Had A Bad Day Again

Topic: Chicken and Ham(strings)
Key Words: Devil's Chicken, Glaciers, Flattop Mountain
Word Count: 481
Next Topic: Something Financial

Here's a synopsis of my time from Thursday at lunch to Saturday afternoon:

Ate Chicken Diablo (The Devil's Chicken!) for lunch on Thursday; went to Felix run despite feeling sick to my stomach; had to stop two miles into Felix run and walk back due to crazy bad hamstring pain (first time I can remember ever having to stop a run for injury); went home, checked temperature, it was 100 degrees; napped until 1:30AM and finally evicted the contents of my stomach ... the diablo was still there, I had been poisoned!; by 6AM my fever was gone and I was feeling better (certainly food poisoning); finally ate some food Friday night, but no way I would make Saturday morning's HoustonFIT run (certainly due to the sickness, maybe even due to the hammy, not sure if it's really injured or if Thursday was just a passing pain)

Thursday to Friday - certainly a bad day. I'm really ticked about missed today's run with HoustonFIT, as I'm to the point of Chicago training that I wanted to step up my milage. I hope to try a short run today and get in the long run tomorrow if the hammy is up to it.

Alaska update!

I haven't gotten around to writing a narrative of my Alaskan escape, but I have put the pictures online. Here's a very brief description of each day, and link to my photo albums on Snapfish.

Day Zero (I guess) - Some pictures from the plane. Nice ones of ice fields and glaciers near Alaska.

Day One - I took a trip to Denali National Park, home of North American's tallest mountain, Mount McKinley. You have to travel through Denali on bus, so most of my pictures are from various stops or actually from inside the bus.

Day Two - Kenai Peninsula and Kenai Fjords National Park. The park is home to Exit Glacier, which is one of the only glaciers in Alaska you can actually walk up to (I have a thing for glaciers, I don't know why).

Day Three - After the half marathon, I decided to try and climb Flattop Mountain! The mountain is a 3000 some odd foot tall structure just East of Anchorage and is Alaskas most summitted mountain. One website said "a few people die each year climbing it" but another said "grandma can make it with some stops". There's no way granny and her walker could summit this thing, and with rain starting, my running shoes were getting poor grip on the slippery rock (and I was tired as hell), so I didn't quite make it to the top, stopping about 100 feet from the summit.

Snapfish -> http://www1.snapfish.com/photolibrary/t_=8487359

Anchorage Half Marathon

Topic: Mayor's Midnight Sun Half Marathon
Key Words: TITs, Earthquake Park, Michigan Coach
Word Count: 1793
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: The non-running parts of my Alaska Running Vacation

As Alaska was a running vacation, I've decided to continue with my plans to post trip details. However, as posting pictures to blogger is a pain, I'm just going to describe the days of my trip, and post the pictures on a sharing web site. I've given the photos meaningful names, so they can be correlated to the story if you wish to do so. First, the running part of the trip, the half-marathon.

Event: Mayor's Midnight Sun Half Marathon; half held in conjunction with a 5-miler; marathon ended with the half
Location: Anchorage, 9AM at West High School, continuing to the airport, with a return to the school via Earthquake Park
Surface: City streets, unimproved trails, paved trails
Weather: Low 50's, calm winds, cloudy
Gear: Standard stuff, except I had a trash bag in my pocket and my running hat in case it rained (60% chance)
Time: 2:05:15
Mile Splits: they follow below
Narative:

I stole my pre-run breakfast, one and a half boxes of Fruit Loops and a glass of OJ from the hotel breakfast. Fearing rain, I slather up my feet with Vaseline (trying to avoid rubbing with rain soaked shoes), and headed for the high school. I didn't have my usual pre-race e-Boom Carb Gel, so I replaced the salts I get from it with a small bottle of Gatorade. The first thing I noticed was that there seemed to be a large number of people. That may have been because the 5-Miler was starting with us, but I know it also had something to do with Team In Training. As Alaska isn't an every day kind of place to visit, lots of Team In Training runners sign up to raise money in exchange for airfare, lodging, and entry into this race. Now, obviously, I commend anyone who runs for charity, and especially a cancer charity. However, don't have your name start with a T, then an I, then a T, and try to pass off your acronym as TNT. No no no my charity friends, you are TIT, Team In Training, raising money for Lymphoma and Leukemia, be proud of it.

So in short, the Anchorage half was full of TIT. Groups of TIT came from all over from the run; I noticed TIT from these locations: NY, LA, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Canada.
We gathered behind your standard balloon archway, heard the plain-jane Alaska State Anthem (as performed by some renowned, and rather dead, Alaskan singer) and all cheered loudly for the obligatory Star Spangled Banner. My running watch hit Noon, and we were off.

I fancy myself as an experienced runner. I figure one day I might get into coaching with a training group, and as I examined the TIT groups around me, I thought that it might be cool to serve as a coach for them in the future. If I did, I would spend a full day on race etiquette, because frankly my friends, TIT doesn't know how to behave! I say this, because I passed group after group of walking TIT in the first two minutes. I have a real pet peeve about that. I don't mind people walking events, but if you walk, GET IN THE BACK; I always fear I'll get clipped in the chaos of people trying to shoot around the walkers. Anyway, after some fancy footwork, the walkers were in my wake, and things were smooth saying for a while.

