First outdoor ride!

It's about time! The weather finally cleared and warmed enough to take the bike out on the streets for the first time.

Speaking of the bike, I'm sort of tired of calling it "the bike". I think it needs a name. I'm leaning toward "Charlie Brown". He's a perpetual underdog, always gets beat by the same girl, but everyone roots for him in the end. Plus, this is an artist's rendition of my top tube as seen from the saddle:



So, Charlie and I took to the streets on Saturday for my two hour ride. First order of business? Those evil clip things that live on my pedals. I walked my bike down to the street where it's flat, and threw a leg over it. Right foot? Check. Push off. Left foot? Check. Hey, that was easy! I rode around our little loop, and came to the stop sign on the other side. Unclip right foot? Check. Stop bike? Check. Put foot on ground? Um...that ground is lower than I remember it...wobble...wobble...reach for curb and narrowly avoid the dreaded slow motion tip-over.

Assess situation...Oh yeah. Get off the saddle first before reaching for the ground. Details, details. :)

Next step - ride around the neighborhood. It amazed me how much smoother and easier this bike rides than my mountain bike. It's no wonder I couldn't keep up with Meredith and friends last time I attempted a long ride with them. I did about 4 miles around the neighborhood, and was feeling good and waving to all the cheering masses. (Pictured below, actual size)



It was time for the real roads.

Now, where we live isn't ideal for biking. On one side we have a very busy 2-lane road with constant lights and business entrances that's really not an option. The other side is a fairly lightly traveled road, with one caveat. It's barely narrow enough for two cars to pass at certain points. We don't especially even like running it, since you can get run off the road. I was nervous to ride it on my first time out, but it was pretty much the only option if I didn't want to drive somewhere. Thankfully, it was uneventful today, and I started up toward town, with one loop around a local golf course.

I started out east on one of the less-populated main roads, and headed for Abercrombie headquarters. On a Saturday, it's a nice flat deserted stretch out in the fields, other than all the half-naked models wandering around in their corrals. I used this part to test out my aero position. Not too bad...it felt comfortable. One problem:



I got to the end of that stretch of road, and paused for a moment to appreciate how quiet it was. The difference between running distance and cycling distance became apparent to me at that moment. From there, I rode another few miles before turning around, and got startled by one of these chasing me:



Fortunately, he stopped at the end of his property. I also saw some of these:



Despite their obvious viciousness, I managed to pedal past without incident, and made it home in 2:00:09. Total mileage (approximate, used MapMyRun.com): 28.55 miles. So, about 14.25 mph, and I wasn't stopping my watch for intersections or riding especially hard. Not too bad for a first try, I suppose.

Oh, if you want to see a video of my course, this pretty much sums it up (wrong state, but still...):

Exhausted

That was the slowest swim ever.

Last night's intervals were wet, but good. I decided to shoot for 600m in my 3 minutes of tempo, which is about an 8 minute pace. Not blazing fast, but...well, that's where I am in my running right now. After the first interval, which was right at 600m, I managed to get somewhere around 650 for the rest, which is about a 7:25 pace. For the last one, I tried to dig deep and get to 700 in the 3 minutes, but I missed it by about 8 seconds. Not sure if the chicken got me, or maybe I was just out of gas after the morning swim-tervals.

So, this morning was a 1500 continuous swim. I wasn't even...um...hausted...to begin with, so it was a fight to complete it. The first 30 lengths seemed like they'd never end (but they did), and by the finish I felt like I was purely kicking from my knees and splashing my arms down hard.

Props to the gym for the "Top Gun" soundtrack that was playing today. Other than "Take My Breath Away". That's not what you want to hear when you're struggling in the pool. :)

Dun dun dun!

Registered for the Muncie Endurathon today.

No turning back now!

My Parents Would Be So Proud

If they weren't halfway across the world right now! They're on a cruise down around the southern end of South America. Really sounds like a cool trip, but 50s and rain isn't so bad, right? Right?

This week, Meredith and I went to the grocery store. The grocery is not an every week occurrence for us, since we procrastinate on it all the time. But that leads to us eating out all the time, which makes for sad wallets, and sad waists. We loaded up on fresh things this trip (what?!), and things that are actually good fuel for our training. Apples, bananas, yogurt, grapes...things that haven't graced our fridge for quite some time. We really want to make a concerted effort this month to eat well, and save the restaurant cash for better things, like triathlon registration. :)

And yesterday, I changed the brake pads on Meredith's Element. If there's one thing I learned growing up, it was how to change brake pads on a Honda. Apparently, it's not quickly forgotten, because I knocked out the whole thing in an hour, even though my socket wrench decided to play hide and seek with me. (It won.)

So, Mom and Dad, this week, I ate healthy, and I changed my own brake pads. Thanks!

Today is interval day, both in the pool and on the track. Got the swim out of the way this morning. I'm pretty sure my 20x75 "sprints" in the pool, translated to land, would be indistinguishable from a normal walk...perhaps a light jog if I was lucky. This afternoon will be a 75 minute interval run, probably in the rain. Fun!

Not. A. Morning. Person.

Last night, Meredith and I got to attend the OSU-Dayton game and send off the Buckeyes to the semis of the NIT. It was the third game in a row we managed to sit in the first three rows, thanks to some timely ticket purchasing, and once again the team didn't disappoint. It was a 9:00 tip-off, though, and by the time traffic cleared out and we got home, it was a fairly late bedtime.

So, 6 AM came early today (or 6:15, in Meredith's case...). I got some granola, laid on the couch to watch the news, and generally was pokey in getting ready for my 60 minute run. When Meredith left, I got down to the treadmill to finish off The Empire Strikes Back and get my run on. It didn't feel great, which I attributed to the late night and long swim yesterday. So, I cut it down to a walk for a bit after each set of strides to let my feet and legs recover before kicking it into gear again. Not my best run, but I got it in, and I already know I can run the needed distance for these races.

I got upstairs to take a shower, and went to take my shoes off. Huh. Not my running shoes. Go figure, the brand-new-worn-three-times $30 knockaround shoes I just bought the other day didn't feel good during a run.

Yeah, not so much a morning person.

Just keep swimming...

Last night, Meredith and I headed down to the gym for a 30 minute recovery swim. After a little drilling, I started in on some light swimming, mixed in with a little bit of ill-advised racing when we happened to be next to each other. :) I could keep up with her for a bit, but I knew that wasn't the best way to do a recovery swim. Also, I knew I'd be doing plenty this morning.

Today's swim was the longest in the training plan to date: 200 warmup, 2000 main continuous, and 200 cooldown. I didn't count laps yesterday, and afterwards realized I had gone close to 800m without a major break. If that was possible, why not 1000? Why not 2000?

And I did it. Continuous. I just got in a rhythm today. Yes, I'm still over-rotating to breathe. Yes, my kick is ugly at times. But I finished 2000 meters without stopping. That's longer than the swim in Muncie. It took me 51 minutes, which some might call a bit slow. I call it under the cutoff pace for IM Austria, with 15 months still left to improve.

Oh, and I forgot to add this initially...I made it to the door of the gym today, looked down, and instead of my water bottle, I had grabbed my tupperware container of apple crisp. It might not be as refreshing, but it certainly would have entertained the other folks in the pool to see me stuffing handfuls of apple crisp in my mouth between laps. :)

The Hills

Sorry Meredith, it's not about the show (or the program).

This week is the start of month two in my training plan for Muncie. Now that a base has been established, I get to start doing some more intense sessions. Today was the first "hill" ride, though it was actually inside on the trainer.

Now, I've only been on the new bike a couple times, but it's seriously uncomfortable in the seat area. I hope that's something that goes away as you get used to it, because I'm not sure I could take it for eight hours of riding. I was actually looking forward to the hill intervals today, because the added resistance meant taking pressure off the seat.

Any bikers out there that can offer me hope for what I've got, or should I be looking at a different seat?

A Contest, Eh?

This weekend, Meredith and I stopped by McDonalds for breakfast before her audition to sing the national anthem at our local minor league baseball team. Pretty normal, uneventful meal, but we sat right by the poster for their current "Disney Princess and Pirate" happy meal promotion.

On the poster, it had all the fine print. Mostly the standard stuff, describing what happens when you find the winning piece in your happy meal. But then we saw this line:

"To win, a Canadian must answer a skill-testing question correctly."

