Last weekend, due to the last Harry Potter book, I slacked on my weekly recap. I'm going to kill two weeks with one blog entry and recap this week and last week, respectively.
I closed out this week with a nice day off from running on Thursday. I did a 45 minute Core Secrets workout and ate Subway. Friday afternoon I ran an easy five in 41:18 and aside from being hot and having a sore left knee and tight hamstrings I felt pretty good. The knee has been bothering me for a week or so and I think it is because I bang it on my desk at work at least once a day and I've been neglecting my calisthenics and yoga this summer. I have a good reason, and his name is Nathan.
This morning I got up at 0430 and ran eight miles before heading to work. After running a 9:13 first mile in dark, and twisting my ankle trying to read my watch by a street light, I clicked off the remainder of my run in 8:29, 8:25, 8:16, 8:12, 8:10, 7:57 and 8:08. My total time was 1:06:50. I felt pretty good despite some left knee stiffness and lower back tightness that I attribute to running at 0430 in the morning.
I think I'm going to take it easy this week and do some rehab on my knee so that I don't exacerbate it at all. I want to be healthy for the Parade Run, Abe's Amble and the Polka Pace Race.
I ran 26.25 miles on the week to give myself 805.5 for the year. I ran 33 miles last week with key workouts being my 3x1200 that I wrote about, 3x1 mile at tempo pace (6:45) and an eleven mile run on Saturday.
I ran my 3x1 mile practice early in the morning and had a hard time getting my legs going the first workbout. I ran that one in 6:51.31 but was able to run the next two in 6:44.55 and 6:44.29.
My eleven miler consisted of a mile in my sub-division (that I covered in 8:38) and a ten mile out-and-back on the bike trail. I covered the 5 miles out in 42:02 and the 5 miles back in 41:20 for a total time of 1:32:00.
This coming week will just be an easy week. If I do anything hard it will probably be a three mile tempo run on Wednesday. I'll just see how the knee feels.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Sizzling Mile
Last night, at the Sacred Heart-Griffen High School Track, I competed in the 8th heat of the 3rd annual Sizzling Mile. I missed last years event, held at the Springfield High School's "square" track, due to my son only being about two weeks old at the time. At the inaugural event I ran the full mile in 5:50 and I was looking to drastically improve that time last night.
Based on my training, and my earlier trash talking in my blog, I predicted that I could run a 5:25 mile at last night's event. I showed up to the track early and helped get people registered until the first heat started. My arch-nemesis, the Bionic Woman, and I ran about two miles for a warm-up and then I watched the next few heats until it was time to stride out and report for my heat.
I was in my heat with the Bionic Woman, David D., Jordan B., and other assorted high school athletes and age group studs from the running club. Our honorary starts sent us on our way from a classice waterfall start and the early pace was very frenetic as we jockeyed for position. I could tell at the 150 mark that I was going to be in trouble if I didn't ease off and settle into my race pace. I let a little group set up ahead of me, consisting of David D., a junior high stud from Rochester and a few others. I hit the 400 in 1:20.86 and spent the next lap working my way into pouncing distance of the group I was chasing. I hit 800 a step or two behind my prey in 2:42.36 with a lap time of 1:21.50. Upon passing through the halfway point I surged very hard so that there was no doubt that I meant to break the runners I was passing. I'm sure that the spectators thought I had miscounted laps and was mounting my finishing kick a lap premature but I surged hard by design because I have learned, eleven years after my last high school track meet, that I always slow down too much the third lap. Who says I never learn my lessons? I passed the junior high stud and David D. and found myself in a no man's land between packs as I crossed the 1200 in 4:04.86 with 400 split of 1:22.50. I surged once more to discourage anyone behind me but had a weak mental moment on the backstretch where the oxygen debt hit me a little. I convinced myself, with just over 200 remaining, that I was only going to be in pain for about another 40 seconds and I finished strong with a 403 meter time, this is a full mile after all, of 1:23.00. The time on my watch read 5:27.86. I little slower than my prediction but nothing that I'm going to cry over. I'm quite happy with my race.
I broke the old 25-29 age group record of 5:35.86 with my performance, as did David D. with his 5:34 showing. Unfortunately, two minutes after my heat ended, the REALLY fast guys started their race. The 9th heat was won with a time of 4:35 and a 28 year old from Peoria ran a 4:52. I figure I held my age group record for about seven minutes or so. I'm okay with it because the two age groups below mine and the four above all had records below 5:00 and it just made all the 25-29 year olds look slow.
I placed 17th overall, a few ticks ahead of the Bionic Woman who ran 5:30.99 for 18th and first overall female. I beat her for the first time in nine tries and she said she doesn't really like getting beat by me so I'm guessing that it will probably take me nine more tries to beat her again.
Based on my training, and my earlier trash talking in my blog, I predicted that I could run a 5:25 mile at last night's event. I showed up to the track early and helped get people registered until the first heat started. My arch-nemesis, the Bionic Woman, and I ran about two miles for a warm-up and then I watched the next few heats until it was time to stride out and report for my heat.
I was in my heat with the Bionic Woman, David D., Jordan B., and other assorted high school athletes and age group studs from the running club. Our honorary starts sent us on our way from a classice waterfall start and the early pace was very frenetic as we jockeyed for position. I could tell at the 150 mark that I was going to be in trouble if I didn't ease off and settle into my race pace. I let a little group set up ahead of me, consisting of David D., a junior high stud from Rochester and a few others. I hit the 400 in 1:20.86 and spent the next lap working my way into pouncing distance of the group I was chasing. I hit 800 a step or two behind my prey in 2:42.36 with a lap time of 1:21.50. Upon passing through the halfway point I surged very hard so that there was no doubt that I meant to break the runners I was passing. I'm sure that the spectators thought I had miscounted laps and was mounting my finishing kick a lap premature but I surged hard by design because I have learned, eleven years after my last high school track meet, that I always slow down too much the third lap. Who says I never learn my lessons? I passed the junior high stud and David D. and found myself in a no man's land between packs as I crossed the 1200 in 4:04.86 with 400 split of 1:22.50. I surged once more to discourage anyone behind me but had a weak mental moment on the backstretch where the oxygen debt hit me a little. I convinced myself, with just over 200 remaining, that I was only going to be in pain for about another 40 seconds and I finished strong with a 403 meter time, this is a full mile after all, of 1:23.00. The time on my watch read 5:27.86. I little slower than my prediction but nothing that I'm going to cry over. I'm quite happy with my race.