Mile 1 Split - 9:03

Mile 2 Split - 8:38

At about mile 2.5, there was a water stop. This seemed early, but as the course for this race was completely changed two weeks before the run, I was fearful of passing on the liquids in case the aid stations were haphazard. Too early for a GU, but I gulped a cup of water down, and continued.

Mile 3 Split - 8:58

Another water stop at mile 3.25! I think the one after mile 2 was actually for the 5 milers, as they split off into Earthquake park right after the aid station. I didn't want to stop again, but I figured this was as close to GU time as I would get. As I continued, I saw the first nasty hill of the day.

Mile 4 Split - 9:36

Stupid hills! Some people started to pass me here, so I guess I was dogging it a bit. At this point, we were behind the airport, and a Quantas 747 took off, literally, about 300 feet right over my head. Pretty cool!

Mile 5 Split - 9:27

I saw a lot of new signs in Alaska, most involving moose. Here though, I saw a different kind of new sign "Jetblast Area". I silently hoped a 747 would give me a tailwind, and continued on.

Mile 6 Split - 9:09

Now things got fun! This new race route had us leave the airport road to go into Earthquake Park, a city park created by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in the 60's! As we turned off the paved road, to make, so I thought, the transition to Earthquake, I was greeted with a nasty site .... grass. Tall, beaten down grass, on a severely rutted unimproved trail. This stuff was hard to run in, and many people were verbally lamenting the risk of turned ankles. I had to carefully pass a guy using one of the ruts! I hoped this wasn't going to continue for the rest of the run ....

Mile 7 Split - 9:41

It didn't! About a half mile was on this stuff, before we finally joined up with an asphalt running trail through a really awesome, wooded area (I figure, this was actually Earthquake Park). This time was when I met my nemesis, New York TIT. This guy pissed me off. He was the guy I had to pass above, and after that pass, he got into a rhythm of not allowing me by. Though I didn't see value in "dueling" with a guy with six miles to go, if he wanted to pace off me, fine, whatever. So every time I would pull along side and go by him (every tenth of a mile or so), he would pick up his pace and speed back by. Until .. one time he almost ran me off the trail! At this point, I was pissed. What made it worse, he was wearing headphones (probably why he almost ran me off the road, he couldn't hear me), and one time, he was getting some verbal encouragement (as TITs frequently did in Alaska) and he didn't acknowledge it (again, the headphones). I couldn't even sniff a "way to go, run hard" because I wasn't wearing the TIT purple and white. This guy was getting copious amounts of encouragement, and ignoring it so he could rock out.

Mile 8 Split - 9:32

The woods started to open up a bit, and we could occasionally see the water North of us. And I passed NY TIT! I promised to not let him beat me as I stormed by him going up a nasty hill; he seemed to be struggling, so I thought he was done for. Rest stop, GU number two.

Mile 9 Split - 11:53

What?!?! 11:53! Surely not! I didn't run the hill that slow did I? I didn't walk for very long eating my GU. Wow. Oh well. Off I went. I heard a TIT fan cheer "Go Coach Jennine" to someone behind me, and I saw NY TIT and Coach Jennine storm past me. NY TIT had somehow gotten his second wind, or perhaps he had just been stalking me for a while. He was going way to fast for me too keep up; NY TIT was going to get the better of me today. Maybe I was really running 11:53 slow ....

Mile 10 Split - 8:19

OK, so the mile markers are screwed up. I felt a little better now, and felt downright giddy when I topped a hill and passed Uranus! (o: Come on ... say it ... "I topped the hill and passed Uranus!" Too funny, especially this late in the race. Anchorage had some kind of "Planet Walk" through the city and ... Uranus! ... just happened to be here. I briefly started trailing runner 4262 (or something like that) as I thought my legs had more in them, and wanted a faster runner to stalk. She was only a bit faster than me, so when a TIT Michigan Coach and her protege, Deborah, ran by, I hooked up with them. Michigan Coach was truly a seasoned runner, as she gave off the aura of a someone who had been doing this for a long time. She had encouraging, but not very soft words for other TITs that we passed, and she even gave some firm"Come on, almost there" to some non-TIT runners we passed up.

Mile 11 Split - 8:50

We were in full view of the water now. A lot of TIT cheering groups here.

Mile 12 Split - 11:46

Deborah wavered, and I went on. I should have tried to pull Deborah along, since I used them for just that, but I didn't want to be "that guy" who encourages you when you just want to suffer in your solitude. I know we were probably closer than the milage markers said, so I charged up a steep, winding hill to get back into the city, and started looking for the finish. As the school came into view, I stepped up my pace a bit, and as I rounded on the school campus, I really kicked it in. I didn't know how far I had left, as I knew we were to finish on the school's track, but there were too many balloons and banners to see exactly where the line was. As I hit the track, it became clear we only had to run a quarter of it, and I quickly fixated on my task .... catch and pass the chick with "CANADA" on her back. She was a game member of Canada's TIT squad, as she seemed to sense my charge and picked up her pace, but I found enough umph in my legs to catch and pass her with about 20 feet to go. 2:05:15 total (oddly, they only had timing mats at the finish, so my only listed time is gun time). My total time was 1:45 slower than Austin, but given the travels of the previous days, and the lack of training at this distance, I was pleased.

