Legs ain't workin', nothing's workin'

...and you say go ahead, run another half-marathon.  Yeah I'll run another half-marathon.  I'll get my face kicked in.

Anyway, this is just getting old.  I've upped the mileage this month, but, if anything, things are getting worse.  My legs just seem to be gone.  I can't seem to push anything out of them.  Even when I'm straining for some speed, the Garmin beeps back my mile pace and then it's just over.  The smile from my face takes a 180 and I start swearing under my breath, and the run is pretty much over.  Okay, so maybe the swearing wasn't under my breath.  Maybe I let out a loud primal scream of "DAMMIT!!!" that echoed throughout the neighborhood and made everyone think I was casing the neighborhood with house-penetrating vulgarity sonar (next up, I find your hidden safe with the f-word!).

If that wasn't enough, both of my feet hurt all the time.  I really don't know what I expected.  You put them through running with all this weight, on top of walking on concrete at work all day, and walking around a house that's almost entirely wood flooring, you're going to beat them to death.  The right heel and the outer middle edge of lefty are just not doing so hot.  They are pansies, especially the one that has no second toenail.
 

Missing toenail toe photo omitted for readers' sake

Anyway, let's talk about the (alleged) weight loss regimen.  I've been doing a damn fine job.  I've been eating healthy.  I've added some strength training exercises (lifting weights, doing some leg strengthening, etc.).  I've been controlling my portions by pretty much saying, "I want to eat this much," dividing it by 2, and only eating that.

The net result of all this hard work?  One lousy pound, and I think I might actually be even slower now.  So last night, when my wife had her family over for her Dad's birthday dinner, I decided to go buckwild on some mashed potatoes and have more than one piece of cake.  Instead of dividing by 2, I multiplied by π (not pie, there was no pie).  Maybe it will undoing everything or maybe it will be the system shock I need. 

Honestly, with all the bloggers I'm following giving up the running temporarily, the thought had crossed my mind.  Maybe the legs just need a break from the abuse and I can build them up with some other things.  Right now that would be the move that makes the most sense.  That, and actually having someone tell me why my heel's been hurting for almost a year.  Yeah, yeah...I know, I know.

The problem is, I can't really dump the running now.  I just signed up for a second run at the Detroit Marathon in October.  You really can't stop running and jump right into that.  Besides, if I quit now, Oprah wins.  I can't let myself stop running until I beat Oprah's marathon time (is that an actual goal I'm putting out there?).  Can't live with it.  Sure I beat the times of Al Gore and that Jared Fogle guy (Subway, I'm still available for sponsorship), but, really, what good is that?  Also, I can't not do a marathon this year after Boston, it just wouldn't feel right.

Actually maybe I won't catch Oprah.
She was in pretty decent shape then.

So, concurrent to the contemplation of putting the shoes away (which should happen anyway, as I hate every pair I have right now), I signed up for a trail series without a second thought that consists of a 13.1, a 10K, and another 13.1.  The first of which is the Trail Half-Marathon in Laingsburg this weekend, and the last being The Legend, which is notoriously an Achilles heel for me.  Repeat after me "Owa tana siam."  Obviously I want to quit, that's why I did this. 

Anyway, a full report of my crash and burn tomorrow should be coming your way soon.  It sounds like I'll be going solo on this one as well, unless I run into someone I know or one of you fellow bloggers.  Even then, you'll be in your cars and heading home when I cross, knowing most of you and your speedy ways.  Besides, I'm going to another concert thing with the wife tonight, so my hydrate and get to bed early plan is screwed anyway.  Oh well, have to support homegrown music, especially when your wife's done a good chunk of their album/press photos.  Besides, they're pretty dang good and I've been wanting to see them again for a while.

Three (Martian Races) is a Crowd/Holy Crap, What Just Happened in Boston?

After surviving the Flushing Half unscathed, and even managing to put up a semi-average time, I was in the clear for this race.  The course was closed to traffic.  It was a cool day.  There were several hundred people for me to latch onto for pace.  Everything looked good for me to go in and put up another respectable Martian time.

With every pair of shoes I own having long entered the zone of "total crap" months ago, it was time to get something new.  Feeling guilty for leaving out the Reebok's in the March Madness of Shoes last year, I was pretty partial to them in the store, and came up with these.  I nicknamed them "The Rinzlers" (only Running Spike will get this) based on the look.

