1332 Main

Nothing to note. Just my boss's office at 1332 Main Street in Over-the-Rhine. It's a cool little place to hang out and drink beers when time permits. I was there Wednesday to finish up a crazy book project. Finished in enough time to go out and visit my nieces before heading home to Columbus. Rolled in around 11:30. I was beat.

Monopolized

Christmas is near. I could've taken the opportunity of a free weekend and gotten all of my shopping done... but I didn't. We, instead, played more games of Monopoly in a three-day span than I think I've played my entire life combined. Did you know they had Monopoly tournaments? Most games went quickly... usually me dominating the upper echelon markets and commanding top dollar because of hotels and other assorted property ventures. But we're now in the throes of a long, drawn out struggle that saw one player nearly bankrupt and another with nothing to build on. After some risky deals, the two foes seem evenly matched. We'll see how it all unfolds... tonight... after dinner. DaDaDa-Dummmmm.

Say, who's this Tiger Woods guy they keep talking about? I've avoided the stories, pictures and voicemails for about as long as I could. Seems like everyone and their mother is offering this guy advice and telling him what he should and shouldn't do and how terrible a person he is. Well, I saw that dude hit a shot out of a bunker that went 200-some odd yards and ended up 5' from the pin... when it mattered. To me, he's a golfer. I read this article on the Dispatch today. I also started to spiral out on the topic and read this article on a gossip site. I've never bought aftershave because I saw Tiger slathered in it. I've never and probably will never buy a Buick regardless of how well Tiger handles the power steering during a commercial. What and who is Accenture? I play Titleist golf balls when I can steal them out of my dad's bag... and when I can't, it's whatever I pulled out of the pond back on #7 because it's just going right back in the pond on #13. At the end of the day, is the PGA going to bar him from their tournaments because he cheated on his wife? No. Sorry Rick, but Tiger doesn't owe me an apology and he sure as hell doesn't owe you an apology. Of course he owes his wife an apology (and his kids once they're able to understand the brevity of it all) but she came after him with a golf club. I'm thinking that woman might be able to handle her own without you and every other PR/marriage counselor chiming in. And if she can't, it's not anyone's business to tell her so.

Believe me, no one's condoning what's been done but my guess is that the guy feels pretty horrendous. It may have even knocked him down a notch or two. Chances are, things will be different and it won't be because 100% of us have passed some other-worldly judgment down on him... it's going to be because of how he feels right now, in his own home, with those that he cares most about. Maybe they'll split, maybe they won't. I don't really care because again, it's none of my business. All I know is that he'll continue to impress me with crazy good golf shots on the course because ultimately he's the best golfer in the world.

And to the kids out there that looked up to him... maybe this is a good opportunity for your parents to teach you the reality and vulnerability of human beings. We are flawed. We make mistakes... even the ones that get paid more in an hour than most of us will make in a lifetime. Then they can teach you about forgiveness.  He's not the first role model to do a public face-plant and he won't be the last, so why do we keep step to the same song and dance?

First Snow

I wimped out this morning. It wasn't the cold that sent me to the dreadmill in the basement, it was the wind. Well, the wind combined with the cold. What a storm this was. Hello winter. I do hope this increases my chances of skiing over the holidays ten-fold.

My niece was baptized over the weekend in Minster so I was able to get to back to Piqua for their Holly Jolly 5K on Saturday morning. I was wrastlin' a decent head cold, but still came away with an 18:56... a PR by about 21 seconds. I got a glass ornament for my efforts. The key is to run these local 5K's in the fall when all the high school and college cross country runners are in season. Come December, they're running sub-16's and making you wish you stayed in bed. But it was fun and I got to talk to some people I haven't seen in a while.

Because of the baptism, I had to skip the trip over to Pittsburgh for the UC/Pitt game. If you want to know what I missed, read here and here. Not here. But hey, family comes first, unless they're incarcerated. The worst part was that my cold prevented me spoiling my two nieces. I've already got dibs on Kendall come Christmas time. Lauren, unfortunately, can walk and doesn't trust me farther than she can throw me. Being continually passed up for the likes of my sister starts to hurt over time.

Come and Get It

In a small town south of Columbus lives a gentleman who's ready to offer you the world. In order to protect identities, we'll just call him Carl. At first glance, it would appear that life may have passed this old boy on by. But do yourself a favor and take a closer look. Opportunity rarely makes it up the walk before he's got the door open, a steaming cup of coffee in waiting and a lifetime of ideas to share. You could say that Carl likes to take the bull by the horns. Any other man would've stopped at satellite television. Few would venture into the realm of the dial-up internet service. Only Carl could combine those two mind-benders with rental trucks... and you might as well throw carpentry in there because wooden benches don't make themselves.