This obviously raises many questions. Would we get to choose our own Canadian? Is one assigned to us? What kind of skill-testing question requires a Canadian in the first place? Our guess was something about hockey.

*click*

Training is so strange sometimes.

Two days after my disaster of a swim, something clicked, and today's swim (albeit shorter) was great. I did the last 400 in one stretch, and felt like I could have kept going. My concentration today was on my front arm position and my head position. By not ducking my head, I felt like air was more readily available when I needed it. I also kept my front arm at a shallower angle, which seemed to keep me from submarining after a breath.

I was even relaxed enough to breathe bilaterally today, though my left side is still almost a 90° body rotation.

In other news, the 24/7 Elton John song rotation in the pool area during the morning seems to be no more; today I heard Colbie Caillat and Sara Bareilles. For the first couple weeks of training, literally every song was Elton John. I'll probably be humming "Bennie and the Jets" all through the swim at Muncie.

The Big One

And out of the ashes again comes the blog. :)

As you probably already know if you read Meredith's blog, we're training for Ironman Austria in 2009.

Along the way is the first big goal, the Muncie Endurathon this July. It's a half-Ironman distance: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. For now, that distance seems overwhelming enough. Thoughts about the full race can wait till after that one. :)

I'm about 3 weeks into my training. Running is certainly the easiest right now, which is little surprise considering it's the only one I've really done over the last few years. We just got our bikes last week, so hopefully we can get outside on them once Downpour '08 finishes up.

Today was a swim, 1650 meters in all. The swim is what scares me the most about the triathlon. Now, I can already "swim". The challenge is turning it into something that I can do for 1.2 miles, and eventually 2.4. Right now my biggest problem is breathing. Just to test myself today, I tried to swim 25m without breathing. No problem. And yet, I always feel like I'm struggling for breath when I breathe every 4 (or 3, or 2) strokes. Definitely something that needs to go away by July.

2007 Columbus Marathon

Well, it's not the most exciting race to recap, but I'll give the overview.

My Mom came down for the race, which was much appreciated. Meredith's parents picked us up a little over an hour before the start, and we all headed downtown together. While last year in Chicago, we were shivering and wearing gloves, long sleeves, and trash bags to keep in the heat, this year a long sleeve pullover was plenty to stay warm before the race. After we met up with our friends downtown, we all walked over to the start line together. In our short sleeves and shorts. Not feeling cold at all. While that's nice for any normal day, it's not a good start to a marathon.

My plan was to run with the four hour pace group for the entire race, and try to break that mark at the end. I fell a little behind during mile 1, just due to the general mayhem with different paces at the start of the race. Also, while there were about 3300 people running the marathon, another 6000+ were there running the half marathon, which ran the same roads for the majority of its course, and started at the same time.

I picked up the pace (maybe a little too much, around an 8:40 mile) during mile 2, and caught the pace group. For the next 3 miles or so, I ran with them pretty comfortably. After that, though, I knew something wasn't right. My stomach began to feel...not so good, and my legs felt numb, like I had already run 20 miles. Seven miles into a marathon, that's not a good feeling to have. I was able to still hang with the pace leader, but it felt like I was expending far too much energy to do it.

Mile 10 took us back through downtown, and past our moms' cheering section, which was a nice pick-up. After that, we did about a three mile loop down through German Village, which has some nice crowd support, and then began the long climb up High Street. I crossed the halfway point at 2:00:52, almost exactly on pace, but extremely tired and feeling dehydrated. While we climbed up High Street for the next four miles, I would look up, and each time, the pace group was gaining on me more and more. That was the most discouraging part of the race, and the part where I seriously considered just turning around and walking back.

But, I decided that I'd rather have a slow time than waste all my training just to quit, so I kept going. By mile 16, my body was already exhausted, and I had to start walking some significant stretches. That would become a theme, as I never ran another complete mile. I started getting cramps in my stomach, and at one point in my hamstring that forced me off the side of the road. Thank goodness it never completely balled up, but it felt like it was about to do so. The second half of the race is also almost completely in the sun, and I certainly wasn't the only one suffering - at some points, there were more people in my view walking than running.

Rather than beat myself up about it, I tried to just enjoy the rest of the race as much as I could. On this day, I realized that it wasn't about not training hard enough, or not preparing well. I hydrated well, other than missing one early water stop due to crowds. I took my gel packs at the appropriate times. I think my body just didn't react well to the heat, and that there's not much I could have done about it.

I ended up with a 4:39, which was disappointing given the amount of training I did, but is still my second best time. Judgment on when/whether another marathon will happen is reserved until my body recovers from this one.

NBHCMTS 20 Miler

Quite the acronym, no?

Anyhow, this 20 miler was the last tune-up before tapering down to the Columbus marathon in a few weeks. It's mostly an out-and-back race, with a few hilly miles more on the out.

I was fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with a couple other guys around mile 5, and we ran together until around mile 13, when I turned up the speed a little bit. My goal was to be somewhere between a 9:30 and 10:00 pace, so as not to burn myself out too much before the real goal in three weeks.

After New Hampshire, the hill toward the end of the race didn't seem nearly so steep this year, and I cruised across the finish line at 3:15:39, a 9:46 pace. I was pretty happy that I was able to pace myself well on a long race, and never walked. Last year, I had run a 3:11, which surprised me when I looked back today. For only a four minute difference, I ran much more in control and comfortably this year, and I wasn't even trying to run my fastest. Makes me think the training is going pretty well...or at least I will convince myself that's what it means. :)

Now it's time to taper down the miles and get ready for the big finish to fall training!

Reach the Beach 2007

The road can be awfully lonely when you're all by yourself in the rain at 3:30 AM. But we'll get to that later.

We took off early Thursday morning for New Hampshire, meeting in Portsmouth to begin our trek up to the mountains. Checking into our hotel early in the afternoon, our team got a chance to drive out to the top of Mt. Washington, which was a spectacular (if sometimes a bit nerve-wracking) journey. After returning, we attended the pasta dinner at Cannon Mountain, the starting point of the race. Kudos to the event for what I thought was quite a nice meal.

The butterflies began fluttering a bit in my stomach the next morning, as the impending race became more real. While the first teams left the start line at 7:00 AM, we were expected to be one of the faster teams, and thus weren't scheduled to leave until 2:30 PM. It was a long morning of sitting around, but finally we set off around noon for Cannon Mountain. Following a quick lunch at the ski resort there, we watched our first runner set off on the beginning of our long journey to the coast.

Meredith ran the second leg of the race, which was a fairly long leg. (A theme for her this year) She did a great job with it. I was leg five, so I had to wait a couple more hours as our team ran pretty much over the top of a 1500 foot peak. My first leg took us down the final few miles of the mountain, and flattened out at the base.

My adrenaline was rushing pretty hard as I took the handoff and began down the steep hill. It was hard to keep my legs in check on the decline, so I let them run. Our vans soon went by, offering encouragement. Unfortunately, we were the last team on the course at this point, so I was running pretty much by myself.

Fifteen minutes into the run, I passed our vans and grabbed some water. They informed me that I had run about two miles. I winced, as that meant I was doing 7:30 miles, a pace I certainly couldn't maintain. Sure enough, the pace caught up to me by the end, and I finished the 4.8 miles in an 8:14 pace, still much better than expected.

We followed our sixth runner to the end of his leg, then handed off to the runners in the other van so we could get some much needed nourishment at Subway. Proceeding to the next transition area, we parked and some of us caught a catnap while waiting. This was about the area that we began to realize we were being recognized as "That team 333 that's still out there". We were gaining time on a lot of teams, but we had started so late that we weren't catching anyone.

Our van's second string of legs began late Friday evening. By the time it rolled around to me again, it was almost 3:00 AM, and had started to rain heavily. Fortunately for me, the rain tailed off to a steady drizzle by the time I took the handoff.

My 7.4 mile course took me up out of the town of Meredith, NH. Climbing about 400 feet in the first couple miles, I would descend almost back to my starting elevation, then climb it again before descending to the finish. Though it wasn't an easy run, I found myself able to keep the pace somewhere under a 9:00 pace, even on the hills. With two miles left in the run, my van went ahead to the transition area to prepare the next runner.