Friday night J and I went out to see some music downtown.  Our friends Arlow Xan were playing along with a couple other goodies like Brites, Champions of Breakfast, etc.  I've been on a huge local music kick lately.  National acts are just getting too expensive to see, and it's just hardly ever worth it anymore, so I've kind of backed out of the bigger shows.  It was okay to pay shell out more when you still had a chance of getting good seats, but the days of camping out and waiting at Ticketmaster and of getting the first few rows (now basically reserved for fans that shell out a ton of money to be in a bands fan club) are over.  So I've kind of given up.

So we stayed out for that until about midnight, and I got home to my wife....yadda yadda yadda....I didn't get to sleep until about 1:30 and I was really tired when I had to get up at 4:30.  Oh well, right?  Three hours is the perfect amount of pre-half marathon sleep. 

We drove down, and with the early start, we actually found parking easily and were actually pretty close to Ford Field for once.  We picked up our packets without a lot of trouble and headed back to the car to drop off the non-essentials, and ran into another runner we went to high school with.  I debated dropping my jacket off, but ended up keeping it, and we headed back down near the starting line. 

I ran into fellow blogger Ty.  Well, more like she came by me and asked if I was me, and said hello.  I was in some sort of tired self-loathing stupor wishing I was still in bed, and not getting up for another 3 hours to make breakfast and watch the West Ham game.  That was a first, though, getting recognized from here.  No pictures to prove we met, though.  My point and shoot is dead, and has not been replaced, so you'll have to take our word for it.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting around, the race was about to head off, and then we got word of another 10 minute delay.  I took the extra time to slip my "We Come In Peace" shirt over my jacket so it would be visible and I could stay in the race's festive Martian spirit.  Shortly after that, we headed off.

Half a mile in I started swearing at myself.  I didn't want that stupid jacket now.  I was too hot, and it was bothering me.  I was already kind of cranky, and this didn't help.  It's never very good when, right off the bat in a race, you're in a completely negative place, and I was definitely there.  My pace slowed pretty significantly, and mentally I just didn't want to be there.

It took forever for me to shake that feeling.  We headed off on a detour from the usual route, and you had some of the faster runners coming back at you.  I think I saw Ty like 3 or 4 times in those neighborhood turnaround jots.  Also saw my other two people, and I was in the middle of each of them.  I think it took until about mile 7 where I finally just told myself, "Yeah, you're too hot, but overdressing is a good way to drop some pounds, run it out, and consider it a training run."  That bounced me back a bit, and I finished fairly strong. 

I'm sure I lost a ton of time in the first half though, and by then it was just too late.  I caught quite a few runners from mile 8 on, despite the fact the new shoes weren't agreeing with me.  I cruised in down the final stretch pretty fast thinking that I had way too much energy left, and the clock time up ahead did not look very good to me 2:22 and some change.

I grabbed my medal, which was handed to me in a bag and not placed around my neck.  No matter, it was kind of symbolic for me.  Instead of a congratulatory, "Here's your medal, you are a champion" type of vibe that comes with getting a medal around your neck, I got a "Here's your medal, you're not special, you kind of suck today" hand off.  I probably deserved less.

I waited for J, figuring our other guy was already in his truck and long gone from Dearborn (I didn't see him).  Suddenly I was freezing, and, for the first time that day, was glad I had my jacket on.  When he came in, we went straight to the car, got on some dry clothes and went over to Buddy's for some pizza.  I've never been there.  It was decent.  I was much more interested in my Founder's Porter and the Bell's Oberon I had than my four-square.  After that, we popped into some place that was advertising cheesecake.  I'm not a fan of it, but I figured I could get one for the wife and continue to bank bonus points that will come in handy in the later years as I continue to become more and more of a wrinkled curmudgeon.  Unfortunately, the place had only one slice of cheesecake, so that plan was scratched.

We headed back to the car, waited for the hordes of cars in line to get out of the lot to clear while listening to the FA cup game between Milwall (boo) and Wigan, and headed back home.  I knew I was pretty close to having a PU (personal underacheivement), but J kept massaging my ego saying he was sure it took us multiple minutes to get to the starting line (which I didn't believe).  I checked the times later, and saw it officially, a 2:21:28.  Worst half ever.  I stink.  What I avoided in Flushing, came back in Dearborn.