I broke the old 25-29 age group record of 5:35.86 with my performance, as did David D. with his 5:34 showing. Unfortunately, two minutes after my heat ended, the REALLY fast guys started their race. The 9th heat was won with a time of 4:35 and a 28 year old from Peoria ran a 4:52. I figure I held my age group record for about seven minutes or so. I'm okay with it because the two age groups below mine and the four above all had records below 5:00 and it just made all the 25-29 year olds look slow.
I placed 17th overall, a few ticks ahead of the Bionic Woman who ran 5:30.99 for 18th and first overall female. I beat her for the first time in nine tries and she said she doesn't really like getting beat by me so I'm guessing that it will probably take me nine more tries to beat her again.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Goodbye Harry.
I received my copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in the mail at approximately 1330 Saturday afternoon and by 2010 hrs Sunday night I had completed it. I was a relative late-comer to the Harry Potter saga as I didn't get interested in the books until the first movie and the fourth book came out in late 2001. My world, at the time, was a little uncertain as I had just gotten engaged, I was in my last year of college at SIUC, I was still in the Air National Guard, and September 11th had just occurred.
Harry's world grabbed hold of me like nothing had since I read "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" in junior high and the first few books of the Dark Tower series by Steven King in high school. Things were a little simpler in Harry's world but as the books progressed things got darker and scarier just like the world I was in when I first met The Boy Who Lived.
After I caught up to book four: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", I eagerly awaited each new installment of Harry, Ron and Hermione's adventures, even going so far as to attending the midnight release party for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Although I didn't dress up and my wife and I got pulled over at a roadside sobriety check. I think they almost hauled us in because we hadn't been out drinking and we were CLEARLY in our mid-twenties and holding a Harry Potter book at 0130 on a Saturday morning.
I approached Book Seven with some trepidation as I knew that all the questions I had were going to be answered: Who was going to die? Was it Harry? Is Snape a bad man or a good guy? Everything turned out about the way I expected it to and Ms. Rowling did a good job, like always, of keeping the book honest in that people have secrets, people are afraid and people die but life inevitably goes on.
I can continue with my life, waiting for the next great story to come along and pull me into the lives being lived therein, and I will put Harry on my book case with other old friends whose stories have ended: Bilbo, Frodo and Sam. Roland Deschain and his ka-tet of Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy. Horatio Hornblower and William Bush. Corwin of Amber and Merlin of the Courts of Chaos. Lazarus Long. Kilgore Trout. Paul Atreides who became Muad'Dib. John Perry and Jane Sagan. And last, but not least, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Tricia McMillan, and Marvin the Paranoid Android.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione will have some good company.
I'm sure Honor Harrington, Harry Dresden, Tavi of Calderon, Drizzt Do'Urden and John Taylor of the Nightside will be along soon.
Harry's world grabbed hold of me like nothing had since I read "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" in junior high and the first few books of the Dark Tower series by Steven King in high school. Things were a little simpler in Harry's world but as the books progressed things got darker and scarier just like the world I was in when I first met The Boy Who Lived.
After I caught up to book four: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", I eagerly awaited each new installment of Harry, Ron and Hermione's adventures, even going so far as to attending the midnight release party for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Although I didn't dress up and my wife and I got pulled over at a roadside sobriety check. I think they almost hauled us in because we hadn't been out drinking and we were CLEARLY in our mid-twenties and holding a Harry Potter book at 0130 on a Saturday morning.
I approached Book Seven with some trepidation as I knew that all the questions I had were going to be answered: Who was going to die? Was it Harry? Is Snape a bad man or a good guy? Everything turned out about the way I expected it to and Ms. Rowling did a good job, like always, of keeping the book honest in that people have secrets, people are afraid and people die but life inevitably goes on.
I can continue with my life, waiting for the next great story to come along and pull me into the lives being lived therein, and I will put Harry on my book case with other old friends whose stories have ended: Bilbo, Frodo and Sam. Roland Deschain and his ka-tet of Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy. Horatio Hornblower and William Bush. Corwin of Amber and Merlin of the Courts of Chaos. Lazarus Long. Kilgore Trout. Paul Atreides who became Muad'Dib. John Perry and Jane Sagan. And last, but not least, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Tricia McMillan, and Marvin the Paranoid Android.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione will have some good company.
I'm sure Honor Harrington, Harry Dresden, Tavi of Calderon, Drizzt Do'Urden and John Taylor of the Nightside will be along soon.
Monday, July 16, 2007
3x1200 again.
I positively SPRANG out of bed this morning, four minutes before my alarm went off, and ran to the high school track for my workout. It was a beautiful morning: 61 degrees and calm. The only downside was the 96% humidity but with the 61 degree temp I didn't really notice it.
I got a warm-up mile on the way over and did a mile of strides and started my first 1200 in the pre-dawn twilight. I couldn't see my watch very well so I couldn't really tell what my lap times were but I ended up hitting my first rep in 4:35.21. I jogged 600 meters in about 3:30 and started my second 1200. The visibility had improved but as I passed the 400 mark I realized that my son had switched my watch over to split time instead of lap time so I was getting the total time I'd been running since I started my watch on my first rep. Despite the fact that I couldn't tell what my splits were I still managed to run rep #2 in 4:35.49. I stopped my watch, memorized my times, cleared it and switched back to lap time just in time to start my final 1200. I wasn't paying too much attention to my splits, as I'd been having pretty good luck, but I hit my first 400 in the neighborhood of 1:31 and hit 800 just as 3:04 turned over. I closed out the last lap and ran a total time of 4:35.42.