Mile 13.1 Split - 10:20

After the run, I did a smart thing ... I drank two pints of beer and tried to climb a mountain! That, and the rest of the trip, are for tomorrow ....

Auburn In Alaska

Topic: Leave It Better Than How You Found It

Key Words: Kenai, Exit Glacier, War Eagle

Word Count: Not Many

Tomorrow's Likely Topic: There won't be one, but if there were, it would be "I Hate Running in the Rain"

Though most people say they hate seeing other people's vacation photos, I've decided to do what I do best, run my mouth, and give a narrative to my Alaska frolic, complete with pictures. It will help me to remember the story behind the pictures, because I know they'll start to run together over time. I'll probably post the bulk of my photos on some sharing web site, but the highlights, and the story, will be here.

But I'm not going to start now. I've figured out how to drive to the start line, I've come to grips with the nasty weather for tomorrow, and I've realized I left my band-ades at home .... all things that, after today's drive, have left me kind of drained. How am I going to avoid nipple rash with no band-ades?!?? Sorry. I'm still in the denial phase about that packing blunder. So until I have more time, here are a few highlights of one of the most amazing things I've seen ... Exit Glacier ... and a few shots to show how, for a brief moment, I made Alaska a better place.

Exit Glacier, from about two miles away

Getting closer ....

Almost there ...

Exit Glacier!

I found a plain eagle ....

For a brief moment, it was a War Eagle!

Smokey, The Weather, Not The Bear

I've got a few minutes to kill before going to packet pickup, so I thought I would share this screen capture from weather.com for Anchorage:

It seems that Alaska is burning. Particularly, the part I'm going to today is burning (nice!), and the smoke, according the weather advisory, is "blowing in from the East and being trapped in the Anchorage bowl." I never knew "Smoke" could be current conditions, but there you have it. Thankfully, it is supposed to clear the afternoon; not ideal conditions for a run.

So since I hyped them up, here they are, in crisp digital zoom ... BEARS!!!

Yes, I know, that's like full 12X digital zoom, but what did you expect, it's a mother bear and her cub, was I supposed to get close! I'm not sure which blurry spot is the cub, but the blond/brown blob near the lower part, down the center line, THAT'S A FREAKIN' BEAR MAN! And yes, there was like a quarter mile between me and mommy and baby, and a bus, and about 50 people, but hey, I could have been eaten in like a moments notice. And yes, on the way back by, the bears were so unconcerned with us, the baby bear climbed up on the patch of snow and start sliding and flipping it's way down (they're so cute before they grow up to be killers!).

Off to brave the smoke.

Too Wired Too Sleep

Topic: Mile High (Blogging) Club
Key Words: Southwest, Button Fields of Nebraska and Kansas, Yearly Salary
Word Count: Who Knows
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Sheep

On an early morning in December 1993, I took my first plane flight; Birmingham to Chicago Midway, non-stop, on Southwest airlines. I was so impressed with how the clouds looked, I did something real nerdy, I took some pictures through the plane window.

Since that first flight, I've certainly flown a lot, but rarely in the daytime. I suppose it's not really daytime now, after all, my watch says it's 11:05PM CDT. None-the-less, the sky is bright and glaciers are in full glow. I suppose I'm taking the rare nighttime flight in broad daylight! Having not seen the Earth, in daylight, from this high in some time, I think I forgot how awesome things look from 30,000 feet. So I reverted to my original nerdly ways and started snapping pics ....

I know they are just irrigation circles in Kansas and Nebraska, but they looked too cool; like buttons thrown out on the ground.




American Junior peeled back her clouds for some nice shots of the Canadian Rockies.

And somewhere about an hour South of Anchorage, I saw this amazing set of mountains and glaciers.




I've been a busy bee on this flight; I'm trying not to sleep so that I can get some good rest tonight. I forwent my finance magazines for a while, instead opting to extinguish one laptop battery while colonizing the Caribbean in Europa Universalis III (don't worry Jas, I live in harmony with your people)! I then went back to the magazines and read a long spread on starting your own business, and tried to believe the article claiming that our bull market still had a couple of years of life. My neighbor, who is flying for the first time, got a little personal, asking me how many kids I wanted, and what my yearly salary was (she's 54 and married with kids; not looking for a sugar daddy, I hope). Her neighbor is flying to Spain ... via Alaska (sounds shady .... Leon would have had him kicked off the plane if he heard that). 11:12PM CDT. Still light out. I hope my internal clock is up for this.

Cloverleaf

Topic: Houston Hills, The Man Made One's At Least
Key Words: Jovial, Cloverleaf, Yogi and Boo Boo
Word Count: 699
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: The Super 8 Motel

My last post was a bit of a downer, so it's time to be jovial again! And nothing is more of a knee slapper ... than running hills in Houston! Hills in Houston??? Yes, there are a few, but none-the-less, today's Houston FIT hill workout was on a set of man made hills at the fly-over between Waugh and Memorial. After meeting at Jackson Hill, we ran to the Waugh overpass of Memorial, did two sets of skips, butt kicks, and strides, and then ran the cloverleaf. The cloverleaf had two long, gently sloping uphills and two fairly identical downhills. This was certainly not a course on par with the Spots Park hill course, but it was a good start to hill training. The cloverleaf was supposedly a mile, but it had to be less as I did the first loop in 8:30 and the second in 7:34. I finished third on the second loop, so I replaced the lack of hardcore uphills with speed. And I had on my black socks; they make me faster. Basketball after the running, and after stinking it up for three games, I finally hit some shots late.