Meanwhile, I'm still feeling some pretty harsh after effects.  My legs are extremely sore, and the bottoms of my feet feel like they've been pounded with a hammer, even two days later.  I partially blame the shoes.  It felt like I would have almost been better off wearing horse shoes out there.  I felt every step after about halfway through.  My left knee also has a nice click to it right now when I bend it.  I'm not sure what's going on there.  I guess this is what I get for naming shoes after a villian and not testing them on a long haul before giving them an official race nod.

Adding insult to injury, my homebrewed beer is not behaving itself.  I'm two weeks into bottling and the carbonation is weak as hell.  This is especially surprising, given the fact I was on the high end for the priming sugar.  Wondering if there's a possibility the basement location is just too cold right now (last batch brewed was down there in June), I've moved the kids upstairs hoping to wake up some yeast and get them attacking that remainder priming sugar.  If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to go through a semi-arduous process to save it.  The flavor's too good to give up on if it doesn't carbonate.  For now, though, I am just going to have faith that the move to a warmer climate will get the job done.
 
I'm hoping this all gets better soon, although my legs have been uncharacteristically sore for a while now.  Again, nobody to blame for that but me, because look what I put them through, and what they're force to lug around out there.  Anybody's legs would be getting burned out from that.  We'll see what happens.  All I can do is keep running, and be thankful I haven't joined the ranks of the injured.

...and as I'm just finishing this up (most of it was written yesterday) and getting home and I'm just seeing what just happened at Boston.  Two people dead and multiples of people seriously injured.  Who attacks runners?  This is bullshit!  Those poor people.  I'm sure we'll all be talking about this in the coming days.  Scary stuff.

Flushing Half-Murderthon

"If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium and you are already dead"-Maximus

That pretty much sums up the Flushing Half-Marathon. For more detail, feel free too keep reading.



Not only did I sucker myself into a Half-Marathon, but I also suckered in J the night before. For the record, I've probably gone out to run a bit more, but neither of us have really pushed anywhere near this distance so far this year. My longest was just over 7 miles (I believe) and his was just over 6.

We arrived about a half hour before start time. Registration was quick and easy, as there were 173 participants in the 13.1, and just a little over 330 in the 5K, and most seemed to be pre-registered. After getting registered, we milled around in the high school until about 10 minutes before the race, and I ditched my windbreaker pants for running shorts. At the time, that may have seemed like a bad idea, because it was still just under 40 degrees, but the sun came out and pushed it close to 50 by the time the race was coming to a close.

The race itself was not chip timed at the start, but we went to the back anyway, given our expectations. We figured most people doing a half at this point, especially a small one, were going to be training and in real shape, and the back was where we belonged. We joked about our impending doom and kept bad-talking the idiot that conned us into this race (me) until they gave us the go.

After a few miles in on the partially bucolic roads of the race (minus one McHouses subdivision jot a mile in) there came just one nagging question, "Where the hell was the water station?" If the marks on the roads were correct, we were closing in on 4 miles in and still no aid in sight. Finally, just into the start of what was to be the big double loop...there it was...water! At that point we both just stopped and downed way too much. We had no idea when the next one would be, if there was one.

The big loop was pretty dicey for running. The roads were still open to traffic, and the majority of the cars had little interest in letting you stay on the road. I kept going from the road to the gravel shoulder and back. To do so, you had to make sure to clear the small rise going from the shoulder back on the pavement. Sure, it sounds easy, but when you're running, tired, and dehydrated, it's pretty easy to catch yourself on the lip of the road and do a nice face plant. So we have dehydration, traffic, and head trauma all out there just waiting to be causes of death. They even mentioned that last year someone was actually hit by a car.

When I found water station #2 on the loop, I had to wonder about the location. It was still close to another 4 miles from the initial, and, with the loop in effect, you only had roughly another mile and a half until you returned to the initial station. The placement was just all sorts of wrong, and could have ruined your day if you came into the thing without being semi-hydrated off the bat. Sure you had 4 opportunities for water, but you're over 4 miles in before the 1st, almost 8 before the second, and then the last two end up at 9 1/2, and 12 1/2 (so pretty much done) which is almost useless, except for the fact you're trying hard to make up lost hydration ground from earlier. I understand it's a small race, and it's a cheap one, but another bucket of water would do wonders. Even a little better placement couldn't hurt.

