Bad Race Prep for People that like Good Race Prep (River Bank Run - Pt. 1)

As shocking as it may seem, I don't believe I've ever been to Grand Rapids.  There it is a mere 2 hours away, and they have concerts, minor hockey and baseball, and breweries (including Founders).  However, I've never went there for anything, that is, until this past weekend.

If nothing else, I can always count on running to lead me to new things like volunteer work, a beach park when everyone else is sleeping, or a new city.  It's just the very nature of the beast; we end up doing a lot of things with our mornings that we wouldn't normally do. 

We got a bit of a later start than we should have, but, despite a horde of traffic all getting off at the same exit we needed, we eventually got to a parking ramp near our hotel.  We dropped the bags, and piled back in the car with about 20-30 minutes to get to Fifth Third Ballpark for the start of the Whitecaps/Loons game, which was starting at 6:35 for some reason (the Tigers usually play night games at 7:05 guys, follow your leader!).  We didn't quite make it.  For some reason, Grand Rapids seem to have issues with properly labeling streets and lanes for visitors, nevermind that it's summer in Michigan and it's time to rip up every piece of concrete that needed fixing the least. 

You'd see a sign that points you to an expressway's eastbound entrance, wanting west, and realize as you drive past that the entrance labeled east was also for west.  The same seems to go for north and south.  Also if you see a sign that points you left going to an expressway, don't get in the left lane, you'll either end up going left down another road against your will or it will be a turn-around sending you on a 180 back down the opposite way of the road you're on.  Things like that always get me to put on my conspiracy theory hat, because it seems like there's towns out there that seem to purposely set themselves up to confuse outsiders, and I think it's done by design to keep the so-called "riff raff" out.  I think GR has joined that list.

Anyway, we made it to the Whitecaps game about the middle of the 1st inning and found our seats, which were absurdly close for $14 (another reason to like minor league games).  Apparently not close enough for my wife to see if Nick Avila is as "cute" as his cousin, Alex (the Tiger's catcher), though.

Baseball makes us happy

After sitting in our seats watching the game for a couple innings and watching a 3 year old next to us eat a bag of cotton candy the size of his head, I started looking around to try to catch a glimpse of the infamous Fifth Third Burger.  Not having any luck, my lady and I went up on the concourse and I got her the obligatory ice cream helmet for each new baseball stadium we visit, and began looking for where they sold it.  Finally, I saw the sign (not an Ace of Base reference).

Catching a glimpse of someone actually buying one, ignoring the fact I was running my longest official race ever the next day, and forgetting that I really wasn't all that hungry, I made the mistake of saying to myself "I can eat that."  So I put in my order, which somehow ended up under the name "Josh," and after receiving my burger behemoth I was off I went to the "Competition Area."

My wife helped document the adventure while mentally (not physically) shaking her head and being disgusted at me.

In the end, it was just too much for one man.  I made it a little over half, and that was as far as it was going to go.  I have my doubts that even my most alcohol fueled hunger would never be able to conquer this baby, even if I had a full 9 innings.  One of the biggest obstacles is simply how salty it is, and the meat is bordering on having a boiled taste to it.  I would have to have a gallon jug of water just to make up for the salt, and if I'm being completely honest, it's just not all that tasty.

After admitting failure to the judges, I retreated back to our seats to watch the rest of the game.  I was still having trouble with rooting for the White Caps and had an accidental "get up there!!!" when a Loons player cranked a ball deep in left-center field.  Sorry, everyone around me..."owa tana siam."

The Whitecaps ended up winning the game 5-2, scoring nearly every one of their runs while we were at a concession stand or the team shop.  After the game we took a few photos outside.

Belle Tire!

Stadium Front

Original Tiger sign, likely a stadium original from 1994
 (when the Whitecaps came to be, and when matching versions were hanging and painted on Tiger Stadium)

Awesome Whitecaps VW van (front now says WM)

We went back to our hotel room at City Flats which seemed like the hotel lovechild of a techie and a hippie with it's sleek, well-designed, futuristic, energy efficient goodness.  The bed was super comfortable, and it was almost as far as we wanted to go, but we got back up and headed out because, like The Cars, we like the nightlife baby.