After the last 1200 I felt so good that I started walking to the exit gate and started my cool-down mile. I ran my practice a little faster than I was supposed too but it felt GOOD! My last 3x1200 practice was a little warmer and I was much more fatigued. I love it when a practice feels effortless.
I covered 6 miles this morning and tomorrow morning I am going to run an easy five or six. I think I'm going to get rained on one way or the other so I intend to run when there is no lightening.
I got a warm-up mile on the way over and did a mile of strides and started my first 1200 in the pre-dawn twilight. I couldn't see my watch very well so I couldn't really tell what my lap times were but I ended up hitting my first rep in 4:35.21. I jogged 600 meters in about 3:30 and started my second 1200. The visibility had improved but as I passed the 400 mark I realized that my son had switched my watch over to split time instead of lap time so I was getting the total time I'd been running since I started my watch on my first rep. Despite the fact that I couldn't tell what my splits were I still managed to run rep #2 in 4:35.49. I stopped my watch, memorized my times, cleared it and switched back to lap time just in time to start my final 1200. I wasn't paying too much attention to my splits, as I'd been having pretty good luck, but I hit my first 400 in the neighborhood of 1:31 and hit 800 just as 3:04 turned over. I closed out the last lap and ran a total time of 4:35.42.
After the last 1200 I felt so good that I started walking to the exit gate and started my cool-down mile. I ran my practice a little faster than I was supposed too but it felt GOOD! My last 3x1200 practice was a little warmer and I was much more fatigued. I love it when a practice feels effortless.
I covered 6 miles this morning and tomorrow morning I am going to run an easy five or six. I think I'm going to get rained on one way or the other so I intend to run when there is no lightening.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
1400 miles?
I was looking at my total mileage for the year and there is a slight possibility that I can cover 1400 miles for the year. As of right now, 28 weeks into the year, I have run 746.25 miles. Last year at week 28 I had 612.75 and ended up totaling 1,145.5 miles. Looking back at my high school training logs I was covering over 2,000 miles a year. I was also running the mile in 4:40 and dueling Nate for Prairieland Conference titles in the 1600 and 4x800. Look how far we've come in the last 11 years. Brokedown and slower but we married some hotties!!!
I closed out my week with a five mile run in 42:28 hitting my splits in 8:48, 8:41, 8:23, 8:30 and 8:07. I wasn't feeling it Saturday morning so I just zoned out and made myself slow down when I sped up, except for the last mile when I was getting hungry and wanted some coffee.
I volunteered at the Women's Distance Festival Two mile run at Washington Park. I helped with the finish line. My pal, the Bionic Woman, got beat by the defending champion: 11:12 to 11:55. The champ is pretty tough, she ran Abe's Amble last year in 38:20 and Abe's isn't easy.
The Bionic Woman informed me that we are in the same heat at the Sizzling Mile in about ten days. I'm gunning for 5:25 and I think she's going to try to hold on and see if she can't beat me. She ran 5:45 or 5:43 last year. I guess we'll see how it shakes down next week.
I covered 31.75 miles and am looking at hitting in that neighborhood again this week. Tomorrow morning I am going to rise early and hit the track for another session of 3x1200 in 4:36. We'll see how the practice feels when I haven't run a ten second best in a 5k two days prior. Tuesday will be an easy five or six, Wednesday will be either 3x1 mile cruise intervals (at 6:44 pace) or a two mile run followed by a one mile run after two minutes rest also at 6:44 pace. I haven't decided yet. Thursday will be a goose egg like always. Friday and Saturday will be and easy five and ten or eleven.
I closed out my week with a five mile run in 42:28 hitting my splits in 8:48, 8:41, 8:23, 8:30 and 8:07. I wasn't feeling it Saturday morning so I just zoned out and made myself slow down when I sped up, except for the last mile when I was getting hungry and wanted some coffee.
I volunteered at the Women's Distance Festival Two mile run at Washington Park. I helped with the finish line. My pal, the Bionic Woman, got beat by the defending champion: 11:12 to 11:55. The champ is pretty tough, she ran Abe's Amble last year in 38:20 and Abe's isn't easy.
The Bionic Woman informed me that we are in the same heat at the Sizzling Mile in about ten days. I'm gunning for 5:25 and I think she's going to try to hold on and see if she can't beat me. She ran 5:45 or 5:43 last year. I guess we'll see how it shakes down next week.
I covered 31.75 miles and am looking at hitting in that neighborhood again this week. Tomorrow morning I am going to rise early and hit the track for another session of 3x1200 in 4:36. We'll see how the practice feels when I haven't run a ten second best in a 5k two days prior. Tuesday will be an easy five or six, Wednesday will be either 3x1 mile cruise intervals (at 6:44 pace) or a two mile run followed by a one mile run after two minutes rest also at 6:44 pace. I haven't decided yet. Thursday will be a goose egg like always. Friday and Saturday will be and easy five and ten or eleven.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Going Long with Dinosaur Jr.
I got up this morning at 0445, stretched out and hit the bike trail for a ten mile run with my iPod Shuffle. I had spent most of the afternoon yesterday, after returning from "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", loading songs onto my iPod so I could groove to some tunes. I loaded up Dinosaur Jr.'s latest CD "Beyond", "Fashion Nugget" by Cake and assorted Wilco, Tom Waits and the Clash. I have loved Dinosaur since about 1994 when a high school chum loaned me "Where You Been". I had never heard such beautiful grunge guitar before and was hooked from the opening track "Out There". When I was doing my time in training with the Air Force I expanded my Dinosaur collection until I had everything they'd done. Everyone talks about how "Bug" is their seminal album, and I tend to agree, but I always had a soft spot for "Green Mind" and the aforementioned "Where You Been".
