Blog Layout....and running

As some of you may have noticed, I'm dorking around with my blog layout a bit. Bear with me while I flex my creative muscles (I think those muscles are right next to my shotgunning beer muscles). I decided that my blog needed a bit of an update from the masculine white on black to the more friendly green and yellow that it is now. Think of it as the softer side of Adam. He likes hugs, walks on the beach, and fuzzy puppies.

If you normally check this blog out via a RSS reader, swing on over to http://adamrisu.blogspot.com/ I am sure that it has changed since you last visited.

I'll be posting a few "about me" and "favorite post" updates in the near future to put in the links in my header, so you can ignore those posts in your reader for now. They will be the ones posted in 1985 - when the Fraggles ruled the TV and pinch rolled jeans were all the rage.

Speaking of headers, and surprisingly not about the skateboarding, crash head to cement variety, I put together a few of them and I figured I might as well show here since I put in a lot of hotel hours getting them just right. Here are the ones I put together in order of my preference. Let me know if you would order them a different way.

The one I went with

I would have probably kept the white on black theme if I went with this one (a close second)

I like how the color turned out in this one (modified from an existing picture). Sort of a "fork in the road, and I took the road less traveled" deal

Just a neat farm type picture. My wife said it looked too folksy

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On Sunday, I went for a 9 mile run. I was honestly a bit sore from a combination of Thanksgiving day "touch" football (where touch means shove into the bushes), climbing South Mountain, and climbing up and down the attic stairs to get the Christmas decorations. I swear we get 2 or 3 more totes full of lights every year.

It is interesting how a different activity (like hiking) will make you sore. I am super sore in my hamstrings and my hip flexors (basically your crotch wrinkles where your leg meets your torso). Fortunately, neither acted up too much during the run after a mile or two.

9 miles, 8:20 pace

While my sore muscles didn't act up, that doesn't mean that this run was easy. My legs felt heavy and it seemed like it was taking a lot more effort than it should to keep a fairly slow pace. It took me a solid 6 or so miles to find a decent groove. By that time, I was already headed back to the house so the run seemed nearly over. I'm not sure if it was me knocking the turkey off my lungs or what, but I hope this was just a blip on the running radar.

T minus 7 weeks to Rock and Roll Arizona.

Race Report: Mesa Mi Amigo Turkey Trot 10k

I've taken a break from the computer (in general) so this is getting out a little later than I had wanted. I'm sure your anticipation is very similar to watching a horror movie. You know that the guy with the chain saw is just around the corner waiting to cut the little cheerleader in half, but can't yell at the screen loud enough to make it happen faster. Sorry to make you yell at your computer like that.

It is now two years in a row (and therefore tradition) on Thanksgiving morning to run the local 10K with my wife and her family. Mesa's Mi Amigo Turkey Trot is the largest 10k in Arizona with over 2500 finishers. Last year, I actually 'raced' this one and got my one and only 10k PR - 45:45. This year, I took the opportunity to run alongside my wife and help pace her towards a strong finish.

The morning started out a little later than I would have liked - especially since I forgot the camera - but after we went back to get it, we made it on time. Can't run a race without proof!?

Speaking of proof, here is everyone lined up getting ready to run.

My cousin in law's husband (which basically makes him like a brother, right?) is really into music. Therefore, all of his grubby shirts are old concert t-shirts from high school / college. See the example below. His wife really made fun of his Iron Maiden T-Shirt. Hey, if you can't rock out at a 10K, where CAN you rock out?

Unfortunately, while the race has gotten bigger and bigger, the port a pots available have remained the same. I think that there were around 12 of them. TWELVE. That meant that even though the rest of our family left to go wait in line 20 minutes before the race start, they actually missed the official start of the race. Annoying. I saw the line and decided just to hold it and go afterwards. I'll admit that I thought long and hard about watering a cactus or two during the 10k, but thought better of it since there were a ton of little kids around.

My wife waiting for the gun.....errr, the guy yelling "GO".

