Funny Foto Friday: Halloween Pumpkin Goo

In the US, October 31st is Halloween.  It is one of those holidays where no one really knows the TRUE origins (all Hallows eve?  What the crap does that mean?) but that doesn't stop anyone from using it as an excuse to have a party.  That said, Halloween is a GREAT holiday - really for all ages.  Let's take a look at the demographics:

Kids: Free candy.  Free BUCKETS of candy!!!
Singles: "Sexy" witch/cat woman/wonder woman/nurse etc costumes
Parents: Dressing their little kiddos up in adorable costumes (also, sexy witch/nurse costumes)
Old people: Handing out candy to little kids (also, sexy witch/nurse costumes)

So, while I won't be going to any fun Halloween parties this weekend (home alone w/ the kiddo), I'll be surfing the internet for hilarious costumes to scare the neighborhood kids with on Monday.  Happy Friday!

This one has been making the rounds, but just like a train wreck, 

I can't stop looking and can't look away

The real question - who was this display for?  

At any Halloween party I've been to, this would serve as a MAJOR pee-hazard.

I don't care who you are, that's just funny.

Ding ding ding!!! We have a Halloween winner.  Happy Friday!

FinishSafe ID Band Review / Giveaway!

I’m a planner.  Even though I like to pretend that things happen on accident, generally speaking most things are planned. “Oh wow!  How did these random bottles of wine get opened?!  Well, I guess I’d better drink them”  In fact, I’ve essentially made a career out of IT project management planning.

A lot of people say that there are a few things that are inevitable and the best that you can do is plan for them: Death and taxes.  Since taxes are boring and dull, let’s take this lovely Thursday and focus a little bit on death.  (Hehe)

I was recently contacted by FinishSafe to try out their FinishTag product.  They create wearable IDs so that if you get hurt and can't tell the paramedics where you live or who to call, they can look up grandma's phone number.  This was actually REALLY good timing because my Road ID had my wife’s old cell phone number, my mother in law’s old cell phone number, and my blog address.  So, when I got hit by a bus, they wouldn’t be able to call anyone, but they would be able to read hilarious postings of me sitting on the toilet.  That is probably worth still carrying it around, right?

What is FinshTag?  Well, I’m certain there is some marketing speak that will explain, right?  Oh, wait here it is!

Haven't heard of FinishSafe or their FinishTag product? Think: Road ID, but instead of just supplying an emergency contact number, it supplies that AND the person's emergency information (e.g. allergies, medication, medical conditions, etc) via a unique PIN number called a "LifePin" that doctors and other medical professionals can use to quickly and safely access an injured person’s medical information anywhere via phone call, computer, smartphone app or text message.

So, basically it is like a Road ID but it contains MUCH MUCH more information because you have an online profile.  Allergic to peanuts?  Put that on there.  Have to use lambskin  because you’re allergic to latex? Yep, that’s included too.

One of the best features is that it is 100% adjustable so you can put it almost anywhere.  

As you can see, after a recent 5 mile run 

(wearing literally 10 year old basketball shorts) I put mine on my wrist:

Or my ankle:

Or, because it is completely adjustable, you could put it around or inside just about anything!!!

(That time it was in my pocket.  What did you think?)

Pros:

• The setup for your FREE medical tags is super easy. Since most online stores want to know your blood type anyway, so it doesn’t take much longer than doing that.  In fact, if you go to FinishSafe you can get a million of the tags for luggage, etc for free rightnow!!!
• If you’re allergic to something like latex or you have herpes and want to make sure they know, you have nearly unlimited space in your profile to put all of your little idiosyncrasies.
• When your wife and mother in law get new phone numbers, it is easy to update them in your online profile
• No.Chaffing.

Cons:

• If Peter Porsche smacks you while you’re on your bike, he is going to have to figure out where to call to get your emergency info.  Not a huge deal as emergency personnel would know what to do and who to call, but Mr Porsche is going to have to know how to look.

Overall?   I like like FinishTag.  I really like the fact that when someone decides to change their phone number, I don't have to get a whole new unit.  So, it gets my seal of approval:

BUT WAIT!  Not only did Finish Safe send me one Finish Tag to try, they also sent me another one!  Since I won't be wearing them on both wrists any time soon, I'm going to give one of them away.

