Wild, Wacky Weekend

First off, we had an absolutely crazy storm roll in here late Friday afternoon. Straight-line winds at about 80 mph! We had some pretty sizable tree branches snap off, but that was it. Some others weren't so lucky. 50+ year old trees were uprooted and about 35,000 people are still without power. When the storm hit, they estimated about 135,000 were without power. Here are some pictures from our neighborhood: Like I said, we were very lucky. The older parts of town got hit even harder.

Saturday was Little RazZDoodle's party. Cake, ice cream, and some obnoxious kids. Pretty much your typical kids party. Earlier in the week, our daycare provider/sitter offered to make us a cake. They were finishing the cake when the storm hit. They still managed to finish the cake by using generator power. They said that they didn't want to trouble us by having us go to our grocery store and pick up a generic cake. Are you freakin' kidding me??? It was a great cake and a cool story to tell the little guy later on.

Long run (7 miles) was yesterday. That, in and of itself, was nothing spectacular save for the fact that it was a completely new route. We went down to visit my in-laws and I decided to run on a trail that was about 1/2 mile from their house. Always nice to shake things up a bit for a run, especially a long run!

This week's focus in the marathon training will be nutrition. I'm doing OK with it, but it could be a whole lot better. A double cheeseburger at McD's was probably not my best choice this Friday. Nor was stealing my daughter's fries. Nor were the Milk Duds. Nor the popcorn with butter. Nor WAL-E. You get my drift.

Today was Day 1 of the Hundred Push-Ups Challenge. I thought I'd give it a try. I have 6 weeks to kill.

My next focus is to have a post that is somewhat interesting, introspective, and/or humorous. Whichever comes first.

I have the kids this week, so we're off to the zoo. The perfect babysitter! (insert joke here). With any luck, I may take the 4 year old to the Olympic Swimming Trials later this week.

SSTIFY Friday

Lucky you! It's a 2-fer!

The first one was due to a sarcastic comment I posted over at Half Fast. Vanilla kept prattling on about he ran when supposed to. Karma reared her ugly head on that one, huh?




Have no idea how this one got in my head, but it has "run" in the title! Look at me! I'm being relevant! Actually, this might have to go on the iPod.



Happy running this weekend everyone! Little RazZDoodle's birthday party is this weekend. Maybe I can round up a "face full of cake" picture. And one of the little guy as well (cue rim shot). Hi-oh!

2 Things

1st off, my contribution for Take It and Run Thursday over at Runner's Lounge.  Today's Challenge:  Finish this sentence, "You are a runner....." in 13 words or less.

You are a runner when you make it a part of your life.  

How's THAT for hitting it on the nose?

Secondly, and most importantly, it was 1 year ago today that the youngest RazZDoodle came into our lives.  And, as a proud papa should, I bestow a few pictures from the past year of the Future Husker!

Day 1 - Still tired from the move.

Rockin' the backpack!

Strikingly handsome.  Much like his father.

Happy Birthday, buddy!

Pre-Dawn Running

Remember spring this year? I think it was on a Tuesday. It was beautiful. 55 degree morning, no wind. I think I even managed a pretty decent pace, too. Good times. Good times.

Walked out the door this morning to 1000% humidity and warmish temps. Yep, this had all the markings of a fun one. It wasn't too bad. I kept on pace. If I had attempted this later today (expected high: 93 degrees, 95% humidity), I'd have been a walking puddle. This is one of the reasons I prefer morning runs.

One of the toughest things for me when I started running was building it into my routine. After school didn't work. Too many variables (i.e.-picking up the kids, staying after to help a student, staying after for staff meetings, etc.). I can't run during my lunch break. Again, too many variables and, quite honestly, I don't know how you can go out for an hour, sweat like a maniac, shower, and go back to work. If someone manages that, please let me know how you do it and if you work in a cubicle or a hermetically-sealed office. Therefore, running in the morning was the only viable option.

When I tell people that I run early in the morning, inevitably there are 2 questions that follow:

1. How early?
2. Why?

My answer to question #1 is I wake up pretty early to run. During the school year, 4:30am is not out of the question. Right now, I "sleep in" until about 5am.

