My Ark

So it has been rainy crazy hard here in Mobile for a majority of the day. Right now i can see it lightning at least a couple of times a minute out of the corner of my eye. There is some good that comes out of all of this rain...

First. The temperature is around 70 degrees so it isn't like one of those miserable 45 degree rains we have been having in philly the last week or two. It was a nice change. Secondly, the nice rain gave me a chance to do one of the things I love to do... running in the rain!! because it was warmer, i didn't fear getting pneumonia so I braved the rain and ran around 3 miles. It wasn't far, but it was nice getting totally drenched. I haven't done that in a while... i think that last time I did that was with Tim my junior year at iowa state.

an update on my arm... i can get my arm to about 15 degrees from straight... then I get an intense pain in inner elbow area. It feels like I just curled 299 lbs 43 times. but alas I didn't... couldn't... and never will be able to. it probably didn't help anything that i was climbing all over stuff today. remember this... it is hard to climb up stuff with one gimpy arm and one left arm (aka tiny).

My Triumph

I have finally conquered my lack of TV problem. I stormed my way back to best buy (9 days after I purchased the VCR) and demanded with harsh words (like "please" and "I would appreciate") that they replace my faulty VCR. I also gave them a tongue lashing about how open box doesn't imply piece of crap, and by tongue lashing I mean I thanked them for the good service and purchased a new CD as well.

It is nice to finally be using technology that originated in the 80's... like cable TV and VCRs. This glorious day could not have come at a better moment (well 9 days ago would have been better but...) because scrubs has a new episode tonight!! nice...

Has anybody seen Requiem for a Dream? Remember the way the guys arm looks after his arm gets all gangrenous (sp?) from shooting up with a bad needle? My right arm looks about like that. It is getting more and more purple by the day. The soreness is still there, but hopefully it will start subsiding. yesterday after I got groceries, carrying those to my house was insanely painful. the arm doesn't quite straighten yet... and it seems to have good times and bad times... ohh well.

I ran a slow 4 miles this morning. it looks to be another light mileage week because I have to head out of town for work tomorrow. In fact it will probably be a light blogging week as well because I prolly won't have internet access when out of town. After not bloggin in so long i figured I would have tons of stories to tell, but it seems I have none that are interesting. Maybe blogging helps me see the interesting in the most mundane of days. or maybe it was just a lame 4 days.

My Good Deed

So I figured, I am healthy individual who isn't getting laid, so at least I am not at risk for STD's. How can I use this to my advantage? I figured I would be a great candidate for giving blood. So I sign up to give blood at a blood drive at a local hospital for this morning. I go in at 8:30 for my blood-letting appointment and go through the obligatory game of 20 questions. I won and they sent me back to the fun chairs where they let me lay down. So they do there business and get my blood flowing. i fill up the pouch in good time and they apparently ran into a bit of a snag with the hardware when they were trying to stop me. The ended up messing with my needle for like 5 minutes and finally get everything squared away. The lady asks if my elbow always looks like that and say, Yah I think so. I have bony elbows so a little bump isn't a big surprise for me.

They end up having to take a little blood from the other arm just to make sure that they have what they need in order to use my blood for a transfusion. Then when I am holding the gauze over the new puncture wound, I look down at the first one and see that there is a big bump on the inside of my elbow. So i get the attention of the nurse and say, "that bump isn't normal". So they put ice on it and hope for the best. At the time my elbow was pretty stiff and it didn't bend well at all cuz of the swelling. they say that i will probably get a nasty bruise and I should ice it on and off all day.

so I get to work and my arm is pretty much gimpy. it is a bit of a challenge to drive stick cuz the shifting arm doens't have much of a range of motion at all. i am able to do it, but not without much complaining. My arm keeps getting stiffer and stiffer, so I end up going to the store and grabbing a bag of frozen pees and use that for icing my arm all after noon. It is around 11 pm. now and I can start to feel my arm stiffening up again, but hopeully a good night sleep will do it some good. i hope this doesn't effect my driving tomorrow cuz I am making a trip down to visit the folks with my sister who is flying into town tomorrow!! rock!!

ohh yeah, i ran a slow 2. 5 miles this morning. nothing of note. didn't feel too bad, didn't feel too good.

