The reasoning of one...

Oh, Christmas Tree

2011-12-01T01:59:00.001-06:00

We went Christmas tree shopping this past Sunday (11/27/11). It was a successful trip to the Hampton Hills Christmas Tree Farm. The hayride and visit with Santa looked pretty lame, so we skipped it. After cutting on site, the tree made it home in one piece. We were about 4-5 inches to tall for the apartment, so after some indoor trimming (with a white twin sheet covering the carpet), everything worked quite well. Here are some pictures:

I told her to find a tree that "spoke to her." She then wandered the aisles asking
questions directed at the trees, listening for answers.

She found a "girl tree".

So, I did what any self-respecting father would do and cut it down.

I had to assemble our new stand and decided to do the trimming in the apartment.

The finished product.

Thanks to Amanda for taking some great action shots. Overall, it was a great experience. I think we'd definitely do it again. It'll take some practice to remind ourselves that it needs watering, but we're doing a great job so far. There should be no difficulty keeping the tree in excellent condition through the holiday season.

It's a food product, essentially.

2011-11-25T10:48:00.001-06:00

After reading this article involving a Walmart shopper in Los Angeles. It's actually not a bad idea. You arrive a little late to the store to get the deals, pepper spray other shoppers, claim their merchandise, and Merry Christmas!

I found this somewhat relevant video:

"Pepper spray, that just burns your eyes, right?"
"Was it diluted?"
"They should have had a bigger reaction than that."
"...a fairly liberal campus..."
"The chancellor said, 'You can't operate a college like this.'"

The better thing about the interview is that Kelly appears to be almost supporting the students in their decisions. I'm not impressed, but am a little surprised. It's too bad Bill doesn't ask some follow up questions about moral decision-making by the campus police.

We educate students, not have them pepper sprayed and arrested.

2011-11-21T19:43:00.001-06:00

As a higher education professional, I have strong opinions about what went down at UC Davis this past weekend. We are educators. As administrators and faculty, we are supposed to be teaching students, not having them pepper-sprayed and arrested for sitting on the sidewalk. At the very least, these students should be meeting with a campus conduct officer, like me not. Shame on Chancellor Katehi. Perhaps she visited and talked with the group before calling the campus police? Ordered some food and had an educational moment? That's what I would hope I would do if I were in her shoes.

Here's a link to The Chronicle of Higher Education piece.

Here's a video that everyone should watch.

Holding the door

2011-11-15T21:22:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about why we hold doors open for each other. Many times, I catch myself (and others) hold a door open for themselves, even when it's being held open. Today, I commented to a Hall Receptionist that it seemed odd that this happens. What do those people think will happen? After politely holding open the door, it's going to slammed in their face as they walk through it?

I could see one reason for the "double-hold". As this picture demonstrates, holder #1 has only a fingertip grip on the door. There's definitely a possibility of the door swinging back in this woman's face.

I was going to rant about this tonight, but as I was doing a quick Internet search, someone had already beat me to it.

When can I "cut the cord"?

2011-11-15T00:19:00.001-06:00

No, not that cord. I've got that down, I'm a real pro. I'm talking about our TV's cable cord (We could really use the extra $15/month). I haven't ever been a consistent TV watcher. Sure, I watch too much television, but it wasn't until this "season" that I began really following a handful of shows. Since Netflix has become a shadow of its former self, we reserve most of the streaming service for our daughter. I don't know how much actual cable TV I personally watch, but it can't be much. However, I'm still a little afraid to "cut the cord" so to speak. I feel as though we'd need to purchase a digital converter box for one of our sets. Anna and I also don't want to take a chance at missing out on local channels OTA (over the air). As of now, I'm really only watching five (sometimes six) shows. Granted, I don't usually watch them live because I check them out on the Internet, commercial free. My favorite show, How I Met Your Mother, is a recent addition to my list of regular watching. Looking at my list, I guess each of them are fairly recent, although it feels as though I've been watching a couple in syndication for what seems like years.

Sunday - Homeland (Showtime)
Monday - How I Met Your Mother (CBS). HIMYM
Tuesday - NCIS (CBS). The original; no Los Angeles for me.
Wednesday - Criminal Minds (CBS)
Thursday - Burn Notice (USA Network)
Friday - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network)

As you can tell, I've got a thing for military, spy, and government shows as they make up 4 of the 5 regulars. I really enjoy HIMYM. I think it's because I'm about the same age as the characters, and can relate to their issues, even though I don't have a significantly strong group of friends, or live in New York City. I also like the premise of a father telling his children the story of how mom and dad met. I', taking mental notes because it'll probably be something I'll need to do some day. I'd tell you to start watching HIMYM immediately, but with a caveat of starting from the beginning. There's a lot of overlapping with past information. You can find every episode online, and they're only about 20 minutes long, making a complete season in just under six hours. As we're half-way through season 7, it's completely doable over the period of a couple weeks. If you need help, just ask.

The only two shows I've watched from the very beginning are Homeland (it's in its first season) and Burn Notice (haven't missed one yet). I picked up The Clone Wars from the start, but I've really let it slide this fall, so I can't really count it among my regulars. So, if you've got some time on your hands, catch up on these shows. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Should have received stitches

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

This fall, Anna's Aunt Sara, made a fantastic Halloween shirt for Linnea. We broke it out for the first time on Monday, October 24. After taking a few pictures, the family (minus Ross) headed north to Prior Lake for the day. At about 5 PM, I received a call from Anna that she was headed to the Urgent Care for stitches because Linnea fell slipped and fell against a pole while playing on the playground.

While at Urgent Care, the doctor didn't complete the intake form (which is fine. Free advise is always good, I guess.) talked her out of the stitches, and sent the lovely couple back to Northfield. Wanting a second opinion, we scheduled an appointment with our doctor at the clinic in town for the next morning. Our doctor agreed with the diagnosis of no stitches necessary but only because it had already been over 16 hours since the fall (She doesn't like to do stitches after 12 hours, while the urgent care doctor said she'd do it up to 24 hours.). Had we made our way to the clinic after the urgent care visit, Linnea would have received a couple. I had called the clinic about getting in right away that evening, but the appointment person said everything was full.

Oh well. Live and learn. If you want service, just show up. Someone will treat you...and hydrogen peroxide is awesome at removing blood stains from clothing.

For your viewing pleasure, here's some pictures pre- and post-accident. The cut is healing quite nicely as Anna has done a great job keeping it clean.

No Stitches Necessary

She takes him for a drive

2011-11-03T20:58:00.001-05:00

When Linnea woke up this morning, she asked Anna if she could stay home with Dad. After our babysitter said she'd gladly watch both kids, I relented. Right before 1 PM, Linnea found an empty diaper box. Now, I know you heard kids can be entertained for hours with an empty box. It's completely true. Linnea began coloring lights, a steering wheel, grabbed some stickers, a scissors, and with the help of the babysitter, she had herself her very own car.

She liked it so much, Linnea wanted to drive her brother around the Main Lounge.

If you listen carefully, you'll hear him start crying when the driving stops. So, I guess he liked it too.

My latest trip

2011-09-28T16:16:00.002-05:00

Has there been a mistake? Did the nurse accidentally switch the samples? How can I have strep without symptoms, yet my wife be symptomatic yet test negative? In fact, it was almost in a joking manner that I suggested a family trip to the doctor yesterday. I almost didn't go with to the appointment because ,y wife will attest to my poor attitude and pure moapiness when sick. However, right now, I feel as though there's nothing wrong. I did need to reschedule all student meetings during the past 24 hours, but I feel even more babyish than I would if I actually felt bad. In fact, I think I'll stop making the following (and similar) declarative statements at staff meetings:

I feel great.
I don't get sick.
My son doesn't cry.

Oh well. I'm going to follow the doctor's orders regardless. Nine more days of Amoxicillian for me and only eight for my daughter. Now to answer the real question, can I get 10 miles of running in today?

Storage Wars

2011-08-25T02:05:00.000-05:00

I watch the show religiously and was disappointed with no new episodes this week. I enjoy the auction drama, attitude, and just the strange and also worthwhile items people abandon in storage lockers. However, the show also leaves me wondering about the sheer amount of stuff we own in the storage room downstairs. How much would someone pay of it at auction? (Probably not much.) Is it worth anything to someone else? (Probably not.)

Someday we will move off campus. Anna and I will have new jobs, and we'll have enough "stuff" to fill an entire house. Except furniture. We won't have furniture. And, when we move, I can't begin to tell you how empty the hall's storage room will be. Tonight's project was sorting through unlabeled boxes and bins downstairs and combining it with items that did not have a home in our living room.

I started bringing stuff upstairs and sorting through it during commercial breaks during back-to-back episodes of How I Met Your Mother on Lifetime. The real push began at 11 PM, and a 1:45 AM, I'm finished for the night. The living room looks much better as most everything has a home. There's one bin of donation/trash/recycle items by the door that'll need my wife's approval before heading out the door. I think she'll be home Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.

One thing my wife definitely won't be looking forward to is the 11-12 boxes/bins of unsorted items that don't have a home. Clothes, books, toys, and miscellaneous items we probably haven't seen in a few years but are unwilling to part with. They're all labeled "Unsorted", in boxes, in the same area, in the storage room. At some point, they will have a home.

There's that wanting a new, larger place again...

A pirate adventure

2011-08-16T18:27:00.000-05:00

Since Jace's arrival and the start of my sixth year of professional training, I haven't had much time to just hang out with Linnea. I can tell she's been put on the back burner as we (or at least I) am more focused on ensuring my wife can get enough sleep, there's prompt diaper changes, and everything else dealing with a newborn. After four weeks in, I was able to sit down and do a few activities with Linnea. Of course, these involved princess dresses and pirates.

Upon my arrival home from lunch, I got online to begin the registration process for Linnea's preschool. As Anna and I planned her future, Linnea drew herself a treasure map.

Note the use of color, lines, lettering, shapes, and pretty much everything this 4 year old can put to paper.

Her use of color has significantly improved since "preschool graduation" this past May. Some of this is due to her just being smart. The rest, I believe, due to her constant need to color any sheet of paper all the time, everywhere.

Once I was finished with the registration materials, I double checked our plan with my wife, and Linnea and I were off to turn them in. She was dressed in her Ariel-like dress, and feeling no need for her to change, we headed to Longfellow Elementary. Many times when I'm on my own with Linnea I find she's wearing a princess dress (Cub, Target, the local library, etc.). The mothers and grandmothers always approach her to say she looks very beautiful. Sure we get some stares, but who cares. It's not my fault you won't let your kid wear dress up clothes to the store. Our last trip to Cub netted her a Tootsie Pop from a cashier, and Linnea thought that was the greatest. Okay, back to today. We turned in the paperwork at the school office, and headed back to the car. After stepping outside, we needed to explore the school grounds and follow the map to treasure. So, there we were, walking in circles in the grass picking up treasure (two fallen tree leaves) to bring home.

After a successful treasure hunt, Linnea again brought out the pirate craft book. She settled on painting a pirate ship. For me, too much work. So, I grabbed a piece of paper, traced the ship with a pencil, and again Linnea let loose with a handful of her many crayons.

Pretty much the greatest pirate ship you ever saw, right.

With a melt down earlier this morning over the television, I felt the need for some quiet time. So did mom and Jace. So, I turned on the TV in the bedroom while Linnea selected a My Little Pony DVD. For now, all is quiet in the apartment. However, it's now time to make dinner. I have no idea what's on the menu.

I wonder how long I Anna and Jace will be out?

Starting with the attitude

2011-07-12T08:38:00.000-05:00

During the past couple weeks, my 4yo daughter has begun giving us a little attitude. I would consider it subtle. I have no doubt she's picked it up from listening to us talk as she's a sponge. It's crazy what she repeats.

"It's okay mom, I've got it."
"Wait, wait, wait. I don't need help. Don't worry about it Daddy. It's all good."

What I've picked up on over the past couple of days is my response to her raising her voice to me is in a raised voice.

"You don't need to yell!"
"You do not talk in that tone of voice to me!"

Perhaps I'm being short with her and need to show a bit more patience. However, sometimes the actions are just frustrating. She knows better, and gets her daddy to act like a four year old too. I think it's time for daddy to stop that.

Hit in the face

2011-07-12T01:30:00.001-05:00

Literally. After the final day of whiffle ball, the three of us hung out and had a quick picnic dinner. As we finished our food, I noticed a lonely softball on the grass nearby. After I decided it belonged to us, Anna had a great idea. Our daughter needs to relearn how to throw a ball overhand, consistently. On the first day of whiffle ball, she watched as a former preschool classmate (who according to her spent the most time in the "relaxation area") threw the ball in the opposite direction, sidearm. After the "throw", the two of them laughed hysterically, and she's been doing it ever since. This was a new development as until five weeks ago, she was always throwing overhand. I was not and continue to be unimpressed. However, she's four. I'm not going to be one of those parents.

Anyway, Anna mentioned that I should work a little on the throwing skills after we finished eating. Linnea was quite excited. So excited in fact that when I got down to her level, placing her feet in the proper position to step and throw, I immediately got a softball to my cheek bone. She apologized almost immediately and told me it was an accident. It most definitely hurt, but can a father be mad at his child for doing what she's told? I gave myself a little space for the next couple of throws and we headed home.

I am fortunate that no video or picture evidence exists of the mishap. Even now, seven hours after the incident, I'm online blogging with a sore nose. I know nothing's broken, but man, when she throws a ball correctly, she's got a cannon.

A couple notes to myself and all parents with whiffle ballers out there:

Carry whiffle balls in your car. You never know when you'll want to play catch.
When practicing with the real thing, keep your face out of the line of fire. In other words, keep your eye on the ball.
As you see poor behaviors becoming habit, practice the right way. Don't wait and see if she or the coaches will figure it out for you.

I'm back. Well, maybe.

2011-07-05T14:24:00.002-05:00

After taking about two months off from running, I'm back. Possibly. I've put in a couple short runs during the past two weeks, claiming the same thing; however, with baby #2 due at any time, I can't say for sure that my training is back on track.

I did spend a few minutes this morning hunting my next possible race. Nothing is set in stone, but it's under my consideration.

I can't believe it; I'm running Boston

2011-04-24T08:12:00.066-05:00

Looking at my 3-month training plan, I followed it as best I could. Sure, I missed just about every Friday, but every "more important workout", I ran, and ran well. On any other course, I was primed for a 3:15 or better. Sure, I had personal doubts about my training or lack there of. If and when I try to qualify a second time, I would train on more hills to better prepare for Newton, and figure out a way to get consistent downhill mileage to prepare me for the first 16 miles. Hindsight is 20/20, so I will learn from these "mistakes". I have to tell myself that a 3:30 is a great time and a PR or BQ will not happen at every race. I suppose it's the competitive spirit in me, always wanting to do better. However, this was Boston.

My father and I arrived in Boston late on Thursday night. We rented a car at Logan Airport and headed to Tewksbury to stay with my friend and his wife. They live about 30 minutes north of Boston proper, and kindly opened their home for us to come and go as we pleased. I'm very thankful for them for this opportunity. I don't see or talk with them as often as I like, so it was nice to catch up. We went into Boston on Saturday afternoon to pick up my number, race information, and check out the world's largest running expo. It did not disappoint. If you wanted anything running, it could be found there. After the expo, we walked a couple blocks to the freshly painted finish line. As in high school, I didn't cross the finish line. In fact, as we walked in that directly, I backed out of the chute, hopped the sidewalk barrier, and walked along the sidewalk.

Me right before the finish line.

Before leaving on the plane, I was worried or nervous. Actually, the one worry I had (getting to the starting line) was solved a couple days before. I've been told that one important Boston Marathon experience is riding the bus with fellow runners from the Boston Common to the Athlete's Village at Hopkinton. I have no doubt this is a good time, but I'd say I had a better time catching the shuttle from the state park. After my father spent the night on the couch, waking up too early, and driving me to Hopkinton State Park, I grabbed my backpack from the back seat and made my way to the shuttle. As I walked on the bus, I looked at the guy to my right and said aloud, "Hey, I know you." I honestly couldn't believe I was on the same bus as one of my dailymile friends, Brodie W. I actually laughed. Of all the buses to take, I can't imagine the number of buses coming from the Common, the state park, and the shuttle point off I-495, we were on the same bus. Unreal.