No Boston?

Some suck-ass news on the running front... no Boston in 2010. Sadly enough, the event reached its maximum number of registrations at the beginning of November. To be honest, I couldn't have gone anyways. It was either Boston or a wedding in Jamaica for a good friend of mine and that would be tough to say, "Hey, listen. I can afford to go to one or the other... and... well... I'm choosing something selfish. Have a great time." But honestly, destination weddings look good on paper but suck when it comes down to logistics. Turns out I'm glad we didn't go through with ours. Music Hall ended up being the bee's knees. It just sucks when you have to choose.

So here's to 2011, right!?! That could depend on a number of things. First, 2009 was the first year EVER that Boston sold out and it did so at the end of January. Registration usually closes at the end of March. This year, registration got capped in November which is an obvious result of it being capped early for 2009. But November!?! At this rate, it's going to be a frenzied registration war if they don't do something about it. Which leads me to believe that they will do something about it. Could be a number of things, but one idea folks were tossing around would be to eliminate the "mercy minute". The mercy minute is the :59 added to BQ times (ie: 3:10:59, 3:40:59). It would save thousands of spots and make it much less confusing, but then my 3:10:02 wouldn't count. I'd need to shave 0:00:02 off my PR to qualify. There's also talk of eliminating the opportunity to use one BQ to enter two consecutive marathons. After a certain date (somewhere in September) your BQ counts for the next year as well as the year after that (ie: my time in Columbus could've gotten me into Boston '10 as well as Boston '11). Seems like one BQ should get you one marathon and that's it. But again, I get the short end of the stick because I'd have to qualify again.

Now, I know that a lot can happen in the course of a year, but I plan to continue running for a long time and my hope is that a 3:10:02 is not my PR by a long shot, but you just never know from race to race. Some days you've got it, others you don't and there ain't a damn thing you can do when mother nature rears her ugly head. It would've been easy to get pretty pissed if I would've opted out of Columbus in order to have a better race in Indy only to be greeted by a 20mph headwind at the turn. It makes it pretty tough to train for 3-4 months in some cases and encounter a humid, 88º day in October... in Chicago. It's impossible to plan for something like that. So if they change the rules, which I'm sure they will, I'll just have to get faster. So, Boston in 2011? I'll see what I can do.

Turkey Day '09

Thanksgiving has once again come and gone. Bring on Christmas, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

What's happened to that holiday spirit? What's happened to the appreciation of everyone gathering around you? Thanksgiving was great but it was pretty low key. Ran in the Flying Feather 4-Miler on Thanksgiving morning. It was a fun race and probably one of the best schwag bags I've ever come across... l/s tech shirt, gloves, stocking cap and a bottle of wine. It was worth every cent of the registration fee. And there were a ton of people. Nearly 2700 finished. On a side note, I know I should've gone faster, but my legs felt stiff and I settled for a 25:40. I did, however, get 3rd in my age group, but I don't think they hand out the big checks for that.

The Tyler side celebrated Thanksgiving in Dublin this year so there were no trips to Piqua planned as it would've made zero sense to fight traffic Wednesday night just to turn around and head home Thursday morning. I was in charge of the mashed potatoes. Erica was in charge of the cranberry sauce and whip cream. My first mistake was underestimating how long it would take to peel enough potatoes for 20 people. So that led to my second mistake, which was trying to stuff peelings from 22 potatoes down the disposal at once. After that, the mistakes just kind of spiraled out of control but we did make it to the party at 2pm with some pretty fluffy potatoes. The only problem was that a clogged drain waited for me at home. We headed out around 9pm (lame that we were the last ones to go) and found the drain as we'd left it. Erica had the idea of using a plunger and I immediately got to work making a complete mess... but IT WORKED! I was able to suck enough peelings into the side sink that the water drained and the disposal worked like new again. So, after many a lesson learned, it was off to bed knowing we had a long drive to Cincinnati the next morning.

Cincinnati was pretty uneventful. Stayed up Friday night playing euchre. Ran out at Miami Whitewater Saturday morning, Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night followed by more euchre. We did hop on over to Western Bowl – Home of the Hoinke Classic, for a few friendly bowling matches with Erica's friend, Brandi, and her boyfriend, Doug. In the five years I've been with Erica, we've never gone bowling despite my pleas and that finally changed Saturday night. It was a great time even though we all did pretty terrible and I now have sore muscles in places I didn't know muscle existed. Got a little work done Sunday and it was back up 71 to Columbus.

To be honest, I've yet to recover from two pretty lousy nights of sleep in Cincinnati. That may be the reason for the foul mood. It might be the lack of a Turkey Bowl appearance that's got me down, but dammit I need to snap out of it and start rockin' out this Christmas spirit. There's so much to look forward to in the coming weeks... like leftover turkey.