There were a lot of bars that were too busy, too hoochie, too stuffy, etc.  After a little walking around, we found a place called The Pyramid Scheme (too dirty, too 80's, too kitschy, too poorly lit....it's perfect!).  We pretty much had to go there.  The first thing you see coming in is a T-Rex skull (not a real one, but a very good mold) hanging on the wall.  The second thing we noticed was a very large painting of Bebop and Rocksteady from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The place is just chocked full of pinball machines and they had a few Short's beer taps, among the other Michigan brews.  At that point we knew we had to stay.  The barstaff was really nice, and even though we didn't look rock 'n' roll enough for the majority of the crowd there, nobody seemed to notice how out of place we looked with our baseball stuff on.  It was just our kind of place, minus the beers being $5, but I think that's probably standard for GR.  It's just our cheap Flint minds that think you get those for $3-3.50 normally, and even then, as a semi-regular, there are times when my bill magically has items missing from it at a few places when the owners are around.

Later, while still at the bar.....

"Short's Chocolate Wheat is delicious!...Really delicous...what time is it?  Uh-oh...."

TO BE CONTINUED

I'll get to it...honest...but for now let's talk beer...

I'm sure some of you are wondering how my River Bank Run went, being it was going to be my longest official run ever and all.  I swear I'll get to it, but I'm still gathering some photographic evidence, deciding what I want to keep and trim off, wondering if you guys actually want to see a little blood in a post, and deciding how inappropriate I want to be.  The night before the race is mildly epic in its own right, so it may even get its own post. 

RBR post(s) "Under Construction"

As far as the run, I can say I've recovered from it, which is more than I can say about yesterday.  When I was told there would be a Founders tap takeover at Ashley's in Ann Arbor and a chance to complete what, for me, has been a 4 year mission of actually tasting the Kentucky Breakfast Stout (only eclipsed by the 6 year mission of Sam Adam Utopias, which I couldn't even get at the Boston Brewery itself, even telling them it was my honeymoon and a taste would be a nice late wedding present), it didn't take a lot of convincing from my friends to get me down there to hang with them last night.  Apparently we're still not too old for weeknight beer outings, as this was our second this month. 

The Ann Arbor odd couple ("El Jefe" and the "White Flash") got to Ashley's about an hour before us and fought the good fight to get us a table.  They were instructed that, under no circumstance, was the KBS keg allowed to go dry without them reserving me a glass of it.  The keg did go dry, and as my wife and I drove the last 20 minutes to Ann Arbor, she read to me the several texts with pictures of my beer and hilariously worded empty threats about them drinking it if I didn't show soon (e.g. "Hurry or mean ol' "El Jefe" is going to drink me!").

However, as I walked through the door, it was still there, still pretty cool, and well worth the drive.  Easily the best oak-aged stout I've had, and dangerously easy to drink.  With its 11.2% ABV, it's a good thing they were out.  They also saved me some of their Canadian Breakfast Stouts (10.6% ABV) to try, but I'm pretty sure that stuff was brewed by Buddy the Elf. 

Way too much maple taste, Eh

Before they even tapped the Founders Better Half (11.9% ABV), an oak-aged version of the Old Curmudgeon, I had put in an order for one, and "El Jefe" insisted I try the Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro (only 6% ABV this time).  Unfortunately, I got a bad pour of it, and after tasting himself, my friend reassured me that this was not a typical result for that beer (not good).  So, at least for now, the title in that category still belongs to Saugatuck's Neopolitan Milk Stout (which is actually dead tied in ratings with the Left Hand on BeerAdvocate).

