Shamrocks and Shenanigans Part 2 of 3 (Shenanigans Portion)

Every year I give myself a great big St. Patrick's exemption where all things Lent simply do not apply (so I drink...and usually eat pizza and have a shamrock shake).  This year we actually got the holiday on a Saturday, so there were big plans thought out.  Eventually we all settled on the idea of going to Corktown in the early morning and being part of what (at least we had heard) was utter madness there. 

Well, in typical fashion of how plans usually go, people either forgot or dropped out based on other plans.  So it began to look as if it just wasn't going to happen, and my Detroiter friend and I, who were still up for it started to back away from the idea.  However, we seem to both have brains that say "oh no you don't" the second we give up on something.  There's just that little internal voice that tells you "stop being stupid, you want this, go do it."  It's that same voice that makes me want to run a marathon even though it's mentally irregular, or makes me abandon my wife (after she gives me that "go, it's okay" look) in a balcony at St. Andrews Hall so I can go into a black hole of violent moshing and potential leg injuries at an Andrew W.K. concert.  That voice eventually made us get back on the phone and say "screw it, we're still going."  Besides, by the time the holiday is on a Saturday again, St. Pats bar-hopping may be on the Murtagh List.

So, I got up at 6am, got ready, picked up my buddy, and headed to Corktown about 8am expecting things to already be somewhat occupied (Nancy Whiskey opened at 7am).  We had avoided Nancy Whiskey, thinking it would be too crowded already and headed toward the Michigan Ave. strip.  It was dead.  So much for what I've heard about it being insane, even early.  The Lager House was open though, so we filed in and nobody was in there, except the owner (P.J.) and we even had to ask if he was open.  He poured the 3 of us a shot, informing us that the first-comers get a ceremonial shot every year, asking "Is Jameson alright?"  "F*** yes, it's better than alright."  The we chased it down with a fitting Dragonmead Corktown Red

As far as good Michigan brews on tap and also having the pub standards for the basic drinkers, the Lager House is one of the best places in Detroit.  The bar top is decorated with guitar picks under a clear coat, there's a lot of great bands that play there from time to time, there's Jameson bottles being used as hanging light fixtures, and it's basically just a nice laid back atmosphere.  It's just a great hang-out bar in general. 

We followed up with a Saugatuck Neopolitan Milk Stout, Irish Car Bombs, an IPA that I now forget, MilKingIt Brik Red Ale, etc......  Finally we closed the tab and decided it was food time at about 1ish.  Corktown began to fill up a bit, and I figured that Slow's had already be taken by drunken "reavers" at this point, so we theorized that the later, downtown crowd wouldn't have taken over the restaurants yet, and we went to Red Smoke Barbecue, which I've been wanting to try for a while now.  It just seems impossible for us to pass up Nikki's when we're in that area, because it is the known love of the group.  Steering them somewhere else that may not be as good requires some social risk (which is why I also tried Loco solo days before this).  When you're with just one friend, though, it's easier to try something new.  Plus, in our condition I'm sure most anything would have been fine. 

Red Smoke was pretty dang good, though.  While I don't believe the barbecue itself was as good as Slow's, they have a distinct advantage in sides and sauces.  The mac is amazing and just offering a jalapeno cornbread muffin (nevermind the fact that it was incredible) makes you win the battle of sides automatically.  The sauces, especially the Roasted Poblano and the Red Smoke were just fantastic (especially the two alternated or mixed).  As someone who is a total condiment whore, and attempts to drown his food in them, great sauces are highly appreciated.  I even enjoyed the Cherry Molasses, and I rarely like Cherry anything (outside of pepsi, coke, and that "Save Tonight" song by Eagle-Eye Cherry).  I will try to add photos later, but they are all in my friend's possession, so I had to borrow the photo of the sauces below from Rebecca (after it was the first to show up from my google snooping) @ http://www.thruthinandthick.com/ (thank you), who also paid a visit to Red Smoke, which is recapped here.


Rebecca's Photo, not mine

After feeding, we walked back to Corktown, once again laughing at the people lined around the block trying to get into The Old Shillelagh when Corktown bars were still easily in walking distance and empty enough to walk right in and immediately have a beer.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with The Old Shillelagh, because on off nights it's a wonderful bar and it's 'tenders are some of the nicest ladies and gents in Detroit.  It's just that, during game days and drinking high tides, this place is elbow to elbow overcrowded and, to quote Daniel Clamp from "Gremlins 2," it becomes "a place for things."  This was the worst I have ever seen the place, and I get that it's an Irish bar on St. Patty's Day, but waiting hours to have a beer is just inhumanly illogical.