Contest:

Here's what you do to enter! Just leave a comment if you follow my blog.  Easy. If you don't follow, click the button up top on the right side and then comment.  Like I say for every contest I do, I don't have those ANNOYING word verification dealies (seriously, I get like 1 spam comment a month without it, tops), so comments take you about 2 seconds. :)  It is as easy as that!! Since it is a "smaller" giveaway, no facebook, twitter, etc required.  Honestly, I just don't have a use for an extra FinishTag since you can update your information online!

I'll pick a winner Noon AZ time on Monday, Oct 31st!

FCC Crap: Got these for free (and so can you! Why are you reading this down here?? enter enter enter!!), but wasn't asked for a positive review

Taper Madness: I’m Scared

It is nearly Halloween, I’ve ate my weight in 1 oz chocolates and skittles, and scary things are abound.  Top that off with a ridiculous case of taper madness for Rock and Roll Savannah in 10 days and I’m scared of lots of things lately:

I’m scared that what I think are allergies are not actually allergies
I live in Phoenix Arizona where not only is the great blue-haired old people migration underway but everything is in bloom.  I’m sneezing more than a coke head and I wake up with a headache whether I drank the night before or not.  (Really allergies?  Where is my motivation to NOT drink?) I know that it is just allergies, but in the back of my head I can’t help but assume that I’m getting sick – probably a tumor.  WebMD always says it is a tumor.

Taped her?  Taper?

I’m scared that the 4 miles that I ran on Tuesday isn’t going to be enough
I haven’t ran 4 miles in MONTHS – I looked.  The last time I ran less than 5 miles was in July.  But, I KNOW that it is the right thing to do (trust the plan, trust the training).  Tapering has shown to increase marathon performance by 3% which for a 3:10 marathon (goal spoiler alert) is over 5 minutes.  Stupid math – always making me do things that don’t sound right.

I’m scared that I’ll have to stop for a 5 minute poop break during the race
Remember that less than 4 miles that I ran in July that I mentioned above?  Here is the run:

This is probably my #1 fear right now.  I think that this and this alone is the one thing that could derail my race.  So, what am I to do?  High fiber before to clean the pipes?  Lots of cheese to dam the fiords?  These are the important things that I should be worrying about.

I’m scared that the fact that I’m not running is going to make me gain 10 pounds
Yes, even guys worry about that.  To be clear, I’m not so worried about it that I’m actually stopping eating, but in the back of my mind I realize that every extra pound adds TWO seconds per mile in a marathon.  Even 5 pounds gained is over 4 minutes longer (2 seconds per mile per pound)!  STUPID MATH.  Looks like I have to put down the candy corn and eat real corn.  Or, at the very least, only eat candy with 10% fruit juice. You know, health food.

Most importantly.  I’m scared that I’m over thinking it.
Which, is 100% true.  95% of the time, I run my best when I let my race come to me. (No reference link available – I googled “my brain” it came back with “no results”)  When I let a race come to me I run without sweating seconds here or tangents there.  Sometimes, I just need to relax, wash my hands so I don’t get sick, put down the candy corn, and go for a run.  Everything else will work itself out.

What frightens you?  Any good facts to back them up?

Am I more fit than a bodybuilder?

Recently, I was flipping through the channels (trying to get away from the 8 channels that were showing Law and Order reruns) and I ran across a Strong Man competition on ESPN2.  For those of you who are not aware, these are the competitions where huge men (or women) try to throw full kegs of beer over a 10 foot fence, carry 300 pound rocks, and try to pull a semi truck with a rope.  As I was watching some guy named Mangus carry a VW Beatle, feeling my manhood slightly in jeopardy, I said aloud to no one in particular:  “Yeah, but what is his 5K time?”

I have a feeling that ever since the second human sport was invented (ironically, probably dealing with rock throwing) the two different types of athletes were trying to compare each other to see who was better.  Pissing matches are eons old.  So, who IS the better athlete?  Me or a body builder?  Let’s take a look:

Bertha – female (I think) bodybuilder.  Able to swallow 20 testosterone pills in a single mouthful.