After another Red's Rye PA (6.6%) we headed out to Dominick's so everyone could get sangrias in a jar.  I declined, which, after tasting my wife's sangria, I realized was a huge mistake on my part, and sat begrudgingly drinking my Bell's Two-Hearted Ale (7.0%) while we talked about our friend's recent wedding, our wedding before, and who may or may not be the next to go.  About 5 months back in Chicago, when talking to "El Jefe," my wife told him that, even being a rare fit like ourselves, there are people out there like him, and his lady is out there, even if she's very hard to find.  Only, with the alcohol from that night, her actual words might have been that his match was "like sasquatch, only cuter."  So that got referenced again last night, several times, when referring to people's potential existing counterparts....which usually led to many girlish giggles (only one of which was actually coming from a female).

"You mean like Quatchi?..."

We left there after about an hour to join our other friend ("Guidemaster") who drove down late, and we all grabbed a Centennial IPA (7.2%), and after that began a nice long sobering up process.  It was a very good thing we started this night early, and stopped early, otherwise we would have been sleeping on someone's floor and driving into work from Ann Arbor this morning.  

We walked around for a bit, and not having a Taco Bell within proximity, we did the next best thing and, probably much to the dismay of the crew @ epicportions.com, actually went to Tio's, spent money there, got the Mt. Nacheesmo, and split it 5 ways.  John and Jeremy, we're all sorry, but I still love your blog, and I know you're right about the place (except for the Chiles Rellenos with Spanish Three Cheese, though you can't ever go wrong stuffing a pepper with things, so maybe that doesn't count).  Sometimes you just want nachos that are slopped together, though.  I mean, we would have been willing to melt kraft singles on a plate of the Las Fortunitas chips you get at Costco, if it came to that.  That goes especially for me, because, outside of my morning Nature Valley bar, I hadn't eaten anything (yes, I know I should eat more regularly throughout the day).  At least I can explain where the good reviews for Tios that always used to piss you off  (I know you ended the verbal war against them a while ago) are coming from (drunks). 

I've got a longer run on the docket today, and then I'm going to give myself a little time off.  I have a nagging knee issue that needs a break before something happens.  It's not a bad weekend to take off of running anyway. My best friend is coming in from California this weekend and we're going to the Tigers game  Saturday.  It's also World Expo of Beer weekend in Frankenmuth, Mamma Mia! (don't hate on ABBA, I'll cut you!...) is in town, and there's always Comic Con in Novi if I really need something to do (and want to try to meet Billy Dee Williams and Yvonne Craig).  I'm sure I can stay busy without too much urge to run, expecially if today aggravates my knee again, but we'll see. 

Watch out Westsiders

I'm coming for you, Grand Rapids, and I'll be taking over 15+ miles of your roads, likely wearing this

It's incredible!

In an ideal world, I would have found an old Billy Joel "River of Dreams" concert shirt at the thrift store to wear for River Bank Run tomorrow, but a mermaid and a seagull on a t-shirt's printed tie with the sleeves ripped off is pretty good too.

There's only a slight chance this shirt will be trumped in the late throws of tonight, so you can pretty much take it to the (river) bank that I'll be going with this.

First stop is the White Caps game against the Loons tonight.  I'm used to rooting for the Loons so I will try to hold back my cheering for them while trying hard to reprogram myself to root for my franchise's (Tigers) minor league club.

Trail to the King, Baby!

While most of the people in my palmy mid-mitten region were inside reinacting that Zooey Deschanel iPhone commercial (pretending their senses can't pick up the fact its raining, not knowing how follow instructions on a Campbell's label to make a simple can of soup, and being messy procrastinators) I went out to run with my friend on the trail. 

We keep incrementally adding mileage to our little runs we're doing together, and the slow, steady, deliberate ramp up is really starting to work.  Remember the 13 miler that was just for fun this past weekend, well tack on another 11ish miler.  With River Bank Run coming this weekend, I'd usually be resting the legs and getting ready to kill that, but right now it's just another run.  Did you get that?  The longest official race I've done to date is "just another run," and we've started to put up double digit runs as just our "regular" runs.  What happened to run 3 to 4 miles and call it good?   I don't even think my legs wake up and know they're running until mile 6...

On top of that, it's not like we were out there dying yesterday, either.  We're taking running jumps over puddles, stopping to rip up some garlic mustard and hold it in our hands whooping like it was a trophy kill (okay, that was just me), talking and laughing pretty much the entire time without ever really being out of breath, and not one complaint about the rain weighing us down (it's mostly water weight!).