Here is my wife and her cousin (white shirt to the left) running around mile 1. I was told by my wife that if I took any more pictures of her on the run, the rest would all be flipping me off. No more pictures were taken. :)

My wife and I successfully used the Galloway method and finished in 1:24:01. She did really well - a 9:30 min PR for her!! Since I signed up in person (and I have horrible hand writing), in the official results, instead of my last name starting with Rick..... it starts with Rish..... and my wife starts with Roch..... *sigh*

The best part about our 10k tradition is beer. Isn't that a requirement for traditions? They have to include beer? Well, my wife's cousins have a kegerator in their living room, so we HAD to have a cup of beer before heading out (at 11am). Nothing tasted so good. You know what they say*, "you can't drink all day unless you start in the morning!"

Overall, I love this race and will make every attempt to run it with my wife every year. Next year, I just know to go pee BEFORE I get there.

*by "they", I mean "my brother in law"

Yes! I am still running...and biking

With all of the hilarious posts and race watching that I've been doing, I feel like I've got a bit off message. Think of me as your own personal Joe Biden - gaffes not included. “Do you know the website number?” Rest assured, I've still been running and biking my little bum legs off.

Saturday's long run: 7 miles, 8:32 pace
Sigh. Damn you Garmin with your computer crashing software.

Monday's bike ride: 25 miles, 16.2 mph

My run on Saturday went well. Taking a page from The Sean, I focused very hard on a relaxed effort. I know that during my recovery, this is going to become increasingly important if I am ever going to have any chance of staying healthy. Overall I think that I achieved it. I was within 7 seconds of 8:32 pace for every single mile and never felt like I was 'pushing'. Unfortunately, against The Sean's advice, I still couldn't ditch the Garmin. It is sort of like my red headed step child. I love it, I often yell at it, and I am constantly watching it like a hawk - all at the same time.

While I was running, I was thinking about being a little bit worried that I am getting used to perfect running weather. When I run it is usually 55 degrees with no wind. Oh, did I mention that there are NO hills in Phoenix? Just like my dad (a farmer) says, "if people aren't bitching about there being too much rain, they're bitching about how it is too dry". Touche dad. I supposed I should zip it and try to work in some hill work while in the mountains. :)

Unfortunately, I will admit that I am floundering a bit with my running. My current 'plan' is very very loose. Right now I am running every other day with two days of rest after a longish run. So, it goes something like this:

Tuesday: Hardish 3 miler

Thursday: Easy 3 miler

Saturday: Long slow run

I usually try to grab 2 bike rides during the week as well. So, I guess I'm doing my own little FIRST training plan. I'm going to continue to up my long runs while adding a tempo day in to hopefully get me to the starting line of the marathon. How will I get to the finish line? I'm betting on a combination of horse steroids and EPO.

IM Arizona: Spectator Report

“Wow.”

I think that I said that 5 or 10 times while my wife and I were watching all of the athletes race Ironman Arizona. “Wow” followed by some random triathlon fact. Or, even better, a random math calculation. “You know dear, the people who are still on the bike right now (3pm) will probably not get done until 9pm."

As promised, I spent most of Sunday in sunny Tempe, AZ (try to find a cloud in one of my pictures! It is like Wheres Waldo) watching the Ironman Arizona triathlon. It was not only the first triathlon that I've seen, but also the first time that I've gone to a race without going to specifically watch someone. I've volunteered, but never just went to hang out. That said, it was a BLAST. Here are a few of the highlights.

Speaking of volunteers, IM AZ had a TON of them. I believe that I heard somewhere around 3,000. For example, here is a guy whose sole job was to tell people when to turn around and do another loop or when to go to transition. His shirt was very descriptive: Pointer.

Since this was a loop race, it was hard to tell who was "winning". Moreover, I had a hard time telling if someone was doing well and looking like they should after 90 miles on the bike, or if they had only gone 30 miles on the bike and were having a very VERY bad day. Mostly I just judged people by the cover and assumed that if they had a teardrop alien shaped helmet, they were probably doing really well. Obviously, this guy is smoking fast.

IMAZ had lead motorcycles for the lead man / woman, and lead mountain bikes for men/women 2-5, but it was still very hard to follow. Here I am making my Ironman TV debut. Oh, I guess the leader, Jordan Rapp, (guy in the red tri-suit) was in there too.

The most amazing part was transition. It was quite a scene. One minute it was empty and quiet, the next, controlled chaos. The scene in pictures (click to make larger):

Leader coming into transition, shoes off

Bags, lots and lots of bags

Mostly empty bike racks

Mostly full bike racks!