Adam – male runner.  While I’m flexing every muscle I’ve got in this picture, 

it looks like my dork muscle is showing the strongest.

Let’s take a look at a few objective benchmarks of relative performance:

Bench Press: 
While I’m not sure, but based on her boobs “Pecs”,  Bertha should be able to bench press. . . . .me. . . . while I’m carrying 100 pounds.  The last time I checked, I was getting out bench-pressed by 12 year olds.  (Advantage, Bertha)

Attractiveness to guys:
Zero for both (Advantage, no one)

Half Marathon PR:
Mine is 1:29.  Bertha doesn’t have one because she is too busy running 20 minute sprints to keep her body fat percentage as low as her menstrual cycle.  That is, zero.  (Advantage, Adam)


Ok, those items were MOSTLY in jest but I was seriously wondering how I could compare myself to a meat-head body builder.  It is certainly an apples and oranges comparison, but that hasn’t stopped me from trying to pick a winner from two seemingly non-similar items (which is better: Going to the dentist or “The Situation” on Jersey Shore?  Dentist).  At the end of the day, I have to look at effort put forth and the relative “age group” performance.  I’m probably top 5%, but Bertha has to be top 0.1%.  I know lots of people who can run as fast as me but I only know one person who can not only palm a watermelon but can crush it with one hand – Bertha (Actually, “Bertha” is a random picture that I found on the internet).

So, is Bertha the better athlete?  Who is the “best” athlete?  Kobe Bryant?  Payton Manning?  Honestly, I might vote for a decathlon participant – or honestly maybe a triathlete.  Who am I kidding, no matter what the contest, I’m voting for me!  Now, I'm off to practicing pulling semi trucks with a rope.

8k/5 Mile Faux Race Report

Often times, things that are "faux" are even better than the original.



Mowhawks?  Yes.

Fur?  Yes.

Well, and fashion faux pas stand by themselves:

This morning I ran a mock 5 mile race as part of my training plan.  I treated it 100% like I would have a race – warm up, cool down, and 100% all out running for the specified race distance.  No people cheering, no t-shirt, and certainly no high-fives along the course.  Just me, lots of grunting, and maybe like 2 swears under my breath.

I’m actually a huge fan of Faux or Mock races as a training tool.  They are a great substitute for speed work, they are a pretty good (95%?) predictor of top end fitness, and they are free!  I like to throw these into the training plans I draft during the off-cycle periods of summer and winter.  They are a nice goal to strive for without all of the mental prep of an actual race.  However, I was rather surprised when I found that my current training plan had one planned for my first week of taper!

My goal for this run/race was to run somewhere around 6:10 pace.  I didn't want to have to slow down for cars or stoplights so I decided to run it on the track.  20 painful laps around the track.

I managed a 31:35 for an overall average of 6:18 pace.  So, not too horribly bad, but I certainly took a few important takeaways:

• Double knot race day shoes.  I lost 20 seconds retying one of my shoelaces when it came untied at mile 1.1
• Make sure your grunts and grimaces are quiet when soccer practice starts in the infield or else you'll get lots of strange looks
• I'm in marathon shape - not 5K shape.  While this will sound arrogant, I probably could have ran another mile or two at the pace that I was going but I could NOT make my legs speed up.  Need to work on that for sure.
• Finally, my current training plan is working.  I was a full 2+ min faster than my last 8K (5 mi) race or 25 seconds / mile faster.  So, while I might not have the top end speed that my lungs can support, I certainly have the endurance.

Does anyone else do mock races as part of training?  What about faux hawks?

 

Funny Foto Friday: Honk For Grandma!

Really quick post today because I'm writing a second post about a mock-race that I did this morning as part of my speed work training.  You can read about it up above!

Why is it that the most funny things are also always the most wrong?  Happy Friday!

A quick bonus Funny Foto Friday because I'm not 100% sure this is real, 

\but it is a CRAZY good idea.