Dinosaur was pretty much a one man show after "Bug" as J Masicis, the lead guitarist/vocalist, kicked bassist Lou Barlow out of the band after creative differences. Dinosaur continued, over the course of five CDs, to have J Mascis playing every instrument with the original drummer, Murph, playing on selected tracks and stand-in bassist/guitarist Michael Johnson helping out on occasion.
Barlow, in the meantime, started off the lo-fi movement by recording a series of tapes in his living room with multi-instrumentalist Eric Gaffney. Thus was born Sebadoh. Sebadoh is the granddaddy of modern day "emo" bands and released quite a few decent, if disjointed, recordings. Notable among their output is 1993's "Bubble and Scrape", 1994's "Bakesale" which features one of my favorite Sebadoh tunes "Drama Mine". Their most critically acclaimed disc is 1996's "Harmacy" which features a picture of O'Dwyer's Pharmacy when the "P" fell off the sign. I thought it was a cool little double entendre.
Lou Barlow is also famous for writing the soundtrack to a little film called "Kids". A little group called the Folk Implosion had a song called "Natural One" make a surprising run into the top-40. The song was penned and performed by Barlow and his friend, John Davis.
For more info on Dinosaur Jr. click here. For more about Sebadoh, click here.
With my iPod loaded and belting out "Almost Ready" by the recently reunited Dinosaur Jr. I made my way into the 64 degree, 96% humidity and 4 mph NW winds. I hit my five mile turnaround in a relaxed 42:28 and brought myself home in a less sedate 39:51 to complete my ten in 1:22:19. Fittingly, the last song played by my Shuffle was "The Distance" by Cake. How ironic.
When I got home I got the coffee brewing and went outside to stretch and drink some water while I started reading the paper. I went back inside after I downed my 20 oz of water and had just finished my first cup of coffee when my son woke up. I changed his diaper and put him in his high chair for a breakfast of watermelon, strawberry-banana baby food and an orange. After that he got a bath and a bottle and we watched "It's a Big, Big World" and "Sesame Street" on PBS. I like Sesame Street but Big, Big World is a little weird. The main character is a sloth in the rainforest hanging out with his monkey, ant-eater, frog, bird and fish friends. It is kind cute but the monkeys are freaky and the sloth, Snook, sounds like a hippy surfer. Nothing against the hippy surfer community but I would expect a sloth to sound more tired than stoned.
Tomorrow I am volunteering to help at the Women's Distance Festival where some of my woman friends are going to be running. I think the Bionic Woman has a shot to win but the defending champ from Decatur will be a tough nut to crack, even for the Bionic Woman. I was going to wear something weird but I'm not sure what. I was thinking about wearing one of my short-sleeved blue dress shirts with my Jerry Garcia tie, my black running shorts, blue socks and my Brooks Glycerine running shoes. I guess that would be business/athletic attire.
Yesterday Kim and I went to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". We both enjoyed it although they left quite a bit out that could have made the movie feel a little more fleshed out. The book is about 700 pages long and they pruned and smashed it into a 90 minute movie. "Phoenix" is not my favorite Potter book but it had moments. Certain things that should have been fleshed out more in the movie were the budding romance between Harry and Cho Chang, the massive prank the Weasly twins pull as they leave Hogwarts, and I think they should have showed Dumbledore's Army ace their OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Level) exam in the Defense Against the Dark Arts since that was the reason Dumbledore's Army was formed in the first place.
Things I liked: I loved the girl they cast as the slightly "off" Luna Lovegood who suspects that the disappearance of her shoes and other personal effects are due to Nargylls. ("What are Nargylls?" asks Ron. "I have no idea." says Hermione.) The climatic battle between Lord Voldemort and Dumbledore in the Ministry of Magic is quite cool. Any scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione are together is great, unfortunately Ron and Hermione are relegated to the background for the majority of the film.
I think Daniel Radcliffe is going to be an exceptional actor after the Potter movies wrap. I suspect we'll see him cast as a drug addict or a murderer so he can distance himself from the Harry Potter role, although he was a horse-f----r on stage in "Equus" where he got rave reviews.
We also rented "Shooter" the other night, starring Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg. It was a surprisingly entertaining little action flick that tried to be plausible (you actually saw people reload their weapons during the firefights) but was still a little improbable (Marky Mark couldn't miss but never got winged after the first 15 minutes of the movie). Danny Glover and Ned "Squeal like a Pig" Beatty were great "shades of gray" villians as a former Army colonel and a Big Oil Senator. Definitely worth the $2.80.
Dinosaur was pretty much a one man show after "Bug" as J Masicis, the lead guitarist/vocalist, kicked bassist Lou Barlow out of the band after creative differences. Dinosaur continued, over the course of five CDs, to have J Mascis playing every instrument with the original drummer, Murph, playing on selected tracks and stand-in bassist/guitarist Michael Johnson helping out on occasion.
Barlow, in the meantime, started off the lo-fi movement by recording a series of tapes in his living room with multi-instrumentalist Eric Gaffney. Thus was born Sebadoh. Sebadoh is the granddaddy of modern day "emo" bands and released quite a few decent, if disjointed, recordings. Notable among their output is 1993's "Bubble and Scrape", 1994's "Bakesale" which features one of my favorite Sebadoh tunes "Drama Mine". Their most critically acclaimed disc is 1996's "Harmacy" which features a picture of O'Dwyer's Pharmacy when the "P" fell off the sign. I thought it was a cool little double entendre.
Lou Barlow is also famous for writing the soundtrack to a little film called "Kids". A little group called the Folk Implosion had a song called "Natural One" make a surprising run into the top-40. The song was penned and performed by Barlow and his friend, John Davis.
For more info on Dinosaur Jr. click here. For more about Sebadoh, click here.
With my iPod loaded and belting out "Almost Ready" by the recently reunited Dinosaur Jr. I made my way into the 64 degree, 96% humidity and 4 mph NW winds. I hit my five mile turnaround in a relaxed 42:28 and brought myself home in a less sedate 39:51 to complete my ten in 1:22:19. Fittingly, the last song played by my Shuffle was "The Distance" by Cake. How ironic.