The answer to question #2 is a bit more complicated. Usually, I just say, "It's easier for me." and I'll leave it at that. That got me to thinking, though. What are the pros and cons of being a pre-dawn runner. Well, here they are:

PROS:

• You can check it off of your list and you won't have an excuse later.
• You beat the heat. Especially right now.
• No traffic. If I see 2+ cars during a 3-4 mile run, I consider that heavy traffic. Usually, I run in the street versus the sidewalks.
• The sunrise. It's not the main reason I get up to run in the morning, but it's a nice benefit.
• A morning run energizes me for the rest of the day.
  
• I have time to do things after work.
• It's quiet. I have time to clear my head. Not that there's much in there to clear.
• I get to sleep in when it's race day.
  

CONS:

• It's 4 freakin' 30 in the morning.
• It's 4 freakin' 30 in the morning.
• It's 4 freakin' 30 in the morning.
• It's 4 freakin 30 in the morning.

So there you have it. It's not for everybody, but it is for this guy. It's almost my bedtime, so I should go.

Oh What a Night

There are three things that we Omahans covet:

1. Our zoo. You may think that your town has a great zoo, but you're wrong. Unless you live in the Serengeti or San Diego.
2. Warren Buffett. The entire town shuts down when his loyal followers (a.k.a.-Berkshire Hathaway investors) invade for their stockholders meeting.
3. The College World Series. You may have seen a game or two on ESPN this past week.
   

#3 is arguably our crown jewel. It's so coveted that we just agreed to build a new stadium in order to keep the CWS here in Omaha until 2035. That's a whole different post for a different time.

Well, yours truly decided to participate in the festivities last night. A buddy of mine had an extra ticket and I headed off to the CWS. We barely got out of the car and some Georgia fans greeted us with the "opportunity" for upside-down margaritas. It went downhill from there. It was good baseball and a lot of fun was had by all, but I learned one important lesson:

I'm getting too old for this s**t.

It wasn't so much the alcohol as much as it was the late night. I'm getting old, folks. It looks like I should just pack it in and enjoy dinner at 4:30 at the local IHOP and get the DVD box set of Murder She Wrote. Needless to say, I didn't go on my scheduled run. Maybe some yoga later on today.

By the way, I passed by 2, count 'em, 2 Starbucks on the way to taking my daughter to swim lessons. My car leaned toward their parking lot, but I managed to right the ship. God speed.

Farewell Thee Friend

The first long run of the training program went well. An easy 6 miles at the pace I was supposed to AND I got it done before the family woke up. I don't set my alarm clock on the weekend and, since I wake up early anyhow, I go on my long runs when I wake up. I swear that my dog knows when I have to do my long run. He comes in and whines. Does he have to go out? No. Is he hungry? No. Does he know that it's my long run and he wants my side of the bed? Yup.

So, I've made it a goal to eat better during this process. So far, so good, with the exception of a bowl of ice cream, OK, 2 bowls of ice cream. See, I have 2 vices: ice cream and coffee. Most notably, Starbucks coffee.

As I was taking my daughter to swimming lessons today, I stopped off at a Starbucks and grabbed a small coffee. After polishing it off, I found myself jittery, my heart was going 1000 miles a minute, and I was hungry as hell. Not good. As I write this, I've managed to polish off 2 bowls of granola and am considering a third. So, I'm ready to make an announcement:

For the duration of training, I will limit my coffee intake (2-3 cups a day) and not drink Starbucks.

There, I said it. It's out there. Now let's just see if I can follow through. Me and the 'bucks have been through a lot together. They were there for the births of my 2 kids. They started me off on races. They were a post-race treat. They kept me from strangling my students. Now, I must say "farewell"....for now. God help anyone associated with me.