Long Run Recovery Drink Recipe

I'm back!!  The reason for the blog constipation is cheese, lots and lots of cheese that over the past 4 days or so, my dad has been visiting.  He rode his motorcycle from Iowa to Arizona and is leaving it here for the winter.  A good blogger probably would have had a bunch of posts all scheduled and ready to go.  I meant to do that. . . . I really did.

Instead, since the last time I posted, I've been RUNNING.  Or, probably better stated I've been tapering.  Including last weekend's 20 miler, I've ran a total of 49 miles since my funny foto Friday.  Not too shabby.  The plan that I am following has a rather normal 3 week taper with 75%, 60%, and 40% miles.  The one difference is that the miles are FAST.  No rest for the weary - I'll have no fewer than 3 speed days this week and 3 speed days next week.  It will be VERY interesting to see how it all plays out.

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We've all heard it before.  Running makes you poop yourself.  Running very long distances requires proper refueling.  In fact, time is of the essence when refueling - no longer than 45 minutes after stopping to ensure that your muscles are still in "dry sponge mode".

It is probably worth mentioning that I am NOT a nutritionist, I am not a doctor.  I am just a normal lazy runner who makes due with whatever he has laying around the house to refuel as best as possible.  I've linked to smarty-pants sources where I could find them.  Where I couldn't.... just trust me.


So, after every long run that is longer than 15 miles or so, I'll whip up the following shake that rehydrates, provides protein for muscle regeneration, simple carbohydrates to replace glycogen stores, and caffeine to speed the process along.

WARNING: Depending on how you make the below, it can range anywhere between 1,000 and 1,300 calories.  Or, something like one of those Starbucks smoothies that they claim are "healthy".  Not a huge deal because you likely just burned 2,000 calories, but still something to keep in mind.

Step 1: Find a larger cup that has a slogan on it that reminds you that all of the pain that you are experiencing is supposed to be fun.  "It's all about the FUN!!!"  Yeah, screw you cup, I can't sit on the toilet without my legs giving out and slamming my ass checks against it from 2 feet above.

Step 2: Protein.  Protein is essential to repair damaged muscles post-run.  You can get this from many different forms.  I prefer to go the body building route and get me some beefy Dolvette Whey Protein.  Most of these will have glutamine in them which is an amino acid that is supposed to aid in muscle recovery.  Does it work? Meh, maybe.  But it doesn't shrink my nads (I checked) so I buy into the media hype.

There are ratios that provide optimal recovery between protien and carbs.  That is too much work for me, so I just put in a scoop or two and say "ratio, met!".

Options: You could replace this with Peanut butter if you have that laying around or if you are no-meat.  But, to do that you'll have to have a blender.

Step 3: Liquid.  Milk is the miracle drink here.  In fact, for runs between 13 and 15 miles, a glass full of milk has enough protein and carbs to probably do just fine.  But when I make one of these drinks, I didn't run far, I ran much much further.  Far enough to justify eating a pizza in a glass.

Options: You can use water if your wife is yelling at you to not use all of the milk on your stupid running milkshake.

Step 4: Carbs  Carbs are the go-juice of the body.  If you just spent 3+ hours going, you need to replace your juice. (TWSS)  Grab hold of the closest liquid calorie dispenser (chocolate syrup) and give it a healthy squeeze (TWSS).  Close counts here.  I normally give my bottle a squeeze to the count of 5, but if you wanted you could go more or less depending on how lonely you are.


Options: You can skip the choco syrup to avoid 50 cals per tablespoon.  If you use milk, you're going to get 12g of carbs per cup anyway

Step 5: Caffeine.  Plain and simple - I've read multiple places that caffeine speeds glycogen absorption - up to 66% more retained.  So, I grab yesterday's coffee and throw a splash in there.  Can't hurt, right?

Options: I don't know? Don't do it?  No-doze tabs in there?

Step 6: Salt.  If you've ran far while it is very hot and dry or very cold (and also dry), the grit / disgusting milk mustache on your face is electrolytes that have left your body.  While I'm sure that I get wayyy enough of this in my normal diet, I add a few dashes of salt anyway.  Not a lot, but probably the amount that I would put on French Fries.  Salt (sodium) helps to regulate hydration levels in the body and is essential in cell's ability to absorb water.