Dramatization of my running "Hobo Royalty" at its finest

The small leg we added on from last week runs right by the Burger King, and, feeling bad over all the smack I talked about them in my last entry, I felt the need to make nice with the royal court.  Of course we're training so there's no stopping and eating.  What I did do was pick up one of the abandoned Burger King crowns laying adjacent to their parking lot and put it over my Killian's hat for the rest of my run.  That's 5+ miles of free promotion and environmental stewardship.  I hope that makes us cool.  With the 1/4 mile stretch right before your restaurant and the high traffic, I'm guessing at least one person saw my crown and pulled in, or perhaps that old lady that laughed at me when we headed back into the trail decided to stop in.  While she was laughing I completely forgot I was wearing the crown on my head, and ran very self-consciously for the next 1/2 mile, and I would hope that my insecure thoughts were worth at least a fish sandwich (as we say, regarding the NHL as well, BK..."bring back the whale!").

Oooh baby, blubber on a bun!

Even after realizing it was because of the crown, you gotta kinda wonder if she was laughing, in part, because she thought we were running to and from Burger King.  

March Madness Winner Declared (in May)

A few months back I quadrupled down, not with burger patties on a Whopper or a pair of double down chicken sandwiches from KFC, but with pairs of shoes (http://runfatbrentrun.blogspot.com/2012/03/march-madness-of-shoes.html).  Besides, now that Leno is spokesman, and I saw that commercial where Steven Tyler is actually allowed within proximity of food, I'm not so sure I want to go to Burger King anymore.  I can handle a lot of disgusting things that may or may not happen in the fast food industry, but Steven Tyler near my food supply is where I draw the line. 

Gross...

After much deliberation and a lot of wearing of all 4, I think I have my winner, but first let's go with the pros and cons of the ones that fell short.

Nike Air Revolution - I did honestly give them a fair shake, and I'm still wearing them here and there, but this was the first one taken out of the competition. 

Pros - These shoes are extremely light in weight.  They are pretty dang awesome looking.  They don't spring too hard, and they're pretty easy on the knees because of that.

Cons - Quite simply they hurt my feet.  They're good for short runs, but anything more and it feel like I got my midfoot beat in with a hammer.  I start to feel that happening while I run, so to ease it, I would revert back to my old heel-striking ways just to take off some of the hit damage to the midfoot.  Even early in runs I can just feel the pavement through the shoe, which I know some of those barefooter people love, but it didn't do me any favors.

Other - Chances are a big reason these aren't working is they are for people with flatter feet than me.  I can see that being the reason that my midfoot, and later my heel, got beat to death by this shoe

Puma Levaio


Pros - Like the Nike's, they are super light.  They have about the best airflow of any shoe I've ever had, and they're also one of the least restrictive shoes I've worn.  No matter how you have to run around and contort your foot to avoid things or however you land, they won't fight you back to hard.  That can be both good and bad at times, but I don't require a ton of support these days.  My ankles have stopped rolling themselves with their newly found strength.  These are also very easy on my knees, and that's always a plus.  At some point I will have to try these on a trail run.

 Cons - These have the opposite problem from the Adidas that spurred this search.  I feel like I'm only running on the inside of my foot.  I realize this is just a foot-type issue, though, and some insoles may make these work incredibly for me.  I can't go anything more that 7 or 8 miles without them becoming a bit of a problem.

Other - I really don't have anything else.  I mean I like that they have a super-kitty on them.  That's about all I got

New Balance 467 All Terrain 


Pros - For as built up as they are, they are super-light.  This shoe is built as tough as my initial impression and it has held up superbly.  I've taken them out just as much as the other 3 pairs, and they don't seem to wear yet.  If I were going for the most economical, long-lasting shoe I could buy for a big guy that puts up some fairly decent miles, I would go with these.  I also think you could run with these in about any given situation, and I've tried to do just that.