Changing area for T2. Note that I didn't get near the womens change entrance. You're welcome.

Running shortly after transition

Watching transition made me so tired and hungry that I decided that I needed to do some carbo loading. Frozen yogurt. Glorious.

My wife and I cheered for all of the triatheletes, but since the day was getting a bit long we decided to go check out the leaders. We weren't there in time to see the winner Jordan Rapp cross the finish line, but we did get to see him in come into transition (see above). We did however get to see the female winner, Samantha McGlone, cross the finish line and set a new course record!

Overall the day was a blast. While I don't want to sign up for an Ironman right now, I could see myself wanting to do it in the future. Maybe during a mid life crisis. I'll drive there in my mid life crisis convertible!

In closing, to all of the Ironmen who may stumble across this post. A few questions from a guy who mostly runs:

• Which part is the hardest? Of the bikers and runners that I saw, it seemed like the runners were the ones who were grimacing the most.
• How much do those alien shaped helmets REALLY help? I would think that the discomfort of having all of that heat trapped in your head would offset any sort of air advantage.
• HOW do you become "pro". There was an age group guy who came in 4th or 5th overall. So, I guess they aren't the fastest all of the time, right?
• How often do you get flat tires? It seems like that was a major worry for everyone. (I guess there is a rule about having someone else carry your bike to the aid station? I felt bad for this lady.)

Slap Chop Rap

Taking a page from RazZDoodle's SSTIFY (Song STuck In my head FridaY).... (Yeah, I think it should be SSIMHF too) I've had this song stuck in my head all week long. Since I lurve my Funny Foto Friday posts, I figured that I'd post this little ditty today.

According to google, searches for "Vince Shlomi" are one of the more popular ways to get to my blog (second only to "what to do if people think I'm boring"). This Slap Chop Rap video courtesy of an auto-tuner and featuring none other than the shamwow guy and some swap meet townies should tide them over.

IM Arizona tomorrow!

FFF: When I grow up

Kids are awesome in how literal they can be. Have a great weekend!

That's Dodgy!

After my ill advised fast-ish run on Tuesday, I decided to give myself a break on Wednesday. I was a little stiff and sore during the morning, but once I got out of the germ tube (plane) and was able to stretch my legs a bit I felt a lot better. I’m still a bit wonky (the British have the most fun semi-curse words…’that’s rubbish!’...’dodgy!!’) today so unless I am feeling like a rock star, I’ll try to hit the bike tonight and rest up for another longish (6? 7?) run this weekend.

So, while I would love to report about some crazy fun work out or hilarious goings on, I just have a normal dodgy bullet point update with some emphasis on travel. Take a read, I'll bring the crumpets.

• Like I said before, I’m in the bankrupt sunny state of California. While it is a bit strange, and possibly a bit morbid, I can’t help but hope that I feel an earthquake each time I am here. Be honest, you would feel the same way if you visited my previous home of Kansas. You want to see some Dorothy spinning in her house and some flying monkeys. Don’t lie.
• Since I didn’t do any biking or running on Wednesday, I decided to do some obligatory push ups / curls / crunches. I’m basically huge now. Look out Lou Ferrigno. It did get me thinking about this P90X business. I’m sure it works great, but I’m still a little skeptical about things with too many letters or numbers. CSI: NY and NCIS I’m talking to you.
• Since I’m visiting a new location, I’m currently camped out in someone else’s office while he is on vacation. On more than one occasion, people have poked their head in and said “oh, you’re not Ron. You’re a lot younger than Ron.” I then go on the explain that I am Ron I just have been drinking lots of water and taking my vitamins.
• Over the past week or so I’ve been reading Capt Sully Sullenberger’s book about landing a plane in the Hudson. The problem? Basically the only time that I read a book is while on a plane. Let me tell you, this is NOT a good idea. I’ve gotten to the point that I am not a nervous flyer at ALL, but even my mind got to wondering about what COULD happen.
• Finally, Garmin is on my shit list right now. Every time I go to sync my 305, the Garmin tracking software crashes. The only solution that I’ve found is to completely reboot my computer (only a weekly occurrence normally) and go directly into the tracking software. If I wasn’t such a numbers dork (read: whore) I’d stop using it, but I just can’t seem to get enough of those beautiful graphs!