Self-portrait at the Athlete's Village

Having never met the man, only seeing him in online pictures, we chatted the entire ride, throughout the Village, and on the way to our corrals. Having a buddy at the beginning of the race to share my excitement with was a great way to start the morning. Usually, I consider myself a lone wolf, but in unfamiliar territory, meeting Brodie was an very unexpected surprise. I can only describe the atmosphere surrounding the Athlete's Village as electric. There were runners everywhere. Everyone looked fast, many focused, and many more chatting in groups. I think about how many of these individuals knew each other previously, or just met that morning.

As we walked around in the village soaking it in, we ran into Charlie P. and Lisa R. as well. More runners we only knew via avatars and online comments. After running into these two, I finally took a seat, changed my shoes, and actually focused a bit on what I was going to be doing in the next three hours. I brought an incredible amount of stuff in my backpack (Be Prepared, right?), including my green Boston Red Sox long-sleeve shirt. I ran in this cotton blend shirt for the first couple of miles to stay warm and play to the crowd. I also purchased a Red Sox fake tattoo arm sleeve on a whim. It didn't work out well and was ditched around mile 5.

Anything to get the crowd on your side is a good idea. That, and I might have made the kid I tossed the shirt at happy. Free Sox shirt.

Me, Pete, Andy, and Steve

On the walk to the start, Brodie ran into another DMer he knew, they talked for a couple seconds and we made out final pit stop. There, we ran into three DMers who I've looked forward to meeting at some point at a national event. There's the picture that proves I'm not lying. After our stop, we hit our corrals and patiently waited as we soaked in the atmosphere. It just so happened that I stepped in right next to the guy with bib 4554 (one numerical number lower than me). Coincidently, he lives in uptown in Minneapolis. The folks around us in the corral got a good laugh after seeing our numbers and where we live. After a short conversation and the singing of the National Anthem (Rene Rancourt I think?), we were off. I was a bit confused because I didn't hear a gun. Anyway, I said see you to the fellow Minnesotan who probably qualified within a hundreth of a second of me and headed towards Boston with my head held high. I was counting steps the whole time and was right on pace. I caught "Team Hoyt" after a mile or two, patted them on the back, and continued my journey. The race was easy, I was right on pace, feeling good.

Earlier that morning, I had told Brodie that I planned on running a 3:15. As I continued to count my steps, I was right on, if not a little fast. I knew I was running downhill and that I should conserve energy, but I couldn't slow down. Because almost everyone running Boston qualifies with the standard, there was no weaving in and out of slow runners at the start. Everyone was just running, we were all going to same pace. I don't remember passing anyone or a significant number of anyones. However, I did see a guy on the right at about mile 12 walking the wrong direction. I took a mental note thinking it was a little early to be dropping out. Sure it was warm, but we're smart runners. Little did I know I'd actually sit next to this guy at Logan as we waited for the same delayed plane on Tuesday night. Feeling good, I I hit 13.1 miles right on target. How could I know that in 20 minutes, the wheels would fall off.

Prepping for the 2011 Boston Marathon

2011-04-23T17:32:00.000-05:00

Over the next few days, I will be sharing with you my experiences of the 2011 Boston Marathon. I'm going to tell you now that it's was amazing! I have much to share about my time that a single blog post cannot do it justice, unless you're interested in reading a short novel. This first post, a short summary of my even shorter marathon history, will bring you from the spring of 2010 up to my training for last week's race. I want to start by thanking you all for our kind words, gear donations, and support. Especially my wife and daughter for allowing me to disappear for hours at a time during training runs, coming out on runs with me, and supporting my goals unconditionally. To my parents and sister for volunteering to travel both long distances and spending hours plotting the best route along courses, watching our daughter pre-races, and your love and support. My in-laws and extended family for kind words, emotional support, gear purchases, and taking time out of their busy schedules to ensure my wife and I are able to get our work done.

After running my first marathon in 2009, I caught a bug, the distance running bug. I registered for the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon race on a whim after reading a tweet from a friend saying there were only a few hundred spots open. I entered my wife's credit card info at midnight, and by 12:20 AM, worried about what I had done and second-guessed my decision. I hadn't done any competitive running since 2001, and the next day, had difficulty completing an easy two miles. I needed to get a new pair of shoes and restock my running gear.

My first race was quite memorable. I picked up a training plan online, figured I'd be able to run a 3:30 without much difficulty, and hit the starting line. I was feeling great at mile 8, so picked up the pace a bit. I suffered greatly for this decision, and by the time I passed mile 20, my tank was empty. I ended with slower splits, walking through each of the aid stations along Summit Ave. However, after making a left to head downhill, I recognized a group of drummers, cheerleaders, and a significant downhill past the cathedral. I was able to pick up the pace down the hill and finish strong, with a smile on my face. I walked funny for about a week, but I hit my goal time and couldn't wait to sign up for my second. I waited until January 2010 and signed up for Grandma's the following June. I knew I could do better than 3:30, so I combined two different plans on Runner's World, added some speedwork, and set my goal to qualify for Boston (BQ). Training through the winter and spring was a breeze, and come race day, I was averaging 7:20/mile on my long training runs. With a little doubt, I lined up shoulder to shoulder with the 3:10 pace group and held on as long as I could. The race was a breeze with no difficulties and enough gas left at the end to walk through Gooseberry Falls and other "touristy" locations on the north shore. With my BQ in hand, I begun counting the days to the 2011 Boston Marathon registration.

With the help of my wife, I was registered in the first two hours, easily making it into what turned out to be the most popular race in history as registration for 27,000 runners closed in just over eight hours. Counting the months before training, I found that I'd need to be running outdoors in the Minnesota winter. This did not appeal to me, and after reading about a shorter distance training plan in the November 2010 issue of Runner's World, I figured this "Hanson Brother's-type" plan was for me. No more than 16 miles for my long run combined with a significant amount of track, speed, and pacing work was a new experience for me. As the heralded race got closer, I found myself questioning my decision and trying to figure out if I was mentally tough enough to get through what I've read as a significantly more difficult course. After a fantastic second marathon, I set my sights high with a goal of 3:15. Little did I know how difficult this course would be.

Follow Ross at the Boston Marathon !!

2011-04-17T06:03:00.000-05:00

As you may know, I rented a GPS unit for the Boston Marathon. You'll be able to click this link: http://www.trackmyathlete.com/vemap.aspx?name=050836 as soon as I turn on the unit Monday morning. I start at 10:15 AM EST and hope to cross the finish line by 1:30 PM EST.

Here's a link for cellphones and other hand-held units with Internet access: www.trackmyathlete.com/pda.aspx?name=050836

Lastly, there's a 30 second delay on the GPS location, so it's not quite "live". However, having this information will be significantly better than relying on a text message that may or may not come. I remember the text messaging for both Twin Cities and Grandma's didn't work very well at all.

Two pairs in one week

2011-03-25T23:53:00.001-05:00

For the first time, since March 3, 2011, I purchased two pairs of running shoes in a week. Last weekend, I talked with a St. Olaf student who works at the TC Running Company (TCRC) and purchased a pair of Asics Tarthers. After running a handful of miles in them, I am very happy. They're ridiculously light, and the "click, clack" on the pavement just sounds fast. However, they're pretty much a racing flat, and I don't think my calves will be strong enough in time to run in them at Boston.

Early this afternoon, I again headed to TCRC, tried on four shoes (three of which have been given good reviews on various running blogs). I started with and decided to stick with Asics and purchase a pair of DS-Sky Speeds, a shoe that nobody seems to be talking about on the running blogs and product review websites I read regularly. As soon as I was able to change into my running gear, I went for a quick run and was very impressed. They're light, have a little cush, fit my foot fantastically, and will make a fantastic race shoe. In fact, they feel as though I could have purchased them at the Expo on Sunday, April 17 and be ready to go the next morning. At any other race the color alone would make a statement; however, at Boston, I'll now have to back it up by running a great race.

As an aside, I cannot speak enough about the positive atmosphere at TC Running Company. I had the ability to talk with the owner (Adam), manager (Kurt), and a couple other employees. If I lived closer to Eden Prairie, I'd probably find time to just hang out, talk with, and pick the brains of these folks. I only hope to run into them at some point at races around the Twin Cities in the future. Perhaps I'll head back at some point soon and grab a shirt or other store-brand item to better show my excitement.

I've got 16 miles in St. Paul on tap for late tomorrow morning before heading to a birthday party in Shakopee with my family. I'm excited for both activities, even more so after watching the last two Sweet Sixteen games of the night.

Speedstar 5s are NOT the shoe for me.

2011-03-17T20:34:00.000-05:00

After a couple days of rest, I checked the temperature and decided it was perfect conditions to hit the streets for a slower test run to figure out exactly what was happening with my new Speedstars. At 47° with a little wind, it would be about perfect for Boston next month. Since my purchase, I am still disappointed. I ran two loops at the same pace, only differing my socks. I wasn't surprised to find my feet warm and sweating like crazy no matter the sock style. Not good. I'm not excited about running Boston in the Speedstar 5s, I could probably make it happen. After my six miles, I grabbed my well-used 4s. I couldn't make it down the street without my legs screaming at me.

After the run, I grabbed the phone and talked with an employee at the Asics store in NYC. Of course, he hadn't heard of my issue. After talking with him about a couple possible new replacements, I gave a call to TC Running Company in Eden Prairie. Mitch was very helpful, much more so than the guy in New York City. Now, all I have to do is get to a store in the next couple of days, or risk making a purchase over the Internet. The second option would probably be cheaper. However, the owner of TC is probably expecting me to show up some time this weekend.

Perhaps I'll order a pair online, and if they don't work out, return them and check out the in-store options.

Asics Speedstar 5

2011-03-03T20:59:00.000-06:00

Asics Speedstar 5s. I haven't taken the tag of the red pair yet. I'm hoping to make an exchange.

I got two new pairs of shoes today to replace my aging Speedstar 4s. With a new lighter generation available, I took a chance and bought two pairs of 5s to rotate as the Boston Marathon comes ever so closer. Asics, I am disappoint. You've got great color choices, they're ridiculously light, it fits like a glove, and will be very fast. However, the deal breaker is the inability of the Speedstar 5s to breathe. With only two miles indoors, my feet were sweating like crazy. This did not happen with the 4s.

After I got home, I grabbed my 4s, put my hand inside, took a deep breathe, and blew air through the shoe. Not surprisingly, I felt both dirt in my mouth and a steady stream of air on my hand inside the shoe. I did the same thing with my new 5s. No dirt, but to my amazement, NO AIR!! Ugh. Why would you make a running shoe out of a non-breathable fabric?

After two miles, indoors, I'm going to need to take it outdoors tomorrow to see what happens. I'll also probably have to invest in a new socks too.

My initial impression? EPIC FAIL.

2011 Academy Awards

2011-02-25T11:28:00.017-06:00

As some of you may know, I don't watch a lot of movies in the theater. I'm willing to wait and watch them via Netflix, which is the exact opposite of my wife. I will; however, use the free tickets we get using our Coke Rewards points though. I have no problem collect bottle tops from campus recycling bins, entering the code, and enjoying a movie that way. However, our distance from the nearest AMC theater makes this sort of a drag as well. Because of this, I don't know who will win any awards at these shows, but each year the Student Life employees at my institution (just like every other work place) have a contest to see who can guess the most Oscar awards correctly.

Looking at this year's nomination list (for the first time), I have to say I've seen four movie on this piece of paper: The Social Network and Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, and How to Train Your Dragon. Naturally, this makes me the favorite to win this year's contest. I also just picked up a Grays Entertainment Almanac from the front seat of a Delorean parked down the street. For those of you watching at home, here are my picks:

Leading Actor: Colin Firth
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale
Leading Actress: Natalie Portman
Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo
Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Not the year to pick against Pixar.

Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland

Does "The Academy" enjoy the artistic flair of Tim Burton? I say yes.

~~Cinematography:~~ ~~The King's Speech~~
~~Costume Design:~~ ~~The King's Speech~~
~~Directing:~~ ~~The Social Network~~
Documentary Feature: Inside Job
~~Documentary Short:~~ ~~Poster Girl~~
Film Editing: The Social Network
Foreign Language Film: In a Better World
Makeup: The Wolfman
~~Original Score:~~ ~~The Kings Speech~~
~~Original Song: "If I Rise" from~~ ~~127 Hours~~

This could be the song from Toy Story 3. Should have gone with Randy.

~~Animated Short Film:~~ ~~Day & Night~~

I think this was shown before Toy Story 3.

~~Live Action Short Film:~~ ~~The Confession~~
Sounds Editing: Inception

Since it's not winning any of the "hugely significant" awards, Inception will sweep the sound and visual categories.

Sound Mixing: Inception
Visual Effects: Inception
Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
~~Original Screenplay:~~ ~~Inception~~
Best Picture: The King's Speech

Read them an weep, boys and girls. I'll be expecting my prize come Monday morning.

*Edited to show how awesome I am, and that I forgot to turn in my page to the Student Activities office :)

Winter Under Armour

2011-01-31T23:53:00.003-06:00

Until Christmas, I had held off on owning anything Under Armour (UA). Previously, I've been dedicated to spending as little money as possible on what I believe to be quality gear made by C9 by Champion. It's gotten me through the training and completion of two marathons, so I can't argue with it. However, this belief has changed a bit, a small bit, during the past month.

Photo credit

Around Christmas, I received a package from my wife's aunt and her family. I had no clue it was coming, so was quite surprised when I opened it and found UA compression cold gear pants and shirt. I really needed more base layers as I begun training for Boston. At first glance, these two items seemed rather small, but fit perfectly when putting them on. Now, this is my first time owning any compression gear. I've read about compression socks on many different sites, but never took the time to head to the store to buy any of it. Let me say, these two items are fantastic.

They fit my body like a glove, keep me warm, and are just all around wonderful to wear while hitting the pavement. In fact, I've pretty much ditched my other base layers as I run this shirt and pants through the wash after each run. I'm wearing them three or four times a week, or whenever I can get outside...along with a new style of C9 sock I got from Santa. I loved the UA stuff so much that, for the first time, I decided to give the UA section at Dick's Sporting Goods a try.

...and you wouldn't believe what I came across. The Cold Gear Hood.

BEST WINTER PURCHASE EVER!

The thing is amazing. I did 13 miles in it last Saturday, and my head didn't get cold until the sun began to set at mile 11. I had a C9 beanie I also received from Santa, and the combination was absolutely perfect. The Hood can transform into a neck warmer, cover your head, face, mouth, and neck or just your head and neck. It's absolutely perfect for running outdoors in the Minnesota winter. I'm interested to see how the elastic holds up from multiple transformations and stretching above my nose and below my chin.

After I finished my 13 miles, a couple of buildings residents said I looked like a ninja. What do you think? For this run, I was dressed in all black except for my LED vest. The Hood also comes in white (at least at the store), which I'm not sure about. I tend to sweat a lot. No need to stain a perfectly good item. However, I do like to match my gear, so I guess a purchase many be necessary before my trip east, depending on the weather reports. Still two months to go though. Plenty of time for more snow, crazy thaw, or significant rain.

So, if you're running or really doing any kind of activity in the cold, do yourself a favor and check out the Under Armour Cold Gear Hood. Am I going to ditch all my C9 gear and go strictly UA? Absolutely not, but for base layers, I've found these items to be great.

Straightening out social media

2011-01-28T01:39:00.005-06:00

So, I've spent the last couple of hours online trying to straighten out multiple social media sites. It's been frustrating to say the least. Lining up Blogspot, Ping.fm, and tumblr is harder than I imagined. RSS feeds aren't working properly. SMS messages aren't going through.

Maybe if I get some sleep I'll wake up and find everything is working just fine.

...doubtful.

At the gym with my daughter

2011-01-27T22:40:00.000-06:00

After getting home tonight, my daughter and I left for the indoor track. She ran circles around me on both the 200m and upstairs track totaling about three-quarters of a mile. If we could be on the outdoor track, she probably would have gone a full mile. After the running, skipping, playing games, crawling under hurdles, and watching ultimate frisbee from the pole vault pit, we walked upstairs and checked out some free weights and machines.