You will be missed

Random Musings

Day 3 of training is done.  Pretty non-eventful run, but it got me to thinking:

• I've mentioned needing to find some intrinsic motivation for this whole marathon training thing.  I think it's to say that I'm a runner.  A lot of blogs, articles, etc. have been written about when you're a runner.  I think, in my mind, it'll be when I finish 26.2.  That, and I want that cool "26.2" bumper sticker like the one on the right.
• As I'm lacing up my shoes this morning, there was a pang of sadness.  At some point, these shoes - my favoritest of all time - will wear out.  It's like looking at your dog knowing that some day......*
• Since I started running, I've yet to throw away any pair of running shoes, much to my wife's dismay.  At what point do we start throwing them out?  Actually, the shoe store that I go to collects old shoes and donates them.  I can't throw out the current batch just yet. 
• No SSTIFY entry this week.  I didn't get anything in my head save for a song about a rectangle, but there's no music video for that.  The sad thing is is that I checked.
• Open shut them.  Open shut them, give a little clap clap clap.  Open the door, here's a rectangle, close the door, it's a rectangle!  
• I've found that, mentally speaking, the first mile in my run is always the worst.  I've yet to find a groove, I'm not really in my body yet, etc.  It isn't until I hear the mile alarm from my Garmin, that I settle in.
• I get to deal with Verizon Wireless today.  It's a long story, but I'm on phone #3 with Verizon.  Actually, I've been a loyal Verizon customer for about 10+ years now.  It's just this particular phone that's giving me fits.  Echo + static.  I've asked them about an exchange for a different phone, same price.  No go.  I've even told them that I'd even be willing to upgrade.  Nope.  So let me get this straight:  you've sold a loyal customer an inferior product and, rather than make them happy - even when that loyal customer is willing to pay more - you'd rather jerk them around.  And I really can't switch because we just re-upped our contract.  I could leave, but I'd have to pay the equivalent of the GDP of Spain to break the contract.  Grrrrr.....
• Thanks to Amy at Runner's Lounge for the blog love.  She interviewed me this week for Open Mic Friday.   Apparently, they're getting desperate.  If you're not familiar with the site, it's a great resource to chat, research, read, kill time, etc.  Thanks Amy!
  
• I have found the mother of all training logs.  I love my Garmin.  I really do, but I'm not to whippy about the Training Center or Motion Based.  When I was reading about the ultra-cool race packet that Leah got in her blog, Runnin' Down a Dream, I stumbled upon this.  It's great for me because it automatically downloaded the Hal Higdon Novice Plan I'm following.  How cool is that?
• Hope everyone has a great weekend!

*pleasant thought at 5am, huh?

I'm Special.

OK, day 2 redux is in the books.  Pretty non-eventful.  I'm really glad the humidity is back.  I was getting bored not wiping off my face every .02 seconds.

I'm reading the latest issue of Runner's World and there's an article about insanely busy people that manage to train for marathons.  "Wow!  They're just like me!  Except for the fact that they're women.  And they train 8 days a week.  And they don't have jobs."*  Wrong.  They're not just like me.  Nobody is like me.  I'm special.  At least, my mom always told me that. 

I'm rambling.

Do you ever get the feeling that RW assumes that you're willing to eat flax seeds and yogurt for 4 months to finish your first marathon?  I don't think I'll be getting that serious. I do have issues, though.  Here are some that I have with this whole marathon thing:

1. Diet.  It's not like I have a punch card to Wendy's, but I do like the occasional burger/fries/frosty combo** and maybe a pint of Ben and Jerry's hither and yond.   I'm not even considering cutting out coffee,  so that's not even up for discussion. 
2. Burnout.  My concern is that I get bored with the routine.  I'd like to throw in speedwork/tempo runs/intervals to replace a short run, but everything I read assumes that I should already know what they are.  I know what 4x800 means, but that's 2 miles in my book.   Do I rest in between? How long?  Am I running all out?  Remember, I'm special.
3. Skipping a few runs.  I'm being honest, I may have to skip a few runs.  Not the long ones, but I see some potential skippage on the schedule.
4. Why am I doing this?   Just to say I've done it?  It hurts.  You ache days after the race.  There's the potential for injury.  I'm trying to find the upside.  I know it's there.  I just have to find it.  I love running, but do I love running?

That's all.  3 straight days of posting.  Nice, huh?  It's like a marathon.  See the parallels?  I'm pacing myself.  I'm special.

*OK, I think they were stay-at-home moms.  Really, though, how tough is it to lock your kids up in the dog's crate and go out for a run?  The kids are safe.  The dog is happy.  I do it all the time.