As I descended a long hill, I saw a traffic light ahead that I thought I recognized from the course instructions. Looking for course markers, I saw one pointing straight ahead past the intersection. The light turned at precisely the right time, and I coasted through, just a few minutes before my estimated arrival time on my watch. However, as I continued on, I started to get confused. There was one fairly well lit parking lot to the right, but no markers there. I kept going for 15-20 minutes, getting more nervous as I went. I knew something was awry, but I didn't know whether to turn back and risk not reaching the end, or continue on and risk wasting more time if I was wrong.

After thinking briefly about knocking on the nearby sheriff's office, I finally found another team's van to flag down. They informed me that I had missed my turn, nearly two miles back.

With some resignation, I thanked them, and began moving as fast as I could back up the hill I had just descended. My team van had been out searching for me, and eventually found me coming back up the hill. I made it back to the transition area, and handed off to our next runner. I had cost us about 40 minutes, but everyone seemed to just be happy that I was safe. In all the confusion, I never stopped my watch, so I don't know a time or even a distance for that leg. We picked up our sixth runner after his leg and headed to the next van exchange, where we all managed to get at least a little sleep.

The morning brought somewhat better weather, though it was chilly and still a little wet. It also brought the news that we had actually begun to catch some teams during the night, which brightened the mood as well. The race staff seemed impressed that we were making up that much time, and we heard multiple surprised comments when people heard that team 333 was no longer the last one on the course.

My third and final leg of the race was theoretically my easiest. It was 4.7 miles of rolling terrain, but no hills as steep as either of my other legs. I also made sure to memorize the road names on this leg so I wasn't dependent on seeing the arrows marking the course. Even the rolling hills were a challenge after the previous day, but I managed to keep my legs moving in some semblance of a run throughout the leg. I arrived at the school marking the next handoff having run an 8:16 pace.

However, my van wasn't there. Our second van was present, but not my van carrying our next runner! In confusion, the second van called my cell phone, and informed my van that they were in the wrong place. One of the signs had turned, and they had gone down the next leg of the course instead. While I was waiting, two more runners arrived without their vans as well.

About ten minutes passed, and my van showed up to drop off our next runner. Handing off the bracelet, I had finished my portion of the course. Happily, I changed into some dry clothes. I never did see another runner on the course in any of my legs, which was a little disappointing, but also somewhat inevitable given our starting time.

As the final legs wound down, our team passed more runners, though we still ended up being one of the last teams to the beach. When our last runner came into sight, we all got to run (or hobble) across the finish line together, which was really nice. Afterward, we got together for a celebratory pizza dinner before flying back the next morning.

All in all, I had a really good time at the race. Without the course mistakes, I think I would have beaten my goal times significantly on all my legs. Perhaps next year I'll get the opportunity to best them again!

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Every year, Meredith runs a relay race in New Hampshire called Reach the Beach. It's a 24+ hour race, which covers most of the length of the state. Unfortunately, one of their runners went down with an injury this week, and they were scrambling to find a replacement. That's where I come in.

If things go as planned, I'll be running three legs of the race: 4.8, 7.4, and 4.7 miles. I'm not sure what time of day (or night) they'll be.

Should be interesting...

Of Kermits and Keltrafs

One of my favorite shows to watch when I was growing up was the Muppet Show. I had a tape of some of the best sketches that I would watch quite often. Yesterday I was poking around the web and found a song I hadn't seen before. I thought you all might enjoy it as well.




Yesterday afternoon brought a very difficult 5 mile run. Not so much because it was tough on its own, but more because of the combined effect of the half marathon and sprints this week. My legs felt like lead weights. So, I coined a new term.

A fartlek run is one where you run a comfortable pace, and then pick stretches of the run to increase your speed. It's not a structured sprint workout, just sort of a fun way to get some speed work in. Yesterday's run was a keltraf. I ran a comfortable pace, and then picked stretches to slow down, sometimes even to a walk. I'm pretty sure that's an effective way to work out, right?

With under one mile left, the playlist I was listening to on my iPod ran out, and I debated starting a new one. Instead, I just hit "Shuffle Songs". Out of the 400+ songs on there, what was the very first one that came up?

Artist: Harry Connick Jr.
Album: Come By Me
Song: "Danny Boy"

I laughed all the way home.

9-5 Sprint Report

Wednesday was sprint day this week. I decided to really see what I had and do a sprint ladder:

4x100
3x200
2x400
1x800
1x1600
1x800
2x400
3x200
4x100

I held a pretty good pace for most of it - couldn't quite hold my 1600 at 5K pace, but wasn't too far off. My second set of 200s were pretty slow, but my legs were feeling really heavy at that point of the workout. In a perfect world, those times should have been in the same range as the first set.



On another gnote (er...note), Meredith and I have discovered our love for gnocchi. She had a dish of it at a Sicilian-style restaurant in Venice which was amazingly good, and now we keep an eye out for it. I had a really good dish of it last night after the run, and get leftovers for lunch. :)

2007 Mount Carmel Fitness Challenge 1/2 Marathon

For the last three years, I've trained for fall marathons. In both marathons, my first half time was under two hours (9:09 per mile), yet for some reason, I've been unable to run a half marathon in that time.

That changed on Monday.

I hadn't run any races since beginning my marathon training; my last race was a 5K in May. I did set a personal best in that race, but I wasn't sure how much that meant for 13 mile distance. So, I came into Monday's race feeling good about my training, but unsure about where I stood in running at a goal pace.

The race began at a local high school, and started out with a downhill stretch. I kept a fairly fast pace for the first couple miles, and hit the first turnaround well ahead of my target. However, we soon had to climb back up the hill, and I gave back about 20 seconds in that mile.

Passing the school again, we headed down the other side of the hill. I managed to run something close to a 7:30 minute pace during this mile, which almost certainly is my best mile in any race longer than a 5K. Again, we had a climb after the downhill stretch, but this time I managed to keep my pace around 9:00, which meant I didn't lose any time to my goal. During this mile, I began passing people who had slowed down on the hill.

For much of the remainder of the race, the course wound through neighborhoods with rolling hills. My pace was fairly consistent, slightly under 9 minutes per mile. I continued passing people, especially in water stops, where many people stopped or walked. During this section, I was doing math in my head to figure out what time I would need to reach certain miles to give myself a good chance to break my time, and gained some confidence when I continually hit the targets. I hit mile 10 under 1:30, and I was fairly sure I would break two hours, barring a complete collapse or injury.

Finally, we turned onto a bike path for most of the last two miles or so. It was a nice change of pace, and was mostly shaded. Emerging from the path onto the sidewalk, we had one last tough climb up to the school. I kept telling myself that this was why I run sprints, and to just keep my legs moving. I caught one last person near the crest of the hill. We coasted down across the school parking lot, and around the track one time to the finish line. I saw Meredith on the way into the stadium, and could happily raise a fist, knowing that I was going to break my goal by quite a bit. I was surprised to see just how much, as I came across the line in 1:52:30.

The rule of thumb I've heard for a marathon is to take your half-marathon time, double it, and add 10 minutes. That would get me across the line in 3:54, so I'll cross my fingers and keep training for that four hour goal!

Hey, Hey, It's the Monkeys!

Just a quick little entry to post my fantasy baseball team logo. :)

Burnin' Down The House

Just a quick public service announcement:

Hot pads, though good at repelling heat, do have their limits. For example, let's say you were cooking some hypothetical ravioli, and hadn't turned off the burner the water was on. Now, let's say you took some garlic bread out of the oven, and set the cookie sheet on a hot pad on said burner.

The result, sadly, is a fair amount of smoke, a burnt smell through half the house that lasts a few days, and a very blackened, unusable hot pad.

Next time we're getting one made of asbestos.

A Wii-ly Long Story

(aka, the legend of the back-up gift)

In a world where Christmas gifts were impossible to find...

So, my original Christmas gift idea for Meredith fell through. I can't say what it is, because I may try it again for her birthday in April. However, she had commented that the new Nintendo Wii looked really fun. I sprang into action (2 weeks before Christmas) to try and find one. I registered on inventory tracking sites, called every store within literally 100 miles, and had no luck at all.

About three days before Christmas, I found out the Wal-Mart near my work had been receiving a couple per day around noon. So, one day I took my lunch to stalk the electronics department. They notified me that I wasn't allowed to form a line - I'd have to wander the store. After reading the back of every DVD in their store, the shipment finally arrived. No Wii.

That was the last real chance to find one by Christmas, though I kept trying. My back-up-back-up gift became a new vacuum cleaner, which did go over well. But the search had not ended. I did get Meredith a game for it that I could wrap for Christmas, so she would at least know I tried.

