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!

A New Record

The 5-miler went well yesterday. My previous best (happened to be the same course) was a 50:10, and that 5 miles was the longest I had ever run.

This weekend, I ran a 43:08. Only 7 minutes faster. :)

I also ran a 7 mile long run on Saturday, and managed to keep up with part of Meredith's running group. So, I feel pretty good right now. My legs are pretty tired, though. I think this week will be a challenge.

We also painted a wall in our dining room yesterday. After a year and a half in our house, we finally have one first-floor wall painted!

My Mileage May Vary

Now we're really starting to get into the miles. Okay, at least for me. My daily runs are now averaging around four miles. This is about as high as they ever got for my half marathon, so we're headed for uncharted territory. I did a six mile long run this Saturday with the training group, which went pretty well.

I've definitely noticed that I'm feeling less pain in my legs than when I started up running again. Four this morning seemed pretty easy, even though it felt like it took forever. I guess that's the difference between running alone or with a group. The legs feel the same, but your mind gets to think about your run, instead of a conversation.

I think we're going to run a 5 mile race this weekend, which should be a decent gauge of my progress. We'll see how it goes, I've only done a 5-miler once.

I'm encouraged by the pace I'm at right now. My goals for the marathon are:

Finish
Finish in 4 hours
Finish without walking
Beat Meredith (Kidding, honey! Or...am I?! OK, yeah, kidding.)

Right now I'm running around a 9 minute/mile pace, which would get me in just under 4 hours. Now I just have to train myself to keep it up for 26 miles!

Rain, rain, it's not so bad.

This week's long run on Saturday ended up in a downpour. I found out that as long as it's warm, that really didn't matter. Well, at least for me - there was one girl in the training group who had to stop because her mascara ran into her eyes. Did four miles this week, and forgot to take a watch again. I did beat the people who were around my pace handily on the hill at the end, which gave me some confidence going into the week.

I got to go visit my family this weekend, and get to do four days of running in a row. Three miles a day, Monday through Thursday. I think this week and the next should be some of the toughest, as the mileage climbs during the week. Once my legs are used to 4 a day, it shouldn't be as bad, because it doesn't really go any higher other than weekend runs.

I'm going to get today's run out of the way right now, before work. It's nice when I can do that - gives me a long afternoon.

Oh, and Star Wars tomorrow night at 12:01! :)

Edited to add: Good run today. I think it's my fastest pace so far, but I didn't feel like I was overdoing it.

Small World

So, I finally made the jump to the Marathon-in-Training group here in Columbus.

The first run was actually pretty good. A few of us who got to the Radisson early for the informational meeting were standing around waiting for some sign of the group, lost. This would be an omen.

The front desk woman didn't have any idea where they were, but pointed us in the direction of a ballroom. Eventually, someone wandered in wearing running gear, and looking like they had a direction. So, we followed them down the hall (to the exact opposite side from the front desk's directions), and found the already-in-progress meeting.

By chance, one of the people I had met before the meeting was going to be running a similar pace to me, so we ended up running together and talking. During the conversation, I had mentioned that I was from Brecksville. She mentioned that she had a friend who went to high school there. Well, not only did he go to my school, he was actually in my class!

Somewhere along the way, we decided we were going to do the four mile option for the run, rather than the three that most people were doing. However, on the way back we realized neither of us knew where we cut off the trail to head back to the hotel. We ended up *way* past our mark, had to run up a very large hill to get back, and wound up doing close to 5 miles in the process.

Summer Goals

We were out in Boston this past weekend for the marathon, and had a blast. Got to see some old friends and eat a lot of pasta.

And I had to marry someone inspirational... :P

So, I think I'm going to train for a triathlon this summer, and maybe a fall marathon. Meredith suggested joining a training group here in Columbus for the marathon, but I'm not totally sold on the training group idea yet.

We got up and swam Sunday morning before church. My shoulder's been injured, and it was getting kinda sore. I guess I need to pull out the physical therapy exercises again.

I'm definitely more worried about the swim than the other two parts. It's sort of an irrational worry, since I have swum half a mile many times in the pool. I guess until I get out there and do it, I just won't know for sure.

Where's Bambi's Mom?

We got to watch Bambi with our niece the other day. She's at the age where there are questions about *everything*.