My Vengeful God

So apparently someone upstairs, and I mean that in the reference-to-a-higher-power kinda way not the literal someone-is-currently-above-me kinda way, doesn't want me to watch TV. As I may have mentioned before, I bought a VCR to use as my TV tuner for my lame busted tv, but was missing an RCA cable. So I purchased a fancy RCA cable from radio shack, with diamond plated tips for increased conductivity, and got home all excited that I would be able to watch Scrubs tonight. So I plug everything in and I turn the VCR on. I see a picture on my TV and nearly jump for joy... then the VCR starts making funny sounds like it is trying to play a tape... makes some more sounds... and then turns off for me, which I appreciated. I turn it back on... see a picture (no sound mind you) and then it makes the same sounds and turns it self off again. So me thinking I am all clever that I can trick the machine to work right, I try sticking a tape in during this startup procedure. It sucks in the tape and then makes a horrible squawking sound and then spits it back out. Apparently open box from best buy means that it won't work at all... so they might have well just put a big pile of crap in there... at least then I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to get it hooked up to my tv. i would have said... oh it is a piece of crap in a box... wow I got hosed. nuff said.

I also learned another important lesson today. Zebra cakes (made with 95% zebra meat) are no good as a pre-run treat. After work today, I ran the normal 4 mile loop. I was just trying to get some mileage in cuz I have been slacking bigtime lately. After about 3 miles I got a huge cramp that made me actually stop and walk in the last quarter mile. I haven't done that in a while. So you can run and eat your zebra cakes too, but not in the reverse order.

My Sappy Music

So, I think I need to stop listening to all of this lovey, depressing, awesome music!! If that wasn't a cohesive thought, I don't know what is. I have been listening to all sorts of guster, coldplay, five for fighting, john mayer, basically anything that is kinda laid back and lovey-ish. i guess maybe cuz I am not getting any of that through life, I need to rely on music to give me. I guess it probably isn't unhealthy or anything... just makes me really reflective (is that a word). And by reflective I don't mean like I wear reflectors, just makes me reflect on stuff.

enough pointless rambling... on to something very important. i ran mount misery today and it was certainly very freaking hard. if I did that once a week, I would destroy everybody on the trail races. That is one hell of a hill. anywho... i ran it with a friend from school and it was good to run with someone during the week. then we went and grabbed some john harvards... good bear... good bread... and good ravioli. how could I complain!! lame post sorry

My Old Bones

So I figured out everything I would need to buy if I were to make a media center PC for my living room. It looks it would cost somewhere around 800 bones. Not too shabby when you think about everything it could do... but not really worth it when I need to spend money on other things, for example, the ass cheek implants I have been looking to get for some time. So for now I think I am going to hold off. I was thinking if I could get it for closer to $600 bones I might pull the trigger, but that doesn't look like it is going to happen. maybe in 6 months...

I worked out in the yard all day today... and my body seems to be a little pissed about it right now, hence the title. all my joints hurt, which I guess could be because of my cold or cuz I did physical stuff all day. My neck is pretty sore as well, but I have a feeling that was due to some shower time clumsiness when I was trying to reach out of the shower to get more soap and ended up on the floor. It would have been pretty funny to get on tape if it weren't for the whole me being nude thing!! maybe that would have added to the comedy of the tape...

My Mourning Period

So the loss of the TV is getting less and less aggrivating every day. I figured out that if I just bought a cheap VCR i could get away from even fixing the TV. But who wants to buy a cheap VCR when i could the accomplish the same thing by creating a media center PC for 800-1000!! This way I could change channels through the computer, record TV (sorta like tivo), play mp3s in my living from my computer, and get speakers for a little stereo system. Now wouldn't that be sweet? I am not sure what I will do yet... thankfully I can play DVDs so I will probably watch King Arthur tonight (i just want to get it out of the way... i have heard it is terrible).

I ran 4 miles this morning... nothing spectacular to right about it. i don't even remember what I was thinking about when I ran. It was kinda like a dream though. I have a hankering I am coming down with another freakin cold. I am not sure how many this has been in the past 12 months, but it seems it is an infectious circle at work. We are helping to breed the world's toughest cold... nice!! My blister on my foot is finally recovering... i wore my fancy socks running today so maybe that helped!!

My Electric Tragedy

So, I was sitting on the floor in my house, around 8:15 this morning, eating honey nut cheerios, trying to roll some of the tightness out of my soleus from the mornings run of five miles, and watching the morning's episode of Arrested Development (this has kinda become a habit). All of a sudden, the TV changes from Video 4 to channel 5. And I am like... WTF? So I try to change it back with the remote to no avail... the TV does nothing. so I pause the DVD and replace the batteries in the remote because I have been having problems with them lately. I put new batteries in the remote and still nothing.