Cons - To be honest I haven't found one, other than they aren't perfectly molded to my foot.

Other - Maybe it's just another pro, but what happened to just normal shoes?   I really like how these are just a classic, normal-looking shoe.  I'm not really a flashy man...even though I say there's nothing wrong with liking a flashy man.

and now, your delayed March Madness champ...

Saucony Grid Cohesion 5


Pros - The comfort level of these shoes are out of this world.  The slight arch of my foot is cradled almost perfectly in these shoes to the point where they were nearly made for me.  I've been able to go long distances with them and not have any soreness in my feet.  I actually ran over 13 miles in these just for fun, and that's just not me.  They are also very fashionable for weddings (see last blog).  The shoe doesn't bounce me around too much and is the easiest on my knees out of the 4 shoes (with 2nd going to the Pumas).

Cons - My only complaint is with the durability, because I've already put a lot of wear on these, and it's only been 2 months (and I've been mixing in other shoes).

Other - In all fairness I've probably used these for a lot of the longer runs because of how much they've worked for me.

I will also mention that I reserve the right to change my opinion on these shoes at any time, as I try to find their niches within my running needs.  It may turn out that one is really really good for me running a 5K and one is perfect for something else.  I'm sure I'll wear all of them into a flat-soled death.

P.S. - I'm not compensated in any way for my opinion on any of these.  I don't think there's any company out there that would roll the dice and waste money on me, anyway.  Even if I like something and talk it up, who's going to listen to my opinion enough to influence what they buy?  That is unless there's some horde of fat runner people out there following me anonymously and hanging on my every word, and if there is, I'd like to know why you've chosen this particular fat guy, because there are a lot of better success stories out there.

I mean, I run alright, and I've dropped a good 60 pounds along the way, but I did just eat popcorn for dinner at the movies (the "The Five Year Engagement" was painfully hilarious) and just finished eating some pudding (at least it was fat free!).  I'm still closer to roll model than role model, but if I told you I was doing everything perfectly and you didn't see me get thinner or faster you'd just get discouraged.  I'm fine with people knowing I'm not a master of will and I struggle with doing simple things to make myself healthier.  Yep, while people struggle with busy, important lives, medical issues, family life, spouses at war overseas, injuries, deaths in the family, etc. and get out there and run and blog about it, I struggle with not eating pudding at 11pm.  Not exactly the epic embodiment of the human spirit, there, but at least I'm honest.

Besides, the blogosphere already has its superheroes.  I'm fine with being your Billy from Family Circus: usually lame, sometimes funny, and off in my own world playing by myself and too oblivious not to love every second of it.

Wedding March

After leaving work Friday, I put on the black dress shirt and pants, put on my Darth Vader tie (May the 4th be with you!), and headed up to Port Huron for a wedding rehearsal and dinner for our friends.  My wife was shooting the wedding, and was going to rehearsal for some photos, but more to scout out the venue for the next day.

Dinner was at the Quay Street Brewery.  The food was delicious, but the beer was not good.  Bad enough to leave to a bar called the Brass Rail and drink miller drafts the rest of the night.  The Brass Rail is an interesting bar.  As Port Huron was a former league rival city to our former hockey team, the Flint Generals, I recognized right away that this particular bar was likely where the Icehawk/Bordercats/Flags/Beacons (not in that chronological order, I know) used to hang out after games.  In fact it still smelled ever-so-slightly like a hockey rink.

The Brass Rail was just one of those places with character that I tend to find charming.  It was just so reminiscent of an era when minor hockey was more like "Slap Shot" than "The Tooth Fairy."  It has the old circular bi-color black and red leather booths, a giant mirror with a gorgeous wood-worked arch with women carved in on either side, photos of old hockey players, and various creatures of the sea on the wall.  The beer selections are limited and unpretentious, and there's always a game on the TV.  After coming from a wedding rehearsal dinner, we were extremely overdressed, but the patrons and our server were still very welcoming.  If I ever went back to Port Huron, I'd stop here.  Also, they don't close by 11, like this chicken place.