Our daughter is a work out genius. Way ahead of her time, I tell you. She loved the rowing machine, hand weights, and pull up machine. However, her favorite item had to be the balance ball. This was unfortunate for me because as I was watching her on the ball, I picked up one of those weighted hula-hoops. I made it a couple spins with the thinnest one I could find, knowing I can't hula-hoop worth a darn. To no avail, the couple spins, the hoop crashed into the back of my left knee. A little painful and sore to the touch, about a 4/10 on the pain scale. After a great run earlier this afternoon, I'll be disappointed if I need to take a break due to my own stupidity. It was an unhappy way to end a great hour with my daughter.

After getting back to the hall, we walked into the students celebrating National Chocolate Cake Day with a special Food for Interim Final hour in the main lounge. Mmmmm. Chocolate. I had two pieces and passed one onto my wife who wasn't feeling well.

Before I go to sleep; however, I'm looking up my tumblr account. Wish me luck?

Posting for Pay ??

2011-01-22T07:30:00.003-06:00

I've spent the last 30 minutes of my time awake searching out writing opportunities for the Minneapolis Examiner. I am by no means a professional in anything athletic, running, or collegiate, but I sometimes wonder what getting paid to blog would be like. I don't have significant readership on my personal blog, but available topics like trail running, endurance sports, and endurance training are appealing. Honestly, I've been looking at this website off and on for the last couple of months. However, I'm finding it difficult to even pretend to be a professional writer when my trained "craft" is working with college students.

I suppose I could write opinion pieces or other non-researched articles on fatherhood, college life, or athletics, but I don't really want to make the time to write three or four articles a week that will more than likely not be read by anyone. I hear the pay is 1¢ a page click, it's more than I would expect, but definitely not enough to make a living off of. Perhaps if I was more in-tune with athletic and running happenings in the cities, I'd click "send" on my application.

Until that time; however, you'll find me here. On this blog. Stating my mind.

Have any of you handful of readers considered writing for the Examiner? If so, what was your experience? I'm coming in knowing I won't make any money. Perhaps is the ego in me that needs to be stroked a little. Do I want to be Mr. Popular, or even desire to spend the time to become this guy?

My current answer: No, but with evidence, I can be swayed.

I wish I had three quarters.

2011-01-20T23:58:00.000-06:00

Over the past two months, I've seen my daughter's glove and mitten collection slowly dwindle to near non-existent. Knowing this, and having another purchase in mind, I hit the clearance racks of Target last night looking to check the availability of gloves and mittens. I found a fantastic deal on two pairs of pink toddler stretchy gloves for 48¢. That's ridiculously cheap, so I scooped them up and continued my search for the storage item I intended to purchase.

I didn't find the item in the home improvement area, so I was left holding this pair of gloves. I opened my wallet and found only my debit card. One barrier to having a low(er) disposable income is my desire to not carry cash in my pocket. I didn't even have change to purchase a 48¢ item, and I'm not really interested in putting this item on my card.

Yes, I know there's no reason I can't put these gloves on my debit card, but it's the principle of the matter.

So, I left for home empty handed. I'll check out a bigger Target this afternoon. Perhaps I'll even have more choices. For now, we'll have to ensure our daughter is wearing gloves or mittens. Baby, it's cold outside.

Current temperature at 11:51 PM on January, 20 is -15° F.

Nutrition In-Service

2011-01-12T08:00:00.005-06:00

Our humidity controlled crisper

The morning of Tuesday, January 11 was spent at a nutrition in-service. There was tons of information given to us during the 2.5 hour presentation. I don't eat very regularly, nor do I have the most fantastic diet. So, this presentation came at a good time for me personally. I didn't take a ridiculous amount of notes because all staff members will be getting a copy of the PowerPoint presentation. However, it did write down a handful of tidbits that were repeated multiple times, were "news to me", or was stressed as important information. Looking at the list, I see it's 11 bullet points. I'm looking for one to cut to make it a top 10 list, but they all seem pretty important (at least for me). Here is said list as it appears in my notebook. Items are in no particular order of importance. At some point in the future though, I could probably rank order them.

"Eat food, mostly plants. Not too much."
There is a correlation between improper hydration and negative mood in college student athletes.
I should eat more tuna.
I should switch from vegetable oil to canola oil.
Beans are good for me.
I should switch to plain yogurt and add a little jelly or jam for flavor.
I should take an omega-3 supplement, only if I'm not eating fish three times per week. This supplement should be 2000mg/day. A cheap omega-3 supplement might contain a significant amount of heavy metals. A good brand, I'm told, is Nordic Naturals, but they can be spendy.
I should eat more bananas, dates, and peanuts.
I should take a vitamin D supplement daily.
St. John's Wort does something for depression and anxiety. However, one should never take it with another antidepressant.
Flash-frozen fruits and vegetables can have more nutrients, and be better for you, than fresh, especially when it's the off-season.

Now that I know this information, I'm passing it on to all three, or four, of you who read this blog. I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but this list of 11 items is good to remember. Is there anything I should add? Subtract?

My first Expresso Fitness Virtual ride

2011-01-11T02:23:00.002-06:00

I made good on my last post by heading to the campus gym and took a spin on the Expresso Fitness virtual stationary bike. It was the best experience I had on an exercise bike. The log-in to track my usage was simple, although it was a little difficult to come up with a numeral only username and password. After deciding I could in fact remember two strings of numbers, and making a quick seat adjustment, I was off and pedaling. Course selection was simple, and the ability to watch the handlebars on the screen match my movement was a nice touch.

Screen shot from http://www.error500.net.
Notice graphing, scrolling messages, and gear placement.

I found the ability of the course and bike to matching my need to shift gears fairly realistic. I'm by no means a professional cyclist, so I was probably using the wrong gear many times during the 6.23-ish mile ride. If I recall correctly, it took me about a half mile to find the shifter (on the post below the handle bar. It would be nice for it to be placed on the handlebars, more like a real bike, so I wouldn't lose my heart rate. This isn't a deal breaker for me as once I got the hang of it's location, shifting was simple. I only needed to remember to push the handle up or down. After about two miles, I passed my computerized pacer and never looked back. Watching the screen, steering around the computerized bikers, and needing to adjust to the course kept me busy for the 22 minutes or so I was riding. The heart rate monitor is attached to the handle bars, so I had almost instant real-time display of my HR right there on the screen (See screen shot). Other on-screen measurables included power, both distance covered and to the finish, speed, average speed, course grade, total time, gear, HR, and average HR. There's also scrolling messages running during your ride that include instructions for changing the music, the ability to speed up or slow your pacer, motivational phrases, and a few other statements regarding your ride history. The font is perfect for reading and didn't distract me from the virtual ride.

There are a multitude of courses to choose from, and although I didn't use headphones, found the jack to be easily accessible. I'm looking forward to using the bike on a weekly basis. Even more enjoyable for me is the ability for me to hop off the bike, grab a drink of water, and make the workout an indoor brick by running laps on the track. Tonight, I felt good after completing my ride that I added a 3 mile run (16.5 laps in 23:01) after a quick drink.

If you're stuck indoors this winter training and have the ability to check out an Expresso Fitness virtual stationary bike, I highly suggest signing in and logging some miles because your indoor boredom will melt away. Actually, you don't even need to sign in. There's an option to just go without registering. Next Monday cannot come soon enough.

My only disappointment is my inability to find my ride on the website. Instructions say this could be because the bike hasn't been registered by the facility. I sent an email to the proper individual to see if that is in fact the case. Perhaps I'm not utilizing the website properly? I'll know soon enough.

Virtual Active Treadmill Workout ??

2011-01-08T14:42:00.000-06:00

Many of my posts are my gut reactions to my experiences. This post is similar.

I picked up the latest Runner's World issue and flipped through it. I always read it cover to cover in the first couple days of its arrival. I enjoy the larger articles, but tend to focus more on the smaller half-page and/or couple paragraph articles. What caught my eye this month was the "Running Away" paragraph (i.e.: advertisement) on page 21.

Let me preface the rest of this post with the statement that I do NOT enjoy treadmill running, especially longer distances at all. We own a treadmill. It's been sitting in storage for more than 5 years. I could see myself doing a quarter-mile warm up or something, but anything over three miles, traditionally, has been right out...always. A buddy of mine ran a marathon in November after doing a significant portion of his training on a treadmill. I can't see how did it.

The article focuses on a company called Virtual Active that sells DVDs of running routes to watch during treadmill workouts. For $19.95, you get a DVDs "paired with music and sounds of nature" following six different outdoor locations. I see the concept in practice on my campus with Expresso Fitness bikes. I've seen them in use and they look like a trip. Of course, I'm assuming the courses follow the actual terrain and the stationary bike adjusts accordingly. I feel this would be a fantastic concept and I plan to try it out this week for cross training on Monday.

Watching a 30 minutes DVD of a scenic route may sound interesting, but I'm not sold. After reading some information on the Virtual Active website, it explains a guided workout when a virtual trainer tells "you to vary the speed and the resistance of the machine to reach a target RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)." Without any experience with the DVD, it appears as though this option would be similar to the stationary bike programmed to follow a virtual course. I think following the actual course on a treadmill would be a great indoor running experience. I look forward to the day this happens. Until then, I'm not sure I'm interested in spend $20 on a scenic route DVD. I could be swayed though.

Feel free to see me a free copy. Ha!

Difficult explanations

2010-12-30T13:17:00.001-06:00

Attempting to explain death to a three year old is difficult. Perhaps it's been made a little easier with the numerous fish that have been flushed in the past year, but it's still really interesting what our daughter picks up on. When we walked into my grandmother's house in Richfield, she immediately saw that the stair chair lift was missing. She heard us talking from across the room and asked if my cousin's dog died (which it didn't). Finally, we got home and my wife noticed that only three fish were swimming in our tank, there should be four. After dinner, we opened our newest Netflix video, Pocahontas which also includes a touch of death. Our daughter cried a bit and didn't understand Thomas shooting Kocoum.

She is only three.

As it stands right now, my grandmother's funeral will be Tuesday.

Large School Atmosphere

2010-12-20T16:55:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I miss the large Division 1 athletic atmosphere. If you haven't seen this commercial on ESPN yet, take a look. I'm not an Alabama fan, but I still love it.

More fun on tap tonight

2010-12-20T14:49:00.001-06:00

With the 6-8" of snow expected for tonight, I'll be on my own again. Currently, I'm screening a video for Linnea, Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams. This is the first time, as a parent, I've ever done this. After the first 10 minutes, it'll be okay. It's probably better for an older child, elementary school perhaps? I'll keep it running in the background as I begin re-cleaning the living room. After I run the vacuum, I'll head out for a run. I can't make skipping workouts a habit.

I'll let you (okay, the two or three of you who read this) know how the first run with my YakTrax went.

Oh, and if you haven't heard, there's a Monday Night Football game at the University of Minnesota tonight. I'd like to watch some of it. Perhaps I'll hold off on cleaning the living room until game time. I should hit the kitchen first.

Oh, and with all this snow, it doesn't look like we'll be able to see the lunar eclipse tonight. I suppose I'll have to check it out on NASA's website. Live video embedded in an hour (4 PM CST). Can't wait to watch ;)

Thoughts from the weekend

2010-12-19T19:50:00.001-06:00

Here are a couple of my random thoughts from this weekend.

I was quite surprised that The Bunny Song was approved for VeggieTales, especially as a "silly love song". I would have thought the parts about being "a sissy" and eating bunnies would be inappropriate for the target audience.
If you're going Christmas shopping, make sure you bring your wallet. It's embarrassing to have your items already bagged by the cashier only to find you can't pay for them.
Apparently, you don't need to subscribe to Runner's World in order to read their articles. They're available on their website without log-in or waiting period.
Leaving soap and/or shampoo unattended near a toddler in a bathtub is a bad idea. Before you know it, half the bottle is gone.
Toddlers don't mind if all their food is orange (mac and cheese, mandarin oranges, chips, and apple juice).
Restarting, organizing, and trying to keep a blog up and running can be a difficult task.

Until tomorrow, all. It's now time to get our daughter ready for bed. Pajamas will be on and we'll turn on a Disney move. Her three choices will be: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or Cinderella.

Thank you to my fellow Area Coordinator for letting us borrow that last one.

Of course, she picks a fourth option. Curious George on Nickelodeon. Is that Will Ferell's voice I hear? What movie is that guy not in, seriously. David Cross? Dick Van Dyke, too?

...I missed my run again today.

Was that Eugene Levy?

The first outdoor run

2010-12-18T16:52:00.000-06:00

As a birthday present last year, my wife got me a pair of YakTrax. I didn't have the opportunity to use them while training for Grandma's; however, they'll definitely make their way onto the snow and ice in the coming months. I probably could have used them this afternoon, but I decided to pass. I'm not a fan of running on sidewalks for many reasons, but I find if there's snow on the road, I'd rather stay away from moving traffic. There were three spots along my "favorite" 5-mile route where residents (or perhaps the city?) had yet to clear the sidewalk, so I either had to turn around and head for a driveway or make my way over the snowbank.

I felt really good on my run and had a solid 7:40/mile average. For slipping and sliding on some roads, I'm quite ecstatic. I stayed quite warm throughout, except for the little bit of wind I felt running east to west. I wasn't as prepared for this because I couldn't tell any sort of wind speed until I got a good mile and a half into the route (tail wind). For now, I'll rely on a better hat and my current set up of base-layer long underwear, C9 tights, and basketball shorts. I'm still a little chilly in lower body, but with more outdoor running, my body will adapt. Besides my hat feeling a little small, my upper body felt great the entire time. I'm not too worried as my parents purchased me a different hat that I have yet to try out.

I'm very happy with the way my Asics Speedstars held up to the elements also. They're lighter than my previous training shoes and carry almost no grip, so the YakTrax will be a necessity. My feet stayed plenty warm with two layers of socks, so I'll have to purchase a couple more "base-layer" socks. Laundry can be difficult in the residence hall, but if I can get a couple different pairs of base-layer items, I wouldn't have to rely on needing to hit the washing machine for my running gear on a ridiculously faster rate than normal.

Now though, it's time to shower, eat dinner, then begin cleaning the apartment. I'm on my own tonight as my wife and daughter is at a Christmas party up north.

2011 Boston Marathon Training Begins

2010-12-17T22:20:00.000-06:00

I'm approaching the end of the first of my 18 weeks before the 2011 Boston Marathon. After reading the January issue of Runner's World, I decided to follow the Hanson brothers' Renegade training program. Which leads me to an important thought:

If articles from the current issue are available online immediately, why am I paying for a subscription?

I had success following Runner's World 16-week plans while preparing for my first two marathons, but with Boston, I'm training in the dead of the Minnesota winter. If you haven't heard, we've already had significant snowfall. Not running 20+ miles in the snow and cold is very appealing, so the multiple 16 milers seems to be a better deal. The trade off is significant though with the addition of "speed" and "strength" runs which I'll start indoors then slowly move into the cold. With Thursdays running at goal pace, there's going to be plenty of speed work. Or campus has two fantastic indoor running facilities, so completing my shorter workouts shouldn't be an issue, as long as I build them into my weekly calendar.

My goal of running sub-3:00 is quite lofty (I know), seeing that I haven't done much training since by BQ in June. I'm trying to remain a little more cautious for the first two weeks of the plan, but I'm still finding it hard to take it "easy", or I guess "medium". I keep reminding myself of the first week training for Grandma's where I went too fast and felt my shins flare up a bit. I took week 2 off, let myself heal, and still reached my goal time. I've already missed yesterday's workout (3-6 miles), but this time will take the article's advise by not trying to "make it up". In my previous training periods, I've attempted to "catch up" on missed miles by running multiple workouts during the next few days. I may break some of my runs into multiple workouts, but I'll do my best to not play catch up.

My current worry is pacing. Without a Garmin-type machine, I'll focus on indoor laps to get my pace consistently faster than my previous runs. Maybe I can save some cash and make a purchase. Probably not though. I still need to figure out where I'm staying in Boston, and how I'm getting there.

If I keep chugging along, I'll end up just fine. For now though, I need to invest in more pairs of long underwear. Baby, it's cold outside.

A late night finding personal and professional balance

2010-11-04T01:59:00.003-05:00

What follows is a break down of my evening/early morning so far...

Good idea: Making dinner before my wife gets home and inviting a friend to join.
Bad idea: Burning three fingers and a thumb because your mind was on autopilot when you picked up the hot pan.

Good idea: Using a bowl of water to calm the burning sensation in my fingers.
Bad idea: Needing to replace the cool water for nearly two hours.