Tomorrow I leave for Alaska and the Mayor's Midnight Half Marathon. I'm excited, though the weather man is now predicting rain on Saturday, the day of the run. I do not have much in the way of rain gear (maybe I should run with an umbrella?), so please do your "no rain dance" and direct it to Anchorage. Here's what I'll be doing:

Thursday - I'm heading to Denali National Park, home of Mt. McKinley. Interestingly enough, it's peak is higher from it's base than any other mountain (who knew!), but it is generally covered in clouds during the afternoon, so I may not get to see it. Denali favors the wildlife over it's human visitors to the point of requiring you to traverse the park by foot or special bus on a special road. A six hour safari is on tap. I'll have my bear knife with me, and my sprintin' shoes, just in case.

Friday - I'm heading to Kenai Fjords National Park. The drive, which is along a road carved into the mountains rising out of the Pacific, is supposedly one of the highlights. I picked this for Friday since it is closer than Denali to Anchorage, thus allowing me to make morning packet pickup and also allowing me to get back before toooo late. If I dare (again, the bears) Kenai allows direct access to Exit Glacier. I probably won't hike to the top of the ice field, but I should get to see some nice glacier action.

Saturday - The run is @ 9AM. I have to be out of my hotel @ noon, so I have incentive to put a little bit of effort forward. I have no real time goals, but if I'm feeling well after fending off Yogi and Boo Boo, I'll shoot for 9:30 miles, or about a 2:04:30. The course is hilly, so it may present some problems. After I hastily vacate my hotel, I'm going to a local brewhouse to ease my aching legs, and then to Chugach State Park, which is located beside Anchorage. Though not a "National" park, Chugach is supposedly quite the place for hiking and has a nice mountain you can summit to get a view of the lay of the land. I fly out at 9PM or so, so I should get so spend a decent amount of time in the park.

And that's it. Medal number 11 will be procured if all goes well (#12 if I count the plastic one!). Jasmin, since mean old Nasa isn't going to let you come (I mean, it's just the space shuttle!!), I'll try to snap you some nice pics; I'll throw them up hear as I get them.

Eleven Years Ago

The deluge of Houston continued on Sunday, so no cross training, but I did go to the gym to do an upper body workout (BEEFCAKE!). Monday was, well, busy, but I did stick to the HoustonFIT plan and do 35 minutes easy at the park. Unfortunately, all my running shorts were dirty, so I wore regular workout shorts (cotton! HORROR!!), and all my running socks were dirty, so I wore white, cotton socks (shut up Jonathan, they made me slow!). Even worse, it was hot and I was distracted; I wasn't really into the run. I suppose the fact that I did the run in such a state of "blah" is a good sign; maybe that shows a little bit of dedication.

The idea with this weekend's post was that it was time to explain why it is that I decided to run for ACS, why I choose MD Anderson over United Way, and why I wore my Lance Armstrong wrist band all weekend. The story was going to be about my personal experience with cancer, my Father's death from prostate cancer, and as he actually died on Father's Day, eleven years ago, the timing seemed right. I think the story is a bit too personal, and some of my reasons a bit too selfish (I'm always trying to convince myself to be more involved with cancer charities, and I think I was using the idea of writing the story to motivate me to do more), so I decided not to share it here.

Our mortality, particularly on a blog that I try to keep light and entertaining, isn't a fun topic, but it's real life. The important take away is to remind people to make smart decisions about their health, get screened when they should, and to pass the message on to those they love. I'm hopeful that our generation will succeed where the previous one did not, that we will discover breakthroughs in prevention, treatment, and even cures for some cancers (I even know of a couple of freshly minted PhDs who might enter the molecular battle!). To get there though, a lot of work needs to be done. I'm struggling with whether I want to continue doing what I've been doing, raising money and maybe going on an occasional blog rant (sorry!), or whether I want to try and do more. Today I learned that work might move me to Fairfax, to take a job outside of IT with the our Downstream business. It's a little hard to figure out what I want to do with my professional life when my professional life is in flux! Sorry. Had to vent a little :o)

Maybe change is what I need though. I did just change shoes and socks, something I never thought I would do. Maybe more change would do me good.

Houston FIT - Run #2

Topic: Seven Miles of Good Runnin'
Key Words: Negative Split, "The Plant", Walk The Plank
Word Count: 711 (My Birthday!!!)
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Father's Day

Week number two of Houston FIT Marathon training; seven miles. A little strange to be dropping down from eight miles, but I think that's a mental trick by our coach; give the runners an easy course, and let everyone taste success before the long runs. This is my last long run before Alaska, so I wanted to go after it a little bit. Here's the details...