Flushing Half Map
Blue Diamonds = Water Station

I think that's a big part of what hurt J's race so much. He was hurting for water early, and I was too, but he was really vocal about it and he's just not the type to complain. Even after the water stop, he slowed pretty hard, and by mile 6 I just couldn't stay back and coax him along any more. On a normal day, the water thing would have broke me, but stripping off the extra layer was very fortunate for me and for some reason I was feeling way too good that day. So I started trying to catch a few people in front of me. There were only 2 or 3 until I hit a big open patch. The people I passed faded back a long way and the next person in front of me, based on a count out to a similar point, was almost 50 seconds ahead. This held for almost 6 miles (the reason for my opening "Gladiator" quote). It was just me, and the cars whizzing by me at 60 MPH, and a few random songs going in my head (Nirvana's "Turnaround" is all I can remember now, but they weren't really typical or running related).


I was really trying hard to catch that person in front of me, but every time I'd gain on her, I'd lose a bit and she'd get it back. I really didn't think it was ever going to happen. Mile 11 I caught 3 other people that she had also passed, but there she was still the same distance ahead. Coming into the 12th mile I made up half the ground, but there was still no way it was going to happen, and then the seas parted. She stopped at the water station at 12 1/2, while I grabbed a quick mouth wetter and whizzed by, going on to pass 3 more people that were fading and didn't push the last mile. I tried to catch one more, but he had more juice than me, and he wasn't going to allow me to get him with a few hundred feet to go. Good job, sir!

Medal

I pulled in at a clock timed 2:17:20 (not a PU, but nowhere near a PR). They handed me a BYOR (bring your own ribbon) medal in a plastic baggy at the finish. I was shocked there was a medal at all, so I'm good with that. I can put it on a strand of yarn. All I cared about was getting to the water fountains off to the left. Then after getting about a liter in me, I came back to the finish to cheer on the other people and wait for J. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually it hit the 2:30 mark and I was getting a bit concerned. I walked out to the road a few times to make sure people were coming. They were, but he wasn't in sight. I probably would have headed backwards down the race at this point, but they were already sending out a guy to go pick up cones. I figured if anything happened to him they'd get there first, but it just seemed like it had been too long. Eventually my mind was set at ease when he came in and was still running. He finished about 2:47 and the first words out of his mouth were "I want a smoothie."


After letting him get some water and talk to the organizers a bit, we went straight to a Tropical Smoothie Cafe to fulfill his wish. It was the least I could do after talking him into this race and almost killing him. He wouldn't give any excuses, but I'm telling you that there's no way it turns out that bad for him based on conditioning. I haven't run that much more. This was all dehydration crash, I guarantee it.


As it is, I can't see myself ever doing this race again. The price is nice, but it's just not worth the risk. I realize it's usually cold during this race, but when it's pushing 50 degrees and the sun's out, you need more water stations. You probably should have them when it's cold anyway. Also, a race being open to traffic in a rural area of a suburb where everyone knows the people drive like idiots just isn't a good idea on roads that are not isolated. Along with that, the terrain is pretty good for twisting an ankle and ending your running year. Even with it only being $15 (no shirt option), I'm not going back, and I know J would never even consider it.

If anyone with anything to do with the race is open to suggestions. I have a few. If you wanted to keep the same route and location, you need to put up some signs warning the cars that there are runners at every intersection where they can pull onto the route's roads. A few cars were obviously surprised by me. I was running pretty much alone, and they turned off onto the road oblivious of a race going on. I could see it in their eyes.

If it's me, though, I move this thing out away from this area. If you don't want to shut down roads, move it out to a place that is even more rural. There are roads in Flushing that you can build a Half Marathon on where you won't see a car, and some of them are not dirt roads riddled with holes.

Suggestion #1. Flushing has a pretty decent trail there hanging out behind the Bueche's store. I believe there's about 6 miles back there, and it's wooded and follows a river. This is easily a better fit. Sure you may run into another walker or biker, but you're more likely to survive that than a car.

Almar's flagship hard cider

Suggestion #2. Move this thing out by Almar Orchard and set it up on the roads out there. Have people working the crossings at the major roads and let people know to watch for traffic, but other than that, you're not going to see a lot of cars. You may even get them to throw up some sponsorship, because there are going to be a lot of people buying apples, cider, hard cider (it's the best!), jams & jellies, etc. They even have milk, eggs, and other stuff that some husband or wife would just pick up because it's there. Plus they can make cider slushies when it's warm, hot cider when it's cold, and have some spice doughnuts. I swear, they could make a killing, especially if they got the hayrides going. Just a few racers with some extra cash could easily bare their shelves. I don't know, maybe it's a selfish idea, because I want an excuse to go there and buy more cider, but I think it could be a smash.