Since Christmas, I've been tracking sites and calling almost every day, with no luck. One day, I called Wal-Mart again, only to hear that they sold the last one half an hour before my call.

Yesterday, I saw a rumor that an EB Games store nearby had a handful in stock. I called and talked to an employee there, who said they never have them in the mornings. Sadly, I turned back to my work for a few hours. But during my lunch, I saw another posting that someone had bought one at an EB. I called the same store back, and was told that they had gotten a shipment, but were out already. All this happened in a span of four hours.

Frantically, I called down the list of EB/GameStop stores all around town, only to hear: "No", "No", "No", "No". And then "Yeah, I've got two left." I didn't know what to say, other than "Can you hold one for me?". That got me another "No." So, I plugged the address into Google Maps and found that the store in question was only 2 miles or so from where I work. I told my coworkers I needed to run an errand, dashed down to my car, and flew out of the parking lot.

Red light. Okay, turning left onto a main road. Red light. I'm generally a very patient driver, but not this time. I tried to see around the vans in front of me, to no avail. Without thinking clearly enough to realize there was a much faster way, I had no choice but to go through light after light after light. Finally, I came to the area in which the store was supposed to be located. Frantically looking around, I pulled into the biggest strip mall I could find, in hopes that it was hidden there somewhere. My efforts were rewarded as I turned into the parking lot...

Only to find myself behind a bus. I waited for it to turn, then found my way across the lot to the store. I grabbed a nearby parking spot, locked my doors and jogged to the store, and the door was held for me by a nice gentleman. Holding a bag. Containing a Wii.

I looked to the worker - the two of us the only people now in the store. "Tell me that wasn't the last one", I begged. He nodded sadly. "Yeah, I think it was." All I could say was "You're kidding me!"

Within twenty minutes of my phone call, the store had sold out. I became convinced I would never find one at that moment.

"Hold on", the store employee said. "Let me double check."

He walked to the back room of the store as I waited nervously. He came back out, shielded by racks of games so I couldn't see his arms.

"This is your lucky day."

I broke out in a smile. "Thank you so much!", I said happily.

"How much are you willing to pay for it?", he asked.

I froze, so nervous that I didn't even realize he was kidding for a few seconds. He rang up my sale, and my search was at an end.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today's the first anniversary of my 29th birthday!

And it's very busy. Sigh.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before tomorrow's trip up the parking lot otherwise known as Interstate 71, we'll be running the Turkey Trot 5-miler. The big prizes are pumpkin pies for the first 2000 finishers. I'm guessing I'm not among them, but it's something to shoot for anyway.

This year, they're even giving out whipped cream!

Then, it's off to Thanksgiving dinners both Thursday and Friday. Being married has its advantages. :) Happy Thanksgiving!

A Step Forward

My fencing tournament came and went this Saturday before the big game, and it was an improvement over the last official tournament I participated in.

In the opening round-robin format, I won three of my five bouts, with one narrow 5-4 loss, and one 5-1 defeat in which I lost my concentration. That performance left me as the #4 seed in the single elimination tournament format. I received a bye in the first round, but was knocked out in the second round by the #5 seed.

In a match to 15 touches, I fell behind 10-4. I managed to climb back into the match, tying it at 13, but gave up the last two touches to lose 15-13.

Overall, I was a little disappointed not to reach the semifinals, but I realized that it was a step forward from where I stood last year. There's still a lot of room for improvement.

What A Difference A Week Makes

Okay, so maybe it won't take as long as I thought to get back in the swing of things. Fencing last night seemed to slow down for me a bit, and I won 4 of 5 bouts. My form is still terrible, though...lucky for me I was taller than most of my opponents.

Today's training was another 20 minute treadmill run. I got in a mile at an 8:30 pace, which went okay. Maybe it's time to start building up a 2 or 3 mile base at 8:30 before I push myself to go too much faster. No shin splints, please.

Also, my fencing club is hosting a tournament on the 18th. In Columbus. On the day of the OSU-Michigan game.

*sigh*

I brought that fact to my coach's attention, and she said she'd try and schedule my event for early in the day so we can be done before the game. (I didn't tell her I'd leave mid-tournament if I had to...)

Winter Goals

So, now that marathon season is done, what's next?

First, I'm getting back to fencing. I held off until the race was over to reduce the chance of injury ruining all those months of training. I'd still like to earn a USFA ranking, but I've got a ways to go before that happens. I went back to class last week and felt as slow as molasses. They talk about football players seeing the game slow down when they get used to a new level of competition. Towards the end of the spring, I felt like I could see what was coming in a bout, but now everything has sped up again, and I found myself going on the offensive just to keep my opponent from having a chance to attack me. Against an evenly matched opponent, that's a sure recipe for a loss.

Second, I think I'm going to prepare for a half-marathon in the spring. By doing that, I want to give myself the chance to do other activities and not burn myself out in training. I came out of Chicago with a good feeling about where I had come in my training, and I want to look for ways to build on it. I think that I can beat my half-marathon PR without a problem if I train for it. The other advantage I see to preparing for a half is that I can work more on my speed, as it doesn't require so many long runs. That way, if I did decide to do another marathon, I'd be starting from a faster base, and could work my way back up the distances.

During lunch yesterday, I went to the gym and ran some negative split half miles to see how it felt. I started at a 9:30 pace and kicked it up half a minute every half mile for two miles. That last half mile at an 8:00 pace felt pretty fast, but I also wasn't gasping for air. If I can get my body used to an 8 minute-ish pace, at least for short distances, I should be able to break my 5k PR, if nothing else!

Marathon Pictures

Here's a couple pictures from the end of the race:

Warming up after the race

Run Dave Run! - My Mom and I after the race.

Potery Barrn

Back to our series of homemade knock-off furniture. The office hutch is still in progress, but we decided to do another quick project in the meantime.

You'll never guess where this one came from. Our project was the bench and coat hooks in the back of the pictured room. Meredith designed the coat hooks and provided the sunflowers, while I did the bench.

The Target:

Farmhouse Bench
$99
Iron Row Of Hooks
$69

The Solution:

Entryway Bench
1 construction-grade 2x3: $2.50
Leftover wood from other projects: $0
2 cans black spray paint: $8
Total: $10.50

Savings: $88.50

Entryway Coat Hooks
3 double coat hooks: $18
1 firring strip: $1
1 can black spray paint: $4
Total: $23

Savings: $46

Christmastime Is Here

Or so I was led to believe when I got to work today. My office is at a mall, and the giant wreath has been hung over our conference room window as of this morning.

Maybe we can just start hanging it on Labor Day?

Chicago Marathon 2006

(Note - splits and pictures to be added when I have them)

Everything pointed to a rough day. I hadn't been able to get my head in a good state for running over the last few weeks. I was so focused on getting through the last 20 mile training run that when it was over, I had a tough time remembering I still had one more run to go: the marathon itself.

We arrived in Chicago to find it a little chilly, with worse to come, according to the forecast. Saturday was to be rain all day, with it tailing off to a rain/snow mix during the race on Sunday. Meredith had helped me pick out some new cold-weather gear before we left, but I still needed a few more pieces. We hit the expo Saturday morning, and I picked up a new hat and gloves. I found it amusing that in a 40,000 participant race, my bib number was 41542.

Also at the expo was a booth allowing you to buy a tech shirt with your name/message on it for $20. We all jumped on that opportunity, and I went for "Run Dave Run". I figured if I was going to run a race with 1.5 million spectators, I might as well take advantage of it, and get some people cheering me on.

Meredith and I napped and watched football in the hotel room most of Saturday afternoon, and went out for a pasta dinner with our group in the evening. The restaurant was in the bottom floor of an office building, and was so crowded that we were actually at tables out in the building lobby. They refused to separate our checks, so a bunch of us had to run outside across the street in the rain to hit an ATM. Thanks, Rosebud Restaurants! (I will admit, their lasagna was very very good.)

Sunday morning found us facing a 40ish degree forecast, still with possible rain, according to the news. I decided on a long sleeve shirt with my "Run Dave Run" shirt over it, mesh shorts, a baseball cap, and my new gloves. Like many other runners, I brought a trash bag to put over my gear at the start line to stay warm. Unlike many other runners, mine was grabbed at the last minute before we left, and happened to be scented. Sadly, I received no compliments at the start line regarding how good I smelled.