Weather: High 70's; high humidity, but better than last week; partly cloudy; a fairly nice Houston Summer morning!
Route: Rose Garden, with a Twist -> http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/? r=1049335
Gear: I'm sold on the new shoe/sock combo; same as last week
Time: 7 miles in 1:08:30, 9:47 per mile pace
Narrative: I arrived to Lukes 10 minutes early and found the lot almost full; seven miles gets the whole crew out I guess! My plan was to run a negative split today; second half faster than the first. I figured if I started at the back of the pack and worked my way forward, I would be inclined to chug out faster miles as I went. I was talking to Yung and Larry (are they dating?) before we started, and that conversation continued as we left the lot ... uh oh ... Yung had dragged me to the front of the pack! I thought my back-to-front plans had been torpedoed until myself and about 20 runners mistakenly decided to cross Shepard by crossing Allen Parkway, crossing Shephard, and then crossing Kirby; everyone else just crossed Shepard! Suddenly, I was in the back of the pack!

About 30 minutes in I had passed the folks in the back and was chugging along, passing those strewn out behind the front pack, when I happened upon Tracy. We compared results from Houston, and as she's from Chicago and running that marathon, she shared how she thought the run would go. Apparently it is true that you have to weave in and out of the crowd near the end; I think I'm actually looking forward to that! Tracy and I parted ways and I happened upon water stop number two, with Larry, Yung, and Coach Kaytha (sp?) taking a walk a break. Kaytha "demoted herself" to Yellow due to a nasty case of the plantar fasciitis (aka, "the plant"). I decided to take a break to finish off my last Accelerade container, and Yung told me to wait for her and Larry; we ran together for about 15 minutes. I think Tracy, Larry, and Yung helped me to keep my pace up though the "middle miles", and I was feeling fairly plucky, so I pushed ahead, with my eyes locked on the front pack of the Yellow. I was about a block behind them when they finished, so I think I was fairly successful with my plan; no way to know for sure, but I think I did run a negative split. Good time, good route, good conversation ... a good morning.

Until core. I decided to try it this morning and I found some little oriental woman leading us through toe planks, side planks, wood planks, wall planks, walk-the-planks, and other sadistic yoga-from-hell like moves. I was grunting away with everyone else until the "side plank with silly ass leg lift". That made my right groin hurt; bad. That's one set of muscles that have been known to not appreciate my running hobby, so I'm very protective; my day of core was finished.

And this shouldn't be a surprise, but Atwell showed up. I was standing there, talking to Kaytha, and out of the blue, there was Atwell! He and the Knuckleheads ran the Rice Run, so they were passing through Lukes on the way back to Memorial. After greeting his masses (Atwell is certainly one of Houston FITs most well known), he and Mike ran off; Atwell's been running fast this Spring, so I think he's setting up for a good marathon this winter. I guess we're all chugging away, with one group or another, towards another 26.2.

Team Tryout

Topic: Hoopin' and Flat to Down Budgets
Key Words: Oilinyaeye, Fixed Costs, NetFlix
Word Count: 486
Tomorrow's Topic: Has Cancer Cursed My Marathon?

I planned to do sprints Tuesday night, but rain and some unscheduled post-work activities got in the way. So naturally, I ate wings and drank some beer with Phillip and Crystal and the softball team! After that I went with the crew to St. Lukes to play basketball (beer then basketball, especially at a church, isn't the best combo, but I wanted to be social, what was I to do?). Leon's ExxonMobil basketball team, Oilinyaeye, was looking like they were only going to have five people, and I was contemplating telling him I wanted back on the team. But by the end of the night, Leon had confirmed the sixth and seventh members of the team, so no basketball for me. It's for the best though, because basketball would take Tuesday and Thursday nights, and I really need those nights for running. I'll still hoop on some Tuesdays, but running will take precedence.

Tonight, after almost succombing to laziness, I went to the gym for an upper body workout (beefcake!), and then went to the park for sprints. Eight repeats of one minute hard then one minute easy. The shoes continue to grow on me. Not only are they real stable, they are real lite. I could actually feel a difference, comparing them to my last shoes, when doing the fast part of the sprints.

On to finances....
My apartment complex is jacking my rent by $125 a month! I split that with L.T., but still, an outrageous increase. A couple of year's ago, I got into a fun habit I call "keep your base flat to down". The idea is fixed costs (car payment, rent, cable, phones, memberships, etc.) should not increase from year to year. This goes hand in hand with my mantra of saving money where you can as long as you don't sacrifice quality of life. If I can switch cell phone companies, get the same basic service, and save $10 a month, why not? So with my fixed costs going up $62.50 a month come August, I've got to start cutting! Last year, I made up the $50 monthly rent increase, but this year, it's going to be tough. Anyone feel they owe me a "Keith Tax" for being my friend? Come on, how about $10 a month?!?!?

Really though, I encourage you to look over these basic kinds of charges, you might be able to save some money. Do you have features on your home phone you don't need? Cable options you never watch? NetFlix you don't use (that's me!)? Before you know it, you could save $40 or $50 a month, and maybe not have to give up anything you enjoy! So try it, just send me half your saving, because $62.50 is a long way away!

Barry White Wore Mizuno

Topic: A Tight Hold On My Feet
Key Words: Walrus of Love, Love Glove, Hold Me Tightly
Word Count: 482
Tomorrow's Topic: Team Tryout

Shoe update: the legs felt good on Sunday; I think I'm sold on the Mizuno. I couldn't bike on Sunday due to a busy schedule, but I put in some time on the elliptical machine. Today was softball (now 8-0 ... the perfect season?!? Tune in next week!) so no running. The blister on the top of my right foot is worse than I thought, but I think I can prevent a repeat by playing around with my laces and how tight I tie the Mizuno. I might get an 11.5 pair before this weekend's run; to protect my toes, this current pair of elevens will probably be relegated to runs of four miles or less.