Here's where it gets interesting:
Although I was late to the staff meeting due to a student concern, I felt we had a good conversation regarding perception and expectations, followed by a most enjoyable Hall Council meeting. I wish I would have been able to stick around for the program. Can anyone tell me how it went?

A short while after the Hall Council meeting, my fingers were bandaged by my wife, and the sound of our daughter getting sick in the bathroom arrived. My wife has an aversion to this action and I am down four digits.

(I stopped typing at 12:20 AM and am now restarting at 2 AM.)

I haven't had a night this busy in quite a while. I suppose it's about time. My daughter has finally fallen asleep on the living room love seat. My emails have been typed and sent, and my college cell phone has stopped ringing...for the time being.

I'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight with the phone right next to my ear. Feel free to call me at any time if you have an emergency. Such is the life of a live-in professional. If I didn't want to deal, I'd find a new job.

Oh, I'm hungry, and my fingers aren't in pain.

Gotta Love Joe Biden

2010-10-28T11:00:00.003-05:00

"Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive," Biden said. “In the middle of the Civil War you had a guy named Lincoln paying people $16,000 for every 40 miles of track they laid across the continental United States. No private enterprise would have done that for another 35 years."

It looks like Drudge was the first to report it.

Really, Mr. Vice President? "Every single great idea?" People need learn to never speak in absolutes. :)

The Bear Scratch

2010-10-28T00:47:00.000-05:00

Is anyone wondering what Richard Heene's been up to lately? Well, here you go.

I feel a little conflicted about posting this video as spreading this "commercial" may bring this guy more popularity. However, who am I kidding. Nobody reads this blog but me.

One final thought: Is the phrase, "Man up" being thrown around by GOP women candidates actually sexist towards women?

I'm up late

2010-10-28T00:25:00.003-05:00

My daughter and I spent the afternoon with my cousin Julie, her husband, Matt, and their two children. We met at the Mall of America, rode many rides, and had dinner at the food court. It was nice to spend time with the Sipe's. I wish my wife could have been there, so we'll have to do it again in the future. The two of us thank the Sipe's for covering our dinner.

We had a very enjoyable time.

Now though, after folding a couple loads of laundry, I cannot turn the TV off. I'm having trouble pulling my eyes away from "the crazy". I find it captivating that this man, with his hard core left annoying voice, can fill nearly 20 minutes of time with just quotations from candidates running for national public office. Those on the right have their own talk and radio shows, but I'm not seeing this kind of intense stuff. "Countdown" is a political commentary show. However, these quotes about beliefs, the way the government should be run, scare me. These are quotes, people.

Defund the Department of Education
Remove funding for elements of Supreme Court decisions
Government should not prevent business from racial discrimination.
Some of you look Asian to me.

I have no facts to back this up, but I swear this much crazy would be laughed off stage in the past. These "politicians" would be buried. But, this isn't the case in 2010.

Seriously, folks. After these quotes, we get this. That's right, the shoe-in for Speaker of the House if the Republicans take control is campaigning on Saturday with Rich Iott. The guy who dressed as a Nazi in war reenactments. Yes, he's got a history of reenactments, but you've got to draw the line somewhere.

Honestly, stop trying to justify this SS group's actions.

At least Eric Cantor doesn't share these feelings. Wait, look what happened to him after sharing his perspective.

A page rededicated

2010-10-26T15:17:00.000-05:00

As everyone (actually no one) who's read this blog knows, I've avoided posting for quite awhile. Mostly because I don't really have anything neat, cool, or hip to say to my adoring fans (again, no one). Last night, my wife suggested I use this blog as a live, interactive, public journal. I found this thought intriguing, and though it won't lead to me being a popular blogger across the nation, serves a purpose I've thought about doing for quite some time, writing. With this new purpose, I have to say that future posts may not happen daily, but they'll probably be quite long. As life experiences, time of the year, and other significant events happen, my personal topics will change.

At this current time, I feel as though I'm beginning to turn overly political. With elections happening in seven days and TV ads running amok amidst a huge wedge dividing the country, my first "journal" post will naturally be political in nature. I've begun typing, proofiing, and researching, so expect an enlightening read in the days to come.

Ha. Enlightening. Right.

Settling in.

2010-09-08T14:32:00.000-05:00

Hopefully things calm down a bit in the next few days. If not, I feel this could be a long year in regards to conduct and discipline.

Let's make some smarter decisions, folks.

Starting the new academic year

2010-09-05T13:09:00.000-05:00

While in job-related training since the middle of July, I've been kept quite busy with work. I have had few moments of personal or family time. Yesterday was move-in day for the first-year students. An ice cream social tonight followed by a large move-in day tomorrow (Labor Day) for upper-class residents. My position as a live-in professional begins for the fifth time. And, if last night is representative of the semester to come, we're on track for a "long" semester.

Looking at my training calendar, I haven't ran in three weeks. So much for that 50K at the end of October. Next race? Boston. I'll need to save some significant cash though.

Been Quite Awhile

2010-08-16T13:42:00.000-05:00

The last couple weeks have been quite busy. We've started and finished professional staff training, spent time in Fergus Falls, done some significant time in swimming pools, and a host of other activities. I've started training for a 50K trail race at Murphy-Hanrehan. I haven't registered yet though. The derp has been strong with politicians over the last week, and our apartment has changed from clean to needing a thorough cleaning. This coming week will be a little more low-key as student staff begin to arrive next week. After that, life will become radically different as students will then start the year. This will mean very few minutes off until at least September 9 or 10. It's a busy time of year for those involved in higher education. Unfortunately, the "live-in" portion of my life will begin to take hold, leaving family and other activities behind. However, knowing and planning this now will help out.

We do plan on hitting the Great Minnesota Get-Together during the evening at least once this fall. Definitely a trip worth looking forward to making.

I'll try to keep up with the page over the next couple of weeks. No promises though. Wish me luck!

Prairie Wetlands (Take 1)

2010-07-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

During the trip to Fergus Falls this past weekend, I was looking forward to getting out on a new trail. The family doesn't make the trip very often, so I brought my running shoes and made a map of my route. I desired to check out the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center and its trails. I've never heard of the area before, but I did find information online about the Wetlands Mosquito Run. It "was" a 5K trail race, last held in 2007 (I'm assuming this date because I cannot find any information on a race after 2007). With this information in hand, I was set to successfully complete a run in unfamiliar territory.

Unfortunately, we were in town for even less time than I expected, especially for the time needed to get in a run. We had a lot of good times with the family, and our 3 year old daughter didn't get to sleep until after 11:30 PM on Saturday night. I did set my alarm for early Sunday morning thinking I'd make it out of bed for the run. However, I just shut the alarm off and went back to sleep.

Sometimes things don't turn out the way I wish them to be; however, spending time with family is more important than getting a run in during this trip. We'll be in Fergus many times in the very near future. The next time being in two weeks. Perhaps that'll be the time I make my way out on the trail. I'll give you a review with pictures (and possibly video?) when and if it happens.

Trail Running at Murphy-Hanrehan Park

2010-07-09T16:54:00.001-05:00

Over the Fourth of July weekend, my family spent a couple nights at the in-laws' house, giving me the ability to do a little well-deserved trail running. I have yet to find trails in the Northfield area (I don't think they exist)., but with the campus being so close to the Twin Cities, there are plenty of opportunities for hitting the trails. This was the second time in two months I've laced up the kicks and headed to Hanrehan. During my first run, I completed the intermediate loop. With a goal of getting through the advanced loop at least once, I awoke early and was on the trail at 7:30 AM. From listening to the weather reports, I knew the weather was going to be warm and windy, so the earlier I could hit the trail the better.

Out at Murphy-Hanrehan Park there are plenty of biking, hiking, and running trails, but it appears as though very few runners utilize the single-track trail as each biker that passed me (or passed by me!) acted quite surprised to see a runner on the trail and were quite excited to see me on the course. Each gave me significant verbal encouragement and high fives along the way. Perhaps the running happens on the double-track trail on the East side of Murphy Lake Blvd? This series of double track trails is pretty much a roller coaster of hills, which would be a like a fantastic run in and of itself. I've spent many hours on cross country skiis on this side and look forward to running it in its entirety later this summer.

After parking in the parking lot and packing enough supplies for three loops, I hit the single-track trail. The lead up the the advanced loop entrance was fairly simple, but that changed the moment I crossed the boardwalk steps marking the beginning of the advanced loop. The hills increased as the trail began to also scale the edge of hills on a narrower path. The wildlife was also out in abundance. I spooked was spooked by the same two female white-tail deer twice. The second time we crossed paths, I thought the larger doe was going to charge me as she took a couple of steps in my direction and held eye contact for probably 20 seconds before she and her friend bolted into the woods. Overall, the trail was a great run offering boardwalks, rock gardens, logs, steps, and other obstacles to run around and over. The link I provide at the end of this review has video and pictures of some of the biking technical features (everything you can do on a bike on this trail can be done on foot). The sign at the trailhead marks the distance for the advanced loop distance as 7 miles, but a GPS measured distance on the website is 9.02 miles. The two mile difference is probably due to measuring on a map versus along the trail itself which takes into account the hilly topography. During my run, the advanced loop was about a half-mile shorter due to nesting raptors.

Total distance: about 8.5 miles
Time: 1:24.33

I've ran and cross country skied many times on the much wider double trail on the east side of Murphy Lake Blvd.; however, the single-track trail was great fun. It'll definitely be a run I'd do again, multiple times. If you decide to make your way to the single-track trail, remember that mountain bikers have the right of way, so step to the side when you cross paths.

Here's a link to the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists page on the single-track trail with a more detailed explanation of the loops. It includes directions to the site, pictures, video, the history of the trails, and more. http://www.morcmtb.org/wiki/index.php/Murphy-Hanrehan

Grandma's Marathon (Part 3 of 3)

2010-06-26T12:46:00.009-05:00

Pre-Race Details
This past January, I decided I needed to set a new goal, qualify for Boston. I registered for Grandma's Marathon as it was a smaller race, inexpensive, close to home, in an area that my family absolutely enjoys, and looked mostly downhill to flat. I was told that there were a few rolling hills, and Lemon Drop Hill can be a bear. However, I wasn't fazed by this chatter as I currently live on a college campus with two more difficult hills surrounding me.

You can find route elevation data on MapMyRun.com's Beta site.

Grandma's Marathon

Campus Hill Route

The only significant negative, before registration, was the cost of hotel rooms. Yeesh. Most establishments in the area required a two-night stay at $150+ a night. That's completely out of our budget, so I needed to find a better option. Since I don't know too many people in Duluth, I looked into camping. It seemed scary to be sleeping in a tent the night leading up to the marathon, but hit the jackpot while investigating Minnesota's State Parks. I decided on a campsite at Gooseberry Falls (only $68 Thursday through Sunday with an additional $5 a night parking or $25 annual pass). My wife and I visited the location on our honeymoon and would enjoy the experience being back their with our daughter. We also invited my parents and hers to join us in the adventure. Hers agreed while mine decided to take our daughter and stay about an hour and a half from the finish. The location sat about 15 minutes away from the starting line, and although we had a post-race run-in with a Park Ranger, was amazing. If you're up to the unknown, I would definitely keep a camping option open for your next race.

The Race
Before heading to Duluth, I had set a BQ (Boston Qualifier) as my goal. I trained must faster than my previous marathon and knew I'd be challenged to run a 7.10-7.15/mile pace. However, for the first time, I decided to run with a pace group. I've done all of my training by myself, so running in a group would be quite different. AT the start, I lined up with the 3:10 pace group with the idea to hold on as long as possible. Dave, the pacer, was a fantastic guy to run and converse with along the course. I stuck to either his right or left shoulder for nearly the entire race. There were times when individual runners would come and go, I was in the middle-ish of the group for the first part of the race drafting a bit. However, after about 6 miles or so I became annoyed with other runners coming and going, forcing me to break stride. There was one guy, wearing an iPod, who just couldn't decide what pace he'd run and kept floating faster and slower and right to left on my side of the group. I held my ground in the front of the group for the last 20 miles or so. Eventually, there were only a handful of us who stuck with Dave for the entire race. A few were faster, but many dropped on Lemon Drop Hill and after the significant wind when getting into downtown. I'd say the group started at about 50+ and dropped down to maybe 4 or 5 at the finish.

I really loved this course. Although there was a significant head wind from the lake, I didn't notice it much in the group. Because of this, I would almost suggest every runner who sets a time goal close to a pacer to run with that pacer. Not only does s/he hit the necessary pace to cross the finish line, but also provides emotional support during important portions of the run. Dave made multiple mentions of the need to rehydrate at water stops, stressed the importance of taking advantage of downhills, and was a vocal leader during the uphills. Mile 10 was great as we could see lift bridge, but with 16 miles to go, it was still quite a ways away.

The volunteers and general public who came out to cheer us on were fantastic. When we got to the downtown portion of the course, one runner from Canada left in the 3:10 group sped up and was pumping up the crowd as we ran down Superior. I could only shake my head as I saw him take off as there was no way I could have made that happen. I didn't bonk this year like I did at mile 19 at TMC, but my legs felt like bricks at about mile 24. The final two miles were purely an emotional fight to stay on pace.

Post Race
I took a bite of turkey sandwich and was immediately disappointed because I found the bread to be quite dry. I didn't take nearly enough calories into my system post race, but felt quite well. After a quick dip in Lake Superior for an ice bath, I was ready to change out of my race gear and into clearer clothes. The volunteer at the bag handout said my bag was the heaviest is the group. I knew this would be an issue as I was prepared for just about anything. Pants, shorts, a couple t-shirts, and the Asics Cumulus trainers I chose not to run the race in were all in my bag. The first thing I grabbed in the training tent were my baby wipes. I received many stares and "Man, that's a great idea" while cleaning up. So, another comment. All runners should put a container of baby wipes in their race bag for cleaning up at the finish line.

After changing, my legs felt great. I was expecting sore hamstrings, which I definitely had, but I wasn't expecting being able to walk around so much post race. Although, I had to stop at the ICO gas station while the rest of my party made their way to their vehicles. My folks came and picked me up.

Post-post Race
After a camp lunch of hotdogs, fruit, and other food I said goodbye to my parents and headed to Gooseberry Falls. This was just a minute car ride as remember, we were staying in the campground. The sightseeing was great as we all chased Linnea around the trails. I had absolutely no issues with the stairs leading to and from the falls.

Finally, a week later, I have had absolutely no issues with walking up or down stairs any time after the race. My life was made quite difficult this past October after the TCM as there are a bunch of stairs at my work. There was absolutely no problem this time.

What a great experience. In the words of President Josiah Bartlet, "What's Next?"

2010 Grandma's Marathon (Part 2 of 3)

2010-06-21T13:53:00.000-05:00

This post was originally supposed to be a review of race day. However, that has changed. After talking for a couple of seconds about the race on Saturday and paying my parking ticket this morning, I was told "I hear you lost one of your own up there." I really didn't pay attention to the comment and brushed it off until after lunch when I chatted with another runner for a little longer who had raced Grandma's previously.

Since the family camped for the weekend, we had no access to the Internet; I didn't hear any mention of a runner needing significant medial assistance at the end of the half-marathon while hanging in Canal Park on Sunday. So, upon arrival back in the office after lunch I did a quick Google search and found the sad news. Yes, a fellow runner did lose his life after running the Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon on Saturday morning.

My prayers go out to the family of Norman Ruth during this time of significant struggle. It puts many aspects of life, and dare I say running, into perspective.

2010 Grandma's Marathon (Part 1 of 3)

2010-06-21T01:05:00.001-05:00

Chip time - 3:09.28.

Boston Qualified.

Sweet.

Just a few more days

2010-06-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

It's about time to start getting serious about this weekend.

Saturday morning's race day, and I don't yet feel nervous or excited. Well, I have now since I typed the previous sentence. We've finished most of the packing (except for food items, which are important considering we're spending the weekend camping). My wife and I have never been camping before, so I'm hoping this is a positive experience that leads to future outdoor excursions for the family. We're very thankful for G&G taking our daughter for a few nights it would be difficult to get much needed sleep with her in the tent. But, we get her back after the race on Saturday. Hopefully I'm feeling okay after the 26.2.