I walk up to the TV and use the buttons on the front to try to change it back to video 4. For some reason all the buttons on the TV seem to be all F'ed up because by holding the increase volume button, it sometimes changes channels and sometimes switches between video1 and a channel. Nothing freakin works at all, but somehow after hitting some seemingly random sequence of buttons, I get it back to video 4 and finish watching the episode.

I get home tonight from work and I try to figure out WTF is going on. I try unplugging the TV for a couple minutes like they suggested on the website, but it still didn't work. So I get online and sony has some online help people that I have found out don't even use logic. So I tell him what is happening and he asks me to take the batteries out of the remote for one minute and then put them back in. The whole time I am thinking, how the hell could the batteries in my remote f-up my whole TV, especially the buttons on the front. of course this doesn't work, he has me try unplugging it from the wall again and then is nice enough to send me a link to a website where I can find a local service center. Wow... impressive... equisitely trained. I hate tech support people... i haven't had a good tech support experience in years.

So I am faced with having to bring my damn TV to a service center where they probably won't have any clue what is wrong but will be nice enough to charge me anyway. Just what I needed... i just got I Heart Huckabees from netflix too. ohh well, maybe I will have to do something productive this weekend.

My Foul Mood

I assume everybody has heard the expression, "Waking up on the wrong side of the bed." Well, I think I did that this morning... not in the literal sense but in the cliched grumpy sense. I stayed up too late last night watching episodes of the office (very funny series by the way... the guy Tim is hilarious), and when I woke up today, I felt like I had been clubbed over the head with the unhappy stick. I am assuming mostly it is cuz I didn't get enough sleep and cuz I have my final for my class tonight, but at least after today that will be over. I will certainly get to bed early tonight, especially if I am going to be this pissed off in the morning if I don't get enough sleep.

anywho... yesterday morning I did a slow "stretching out" run just to hopefully get rid of some of the soreness. Surprisingly, i am not too sore today so maybe it helped a bit. I will probably eesume normal training tomorrow... possibly with the delco RRCs... we will see. hmm... nothing else is too new... just wanted to be vent my angst a bit...

My Caesar Rodney

Choosing the title for this entry was tough because there were so many options... my positive splits, my collapsing legs, my blown start. I figured this was more specific so if down the road I need to use a more generic title, it is still available.

So I met up with some folks at Lloyd hall that needed rides down the race. The trip down was uneventful, and we got to the race about an hour early for registration and a bit of warm up. As I said yesterday, I didn't really have any clue how fast i was going to be able to run, but after talking with a bunch of people i was going to try to pace with Steve G. and Mony... cuz they were about the same pace. The race gun sounded like a freakin cannon and I must have jumped 2 feet in the air. and we were off...

i felt good for the first mile... up until i got to the first mile marker and I saw that I did it in 7 minutes. not a good sign for things to come... cuz I knew for a fact I couldn't run 13 miles at 7 minutes per mile. The first 3 miles went by at the same pace and for some reason I couldn't get myself to slow down. I think it was mostly pride because I wanted to stick with the group of PRs, who were way out of my league. After the hills started I think I banged out a couple miles at 7:45 pace... which I was fine with. After the hills leveled out at mile 8 I got back down to 7:30 miles and I woudl ahve been happy to continue that pace. Around mile 10, my left calf tightened up and continued getting worse and worse. Mile 11 came and my right calf responded by tightening up as well. So here i was with only two miles left, two gimp calves, and absolutely no energy. Thankfully I had some gatorade left that i was carrying with me and it tasted like sweet ambrosia. I don't think it gave me any more energy but it certainly tasted pretty sweet. From miles 9-13.1 people were passing me left and right. I knew I had a PR locked up and I just wanted to finish. Running the ugly mudder, i think it made me a little soft because it gave me the option to stop on the uphills. This thought ran through my head on the final .25 mile hill. But i figured if I was going to give it my all, stopping and walking wouldn't be that. I somehow made it up the final hill, across the finish line, and to the pizza.

My final time was 1:37:37 which is a PR by 19 minutes. I am extremely happy about the time I ran, but I wish I had ran a better race. Now at least I know where my limits are and need to work on my pacing a lot! I look forward to my next race just to even out my splits!! The posting has been pretty trite, but I am tired like a beaver... tonights sleep is well deserved!!