**Try dipping your fries in your Frosty.  Holy Lord, there's nothing better!  

The Hammer Plan, Day 2

Day 2 didn't happen.  Our daughter woke up in the middle of the night with a sore head.  Not a headache, a sore head.  After she woke up, our youngest (11 months) started groaning.  He wasn't completely awake, but he sounded like an obscure alarm clock.  That was at 3:45am.  I slept in because RazZDoodle needs his beauty sleep.  Contrary to popular belief, I don't wake up looking this sexy.  So......rather than having Friday off, it looks like there'll be runs on Thursday and Friday of this week, skip Saturday and then long run on Sunday.  Yeah, let's go with that.

Gotta Start Somewhere

According the Hal "The Hammer" Higdon's plan, (who shall, from here on out, be called as such) I was to run 3 miles.  The only glitch with that was the fact that my Garmin conked out .25 miles into the run (low battery).  Sooo.....I estimated the time and logged it accordingly.  According to my calculations, I ran it in 20 minutes.  Impressive!

I've set some goals for myself during this whole process:

1. Sign up for the race.  That'd be a good idea, huh?  This sounds like a pretty easy goal, but I usually wait until the last possible minute to register.   I'm waiting till the end of July to see how dedicated I actually am.
2. Be injury-free at the starting line.  OK, at least a major injury.  My IT band is my main concern.  With this many miles, though, I'm hoping that I can be smarter and more patient than previous races.
3.  Finish.  I don't care about my time.  I really don't.  But, if someone held a proverbial gun to my head, any time that hovers around 4 hours would be gravy.
4. Have fun.  Too many times, I don't see the forest for the trees.  Have fun during the whole process.  "Not the victory, but the action.  Not the goal, but the game.  In the deed, the glory."*
5. Run 4 times per week.  No exceptions, no excuses.
6. Don't miss the long run.  If I can't adhere to #5.  You know, just in case.
7. Cross train, cross train, cross train.  That way I won't get bored and it should help me be injury free.

On October 20th, let's see how we do.  

*Pretty deep, huh?  It's inscribed on the southwest corner outside Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  GO BIG RED!

Toothpaste and Cheese....

...are a bad combination. Don't ask how I know. I just know.

Now onto various and sundry items:

• Since I'm done reading a friggin' software manual, I need to move onto my next book. I had finished Promise Me by Harold Coben and, at times it was good, but the ending was L-A-M-E with a capital "LAME". I tried reading Chi Running, but after a few chapters, I think I'd have been better off with some incense and a tambourine.
• Ironically, yoga is going very well for me.
• Father's Day came and went. It started off with a very difficult 5 mile run. Why, I have no idea. The route ends on a continuous uphill climb, but I didn't have problems with it last Sunday. That, and the fact that I had to quit on a treadmill run last week makes me a little concerned. My run was followed up with a very cool gift from my kids (a homemade coffee mug!). After a cup of joe out of the new mug, we then lost power for about 3 hours. Yeah. It went downhill from there.
• Most importantly, I've found my marathon plan. It's something that fits in well with my lifestyle. You know. The lifestyle where I sit around at my house, eat pints of Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream, and watch reruns of Diff'rent Strokes and/or Wings. THAT lifestyle! I'm going with Hal "The Higger" Higdon's Novice program. Take a gander of the road ahead. Get it? Road? Wow. Good looking (see profile pic) and funny! I'm a catch!
  

(click on the picture unless you have some sort of superpower of magnification that you got when you got bit by an irradiated opossum or something.)

• I have a ton of questions about this whole 26.2 mile quest that I think I'll lay out in a future post.

Until then.....

Well....

After 4 intense days.....

and much studying.....

and many dollars......

I'm Apple Certified in Final Cut Pro editing software.  Please contain yourself.

Woulda Coulda

This morning woulda been an ideal day for a run.

Along with all of the other things going on around here (leaky skylight, 9 inches of rain for the week, daughter sick, etc.), I've been fully entrenched in an Apple Certification training session this entire week. 4 intensive, 8 hour days of filling my head with tips, tricks, etc. It's for the editing software that we use at school. I thought I was pretty proficient in it. I have 15+ years in editing and 5 years experience on this particular piece of software.

They covered that in 1 day.