Reflecting on my training for the past 16 weeks, I definitely feel different when compared to last October, my first marathon. Although my goal is lofty (BQ with a 3:10.59 or better), I feel that it's attainable. My hope is for beautiful running weather, but I don't want to let a little rain or wind hold me back. I've trained, at pace, in all types of weather, so all I need to to stay injury and disease free until the end of the weekend. With only five more miles to go this weekend, all the training is complete, and I'e even started looking forward to racing in the fall. I've missed out on the TCM in October, so that's out. Maybe a Half Ironman?

We'll see, and so will you. Until then, wish me skill. I'll post results of my race as soon as I get to a computer after crossing the finish line.

JoS. A. Bank

2010-06-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

I just finished vacuuming our living room and sat down to begin folding clothes. There are about six loads ready to go. The first thing I saw on TV was this commercial from JoS. A Bank.

I'm not sure how the company can make this happen, but I suppose this is the way to sell suits in a recession. However, it makes me think that JoS. A. Banks is selling their suits at an absolutely incredible mark up. I have plenty of suits in my closet, so I'm not going to find my nearest store.

School year is over

2010-06-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

I finished my check out meeting this morning, turned in the key boxes, and a couple key box keys. I am no longer on the clock for the 2009-10 school year. It was a great year, and the students and staff were wonderful to work with. Summer hours begin on Monday, so I'm free to do whatever for the next couple of days. I look forward to a trip to the zoo later today, a trail run while my daughter naps, and sleeping tonight without my college cell phone ringing or alarm clock set.

On Monday afternoon, I'm meeting with my supervisor to discuss my summer responsibilities. As the only returning Area Coordinator, I have no idea what will happen with summer projects. Will I be working with a normal workload or be in charge of all projects?

Nearly the end of another year

2010-05-30T15:36:00.000-05:00

Today is commencement. The weather held up for the ceremony, and it was great to see most of the seniors I've known since first starting four years ago. These students were in their first year, so it's the first class I've seen through from the beginning. They've been fantastic students for their college careers, and I hope they all continue on the road to fantastic things. However, it's time for me to also refocus on building closing. There are still 70 or so residents in my upper class building, many of whom will check out tomorrow morning. It's been a busy weekend, and honestly, it's just getting started.

My hope is everyone sets their alarm and wakes up on time to be out by 11 AM. I'm assuming there will be a couple stranglers, but wouldn't it be nice if everyone gets out on time? For now, I'm hoping that the rain holds off until sunset. As much as we need the rain, I'd like students' belongings dry when they start their trips home.

20 miler this week

2010-05-23T18:50:00.000-05:00

I awoke this morning with a slight tweak in my left heel. There wasn't any pain after my 15 miles yesterday, so I have no idea where it came from. It doesn't hurt to walk; however, with Grandma's Marathon being just four weeks away, I'm hesitant to put any sort of running pressure on it. I'm taking my regular 2-4 mile Sunday off, then may hit the pool or bike for cross training tomorrow. Perhaps it'll be a second rest day (depending on how it feels in the morning).

This coming Saturday is my 20-miler, so I need to be set to go for it. I've got a 10+ mile out and back planned and will be headed to a running store (probably Run N Fun) later in the week to pick up some Gu and a can of spray paint to mark mileage on the road's shoulder.

Side note: My previous (first) marathon, I ran carrying Sport Beans in a Amphipod Airflow Endurance with an 8 oz. add on bottle. Every 13-15 minutes I downed a couple beans and also filled my small water bottle at water stops along the route. I'm going to attempt to ditch the beans and Amphipod for Grandma's in exchange for a couple of Gu packets and the water stops. The pockets on my new running shorts carry Gu packets quite well, and unlike last summer, I haven't been training with the Amphipod and water, so it's "going to work out well".

Unfortunately for my run (but fortunately for my profession and residents alike), his weekend in commencement. There will be plenty of activity happening Saturday, Sunday, and Monday so sneaking out for a 20 mile run will be difficult. However, I'll do my best to get to bed early on Friday so I can hit the road early, early, early Saturday morning. Maybe 5:30 AM? Yuck. Not necessarily looking forward to that.

MapMyRun BETA

2010-05-16T01:52:00.000-05:00

A recent post defined my views on MapMyRun vs. DailyMile. Since publishing this post, I found that MMR released a BETA version of a new site design. My initial thoughts about the site is it's a DailyMile on steroids. There's a great visual of route elevations, and I really like some of the new additions and look of the site. I don't use MapMyRun for social networking, so I'm not really interested in the new community focus.

I've tried it out on a couple of runs during the past week and would like to say it definitely has potential. However, there are plenty of bugs to still correct.

I love the new ability to input multiple routes in a single run. This is how I always make my runs over 5 miles. However, my most recent workout didn't input properly as the individual route distances didn't come through.
Also, I've found that there's no real way to enter my gear. This is no good. I enjoy tracking the mileage on my shoes.
After entering my data on the BETA site, I attempted to log into the "regular" site to edit them and add my shoes. There weren't any issues with my first couple of workouts. Today, my running workout converted to a bike (I think), and there really isn't any way that I can find to edit it or add my gear.

I'm sure there are more bugs; however, until everything gets workout out, I'll be happy to stick with the original. However, with the new additions and look, as long as they add some cool widgets, I might have found a reason to stick to one website to track my training.

We'll see though.

2010 New Prague Half Marathon

2010-05-09T22:39:00.001-05:00

Last November, I ran the Battleship North Carolina Half Marathon with my sister. It was her first race a thus distance, and I was just getting back into training after running the Twin Cities Marathon three or four weeks previously. For me, the heat and humidity was off the charts at the race. By the end I was feeling good but still physically drained. Although I knew my time could have been much faster, I was excited to finish alongside and cheer on my sister. As this was my first half-marathon, I set my PR at 2:40.49.

This past Wednesday, I registered for the New Prague Half Marathon (raced yesterday). This is quite possibly the least amount of time I've had to prepare for a run since, well ever. However, being 9 weeks into my marathon training, I knew finishing wouldn't be a problem. My goal was to use this race as a training session to figure out what I could do with my pacing. For the last two weeks I've been frustrated on my runs as I have yet to determine what my goal pace will be for Grandma's. I've been toying with the idea of attempting to qualify for Boston in 2011, but don't know if I'm quite ready to PR by 20 minutes between marathons one and two. Which brings me to the race yesterday.

As I made my way to the start, I grabbed a pace wrist band and lined up with the 1:35.00 group. I felt this would be an excellent challenge for me, but figured that finishing with a time between 1:35-1:40 would be a fantastic accomplishment. The race weather was chilly with a little wind...perfect for a personal PR. After the first mile and a half, I dropped the pace group and gave it my all. I sang a selection of songs in my head (Back in Black and This Love) while on the road, and was feeling fantastic through the first six miles and continued to push the pace through the finish line. Ultimately, I was passed in the last 400m :( but came across the line in what I knew was a fast time and a definite PR. It wasn't until a few hours back home, when the results were posted online, I found out just how fast it was.

1:30.36. I was shocked. That's a sub-7 minute/mile average and good enough for 3rd place in my age group. I left early not wanting to hang around to watch the awards ceremony, so I missed the opportunity to be awarded my medal. Hopefully I can make my way to New Prague in the next couple of days to pick it up.

Granted, my legs were beat, but mentally, I felt fantastic. Now, I feel that, as long as I continue training strong for the next month, qualifying for Boston is well within reach. Looking back at last year, when I signed up for my first marathon, I would have thought that running Boston in 2011 would be crazy. Now, it's definitely a realistic goal.

I'd like to take this last paragraph to thank my wife and daughter for waking up very early, driving me to the start, and cheering me on in the wind and ice pellets. When training for these races, I tend to be out on the road daily for sometimes hours at a time. Without their support, I wouldn't be able to succeed and set (and reach) such lofty goals.

Just a quick test

2010-04-30T00:30:00.002-05:00

I've been messing around with html code and autoposting to both Twitter and Facebook. This will be my test to see if I have set everything up correctly. If not, I'll need to go to bed and try again tomorrow while my daughter is napping. If so, huzzah!

MapMyRun vs. DailyMile

2010-04-29T21:22:00.002-05:00

For the last year, I've been checking out to different online tools to track my training for both the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon and the 2010 Grandma's Marathon. I began with MapMyRun (MMR) as it was really the only online tool that I found for mapping, documenting, and collecting my training data. I have found this website to be integral to my training with many positive aspects. I came across DailyMile while following various runners via Twitter (@Oblinkin to be more specific).

Mapping tool - MMR's mapping tool allowing for specific marking of locations along your run (drinking fountains, railroad crossings, steep hills, and dogs...just to name a few). This is huge for me as I can make notes about specific locations, pacing, and other things along my route. By making these routes public, I share these notes with fellow runners who may not run the exact route, but will still know that water or a loud barking dog exists at a particular location. DailyMile does not provide this option. Advantage: MMR.
Unlike DailyMile, MMR's map default isn't "follow road". By mapping my routes using where I actually run, not the estimate provided by the short cut of "follow road". This is a small (and seemingly insignificant) point, as you can click off the "follow road" feature; however, remembering to click this feature off on DailyMile is annoying for me. Advantage: MMR.
Map organization - If you have many maps (I currently have 91), DailyMile does provide the ability to see them; however, they appear to be sorted by popularity, the amount of times you run them. Using DailyMile, I have found that the ability to get to "your mapped runs" is a little cumbersome as you need to click through two or three DailyMile pages to get to them. Also, I currently have 15 pages of runs to click though. Using MapMyRun, you click on the "My Runs" link on any page and you're taken to an alphabetized list of all your runs. Advantage: MMR.
Logging workouts - By clicking "workout" on DailyMile, you are brought directly to the information for logging a workout. I like how the page is very intuitive and easy to use. I'm sure MMR's logging can be just as easy; however, I find myself finding my running route and logging my workout from there. MMR allows for a significantly more detailed log as you can select different training options (track workout, fartlek, easy run, etc.). However, if this isn't important to you, and you're looking for the easiest way to log your workouts without the option of entering specifics, look to DailyMile. If you're looking to add significant detail to your workout, check out MMR. Advantage: Toss Up.
Social Media Integration - This is where DailyMile shines. As a running log book, DailyMile fully integrates photos, video, "friends", comments, and various other social aspects of the running scene. In my experience, MMR tends to be very individualistic. I don't necessarily see an active social setup. If it's there, I don't see it. The drawback to DailyMile is that it is largely unknown in my community. I see very few people in my area using it, so routes are non existent in my city, I have no local friends, and the rest of the social media aspect is largely unused. However, it does exist, and I would utilize it in a heartbeat. I also dislike how nearly ever action I take on MMR is posted on Twitter if the account is linked. I chose to disable this feature as each time I made a new map, edited a map, edited a workout, or logged a workout, MMR tweeted my followers. As far as I can tell, there is no way to adjust this setting. DailyMile has only tweeted my workout information. Advantage: DailyMile.
Blogging widgets and tools - Going along with the social media aspect, DailyMile is a blogger's dream. They have a variety of widgets and tools able to be post on personal websites or blogs. I have only found one MMR widget and I'm not impressed. Advantage: DailyMile.

Personal Preferences:

I enjoy looking at DailyMile's training graphs and data. However, I wish it included a calendar feature similar to MMR.
Tracking gear usage is much easier on MMR as you only need to click "Gear" to see how many miles are on your running shoes. When I want to utilize this feature on DailyMile, I always forget where I need to click as the information isn't easy to find.
Journaling - MMR provides for a daily log including sleeping habits, personal morale, the temperature, perceived humidity, amount of water consumed, and numerous other options. This feature is non-existent on DailyMile.
I really like how DailyMile tracks multiple runs on individual routes. I am able to track my route usage and fastest times. I do wish this feature would differentiate between activities (running and biking specifically) as my fastest time for most most used running route was logged using a bike.

Final conclusions:
If you're looking for an online running log book, both MapMyRun and DailyMile are fantastic options. However, the ability to track more specific information, journaling feature, and the overall ease to find information, I believe MMR is the superior tool. However, with the amount of social aspects and positive training graphs and tracking tools, my training has definitely been enhanced using DailyMile.

As a runner who's interested in tracking more information regarding my runs, my unprofessional opinion is to utilize both tools. The specific strengths of MapMyRun do not, in my opinion, outweigh the negatives of DailyMile. They compliment each other very well for my training purposes.

My own "almost or just over a" half-marathon

2010-04-24T17:19:00.001-05:00

After logging today's three routes on both dailymile and MapMyRun, I've found that they do not measure the same route equally. Today's approximate 13 miles shows as 13.06 on dailymile and 13.38 on MMR. I cannot guarantee which site is the most accurate, but I'm going to go with MMM as I've been using that service longer. In the future, I'll have to put my racing bike on the streets and measure the distance with the odometer for all routes and adjust the maps accordinly. Until then, a possible solution would be to average the two distances, ending with 13.22 miles for the day. My watch puts my run total at 1:34.43, so I'm quite happy with the outcome, regardless of the actual distance. As my previous post regarding pacing showed, I just might be able to qualify for Boston if can keep up my training, and have a perfect race in June.

It's been about two hours since finishing my run, and my legs feel like jelly, so I have a long road ahead. I'll need to build my endurance and stamina in the next eight weeks to sustain the 92 steps/minute average. It will be difficult, but I enjoy a new challenge. It's also gotten measurably cooler outside and the clouds have since rolled in. My run was completed just in time as rain probably isn't too far behind.

Oh, and I've recently received a 25% off coupon from Marathon Sports which must be used before the end of June. I'm considering adding a racing flat to my two pairs of Asics Gel Cumulus. It'll give me the opportunity to run some shorter distances in much lighter footwear and hopefully extend the life of my training shoes. If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know. I've never worn a racing flat, so I can be convinced by just about anything.

BQ? It's a possibility.

2010-04-22T19:29:00.001-05:00

After running a hill workout for the first time since beginning my Grandma's Marathon training over my lunch break, I hit the road after work for 3-miles and spent the time focusing on my steps per minute pace. During my training for the Twin Cities Marathon, I discovered that if I ran at 90 steps/minute, I hit my goal pace of 8 minute miles. This was a nice and easy round number to train on and it work out very well as I finished that race at exactly 3:30.

Wanting to improve my time at Grandma's, I needed to pick up the training pace a bit. Because you can't train at 9.00.00 for 16 week and expect to race at 7.00. However, in addition to my desire to speed up, I came across a bunch of literature explaining the mid-foot strike and its relation to many positive consequences (injury prevention, etc.). Over the last seven weeks I have attempted to pick up the pace while at the same time focusing on striking midfoot. Unfortunately said changes have really wreaked havoc with the consistency of my pace as calculated by my steps per minute. During my late afternoon run, I kept a steady 92 steps/minute. I finished the 3 miles in a new record for me of 22 minutes. I was pretty much flabbergasted.

After entering my route and time into both dailymile.com and MapMyRun, I found it extremely hard to believe that this run averaged 7.21 and 7.17/mile, respectively. That seems quite fast and outlandish, especially a couple of hours after a 4 mile hill workout. With the addition of two more steps per minute and focus on stride adjustment, have I really gotten that much faster since running Twin Cities just seven months ago?

I just find that really hard to believe; however, the numbers don't lie. I was really interested in how these times reflected a complete marathon, so I entered them into a pace calculator. I haven't added a fade as I suppose I'll begin training to hit these target paces consistently from here on out. Here are the results:

7.21/mile pace - 3:12.34 marathon. (dailymile.com calculation)

7.17/mile pace - 3:10.49 (MapMyRun calculation)

Completely unexpected. Both these times are crazy fast and really close to a BQ. With a little less than 9 weeks left before race day, perhaps it's time to begin a significant focus on an additional goal, Boston 2011.

I never though I would have said that while preparing for my second marathon.

Goal: One Hundred Pushups

2010-04-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

After recently reading, searching, and rediscovering Runblogger, I have decided to attempt to get my upper body into shape by attempting the Hundred Pushups program over the next six weeks. Here's his post on the subject. Apparently this program was developed by a runner named Steve (@britishbulldog). I have no idea who this guys is, but he is running Boston this year, so he's got to be somewhat successful. I'm very self-conscious when it comes to my upper body, so here's hoping that I can get a little bit of a workout and make by arms, chest, etc. more visually appealing to myself.

I didn't take this lightly, as I did a little research by checking out the iTunes store to find the best pushup app. Unfortunately, they're all pay to play applications, so I'm passing on each of them. Instead, I'm relying my my trusty paper pencil, and Excel document that has been since taped to the wall next to my Grandma's Marathon training program I developed for myself by hybriding the Rookie and Veteran training plan from Runner's World.