I managed to work my way up to about to the 4:30 pace group in the starting corral, but couldn't proceed any further due to the solid wall of humanity ahead. From what I had heard, the first few miles were pretty chaotic in this race anyway, so I didn't worry too much about it. We spent the time in small talk; everyone fighting nerves and wishing each other good luck. It seemed like most people around me in the start were also second or third time marathoners. About ten minutes passed before I reached the start line after the gun sounded. (At least, I assume it sounded, I couldn't hear it.)

Mile 1: We ran up Columbus Drive out of Grant Park, passing under a bridge full of screaming spectators. That was the first moment I really realized just how many people were out on the course. It did get pretty hectic as we dipped under that bridge and over the river as the runners all dodged around people who didn't line up with their actual pace and were jogging or walking.

Mile 2: I saw Meredith's mom, which would be the only time I managed to spot anyone I knew for the entire race. I also heard my first "Run, Dave, Run!" It was certainly not be the last time I heard that.

Mile 3: Mile 3 took us back through the city as we crossed the river twice more. It was really loud through this stretch. I had a hard time keeping track of where we were, as it was overcast, and I didn't remember which street went which direction very well. The last turn in this mile faced us to the north on LaSalle St., where we would be headed for quite a while.

Mile 4: By this point, the racers started falling into better organized paces. I didn't have to keep weaving as much, although there was some amount of dodging people throughout the race. We passed a really entertaining drill team here, though I was on the wrong side of the road to get a really good look.

Mile 5: This mile continued up LaSalle St., and ended where it dropped us into Lincoln Park. That was one of the landmarks I remembered from the course map, so it let me get some bearing on where I was. I pulled out my first gel packet at this point. It was chocolate, and pretty difficult to swallow after being used to some of the thinner gel types recently. In retrospect, I was going too fast at this point, but it was tough to fight the adrenaline and desire to catch back up to my pace.

Mile 6: We curved through the park during this mile, passing a live band who sounded good. There were more people than I expected out along this stretch of the course.

Mile 7: This seemed like a pretty residential area, with a fair number of people out on the sidewalks. I started running over to the side of the road here, and got a lot of people yelling for me in return. At this point in the race, I was trying to thank everyone who yelled for me.

Mile 8: Addison Drive, the turn-around point for this longest leg out of the downtown area, was during this mile. I was feeling great at this point, but was still glad to hit another major landmark and know that I wouldn't have to run any farther from the finish line than I was here.

Mile 9: We were sort of funnelled into a smaller area of the road along this stretch, which made for a tight squeeze, but also added to the noise. It kind of reminded me of the scenes from the Tour De France where the crowd is all over the athletes, parting at the last second. The entertainment on this mile was a western theme. This was the first mile that I finally saw a pace team, the 4:00 pace group. I decided I'd try and stick with them for a while, since we were at about the same pace.

Mile 10: I passed a high school marching band that was playing "Hang On Sloopy" here, and made sure to give an O-H-I-O with my arms. My legs were still feeling great at this point of the race, and I wasn't having any of the knee issues that I sometimes have when I hit the double digit runs.

Mile 11: At this point, we could see that we were approaching the downtown area again. Somewhere in here, a girl near me tripped on a bump in the road and took a nasty fall. However, she managed to get up and keep running without looking too much worse for the wear.

Mile 12: The crowd really started getting dense at this point again, with people up on top of staircases and planters to see over the front lines.

Mile 13: Here, we came around a bend downtown to cross the river and hit the halfway point. I was really feeling good, and gave myself a little clap to get myself ready for the second half.

Mile 14: After we crossed the Dan Ryan Expressway, the crowds thinned out pretty quickly. There were still some spectators, but not nearly as many as before. Though my legs were feeling good, it was a little bit of a mental letdown to lose that level of support.

Mile 15: Mile 15 took us to our westernmost point. I was hoping this would be another good landmark for me, but I felt like I was starting to falter for the first time here. I started concentrating on staying with the pace group, rather than just running the pace that felt right.

Mile 16: We headed back toward the city during this mile. I started feeling a little better and regained the few seconds I had let the pace group advance on me.

Mile 17: The route twisted through Little Italy here, and the crowds picked up again. Again, I concentrated on keeping a short distance between myself and the pace group.

Mile 18: I don't honestly remember much from this stretch, other than feeling like I was experiencing a little bit of tunnel vision. I started getting sort of dizzy around here when we would go from daylight to the darkness under a bridge. So, I walked through my first water stop during this mile to try and give my body a little break. I don't like walking through water stops, as I find it hard to get my legs moving again, but thought it might work here.

Mile 19: Getting harder to stay with the pace group. We continued down toward the south side of town during this mile. I stopped to stretch out my hamstring that had given me trouble in the last 20 miler here. When I headed back out, I was amazed to see another 4:00 pace leader nearby, and fell back in near him.

Mile 20: Dave, meet wall. After getting caught behind some people walking during a water stop, I fell significantly back of the 4:00 pace group for the first time. This was the first firm realization I had that I didn't have the gas left to catch back up to them.

Mile 21: I continued to fall apart. Multiple walking and stretching breaks weren't helping my time any. My ankle began to hurt somewhere around this point of the race. We crossed the river for the last time during this mile.

Mile 22: Mile 22 took us through Chinatown. The crowds were pretty good here, though I had expected a little more based on hearsay from others who had run Chicago before. I did enjoy the dragon dancers at one of the turns. I started calculating how slowly I could run for the last few miles to reach different target times.

Mile 23: At this point, I was just hoping that each corner held a water stop around the bend so I could take another walking break without feeling bad about it. Of all things, I was getting these twinges from my elbows up my forearms at each step. Guess my form was getting pretty bad here, as I was probably landing on my feet pretty heavily.

Mile 24: I started to regret wearing that shirt around here. Hearing someone yell "Run, Dave, Run!" is a lot more fun when you aren't on the curb trying to stretch out your quads. From here on, it was pretty much a straight shot up Michigan Avenue, so you had a good view of what was ahead, for better or worse.

Mile 25: The streets started to be completely lined with people again during this mile. Great for encouragement, but didn't leave anywhere to stretch out. I ended up jogging backwards a few steps early in this mile since my quads were threatening to seriously cramp up here.

800m Remaining: Was that seriously only half a mile? Felt more like two. I resolved to try and run the rest of the way, cramping muscles or not. That worked pretty well until...

400m Remaining: What better to turn the corner and see than a steep (for this course) uphill climb? I was *not* excited. I made it about halfway up, but had to walk a little bit before I could reach the top. I kept stealing glances over to my left to see if I could get any encouragement from seeing the finish line, but no luck. Finally, when I reached the top and made the last turn of the course, the finish line was revealed, along with rows and rows of bleachers full of screaming people. There was no way I could keep from running with that much support out there.

I crossed the finish line at 4:10:28, approximately 34 minutes faster than I had done in Columbus the year before.

Though I had some dreams of breaking four hours, I realized that those were a best case scenario, and had set my goal at 4:15. I think I could have broken 4:10 if I ran a little slower pace for the first half, but I'm glad I took my shot at the four hour pace group. I think I could reach it if I try another marathonwith a little faster-paced training plan if I try another marathon. For this one, I had concerned myself mainly with staying healthy, rather than being a slave to my watch during every training run.

Next up is probably a half-marathon in the spring, where I'll try to break 2:00 for the first time outside of the first half of a full marathon. For some reason, my two fastest half-marathon times have come during marathons, where they don't really count.

So, it was a good experience, and a great close to the summer/fall training season. Thanks to my parents and aunt and uncle who came out for the race, and to all the friends and family from Columbus for the support!

One week, 3 cities, 20 miles...

I am the winner of the amazing 20 mile challenge race!

I know it's not a lot of miles for those hardcore runners out there, but it was a pretty rare week where I ran all five weekdays. Now, I've got my group run Saturday, and we're planning on a 10 mile race on Sunday if it's not too hot. So, that'll be seven straight days. Monday will be nice!

Midweek Challenge Update

Just a quick update to the 20 Mile Challenge. It's Wednesday, and I have 13 miles out of the way. Looking good for a successful week!

Today's run was a nice easy 3 miler to let my legs recover. They were complaining last night about the increased mileage, so I tried to appease them today. They also demanded ice cream later tonight, and I told them I'd see what I could do.