My Nerves

so tomorrow is the caesar rodney half marathon and I am a bit nervous about it. my nervousness stems from me actually trying to push my self in this race. not that I am generally a slacker when it comes to racing, but I don't know if I have ever actually pushed myself as hard as I can go. how do I know this? because I have never crashed in a race and normally i still have a ton of energy at the end... with the exception of the ugly mudder but that was just a strange race to begin with. the only other half marathon I have run i did in 1:56 and my goal is to break 1:40. that is going to be quite a stretch because I think I will have to average just over 7:30s. why does this make me nervous? because I am a freak about failing at anything... so we will see how it goes.

tonight i went to some italian restaurant in south philly and had a chicken parmigiana that was about the size of my head, literally. probably wasn't the best pre-race meal, but it was awesome. anywho... it is past 9:30... way past my bed time...

My Firefighting

Today at work, it seemed that nothing was going right. First, we were looking to do an upgrade on a system we recently installed and found out some of the hardware we were going to use for this upgrade isn't compatible with the stuff already installed. Later on in the day, I receive a phone call from one of the companies that is operating the system (one of the nicest guys in the world by the way) and apparently one of the PCs used in the installation BSOD'ed (blue screen of death for those non-geeks out there) and wouldn't restart. Nice...

For some reason today though, these failures didn't bother me at all (probably because they weren't something I did wrong... if they were I probably would have flipped out). Everything will get fixed on both problems because of my fabulous firefighting skills. I have heard girls like guys with skills, like bow-hunting skills. Anybody?

I didn't run today to rest up for sunday. The knees were a little sore today, but I think that is from yesterdays somewhat hard run and the fact my shoes are looking at retirement on sunday. They are right up around that 400 mile mark. The reserves are already sitting in their cubbyhole getting acclimated to their environment (for those of you who have never been in my house, i keep my shoes in little cubbyholes). It is kinda funny, i compared the old shoes to the new ones (exact same model) and my old right shoe has an insane angle to the heel cup if looking from the back of the shoe. That must be cuz I run funny on it. Just thought that was interesting... i wonder if they have shoes that are good for people who's shoes do that.

My DelcoRRC Deflowering

I ran with the Delaware County Road Runners Club this evening after work for the first time. They ran a little longer than I was hoping, and a little faster. I ended up doing about 6.5 in just under 52 minutes. So a little faster than 8 minute pace. After this run, I think I will start out CR at around 7:45 pace and then try to pick it up after the first few miles. Get up the hill... let it level out and then pick it up to maybe 7:30. I think that will give me at least a PR by at least 15 minutes so I am pretty excited... but not as confident as I would like.

Whats the deal with my health these days? Anybody now? I just got over a cold maybe 2 weeks ago and I woke up this morning with another freaking sore throat... it think it is a bunch of crap whatever is going on. It could be just the dry cold weather we have been having that caused my sore throat this morning cuz it went away after I was up and aboot (yes, I spelled that wrong on purpose), we will see tomorrow morning. i think i need to start eating more vegetables or something, maybe that will help. I can't remember when I last had something green. well I had green peppers on my cheesesteak today... does that count? prolly not... ohh well. you only live once... might as well make it as short as possible, right? ohh wait... that doesn't quite sound right...

My Superglue

I forget when or where, but I remember hearing, reading, or seeing somewhere that super glue is a great way to heal up an incision in a pinch. This is going to sound as cheesey as can be, but I think I have the best friends and family in the world. This week has been a tough one on me so far, and I have leaned on my friends and family heavily to help me through it, and I just wanted to say that whoever said time heals all wounds is full of crap, they should have said, "Time, superglue, or my friends heal all wounds". much more appropriate... and to all you friends and family... new and old. thanks... you are the best...

Somehow, I must have sub-consciously known that this was going to be a tough week for me cuz I splurged and bought some stuff on amazon. I got a flogging molly and guster (parachute) CD. Both are awesome!!! It is amazing how gaelic rock and poppy rock can lifts ones spirits. I ended up rocking out in my kitchen doing dishes and loving every minute of it!!

ohh yeah, this is supposedly a running blog... i haven't run since monday. maybe tomorrow morning. I have the alarm set but we will see what happens. halla back

My Dreary Day

Holy crap… is today the most downer of a day on the record books. I woke up after having a shitty night sleep to the most bleak looking weather ever, around 40 degrees, dark, and rainy. I had decided to not run today to rest up the legs for this weekends big half-marathon. Then it started snowing and all of the rain started freezing. Finally it stopped snowing and now it just getting freakin cold out. Thankfully, I have to look forward to a drive into the city to go to a class I have no interest in sitting through with a homework assignment where the highest possible score I will get is a 20 out 100! Nice! overall, a pretty crappy day… but hopefully we will get some sun in the near future to cheer things up a bit!