Options: If you have high blood pressure, or many other ailments, best to skip this one.

Step 7: Drink! Ideally, while still red in the face from your run, drink it down.  Shirts are optional.

So, that is what I use to completely refuel from a long run.  It hits everything that I seem to find important, but I’m always open to more suggestions.  Does anyone else have a go-to recipe for their post run “meal”?

Funny Foto Friday: That Awkward Runner

In my bullet point post yesterday about my 1000th post giveaway, I completely forgot to mention the comments I received about my "Too Pregnant to Run?" post. In short, most of the (decidedly female) comments were something to the effect of "You Go Gurl!!!". I'm also envisioning whatever the female equivalent of a chest bump is. Although, if we are being honest, the marathon pregnant chick is likely not going to be jumping any time soon.

The really interesting thing was that when I first posted the question on twitter without any facts, most of the people who responded replied that she was careless to take such an unnecessary risk. What did I learn from this? Don't try to chest bump a mother who both ran a marathon and had a baby the day prior. It just looks like you are tackling her. I dunno, I'm sure the Freakonomics people would have something to say about that....

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Over the past month or so, I've fallen in love with the (self created) saying "Everyone jiggles when they run". It is true! No matter how schvelt you think you are, if you're running there is a portion of your body that is shaking like Ricky Martin. The fact is, we all have our own running styles. Some of us twist like a washing machine (which you shouldn't), others run almost zombie like with their arms swinging low (Ryan Hall does this to a certain extent, never letting his hands rise much more than a few inches above his belt line). Even Crissie Wellington, the current world Ironman record holder, runs with a little hitch in her giddy up.

Anyway, the folks at some random youtube I found on twitter don't be that guy vids created a HILARIOUS version of what most of us likely look like when we're cranking out a long slow run on a hot day.  (Update, shout out to Chelsea for RT'ing this and putting it in my feed!!)



Finally, since I know that a lot of you are watching this while at work and can't watch the above, here is a photo to get you by. Happy Friday!

Intervals with Adam: 1000th post, 25,000 calories, and kiddo updates

Last week of build
This week is my last week of ultra high mileage for the Rock and Roll Savannah marathon.  Starting next week I’m officially tapering, drinking hand sanitizer, and eventually **gasp** giving up beer/wine for the last week.  6 months or so ago, I made the very deliberate decision to pull back on my racing and focus on ONE fall race.  Quite frankly, I’m more than a little scared about having no excuses for a perfect race on November 6th.

1000th Post
This post will be my 989th published post.  Ever since those crazy Romans (in-between decimating most of the discovered world) invented the decimal (10 based) number system, we’ve been obsessed with everything that has a lot of zeros.  So, in celebration of my extreme case of literary diarrhea, I’d like to do a BIG (self funded) giveaway.  The hitch?  I have no clue what to offer up.  Shoes?  Garmins? Race Entries?  Those seem to be some of the most popular ideas that I have in my head.  LET ME KNOW what you’d like to win.  Everyone needs shoes – does anyone need a Garmin?  A spring race entry would be nice, but it almost seems a bit like a gift card (which I am not a fan of).  Based on my post frequency I have two weeks or so to figure it out…… let me know!

23,000-25,000 calories
I was chatting with RunningLaur about food and realized that I eat a LOT.  I had never done the math before, but when I am running 70 miles/week I have to eat somewhere around 23,000 to 25,000 calories/week.  And that is just to maintain my schvelt gaunt 150 pounds.  I’m going to do a pictorial “day in the life” of my pie-hole, but I’m thinking about experimenting with just eating them all in two sittings.  I could turn myself into a food camel!

Kid pics!
Finally, a quick update on my kiddo. (Read: Unapologetic picture posting) He is crawling at approximately a 21:00 pace and pushes around chairs, end tables, and anything else that is not strapped down.  This means that we have to be on our TOES!  No sooner do I turn around that he is standing next to the toilet smacking the lid or is trying to tip over my glass of beer water.  We recently went to a pumpkin patch and let him touch all of the farm animals.  Well, not ALL of the animals.  He continued to try to touch the pigs covered in manure.  I decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea.  Feel free to email me your father of the year awards.