So why, after one long run, am I so sold on these shoes? Because, quite simply, they are the shoes Barry White would wear!

"Yeah baby, wear Mizuno! They make loooove to your feet!"

You see, the "Walrus of Love", as Barry was known, sang about holding your woman close, taking care of her, caressing her. I've come to think, I should do the same with my feet! You see, my New Balance 767 were your like favorite bar or club. It's roomy, you feel like there's plenty of room for you to spread out and have a good time. All that room in the shoe, meant my foot could move in all kinds of bad ways. The good lord intended for your foot to roll inward, but just a bit. Despite the New Balance being a stability shoe, all that room enabled my foot to roll just a bit too much. Just as your head hurts after too long at your favorite club, so my knees would hurt after too much rolling of my feet in the New Balance.

Enter the Mizuno Wave Alchemy; the "love glove" of footware. These shoes care so much for your foot, they envolope it, hold it tight, and won't let it go (really, it's a snug shoe). Though this caused the blister on my right foot, the shoe's desire to do what Barry says, holding the foot it loves tightly, means that that my foot can't excessively roll inside the shoes. Only through this close hold can the shoes carry out their purpose; inhibit my foot's overpronation.

I'm not sure if Barry White was an overpronator or not, but I'm sure he would have liked the way the Mizuno treated his feet. Anyone running a marathon loves something about it; the fellowship, the challenge, maybe just the medals. Just make sure the shoes you're going to wear for 26.2 miles love your feet as much as you love running. Barry would want it that way.

Houston FIT - Day One

Topic: Eight is Great
Key Words: Bud Light, Sponge Bob, Blisters
Word Count: 849
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Barry White Would Wear Mizuno

Today was the start of the Houston FIT Fall Marathon training program. I was a bit surprised that our coach said we should be running five times a week, as I thought Houston FIT advocated four times a week. Here's the details:

• Long run on Saturday morning (get's up to 21 miles at one point)
• Cross Train on Sunday
• An easy, timed run on Monday
• Hill or Speed Work on Tuesday
• An easy, timed run on Wednesday
• A timed Tempo Run on Thursday
• Have a beer on Friday, because you've earned it!

In my opinion, that's a fairly aggressive plan, but it works well for me. I normally cross train on Sundays, and I ALWAYS take Friday off. I'm not sure that I'll launch into five days a week of running this week, but I may shoot for four, and slowly build to five. We'll see. Here's the details of today's run:

Start time: 6:30AM
Weather: About 80 degrees, mostly cloudy, humid
Distance: 8 mile "Heights Run"; except for the part in the ghetto, this is a nice run
Timing:

• Ran to four miles in 39:49
• Walked for 3:23 (see narrative below)
• Ran (and walked a bit) back to the start in 41:55
• Total Time: 1:25:08
• Average Pace: 10:39 per mile
• Equipment: My new Mizuno shoes, my new Nike running socks, wicking running shirt and shorts (though the fabric can't keep up with Houston humidity!), a Fuel Belt (it held three six ounce bottles of Accelerade sports drink), and a hand towel to wipe sweat with. As hot as it was, maybe next week I'll just go with the hand towel and Fuel Belt!
• Next Week's Energy Drink: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1761896 (funny stuff, but maybe not the best vid to watch at work)

Narrative Description: Having not ran this distance in about two months, I was a bit worried come this morning. My new shoes and socks were also a worry (I fear change!). With doubt in mind, but with a fairly agreeable body for 6:30AM, I took off with the Yellow Group (9-10 minute mile target time) and headed for the Heights. The Yellow Group traditionally has a lead pack, and a trailing pack; not sure why, but such is life in Yellow and today was no different. I was on the backside of the lead pack, so I decided to walk after the turnaround so I could see who all was in the group; probably about 50 people, with several familiar faces, and some I figure I'll get to know. After running with Larry on the way to mile four, I ran with Christie for a bit on the way back, and kind of "dueled" with Keif a little (I thought he was named "Keith" for the longest time, so I kept a weary eye on him ... Keith's don't trust each other because we know that we all have ... never mind, secret stuff). I felt pretty good on the way to four, but the heat combined with the fact that I was alone for most of the way back took a toll on me; I slowed pimped it. I was content though, as the goal of the day was to acclimate to the heat and get "mentally ready" for 15 mile runs in 85 degree heat!

As for the saga of my new shoes, they are growing on me. The new socks helped to make room for my toes, and though they blistered the top of my right foot, I OK with that; it happens in new shoes. Tomorrow, if I hurt less than I should, I think I'll be sold.

Around noon I spilled out in my bed to watch some TV. Suddenly, I was trying to find my apartment or room or something like that. I couldn't find it. The floor (which I think was in a tall building, in Virginia) was ringed with small cubicle apartments, tons of books in an inner area, and a convenience store. As I walked near the store, a really tall guy walked by with a six pack of Bud Light held high over his head, and I noticed there was a Sponge Bob Wife Beater for sale on the wall. I ran into Leon and James, and they proclaimed that they had the best apartments in the building; right next to the store. In real life my cell phone then rang, so I woke up; the dream was over. I don't remember getting drowsy, but obviously I slipped into sleep, and must have done so very quickly! It was a strange dream in that a) the content was screwy, b) I remember it, and c) it was one of those dreams where I was in total control. Stranger still, I think I might know what some of it meant (after 30 years of dreaming, I'm starting to figure those things out). Maybe I'm over analyzing though, maybe this is how you dream after 8 miles in June in 80 degree weather!