Either I'm a MO-ron or it's pretty intense. I'm going with intense.

To top it off, I'm going to take a test later today to get certified. What that means, I have no idea, but my district wants it, I want it, so I'm putting a fair amount of pressure on myself. The failure rate? 70-80 percent. I've been cramming into the wee hours for 3 days now.

This morning woulda been a great morning for a run.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It was this day 2 years ago, that a thirtysomething year old decided to get his lazy arse up off of the couch and get out on the road. OK, maybe not this day exactly, but I'm too lazy to look up a 2006 calendar and, be honest, do you really care if it's to the day?

From Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program to here, there has been a lot to look back on. The times when I timed myself, not with a stopwatch, but with the song durations on my iPod, the brief period I wore cotton running socks, my first ensuing running injury (blisters on both heels), etc. I'd be remiss if I didn't reflect and you'd be remiss if you didn't read about it.

• Most Intimidating Moment - Initially, I thought it would be my first half marathon this past May. Actually, it was when I had to run 30 minutes straight for the first time. 
  
• Most Rewarding Moment - Finishing my first race. It was supposed to be a 5K in Lincoln, but my wife had to go to the emergency room that morning. I thought about dropping her off, but I got some sort of "you selfish bastard" look. Go figure. After that, my boss - and fellow runner/cross country hall of famer - convinced me to run a 10K instead. Best decision I ever made. I'd link to my race report, but the @#$@!!%#@ at coolrunning.com/active.com erased it.
  
• Best Advice - "Some days you just have bad runs." Given to me on a message board after a really bad morning.
  
• Worst Advice - "You can just run through it if you think you can." Given to me by my first, and only visit to a sports doc.
  
• Gadget I Can't Live Without - My Garmin Forerunner 205. Too damn cool.  It beeps and lights up.
  
• Gadget I Can Live Without - The P.O.S. Nike+ Sportband. 
  
• Biggest Misconception About Running - It's cheap. In theory, running is cheap. In theory, communism is a great idea, too.
  
• Number of Races - 6. 6???? Only 6??
  
• Best Race - tie - Omaha Corporate Cup Run (aforementioned first 10K). Lincoln Half Marathon. Lots of goodies after the race, big crowds, great volunteers, etc.
  
• Worst Race - State Farm 10 mile run.  5 foot wide limestone path, 950 runners, no crowds at all, and all of it for 10 miles.  PLUS, we got a State Farm letter opener for a goody in our bag...and that was the highlight.
  
• Number of States In Which I've Run - 4 - Nebraska (duh), Iowa (Urbandale/Des Moines), Tennessee (Nashville), Pennsylvania (Philly).
• Smartest Thing I've Done - Start blogging.  Seriously.
• Dumbest Thing I've Done - After my first 10K, I stopped running entirely.  No injury.  Just kept putting it off. It took me about 3 months to get back on the road.  
• Best Conditions to Run - 55-60 degrees early in the morning.
• Worst Conditions to Run - any time when there's a lot of humidity.
• Worst Run - I don't remember the day or my time, but it was humid and it felt like I was running in Doc Martens the whole way.  I couldn't breathe, my legs feel like sludge.  Aack.
• Best Run - Today.  Seriously.  I ran a sub 8:00/mile pace for the first time.  I think that that was my running "holy grail", so to speak.  Now, I think my grail is somewhere about 26.2 miles ahead of me.  (wow, that's kinda cheesy).
  

Quite the Morning Run

I had planned my long run for yesterday morning. Woke up around 2:30am that morning and heard rain....and a lot of it. Crap, I thought. My thought was that I was either looking at a long treadmill run or "cross training" in until about 8:30am. Woke up early, padded downstairs and looked outside. Wet ground, but no rain....let's go running.

Being a creature of habit, I turn on the Weather Channel while I get my shoes on. When I turned on the TV, it was on one of the local TV stations. They had their anchor yapping away, so I thought they were doing a cut-in for their 7am newscast (i.e. - "Coming up on First Morning News at 7, Israeli/Iranian talks break down and we test the best can opener."). When they went to a local reporter and the graphic said, "Tornado Hits Millard", I realized that this was pretty serious. Millard is an annexed town about 3 miles south of my house. I kept watching and realized that the tornado went right through our old neighborhood. Yikes. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured or killed. The tornado hit at around 2:30am and no one even got hurt? Talk about lucky.