Either way, it would be better than running at a school and then leaving. I want people in communities to love runners, not bemoan our existence while almost running us over. There's a run organizer in me somewhere. I've already had a few ideas. Though, I have to admit that my "Case The Neighborhood" 5K is my favorite plan to date.

Detroit Again/Re-Shrinkage/Flushing

With the price jump kicking in on the 25th, I jumped right in on Detroit Marathon #2.  Sure, I don't care for the medal, and I've already ran it once, but also: it's a marathon, it's relatively close, it's somewhat home turf, I'll know what I'm getting into more, and I already know I'm capable (or at least I was last year).  Also, even if I end up unemployed by then and can't pay for anything, I'm sure someone can get me to Detroit, right?  I already have the enhanced license and everything else.  So at this point, it was just the fee to get in.

Now that that's happening I need to make up some ground.  Last March I only put in 68 miles, and so far this month, I'm only at 47.  Part of it is weather, and the rest is a mix of work keeping me later and having to walk the dog, which pushes the dark upon my runs early.  Sorry, but some of the areas I run in are not places you want to run in when it's dark (or daylight for that matter).  Just the uneven sidewalk alone could end your running year, never mind some of the safety of life issues in some of our not-so-pleasant areas of Flint.

I've also said "enough is enough" and I'm dropping weight.  I popped up a bit after the marathon (and while approaching the marathon before that), and I was hoping all the things I dropped out of for Lent would shrink me back.  It didn't.  Apparently I can keep on the path to amorphous blobitude without soda, beer, meat, fast food, or pizza.  Though I did cheat on the meat last Sunday.  I'm sorry, but I'm not showing up to my wife's grandparent's house for dinner with a jar of veggie-approved Ragu sauce to replace her grandpa's homemade meat sauce.  That pushes too far beyond my rudeness capabilities.

Anyway, I've had to create a time cut-off for food at night, and started limiting my lunch.  I know I'm more of a big lunch guy, but that doesn't work when your wife is a dinner person.  Sure, on my own, I could pretty much shut down the eating before dinner, but I'm not going to get away with it, so I've given in to her small lunch, big dinner ways.  It's working.  I have 4 pounds to drop to get back to "Marathon Brent."  Of course this course is set to collide with Easter (though I have only had one cadbury egg to date and not a single delightful reese's egg-shapped delight) and the future availability of 5 gallons of homemade beer.  I don't know, I have two weddings I'm in this year, and pictures are forever, so I'll just have to pretend I care as much about those pictures as I did my own (yeah, I know that plan sounds stupid).

Other than that, I've the Martian Half Marathon coming up here on April 13th.  I have no idea about my readiness.  I haven't gone that distance in a long while.  There's almost no chance of a PR, but plenty of opportunity for a PU (personal underachievement?).  I'm considering signing up for a practice run at the more local Flushing Half-Marathon this weekend.  If I opt out of a shirt, we're only looking at $15, but I don't know if I'll be available that morning.  It would be nice to see where I'm at and see if it spurs me on a bit, but it's only 2 weeks notice of where I'm at before the Martian, anyway.  I'm not sure it would make a difference.  If I'm able, though, I think I'll set the alarm and go.

Detroit Marathon Medal 2013



The Detroit Marathon has officially released its medal for the year, with the featured car being a 2013 Camaro, instead of the usual rotation of classic cars.  If you happen to follow the Detroit Marathon on facebook, it seems to me that this decision is currently not going over too well.  Most of the comments have been overwhelmingly negative.  I think a good number of people, myself included, believe this to be more of a tacky advertisment than anything.  I've also seen a few comments that seem beyond reason, asking if they can defer their entry to next year over this, or are threatening to not bother registering.  

2013 Detroit Marathon Medal



Personally, I think that's taking things a little too far, but what do you guys think?  I'd like to hear some feedback.  It seems like messing with people's medals is about as risky of an endeavor as scorning a woman, poking a bear or a hornets next, or signing the Brian Jonestown Massacre to your record label.

For me it might be a little less motivation or excitement at the finish, but I can't see it pushing me off of doing it completely.  Though if I were on the fence between Detroit and Chicago, like some people in this midwest region may be, I could see it bumping me to Chicago.  I don't know, I'm not sure it would even matter, as we all know the Marathon is going to sell out anyway.  If you have fat people like me running them now, then pretty much everyone is a candidate for signing up.