I wish you were open

The next morning I got up just after 7am, put on some running shorts and a t-shirt, and headed out for my out-of-town jog.  At first it was pretty easy road running.

Colonial Woods Church

After a while, it got a little dicey, though.  I kept going up and down curbs and from grass to pavement.

Foot off-roading?...

I was hoping to find a park or a beach to visit as my turn-around, especially because I was running close to Lake Huron...

River #1...no lake yet



Hello Again Big Boy



Sweet docked boat mural on a party store

Almost stepped right on these skulls, but adjusted the landing last second
Go ahead, identify these two animals.  Sorry, no Misfits song reference this time...

River #2.  We have visual on Lake Huron.  It won't be long now...

Sweet Anchor, man

I knew that the lake was right next to me, but I kept running into a problem...

...every path to the beach was privately owned land

Then I finally found a beach I could visit at  Fort Gratiot County Park
(over 6 miles away from the hotel)

I watched a few ships cruise by

Proved I was there...

Walked the beach until it ended at more private property
(sign was down for some reason)

I found a petoskey stone!

I said "Goodbye Beach"

I started running back until I found an interesting statue that seemed to mirror the Mackinac Bridge workers memorial statue.  

 It was actually a memorial built for 22 men who lost their lives due to an accidental explosion while
building a tunnel  that now supplies 270 million gallons of water to Detroit's northern suburbs.

I was surprised when I researched it that this was only dedicated a few months ago in
December of 2011

Historical Landmark Marker

Time to run back to the hotel...

I just liked the "We Buy Guns" sign's font

Back in town

Back to the bike trail

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready.  My wife left early to go take photos and I realized I left my dress shoes in the Vibe.  She was in snapping shots of the bride until the ceremony started, so, for the ceremony at least, I was a total shoe failure...

Not a good look...

Probably not the best look for church, but at least I sort of had an Indiana Jones vibe going, at least in shadow form...

"You want to talk to God?  Let's go see him together.  I've got nothing better to do"

I did eventually get my dress shoes back, the wedding was wonderful, and a good time was had by all...

Brent vs The April

1) Pick 12 things of social importance that I've had limited exposure to, but decided I didn't like and immerse myself in each of them for 1 month.

I have to admit I really blew it with this one this month.  I haven't really taken into account all the cumulative effects of giving new things a chance again.  I'm still finding jazz artist I like here and there.  I'm still watching cowboy movies.  I'm still reading that Harry Potter series.  Eventually it all takes up some major time, and it's hard to just drop all of it when you're still making your mind up about things, too. 

As far as April, though.  I had a hard time coming up with something to do that would actually be worth the effort.  Somebody suggested I give the NBA another shot (which I haven't really enjoyed since the 90s), but after sitting through about 3 games, and feeling like I was wasting my time.  I kind of abandoned the idea.  I just didn't want to spend all month watching it.  I just think the sport has lost its edge.  The players and the overall play is way too civil.  There's also no consistency in play.  You can beat a good team by 5 or 10 one night and lose to an awful team by 20 a few nights later (I'm looking at you Pistons).  Things like that shouldn't happen unless the effort isn't there.  I have no desire to watch the playoffs, so I won't.  I don't even know where they can be found, and, for some reason, I very rarely stumble upon this league by accident.  What stations are they even on these days?

Bring back the Sonics, and we'll talk...

So, with that out of the way, I racked my brain for a replacement and never really came up with much that would be worth anything.  I started watching "Community" because quite a few people I know are in love with it.  I guess I get it to some degree, but it's often a mix of that "Futurama" (I get this reference, therefore it is funny) and It's "Always Sunny..." crude humor that turns me off of it.  It's nice I've had a few people to point out all the things that you'd miss in the episodes the first time around, but man, are you guys really devoted to a show enough to watch every episode 3+ times?  Also, I think the characters are just a bit too large for my liking, and it's hard for me to stay immersed when I know it would be impossible for this group or any of these characters to exist in real life.  Like everything else, though, I'll probably keep on with it...
I really need a suggestion for May, though, before it is too late.