I pulled myself away from the TV and went out on my run. As I get to my trail, I hear the normally dormant creek raging. It wasn't running out of its banks, but the damn thing had whitecaps and I could hear the rush of water throughout the whole run. It was pretty eerie.

Also eerie was the fact that it was really, really quiet. Usually, there are a few cyclists, runners, and motorists, but this morning not a soul. On my way back from my out-and-back route, I actually ran into a high school classmate of mine. Haven't seen him since I graduated, so it was good to catch up in that "Kids? Married? Job? recap" sort of catching up.

Got home and my wife told me that we're getting a weather radio. Neither of us heard the tornado sirens at 2:30am. She got no argument from me. Scary stuff here this weekend, but thankfully everyone is OK. Just a lot of cleaning up to do.

SSTIFY Friday

In American cinema, one cannot overlook the importance of music in any cinematic masterpiece. All of the great filmmakers knew how to use music to their advantage.

What would Psycho be if Hitchcock didn't use the piercing violins during the classic "Shower Scene"?

Imagine Coppola's The Godfather without the slow, methodical music throughout the movie.

Or what about Spielberg's use of the now-famous triumphant score in the Indiana Jones series?

And we musn't forget Kenny Loggins. His list of credits goes on and on: Caddyshack, Footloose, Top Gun, and every other movie produced in the '80's.

This week's STIFFY is no exception. Without this song, the accompanying movie would not have been the same. I give to you.....nay.....I bestow upon you the following clip from a cinematic masterpiece:

To quote the quintessential musician....nay thespian....nay both....Jerry Reed.

Keep your foot hard on the peddle...son, never mind them brakes

let it all hang out cause we've got a run to make*

The boys are thirsty in Atlanta,and there's beer in Texarcana

and we'll bring it back no matter what it takes.

No truer words have ever been sung.

*that should be my running mantra

**sidenote - I dare any guy to not watch at least a half hour of this movie if you find it on cable. There are about 3 movies that every guy has that I call "remote chuckers". It's the type of movie where, no matter how busy your schedule is, you'll chuck the remote and watch the entire thing. My 3? Here they are:

• The Godfather
• Tommy Boy
• Smokey and the Bandit (replacing Office Space)

Have a great weekend!

Gassin' Up the Wayyyy Back Machine

It's Runners Lounge's 1st birthday!  Woo hoo!  Later on, there'll be cake and ice cream and little RL will stuff it into his/her mouth and we'll have to hose him/her off later.  

In honor of their first 365 days, we are supposed to contribute our best post.  Mine was entitled, The 5 Stages of Treadmill Running, posted on Feb. 19th, 2008.  Hope you enjoy it:

Back on the 'mill again today. I'm in the latter stages of this cold, so I didn't want to push it by going outside. I feel sort of remiss because I really haven't reflected much on my running, or anything else for that matter. I'll be honest, I really didn't know when I would feel like posting.

Fortunately, that all changed.

As I hopped on, I told myself 5 miles. Then, it was 4 miles...5 miles if I'm "feelin it". This got me to thinking about the stages that I go through when I'm on the treadmill. They're eerily similar to the 5 stages of grief.
Denial - "Treadmill runs aren't so bad. I don't have to worry about weather, getting smacked by a Buick. If I want to go up a hill, I can go up a hill. If I want to run a 9:15/mile pace, I can just set the timer. No guesswork. It's actually pretty nice."
Anger - "Jesus, I've only been running for 2 miles???!!! I think this @#$%@#@ timer is broken!"
Bargaining - "OK, maybe if I just run 4 miles, I can sneak in 2 miles tomorrow (normally an off day) and call it even. I mean, I'm recovering from (cue echo) the most ferocious cold known to mankind.
Depression - "This sucks. My legs hurt. My back hurts. I look like an idiot running in place. My iPod shuffle is not shuffling the way it should be. I'm never going to make 13.1 miles at this point. I don't have anything to write about in my blog. Ugh."
Acceptance - "Well, hell. You've gotten this far. You only have .5 miles left. You've pretty much done it. Just read the closed captioning on Oprah and get it over with."
Actually, a nice story to go along while in the "acceptance" phase: In the weight room today, the football team had strength testing. There was a little guy, 16 years old, at most. He was squatting while having 2 of this year's captains spot for him. When he finished, one of the captains gave him a high five and told him to look at the records on the wall. After he saw that he broke a record, his face lit up and then the entire team applauded him. How cool is that? That got me through the last .5 miles in no time!