20 Mile Challenge

My lovely wife proposed a challenge this week: 20 miles of daily runs before Saturday. I've not been great about sticking to the distances on my training schedule so far. Maybe this will give me some incentive to get those longer daily runs in.

So far, so good. I ran 5 miles before work today. 15 to go!

Krate and Barrul

One of our favorite stores to browse is Crate and Barrel. Both Meredith and I love a lot of their furniture, but a lot of it is also out of our league financially.

What's the solution? Knock-offs! Our strategy now is to find some great designs there and make it ourselves.


Project 1: Bathroom Floor Mirror

The Target:

Parsons Floor Mirror
$429

The Solution:

White Wooden Floor Mirror
$80 for mirror, $40 for wood and paint = $120
Savings: $309

Project 2: Dining Room Table

The Target:

Hawthorne Dining Set (Discontinued, similar Provence set pictured)
Table: $1,999 + 6 Chairs: 6x$399 = $4393

The Solution:

Breadboard Style Dining Set
Wood + Supplies: $100, 6 Chairs: $800 = $900
Savings: $3493

We bought the chairs from Unfinished Wood Furniture, and had them finished. (Chairs are still above my skill level) The table is solid pine, somewhat distressed, and should continue to distress with use.

The best part of the table project was the source of the wood. All the wood in the table except the legs came from the stash of wood my grandpa had collected over the years. My grandma recently sold her house, and there were stacks and stacks of wood planks left in the garage. I took some of the less warped pieces, and used part of it to make a table that should be in our house for years and years.


Project 3: Office Armoire

The Target:

Hideaway Home Office Armoire

In progress. This one will be more different from the source than the others. We want the style to match the dining table, since it's in the same area, so it'll be more rustic than the pictured one.

Unwanted

Today is my first morning with nothing stronger than Advil in my system. Not feeling great, but I think I'm improving slowly and steadily.

So, I drove off to the office, not really looking forward to sitting there all day. When I arrived, I unlocked the front door and let myself in. I put away my lunch in the fridge, and went to my office, only to find it locked. Our offices are never locked, and I don't even have a key to it.

After looking at my coworker's office next door (unlocked, naturally), it looked like a pretty simple mechanism. I tried every card in my wallet that I didn't care about messing up the edges, but I couldn't manage to pick it. So, here I am at home to work rather than having to sit there in the hallway two hours until the person with the keys arrived.

I guess they're not that eager to have me back.

Recovery

Well, things are a little happier now that I'm on my painkiller schedule. Waking up was pretty painful, though I did sleep through the night ok.

Apparently, I was pretty entertaining yesterday when coming down from the anesthesia. I guess I let Meredith know that the assistant for the procedure was Canadian three or four times, and kept insisting, "I'm fine!".

I didn't get the chance to post about it before the appointment, but I ran in the "Run For The Rainbow" 5k in New Albany on Tuesday. I missed out on a personal best by about 30 seconds, but having just started training again, I was pretty happy. It certainly wasn't for lack of effort - it was probably the hardest I've run in a 5k, but my body just wouldn't quite let me sprint in the last couple hundred yards.

The Day After

Owwwwwwww.

That is all.

Spring Pictures

Here's our walkway. Our daisies looked pretty sad over the winter, but are exploding now! We also put in some solar powered lights in the flowerbed.

Snapdragons in a field of petunias.

Delphinium after the rain.

Daisy ready for its close-up.

Like Pulling Teeth

Quite literally.

This Wednesday, I get to have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Anyone out there have horror stories (or even better, "it's not so bad" stories) I should hear?

Got a bunch of other stuff to catch up on as well. I had a novice fencing tournament a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, only three people showed for my division, but I did finish in second place. I missed out on the gold medal by one touch, losing the final bout 15-14.

Also have some new pictures around the house to show, but those will have to wait for now.

Wrong Number?

I just got a call on my cell phone.

Me: "Hello?"
Woman: "Do I have the wrong number?"
Me: "Umm...I don't know?"

In retrospect, my response should have been:

Me: "Were you calling me?"

Tournament Postmortem, Spring

I got the official results from the tournament, and I did indeed finish dead last. What I didn't expect was that I wasn't far from climbing out of the cellar. One more touch (or one fewer against) would have brought me up to second last.

Also, my opponent in the elimination round ended up winning the whole tournament. So that makes me feel pretty good, and our bout was actually tied for his closest score until the final.


I had the opportunity to get outside and work on our flowerbeds a little this weekend, which were being overgrown by our suddenly vibrant grass. It looks like everything expected to come back has indeed sprouted. In addition, a peony we planted last year and gave up on seems to have broken ground. (Much to the chagrin of another plant right on top of it)

This week also marked the arrival of some plants I ordered online. Who knew you could do that? There were a couple varieties I didn't think I would find in local stores, so I hopped on The Growers Exchange and put in an order. The plants all arrived in good condition a few days later, and are now basking in the sun on the front porch. I got a pineapple sage, a catsmint, and two calibrachoa, which kind of look like miniature petunias.

Not Just A Fencer

I can also make the one-handed catch in the high stakes of a flag football game. Please also note the look of awe in the background. *pats self on back*



(Thanks Chris for taking the picture!)

Later during the game, my roughly 10-year-old shorts were nearly ripped in two by an overzealous defender, leaving me to walk off the field holding them around my waist to keep myself decent in mixed company. Fortunately I was wearing clean underwear that day, because I think quite a few folks got to see a good portion of it.

Ready? Fence!

Sunday marked my long delayed return to fencing. I fenced off and on for about two years in college, but hadn't picked up a foil in around seven years. A club opened up just down the road from us, and I decided to give it a shot. So, I took classes for a few months, and I took my meager skills on the road to scenic Ada, Ohio, for the 2006 Ohio Northern University Fencing Open.

Fencing tournaments have two stages. The first stage is the pools, in which small groups of fencers compete in a round-robin format. The results from the pools are used to seed the competitors for the direct elimination (DE) bracket. In this part, it's one loss and you're done for the day.

My goals were three: Score a touch, Be competitive, and Win a Bout. Two out of three isn't so bad, I guess. I started off pretty tentative in my pool bouts. Instead of going after my opponents, I let them come to me, which didn't work out so well. I lost my four pool bouts 5-2, 5-1, 5-0, and 5-2. I had accomplished my first goal of just scoring a touch, but I wasn't able to keep the score close in any of my bouts.

Unfortunately, the results of my pool bouts put me at the bottom of the barrel for the DE bracket. The #1 seed had a first round bye, so I wound up fencing the #2 seed, who had already beaten me in the pools. However, I now realized I had nothing to lose, and could fence more aggressively.

After falling behind a couple points to start the bout, I found myself able to stay with my opponent. 3-1 turned into 5-3, and to 7-4. At the first break, I found myself only down 10-6! I was pretty excited that I was able to keep things respectable against a quality opponent.

After the break, I scored the first touch to bring the score to 10-7. Unfortunately, my opponent was prepared with some tactics I haven't learned to counter at this point, and rolled off five straight points to close the bout at 15-7. A loss, perhaps, but I count it as a moral victory, and fulfillment of my second goal: to be competitive.

As for the third goal of winning a bout...well, that will have to wait until another day. I think I learned some things Sunday that will help prepare me for the next tournament I enter. The current plan is for a local novice tournament on May 27 to be my next challenge.

Testing...testing...

Hi everyone! Just wanted to serve notice that I'm going to be posting again after a long absence. Got some new and hopefully interesting things going on, which should be posted this evening.

Weight for me!

So I'm not allowed to run. And I can't really bike yet, or be on my feet to exercise. So that means if I want some exercise, I have to use...my upper body!

Dun-dun-DUN!

The other day, I was playing with my niece and nephew, and they were trying to push me across the room, while I tried to push them back. I was letting them win (honestly!), and after one victory, Shelby said in a singsongy 4-year-old voice, "I'm strong, 'cause I'm four." She then made us compare muscles, and declared that mine looked the same as hers.

So, it's off to the gym during lunch for Dave. Yesterday I lifted over 200 pounds. No, not at the same time.

Columbus Marathon 2005

It wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but I made it!



For a few weeks, it was very much in doubt if I'd even get to start this marathon. Because of the pain in my foot, my doctor was hesitant to clear me for the run. We agreed to see how I felt after a few weeks of only cross-training. I decided my foot felt good enough to give it a shot, so I signed up for the marathon two days before the race.