2) Learn 12 new recipes (1/month).

I really didn't go after any recipe on purpose.  There was just one night where we had nearly bare cupboards and I made some alfredo sauce for some fettuccine we had laying around out of some milk, butter, random spices, and parmesan cheese .  It counts, because I've never actually got this to work in my life for some reason, and this time it turned out delicious.  Hooray grown-up mac and cheese!

P.S. - I forgot to mention I actually made some cornbread with creamed corn for the first time.  I bought a can of creamed corn by mistake and my wife opened it in horror.  Not knowing what to do with it, since we don't have any pet pigs, which I only assume is who this product is marketed to, I poured it in with some jiffy mix and kind of guessed at the milk/egg proportions after that.  It turned out to be my best batch of cornbread ever, and that's even after I overshot the cooking time by nearly 10 minutes.  I will have to try it again and take it out on time.  Then maybe I will tackle the challenge of going away from the mix.
3) Do 12 home improvements (1/month).

April, and whether I made up for March is all in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.  I replaced some hardware on the side screen door so it would actually stay shut every time, and I was also very happy with myself for fixing the front door's hardware, which is fairly old and fitting for the house.  It's nice to be able to go out the front door when it's unlocked, shut it, and be able to get back in by pressing the latch.  Also, replacing it with anything comparable would have been about $200 if we wanted to keep the style and the weathered look.  I also found the key to the lock hiding way in the back of one of the house drawers in the kitchen, so we could even lock it from the outside if there was any reason to have to (which I can't see).

So does this count as 1 or 2?  They're both door things, and we're still planning on painting them and replacing the knocker out front.  So is it even 1, or is this an uncompleted single job as well and I'm at zero for April? 

If so Jessi also did a lot of work beautifying the front of the house with plants, and I chopped the bottoms of our bushes off so they would grow under there.  Does this count as one as well?

Depending on your judgement, we're at 0 to 3 improvements for April, and I really can't figure how I want to score it.  I'm giving my punch card to you guys to make the call.

4) Try 12 new restaurants (1/month).

Between the semi lame recipe and this category, I really slacked on the food-related goals this month.  I didn't go to a single new place in April, and sadly went to one place 3 different times.  I'm still in the black, though, because I had 3 last month, but it's hard to believe I forgot about this one and just hit all standard places for the month.

April Running Extras

Running Highlight - This is a pretty easy call.  Running the Martian Half again and knocking off a good chunk of time while not trying hard enough and having very little fatigue has me pretty optimistic about the rest of this year and the upcoming marathon.  We'll see how this changes when I actually start pushing into that distance, though.

Running Low - Getting chewed up and spit out by 5? miles at the Weed Whacker.  Dude, you ran a trail half last year.  That's pretty weak.  Definitely need more trail practice, and I need to make better use of my state park pass, even if it was just $10 for a little "P" on my license plate registration sticker. 

Mileage - Tied my monthly high (since I started tracking them) with 99 miles in April to match last August.  Just 1 more mile to break the 100 mark and have a new recorded high, but, nope, I just can't stay up for the Wildebeest 5K/10K, or run a short run last Sunday before my wife's family showed up for her Dad's birthday party.  I also couldn't be bothered with having a long run the week of the 16th.  Why would I want to do anything over 5 miles?  One...freaking....mile.   UGH! 

The Legs - During the month I had concurrent problems with my left knee and my right hamstring.  The knee felt like it was loose and knocking around a bit, and the hamstring just felt like it wanted to pull at any given time.  They both seemed to act up for about 4 runs in a row until this weekend when I accidentally took 3 days off.  Yesterday, they both seemed better over the 9 1/2 miler.  I can deal with that.

What else?  Oh, I still need to get my documentation for going to Canada for Detroit 26.2.  I plan on getting that rolling this month in case I run into weird problems or something.  I wish I had it this weekend for the wedding in Port Huron so I could pop across for a spell, but I'm sure we'll have plenty to keep us busy.  If possible I'll have to get in a lazy, picture taking run up there this weekend.

Until next month...(at least as far as the recaps)