I made it!

I was pretty happy with my run on Thursday. First off, I didn't die (as previously speculated), but my joints ached a little bit towards the end. I am attributing that (the aching) to the fact that I've never ran that far with no stopping before. It was an 8-miler, at about 5:30 pm, sunny and 85F outside. Not ideal running conditions by any means, but not completely unbearable either. I made it through the 8 miles without stopping, which in itself is encouraging.

I don't think I've ever ran 8 consecutive miles before. Back in High School I didn't really keep track of my long runs. I would just run with everyone else, for about 45-60 minutes and come back for the speed portion of the workout. For the entire workout, I am sure there were days where we'd run 12-15 miles in a day. I can not recall running 8 consecutive miles however. So long story short, once a week I will be completing 'My longest run ever' as the long runs go up between now and October. That's kinda nice.

About my pace. Yesterday, I was again at 8:45/mile pace. On any run over 5 miles, my pace has been a pretty consistent 8:45/mile. Lately on my shorter runs (less than 4 miles) I've been hitting between 7:30-8:00 miles. In my head this sounds like a good pace for me at both the longer and shorter distances. I am shooting for sub-4 hours on this Marathon in October.

If there is anyone out there in 'the blogosphere' (lol) that has any pacing advice/experience, I'm all ears.

Music: Yesterday with my 8 mile run, I listened to a lot of music. I listened to a bunch of Detroit Local Stuff (including my own band....I know, totally lame, right??) that nobody would have heard of, but I also listened to my favorite band of all time, The Hives. They are cool guys, and I really like their music.

PS: The picture above is just the first thing that comes up when you put 'happy runner' into Google Image Search

8 miles at 5pm in 90 degree heat

That's what I am about to do. This may as well be a suicide note.

Family, please know that I love you all dearly. This is not your fault.......do you seriously think I was going to carry that on??? That is creepy. I guess if you read my prior posts, you wouldn't put a faux-suicide note past me.

To change subjects:I saw this online today and could not pass it up. My wife and I have recently reverted back to 7th grade and pull "your mom" jokes at each other constantly. We're the only ones who think they are still funny, I guess. I do have to give her some props for a your mom joke she got me with a couple of weeks ago. I came home from getting a bad haircut and first thing she said to me was "you look like your mom cut your hair...." It made the bad haircut a lot better. I still laugh when I think about it.

Yesterday, I ran 3 outside and I pushed myself pretty hard. It was 90 outside and I was feeling it afterwards. I was at about 7:30/mile, which is a good clip for me lately, and I feel like my new shoes are helping(although they may be about 1/4 size small....we'll see).

It's supposed to storm this afternoon, which would push my 8-miler indoors. (Then this will be the last thing I ever write, because 8 miles on a treadmill is murder)

PS: I was on a conference call the other day and the guy who was hosting it used the word "Blogosphere" in reference to bloggers as a whole. I laughed out loud, luckily I had the mute button pressed in.

Softball is over!

I say that like I am glad, and I am. No disrespect to my teammates, but I am just glad that the season is over and I got out injury-free. At the beginning of the season, I pulled both quads in the first game (I never sprint......therefore when I did my legs went pop, pop!), then once my quads healed I turned an ankle. After the ankle healed, I began my official 'training', (which consists of running 4 days a week) and I have been in good health since (Coincidence? Probably not.)

Softball was a lot of fun, but even more importantly for me was that I ventured out and did something that I had never done before. What I mean is that I typically shy away from things that I have never tried and stick to doing things I know that I am good at. Honestly, I thought Softball was going to be easy and I'd step right in and be a good player because I don't look like this guy:

Boy, was I wrong. I am a terrible softball player, and I am OK with that. I never played baseball when I was growing up, and that is where all these guys learned their fundamentals that they can apply in softball. My athletic ability didn't help much when I had a hard time getting on base, catching the ball once I got to it, etc. etc. It was comical to me near the end how bad I was. Just like anything else, I will get better as I learn from the guys and get more games under my belt.

I can honestly say that playing softball was one of the first times where I was bad at something and didn't quit right away. I am pretty sure I have self-esteem issues and they stem from being ridiculed by my parents for 18 years when I was 'bad' at something. I would be afraid to try new things, things that require practice and learning, because I didn't want to hear it from my parents. It's a stupid way to approach things, but when you're a kid you don't know any better.

Once I moved to Tennessee, I really started to realize things like I just mentioned above about me and how I looked at the world and the people in my world. What I perceived as normal is actually far from it. I have a lot of work (socially, mentally) ahead of me and I feel like this softball team was the first step in many to fix a strange childhood (which, until recently, I thought was a 'normal' childhood.)


Q: So, uh....that sappy personal crap is all fine and well, and it sucks and all, but what about your run, dude?:
A: I know you (the world) just LOVE reading about my runs, but Tuesday was a rest day. I played softball Tuesday evening and we lost 10-5. I guess I didn't really rest.