"What's Bambi doing?"
"Where's Bambi's Mom?"
"Why did they shoot Bambi's Mom?"
"What's Bambi doing?"
"Is that Bambi's Mom?"
"Why is Bambi's Mom still dead?"
"What's Bambi doing?"
"Where's Bambi's girlfriend?"
"Why is Bambi dark?" - "Because the sun isn't up"
"Why is Bambi's girlfriend dark?" - "BECAUSE THE SUN ISN'T UP"
"Why is the sun not up?"

Oh, and we also discovered that our 3 year old niece has a boyfriend.

In other news, I feel like I was beat up over the last couple days. My Monday basketball game was pretty rough, and I took a couple pretty hard charges. Add in a 4 on 4 game during lunch yesterday and spinning class last night, and you get a slow moving Dave today. I need to start my running up again if I'm going to do the triathlon or half marathon this spring, but I don't think today is the day for that.

Joann is evil.

So, the other day I went on a shopping trip with Meredith, her Mom, her sister, and our niece Shelby (3) and nephew Jared (almost 2). One of our stops was at Joann Fabrics.

As an aside - we found unfinished pine Adirondack chairs there for $40. So if you want some, that's the place to go.

Anyway, we had checked out, and were waiting at the front of the store. Shelby and Jared had gone out into the entrance area. It was one where there's a sliding door on the front of the store, then as you come in, a sliding door in front of you for the entrance, and on the side of you for the exit.

Jared saw us waiting by the checkout lines, and pressed himself up against the glass wall, trying to get our attention. I was playing with him, pointing at him, and started pretending to sneak up on him. My powers of stealth, however, were no match for the sensor on the sliding door. Across it came, plowing straight into Jared's side, sending him and his *very* surprised look flying across the entrance way.

He had already been: sick, stabbed with a pencil, and had his fingers slammed in a door that week. This was just too much for him, and he started bawling. After seeing he was ok, the rest of us found it pretty funny.

Great Quote

"I know a number of people who do great work, and it's the same with all of them. They have little discipline. They're all terrible procrastinators and find it almost impossible to make themselves do anything they're not interested in."

I think this describes me quite well. I think Meredith would agree. :)

Unloading, please, weight

One of my other resolutions is to trim down a little bit. Meredith and I have been going to spinning classes, and I'm currently in physical therapy for my shin and my shoulder. Pretty soon, I'll be able to start running again.

Since I didn't really post a good list, here's some other goals for 2005. Not all are likely, but that doesn't make them bad - just ambitious. More may be added as I think of them.

Tier 1: Time And Effort

Set a new personal best for a 5k race.
Run a half marathon or relay marathon.
Get down to 150 pounds or a 32 waist.
Paint the interior of our house.
Install lighting in our loft.
Pass the Sun Certified Programmer for Java test.

Tier 2: The Challenges

Run a marathon.
Do a triathlon.
Help my company turn a profit this year.
Get a raise.

Tier 3: Hope Springs Eternal

Pay off our house. This one may be on the list another 30 years. :)

Aaand, we're back.

Tonight is the end of my Christmas break, during which I haven't been at the computer much. It was nice to have a couple weeks off, though.

Our Christmas was a bit of an adventure. First, we ended up hosting for Meredith's family, because neither her parents nor her sister had power due to the blackouts all over Columbus. We're still cleaning up the debris from hurricanes Shelby and Jared (our niece and nephew).

Next, we braved the ice and snow to drive to my family in Cleveland. Somewhere around Mansfield, I-71 kind of disappeared for a while under the ice. We still made it without too much trouble, though. It was nice to see everyone up there.

We started one of our new years resolutions tonight: to wash the dishes after every dinner. We'll see how that goes. :)

Current Dishes in Sink: 0

One score and eight years ago...

I was born in Cleveland Ohio. OK, plus a day now. The point is, yesterday was my birthday!

I got some tools from my inlaws, and Meredith got me some guides to cool stuff in New York City, where we're going on vacation next year. My family is planning on coming down next weekend, because my Mom had to work this one. That's ok, though, because my Dad's birthday is in a couple days anyway.

We were pressed for time before dinner, and Meredith still had to make my birthday cake, or in this case, Oreo pie. Then, one of her good friends from college called to say they bought a house in our neighborhood. So, she talked on the phone, and I made my own birthday cake. That's ok, though. It was good. :)

Then to top it off, some friends from church and I played basketball till about 11:30 at night.

It was a good day.