When I got home I got the coffee brewing and went outside to stretch and drink some water while I started reading the paper. I went back inside after I downed my 20 oz of water and had just finished my first cup of coffee when my son woke up. I changed his diaper and put him in his high chair for a breakfast of watermelon, strawberry-banana baby food and an orange. After that he got a bath and a bottle and we watched "It's a Big, Big World" and "Sesame Street" on PBS. I like Sesame Street but Big, Big World is a little weird. The main character is a sloth in the rainforest hanging out with his monkey, ant-eater, frog, bird and fish friends. It is kind cute but the monkeys are freaky and the sloth, Snook, sounds like a hippy surfer. Nothing against the hippy surfer community but I would expect a sloth to sound more tired than stoned.
Tomorrow I am volunteering to help at the Women's Distance Festival where some of my woman friends are going to be running. I think the Bionic Woman has a shot to win but the defending champ from Decatur will be a tough nut to crack, even for the Bionic Woman. I was going to wear something weird but I'm not sure what. I was thinking about wearing one of my short-sleeved blue dress shirts with my Jerry Garcia tie, my black running shorts, blue socks and my Brooks Glycerine running shoes. I guess that would be business/athletic attire.
Yesterday Kim and I went to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". We both enjoyed it although they left quite a bit out that could have made the movie feel a little more fleshed out. The book is about 700 pages long and they pruned and smashed it into a 90 minute movie. "Phoenix" is not my favorite Potter book but it had moments. Certain things that should have been fleshed out more in the movie were the budding romance between Harry and Cho Chang, the massive prank the Weasly twins pull as they leave Hogwarts, and I think they should have showed Dumbledore's Army ace their OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Level) exam in the Defense Against the Dark Arts since that was the reason Dumbledore's Army was formed in the first place.
Things I liked: I loved the girl they cast as the slightly "off" Luna Lovegood who suspects that the disappearance of her shoes and other personal effects are due to Nargylls. ("What are Nargylls?" asks Ron. "I have no idea." says Hermione.) The climatic battle between Lord Voldemort and Dumbledore in the Ministry of Magic is quite cool. Any scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione are together is great, unfortunately Ron and Hermione are relegated to the background for the majority of the film.
I think Daniel Radcliffe is going to be an exceptional actor after the Potter movies wrap. I suspect we'll see him cast as a drug addict or a murderer so he can distance himself from the Harry Potter role, although he was a horse-f----r on stage in "Equus" where he got rave reviews.
We also rented "Shooter" the other night, starring Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg. It was a surprisingly entertaining little action flick that tried to be plausible (you actually saw people reload their weapons during the firefights) but was still a little improbable (Marky Mark couldn't miss but never got winged after the first 15 minutes of the movie). Danny Glover and Ned "Squeal like a Pig" Beatty were great "shades of gray" villians as a former Army colonel and a Big Oil Senator. Definitely worth the $2.80.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I can't think of much to write about today that will be amusing. I ran an easy five yesterday morning in 41:27 with splits of 8:23, 8:23, 8:11, 8:12 and 8:18. It got a little warm the last 3 miles because the nice 14 mph wind from the South was at my back and it was 78 with 78% humidity and the sun was beating down. I was happy to finish up yesterday.
This morning I ran a tempo run. I ran a mile warm up in 8:33 and stretched a bit. My new tempo pace associated with my VDOT is 6:44. I started my three mile tempo with a 6:45.19 mile and then hit mile two in 6:44.17. Mile three was covered in 6:45.76 and then I ran a cool-down mile in 8:35. I felt pretty good and didn't strain too much, it was comfortably hard like it was supposed to be.
Last night Kim and I watched "Black Snake Moan" with Samuel L. Jackson and a nymphomaniac Christina Ricci who showed an awful lot of skin during the course of the film. It was a pretty good movie with a GREAT soundtrack and a nice performance by Jackson. I don't usually care for him too much most of the time because he always seems to be playing his character from "Pulp Fiction".
Jackson's character has just had his wife run out on him with his younger brother and finds Ricci's character, beat up and unconscious, on the side of the road in a semi-nude state. He takes her into his house where he takes care of her because she has pneumonia and is feverish. She keeps having nightmares about childhood abuse and wandering around the house and after she comes on to Jackson during one of her episodes he chains her to the radiator.
I'll just leave it at that for now. It sounds like a bizarre movie, and it is, but I highly recommend it.
This morning I ran a tempo run. I ran a mile warm up in 8:33 and stretched a bit. My new tempo pace associated with my VDOT is 6:44. I started my three mile tempo with a 6:45.19 mile and then hit mile two in 6:44.17. Mile three was covered in 6:45.76 and then I ran a cool-down mile in 8:35. I felt pretty good and didn't strain too much, it was comfortably hard like it was supposed to be.
Last night Kim and I watched "Black Snake Moan" with Samuel L. Jackson and a nymphomaniac Christina Ricci who showed an awful lot of skin during the course of the film. It was a pretty good movie with a GREAT soundtrack and a nice performance by Jackson. I don't usually care for him too much most of the time because he always seems to be playing his character from "Pulp Fiction".
Jackson's character has just had his wife run out on him with his younger brother and finds Ricci's character, beat up and unconscious, on the side of the road in a semi-nude state. He takes her into his house where he takes care of her because she has pneumonia and is feverish. She keeps having nightmares about childhood abuse and wandering around the house and after she comes on to Jackson during one of her episodes he chains her to the radiator.
I'll just leave it at that for now. It sounds like a bizarre movie, and it is, but I highly recommend it.
Monday, July 9, 2007
4 x 1000
I got up this morning at 0530 and ran 4 x 1000 at the track. It was 73 with 73% humidity and winds SW 4 mph. I ran a mile warm-up in 8:19 and a mile of strides in 7:55. I took a few minutes to stretch out and started the meat of my workout. The goal today was to run each repeat in 3:51 and jog 600 meters for a recovery between reps.