I'd love to support app development, but I just can't justify spending the money on a product I can copy and paste from the Internet. Perhaps when things workout, I'll make a little donation to the website. No promises, but anything to support a fellow athlete would be great. I know I'd like it for sure. So, later this afternoon will be Day 1 of Week 1. I did my initial test yesterday night scoring at a Level 4 with 38. Apparently I can skip a few weeks, but I'm going to start from the beginning and work my way up.

I'll keep everyone updated as to my progress. I look forward to getting a ripped upper body in the next six weeks.

Running When Sick

2010-04-17T14:46:00.000-05:00

My lower body feels fine. It's only my lefts sinus cavity, and the fact that I can't hear out of my left ear. My legs feel great, the weather is absolutely beautiful, and I feel the need to get my Saturday run in. It's time to get off the couch, into my running gear and out the door...or is it?
After playing with my blog layout for nearly an hour (It doesn't look like much has changed.), I found my wife and daughter still napping and thought this would be a great time to get a run in, but I paused a second and thought about my sinus and ear infections. The "I'm feeling lucky" search brought me to this Runner's World article about running when you're sick. After the quick skim and browsing of the most important information, I have decided to follow the noted "72 hour rule". I've only been on antibiotics for 24 hours, so this means no running for me until at least Tuesday, a Yasso 800m workout. Great. Not much of an "ease in" there.

So, after the read I'm missing out on 12 miles today, 4 miles tomorrow, and cross training on Monday. However, more important than training is the necessity of not developing my wife's pneumonia and previous bronchitis. It feels like there's been a walking triage unit in the apartment for the last two weeks. That would put a significant damper on the training and possible upcoming half-marathon plans.

I need to kick this infection ASAP.

The Perfect Child ??

2010-04-02T15:29:00.001-05:00

I don't watch Dr. Phil very often, well...ever. I'm sitting on the couch while my wife watches, but my ear is on today's topic, Pressure for Perfection. I desire my daughter to be the best at whatever she does; however, I'm not ready to be a parents who over pushes, abuses, or lives vicariously through her. Honestly, neither my wife nor I are the best athlete at anything. I hope though that our daughter does enjoy life, activities, or whatever to the best of her ability, but I don't want to be as competitive as the parents on this show. In fact, listening to it makes me want to throw up a little bit. If I want to be smarter than the coach, I might as well actually be the coach.

Do I want my daughter to be an Olympian? Heck yes. Does she want to be an Olympian? I have no idea because she's only two, but I will not sacrifice our relationship to make it happen. I'd like to hear stories about how other Olympic athletes were brought up. Will each of them have similar stories about overly controlling parents, or is it with only a select few with this issue?

It would be fantastic if our daughter participates in a little bit of everything, and then chooses something (or maybe a few somethings) in which to excel. Nice quote I just overheard: "A sport is what you do, not who you are."

Out and about

2010-03-29T18:53:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, my daughter and I hit Northfield with a bike and trailer. Although a bit windy, the temperature was right for a trip to Washington Park. After about 5 minutes of playing, my daughter needed to use the bathroom, so we walked over to City Hall only to find it locked (It was 5:10 PM, so apparently, the city absolutely shuts down at 5 PM.). After finding the door locked, we grabbed the bike and headed to Econofoods. Unlike the local Cub, there aren't free apples for children. So, after the bathroom I broke down and purchased a 91¢ apple for a quick toddler snack. Of course, she only ate a couple of bites before it landed on the ground. I finished it off as she was too busy with slides, rocks, climbing, and swings.

Now, we're looking for dinner. I'm too lazy to make something, so the two of us are heading out to a local establishment. We haven't decided which one as the toddler says she's "not hungry." I guess that's what happens when you allow a two year old to make a decision on a place to eat.

I hope Patty and Larry don't mind the bike and trailer at the desk. It'll be gone before the students come back from Spring Break. It really looks like we're the only people on campus right now, so I feel as though the bike and trailer will be safe in the current location. We've got bigger problems if someone breaks into the building by breaking the glass at the entrance.

...and she just spilt a half container of juice on the floor. Looks like dinner will be delayed a few minutes while I supervise the clean up. I mean, while I clean it up.

Purpose, attention, ambition, and drive.

2010-03-28T23:51:00.000-05:00

For the last month, I've been trying to figure out if there's a future for this blog. It doesn't seem like there's much to report or talk about as my life really isn't that interesting. In my profession, I don't necessarily have wonderful words of wisdom to share with the world. With those two statements in play, to keep this up, running, and interesting, I need to put some work into the purpose of typing and sharing online.

If you follow my words at all, you may have recognized that I haven't done much posting in the last few weeks. Let's see if that changes after finding a new online purpose and direction. It may take a little time, thought, and experimentation, so be patient. Let me know what works and what doesn't.

See you online in the near future. Perhaps again tomorrow?

Changing priorities

2010-01-25T22:59:00.002-06:00

One of the things about working full time in residence life is finding
time to get everything done. As many of you know, I went to
undergraduate and graduate school at a school with a very highly
ranked men's basketball program.

Tonight was a rivalry game that I wouldn't have dreamed of missing
earlier in my career. After attending a program and holding a staff
meeting, I completely forgot about the game and sat on the couch with
my wife and daughter watching movies on iPhoto. I actually didn't
remember the game until I got a phone call from by brother-in-law.

This is very uncharacteristic of me. At least it would have been a
couple of years ago. I suppose my priorities have significantly once
balancing a family and full-time work became a full-time job.

How'd the game turn out you ask? KU won by 24 points, so I guess my
cheering isn't necessary after all. Who would have thought a former
mascot would have ever said that?

Second Annual Casino Night

2010-01-23T01:29:00.000-06:00

10 PM signaled the official end of the campus-wide Casino Night sponsored by the Inter-Hall Council. I had a lot of fun dealing blackjack at this event last year, and decided to give it another try. Do I follow all the rules as a dealer? No. Do I make sure the folks sitting at my table have a good time? Yes. Because, that's really why I'm there...making sure students enjoy themselves while winning a bunch of chips which hopefully loads of prizes at the end of the night.

Will that good time happen without me, as in if I don't show up? Sure. However, I hope for the two hours I was dealing, the handful of folks who came across my blackjack table left with a smile on their face, a ton of chips, and the realization that Area Coordinators, although professional Residence Life staff members, are still able to enjoy themselves. We're not out to bust you for drinking, not all the time at least :) There's so much more to living on campus in a residence hall, and tonight is one of those nights where I really, really enjoy the ability to relax, let my guard down, and have a good time while still being a professional on campus.

So, thank you to all who showed up to play cards, bingo, and other games. IHC designed what I believe to be a great event for the second year in a row. However, I had to leave early to pay the babysitter, so I can't vouch for the 9-10PM hour. Such is life when you've got a family on campus.

Is there such a thing as too much TV?

2010-01-19T16:20:00.003-06:00

Here's what has happened in the last couple of weeks:

It's time to start significantly rethinking the way we watch television.

Since the Jungers family cancelled our cable last semester, we've become much less reliant on watching TV to entertain us (us being the adults). Our daughter tends too watch movies on a regular basis. Her favorites are probably in a previous post that I'm too lazy to find. However, much has changed in the past month or so with the addition of a second Netflix movie to my wife's account. We've continued to watch TV, but it's now in the form of DVDs without commercials.

Currently, we've filled our time with The Office, Dexter, and my wife's new favorite True Blood. I'm sure there are many more TV episodes on our queue, so we'll see if anything changes in the coming weeks. We've already signed up for a Netflix disc to stream content on a Nintendo Wii (We don't own a gaming console, yet.). Shhh, my wife doesn't know about the disc yet. But, if this whole ESPN/Microsoft thing goes through, maybe it's time to start looking into purchasing an XBOX 360...not for gaming, but programming.

Will it save us any money? At the current time, I can't answer that question. However, one thing I do know: I really enjoy researching money-saving opportunities.

Maybe we'll continue with the board games. I wouldn't mind that either.

Morning Thoughts

2010-01-17T09:49:00.003-06:00

I woke up this morning to our daughter in the bed. This hasn't happened in nearly a week, so I thought I'd also put together a post to mark the occasion. These are just a few of the things on my mind:

If you're going to violate policy by using the women's bathroom, the least you can do is lift the seat and aim.
How many more times can you call my cell phone and say "I'm sorry. I called the wrong number."? It's getting ridiculous. Every morning. Perhaps I'll start calling back. Similarly, I wish Sprint would give you the option to assign a contact to not ring. I'm pretty sure I could do it with Verizon.
I wish the Arizona defense would have shown up for last night's game. Speaking of the NFL, I think the Vikings are going to have their hands full with the Cowboys in a few hours. It'll be a good game, as the Vikings squeak out the victory.
I'm disappointed that all the apps I wanted to download to my iPod Touch required the 3.0 software update. I thought I could hold out spending the $4.95 or whatever, but I just couldn't do it anymore. Which reminds me, why is Apple even charging for the software update? It's disappointing.
Why would I pay for a CNN app when I can add CNN.com to my home screen?
As I look around the apartment I'm thinking to myself, "We either need a bigger place or must get rid of some stuff."
I spent two hours in Target and Kmart with money burning a hole in my pocket. After walking through the stores, I came home empty handed. I was quite disappointed to see that Target had only toddler shirts on clearance (no pants). Perhaps I need to go to a bigger Target next time.

I'm sure there's more, but it's not necessary to make every thought available to the public. Until next time...

The First Week

2010-01-06T16:33:00.004-06:00

So, after having a great plan on how to better educate myself, it all goes by the wayside. Unfortunately, on Monday morning, my wife went to the doctor with our toddler. They both left with the knowledge that our little one was suffering from tonsillitis and pink eye. What I mean to say is that she's following in her daddy's footsteps. I had chronic tonsillitis as a child and had them and adenoids removed. Our child's sickness means our regular weekly afternoon "daycare" sessions are on hold until all is better.

There's no need for Grandpa Jungers to be suffering from pink eye.

What this means for the Jungers' is that Ross is doing his set of office hours in the AM this week. With Anna leaving for her afternoon job, someone needs to be around the watch Linnea. This is a great opportunity I have by living-in. My supervisor has been very understanding. This also means that daddy is spending his afternoons catching up on kiddy movies. Here's a partial list we've watched since Monday:

Cars, Shrek, Wizard of Oz, Horton Hears a Who, Happy Feet, Thomas & Friends: James Learns a Lesson.

Most, if not all, of these films have been watched multiple times with James Learns a Lesson being played for nearly 3 hours straight. Linnea didn't sit and watch it for the entire time, but would panic if I stopped it. I hope you parents out there don't judge me for letting my kids watch movies because we've also played with her Fisher Price Loving Family Grand Dollhouse, colored with washable markers, and read almost all the books on her shelf at least twice. So far, I'd have to say we're doing okay. I've even been able to catch an episode of Band of Brothers and a disc of The Office: Season 3 as she napped.

All the while I've been putting medicated drops in her eyes to fight the pink eye (For future parents, your kid will cry and attempts to force his/her eyes closed too.). I think it's been a pretty successful last couple of days. The only thing I've been unable to do is read and annotate research articles. However, I have yet to log onto Farmville, so at least that resolution is still intact. Perhaps during tomorrow's nap I'll pull out the article and start reading.

Oh, and I've decided to not run the half-marathon at the end of the month. For unknown reasons (laziness, cold weather, holidays) I haven't hit the road running in the last five weeks. Perhaps when the weather warms up above zero I'll get out on the road again.

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-03T22:37:00.003-06:00

Back Story 1
At our Interim staff training, we were asked about a "dream job" during an ice breaker. I find these kinds of questions difficult as I never have an answer for what I'd like to be doing in the next 10, 15, or 20 years. Today, I decided I wanted to be a writer. I've been reading many books during the past two months (most of it brainless cop-related fiction), and each time I pick one up I think to myself, "I can write something like this." However, I know in my heart that I'm just not that great...yet.

Back Story 2
Last night, my wife and friend went out to eat at a local establishment. While they were gone I decided to revamp my farm on Farmville. If you have no idea what Farmvile is, you need to wake up. It's probably the most played game on Facebook. I read somewhere that if has more users that Twitter, which is beside the point. As I sat at the computer clicking away, I decided that I was spending a little too much time in this fantasy Facebook world. So, I decided that 10 AM on 1/3/10 would be the last time I would log onto Farmville for the month of January. This will be a hard habit to break as I've spent at least an hour a day the entire semester "playing".

New Year's Resolution
Replace the Farmville with constructive reading and writing. For the last 12 months, I've been picking up research articles in my profession, higher education, and wanting to read them a do quick annotations for future reference. I figure this will come in handy should I decide to continue on my current career path and begin another degree. Not only will it help my writing, but it will also help me find an area of the field in which I could cultivate an interest for possible research. After about a year, I have a grand total of six articles read and annotated.

So, here before my reading audience, I will spend my January reading and writing 2-3 research articles a week. I'll start tomorrow as I already have the article picked out. It's a lofty goal for me, but Interim is a perfect time to start the habit. Maybe if I get really ambitious, I might blog a little about what I'm learning.

Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

"Crisis" Averted

2009-12-14T20:32:00.004-06:00

Those of us who are currently living or at one time lived on-campus as Residence Life professionals know about bathroom flooding. Last week I got a call that there was water all over the floor in one of the bathrooms in the building where I live. I walked up and sure enough, a student staff member was wiping the floor not only with his personal towel (yuck), but a mop from the custodial closet as well. After letting the water run its course, we found the wet/dry vac and went to town.

We called in a plumber (after hours, but not too late) who told us he was going to shut off the water and have a the building's plumber come and look at it in the morning. I thought to myself, "Now, I could have done that myself. Why did I need to call it in?" Seriously folks, if I had taken a second to think about it, I had all the tools I needed to do the job myself. Namely a channel lock and slotted screwdriver. However, not having any sort of emergency of that sort in quite a while, I panicked a bit.

Well tonight, it happened again. This time we were ready. No after hours call to the Facilities office or Public Safety this time.

A crisis was averted. Colin, you did a great job. Matt and Kevin? Thanks for showing up and offering support.

Now, off to the final staff meeting of the semester.

Until next time...

Disorganized Eating

2009-10-15T22:48:00.001-05:00

Since I've finished the marathon, I've been eating rather oddly. I can't help but dive into a Pause pizza (the best in town) two or three times a week. Yesterday was the first time eating something before heading to the office in the morning, and on many occasions, dinner has consisted of whatever I could find, at 11:00 PM. Four almost four months I wasn't eating the healthiest foods, but I was at least eating regularly. This has since disappeared, even though I'm running a half-marathon with my sister on November 1.

As an aside, last night's student staff in-service was a presentation from the Park Nicollet Melrose Institute, an organization determined to heal eating disorders. Was the speaker talking about me? Probably not, but I have to admit: my eating is significantly disorganized. I need to do a better job. I need to be healthier. I need to reorganize my eating.

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

Trying to figure it all out

2009-10-13T15:09:00.003-05:00

When working with Social Networking, you need to figure out what works for you. Perhaps ping.fm is what I'll be using from now on?

via Ping.fm

Posted via web from reasoningone's posterous

2009 Mascot Invitational

2009-10-07T15:30:00.003-05:00

As promised, here's the video of the 2009 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Mascot Invitational. The winner's trophy was awarded to Nordy, the mascot for the Minnesota Wild. What do you think?

The Twin Cities Marathon

2009-10-05T16:48:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been more than 24 hours since finishing my first marathon. My quads are sore. Sore like I have difficulty transitioning from a seated to standing position. I can do stairs pretty well, as long as there's two handrails on either side for support. This is mostly an issue because my live-in job requires me to be sitting in my offices for most of the day, and one of my halls is full of stairs. Now, when I'm officially done with work, I can see it's raining outside. There goes my outdoor walk to stretch my legs. Boo! But seriously, huzzah! for not raining yesterday.

It's so bad right now that I couldn't get my chair back to it's highest position after meeting with a student staff member. I needed to use the desk as support to stand up, then awkwardly bend over to work the level to raise the chair back up. I did plenty of reading about how to train for a marathon, but absolutely none on how to recover for one. I've now relegated myself to reading and learning on the fly. Who cares about my muscle problems, let's talk about the race.