Running, Traveling, and IM AZ

Another run! In fact, I cut my recovery down by a full day - making my run / rest every other day. My wife rode along with me again yesterday for the 3 miles jog which made them go by a lot faster. While on the run/ride we noticed that our local town in Arizona is having a rodeo this weekend and was setting up the carnival rides about a mile from our house. If I have anything to say about it, I'll have pictures soon. If my wife has anything to say about it, I will not.

3 miles / 7:47 pace (8:09, 7:37, 7:36)

Yeah, I ran this a LOT faster than I should have. I wanted to see how much fitness I had lost over the last few months. Unfortunately, it is more than I anticipated - but just like I love the challenge of trying to figure out what the hell T-Pain is saying, I love the challenge of regaining fitness.

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This week I am not headed to my friend Atlanta, or even to glorious San Diego. Instead, I am headed to Orange County W-F. Not LA mind you.... Orange County. I was corrected on this just the other day. While I am nearly certain that I'll run into Rachel Bilson (See right), if for some reason she is on a yacht this week, just like every other business travel trip, I am certain it will be a huge sausage fest. It could always be worse. My buddy Nick is at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. When he gets home he is likely going to need two showers to wash off all of the nerd smell.

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Finally, I have completely forgot to announce (to all of my triathlon readers) that I am going to watch the IronMan Arizona race this weekend. My plan is to park a few miles away from the main transition area and bike in to avoid most of the traffic. I will have my camera in tote, tourist style, and will have all sorts of pictures and stories to report.

The swim is 2 laps around a man made lake near Arizona State University, the bike goes 30 miles into a local Indian reservation (twice), and the marathon loops around the lake 3 times. So, I think that I am going to be centered around the lake. If anything, I'll get to see some wet suit strippers. Be sure that I'll make all sorts of off color comments about THAT activity.

5 mile run - For the Win!

Well, not really "win" I suppose, but I did finish...so there is that.

5 miles, 8:26 / mile

I had initially started Sunday's run planning on getting in a solid 4 miles. I had bought my wife a bike the day before and she was going to ride beside me screaming obscenities to make me go faster. Well, obviously they worked! I'm not sure what a skull sucking finger troll is, but I know that I don't like being called one.

Before I started out I told myself, just like every time I'm in the Disney store, that I wouldn't continue going if it hurt. As soon as it hurt I would stop. Well, the GREAT thing was that my leg/knee/bone didn't ever start to hurt! There was a bit of discomfort towards the end, but it never got much higher than the level of Winny the Poo on Ice. Since I knew that Sunday was usually my 'long' day, I decided to tack on the extra mile for good measure.

So, short term goal of getting healed enough to jog a 10k has been met. Even though it sounds like my wife and I may just run the 5K version of the Thanksgiving day race we were planning, it is still a good feeling to know that I could do the full 6.2 if I had to.

Speaking of my wife, having her ride along side of me was really fun. She was constantly worried that she was going to run into me, so she would usually stay towards the back. But, it was nice to have someone out there to talk to while on the run. Who am I kidding? More than anything it was fun to finally have someone else to listen to all of my witty observations.

FFF: Time to Exercise More

You know it is time to exercise more when....

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Hey, if you want to win, you gotta fuel like a winner!

Oh, the joys of travel

I had a few firsts this past week - my mom and sister visited for the first time, I got in my first car accident, and I had to totally change the way I think about my running.

• Nothing is more humiliating than knowing something was your fault. On Monday I was in a car accident that was totally my fault. I rear ended a woman (that’s what she said) at a stop sign. In my defense, she should have gone through the stop sign a long time before I went. Let that be a lesson, if you get in my way, I will run your ass off the road.
• On Tuesday afternoon, a buddy of mine asked me if I got home Monday night without any accidents. I said that I had, but then realized that 50% of the time I drove on Monday I got into a car accident. Since I didn’t get into an accident on the way to work on Tuesday, I could only assume that I was going to smash into someone on the way home.
• Even though I have stayed in hotels some 150 nights this year, I realized something for the first time. My hotel is biased towards left handed people (are they all that way?). The toilet flusher is always on the left handed side during my morning ‘ritual’!! Believe me, it is all that I can do to find the handle through my sleep matted eyes. Help me out Marriott, or else I will be peeing in the corner!
• While at the grand opening of H&M this weekend, we saw a girl in big fuzzy ugg boots looking quite fashionable. The problem? It was 90 degrees out. Thank god I have no fashion sense and don't have to worry about these types of things.
• While my mom and sister were in town, we did do things other than shopping. We drove up South Mountain in Phoenix! I'll be thinking of all of you all bundled up bracing for the next snow storm, I really will.