#1. 3:51.98 (3:30.33)
#2. 3:51.93 (3:36.44)
#3. 3:50.62 (3:37.38)
#4. 3:50.75 (1:13.01 200m. jog back to starting point)
I felt pretty good throughout the workout and didn't get any of the shoulder tightness that has plagued me for the last few weeks. I was reading an article about Emil Zatopek and he always ran with his thumbs lightly pressed against his index or middle fingers as he ran to keep his upper body relaxed. I have been doing it for the last week or so and it seems to help. It might just be in my head but I didn't fall apart at the Premier Bank 5k and I felt pretty relaxed today so I'm going to continue doing it.
Tomorrow I am going to run an easy five and hope it doesn't rain so we can take Nathan to the water park for his birthday. We have to wrap his last few presents tonight so we can surprise him tomorrow. Little kids are fun because it doesn't take much to surprise them.
We watched "Bridge to Terebithia" last night and it was just as sad at the age of 29 as it was when I was 10 and read the book. My allergies started bothering me towards the end and I got something in my eye but I'm okay now. Tonight we're going to watch "Norbet" or whatever it is with Eddie Murphy in the fat woman suit. If it sucks I'll post it on the blog.
#1. 3:51.98 (3:30.33)
#2. 3:51.93 (3:36.44)
#3. 3:50.62 (3:37.38)
#4. 3:50.75 (1:13.01 200m. jog back to starting point)
I felt pretty good throughout the workout and didn't get any of the shoulder tightness that has plagued me for the last few weeks. I was reading an article about Emil Zatopek and he always ran with his thumbs lightly pressed against his index or middle fingers as he ran to keep his upper body relaxed. I have been doing it for the last week or so and it seems to help. It might just be in my head but I didn't fall apart at the Premier Bank 5k and I felt pretty relaxed today so I'm going to continue doing it.
Tomorrow I am going to run an easy five and hope it doesn't rain so we can take Nathan to the water park for his birthday. We have to wrap his last few presents tonight so we can surprise him tomorrow. Little kids are fun because it doesn't take much to surprise them.
We watched "Bridge to Terebithia" last night and it was just as sad at the age of 29 as it was when I was 10 and read the book. My allergies started bothering me towards the end and I got something in my eye but I'm okay now. Tonight we're going to watch "Norbet" or whatever it is with Eddie Murphy in the fat woman suit. If it sucks I'll post it on the blog.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Partying
Since my last post my house has been busy. Thursday we left Nathan at daycare so we could go get him birthday presents. I got him a Fisher Price dumptruck just like the one I had when I was little. We also got him a tent that is shaped like Thomas the Tank Engine, a choo-choo train that you put shapes into, a "pop-corn popper" push toy that counts and a Sesame St. TV remote that sings and counts and does other things that will probably annoy us about 15 minutes after we take it out of the box. Needless to say, we didn't buy extra batteries.
Friday was spent sweeping, mopping, dusting and carpet shampooing. Saturday afternoon we had Nathan's first birthday party with friends and assorted family members. We celebrated a few days early because the actual day is Tuesday and we didn't think family would have wanted to drive down from Peoria on a week night. Nathan got a bunch of cool clothes, balls, beach toys, books and a Thomas the Tank Engine toy that he can sit on and push around. It makes whistling and tooting noises and also plays the theme song to the TV show. Of course the song button is his favorite one to push and I'm sure everyone who attended the party has found themselves humming, whistling or singing (if they know the words) the tune.
"They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight.
While something something or hauling freight
Something something something something
Its Thomas and his friends!"
It really annoys me because I know just enough of the words to get it stuck in an infinity loop but not enough to knock it off.
Friday morning I got up and ran a ten mile run on the bike trail and felt pretty good two days after the race. I took it easy on the way out to the turnaround point and covered the first five in 41:38. I picked it up only a bit on the way back in and ran the last five in 40:39. I finished in 1:22:18 and felt pretty good but slightly dehydrated.
Saturday morning I ran an easy six in 50:12 after getting off to a sluggish start. I hit my splits in 8:49, 8:31, 8:25, 8:17, 8:06 and 8:04. I started daydreaming the last two and let myself go.
Today I think I'm going to take a bike ride and maybe do some yoga or the core secrets workout.
I found the results to the Premier Bank 5k I ran on Wednesday and after looking at them for a minute I think that they left someone out ahead of me. I was given an official time of 19:42 and Yellow Shorts and the Bionic Woman were in the two spots ahead of me but Yellow Shorts was given a time of 19:30 and he only passed me the last 300-400 meters of the race and didn't get 12 seconds ahead of me. The Bionic Woman kicked my butt but didn't kick to the tune of 34 seconds. I think that there was either a bandit or a finishing tag was dropped between the chute and the scoring computer. Results are here.
This is the last week of my vacation and I have no idea what we're going to do. I'm going to get a few good workouts in and finish repairing my popped nails. I think Kim wants to go see the new Harry Potter movie too.
Friday was spent sweeping, mopping, dusting and carpet shampooing. Saturday afternoon we had Nathan's first birthday party with friends and assorted family members. We celebrated a few days early because the actual day is Tuesday and we didn't think family would have wanted to drive down from Peoria on a week night. Nathan got a bunch of cool clothes, balls, beach toys, books and a Thomas the Tank Engine toy that he can sit on and push around. It makes whistling and tooting noises and also plays the theme song to the TV show. Of course the song button is his favorite one to push and I'm sure everyone who attended the party has found themselves humming, whistling or singing (if they know the words) the tune.
"They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight.
While something something or hauling freight
Something something something something
Its Thomas and his friends!"
It really annoys me because I know just enough of the words to get it stuck in an infinity loop but not enough to knock it off.