Controlling Expectations

Topic: Control Your Expectations, Don't Let Them Control You
Key Words: Old Cheese, Bowels, Summer in Houston
Word Count: 602
Tomorrow's Topic: Why The Stock Market Hates Me

Well it's official, I'm old enough to write a blog entry entitled "Controlling Expectations". They're weird things, expectations. They can cloud your judgement; mess up your head if you're not careful. You expect something so intently, for so long, that you discount the opposite of your expectation. But often times, in my experience at least, what you don't expect turns out to be a great thing. On running, and other topics, here's a few philosophical comments about expectations ...

I always expected to have a car payment. I mean, cars just break and cost a lot to fix when not under warranty, so get a car with a long warranty, drive it hard, and trade it. Oddly, a lot of my friends have opposite views. Ed drove his Blazer for at least 8 years, Jason pimped the Green Focus for 7 years, and Jonathan's Protege is kind of like the cheese in the back of my fridge; I don't know how old it is, but damn, it's old. But now that I have a car I like, and one that doesn't break as much as my last two, I actually want to keep it for a long time; I surprisingly enjoy the thought of driving it for a long time! The expectation of perpetual car payments was built on the back of crappy Ford and German cars, so it actually has some merit; others, however, are merit less...

... Such as my love of New Balance shoes. I have NEVER ran in a non-New Balance pair of kicks, ever; I expected I would always be in NB. I've been a relatively injury free runner, but I've had some knee pain that was almost certainly improvable with shoes that are more stable than your traditional NB. After a Spring of excessive knee pain, I purchased a pair of Mizuno today in the hopes of stabilizing my feet, and thus, helping out my knees. More stable shoes making a happier knee is not an exotic concept; my expectation simply got in the way of considering this course of action. The jury is still out on the success of the Mizunos, but in shoes, as I should do with all thing, I should put all options on the table and try to do what's best. Some expectations, you take for granted ...

... Such as Joly not expecting to read about my bowels on my blog. Likewise, she expected to always spend some time at a favorite past-time; whipping up some cake batter. Now that she equates "packing a cup of flour" with my bowels, the cake, well, it's just not the same. Undoubtedly Joly has better things to do than make cake, so I'm sure she'll use this new time to great benefit, and unexpectedly, her life will have changed for the good ... all because of my bowels. Think about it. Wild stuff. Seriously though, sometimes things come out of left field, and change everything. Sometimes, you might actually like the change.

As for Oprah, I kept to my plan and ran today; a 4 mile Felix run. 91 degrees folks, welcome to Summer in Houston! It's going to be hard to train in this heat, but I have to try. After all, it's the only way for me to surpass my lofty expectations for the Chicago Marathon.

Sorry For My Tardiness

Topic: The End of an Era?

Key Words: My Ass Hurts, Sexiest Runner in Chicago, 400 Meter PR

Word Count: 545

Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Kate

The end of an era; I went a day without posting to the blog! Ironically, Monday, the day I missed, was the same day Jason told me I had to much time on my hands when he found out I was doing this :) A couple sessions of exercise, some email, an IM or two, some laundry, and the night was done. Here's a recap of the last two days....

Monday was too be softball; week 4 of our 5 week season (6-0 so far ... oh yeah!). Unfortunately, rain the night before left the field unplayable, so I was left with an unexpectedly free night. What do you do on a free night? For myself, I make sure to hit the elliptical machine ... especially when my ass hurts as much as it did on Monday! On Saturday I did my first leg workout in 27 years (actually, more like seven months), which I followed up with a three mile run, which has absolutely destroyed my legs! So I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical machine to loosen the hamstrings and then did the upper body workout that I normally miss due to softball.

Today I returned to the 400 yard track at Memorial to do a speed workout. I did six repeats of one loop at a hard pace, followed by one-half loop at a slow pace. It's rare that I do these speed workouts at a set distance, as normally they are to a set time (i.e., two minutes). So I'm not sure that this is a true personal best, but I did a loop in 1 minute 35 seconds today. Relative to the 50 seconds sprinters take for the distance, I think that means I was working at a decent level. Maybe I'll take up sprinting once my distance running career is over (riiiiiiight!).

This week starts the first real week of my Chicago Marathon training. My plan is for Tuesday to be speed day, Thursday a short marathon-pace run, and Saturday a long, slow run. Once softball ends, I hope to add a fourth day of running. Sunday stays biking day, add a couple of trips to the gym each week, and I'll at least be the sexiest runner in Chicago (I'm single ladies, I'm just saying). After some bizarre thoughts about not running Houston FIT this year, I've decided I'll run with the group again. I may run across multiple groups within Houston FIT, instead of exclusively with the yellow group, but after two years, I enjoy the people too much to quit the group.