I trained with the MIT (Marathoner in Training) group in Columbus. I'm glad I joined the group, as it really helped get me out for the long weekend runs. The 20 mile training run was the longest I managed, so I didn't quite know how my body would react to the full marathon. I ran with a group of four during the training, and all four of us started the race together.

For the first mile, we pretty much stuck together at a little over a 9 minute pace. Once we hit the first water stop, though, it became difficult to stick with each other in the crowd, and we broke down into two pairs. The first 7 miles or so kind of flew by. We saw some areas of Columbus I've never been through, and saw some very big houses! I guess the mayor was out on the corner at one point, but I must have been zoned out, because I totally missed him.

Around mile 7, my foot started aching a little bit. I'm not sure if it was the uneven roads, or just the stress of running. It's possible my gait changed a little bit. More on that to come.

Mile ten brought us back into downtown, and I got to see Meredith and my family for the first time during the race, which was a nice boost. At this point, I was still feeling great. Miles 10-13 took us on a loop through German Village, south of downtown, and I got to see everyone again around the halfway point, which is back in the city. We crossed the halfway point at 2:02, on pace for a great time and with plenty of energy.

The middle part of the marathon goes up High Street for over five miles, and is a gradual uphill most of the way. This stretch started okay; however, that would change at mile 15. Suddenly, I felt my IT band *twang* across the outside of my knee. I stumbled pretty badly, and had to pull over to the side of the road. I tried some stretches and started running again, but I couldn't finish the mile running. To that point, I had run the whole way, water stops and all, so it was discouraging.

For the next 11 miles, I was only able to manage short bursts of running until my knee flared up, and I'd have to pull over again. The most frustrating part was that we were keeping such a great pace to that point, and I had to watch the 4:15 pace group pass me, and then watch the 4:30 pace group pass me. There was just nothing I could do.

So, I walked and ran all the way home to the finish line, averaging over 12 minutes a mile. It was strange feeling so...not tired towards the end of such a long run. That didn't make me any less glad to see my family at mile 26, and to turn the corner down to the finish line. I saw my watch nearing the 4:45 mark, and sprinted down to the tape, despite my knee's protests. I crossed the line at 4:44:18, and could say I had run a marathon.

I'm not ruling out another, but for now it's time to heal up.

Thanks to Meredith and my immediate and extended families for their support on the track, to John, Gretchen, and Katie for training with me, and to everyone else who helped me in my training or came out for the race!

Marathon Success!

I finished my first marathon yesterday in 4:44:18! Details to come.

Injured...again.

Here's the bad news: I have yet another injury. This time, it's a stress reaction in my foot. (Specifically, my cuboid bone)



My doctor isn't thrilled about the prospect of me running a marathon on it, but it's either that or throw away all this training. I really want to get through at least one of these things, with all the work I've put in. However, I haven't been able to run consistently for the last month. So, I'm nervous about how this marathon is going to go; moreso because I've never run one before.

In more upbeat news, my four-year-old niece is moving. Or so she's convinced.

"We're moving. Tomorrow. They're tearing down our house."

Um, does your Mom know about that?

"Yes. We're moving. Tomorrow. They're tearing down our house."

Turns out her neighbors are moving, and nobody's house is getting torn down tomorrow. :)

Quad Script Ohio

At Meredith's request, here's a picture of the alumni + varsity bands doing the quad Script Ohio.

Also, if you've never seen a script performed, here's a link to a video of the regular single Script Ohio. (Low bandwidth link here)

Football and Such

OK, pictures of the trip probably won't happen till after the weekend, now that I think about it.

This weekend is the alumni game for Ohio State, which means my return to Ohio Stadium as part of the alumni marching band. I'll be part of the great scarlet horde of musicians you'll see if you happen to tune in to the OSU-Miami game on Saturday.

We also are headed up to Cleveland for a concert of all Star Wars music narrated by Anthony Daniels (C3P0) on Sunday. If you know me, it should be obvious whether I'm excited for that or not.

And now, if you'll excuse me...*turns on his OSU music*

Triumphant Return

We're back from NYC!

Both Meredith and I finished the half-marathon, albeit not near PRs. Central Park is a lot hillier than expected, and it was very hot and humid. So, I was happy to just get through it - definitely the most difficult race I've done to date.

Rather than recap the trip separately from my wife (who was also there), I'll just redirect to our journal of the trip at her blog.

I'll probably post more about it in a bit, but I have work to do right now. :)

Lots (200+) pictures from the trip, so I'll pick out some highlights and post them.

One Week

One week till we leave for NYC on vacation! And it's about the right time for it.

I just got a 32-page requirements document for our next round of development at work, and it feels like about two years' job. Just overwhelming.

Laugh Track Guy was sadly not at spinning class this week. For entertainment, I had to settle for our spinning instructor's wildly inaccurate sense of rhythm.

"Up for 8...7..6........4.3...and down for 4...and up!"

Somebody needs to buy the boy a metronome. He also had the amusing:

"Now give me some speed!"
*10 seconds later*
"Be sure to put on some resistance, I don't want you going too fast on this one."

Patio and Late Bloomers

One of our giant Canna flowers.


Canna close-up.


I think these are flax?


Meredith's Gerbera daisies on our front porch.


Landscape around the patio.


Lythrum flower and patio background.


Magnolia tree and hydrangeas by the patio.

His Own Laugh Track

So. Meredith and I went to spinning class on Tuesday for the first time in a while. Most of the crowd was new to us, with a couple exceptions. There's this one guy in the class with that haircut. You know, the one where the hair is just slicked up and back? I don't know exactly how to describe it. Imagine a guy with his shirt half open and a gold chain around his neck. Now imagine his hair.

Anyhoo...

This guy was talking and attempting to flirt with some of the girls in the class. And every time he'd crack a (usually not very funny) joke, he'd laugh loudly and obnoxiously right along with it.

Here's a true-life example:

Spinning Instructor Mike's Girlfriend: "We just got back from a camping trip."

Laugh Track Guy: "Oh, did you get hurt?" (She had band-aids on)

SIM'sG: "No, just got some mosquito bites."

LTG: "Mike, I've never heard anyone call you a mosquito. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

SIM'sG: *uncomfortable silence, looking away*

And on and on it went throughout the 15 minutes before class started.

*Sitting on bikes chatting, general low murmur*
*Guy wanders class, offering help setting up bikes for various women*
*Weak joke/thinly veiled pick-up line*
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I don't get it. I just don't get it.

Murderball

Murderball is another name for Wheelchair Rugby, also called Quad Rugby. It's also an inspiring movie that documents the lives of the USA national Quad Rugby team.

It was not a "boring" documentary by any means. Over the 2 years shown in the film, you see the changes brought on by tragic circumstances in the players' lives, and the way this sport affects them. One of the more touching scenes of the movie involves the interaction of Mark Zupan, one of Team USA's best players, with a man recently injured in a motocross incident.

On the whole, this movie doesn't pull any punches. Murderball shows life as it is for the players in almost every detail. It shows the likeable and unlikeable, and gives the viewer a greater understanding of both the sport and the men who play it.

I found it inspiring to see the challenges overcome by the people featured in this movie. I hope to apply that inspiration to my own training, and get past the trials of the next few weeks. So far, so good - one daily run down for the week.

15 going on 17

I did my first 15 mile training run this Saturday. For the most part, it went pretty well. I found that, even up to 13 miles, I could run the distance pretty easily, but this one really seemed long.

About 14.5 miles in, I got a scare. Suddenly, I felt a shooting pain in my left foot when I tried to push off. I stopped to walk (not that I had much choice). After trying and failing to start running again a few times, I just limped back to the parking lot.

For those readers not familiar with my history, last year I was sidelined with stress fractures to both shins, and Meredith also had two stress fractures. Naturally, that was the first thing my mind went to. I wasn't able to push up on my toes at all without serious pain.

Fortunately, it's feeling much better today. Perhaps I just pinched a nerve, or it cramped up and I strained it, or something. Thank goodness...I didn't need another injury-shortened training season.

The other good news: only four longer runs left till the marathon in October! I feel like the finish line is approaching, and I feel pretty ok about it so far. We'll see how I feel when it gets closer, and more "real"...

New Albany Summer Classic

This Saturday was the New Albany Summer Classic, a 10 miler/5k race - I did the 10 miler. It started about 5 minutes from our house, which was a nice change. The morning was relatively nice, if a little warm. Meredith went out for a 3 mile pre-run, and I laid in my car and listened to some music to calm my nerves.