• Hurricane Ida blew through Atlanta this week which made for very windy and rainy weather. In fact, my wife called me on Monday afternoon and mentioned that I had forgotten my sunglasses on the counter back home. My response, quite defeated was: “Unfortunately, there is no way in hell that I will need them this week”.
• Finally, running has been going ok. Not great, just OK. I’m still sticking to my 1 - 2 plan where I run one day, cross train two days. It seems to be working so far. It is interesting, before when I ran I would run for a specific goal: Distance, time, etc. Now, my goal is: DON’T GET HURT. It annoys me more than I can put to words.

Running, Windows, and a giveaway!

I went for another 3 mile run last night. From a cardio standpoint, things went much much better. No more side stitches and not too much cardio distress. I was sore again, though. Strangely, my soft tissues are not sore as I sit here the day after - but they were really sore almost immediately afterwards. Specifically, my “bad leg” calf and my quads. So, I did some pretty intense stretching that could only be described as manly stretching (Read: yoga) which seemed to free everything up quite a bit.

I still feel some discomfort in my shin. I am certainly not 100% yet and I don’t think that I’ll push it much past 3 or 4 miles until I feel like I am. So, it seems like I’m on a 3 day regimen of short run, long bike, medium bike. Hopefully, I’ll continue to be 100% pain free by the 3rd day to start it all over again.

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(Disclaimer, this gets real nerdy real quick.) This weekend my mom and sister were in town. One of the things that I wanted to do while they were here was go up to one of the uber fancy malls and check out Bill Gates’ brand new one of a kind “Microsoft store”. I was able to convince them to go up there with promises of H & M and Barneys.

My thoughts? The Microsoft store is a blatant rip off of an Apple store – with the only difference being that people in the Microsoft store weren’t actually BUYING anything. Here is a sneak peak:

From the front of the store. If you weren’t careful, you would mistake it for an Apple store.



Playing with the touch screen coffee table called “surface”. Not sure what you would DO with this, but still cool.



My little sister playing XBOX 360. I need TVs that wrap around my living room.


Now, if you are like I am and are FIRED up and ready to sign away your life to Bill Gates, HOLD ON! Mark @ The Life and Times of RunnuRMark is GIVING away a FREE copy of Windows 7. You should go there, put your name in, and then act like it was your idea. (The gal below was even running when the idea struck her!! I'll bet she reads my blog. She certainly reads RunnuRMark's blog.)

Long Slow Road

It is going to be a long slow road back to pain free running....but, I think that we all expected that.

After my first run on Friday, I felt great! On Saturday - not so much. I had all of the usual aches and pains that I think that most people feel after a long break from running: The muscles on the outside of my shins were sore, my quads were sore, and my left IT Band was super tight. All of those were totally expected and not all that unwelcome. The dull muscle aches let me know that I was out there pounding it out. I'm sort of a masochist like that. In my spare time, I like to also punch myself in the face.

The thing that particularly concerned me though was the slight ache on my shin near my stress fracture. When I realized that it was in fact my BONE that was sore, I got cranky. Not normal cranky, more like "someone kicked my puppy" cranky. But, just like everything else it passed with time. (Read: It passed when my wife proceeded to get cranky because I was cranky - a vicious circle for sure.) I did some reading and found that 100% pain free activity was a bit unrealistic which eased my mind a bit. *fingers crossed* * sphincter puckered*

So, instead of aggravating it more and pushing myself back further I rested on Saturday and went for a solid 14 mile bike ride averaging about 16.5 mph. Since my mom and sister were in town, I tried to keep it as short as possible. But, I did take the time to explore a pretty good sized park that is near my house: Freestone Park in Gilbert, Arizona (or maybe Mesa, Arizona. I'm not sure where the city line is). It is a really neat park with walking paths, a cool lake, and even a little carnival type place with a 6 person Farris wheel. Basically the type of carnival where preschoolers get their squeal on and where dreams go to die. :) Just kidding, it is actually pretty cool.

