be flying around the old trash that is next to me.

Also this morning I saw something that I wasn’t sure that I would ever see. Once the drink service started at 6:00am, the guy in the row ahead of me ordered a Heineken! Not even a normal beer or a bloody mary, a Heineken!!!! I sorta felt bad for the guy…. Like, I should have struck up a conversation with him or something and ask if he was lonely...needed some friends....something. Maybe introduce him to a friendly list I know that has 12 “steps” to complete before you are done. Maybe he could get started with #1 and admit that ordering a BEER at 6:00am was as odd as the look that the flight attendant gave him?

So, yes, it is 5:00 somewhere, 5:00am.

2/7 Weekend Runs

2/7: 4 miles, 7:35 pace
2/8: 14 miles, 8:16 pace; Average Heart Rate 180

Saturday: Another MP run. This was probably my best run in a week or more. It was 60 degrees, birds were chirping, overall just a great run. How could I not run fast!?

Sunday: Well, about an hour before the run, I came about *this* close to throwing up all over my living room. I’m not sure if it was the cheerios, the power bar, or the combo of the two, but someone was not playing nicely with others. I walked around my house with the toilet seats up just in case until the feeling passed and decided that I’d rather be outside when I barfed than in the house. So, I suited up and went out for the run. The first few miles were admittedly rocky, but I eventually found a groove. Of course, as soon as I did I hit a red light. I think I hit about every red light on the course! I hit them on miles 4, 5, 9, and 12. Also, my shoe came untied right before mile 7 which slowed me down a bit more. Now, to be clear, I would have needed some of these breaks to drink anyway, but I was getting very frustrated at having to stop on the city's terms vs my own. I still think that I ran about what I would like to for this long of a run at this point in the training plan. I did take Hal Higdon’s advice and do a 3/1 run on this one. That is, run the last 25% of the run at MP. I was able to do it, which is all I wanted at that point!

Obamicon Me

I found this awesome website (http://www.obamiconme.com/) inadvertently from Michelle's blog. Go to her blog and check it out! GREAT stuff! :)

Side note, the original "hope" artist is in a bit of trouble because he used an AP photo without permission for his Obama poster. Hopefully the AP doesn't read this blog!

Week of 2/2 Running

Yeah, I know - I'm a bit late on this post.....

2/3: 3 miles at 8:11 pace
2/4: 7 miles at 7:45 pace overall with 4x 800 at 6:53 pace
2/5: 3 miles at 7:59 pace

Tuesday run: I am not sure if it was the 7 degree weather, the 15 mph winds, or the fact that I am a lazy ass, but this run sucked. I honestly didn't think that I ran it as fast as 8:11. My splits were 8:26, 8:09, and 7:56 for the three miles - I just remember seeing the 8:26 pop up and going "guhhhhhhh, this is going to suuuuuck". Hopefully no one was around me at 5:20 in the morning, I can only imagine what they thought of the guy talking to him self in the dark.

Wednesday speed day: Wow, this was my worst speed day yet. I was only able to do 4 intervals during the first half of the run. During the second half I limped (figuratively not literally thank god) along at 8:20 for two miles and then 8:00 for two miles. I still had a quick overall pace, but I really hope that I do better next week. Hydration I think was what I may have done wrong (the previous day). I need to get better about drinking more fluids in the afternoon / evening. Does anyone else have trouble with this??

Thursday run: Thursday's run went really well. This week it seemed like my normal Tues / Thurs runs were switched. Tuesday's run seemed tough and Thursday's run didn't seem like a big deal. I did an out an back course, in my pajama bottoms and a black sweatshirt. I'm sure that I was a sight to see at 5:15 in the morning. If my wife knew what I wore I'm not sure she would claim me as her own.

Inside the Actor's Studio: Adam

Oh, these were all really good questions! I’ve seen about 10 of these things floating around the blogosphere, but finally decided to play along with Kelly. Thanks for sending me the questions! They were doozies.

1. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?
First let’s think about WHY I was on death row….. I would have to think that it would be one of three things. 1. Telling such a good joke that someone dies of laughter. 2. Running so fast that someone stares so long that they get hit by a bus. 3. Being too modest. Seriously though, for the food, definitely something home made. I would prefer to have something made from my grandmother who has passed, but since my wigi board is on the fritz, I’ll have to say brunner. Breakfast for dinner!! Maybe with a side of chocolate chip bars that my wife makes.

2. What is the best city you've visited for work, and why?
Wow, this one is tough. I think at last count I’ve traveled to over 30 cities for work. Just like that mother who just had the octuplets, I love all equally. Just kidding…. Hickory, NC – you will always be my druggie pot head outcast kid. But, if I had to choose, I would have to say NYC. There are just too many things to see, too many places to eat, and too many cars to yell at “Hey, I’m walking here jerk!”.

3. What was the worst date you've ever been on?
You know, I seem to be a serial monogamist, so I don’t have many funny stories here. I jump from one super long relationship to the other. Lame. The closest thing that I have to a worst date was the time I spent over $200 on a dinner that my wife didn’t like. LOL. Totally worth it though – I liked it!

4. What is the most amount of drinks you've had in one night? And what was the result?
Even though it wasn’t the most in quantity, I’m thinking the intent of the question will be answered with: 3 drinks. However, they were big glup cups of screwdrivers mixed progressively stronger to the point of a 2/3 to 1/3 vodka to OJ. I don’t remember anything past 8:00pm. The result was me making a fool of myself in front of my soon to be wife’s family, professing my love for her to her mother (while in a bathtub being sprayed by cold water – thanks Barry), ultimately ending up on Barry’s balcony “sleeping” in a sleeping bag with a pillow wrapped in a garbage bag. *shakes head in shame* However, if you are ever going to get stupid drunk, I recommend doing it with Barry. He takes really good care of you and doesn’t take advantage of the situation at all. Although, I was a little sore ‘down there’ when I woke up…..

5. What is your first memory?
Waking up on the balcony with a pillow wrapped in a garbage bag. Oh, I’ll bet you meant my first childhood memory! I remember spending the night at my grandma’s house when I was 4 while my mom was having my little brother. A lot of my favorite memories are over at my grandma’s house.


To play along:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by sending you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

New Boss

Our house goes on the market in 7 days which means that in the meantime, I'm running around trying to close out my honey do list. Oddly, this time the woman in my life who is cracking the whip is not my wife, but rather my Realtor! Her whip has pokers on the end too, hurts like a bear.

I am sure Pat will agree, it seems that Realtors are the best at finding every little thing that I should have done a very long time ago. Yeah, I guess I should have thrown away that 20 year old treadmill a while ago.... Yes, I understand that I need to touch up my paint mess from 3 years ago.... Fine, I'll take down the sex trampoline - for now..... What, new buyers are going to want to see through the glass shower door instead of looking at hard water lime stains? You're crazy!!

In all honesty, I've done about everything that the Realtor and her stager have wanted me to. This includes replacing my garage door. The previous owner likely decided that in between completely trashing the house, he wanted to go for a beer run - NOW. Never mind that the garage door was still closed. When you get the shakes from lack of beer, you can't be slowed down by such details. The old one still worked, but it had a bow in it from being rammed by a car. The new one looks lots better.

Either way, hopefully our efforts will be rewarded with a sale. I have to think that in this market, it is going to be really hard to lock someone in. Hopefully the economic stimulus will kick in sooner rather than later. Until then, I'm going to continue touching up paint in every room - and will answer my Realtor's every request!

Super Party!

Yesterday we had a few friends over to watch the Super Bowl. Since I am moving to PHX this summer, it will likely be the last time that I will be able to watch an NFL game on my big screen. It was a blast to have everyone over – even though some of our friends were a bit under the weather. We had way too much food, more beer, and two little kids to keep everyone on their toes.

The guys watching the pregame. Jeff, on the left, got called into work during the entire game! He works for a healthcare software company, so I am sure that he was saving lots of lives.