Adios Amigo

We walked back to Corktown, once again saluting General Kosciuszko on the return trip.  Then stopped into Casey's (well known as the spot where Gehrig sat and listened to the Tigers-Yanks game after taking himself out of the line-up, thus ending the streak) for a Guinness.  That pretty much ended our day, with my friend feeling sick, and myself being back to nearly sober, we just walked around for a little bit to chill.  We collected some of the St. Patrick's Day posters/signs that blew off the buildings into the streets and next to the fences as souvenirs for the day.  Then I took him home, and came back to Flint to get my lady who was dropping off a client's wedding photos, play with the puppy, drink a green tea lemonade, and take a much needed siesta.

That puppy wanted a drink too.

Then we packed back up for Ann Arbor where (almost) everyone was finally getting together for the night.  I was having some stomach issues with that curdling Baileys from the ICB's (lactose and I don't agree, and I continue to choose to ignore this), so I sipped some Bell's Two-Hearted really slowly the rest of the night.  We settled in at some bar called The Ravens Club (complete suckfest), while I wished I hadn't bothered making the trip, and eventually cut the night off earlyish (11:30pm), which royally pissed off one of our friends who was just getting free at the time.  Screw it, though.  I had my fun early (about 6 hours of it), and I had to run in Bay City the next day.  I wasn't about to hang out for another hour waiting for him on top of time after when he got there, especially at that awful bar (which makes me vow yet again never to let my former roomie pick bars).  Besides, Renfield was home alone until 1:30am, and that's way too long to leave a puppy.

5F6

Saturday

Politically Incorrect Cookies 

This b/c of that horrible MSU loss

Sunday

Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo, oh yeah!

Monday

My wife's birthday, as well as Repeal Day, so we went to the Frankenmuth Brewery.  Cheese ravioli with meat sauce for me, delicious burger for her, avocado bruschetta to split, and beers.  I think she had a good birthday.

The Smile

The Take

Tuesday

Two, and I tried the new BK fries.  I know, I'm bad

Add in the chocolate truffle wave cake for Jessi's belated birthday, because she didn't want cake the day before after dinner.  

Wednesday

Hot & Ready got me again

Two of these

Thursday

Those fake Lucky Charms from Meijer that I love

Friday

I'm currently using my lunch break to write this while I eat my wife's delicious chicken stew she made way too much of (I'm guessing at least 3 day's worth).  Since I can't ever get breadbowls anywhere anymore, I'm doing the next best thing and using some wheat bread essentially as a slowly disappearing (into my tummy) spoon.  Suck on that all you Atkins and Paleo nuts.  Yeah, so you're in good shape...I got bread....bread....BREAD!!!!  That's the very reason why people say "best thing since sliced bread."  It's delicious (apologies to my gluten-free sister who may read this).

Santa Run Recap from the Heartbreak Hotel

I guess it's just a good day for wearing red and white.  Brent here coming to you live after watching my Michigan State Spartans blow another very important game in heart-breaking fashion to Wisconsin, and finding a way out of going to our first Rose Bowl in 24 years.  It's okay though, we're all used to walking around with our hearts ripped out of our chest.  That's all we know.

Before I go sulk for the rest of the night, I do have to say that the Santa run was great this year.  I saw bib numbers approaching the mid 1500's, so it appears that it grew three-fold from last year.  Mike brought his lady this year, and since she has a bum hip right now, they decided to walk it.

Pre-Race

This was probably my last chance to prove I'm still better off the end of this year than last, and not put up some near-30 minute 5K pace.  I knew I was in a Santa suit, and that would slow me down a bit, but I took some extra measures with a belt and safety pins to make sure my suit didn't malfunction this year.  I figured not losing my pants this time just might help.

Santas Everywhere

Even Santas on the roof

Once we got going, I thought it was a pretty slow pace.  A lot of people stopped to walk less than a mile in.  I heard a small child about a 1/4 of a mile in ask his mom if they went a mile yet.  Everyone within an audible distance of that let out a little chuckle.  A lady running near me was carrying a bag and handing out candy canes to the volunteers and spectators alike.  That was really thoughtful of her.  The medics on call were singing on the ambulance's speaker "Here comes Santa Claus. Here comes Santa Claus running down Robert T. Longway."  Nice.  

...And they're off

When we got just past the first water stop I heard a guy yell out 13-something as the time.  I freaked out thinking that I was running like a 12 or 13 minute mile, and tried really hard to speed up.  My mom, brother, and sister came out to see me again this year and I waved at them as I passed the cultural center.  

Action Shot

The last mile me and another guy in a Wings cap were fighting each other off, and he eventually just turned it out on me at the end, and I didn't have enough to get it back.  We had a nice fist bump of recognition at the end, and a good conversation to follow.  He had another friend that was shooting for a sub-35 time and we watched for him as he pulled in around 33.  Then I talked to the both of them, and found out they came up from Detroit.  Hopefully I'll see them around.  I need some new friendly competition since a lot of the guys I used to see are M.I.A.  Anyway, I manages a 27:38 by the clock, and it took me a little bit to get to the start line since I was sitting in the middle of the starting pack.  I'm happy with that.