People always call me the other end of the horse.....

Cow says MOOO

Mom and baby on the hayride

All of the "do not climb on fence" signs were for everyone ELSE, not us

 

Too Pregnant To Run a Marathon?

I want to start out this post by saying that, even though the meanies in elementary school thought otherwise, I do not have a uterus.  I have never, nor do I ever want to (because I would die), give birth.  In fact, I feel so strongly about this, I even took a picture in the bathroom proving that there was no uterus present:

Not the picture you were expecting?

First, I would be remiss in mentioning a KILLER run that I had today.  I had 11 miles on the schedule with 6x1200 at 5K pace.  I NAILED them with overall pace of the fast sections being 5:58/mile.  If I could replicate runs like that I might never stop running, Forrest Gump style.  But, on the flip side, to show that I’m not trying to be boastful. . . . Monday, I ran 6 miles in the morning and about pooped my pants (had to "walk it off") and then 4 again at night which, while a fun family run, was at 45 seconds slower than goal pace.

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Me at the 2008 Chicago marathon the only race that I have taken off my shirt and my personal worst marathon
Those nipple band-aids left tan lines that stayed there ALL winter.

The Chicago marathon was this past weekend.  Unlike so many other large marathons, I was able to watch the FREE live stream on my computer.  It was a hot day, but honestly how many years out of 10 can it be in the 80s and not be considered “normal” (They are working on 5 or 6 non consecutive years)?  There was a new course record on the Men’s side (2:05:37) and the second fastest women to run a marathon EVER (2:18:20).  Regrettably one man lost his life while running, oh and a woman ran while she was 39 weeks pregnant (for the guys – that is out of FOURTY weeks total!)

The story of the pregnant woman running has picked up not only social media steam, but also mainstream media steam – appearing on the Today show as well as many other news outlets.  Once she finished in 6 hr 25 min, having contractions from the start, she gave birth to a healthy baby seven hours later at 10pm the same night.  As you can imagine, the fact that she ran the race has been a bit polarizing.

Many have said that she is reckless at best and negligent at worst for stressing her body at such a late stage of gestation.  This seems to be the position of mainstream media.  Most article’s I’ve read and reports I’ve seen (because I am a news whore) have suggested that she is a crazy person, addicted to running.  Others have said that, since she had her doctors permission and took it twice as slow as normal, people are getting up in arms about something that was a slight risk at worst. Here is one of the many articles about the race, but here are the cliff notes facts:

• Amber Miller is 27 years old
• 8 marathons previously ran
• 3:25 marathoner (7:45ish pace)
• Had spoke with her doctor about the race, agreeing to a run 2, walk 2 strategy
• Had ran 2 marathons previous to Sunday while pregnant

Like I said in the opening, I’m a guy and therefore have to defer to her doctor who gave her the thumbs up.  So, I guess it would seem fine to me.  That said, I think that I would be highly suspect if my wife tried to do it while THAT pregnant.  However, playing devil’s advocate, like many people said on twitter Michael Jackson’s doctor said some pretty bad things were okay – and I don’t think I even have to mention Octo-mom.  I think the real thing that bothers me is the negative vibe most of the news reports have.

What do you think?  Just because she COULD do it, SHOULD she have?  If 39 weeks is too pregnant, is 30 weeks ok?  What about 20?   

Running vs Life - The battle over my body

Last winter's beautiful grass

Being the patriarch of a household is a big responsibility.  Of course there is the normal day to day bread winning responsibility, but also the spider killing, big steak eating, and dragging the trash to the curb stuff that all needs to get done.  Oh, and the yardwork.  Lots of back breaking yardwork.  Yes, it is true!  People in Phoenix do indeed have yards.  In fact, it seems that the zero-scaping concept is going a bit backwards and people are putting in more and more plush, resource sucking yards in the middle of the desert.

Anyway, this weekend, doing my part to use as much fresh water as possible, I buzz cut my lawn and planted “winter grass” so that my little patch of over-watered heaven could stay green all year round.  Call it the farmer in me but the brown grass all winter makes me want to grab a can of green spray paint and go to town.  Tune in next week when I yell at the neighbors in my underwear.