For doing my first marathon, I was quite impressed with the course. It was pretty darn beautiful, and whomever ordered the weather, thank you. It was a little cool at the start, but I didn't notice because I was packed in with 11,000+ runners in a couple block stretch. It took a little over 3 minutes for me to make it to the starting line after Corral 1 left the Dome, and I was off. I had never ran in downtown Minneapolis before, and it was quite impressive. Buildings all around, people screaming, cow bells, etc. I lined up with the 3:50 pace group, and stuck with them for about a block. I'm not that great at pacing myself on time, but instead I've used "steps-per-minute" as a good approximation of time. For the first half of the race, I kept a consistent 90-steps a minute pace going (which I believe to be right around 8:10 miles or so). I was feeling quite super when I crossed 13.1 miles in 1:43. This was nearly 10 minutes faster than a half I ran a couple of months ago.

Feeling groovy, I picked up the pace to right around 94 steps a minute (which I believe to be right around 7:55/mile). I kept this up until about mile 19. It was at this time when I noticed that everyone around me (who I was passing) had maroon numbers.

A maroon number signifies Corral 1 start while a gold number signifies Corral 2. Maroon and Gold, get it? Minnesota, Twin Cities, Gophers? Anyway, it was at about that time when I started feeling the burning in my legs. I dropped back to the 90 steps and made it to Summit Ave with very little difficulty (training on the St. Olaf campus helped me out as the hill at UST seemed pretty easy). Anyway, Summit Ave really kicked my butt until mile 24 when I ran into a couple of volunteers at the waterstop I knew (Rachel's mom and brother). They were very kind and encouraging. It was at this point that I got passed by a handful of Corral 2 runners.

The left turn to the finish was quite amazing (I really appreciate the Minnesota Viking cheer section as they helped me pick up the pace down the hill to the finish.). With the finish line in sight, I head a couple of runners behind me screaming (pick up the pace, we're almost finished, etc.). I think there were a few "choice" phrases used as well, but it gave me just enough umph to cross the finish line in what I would consider to be an all out sprint.

As I approached I saw a guy sprawled out just across the finish line. I prepared to hurdle him, but he was pulled aside by fantastic race volunteers, or medical staff, or someone. Who knows what would have happened had I needed to leave my feet to avoid tripping.

Great race, great finishing time, and an overall great weekend. There's plenty of video and pictures to share as soon as I can put them together from the various cameras our families used throughout the weekend. So, there's definitely more to come.

A few notes:

Does anyone know if the balloon arch made it back up? I don't remember where on the course it was (maybe around Mile 10??), but about 100 feet after I crossed under it all I heard were "Oh No's". when I turned to look back, thee large balloon arch had started to bend and it looked to me like runners behind me were going to need to be acrobatic to avoid tripping.
I kept an eye on my watch periodically throughout the race to check my pacing. This wasn't an issue except at Mile 4 when I stepped in a giant puddle which soaked my right shoe and sock.
I need to invest in better athletic socks. When I took off my shoes in the changing tent, both of my big toes were visible. Luckily I have no blisters or sores as a result. A couple toe nails did dig into their neighboring toe a little, but this was expected.
Nordy needs to be disqualified for his antics at the Mascot Invitational. I'll post the video and you can see for yourself. As a former mascot, I would have been pissed had I been running in that race.
Don't let anyone tell you a goal is too ambitious. This happened with me early on. Now I just need to send my results via email.

Now, what happens next? As I sit here typing, I feel that I put a significant amount of training into this race and will need to work significantly harder to improve on my time. The running season in Minnesota is coming to a close, so I suppose a PR will have to wait until next year. It sounds like my wife has plenty of plans for cheering in 2010, so I suppose I'll again be training 16-weeks before the run. However, I'll register a little earlier next time and save some money.

I'm for sure running a half-marathon with my sister on November 1. Next marathon? Grandma's in Duluth? Kansas Marathon in Lawrence?

After running my first, Mason City is definitely a no-go, so is Overland Park before Thanksgiving. I can see why they're called "Marathon Maniacs".

Tiger makes serious bank

2009-10-01T21:41:00.001-05:00

I don't watch ESPN very often, but I was watching in the Pause and heard that Tiger Woods will be the first athlete to reach $1 BILLION in career earnings when he's given his $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup. He reached this mark before Michael Jordan and Michael Schumacher. The kind of money in such a short amount of time boggles my mind. Here's the article from Forbes.com.

Where are our priorities?

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

Almost screwed up the shirt

2009-10-01T14:06:00.001-05:00

So, the race is coming up on Sunday, and I went to Target and bought a new shirt for the occasion. I've fallen in love with the C9 gear Target has to offer as it fits my budget. I was okay with the running shorts until my 20-miler three weeks ago, but thanks to the Lifetime Fitness Running Club, I'm okay. I almost screwed up the new shirt last night though (after only one run too). I had a grandiose idea of screen printing my name on the shirt so folks could more easily cheer for me. Since I had to wait until pay day to buy my new stuff, I needed to use one of those "do it yourself" screen printing pages via my computer printer. The design looked good, but it's all in the execution. When I finished with the iron, it looked horrible. I thought I had ruined my new shirt until I found that a plastic spoon could scrape most of the printing off.

What was left was a pink mess. The second step involved Oxiclean Stain Remover Spray and a lot of elbow grease. When completed, the shirt went into the washing machine and looks as good as new. I wish I had pictures of me sitting on the kitchen floor. I'm sure my wife was laughing the whole time, as she knew it was a bad idea from the start.

I guess folks on the course will have to call me by my race number instead. If you're on the streets on Minneapolis or St. Paul this weekend, look for the guy in a white/black C9 top and black/white LTF running shorts running on the left side of the road. He's number 3085, and looking fly.

...and would have looked even better had the screen printing worked.

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

What am I doing?

2009-09-23T01:51:00.002-05:00

Seriously...

I'm running the race of my life in two weeks, and I can't get off the computer at 1:52 AM.
I find myself in withdrawal after not using Netflix to finish season 2 of Dexter so my wife and I can begin season 3 together via Netflix.
I'm skipping breakfast and not eating enough for dinner.
I did 6 loads of laundry this morning, and there are now a total of 8 unfolded loads of laundry sitting on our living room floor.

...and this is only a partial list of what's happening around here.

I seem to be really off my game this week, and it's only Tuesday. Wait, Wednesday.

Ugh!

The President's Speech Tomorrow

2009-09-07T16:59:00.003-05:00

So, has anyone who's now read the speech called their child's superintendent to show support for the speech? I know many called to voice their opposition during the last week (without knowing the text I might add). Has anyone left a message apologizing, wanting their child to hear the following statements from the President of the United States:

"But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world ? and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education..."

"...And no matter what you want to do with your life ? I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it..."

"...What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future..."

"...We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that ? if you quit on school ? you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country..."

"...I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country..."

"...But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life ? what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home ? that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying... "

"...Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future..."

"...I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things. But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try..."

"...No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in..."

"...The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best..."

"...Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down ? don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it..."

If you have, good for you. If not, please take time to actually inform yourself about the speech's content, then make the call. Because, if this is "Socialist brainwashing", consider me Oliver Twist.

Reposts from My Facebook Comments

2009-09-04T20:28:00.005-05:00

I've spent the last 60 minutes reading about Minnesota's governor, Tim Pawlenty, speak at the State Fair regarding controversy President Obama's talk with students this coming Tuesday. After reading some other public comments, I've decided to make my own available for the Facebook world to see. Since not all of you are my FB friends, I thought I'd copy and paste a couple of my responses to my blog.

I understand that very few folks read this, but it's my opinion. Feel free to discuss them if you wish.

***

I hope all politicians against the President of the United States speaking to students vow to never set foot in a classroom or address children for the rest of their political careers.

***

Best reader comment from the Star Tribune online:

Simple solution
"Give the GOP time for a rebuttal speech, telling the kids that education is evil and that they have an absolute right to be ignorant."

posted by cailin on Sep. 4, 09 at 2:47 PM
http://bit.ly/ojNlI"

***

I think a lot of people will be embarrassed when they actually have the opportunity to read the speech. It's crazy to me that there's so much political fallout on what people's opinions about what they THINK will be said.

Is it so hard to reserve judgment on a topic until you get all available information? For some, I guess it is difficult.

...and it's actually too bad because the way it will be played by those against the speech come Monday night is that all the phone calls to school districts and GOP politicians speaking against it actually influenced the speech's content. I suppose this could be the case; however, we'll never know the truth, which is actually too bad.

On a personal note, the day Bill Clinton was first inaugurated as President in 1993, I was home from school sick. I watched his speech on television and wrote a letter congratulating him on becoming President of the United States. It was the first time I had ever remembered watching the President speak.

I guess that was a bad move on my part, and I suppose Gov. Pawlenty should make sure that no other 6th graders in Minnesota write the White House in fear of being placed on some super secret mailing list meant to brainwash our children. How ridiculous does that sound? I can't even say it out loud without laughing.

***

On a somewhat related note, I was listening to SciFri on NPR this afternoon, and a caller asked the following question of a doctor explaining H1N1 outbreaks on college campuses: "Can you explain the truth to the rumor about us being forced to get a flu vaccine, and if not, be placed in one of many internment camps across the country?"

I laughed out loud while driving home from Menards.

I can't believe that people think that anything like that could EVER be true.

It's really too bad that there are those who choose to make a political point by using fear and scare tactics. I really thought the country had learned the truth about this playbook, but apparently there's still a core group of people out there who are unable to listen to any viewpoint other than what they're told to think.

Seriously, someone asked about internment campus on NPR this afternoon. You can listen to the entire interview here. (http://bit.ly/127UnG)

The beginning of the year is now here.

2009-08-29T12:19:00.002-05:00

It seems crazy how fast the fall snuck up on me. It seems like just yesterday I watched the commencement of my staff and students. However, that's not the case. It's actually been three months. Yikes. I don't understand it, but it feels like every year summers just get faster and faster. Perhaps this summer's feeling was caused by the actual lack of summer weather. Maybe it was due to the 26 days of vacation I needed to use or lose before August 1.

Note: I didn't use all of it. I believe I lost 4.5 days of vacation.

Anyway, this morning at 10 AM, our first-year student staff began arriving on campus and moving in. Many of my colleagues will see this as happening really late. Some of you have already started conduct hearings with residents. However, as I explained in my last post, we don't start classes for another week. Unfortunately this pushes commencement for the class of 2110 to the last Sunday in May. That seems like a date ridiculously far into the future, but I believe it will come sooner than any of us expect.

I have high hopes and expectations for this year. Some of which were crushed when I forgot to pick up photocopies from our Print Center yesterday. I thought it would be great to get a jump on copying, but alas. It was all in vain as I'll need to utilize my computer printer anyway.

Oh well. If that's the only thing that goes wrong in the next nine months, I just might be disappointed. Until that time though, I'll have to live like I know what I'm doing.

Until next time.

Another personal note: Pictures and hugs from parents saying goodbye to their students make me feel good. Parents are trusting this institution with the lives of their children. It's an insane responsibility, but one we look forward to fulfilling each and every year. If not, why are we living-in?

Is it getting late?

2009-08-21T22:57:00.004-05:00

Today was a day off (as has been every Friday this summer); however, I spent the morning in the office getting papers, signage, and other details ready for the first staff member to move in next week. During the last 24 hours, I've read on Facebook the messages of various friends and colleagues who already have students in their buildings. In fact, I believe the University of Kansas started classes yesterday. The first day of classes here still feels like a month away, which is actually pretty close.

My buildings will be fully staffed a week from tonight. That's right, the full student staff doesn't start training until August 28. This puts our Incident Hall (BCD) the week after. I've been in this position for the last three years, and I'm still not used to such a late start. Our hall council elections have also been pushed back (last week in September) when compared to previous years...which is nearly insane when I think about it. When we finish with training these elected students, it'll be fall break. YIKES!

I suppose stranger things have happened in the world of Residence Life staffing, but I'm not quite sure what they are yet.

That's about all for me at the current moment. I need to begin getting in the habit of getting to sleep earlier. With students arriving and the duty schedule beginning, coupled with the need to run in the morning, the earlier I can get to bed the better. That and I'm planning on running 15-16 miles starting at 5:30 AM tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. My alarm will be set, it's actually getting up that's the trick.

Another Balancing Act

2009-08-19T22:02:00.002-05:00

We're now into the second week of professional staff training. My only issue was walking into the apartment late last week to find a note on our dry erase board asking:

"Why did we start potty training when you went back to work?"

This is a completely logical question as it's a true statement. Our daughter began to figure out the potty the day I began training. So, my wife is now the main cleaner upper around the house while I'm working on various presentations for the upcoming student staff training.

So, for those keeping track, our daughter was born during hall closing two years ago (I actually left the hospital to help serve late night breakfast. What was I thinking?), and only took a week of paternity leave to continue helping with building closing.

Now I'm missing out a potty training stuff, again due to my residence life schedule. I get to help out during the evening hours for now, but that could change once student staff arrive next week.

It's now time to figure out a new way to balancs living in and family life. Does it ever end?

Probably not.

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

2009-08-04T16:57:00.003-05:00

After a Friday and Saturday chalk full of athletic activity, I decided to take Sunday and Monday off in preparation of my "scheduled" brick workout today (Tuesday). I left a little later than I would have liked, and finished sooner than expected. Surprisingly, I have very little soreness in my legs. I would like to think it's due to me getting in shape; however, it's probably due to the lack of a "proper workout".

Let me be the first to tell you that I don't know the first thing about successful brick workouts. I just read a blog post about it and reminisced about my triathlon days of 2001-02 and decided to do it. @SeriousRunning calls this running with integrity. Overall, I was pleased with my 5-mile bike at 19:29. After getting off, I was worried that I went too fast because my legs "felt like bricks" (it is called a brick workout afterall), but didn't worry about it when I finished the 5-mile run with an 8:03 pace. It's been 7 hours since finishing the workout, and it feels like I should go out and do it all over again.

I probably would; however, it's against the law to leave a sleeping two year old by herself.

Did I do it wrong? Should I have biked and ran a longer distance?

Personal Note: After reading a little about the workouts, I have found that it would be better to include intervals or repeats. Perhaps when my wife gets back I'll do the 5-mile bike and run again.

Is the Injini Terasok the sock for me?

2009-07-31T00:30:00.003-05:00

Could it be?

Recently I've had to keep my toe nails trimmed really, really short due to an issue with my left toes. For some reason, no matter the angle I trim, one toe nail always rubs against the toe next to it, creating a bloody mess in my sock at the end of a workout. However, as I came across a blog written by Scott Dunlap, runtrails.blogspot.com, I may have found my solution. It appears as though one of his sponsors is a company called Injinji. When I opened the link from his site, I was amazed at what I discovered, the Tetrasok.

In the past I've somewhat made fun of people who wear socks with toes like this for pleasure. However, seeing that I have a real issue happening inside my running shoe, I just might give this a try. To me, they're a little on the pricey side ($12 a pair; although they can be purchased online on the Injini website for $9 if you don't mind last year's packaging.), but I just might head to Run N Fun in St. Paul to check it out for myself.

I'll let you know how it turns out, if and when I get a pair.

Back to Blogger

2009-07-30T19:19:00.002-05:00

Due to my inability to add a js gadget/widget to my Wordpress blog, I
am back to Blogger. It was a nice experiment, but I desired to add that
nice Twin Cities Marathon counter you see to the right. It was
designed by one of my buddies, and I want to see his work flourish on
the Internet.

Hopefully Blogger will welcome me back with open arms. If not, I guess
I'll have to attempt to learn HTML code.

Workout at the "other track".

2009-07-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last post; however, after reading about brick workouts on the Trail Running Blog, I've decided to make more of an attempt to post more regularly...especially about my training. I've found it easier to think that someone is reading my posts either on this blog or check out my Map My Run information I put on my Facebook profile. Chances are nobody is looking, but it keeps me honest.

I decided last night that I was going to run a track workout today. So, I laced up my shoes (after working a couple hours on my day off) and headed down to the track. When I got there, I found a Grounds worker taking a power sprayer to the track. I wasn't in the mood for a shower every 400m, so I decided to run a warm up to the other college track (about a mile), do my track ladder, and head back to campus. I did two 1-2-4-4-2-1 intervals with an 800m walk between each set.

