Early Christmas

Is anyone else excited about the release of new Asics GT2120's?? I've been running the 2000 series for several years now and I love them. Much better than the Adidas Response I was wearing before that. I know, I know, runners are always defensive and very particular about their brand of shoes. I'm no different. I'm also not shy about pushing my preferred brand either.


Now I just need to put a little addition into my Christmas wish list...along with a few stars to the left....maybe a quick highlight...let's add a circle...and maybe an arrow coming in from the right. There, hopefully my wife will see it.

Tagged!

I'm a newbie at this but I'll give it a shot. Thanks Mike.

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

I really need a haircut.

2. How much cash do you have on you?

99 cents. I couldn't buy a pop today so I'm stuck with water.

3. What’s a word that rhymes with “DOOR?”

Store. Next.

4. Favorite planet?

Mercury seems pretty cool (not literally ofcourse). It never gets no pub though.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?

I wish I knew. Someone stole my cell phone months ago.

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?

I forgot.

7. What shirt are you wearing?

Typical button-up, garden variety office work shirt.

8. Do you “label” yourself?

I accept labels given to me. And they call me Unforgiven.

9. Name the brand of your shoes you’re currently wearing?

Born brown casuals.

10. Bright or Dark Room?

In this office? Nothing but flickering bright fluorescent lights baby!

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?

I'm thinking if his pace per mile was charted over the last year it would look like a steep hill going down while mine would look pretty flat.

12. What does your watch look like?

I don't wear one except when I run. That's a circa 1995 Timex Ironman with all the button text rubbed off from sweaty fingers.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Watching the Outtakes from an otherwise forgettable movie called 'You, Me, and Dupree'.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?

Don't have my cell. Weren't you reading?

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?

Corner of Aurelius and Jolly Rd.

16. What’s a word that you say a lot?

the

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?

My son Nick.

18. Last furry thing you touched?

My 13 year old dog Amber.

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?

One bottle of Blatz (I didn't buy it, trust me). One glass of Traverse City's finest wine.

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?

I believe there is roll in my old camera somewhere. Wonder what is on it?

21. Favorite age you have been so far?

Hmmm, 25 was pretty cool I guess.

22. Your worst enemy?

Time.

23. What is your current desktop picture?

Me and the fam at Comerica Park watching the Tigers win a thriller.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?

"Didn't I already watch the security training video?" (Shhh, I should be working)

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?

Teleportation is the future. I'll take the million bucks.

26. Do you like someone?

For what reason?

27. The last song you listened to?

Something by Alice in Chains...can't remember the title....it was on the radio.

28. What time of day were you born?

7 PM

29. What’s your favorite number?

24

30. Where did you live in 1987?

At home in Traverse City with the folks. Still a pimply faced high schooler.

31. Are you jealous of anyone?

Too many to count.

32. Is anyone jealous of you?why?

Well, I should point out that I used to drive a Saturn....

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?

At work, gathered around the meeting room television.

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?

Push the buttons frantically a couple dozen times in the vain hope that the machine is just teasing and will see how serious I am about getting my money back. Hasn't worked so far.

35. Do you consider yourself kind?

To those I know, yes. I can be a bit prickly to those I don't.

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be?

Male = arm or back.

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be?

How 'bout Latin? Not particularly useful but at least you could read all those clever slogans on governmental buildings, currency, and law books.

38. Would you move for the person you loved?

Sure. Haven't really found "home" yet anyway.

39. Are you touchy feely?

No.

40. What’s your life motto?

People are stupid. People are smart. Often at the same time.

41. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

Wedding ring, wallet, and, seemingly, underwear.

42. What’s your favorite town/city?

Traverse City, I guess.

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?

I bought McDonalds 4 days ago. Haven't had cash on me since then.

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

Seems like I sent a quick hello to an old college buddy several months ago.

45. Can you change the oil on a car?

Yes. Pretty easy really. Drive into this building...command that the oil is changed...provide a form of payment...drive away. Not much more to it really.

46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?

I believe she is searching for her missing boyfriend. At least, that's what CNN keeps reporting. No matter, I forgot all about her after the Physical World Tour ended anyway.

47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?