I was considering trying to run with the DelcoRRC tomorrow night, but decided against it because I want to get a present for my brothers birthday, and I want to get that in the mail so it actually has a chance of getting there on his birthday. Maybe I will meet up with them on Thursday night. Nothing else bloggable has happened, but maybe my run tomorrow morning will give me some inspiration.

--- update at 9:00 p.m.

So it looks like the windchill will be 6 when I wake up tomorrow morning, so i probably won't hit the road... just to warn you die hard readers who were looking to get an update on my running.

The day started to take a turn for the better late today. It happened in the place I would least expect... class. I was dreading going to class tonight because I would sit through something that I didn't understand and just get more frustrated. But... i actually understood some of the stuff in class. Then, I yawned and I felt a little like a little weight had been lifted off me. I think for some reason I was tired and the yawn was just me I was admitting i was tired and it released some of the tiredness. tune back in for more rantings of a lunatic.

My Pit

Last night I went to the Flogging Molly concert at the the Troc. I had heard the CD once or twice before the concert and liked the whole Gaelic rock theme so decided to go. Never having been in the pit of a concert before, I was a little worried/scared about going in the first time, but a couple friends decided to go in, so I figured what the hell. I ended up having a great time getting tossed around the pit and wasn't at all fearful of my life. It is kinda cool cuz if while getting tossed around you fall on the ground, there are like 15 people there to get you back on your feet. One drawback of being in the pit was that by the time we left, I was drenched with sweat. The even worse part, was probably only half of it was my own.

On the running front, I banged out a quick 5 miles today. I think I averaged around 7:45 or 7:50 for all five miles, with the last 2.5 coming in under 7:30. I have been considering doing the half-marathon next sunday at a pace of 7:30, but after today... I am not to sure I can hold up that pace for 13.1 miles. I did it for 2.5, but multiply that by 5 and I have a feeling it might be a little harder. We will see...

My Spackling Knife

Where, oh where, has my little spackling knife gone? Oh where, oh where could it be? Damnit... all I wanted to do today was try out a little spackling in the closet to see how smooth of a wall I could get, but alas, my spackling knife has come up missing. A couple weeks ago when I re-caulked around my tub, I lost my caulk gun and caulk. They ended up being in the bottom of my toolbox, but it took me about an hour to find them. Yes, I already checked there, and no, it wasn't there. If anybody has any ideas where it is, let me know.

I ran with PR today and put in about 9.5ish miles. I did the loop in around 66 minutes which is just under 8 minute miles which I was pretty happy about. This run puts me at an even 25 this week which I am pretty happy about, especially considering the pain I was in at the beginning of the week. Speaking of my achilles....

I watched troy last night. I wasn't hella impressed with it. The fight scenes were pretty cool, but the movie got a little cheesy at times. For example, when achilles killed that humungous guy in the beginning and all he did was a running, jump stab... and that made him an amazing warrior... come on now... anybody can do that. One thing i did like about the movie was it made orlando bloom look like the sissy that he is. 'bout time...

My Recovery

Today, my legs are finally feeling near 100% after the ugly mudder this past weekend. I ended up not putting too much mileage in this week (I think I am only up to about 15 ish for the week), but I was on travel for a good portion of the week so that makes doing much of anything a struggle.

Does this happen to anyone else? Any time I drink more than 2 or 3 beers, I really sleep like crap that night. For example, last night, I went and grabbed some beers and played some foosball and air hockey with some folks on travel with me. I probably had 3 or 4 beers and ended up getting to bed pretty early to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight. I woke up around 3:00 a.m. and I couldn't fall back asleep until my alarm went off at around 5:10. There is nothing more frustrating for me than not being able to fall asleep. I think I was also a little anxious about sleeping through my alarm. ohh well I will be sleeping in my comfy pillow top bed tonight with my comfy flannel sheets. I will certainly not have a problem falling asleep tonight!!