Wet and Bored is not a good combination.

Yesterday was the first time it was raining when I was supposed to be running. This is the 4th week of my training and I have somehow managed to miss raindrops every time. So that brought me to a decision--run in the rain or go to the gym and get on a treadmill. I chose the treadmill and was actually glad that I did.

I was glad I chose treadmill because it forced me to run faster than I normally do. Well, I set the pace, but I couldn't slow down and get into a comfortable pace unless I wanted to end up like these guys did. (Thanks to Vanilla at half-fast for the original.....I laughed for a good five minutes and sent the link around the office. Fun was had by all.)

So with that being said, combined with the fact that my shoes are much lighter (Nike Pegasus v. New Balance 1222), I went out for 5k in 22:55. It felt good, and it felt fast. It didn't feel like I was at my usual pace, just shorter because I was on a treadmill. It felt fast. It felt good. Good and Fast is way better than Wet and Bored, eh?

On a related note: I know a guy who trains for his marathons on his treadmill exclusively. I don't know how his house is set up and where his treadmill is, but I am surprised he is still alive. Knowing that about him, I would constantly have his house on suicide watch. Just the thought of running on a treadmill every day upsets me, or at least makes me sad for him.

Music: Another Death From Above 1979 day. I really like them, and I recently found out that they broke up. Oh well.

Running through the streets of Atlanta

Let me start by saying I had a blast in Atlanta. I did not see Lil' Jon (I did see a few look-a-likes), but otherwise it was a really good time. Amber and I packed a lot in to the weekend, including trips to IKEA, the High Museum of Art, two Atlanta Braves baseball games (which the Tigers won--both! BOO-YA Atlanta, your baseball team SUCKS), a trip to NikeTown in Atlanta, and a 4 mile run around the city.


My run was on Sunday morning, and it was supposed to be two 4-mile loops around my hotel. We stayed at the Atlanta Hilton, and I was surprised to find that it wasn't in the greatest part of town. I went out and ran my first 4 mile loop and decided that was enough for me. More than the lack of scenery, (I will say that running around the Georgia Dome and Phillips Arena was very cool) I didn't want to overwork my body after 2 solid days of walking all over Atlanta. I had forgot my Nike+ foot chip also, so I didn't even run with my Ipod. It was a nice change, to be honest and I'll make up those 4 miles on Thursday (running 8 miles instead of 4).

Last week, all 4 of my runs felt 'different'. I felt like I was dragging my legs behind me and really fighting to feel 'good' while I was running. Sounds like a case of dead shoes, right? So, while in Atlanta I made a trip to NikeTown. We got there at about 8:45 on a Saturday night (they close at 9), so I know that I was their favorite customer as soon as I walked in the door. I really didn't want to be 'that guy' and keep all the employees late on a Saturday, but on the other hand I didn't bring my running shoes to Atlanta with me, because they were dead and I knew that I needed to buy a new pair on the trip. I tried on the Nike+ Air Structure Triax 10 and the Nike Air Pegasus, and actually went with the Pegasus. It was lighter and just felt like an extension of my foot. I know its not a stability shoe, but it felt fine on my 4 miler on Sunday and I got it on sale. Buying shoes based on price is never a good idea, but in all honesty I think it's going to work for me.


As I mentioned earlier, Amber and I went to two baseball games in Atlanta. When I bought the tickets, I purposely bought tickets in two entirely different areas of the park, to try and give each game some uniqueness (Is that a word?) On Friday night, I got tickets three rows back in left field, basically where all the home runs go. We got to the game right when the gates opened and went right to our seats for batting practice. Amber had never been to a batting practice before and I know she really enjoyed the excitement of Home Runs always coming our way and seeing all the kids go crazy for any ball hit in the area. The whole experience of Friday was really cool. The Tigers won the game, 5-0.

On Saturday, I got tickets for the Lexus Pavilion. I had no idea what that was prior to showing up, it just sounded cool so I went with it. It turned out to be very cool and I recommend it to anyone going to Turner Field anytime soon. The Lexus pavilion is "anti-baseball purist" in every sense of the term. First of all, you have to pass an usher to even get into the area. (which is closed off with glass to the 'public'). It is air-conditioned, carpeted, clean, and connected to the suite level, so everything is top-notch.

We met some guys from New York who sat right next to us, and they were all really nice guys. There were six of them and they were hard-core Mets fans, which by proxy made them Tigers fans for the day. (Mets fans hate the Braves with a passion) They called themselves the Traveling DingleBerries, and are going to visit all 30 stadiums within the next few years. This trip they were hitting Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Miami (to see the Florida Marlins), and they shot video during the game and should be posting it to their site when they get home. They may have caught me saying that I would date Justin Verlander over Brandon Inge on tape. We'll see.