I know one half of the family came to the US from Russia in the early twentieth century while around the same time the other half came from Germany. Somewhere since then the two halfs merged eventually creating this beautiful specimen. Thank God for immigration!

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?

Was there a wedding or funeral recently? I don't recall.

49. Does anything hurt on your body right now?

All systems go.

50. Have you been burned by love?

Love's fickle flame flickers fleetingly...

I suppose at this point I'm to 'tag' another party? Alas, no one really reads this blog and the only two bloggers I have actually met before have already been tagged. I'm sure I'll be breaching some blogger etiquette here but I'll let this grape whither on the vine...

Not So Fast

Okay, so maybe I'm not so true to my word . I haven't been able to do much work on the look of this page. It is still on the agenda...just not sure where. I will get to it. I will. I really, really will. In the meantime, let's talk future races. I've been deciding between the Flying Pig in Cincinnati and the Bayshore in Traverse City, MI. I'm going with (drum roll please):

I like the idea of the flat, fast course. I want to get a better idea of where I stand for a Boston Qualifier. In Chicago, as you may read below, I employed a bad strategy and I don't feel like I ended with a true representation of my level of training. I think the Bayshore, versus the Flying Pig, is a better fit at this point. Though now the Pig will be on my calendar for next year. Plus, I have the "home field" advantage. This is my home town. I'll have friends and family. It'll take place over Memorial weekend making an all around nice experience.

More to come on training goals...

Birthing the Blog - It's Crowning!

This blog has been operating in the dark crevices of Blogger Land for several months unbeknownst to (almost) everyone. It is a shell: structurally and aesthetically. Not much to look at. Updated infrequently. No bells or whistles. However, I have recently noticed some linking to this blog by some friends. Oops. I guess I should have worked on this thing a little more. I feel like that moment when you get up early, smelly and uncombed and wearing last nights clothing, and try to get a newspaper at the local gas station only to run into several people you know. And they are looking you up and down like 'what the heck happened to you!?'

So, I should get this thing together a little bit. I'll bring in the blogterior decorator to measure for new drapes and show me some color swatches. Give me a few days and I'll see if I can turn this from the boring, basic template to something suitable for a special layout in Better Blogs & Gardens.

A Starting Point...At The Finish Line

It's over. I completed the Chicago Marathon in 3:36:48. Happy that I finished strong having never run that distance before. A little disappointed also. I felt a sub 3:30 was certainly possible but I made a critical mistake prior to the start of the race: I stood to far towards the back of the pack. I knew this might be a problem but I assumed there would be open running lanes that would allow me to move up quickly. Nope. People were running shoulder-to-shoulder and I exhausted a ton of energy criss crossing from one side of the road to the other trying to pass. Whenever an open curb presented itself (like in the Lincoln Park area), I raced up on the curb and passed dozens of people before jumping back into the stream at the next obstruction. I did not anticipate the running pack would be this dense. I bet I passed well over 20,000 people along my race. I was never able to recover my time enough to challenge 3:30. Next time, I'll know better. Still, I'm very pleased to have finished with a sense that I could do even better. That is a nice feeling and one to carry into the next marathon. So, at my finish line, I found a starting point on what to improve on for the next one.

Short and Sweet

I'll keep this brief. I don't want the people who don't read this blog to not have to spend time not reading it. Make sense?

The Chicago Marathon is a few days away. My aching foot has been sore since my last long run (see previous post) and has caused some chinks in my normally unwavering confidence. However, some decent results, foot soreness-wise, on a 13 miler and 9 miler have patched over a bit of the confidence pot holes. So, I'm ready to roll. Looking for a sub 3:40....hoping for a sub 3:30...not sure what to expect until I complete this first marathon.

Short and sweet....like the marathon course right? Right!

No Fear

For me, I need the reassurance that my body can handle the physical and mental pounding 26.2 miles exacts on the body. During this entire summer of training, I've been working toward getting to that level of confidence that (1) my body could handle this and (2) I would be happy with my time. I know time isn't everything but I'm a competitive person and it has been important to me. That's why I love running. There is no one to get angry at. No opponent that outplayed you. No referee that made the wrong call. Just you against the clock. How hard you trained can be directly measurable against your results (give or take for other incidental factors). I love that. It is a very emotionally introverted sport. It allows you to be happy with yourself as well as all of the other contestants independently.