There is a 5K here in a few weeks. I think that my wife and I may do it.

Make it a great week! I'm 12 oz of Starbucks coffee into my day, so it is a GREAT day. After all, I'm going for a run tonight. What could be better?

Doctor Approved

Well, my doctors appointment yesterday went well and I received full approval to start running again!!

So, of course I went out for a quick 2 mile run. I'll admit, it was a bit tough at times. I got a side stitch after THREE QUARTERS of a mile - but that may have been the Wendy's double cheeseburger coming back at me.

Unfortunately, the route that I normally take for my speed work / short runs was right by an elementary school that just happened to be letting out at the time that I was running by. So, I dodged little kids and school buses - and even got told by a 4th or 5th grade little girl that I should put a shirt on.

Also, while I was running back by the school I got told by a group of middle school boys causing trouble at a nearby park that I was quote "looking pretty good". Obviously, they were seeing something that the elementary school girl wasn't.

Note to self: Stop running around 3:30pm. Creepy.

But, I'm running again - and that makes me happy. I'll need to work on my speed and my endurance...and obviously will need to start looking much cooler to 4th and 5th graders. But all of that will come with time.

Biking in San Diego

In what will hopefully be my last week (ever?) without any sort of running, I’ve done my best to try to keep active in the hotel gym. This week I’m in San Diego staying out in the suburbs. In fact, I’m staying in a place called “hotel circle” that has a bunch of hotels around a mile or so away from Qualcomm Stadium where the SD Chargers play.

Here is what I cranked out:

Tuesday: 40 minutes, 13.5 miles. 20.22 MPH. Did a few fartlek style intervals where I would essentially pretend that I was being chased by a cougar. Stupid cougars…. No I don’t want another mojito and I DON’T like music by The Eagles! Jeesh.

Wednesday: 10 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes on the elliptical. The stupid bike was set on the “Hulk-a-maniac” hill setting and it wouldn’t budge. So, I couldn’t take it for any longer than 10 minutes.

Thursday: 45 minutes, 14 miles. 18.65 MPH.

I decided to switch to a morning routine this week for the first time in nearly 6 months. I had originally switched to nights to try to keep my body on one time zone (PHX to ATL). But with Arizona giving the middle finger to Benjamin Franklin and refusing to do daylight savings, there is now no need since it is only 2 hours difference.

The hotel that I am at here in San Diego is MUCH nicer than the hotel that I stay at in Atlanta - but for some reason the SD hotel is $10/night cheaper. Go figure. I’ve included an actual picture of the pool area. But, the great thing about a nicer hotel is that it has a MUCH nicer gym. All of the machines had TVs built in and…..wait for it…..they had a mini fridge full of slightly damp, eucalyptus scented towels. Let me tell you, if you have never had one of these – do it. Amazing! It was sort of like those old Sierra Mist commercials where the guy was sticking ice down his pants on a cool day. Glorious.

"The man" has been blocking blogs and everything fun at work and someone has been downloading lots of Paris Hilton at the hotel to clog up the internet there. I'll get caught up with all of my blog friends soon!

Blessings

Time to be introspective in an extrospective kind of a way. So, put on your best velvet smoking jacket, pack your pipes full, and start up the fire – this may take a while. Remember, just like I told everyone in high school, if this post itches or burns – that is just another way to remember me by.

As I was catching up on blogs Tuesday, I read the incredibly unfortunate story of Ace @ The Longest Run. You see, Ace’s blog name is no mistake. He was working on a nearly two year long streak of running at least a mile EVERY day. One minute he is getting up for his daily run, the next after hearing a pop in his back he is in the ER. No running. No walking! Ouch. Like Ace tactfully alluded to in his posting, not being able to walk is very humbling for VERY obvious reasons (going #1 would be kind of fun in a bullzeye kind of a way. #2, not so much). I’d want a cowbell to summon my nurse for my hourly sponge baths. Although, now that I say that, I’m sure that my nurse would look like a cross between Janet Reno and that guy from the six flags commercials. My wife would COUNT on it.
I hope that Ace will be back at it pumping out another streak soon.

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and everyone will be publishing their thankful lists, let me be the first (You hear that?? FIRST!! Yesssss.) to put my thoughts down for everyone to look at and scoff: “Wow, this guy is thankful for THAT? Wow, welcome to 1960 dude.”