Finish

After, we went to the Torch for a delicious burger and I had a few Atwater Vanilla Java Porters, which was the peak of this Santa's jolliness today.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to wash away some Spartan depression with a bad 80s movie ("Three O'Clock High") and some Saugatuck brews.

5F3 (You know the drill)

Saturday

Not that the popper calories counted (see clown from the last entry)
Still considering the possibility it wasn't their fault because
I love them too much

Sunday

Olive Garden: Stuffed Rigatoni with Chicken



Yes, I know I was just at the OG last week.  I pretty much go there every Sunday because, for some reason, my family loves it too much to go anywhere else.  I can think of at least 3 better Italian joints (let alone restaurants in general) within a 2 mile radius.  Oh well, I'm almost always out-voted, and the creatures of habit get their way. 

Had a few of these as well...

...and one of these...

Monday

I still really love eggnog,  even after Dave Attell
revealed what it REALLY is made from. Had 3 glasses
Monday. 

If you insist on looking up Dave Attell's take on what eggnog is, I can NOT be held responsible.  Keep in mind the comedy album was called "Skanks for the Memories."  Also, keep in mind that it's Dave Attell.

In addition to the usual occasional beer I also have been drinking a lot of wine lately. Had 3 glasses between dinner (where I made some real good, real low cal eggplant parm.) and reading time.

Hey, those left-over boxes of  wedding
wine aren't going to drink themselves...

Tuesday
Out of curiosity, I had to see what the deal was with these Flint-style vegan Coney Dogs at the new "Vegan Soul Hut" place.  Interestingly enough that venture has merged with a regular barbecue and full on meat place, and they seem to get along fine.  Tried two of the regular ones, and one of the vegan ones.  Honestly, with whatever they're putting in the sauce and how spicy it is, I couldn't tell much of a difference.


Flint-style Coneys x 3



Wednesday

I barely ate anything Wednesday, and then ran on top of it.  When I finally got home "dinner" was just some cornbread (the good way with the creamed corn and all) and coffee spiked with some irish cream.



















Thursday
I was doing just fine until Jessi showed up with her father and they wanted me to go to
We got our usual green pepper/red onion deep dish.

Swerved all over "Wing Street" too



















Also had my first Steel Reserve 211 in 10+ years.  I haven't had one since I was a broke college kid and they had them for 87¢ out-the-door.  Some things should remain in the past.

Friday
Left-over pizza, more wine, more nog.



Bonus F
Fozzie Bear

I'm excited about the Muppet Movie coming out next week.  I'm happy that they continue to thrive today, in an environment where decent entertainment is hard to come by.  The best thing is, they can be around forever.  Puppets don't have to ever age or die.  The Muppets can be around as long as we love them.  Who wants to see an old Fozzie Bear still trying to make it as a comedian or even as a successful one that loses his edge and does horrible movies for years on end (e.g. Eddie Murphy or Adam Sandler)?  Nobody wants to see Fozzie mature or get old.  It would be sad watching him all old and wobbly in his Wakka Wakka Walker.

Double Time!

I haven't been to my old high school in at least 10 years.  Unlike the majority of schools I've been to for runs lately, it's one of the few places that's actually degraded since I've seen it last.  It looks like the track hasn't had new asphalt put down since it was redone when I was still in school.  So it made sense that the proceeds were going toward repairing the track.  Apparently they haven't even hosted a meet in 6 years.  Funny, because that was one of the few things we used to be really good at.  

It's not like I went out of remainder school pride or anything, trying to help them reach their track repair goals, though.  It was just a run.  I don't get a warm fuzzy being back there and reminiscing in any way.  When it comes to my high school years, I'm just kind of indifferent, I guess, because I never felt like the place or the people were all that great to me.  That being said, I still planned on trying to kick the hell out of this race.  I even sported my new Blue Lantern Flash shirt for the race.  Blue lanterns represent hope on the emotional spectrum, but their rings are most powerful when paired with a Green Lantern (will), because hope is not powerful in and of itself without the will to make those hopes a reality.  That goes for anything, not just Geoff Johns written comic heroes.

On this specific day I was hoping to maybe come close to or even win my age bracket.  There were a few people that looked to be about my age, but who knows how fast they are by looking at them.  I could tell there wasn't much chance of me winning the overall, but that was about it.  There weren't any old friends or alumni I knew well there.  I recognized one guy as the older brother of someone in my grade, but I never knew him personally, so I didn't say hello.  So, after registering, I just kind of kept to myself until race time, and stretched out a bit.