St. Patrick of Bay City Part 4

Don't worry everyone (me), I didn't bonk on the 5K and come in at 30+, as much as I worried about it.  In the end it wasn't even as close as I thought it was when I finished (clock time was 29:30s).  I ended up sneaking in with a 28:32.  Not tearing it up by any means, but not right on the border of my feared backtracking over the 30 border.

I ran solo this year, due to my buddy's work conflicts, but my lady went with me, even though she had very little interest in being out in the 20 degree weather.  I also dropped out of going to Corktown with my friends instead, and chose to do the race, since it was a 40th anniversary race and it was actually on the holiday.  So I was hoping it would be a pretty big deal.  In the end it was kind of same ol' same ol'.

Now, despite having a good chunk of Irish heritage going on, and being Catholic, I have pretty much had a lifelong dislike of Notre Dame (besides they were founded by the French and don't even know where this whole "Fighting Irish" thing even came from anyway).  I even had a shirt in my college days that said "I'm Irish, I'm Catholic, I still hate Notre Dame" that I wish I hadn't lost somewhere.  Anyway, never being one to pass up the chance at taking the piss out of them a little bit, I made a little modification to my new Manti Te'o shirt.

The shirt was a hit

Of course all I probably accomplished, karma-wise, was to bring his sideshow to the Detroit Lions.  Oh well, They haven't won anything since my mom was 4.  It's not like their ineptitude has any effect on me at this point.  Also, the NFL kind of sucks.  I'm starting to realize most sports do.  I had to turn off MSU/Iowa this weekend just because the overabundance of commercial breaks was KILLING me.  Say what you will about soccer being boring, at least it's not interrupted every 2 minutes of clock time.

Me waving to my lady at the final stretch

After the race, and finally getting a Powerade at the end this year for once, it was time to go get some food.  We attempted to avoid the crowd and went to Grandpa Tony's just a few miles south of downtown.  It was nothing to crow about.  Then we attempted to swing back north around the parade and go to Tri-City Brewing, but it was closed (it's only open Wed-Sat apparently).  So we decided just to find somewhere to get a St. Patty's brew, and settled on the Stein Haus, even though it was completely the wrong nationality (except for some common mild underlying disdain of the English).  All things considered, we should have went here for food too.  It was a pretty awesome environment.  Not a bad beer selection either.  Anywhere that carries Dragonmead is good in my book.

Me with my beer and my dry Tossers shirt.
If you're not familiar with The Tossers, they
are a great Irish-style band from Chicago, perfect for St. Pat's listening.
  I consider them to be today's rightful
heirs to the throne formerly held by The Pogues.

Steins are even on the ceiling...

This year's shirt and 4 Medals (2010-2013)

The best shirts were still 2010 & 2011 (IMO)

Another St. Patty's Day in the books.  A very mild one, but a good one with my lady.

It's been how long....?

Today I realized that I have not run a 5K since 6/20/12.  I didn't believe that was possible until I checked the official record, and yep, it's been that long.  At some point, I must have been so focused on the marathon that I didn't think a 5K was worth my time.

The problem with this is, that's where I probably build up most of my speed (if you can call it that).  Combine that with the lack of races and training these last few months, and I'm in trouble.  On St. Patrick's Day, I'll be running Al Kayner #4 (Bay City), on its 40th anniversary.  The usual 8K has been eliminated for some reason, and there's only the 5K.  Honest truth?  I know nobody else is going to know or care, but, for me it would be a huge personal embarrassment to come in at something over 30 minutes.  It scares me enough that I'm making a late push this week.

New Medal (not the same old one)

Today, I put it all on the line and went as hard as I could for a little over a 5K.  Even then, I'm straddling that 30 minute mark.  That being said, it's gone a lot worse every time before that lately (we're talking 11/12 min/mile).  I ran about 9:44 pace, and could not catch my breath in the driveway for almost a minute (and what felt like an eternity).  Some more of this coming tomorrow.  Let's see if I can do a little better.

So what else has been up with me?

I went to 97.1 Sportsfest, and completely missed out on meeting any of the players/sports personalitiies I wanted to see.  However, I did get my picture taken with Sara Jean Underwood.  That holds a lot more weight in my nerd circles, so, still, great success!  I think some of the sports dudes just weren't keen on a dude in a Boba Fett hoodie and an ABBA shirt...my bad.  Besides, my romance with sports of all kinds is really starting to die.