James Nicodemus Gustof Tyler III

With all these choices on the brand new blog editor, I'm a little more than confused. The last post didn't format very well, so I'm hoping this stab at things is a bit smoother.

I went home Saturday to help my dad put together a shed. I learned three things: 1) I'm lousy at being a carpenter. 2) I'll never trust measurements and angles on pre-fab anything. 3) The new section of the bike path that heads south to Troy is hot-diggity.

Concerning the first, I don't know how this has passed me up. Well I do, but it bothers me slightly. Craft was one of the biggest things they beat into our heads in school. Be precise. Make sure your shit looks good. I just think I get myself in a hurry. Eager to keep up. My dad is well versed in the arts of fixing, building, handy-manning... and I am, well... not. So I guess I was trying to keep up and do my part, but as they say, haste makes waste.

Concerning the second, that's common sense. Thanks doctor.

Onto the third... it really is a nice piece of path they laid down there next to the river. I intended to finally take pictures of the path on this trip home. I even remembered to pack the mini digi, but upon leaving the house and making it down the hill, I once again found myself empty-handed. Geez J. This was only my second run post-Monumental and an hour would've been all I'd have in me. I underestimated the distance from 1913 Beckert to the end of the trail at Peterson Road by about four miles, so 10+ miles later, I was back home and pretty beat. Oh, but it was worth it. I even saw a year-old buck along the trail. So that piece combined with the northern half could comprise a pretty decent long run in the future.

We worked well past dark Saturday night and so the dogs were out keeping us company. This is my sister's dog, Jimmy. Just Jimmy. I added the flourish just because he looks so astute under the spotlight.

Monumental Marathon Race Report

The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. 2009 was only the second year of this race's existence, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had a general idea of the area and really thought it would be a great race. Originally, this was my goal race of the fall marathon season and even after Columbus, I still thought I had a good race in me. In the 20 days leading up to the race, I tried to stay sharp with some speed workouts, but not overdo it on the distance so that my legs might recover faster from Columbus. I'm a novice when it comes to marathoning, so with two of them in three weeks, I was wandering into a realm I wasn't at all familiar with. After racing the Mini and subsequently flubbing Sunburst, I took a good month off of any long distances before my legs felt fresh again. I figured I'd put in some good miles and while I "raced" Columbus, I still left some in the tank hoping for an even better time in Indy.

So Friday afternoon we took to the road for a three hour trip west. I would've liked to have gotten there in time for the expo but that just wasn't going to happen. So we rolled in around 8pm, got unpacked and immediately hit the streets looking for food. Downtown Indy, in case you've never been, is hopping. No joke. All the time. Hopping. We tried to get into P.F. Chang's only to be told that we could have a reservation for 10pm. Whaa!?! So we finally landed at Rock Bottom Brewery. Ugh. It wasn't too bad, but not great and we didn't really eat until 9:30pm which was later that was I had planned. Saturday races are great because you have the rest of the weekend to enjoy, but they suck if you're traveling to said race. So I got to bed and slept reasonably well. I had to wake up early to pick up the packet I wasn't able to nab the night before, so the alarm went off at 5:00 and I was ready to go in no time. I've got a pretty good system for race mornings and ended up having a lot of time just to relax. We stayed at the Sheraton downtown which was very close to the start line. The weather was mild for the first of November, but I hung around the lobby for as long as I could and finally made my way for the start around 7:15am. There wasn't a ton of runners so I was able to move around the corral pretty easily and ended up chilling on the curb for about 15 minutes. But 8am had arrived and it was time to go.

The gun went off and so did we. From the start I found it difficult to get comfortable. The first miles were easy, but again, not very comfortable. The plan was to take 7:05's through the half and see what I felt like. The first half of the course took a mostly northern route up to Broad Ripple before turning south for the finish. The temps were mild, yes, but the wind was anything but. My guess is that they were 15-20 mph from the SSW at the start and only got worse as the day wore on. The wind was at our back for the majority of the first half. In retrospect, I would've rather had it the other way around.

I can't say I paid much attention to the course. I was just focusing from the 10K mark on. I knew it was going to be a long day. I waited for my legs to show up but they never did. But for the most part, it was a great course. Great neighborhoods to run through... tree-lined streets, parks, rolling hills. The time of year may cause problems with registration, but the course will definitely be a draw for return runners, myself included. The traffic was an issue but the cops kept the angry motorists at bay. I got cheers and jeers from some in their cars. From the looks of it, they could've done a better job of letting the city know what was going on that morning... but from the way I understand it, people rarely listen.