Friday morning I got up and ran a ten mile run on the bike trail and felt pretty good two days after the race. I took it easy on the way out to the turnaround point and covered the first five in 41:38. I picked it up only a bit on the way back in and ran the last five in 40:39. I finished in 1:22:18 and felt pretty good but slightly dehydrated.
Saturday morning I ran an easy six in 50:12 after getting off to a sluggish start. I hit my splits in 8:49, 8:31, 8:25, 8:17, 8:06 and 8:04. I started daydreaming the last two and let myself go.
Today I think I'm going to take a bike ride and maybe do some yoga or the core secrets workout.
I found the results to the Premier Bank 5k I ran on Wednesday and after looking at them for a minute I think that they left someone out ahead of me. I was given an official time of 19:42 and Yellow Shorts and the Bionic Woman were in the two spots ahead of me but Yellow Shorts was given a time of 19:30 and he only passed me the last 300-400 meters of the race and didn't get 12 seconds ahead of me. The Bionic Woman kicked my butt but didn't kick to the tune of 34 seconds. I think that there was either a bandit or a finishing tag was dropped between the chute and the scoring computer. Results are here.
This is the last week of my vacation and I have no idea what we're going to do. I'm going to get a few good workouts in and finish repairing my popped nails. I think Kim wants to go see the new Harry Potter movie too.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Premier Bank 5k
I got up this morning at 0545 with my son and we ate breakfast and played until I left the house at 0700 to get to Jacksonville after having run a mile warm-up in the sub-division. I'm glad I ran that mile because I didn't get there until about twenty 'til eight and had to register, use the restroom and change into my flats. I ran to each destination and got a slight warm-up that way and did a few strides at the starting line. I was sweating at that point and I figured that with temps in the low 70s and humidity that was also in the 70% range I was warmed up pretty well. I was wrong.
The gun went off and Coach C. and I ran together for most of the first mile until he fell off the pace. I felt pretty stiff and dead in my legs and eased into my race and hit the first mile slightly behind Joy (hereby referred to as the "Bionic Woman") in 6:27.78. It sure didn't feel like I had run that slow so I sped up and started to pass people. I 3-4 people the second mile and hit two in 13:15.45 with a 6:47.67 split still within 2-3 seconds of the Bionic Woman. I was in contact with a strung out group of about five people and I started picking them off as the Bionic Woman started surging and building up a lead on me. I kept the turnover going and started surging at every other phone pole until I hit what I figured to be the half mile to go point. I passed my pal Matt, who wasn't having a good day, and caught a few high school kids. I had been dueling with a guy in yellow shorts most of the last mile and I thought I broke him but he passed me with about 400 to go and I couldn't run him down again. I clicked my watch at the starting line, which I figured to be in the area of the three mile mark, and passed it in 19:20.98 with a mile split of 6:05.53. I'm pretty sure I didn't run a 6:05 mile. I ran the last bit of the race in 26.00 and didn't vomit which tells me that I was no where near the three mile mark when I took the split because a 26.00 induces involuntary evacuation of the stomach 100% of the time. I ran into the finish chute and stopped my watch at 19:46.98. Not bad for feeling tired.
I ran a 14 minute cool-down with the Bionic Woman and a few other people from the Club as we waited for the results to come up. The Bionic Woman won the women's race with an official time of 19:18, which was about 10-11 seconds faster than what she had timed herself at. She had one of those Polar pedometer things on and it measured the course out at 3.14 (pi!). Nyle got 3.06 on his and someone else got 3.20 on theirs. I ended up winning my age group with an official time of 19:32 (at least that's what I think he said). And Yellow Shorts won his age group in 19:30. Ironically, I beat Yellow Shorts at Scholastic by about a second and he returned the favor today.
Coach placed second in his age group with a time of 20:48 but left before the awards.
I feel good about the race. I gave a pretty even effort and only got passed by two people (Bionic Woman and Yellow Shorts) and I passed close to ten or more the last two miles of the race. I didn't wimp out the last mile and I pushed myself right up into that discomfort zone and to the edge of regurgitation. The last time I ran this race was in 2004, and it was my very first race after four years of nothing. I finished it in 23:26 and took almost FOUR minutes off that time today. I'm pretty happy about that.
The gun went off and Coach C. and I ran together for most of the first mile until he fell off the pace. I felt pretty stiff and dead in my legs and eased into my race and hit the first mile slightly behind Joy (hereby referred to as the "Bionic Woman") in 6:27.78. It sure didn't feel like I had run that slow so I sped up and started to pass people. I 3-4 people the second mile and hit two in 13:15.45 with a 6:47.67 split still within 2-3 seconds of the Bionic Woman. I was in contact with a strung out group of about five people and I started picking them off as the Bionic Woman started surging and building up a lead on me. I kept the turnover going and started surging at every other phone pole until I hit what I figured to be the half mile to go point. I passed my pal Matt, who wasn't having a good day, and caught a few high school kids. I had been dueling with a guy in yellow shorts most of the last mile and I thought I broke him but he passed me with about 400 to go and I couldn't run him down again. I clicked my watch at the starting line, which I figured to be in the area of the three mile mark, and passed it in 19:20.98 with a mile split of 6:05.53. I'm pretty sure I didn't run a 6:05 mile. I ran the last bit of the race in 26.00 and didn't vomit which tells me that I was no where near the three mile mark when I took the split because a 26.00 induces involuntary evacuation of the stomach 100% of the time. I ran into the finish chute and stopped my watch at 19:46.98. Not bad for feeling tired.
I ran a 14 minute cool-down with the Bionic Woman and a few other people from the Club as we waited for the results to come up. The Bionic Woman won the women's race with an official time of 19:18, which was about 10-11 seconds faster than what she had timed herself at. She had one of those Polar pedometer things on and it measured the course out at 3.14 (pi!). Nyle got 3.06 on his and someone else got 3.20 on theirs. I ended up winning my age group with an official time of 19:32 (at least that's what I think he said). And Yellow Shorts won his age group in 19:30. Ironically, I beat Yellow Shorts at Scholastic by about a second and he returned the favor today.