My intention for the race was to run around a 9 minute mile. I often have trouble pacing my first couple miles, but at the first mile mark, I was right at 9:00. Over the next couple miles, I got a little ahead of my pace.

At one point, I was following a guy who sounded like he was going to lose a lung, or cough up his stomach, or something. The sounds he was making were making me feel sick, just to hear them. I made sure to pass him as quickly as I could.

The only downside to the race was on the way back. There was a spot we turned right on the way out, and I expected to turn back the way we came. However, there was another spur on the course I didn't know about, which took a little wind out of my sails.

From keeping track on my watch, I noticed I was consistently gaining time against my intended pace, and when I got to the finish line, I had done a 1:26:50. That's an 8:41 pace, so I was pretty happy with my result! I ran this 10 miles at about the same pace as the 5 miler earlier this summer, so maybe this training stuff is paying off after all...

Go Speed Racer, Go!

So, I've noticed something in our neighborhood, and by Meredith's parents' house. There seems to be a breed of people who love hopping on their motorcycles and riding back and forth and up and down neighborhood streets. There are a few hypotheses for this behavior. (Or behaviour, to sound more academic.)

1. They truly enjoy the feeling of speed and freedom, with the wind whipping through their generally non-helmet-covered hair. They are oblivious to the annoyance factor.

This hypothesis is disproven by the gunning of the engine when they pass folks walking down the street.

2. They think they look impressive, and want to show off their ride.

This is all well and good. However, the bikes I usually see doing this are not the big impressive growling bikes you see at...well, usually at Quaker Steak and Lube on Wednesdays.

These bikes have roughly the pitch of a dentist's drill. Or kind of like a balloon when you stretch the hole as you let out the air. It's the equivalent of me going up to someone, saying "I can shout in an impressively loud manner!", and then going, "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".

3. They are training for the new 5000m Suburban Motorbike competition in the 2008 Olympics.

I can only assume this is the case, and I, for one, shed a little tear every time I see these patriots in action.

So next time you see one of these bikers cruising the streets, don't get annoyed. Get supportive and give them a big old "USA! USA!" chant.

On your mark...

Reset... (As our 3-year-old niece says)
GOOOOOOO! (As our 2-year-old nephew says)

I officially ran the farthest I've ever gone (by 0.08 miles) yesterday. My training group did 13.2 miles, which is just over a half marathon. We came in around 2:00 (2:10 counting water stops), which is just a little slower than I need to be going to hit my 4:00 goal for the marathon in October. I'm pretty sore today, but the good news is that this weekend's run is only 10 miles. Plus, my shoes didn't get so wet this week that my running mates commented on the strange noises emanating from them. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

Meredith and I cleaned up the driveway a bit yesterday of all the sand and gravel we had from the patio project. We put it in our trash can, which is kind of a no-no. I wouldn't worry about it too much usually, but it's so heavy I can barely lift the front end to roll it down to the curb. I'm just envisioning the garbage truck trying to pick it up, and the arm snapping off or something. I just know we're getting in trouble for this one...

We got some plants to landscape our backyard yesterday, and we're having topsoil delivered today. Tomorrow, we get our tree delivered. The end of this project is in sight!

Patio pics!

The new patio!


Another view of the new table.


Our gladiolas finally flowered!


A close-up view.

Busy busy busy

Sorry it's been such a long time between posts. We've had a lot going on in the last couple weeks. Meredith swam/biked/ran her big triathlon, and did great! We got to see the sights of Muncie, Indiana - our favorite was the one-armed statue of Larry Bird outside a gas station.

The patio is almost done.

It was a struggle with the paver company, though. Here's what happened.

Thursday: Dave calls company, transferred to someone who can answer his questions about the weird angles produced by their blocks. Guy says "We carry corner blocks like you need", and that though they usually don't take returns, they'll make an exception because the recommendation of their employee was so bad.

Friday: Dave gets off work early, he and Meredith drive 40 minutes to go get the materials. They tell the woman at the store what the guy said, and she looks like they've grown extra limbs. "We don't sell anything like that", she tells them. She snaps, "You can go out in the lot and look at the material yourselves." After going out to the lot, an employee out there says they can split the blocks we have to produce the square corners needed for the project.

Monday: Dave calls the closer location, they say they can split the blocks there. Dave heads over there after work, explains his predicament. Goes out to get his blocks split, and the guy out in the lot says, "Why don't you just buy the corner blocks? We sell them pre-made."



But now we've got everything in place, and our furniture arrived yesterday. Pictures soon!

July 4th updates

We had a busy weekend of the 4th...did the usual fireworks, cookout, etc. We are *almost* done with the patio. Just need to iron out some issues with the steps we bought. The stones they recommended just don't look good at all, so we need to figure out an alternative. More pictures when we do.

Also, we ran a 5k up in Westerville on the morning of the 4th. I woke up feeling kind of sick, and didn't expect much out of it. There weren't any clocks on the course, and I forgot my watch, so I didn't know my pace till the finish. Turned out, I set a new personal best: 24:55. Hopefully DayQuil isn't a banned substance. :)

World's Strongest Woman

World's strongest woman?


Dump it!

Progress...

The backyard wasteland.


There's all that grass! Also note the remnants of our steps and the little pile of gravel we get to carry around back.

Grass

Pulling up sod is hard work.

We worked for a few hours yesterday, and got about halfway. Unfortunately, we didn't get it done by the time the rest of the materials are arriving, so the driveway will be blocked for a day or two.

Craziness!

The results for the 5k were posted over the weekend. Official time: 25:17.

The crazy part is that through some combination of turnout and demographics, I ended up placing 2nd in my age group! Unfortunately, there were only awards for the first place finishers in this race.

We're also looking at putting in a patio in our backyard. We were traveling up to a store in Delaware (the city, not the state), and Meredith had printed out directions from their website. We followed the directions one step at a time, as you normally do. We turned onto Sandusky St., right in the middle of downtown Delaware, and Meredith asked for the next direction. I said, "That was the last one". She asked what the address was, and I looked at the paper, only to find out their directions just ended at "Delaware, OH". Not any particular *place* in Delaware, just the city.

So, while successfully getting us to Delaware, the directions failed in one minor detail. We ended up pulling into Kroger and calling Meredith's parents, who had gone to the same store recently. The directions from her Mom's memory (Past some trailers, over a railroad track, and along a windy road) were heartfelt but not very useful. Eventually their modem (they do still exist in the wild) found us some real directions and we got there. :)

Success!

I managed to hang on for a personal best in the 5k last night, unofficially finishing in 25:20 according to my watch. I went out pretty fast - I was at 7:45 at the first mile mark, 16:00 at the second mile, and then I must have slowed down after that. The race was slightly downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back, so that's not too surprising.

I had Meredith's dad in sight for a little more than half the race, which is encouraging. He ended up beating me by about 3 minutes. Apparently the first place guy in his age group beat him by only a few yards...close call! The race director told him that he can retire from running when I beat him in a race. :)

Neither Meredith nor her dad like Chipotle, so they both picked up free burritos for me. Now I have lunch for the rest of the week!

5K Race Day

We're headed over to downtown New Albany for a race tonight. It'll be my first 5k of the summer season. My personal best is a 26:06, which is about 8:24 per mile. That's a bunch faster than I've been running the longer runs, but I think I'm in better shape than when I set that record.

I'm actually a little nervous. I feel like I'm supposed to do well now that I'm in training. I'm so bad at pacing myself that I worry I'll go out way too fast, or so slow that I can't catch up to where I need to be. I guess we'll see how it goes!

(I just have to keep reminding myself that there's Chipotle at the finish line...)

Eight Mile

I did 8 miles again this week, to get back on schedule with the training group. I ran with some slightly slower people than my normal pace, so it felt pretty easy. The only difficult part was how humid it's been lately around here! I needed gills to get enough oxygen coming up the hill at the end of the run.

I got an M&M bar at the end of the run. It was good.

We also made some progress on our secret project last night. Hopefully it will be complete within a couple weeks, and I'll post pictures. :)

More Flowers

More flowers from around the house.


More blue flowers...


Flowers from Meredith's hanging baskets.

House Pictures

Our lilac bushes by the corner of our house.

Here's the ladder shelves I made for our upstairs bedroom.

And, as requested, the newly blue wall!