I have a very ‘self made man’ sort of an attitude. I love the fact that I’ve ‘picked myself up by my bootstraps’ and personally made a lot of the successes in my life happen. But, even I will concede that without these I wouldn’t be where I am today.

My health: This one is the catalyst for this post. I think my health is the #2 reason that I run (#1 is to collect finishers medals). I can’t imagine not having my health and will go to pretty great lengths to maintain that naiveté.

Freedom: Cartman from SouthPark said it best. I DO WHAT I WANT.

My Family: My wife since she has to put up with me the most gets to spend the most time with me but also my extended family. They’re mine whether they like it or not.

Religion: Since this is starting to have a MTV VMA acceptance speech feel, I’d better include the big guy.

Mindless comedy: TV, movies, websites, jokes, whatever. Sometimes, I just need time to laugh it out. I laugh – a LOT. I laugh sometimes at inappropriate times, but I am okay with that. At the end of the day, without mindless comedy, my life wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable as it is today.

Luck: At the end of the day, I’d rather be lucky than good ANY day.

What did I miss?

Bullets

Funny how I can very effectively summarize my goings on via bullets:

• I have my follow up appointment with my Sports Medicine doctor on Friday. I am very hopeful that I’ll get the green light to run again. I forgot to mention before that my Sports Med clinic is involved with nearly all of the major sports teams in the area. In fact, when the Chicago Cubs (among others) come to Phoenix for spring training, they serve as the team doctors. When I told this to my buddy in Chicago, he said: “Oh good. Now he’ll heal you up and having you running awesome early, only to crash and burn in September/October.”
• I’ve put together a draft training plan that will get me from 0 miles this week to a marathon on 1/17. It is pretty intense. I’m only going to manage an 18 miler or so before the race. Currently, I think that the over/under on me puking my guts out is mile 22. (In all seriousness, I’m using 1/17 as a training run at my normal long, slow, pace.)
• Instead of going to Atlanta, this week I’m in San Diego. While I wish that I could say that I was going to ‘make it rain’ in the clubs, since I’m staying in the suburbs I think that I’ll be lucky just to find some good seafood. Because - If I can’t find good seafood, I swear to god I’m going to make it rain in Red Lobster…while yelling “bring me another Bahama Mama!”
• This weekend I turned the heater on in my pool / spa for the first time to make sure it worked for my mom/sister to visit. It only took 1.5 hours to take my spa from 60 degrees to 100 degrees. Next stop, getting the spa water hot enough to hard boil eggs. You know, to test the limits of the system.
• Finally, I’ve failed horribly the last two weekends to get out on my bike and put in some quality miles….or any miles. I suppose that the upside is that my ass feels GREAT. But I was starting to get used to the mild saddle soreness that came with a 2+ hour bike ride. I’ve found that my personality is one that I need a very specific plan to follow or else I let life (Read: Sleep) get in the way. That is what prompted me to put together my draft running schedule. I’ll have little time to get back into running shape, so I’ll need to make every run count!

Happy Halloween

Or, I guess happy belated Halloween.

I loves me some Halloween. Think about it, you get to dress up, girls seem to feel the need to dress up slutty (who am I to argue?), and it involves candy. It is like Christmas - with MORE candy..... and mummies.

This year, in an effort to either kick a man when he is down or beat a dead horse, I decided to dress up as Billy Mays - the Oxy Clean guy!!! Turns out, not only was this a popular costume, but his own family was endorsing a "contest" for the best Billy costume. The prize? I shit you not: a tub of oxy clean, some signed DVDs and some stickers. Unfortunately, no cocaine was included.

My costume didn't turn out QUITE how I wanted it to, but I think that I still pulled it off. The beard was an Abe Lincoln beard, the mustache was Groucho Marx, and the wig was Elvis. Unfortunately, the combination didn't look quite as good as I thought it would. (Who would have thought!?)

My brother in law went as Ron Burgundy. We all agreed that he looked just a little bit more like Ron Jeremy. You be the judge:

A friend of a friend dressed up as one of the guys from Reno 911. NOT ONLY did he grow out a full mustache, but he also shaved his legs. How do you spell dedication? H.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s.

Finally, another friend of a friend dressed up as Gieco money. Notice how I am not making a comment on the eyes and the likeness to boobs. See how good I was there?