On the start, a good chunk of the field bolted out really quick, and that was a bad idea for about half of them.  I started out really casual and was breathing real easy.  A man came up on my side and passed me saying "Don't worry about keeping up with me, I'm going to walk here in a bit."  I didn't bother saying that I wasn't worried.  With the way he was breathing, I pretty much knew I would get him back eventually.

With the first mile in, it was time to run it up a bit.  There was a nice uphill slope, which is always my favorite part, because that's where I catch everyone.  I blew by everyone in the back and middle leading up to the turn-around.  I didn't see anybody that looked to be in my age group, so I kicked it up another gear to make sure nobody would catch me from behind.  I caught up to some more people and passed them until there was one man to catch before it was just the front pack ahead of me.  I got close, but he started hearing footsteps and I pushed him along from there.  He pulled away about 20 seconds ahead and stuck there with me in tow.

I pulled in with a 27:14 (yeah, another best...I know, I know, it's getting old right?), and thanked the guy ahead of me for pushing me along.  He admitted hearing me behind him, and thanked me for the push.  I love that part of running.  Even when you're trying to catch someone or they're trying to catch you, you're just happy they made you go faster, because in the end you're just trying to beat yourself.

After the race I stood around eating my banana and drinking a water wondering if there were any awards or anything at all.  I was starting to think that it really didn't matter if I won my age group or not.  Meanwhile me and another man had been cornered by one of those braggy runner types that just wouldn't stop talking.  You know the kind.  They've done this race and that race with such-and-such a time.  I'm pretty sure it was all B.S., though, because I torched him horribly, and those alleged times were way out of his league as far as I was concerned.  I guess it's possible, but at least lead with an excuse for why you didn't run worth a crap today first, otherwise it all seems like hot air.

Finally I heard there were going to be some awards, so I stuck around to see where I finished.  When they announced our age group, as soon as I heard the 2nd place person, I knew I had it.  Sure I'm still not an elite runner, but it's nice to get one after all the hard work anyway.  I've taken over 8 minutes off my 5K time at this point, and I wouldn't have won my age group without taking a lot of that time off.  Anyway, here it is, my first medal for actually winning one.

Apparently that wasn't enough for me, because at 4:00 I headed down the Lansing for the River Run Riot (R³) in my Captain Hammer shirt (apparently it was superhero day for me).  I thought I needed a little bit of prep for the Warrior Dash, and I heard this one had some moderate obstacles, so I couldn't pass it up.

I guess it was the first year it was held here, and you could tell.  There was an odd staggered start for males 16-39, there were huge bottle-necks at the obstacles where you'd wait in line, and there was a false start where the entire field headed toward the final obstacle first.  It was pretty funny, especially for all of us that were told to wait and watched as the starting pack went through a water obstacle and got wet for nothing.

Finally we got to start 10 minutes later.  We ran a mile, then climbed an angled pegged wall about 8 feet high or so and jumped down on a large mat.  Another mile and we went through the National Guard obstacle course, which is basically climbing through tight spaces of something resembling a bounce house, climbing another pegged wall (only the pegs are just full of air) and sliding down a slide.  I waited maybe ten minutes or more in line with my shoes off waiting for my turn.  Had I known there were breaks, I would have sprinted every running part, because anybody you did catch, even if they were right in front of you in line, had at least 30 seconds on you after the obstacle.  It really gave the early leaders a huge (and arguably unfair) advantage.

After putting my shoes back on after the National Guard obstacle, I tried to catch whoever was even in sight before we got to the next obstacle, which was some string and bungee chord webs.  My trail shoes (which I didn't need because the trail by the river was completely paved) were not the best choice for this obstacle.  All the treads on the bottom got stuck on the strings and I had a pretty rough time getting through.  From the looks of things, though, I was doing pretty well in comparison to the other people around me.

Only two more to go now.  The first was a spinning obstacle with foam arms that went up and down that you had to go over and under, and that was a cinch.  The final one was this thing.

 

What you were dealing with here was 3 balance beams: one going out, one going right, and one coming back.  These beams were floating on rubber plaforms and only held near the shore by two 20' bungee ropes.  What you're also dealing with is a lot of movement from you and the others on this thing.  On the way out the beam is rocked me back and forth (if you take it going sideways).  On the back side the second I stepped on the cross beam it felt like I was floating back and away the entire time.  The one coming back I took so fast I don't know what it was doing.  I have no idea how I stayed up on this thing.  It was not easy.  I attribute all the success to Wii Fit balance games.

The course was just short of 4 miles long, and including all the waiting, took about 52 minutes.  After finishing, I changed my clothes at the car, and went to the after party where you got 2 free beer tickets.  I used mine wisely on a Saugatuck Singapore IPA and a Bell's Two-Hearted, which are always solid choices.  Then I paid for a Founders Pale Ale, and hung out for another hour or so before heading home to meet some friends.  It was a long day, but a good one, and a very satisfying drive home.