Chris and I on the love seat acting as cool as ever. Thankfully not much love was exchanged between us - this time. Way too many people around anyway.

How many guys look hella hot in their 3D glasses? I count two.

A few of the girls chilling on the couch. It certainly was no love seat.

Jeff teaching his son how to shake his money maker. He THOUGHT he was going to get
sat down fast enough to not get his picture taken. Try again, Jeff!!

A pic of my wife looking very futuristic with her 3D glasses on. Did anyone else check out the 3D commercials? We all had our glasses on and everyone said that the commercials looked really good. For some reason my eyes must be messed up because I never did really see the full effect.

The one thing that I was a bit disappointed with was the Super Bowl commercials. I’m a sucker for anything slapstick and this year’s ads seemed to be more subdued. I have to be honest, when the economy is in the shitter and my company is laying off people, I want to laugh... or see someone getting hit in the nuts.... or BOTH! Nothing makes me feel better about my life than some good old nut crushing. That said, here is a clip of my favorite one. The Doritos Crystal Ball commercial:

Kansas Wine

As I sit in my basement starting hour three of the five hours of Super Bowl pregame, I can't help but be reminded of the $75 of beer and booze that I bought yesterday getting ready for the people that we have coming over. Ok, full disclosure, the guys that I'm having over like to stick to domestic beer, so I guess technically only $15 or so of my purchase was for them. Hey, my house, my rules right? Let's just say that I'm stocked up for the next nuclear winter. Orrrr, maybe like 2 weeks in my house. I don't have a problem if I drink at home with all of the shades closed by myself, right? I just get so thirsty!

Late last week my wife and I opened a bottle of wine that we first tasted on a random visit to a local Vineyard. Somerset Ridge offers a number of types of wine. They have all of the standard red and white varieties. However, one type that they were just starting to sell when we visited was a concord grape wine.

What are concord grapes you ask? Think Welches grape juice. My wife wanted to try it because she really liked it during the tasting at the vineyard. *shrugs* Who was I to argue? Like I always say, as long as she is drinking, I only get cuter!






It tasted ok. Not good, not great, just ok. It was like drinking Welches grape juice spiked with vodka. So, if you really like you some Welches and are from the Kansas City area, dig in! I will say that visiting the vineyard was fun. We visited when the fall colors were in full bloom.


A picture of rural Kansas wouldn't be complete without a picture of some prairie.

2/1 Long Run 13.1 miles

1/31: 3 miles, 7:47 pace
2/1: 13.1 miles, 8:15 pace 185 average heart rate, 1:48:12 total time


I decided this week to add a very short 3 miles at approximately MP. (Again it was a little fast - damn it.... I swear, if I get hurt because I can't hold back in my training, I'm going to hobble (because I'll be hurt) to the local elementary school and challenge some kids to a dodge ball game) The training plan that I am following says that I should be running 6 miles of MP work each Saturday. Since I didn't want to push to hard too soon, I decided to phase it in slowly. I'll do 3 miles for three weeks and then bump it up to 5 miles for 3 weeks and then hopefully be back on track.

Today's long run was supposed to be 13 miles, but I decided to tack on an additional 0.1 to make it an even half marathon. My time of 1:48 for the half was right at where I wanted to run. The great thing is that I felt like I could have pretty easily ran another 6 or so with no problem at that speed..... Just enough distance to fall flat on my face at 20. I'm not sure how fast I want to run my marathons, but it is good to know that I can hold a good training speed for half of the distance. After all, they always say that the easiest part of the race is the last 10k, right??

The one gross thing after my run today was that, because I sweat a lot, I had huge dried salt deposits on the sides of my face. Blah. Not only are they gross, they BURN. So, after I stretched it out, I jumped right into the shower. Do that happen to anyone else?

Here is the heart rate range across the distance. I also threw elevation in there for poops and giggles. I need to continue the hill work because the first marathon that I have on my schedule is a doozy.