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...)