Coach placed second in his age group with a time of 20:48 but left before the awards.
I feel good about the race. I gave a pretty even effort and only got passed by two people (Bionic Woman and Yellow Shorts) and I passed close to ten or more the last two miles of the race. I didn't wimp out the last mile and I pushed myself right up into that discomfort zone and to the edge of regurgitation. The last time I ran this race was in 2004, and it was my very first race after four years of nothing. I finished it in 23:26 and took almost FOUR minutes off that time today. I'm pretty happy about that.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Not to be outdone...
I took a few pictures at Washington Park when I went there Monday with my wife and son. I think the one with the Carillon in the background turned out pretty well. I have no idea what type of settings or shutter speed I used. All I know is that I set it for foliage when I shot the flowers and for outdoors when I did the Carillon.
Vacation
I started my vacation Saturday after leaving work that afternoon. I will be going back on July 16th and plan to do very little while I am off. I have been hanging out with my wife and son and reading, playing and napping the last few days.
I have been running a bit but have been taking it easy and getting in some easy miles. Since I wrote last I ran a 10.25 mile run on Friday morning before work in 1:24:18. I ran it a bit faster than my VDOT says to because I was running out of time to get it done and ran the first five in 8:31 pace and the last five in 7:55 pace. I ran a little more relaxed Saturday afternoon covering 5.25 miles in 44:06 or 8:24 pace.
I took Sunday off to play with my boy and mess around.
Monday morning I got up with Nathan and we played, ate some breakfast and watched a little TV until Kim got up. After she woke up and took over for me I ran a six mile run in 50:31 and then did the 20 minute Yoga for Regular Guys workout with Diamond Dallas Page to loosen up my back.
This morning I ran an easy three in 25:04 and then repaired a few of the popped nails that have been annoying me for the last month or so. I have a textured ceiling and I can't seem to get the texture right so my ceiling looks like a rank amateur did the repairs, which I guess is what I am. It doesn't look too bad but it could be better.
After that, we all went to order a cake for Nathan's 1st birthday party this weekend and then we went to Kohls where I bought a few new pair of shorts. Then we went home and Nathan and I took naps.
Tomorrow I am going to run the Premier Bank 5k in Jacksonville. I'm not expecting to run too terribly fast because it doesn't look like it is going to be a great day. Conditions will be similar to the Scholastic Challenge (upper 60s) but the course isn't as shady and there is a chance of a thunderstorm. I'm not feeling rested up for this race, I think that June was a rough month with all the racing and hard training I did, and I'm feeling a little run down. I still think I can run 10-20 seconds faster than I did at Scholastic but I'm not sure when I'm going to do it. Havana maybe?
Coming up on July 25th is the Sizzling Mile during which I think I can run 5:25 or so. I ran 5:36 in practice last year and I know, based on race performances and my first mile split from Scholastic, that I can blow that away.
Thirteen days afer the Sizzling Mile is the Parade Run 2 mile where I am hoping to dip under 12:00 for the first time since 1999 when I ran a two mile split, in the last 5k I ran for five years, in 11:40. I don't think I'll be able to run quite that fast but I think I can squeak under by a few seconds.
Race plan for tomorrow: Mile one in 6:10-6:15. Two mile split under 12:30. Last 1.1 in under 7:00. Not much of a plan but burning the first two as hard as I can and trying to survive the last 1.1 sounds like it will hurt pretty bad. I've done it before but it isn't a smart strategy.
I have been running a bit but have been taking it easy and getting in some easy miles. Since I wrote last I ran a 10.25 mile run on Friday morning before work in 1:24:18. I ran it a bit faster than my VDOT says to because I was running out of time to get it done and ran the first five in 8:31 pace and the last five in 7:55 pace. I ran a little more relaxed Saturday afternoon covering 5.25 miles in 44:06 or 8:24 pace.
I took Sunday off to play with my boy and mess around.
Monday morning I got up with Nathan and we played, ate some breakfast and watched a little TV until Kim got up. After she woke up and took over for me I ran a six mile run in 50:31 and then did the 20 minute Yoga for Regular Guys workout with Diamond Dallas Page to loosen up my back.
This morning I ran an easy three in 25:04 and then repaired a few of the popped nails that have been annoying me for the last month or so. I have a textured ceiling and I can't seem to get the texture right so my ceiling looks like a rank amateur did the repairs, which I guess is what I am. It doesn't look too bad but it could be better.
After that, we all went to order a cake for Nathan's 1st birthday party this weekend and then we went to Kohls where I bought a few new pair of shorts. Then we went home and Nathan and I took naps.
Tomorrow I am going to run the Premier Bank 5k in Jacksonville. I'm not expecting to run too terribly fast because it doesn't look like it is going to be a great day. Conditions will be similar to the Scholastic Challenge (upper 60s) but the course isn't as shady and there is a chance of a thunderstorm. I'm not feeling rested up for this race, I think that June was a rough month with all the racing and hard training I did, and I'm feeling a little run down. I still think I can run 10-20 seconds faster than I did at Scholastic but I'm not sure when I'm going to do it. Havana maybe?
Coming up on July 25th is the Sizzling Mile during which I think I can run 5:25 or so. I ran 5:36 in practice last year and I know, based on race performances and my first mile split from Scholastic, that I can blow that away.
Thirteen days afer the Sizzling Mile is the Parade Run 2 mile where I am hoping to dip under 12:00 for the first time since 1999 when I ran a two mile split, in the last 5k I ran for five years, in 11:40. I don't think I'll be able to run quite that fast but I think I can squeak under by a few seconds.
Race plan for tomorrow: Mile one in 6:10-6:15. Two mile split under 12:30. Last 1.1 in under 7:00. Not much of a plan but burning the first two as hard as I can and trying to survive the last 1.1 sounds like it will hurt pretty bad. I've done it before but it isn't a smart strategy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