That being said, on Sunday,I finally reached that level of confidence I desired. It has been building all summer and yesterday's long run of 21.5 miles validated my physical and emotional readiness. I left my house shortly after 7 AM and did three 6.2 mile loops back around to my house. After the second loop, I popped back inside to wish my now-awake daughter a Happy 5th Birthday. At each break, I had GU and water (and changed shirts once due to the embarrassing red splotches on my chest from you-know-what). Then, ended with a 3 mile trip up to the local high school and back. 21.5 miles in 2:49. Three minutes ahead of 8 mins per mile pace!! Maybe 3:30 is attainable after all. Very satisfied. Despite the extreme ankle pain that has hit me later that day (and caused a slight limp this morning), I consider the last long, long run a big, big success.

On to Chicago with full confidence! No fear.

Winding the Top

Twenty miles are in the books. Actually, I can't be sure it was exactly 20 miles. The path I was on claims to be a mile in length. It is a circular track and I tried to stay in the middle. Did they measure from the inner edge, outer edge, middle? It makes a difference. My time seemed to be roughly 20 seconds faster per mile than I would have thought so lets estimate conservatively and call it 19 miles (20 laps X .95 miles). It's a nice, flat run except for a few minor 12 foot elevations just to make sure you are awake. Plenty to look at around the park to keep you interested. The problem is that when you circle a track 20 times you start to feel like you are winding up a top or - for the Superman fans out there - turning back time by circling the globe counter clockwise. Each training run winds another loop around the top. That's the hard part. The marathon should be just a matter of pulling the string and letting it spin! (Yeah, right.)

As I was unwinding from this run, however, I was immediately assaulted by a man rushing towards me just spewing questions at me like: when I was marathoning? how much had I trained? how many miles would I do next week? All of this would have been fine and good but I just finished 2 1/2 hours of running, dude. I'm whipped. I'm thirsty. I'm pretty sure my calves are going to lock up rendering me immobile for the next several hours. And is that a pain in my liver? Is that normal? C'mon give me a chance to rest. I tolerated him for a moment until I realized that what he really wanted to do was tell me about his first marathon experience and proceeded to give me a bunch of advice. I had heard it all before so I politely (at first) ended the conversation and made the exhausted walk to the car. Talk about bad timing. I'm thinking this dude is the type that hits on the widow at a funeral with the "you here with anyone?" line.

19 miles (20 laps) in 2:32. 8 minutes per mile. On pace!

What's in a number?

20 miles...that is my next milestone. I have run far enough now during my training runs where finishing the marathon doesn't seem quite as daunting. Something about a nice round number like 20 seems much more impressive than 18 or 19. If I get the 20 knocked down with relative ease, I will feel supremely confident going into October 22nd and the Windy City. Chicago Marathon, here I come.

Making Progress

Going good from 13-15 miles. Need to increase stamina and distance. Starting to cramp and fade a bit around 11 miles. 10 weeks to go...

Flexing...

Is a blog like a muscle? If you don't use it, do you lose it? I don't know what the rules are of the Blogger Nation but, in my continuing effort to defend my little .25 acre in the Great Blog Subdivision, I felt I should make an update (i.e. flex) at least once a month.

Still, not much time or energy to add anything of value right now. I have my eye on one of the new Gateway products with all the bells and whistles. If another Pre-Election-Vote-For-Us check appears in my hands, I might have new motivation to become a more active poster. New computers are fun. As it appears a desperate politician (with a check in his hands) isn't anywhere on my horizon, I'll go back to picking the lint, dust, fingernails, and food crumbs from between my old Dell keyboard keys. Good day.

Knowledge is Power

James Madison wrote in 1822: "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance. And a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

Hunter S.

Much quoted, much beloved:

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"--Hunter S. Thompson

Redirection

Until I'm motivated to add an entry which, sadly, is not now, I'd like to redirect you to a friends blog:

http://www.mikehasathought.blogspot.com/

April 25, 2006

Just thought I'd mark out a little territory in the blogspot just in case I'm so motivated which, sadly, is not right now.