Food: When Amber and I go out of town, we have a rule that we really try to stick to: Only eat at places that you can't eat at in the town in which you live. So, there were two places that we found that were not in Knoxville. The first place we ate lunch at on Friday was Willy's. It was a burrito place that I think is franchised. It was excellent and very efficient. They have the production line process down to a science. The second place we found was Garden Sprout. They are a vegetarian chinese food restaurant that makes everything out of soy, seitan, and potatoes. They still call it beef, chicken, or shrimp, but it's made out of soy, seitan or potatoes. We both really liked Garden Sprout and will make it a point to go back next time we're in Atlanta.

YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

There is a lot to talk about in this issue of "The best blog ever", so I'll get right to it.

This is going to be my last blog for this week. I know, sad, and these next couple of days are going to be pretty boring for you. I apologize. The reason for this being the last blog of the week is due to the fact that Amber and I are going to be getting crunk in the dirty south this weekend!!!!! ATL baby!!!! YEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

We are going to just hang out and relax, go see the Tigers (best team in baseball) play the Braves, do some shopping (for Pimp Cups---see picture above) and go to the High Museum of Art. It should be a good time.

Luckily, Fridays and Saturdays are off days for me (So running won't interfere with 'relaxing weekend'). Well, Friday is really an off day and Saturday I am supposed to walk some. (I figure I walk around enough for that to count--maybe I am wrong about that, I don't know) Sunday will be an 8-miler, that I plan on running Sunday morning before we leave Atlanta. I have a 4 mile loop mapped out (thanks to the people at MapMyRun.com that begins and ends at our hotel, and I am looking forward to a change in scenery.

A couple of things about my 'double-header' runs on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

First off, I think I need new shoes. My runs this week haven't felt like they normally have, and I've had these shoes since Dec.-Jan. So while Amber and I are on our hunt for pimp cups, I may have to make a pit stop in a running store. I am looking at Nike Structure Triax 10, but I may stick with New Balance 1222. They are practically the same shoe, but the Nike's aren't as rigid as the 1222. It will be a toss up.

On Wednesday, my run was 3 miles. I was shooting for 8:00/mile, which I was hitting until at about mile 2.5 I had some issues that required a trip to the bathroom. I didn't finish the run (but I made it to the bathroom), and the fact I didn't finish the run was a little frustrating.

Thursday I woke up at 5:30am and went out for my 4-miler. I only did this because it was the only way I was going to fit my run into my Thursday schedule, and I am really glad I did it in the morning. First of all, it was much cooler (60 instead of 90), and second of all, it wakes me up in the morning. I was able to come in at 8:00 for every mile and wrapped up the 4 miles in 32:02. My lungs felt good, but it felt like I was dragging my legs the whole way. I am blaming the shoes until I run in new ones. It could be tired legs, I haven't ran this much in 10 years.

What I do know that running is an inexact science and everybody has different ways to fix their aches and pains. No two runners are the same.

Music: Bad Religion. I don't necessarily agree with everything they sing about, but they still are one of the best bands to come around in the last 30 years. They are a punk band from California that were really ahead of their time and are ripped off yearly by these new teenager punk bands that are all over MTV. What other bands can you name that have been around for 30 years, never broke up and consistently put out albums and tour? U2 and the Rolling Stones are all I can think of. That's pretty good company.

What do I do on my days off?

This is a two-part question. Well not really two parts, but definitely two meanings. Well, not even that. Now that this has taken too long to explain, I am just going to go ahead and get to the point.

I ask because I know that you ("the world") have been wondering this very question (What DO I do when I am not running?) day and night over the past seven days, and I also ask because I really have no idea what I am supposed to do/eat/say/wear on the days when I am not running.

So with that being said, here was Tuesday:

This is 8 hrs of M-F:

One of these maybe 3 times a week:

Too much of this lately:

This too:

It's one of those questions where you already know the answer, but you still have to ask the question to try and fool people into thinking that you REALLY d0n't know the answer. I know that what I eat is not helping me reach my goals, but it's hard to tell my brain that beforehand.

I think that I should go to the gym on Tuesday's and lift weights, but I don't want to tire out my body for the rest of the runs each week. I don't know what people do in these situations. My legs feel pretty good today and they usually do after a long day of poker.

Any suggestions regarding training/days off would be appreciated.

Music: I went to a local 'used' shop the other day and found a CD of one of my favorite bands from high school, Orange 9mm, for $0.89! I had the cassette tape (ha ha....tapes), but never the CD. So I listened to it, worrying that they wouldn't be as good as I remembered them being, but they totally were. I even uploaded the CD to the community Itunes at work and two people came to me and was like "No way, you listened to them too!" That was pretty funny, only because I figured nobody knew who they were.

PS: Vote for my blog. The links are in my last post, and to vote you have to click on one of the links below, search "yourmom" (one word) and then click on blog. I know it's sort of a pain, but don't you agree that this IS the best blog ever???