Since I just started my official training, what do I want from Chicago? I want to look worse than this. The picture below may be my worse photo ... ever ... it was taken immediately after finishing the 2006 Houston Marathon, the year of my best time in the event. If I can break 4:30 in Chicago, I'll probably look like my ass felt yesterday, but it will be worth it. And if I can find the girl who thinks runners look good at the end of a marathon, it will undoubtedly be true love!

Leg Abuse

Topic: Jelly Legs
Key Words: High Repetitions, Endurance, Angry
Word Count: 374
Tomorrow's Topic: The End of an Era?

Yesterday (Saturday) was the one week countdown until Houston FIT's Fall Marathon training program begins. I know that there will be enough peer pressure to make sleeping in on Saturday unacceptable; so naturally, on my last free weekend, I slept in! I woke up at 5:30AM and was all ready to go for my final Saturday run with the Knuckleheads, and they were even running my favorite course, but I decided to pass. Laziness, don't be a victim like me!

So instead of the long run, I did a leg workout at 24 Hour Fitness. My plan for leg workouts this marathon season is low weight, high reps; squats, calf raises, and hamstring curls. Last marathon season I did the same exercises, but focused on strength ... higher weight. I think endurance training in the weight room poses the least chance for injury and, since I haven't done it before, it's worth a shot.

Seeking to punish my legs, making them feel like they were in the late stages of the marathon, I decided to run at Memorial after the leg workout. Simply put, my legs felt like jelly. My lungs were laboring more than normal, and I thought my heart might pop out of my chest. I was even in an agry mood, and am normally an excellent angry runner, but it was a difficult three miles. I think the theory of a run after a leg workout is sound, and I think I will try it again, but maybe I'll stick to the treadmill, and shoot for less miles than I did yesterday.

Today I rode my mountain bike for about an hour. Nice day, nice trail conditions ... legs were a bit tight ... but good all in all. Softball tomorrow, so running seems unlikely.

In the late stages of a run, you are supposed to pick people out of the crowd, and will yourself to catch and pass them. In true tiger form (War Eagle!), I like to pick the young and weak ... for the record, the kid in this picture "ate rocks"! I smoked him down to the finish line of last weekend's Astro's Run!!!

Two Marathons in One Day

Topic: Three Down, Three To Go
Key Words: New York City, Winning the Lottery, Deferral
Word Count: 271
Tomorrow's Topic: Leg Abuse

So I've ran three Houston Marathons, and am, obviously, signed up to run the Chicago Marathon this year. So it only makes sense that I sign up for two more marathons on the same day, right? I should clarify; when I say on the same day, I mean I signed up on the same day, the runs are, blissfully, quite far away.

Yesterday registration for the 2008 Houston Marathon opened up, and as tradition dictates, I must sign up on the first day (gotta try to get that low bib number!). I also signed up for this years New York City marathon, but I have no plans to run it! You see, about half of the people who sign up for New York survive their lottery selection get in. If you are rejected three times in a row, you are automatically in. But there's one more catch; if you are accepted into a NY Marathon, you can defer that entry to the following year. That's what I'm hoping will happen. One marathon in 2005 and 2006, two in 2007, and three in 2008; Houston, London, and New York. A little early to worry about London, but this helps to increase my chances of making The Big Apple happen. I am out about $100 if I defer my entry to next year, but it would be worth it. I need to get these big runs out of the way while my knees are still willing!

You Have Options

Topic: Options Trading
Key Words: Time Horizon, Gambling, A Big Move
Word Count: 485
Tomorrow's Likely Topic: Two Marathons in One Day

A friend at work has introduced me to options trading. With an option, you basically purchase a contract that says you have the right to either purchase or sale 100 shares of stock, at a certain price, at a certain time in the future. Often times, options are available at a fraction of the value of the price of the stock. Why? People almost never claim the option contracts; i.e., they never actually buy the shares. Instead, someone who is bullish on a stock (thinks it will go up) will purchase an option to buy a stock at a price above it's current level, say in one year. They hope, believe, assume that the stock will indeed approach the level of the price of the option. As the stock approaches that price of the option, your option will go up in value.

A "put option" is an option to buy stocks. Say you buy a put on stock X, which is currently at 5 dollars a share, for $7.50 a share, with a time horizon of January 2008. That put might cost you $150. So you have the right, come Jan. 2008, to buy 100 shares at $7.50 a share. If the stock starts to move towards $7.50, the value of your option will increase; you'll make money. If the value of the stock eclipses the value of your option (i.e., the value eclipses $7.50), you option is said to be "in the money", and you stand to make a lot of money as the stock goes up. Of course, if the stock drops, your options is worthless, because who would want to buy a $2 stock at a price of $7.50? What does this lead us to??? Options are a great way to leverage stock for a small amount of money. Unlike stock, you can easily lose all your investment in a short amount of time.

Some say options are basically gambling; be ready to lose all the money you invest. However, if you really believe a stock is set to make a big move (a biotech is about to get a new drug approved, or a patent company is about to win a big lawsuit), options present a cheap way to take a BIG position on the stock. You might be able to leverage 100 shares of stock for a fraction of the current price.

If you have a little bit of money (often times a couple hundred bucks can buy an option), you can start gambling! There's a stock or two that I'm considering purchasing options on ... I'll keep you informed of what I do.

Long run tomorrow morning. About time to call it a night.