Marathon Presser

cue "Breaking News" music and graphic

Charlie Gibson: Good afternoon. We regret interrupting our regularly scheduled programming, but we have an important announcement coming in from the RazZDoodle camp. For about a year now, RazZDoodle has been back and forth on running a marathon and unnamed sources have told ABC News that he's holding a press conference in just a few minutes to make his announcement. I assure you that after this, you'll be returned to All My Children where you can watch the same f***ing story line that's been going on for decades. If you're that troubled and you can't follow it by missing one day, you're a goddamn moron."*

RazZDoodle: I want to thank you all for coming today. For the past few years, I've been on the fence about running a marathon. I told many of you here today that I'd make my decision after the Lincoln Half Marathon. I think I'm ready to make my announcement. I'm going to be training for the IMT Des Moines Marathon on October 19th, 2008.

Reporter 1: So, you're going to be running a marathon.

RazZDoodle: That's what I just said, yes. Where did you go to J-School? Colorado?

Reporter 2: That's 26.2 miles.

RazZDoodle: That is correct.

Reporter 3: Are you ready for that type of commitment?

RazZDoodle: I'm not quite sure. There could be some stumbling blocks along the way.

Reporter 1: So there will be stumbling blocks?

RazZDoodle: Yes. I'll be gone for a week in late-July where running may not be an option....at least not without a potential hangover. There's also injury, fatigue, time commitment, giving up my diet of coffee and ice cream, etc.

Reporter 2: Describe your training program.

RazZDoodle: I, uh, haven't gotten that far yet. When I settle on one, there'll be a press release.

Charles Gibson: So there you have it. RazZDoodle is making the commitment. When we have more information, we'll break into your programming. Maybe during One Life to Live. Good night and good luck. Hah! Take that Murrow!"

*wouldn't it be awesome if he said that?

Odds and Ends

Let's do this post old style:

• My meeting with my principal went better than I expected. We talked about how we can grow my program and we did a lot of brainstorming. She's not one of those "all talk and no action" kind of administrators, so I'm hopeful.
• Went to Des Moines this past weekend to see my folks. We all had a lot of fun. I opened up the DM Register on Sunday and read about the Dam to Dam race. It looks like a fun event and it's something I'll definitely be doing next year providing that it's at the same time (a.k.a. - after school gets out). Congrats to everyone who ran. I'm jealous!
• Went out on a run of my own on Sunday. Just me and the Garmin. I've never gone on a run before without checking it out on GMaps-Pedometer first. My parents are new to Des Moines, so I hadn't run on any trails yet. Very nice to just go out, run, and check the Garmin to see when I should turn back and that included a dead end to a trail. 4.6 miles.
• I've been having trouble breathing for the past few years and my doctors have determined that it's stress related. My doctor suggested yoga. I've been off and on doing it and I enjoy it. I'm including that in the "cross training" column. I did a sun salute...whatever that is. All I know is that my legs are killing me today. A sneaky workout to say the least.
• Skipped my run today. There were storms in the area and I was up late last night finishing up editing a wedding video. *shameless promotion- if anyone in the midwest area is looking for a videographer for your next event, click here. I'm not happy about missing the run. I might just throw in some more yoga later on today and hit the road tomorrow morning. No excuses.
• Summer goals:
• Average no less than 15 miles per week.
• Yoga 3 times per week.
• Read at least 5 books (one running book).*
• Find a marathon training plan by next Monday (more on that at a later date).
• Chill baby baby, chill baby baby wait!
• Bust a move.
  

That's about all for now. Nothing real exciting. All I know is that I have a lot of race reports to catch up on. I'm getting behind in my reading.

*if anyone has book suggestions, feel free to email me.