Here is my dad and I adding more sprinklers a few years back when I first bought the house.

Little did I know that I was also giving myself a stress fracture as I had already ran 20 miles earlier in the day.

As I was almost literally breaking my back trying to get the lawn finished, a thought continued to creep into my head: Can Beiber really keep his teen-pop momentum? Am I going to feel sore tomorrow?  If so, is that going to completely ruin my run? How much should I really be thinking about how much day to day responsibilities effect what is essentially a hobby?

Fortunately for me, I sit on my ass all day and rarely have to worry about my day to day responsibilities effecting my running in the least.  I don’t have a nursing job, a teaching job, or even a construction job that has me on my feet all day.  In short, if it wasn’t for running, I would live a VERY sedentary life.  But on the occasion that I have to man up and spend an afternoon in the lawn, I’m sore for the next day or so and I can expect any speed day to be sucky.  I’m a lot like a housecat.  I lay around all day long except for that 30 minutes a day of intense exercise.  (For most cats, this is usually at 3:00am)

I know lots of people who are on their feet all day and still get out there and log lots of quality miles.  I have to think that, just like I am used to 60+ miles per week, they are used to 40+ hours of WORK during the week in addition to their miles.  Right?

Does anyone else think about how chores or work are going to effect a run?  Any good stories about how they have?  I’ll give you a moment to answer.  In the meantime, I’ll be the one stiff and sore VERY thankful that today was an easy day.

 

Reflections while on the run

The more I run the more I learn about myself.  

Normally when I run I have tunnel vision.  I’m always thinking about form, pace, and doing mental math in my head.  Thoughts about work, family, or life rarely enter into frame.  Today during my 10 miler however, I learned that when the temperatures go down I let my laser focused tunnel vision widen a bit and let my mind wander.  Today I thought about Steve Jobs, life, and mortality.

To be clear, I’m not one of those apple fan-boys that tattoos a picture of a half eaten piece of fruit on their ass.  Nor do I have all things named “i”.  But, as I ran down the road remarking at how cool it had become in such a short time, I thought back to Jobs’ rather expected passing and his 2005 Stanford commencement address.  During the speech, he thought back on life, love, and his own mortality.  One of the lines, often paraphrased, struck a chord with me.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Of course, the reality is that if I knew I had days to live, I sure as hell wouldn’t be at work.  However, the point is still very valid. Life is far too short to not live your passion.  Personally, I feel that I am living my passion right now.  Work is work.  I’m focused, driven, but I don’t let it define who I am.

Thoughts of getting into trouble are running through his head, I am sure

As I continued to run, by this point logging 6 miles, I got to thinking how my obituary would read.  (I then realized that maybe I shouldn’t let my mind wander SO far while I run)  I’ve read a few of Jobs’ obits and each has provided an interesting summary on his life.  That said, I couldn’t help but notice that they were heavily skewed towards his work life.  Sure, there was the mention of his children and wife but 90% was about his time at Apple, Pixar, etc.

I have to think that mine would be different.  Of course, I haven’t done anything that changed the world – yet. I’m just a normal guy, focused on. . . . living.  So, mine would likely be something much more mediocre.  It would likely center around family, friendships, and honestly my running.  It has become a focus of my life that would certainly require mention.  Absent would be things around "Program management for multiple streams of multi-million dollar programs".  Snooze.  Here is likely what someone would end up with:

Adam was a husband, father, and runner.  While he took those three things seriously, he lived his life with a carefree attitude that he carried throughout his life.

If you had 6 months to live, what would you do?  I’d travel, visit family, and create all sorts of videos for key milestones for my kiddo.

What would your one-line obit say?

(Don’t worry about this “that’s what she said” free post.  Tomorrow I’ll be back to my normal antics!  Check out my Funny Foto Friday post below if you need a pick me up!)

Funny Foto Friday: 9 Reasons To Drink

Seriously, I would drink here EVERY weekend if I could.  You had me at free prostate exam, Cajun Mike. Happy Friday!