I did double duty concerts seeing K. Flay one night and In Flames the next.  Not very often do you chase a hip-hop show with a metal show, but it worked for me.

No luck on the job front yet.  I've been getting the resumes out for the things that apply (pretty much anything  chem. lab or environmental/waste management-related).  I even seriously debated applying to a zookeeper job in Battle Creek (1 hr 30 mins away from me), just because that's what my initial degree was in (Zoology).  The pay was a big step back, but the work sounded awesome.  No guarantees I even could have gotten it, anyway, but doing that would pretty much make us have to move, and just the gas for the time-being from here (not to mention the time wasted) would have been murder.

For now, to keep positive and make me not dwell on things, I've given myself a few self-improvement projects to keep my mind off things.  First off, I'm trying to become more computer literate.  Now, I'd say I'm above average, and I'm good with most things, but I've never really delved into the computer language/programming side of things.  I've always kind of thought HTML and coding were way above my head, and some of it is right now, but I figure it can't be that impossible.  So I've been setting aside a little time every week to learn a little more about that.  At the very least, I can help my wife with her photography website, and she won't have to find a techie every time there's a big problem.  So far, it makes sense.

Next, I've decided to go pro in my music geekdom.  In most of my social circles, I'm the guy who knows his music, can name the band, song, whatever.  I'm also usually the one that's turning people on to new stuff they like.  However, when it comes to actual musical notation, structure, etc. I'm completely illiterate.  I used to play guitar a little and could read tabs, but that's not really music.  Even that kind of got abandoned, because,  basically it was kind of my thing to do when I was down, or whatever.  Well, that doesn't happen anymore.  Even when I'm semi-sad, I have a wife that makes things better.  If she's not around, the cat or the dog do something silly, and that cures it.  It's hard to be depressed around here for any considerable length of time.  Anyway, I'm going to try to actually go back and learn it the right way, with scales and all that garbage.  It might be fun eventually.  Even if it's not, it might just be nice to have some technical expertise in the subject when discussing with my sister why I feel I've failed her as a big brother in teaching her about what bands are awesome (I only hope there's still time).

Lastly, I've decided that, if I'm going to keep up with this homebrewing beer thing, I'm going to try to actually learn what I'm doing.  I bought John Palmer's "How to Brew," and did some good reading of that.  My friend is really far into the learning curve, and makes some of the best stuff I've ever had, and he said that book is the quintessential cornerstone of learning to do things right.  The goal was to brew my first non-kit batch, selecting all my ingredients on my own.  I wanted to figure out how to construct something on the border of a pale and an IPA with a lot of Bell's Two-Hearted characteristics, while knowing what my alcohol % was, what ingredients I was using and why, what steps to take and the whys and whens of that, and get some idea how to start constructing my own beers around me, my wife, my running buddy, and my other friends' consumption needs.

Well, Sunday, just before and partially during The Walking Dead, after gathering up my ingredients, I went ahead and started the process of making the wort and getting it into the fermenter.  I went with a mix of pale malt extract and amber dry malt for the body and then hopped it initially with some Northern Brewer (which I just loved the smell of) Hops, finishing with the classic Cascade Hop (17.9 AAU between the two).  It looks and smells (from what's coming off the air lock) like it's exactly what I was going for.  If it turns out (and it should, I put way more into this than the Oktoberfest, which was also awesome).  I'm going to be ecstatic.  If you're good at this and know it won't, don't tell me now, I will cut you.  Honestly, though, I just won't believe you.  I've seen way too many "Is my beer ruined?" threads on Homebrewtalk.com where people did incredibly bad things and everyone says "Nope, it'll be fine."  Apparently you have to try pretty hard to ruin beer.  Who knew?

Fermenting (usually that blanket is over it to keep out the light)

It should be ready just after Easter, when Lent is over, and I can drink alcohol again (also gave up soda, meat, fast food, and pizza...yet haven't lost a pound...which is remarkable...however I will give myself a St. Patty's Day break).  For now it's just nice to be involved in beer culture.  I just kind of love it.  Maybe I was a bootlegger in a past life (maybe that's also why I love Doop & The Inside Outlaws "Everett Belcher" album so much).  Who knows?  I also have a Moylan's Hopsickle ready to go for my Easter basket (yes, I've planned that far ahead), and am looking forward to the day when I can use Untappd  (friend me!) again.  I'll let you know how I do up at the Al Kayner, and where my drinking shoes took me after.