I know it's a weak run, but I'll do a longer distance ladder in the next couple of weeks.

I averaged 13:15 per set. The second was a little faster than the first, and I believe this is because another male runner had arrived at the track to warm up for his own workout. I suppose to show off. He appeared to be taller and younger than me (perhaps a runner at the other school?). It doesn't matter though. Anyway. After I made my way back to campus, I got to the apartment and realized I didn't have a key or my ID with me, so I was locked out, which hasn't happened to me since my second year here. At that time, I locked myself out of the apartment twice in a span on 5 days. This wouldn't be a horrible thing, but nobody except the Director of Residence Life and locksmith have keys to the professional staff apartments. Since the lockouts happened during the evening hours, the locksmith needed to be called in to open the door. I was quite embarrassed, especially the second time.

After reading about brick workouts, I think I'm going to try one next Tuesday or Thursday. It sounds like fun.

As I type this there's thunder outside, the wind has picked up significantly, and now it's raining. It looks as though I completed my workout just in time. We need the rain, but I don't need to be soaked with it while running.

...and now it's done, and the sun is out. The rain lasted about 10 minutes.

Skype

2009-07-23T11:01:00.000-05:00

So, I hopped on the bandwagon (way late I might add) and registered for Skype. I've got no one to call, but who knows. Maybe someone will call me?

p.s. I signed my wife up too. However, she doesn't know it yet.

Michael Jackson Scuttlebutt

2009-06-30T20:05:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this from my iPod Touch, so I can't include hyperlinks. I just heard on TV that Michael Jackson has a will, left his father nothing, and quite possibly didn't finish, formalize, or get his children's adoption papers in order.

This is a sad situation that will only get worse as the days, weeks, and months go by.

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

An Arby's a day...

2009-06-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

...keeps hunger at bay.

A couple of days ago, I purchased a handful of Arby's Roast Beef Sandwiches. It's one of the few meats my daughter will eat without bribery, and they just plain taste delicious. After dinner was finished, I took a quick look at the receipt to check the damage. It did cost too much, but what I found printed on the back was even more exciting (check the picture). Lo and behold, if I were to log onto the company website and complete the satisfaction survey, I would be given a code for a free original roast beef or beef & cheddar sandwich as long as I brought the receipt and code to a participating restaurant.

Many of you who read this know that I'm a cheap skate. I'm always looking for the best deals on everything, and will do almost anything to get them. Especially my love affair with Kwik Trip.

So, after finishing dinner, I logged onto the computer and filled out the 5 question survey (no personal identification questions asked, and it took less than a minute). My final step was writing the four-digit code for my free sandwich on the back. Fast forward to tonight. My wife and I were thinking about dinner plans for our daughter, and Arby's was again mentioned. I complied quickly in the affirmative, as I still had the free sandwich receipt on the fridge, and it was within the 30-day window. I headed to the local Arby's receipt in-hand and received my free sandwich. I felt a little bad for not having to buy anything else, so I also picked up a small curly fry (I still may do this in the future). I thanked the employee and rang the bell on the way out. Then another amazing thing happened...I checked the back of my receipt and found the same survey information. Could it be? Another free sandwich for spending a minute on the computer? I was in awe to realize that our local store's receipt tape is just one free sandwich code after another. I hurried home (after stopping by Kwik Trip for two bags of milk and a take and bake pizza, more on this later) and logged onto the site to fill out my customer survey.

It was nearly too good to be true. When entering the store ID on my receipt, I found that Arby's must have a cookie on our Macbook because I read on the next page and needed to wait another 30 days to fill out the survey for a free sandwich. I got down for just a second, until I realized where I made my home. Can anyone guess? That's right, we have a winner, on a college campus! Remember, I'm a live-in Residence Life professional. I walked up the couple stairs to my office, and boom, free Arby's sandwich! So, the next time my daughter, wife, or I are in the mood for an Arby's Roast Beef sandwich, we're not paying a dime for it. And, until I decide to not work on a college campus, maybe never again??

Sometimes it feels good to be a cheap skate.

p.s. For more money saving ideas, you should check your favorite store's website for an email list. I'm on a couple of them (Kwik Trip, Culver's, and Papa Murphy's just to name a few) and get regular emails with links to sweet deals and coupons. Should I be afraid of spam or flooded inbox? Nope, not at all! With Gmail's filters, these messages skip my inbox and head straight into their own label. I only check it if I see a new message. Gosh I love the Internet, and saving money too!

Back to my stop at Kwik Trip.

A large take and bake pizza? $7.99. Compare that to your local pizza delivery joint.

The gallon of 2% milk you ask? A ridiculously cheap $1.08.

I'm telling you this place is ingenious for the bargain grocery shopper. Oh, BTW, a dozen eggs are 69 cents. That's right,$0.69 for a dozen eggs. I don't know how long they'll last. Get there while you can! Tell them I sent you.

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

This morning's work, and more.

2009-06-30T05:09:00.000-05:00

Well, the last hour and a half has been quite uneventful. I'm waiting on phone calls and emails in order to finish my necessary job stuff. Hopefully they'll come before lunch, but I'm not necessarily hopeful. Perhaps folks will surprise me though. It's early yet, so it just may happen. In other news, Hyland Park was quite a treat yesterday afternoon, until Linnea bit the dust while walking on sand and a railroad tie. Perhaps I tripped her, I'm not quite sure. It looked as though she hit her head pretty hard and in fact had bruising on her forehead, nose, and chin. At least she was enjoying herself before the "injury".

However, I do have one comment for the park, please come up with a better way to do a safety break. With all those kids running around, I didn't hear the announcement on the bullhorn, and was a little embarrassed when Anna pulled me aside because I was breaking the rules. Perhaps a whistle (like all swimming pools) or something would be a better option?

Oh well. The staff probably did the same thing when I was growing up, so I suppose if it was good enough for my parents, it should be good enough for me.

p.s. I signed up for "Posterous", so this post was sent to all my social networking outlets via email. The service looks to be the real deal. We'll see how easy it is to use in the future though. I've got a good feeling about this one, unlike Luke Skywalker.

Posted via email from reasoningone's posterous

A night not spent running

2009-06-19T18:57:00.000-05:00

As I sit in Mystic Lake Casino Hotel taking advantage of their free WiFi, I'm lamenting on the fact that I missed my last two days of training. I somehow need to find the time to make up the 7-10 miles I've missed.

Instead of running, I've spent the last two days helping my father re-level their patio. We started by removing too much dirt/sand mixture and replacing it with Class 2 followed by a load of sand. Tonight we played a softball game, so I've been plenty active, but not on the road.

Tomorrow I really need to lace up the shoes and hit the road, before the class reunion. That's another post though, along with my review of the hotel.

Another realization (for now)

2009-06-17T07:56:00.000-05:00

After hearing my daughter and my dad play with Playdoh this morning, I decided to head out for a jog around the neighborhood. It was quite exciting because as soon as I headed out the door, the sun came out. This is a mighty fine change from the last 24 hours.

I mapped out a 1-mile loop around the neighborhood and off I went, destined to do at least 3 loops, which is what I was able to achieve. I would have like to go one more, but my legs were giving up. Since the run was only a little more than three miles, this tells me that the 8-minute pace is not yet realistic. I've been attempting to train right around that time, but until now haven't quite figured out that slowing down just a little bit will help me run farther.

I'm not yet ready to drop my goal time down, but I should run a little slower until I get more base mileage under my belt. Well, at least that's the plan until I come up with something better.

For now though, I've got to hit the shower. My mom wants to head to the consignment shop in Burnsville, and I need to get some lunch. Something in the back of my head (my wife's voice) is telling me that a piece of toast doesn't make a good breakfast.

6/17/2009: Casey's Addition 1-mile loop (3x)

First Treadmill Run

2009-06-17T05:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I did my first treadmill run. I was able to get 2 miles in before being paged by the LFT child care center to pick up my screaming toddler. The run was pretty much horrible, as have been many of my treadmill experiences. However, what surprised me was what I found at the child care center.

Yes, my daughter was crying. However, the only change in his situation appeared to be that someone took her shoes off. Other than that, she was still plastered to the window of the entry door. If I was a betting man, I'd bet that she didn't move at all. If that is in fact the case, I'm a little disappointed in the employees working yesterday afternoon. My daughter loves the child care center as she spends significant time there on a very regular basis. Perhaps if they would have taken her hand and walked her around, she would've recognized where she was and started playing accordingly.

I do understand that every child can't get individual treatment at a place like that, but it would sure be nice.

16 weeks begins today.

2009-06-15T06:44:00.000-05:00

As you may now know, I've registered for the Twin Cities Marathon. This is a significant stretch for me as I haven't raced anything above an olympic distance triathlon (my last race being in 2002). After I read a tweet from one of my buddies, I decided to get in on the fun and register for the race. Was it a mistake? It could be, but I won't know that until the afternoon of Sunday, October 4.

After registering, I needed to find a training program. I cleared the cobwebs from my brain and remembered that Runners World had all kinds of articles on marathon training. So, I picked up the Rookie Marathon Plan, which happened to be a 16-week training program. It worked out rather well because at the time of my registration there was 17 weeks until the race.

I spent last week just running, trying to get a couple miles under my belt and reintroduce my body to running. It worked quite well and I believe I'm back into the swing of things. For the last couple of days, I've been posting my running routes on this blog. However, I've recently discovered that the route doesn't tell you very much. So, today I'll be figuring out a better way to post information from Map My Run. I'm sure there's HTML code to "embed this workout" on a website. When I find it, expect a change in the way I update what I've been doing. I'm also considering not updating this blog with every single workout. That may just get annoying. With that in mind, I'm going to change the FB application settings to automatically update after I enter my information on the MapMyRun website. So, if you're my FB friend, you'll have access to a whole lot more running information.

I'm trying this public thing so I can be held accountable for training. So, if you see that I'm missing something, feel free to let me know. I need to stay honest throughout the program in order to finish this race successfully, and I'm looking forward to you following me. Here's this morning's workout:

6/15/09: 3-mile Kwik Trip Run

Now though, it's off to LFT for family swim time.

The second post, as promised.

2009-06-13T15:57:00.000-05:00

Today was much better than the debacle that ended the previous night. Let's just say I'm not always the smartest guy in the world. Anyway, you know all about the run this morning, except for the part where a "longer" toe nail forced a small cut in the toe next toe it. I was quite surprised when I took off my shoe to see blood on my left sock. You'll be happy to know that I have since trimmed the nail, and a future crisis has been averted.

Much like I said previously, the workout at LTF was excellent. I'm looking forward to the next trip. It'll definitely be worth the $39.95/month, at least for the summer. Oh, and the Lakeville club is pretty much amazing. The family hit both the Lakeville and Savage clubs today. If the two clubs were in an arm wrestling match, Lakeville would crush Savage. It wouldn't even be a contest. After doing a little swimming in Savage with my wife and daughter, we crashed a graduation party. The food was excellent, and even though I had never met the graduate, was asked to bring some home with me. I respectfully declined.

Now, since @ajungers is hanging with @hilaurious and @r_suitcase, I'm a single parent for the night. Thankfully, the toddler didn't get a nap in this afternoon, so she was able to go to bed early. Now, I've got a low-key night to hang out, watch some television, and relax. I'm looking forward to the opportunity.

...and for those of you who are wondering...no, I haven't reserved my personal Facebook URL.

Quick update

2009-06-13T08:10:00.000-05:00

I don't like it when others are busy on their cell phones around company. Right now that's me, so I'll make it quick. I ran 5.6 miles in 42:01 during the late morning. I felt okay, but it did seem long.

I've also found that I need to make a playlist for my iPod. The shuffle if mycurrent music isn't cutting it anymore. I can only listen to so many children's songs while on a run.

After the run I hit the weightroom at LFT for my first workout since sophomore year. I wrote down the machines I used, so I'll be able to figure out what I should be doing there the next time.

When I get to a computer I'll embed my route in the blog so you all can be updated on my workout. Until then, peace out.

Running: Day 2

2009-06-11T10:42:00.000-05:00

Well, today is Day 2 of my pre-training in preparation of my 16-week marathon program. This morning's run was a jog around Cleary Lake Regional Park. It's a little over 3-miles. Oh how I wish for the days I could do this run in under 17 minutes. Perhaps I'll be able to get back to that form. Until then, the 27:05.60 according to the iPod Touch. After letting MapMyRun crunch the numbers, it's a little over an 8-minute pace.

I felt like I could go another lap, but had to put on the breaks to pick my wife up from work. In the process, I became a member of LifeTime Fitness for only $39.95/month. As I've got plenty of vacation days, we'll try to utilize the membership this summer.

My first run.

2009-06-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I finished my first run since 2000. It was two and a half miles at what appears to be 9:30 pace. I've got a ways to go before an 8-mile average. I started to use MapMyRun.com to track my progress. It's a good website, but filled with ads. If only I could justify the purchase of a "premium membership. I'll have to deal with the ads. Here's my first addition to the site.

I've added the MapMyRun Facebook application, so you'll be able to track my progress there too. I actually like the USATF run mapping site better, but neither you nor I would be able to track runs and workout information there.

What have I done?

2009-06-10T07:23:00.000-05:00

After seeing a friend's tweet yesterday night, I took the bait. Early this morning (6/10) about midnight to be more exact, I registered for the Twin Cities Marathon on October 4, 2009. This could either be a great or quite awful decision. Perhaps I wasn't thinking clearly, or maybe it was wanting to actually achieve something. It's probably a little bit of both.

There's no turning back now as I've received confirmation of my registration. Here's what you see if you search for my name on the website.

[caption id="attachment_101" align="alignnone" width="455" caption=""It's too late to turn back now." -the Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose"][/caption]

The next step, I guess, would be to start training. HA! It's about 17 weeks until the race. Upon registration, my goal was to finish. After registering, I spent some time looking up "good" times and possible splits.

For my age group, it looks like the Boston qualifying time is 3:10:00. That's probably a bit unrealistic as I haven't participated in any sort of organized running since the 2000 USAT National Age-Group Triathlon Championship, where I placed second-to-last due to my horrible swimming ability. I couldn't, and still can't do this. Looking at the race results, I was in the top 7 for both running and biking. It's just impossible to make up for a horrid, horrid swim. If I remember correctly, the only person I beat out of the water was a 13 year-old (I was a sophomore in college.). So, for now, I'm going to go with a 3:30:00 pace. This looks to be almost exactly 8 minutes miles. I think that might be doable.

We'll see. The first run is later today. Wish me luck!

Changing my oil

2009-06-08T19:18:00.000-05:00

According to a Public Safety officer, I became the first person to change my oil in a campus parking lot. I'm not sure if this is fact, but I'm going to go with it. As I was driving home from purchasing firewood from my local Kwik Trip (lowest prices for milk, eggs, bread, and now firewood in town), I noticed that our vehicle was acting funny when accelerating, and soon after, our friend the oil light would illuminate on the dashboard. Knowing this was a problem, I parked in my designated spot, popped the hood and checked the oil.

Nothing.

There wasn't enough oil to register on the dip stick. This is bad news. So is this, in more ways than one. Although it's not as bad as someone practicing Clocks.

So, I hopped in a co-worker's car and headed to Advance Auto Parts. Now I was told by a helpful employee that their store brand oil is formulated by Shell, so I went with the store brand over the Valvoline, Quaker State, Shell, etc. and saved myself $5. This same employee has offered to change my battery and other auto-related tasks on previous visits. After the purchase of the oil, a filter, storage container, and a funnel ($20 later) I was on my way back to campus. After 15 minutes, the oil was changed and a crisis was averted. Tomorrow I need to head to a local auto store to recycle the quarter-quart of oil that drained from the car (Yes, you read that right, quarter of a quart, and that's a generous estimate). After these purchases, and knowledge that Advance Auto Parts Oil is just fine for the vehicle, I'll be doing my own oil changes in the campus parking lot.

Perhaps I'll wear my Tires Plus shirt next time. It'll be like I'm back in college. Wait, have I ever left? I'm still living in a residence hall.

As I walked into the Main Lounge, I saw my wife (@ajungers) and @hilaurious being very crafty with paint, a hot glue gun, vases, and other crafty materials. As I write this they're taking pictures of themselves cooking s'mores in the fireplace. Look for the photos to land on my wife's FB profile. Apparently, Ritz crackers are amazing with melted marshmallows, and after trying the creation, I agree. Who knew?