I hit the 10K mark at 43:48 (7:02/mi). Unlike Columbus, I didn't have a pacing group on the horizon to keep me in check. As a matter of fact, some little guy came zooming past me in the first couple miles with a 3:10:00 pacing bib on his back and no one else around him... probably because he was more on pace for a sub-3 rather than a 3:10:00. I made the turn up into Broad Ripple and started to look for my friend Nick. It wasn't too long before I saw him and I gave him a high five, he wished me well and it was onto another group of friends that said they'd be by the halfway mark. I soon saw the Elliotts on the left hand side of College Avenue and dropped a head band and arm warmers with them. I'm beginning to be spoiled by my on-course bag drops. It was before this that I made the decision to take the rest of this race and gauge it by effort. I knew there would be no PR and nothing remotely close to a BQ. I was content with that and just rode it out. Seriously, my legs were trashed at the halfway mark which was scary. I hit 13.1mi at 1:33:05 (7:06/mi). By that time, I was probably running 7:30's and now it was time to turn into the wind.

The rest was pretty grueling but fun it it's own weird way. Unlike the three previous, I wasn't as focused on the task at hand. I knew I'd finish without walking so it became just a regular long, slow run. I shuffled along talking to fellow runners, spectators, cops, whoever. The wind sucked bad, but every step got me closer to home, so I just kept at it. Somehow I passed a lot of folks. People were cramping up badly even before Mile 20. My legs were going, but they never seized up completely. The final tally was a 3:22:18. So after running a 1:35:00/1:35:02, I ran a 1:33:05/1:49:13 three weeks later. I was more than a little naive to think I'd bounce back that quickly or think that I hadn't beat myself up pretty good in Columbus. My times would say otherwise. But it was fun. No doubt about it. And a great course. One that I hope to do well in next year or maybe even the year after. I gave myself a quarter of a point because I never stopped running and after feeling the way I felt from Miles 11 on I'll at least take it as a moral victory.

So I'm taking a week off and enjoying the rest. Probably going to take part in the Turkey Trot here in Columbus... not sure to what capacity, but at least for a jog. It's been a good year and I'm ready for 2010.

Some Light Reading?

I bought eleven items at Kroger the other day. The subsequent receipt was 24.5" long. When did this trend start? There was even a credit card application on the bottom of it.

Absurd.

In the scheme of one shopper, no, it's not that much. Big deal, right? But there's thousands upon thousands of shoppers that go through not only that store, but each of their stores in the span of a day. It just seems like such a waste. Not only the paper, but the energy needed to create the paper, ship the paper, the ink on the paper, the energy required to print on the paper, roll the paper out and then cut the paper. When considered on the scale at which they print receipts, it's slightly mind-numbing.

Wouldn't it be something if everyone took those receipts, clip the 10% that's important and at the end of each month, return all the unnecessarily printed paper to their respective store's manager?

2009 Columbus Marathon RR

I'll try and knock out a RR here, but I've never been very good at these, so bear with me (believe it or not, my mind tends to wander).

2009 Columbus Marathon:
This would be my 3rd attempt at the marathon distance with my 1st attempt coming exactly one year prior at the 2008 Columbus Marathon and the other coming at Sunburst in South Bend, IN. I would consider each of those preparation for what happened this past Sunday. In the prior two, I had not fully "conquered" the distance... at least that's how I felt. My training over the summer and this fall reflected my desire to truly run a marathon. The miles per week were much higher this year compared to last year. I put in several more runs of 18 miles and longer. I wanted to take "the wall" out of the equation.

Due to scheduling and travel, the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon was my intended goal race with Columbus playing the part of last long run... but as stated in the last post, things felt good... everything felt right. But there was no taper and I already had over 40 miles logged by Wednesday of last week. Was it smart to test myself now? Well, it ended up being easier said than done. Not sure if that's a good quality to have.

The weekend started with a night of cleaning Friday night. Woke up Saturday, ran around a little bit more, watched those Buckeyes show their true colors and then headed home to meet my sister and Dan as they made their arrival. We all got ready, headed downtown to pick up our packets, check out the expo and have some dinner at Martini. There were eight of us eating pasta preparing for the run in the morning. Myself, Erica, my sister, Meghann, Dan, my sister's friend, Jay, another friend, Marie, Marie's sister, Susan and Marie's friend, Brenda (I think). We got out of there at a reasonable time, made it home, prepared tomorrow morning's outfit and hit the hay.

I slept decently enough and the alarm went off at 4:45am. I was up and getting ready in no time. The coffee was done brewing by the time I got downstairs and took it slow getting ready. Was nice and prepared by the time the cab showed up at 6:30am. It was cold outside, no doubt, but all we had on was what we were wearing for the race. I went with Nike DriFit shorts, Nike DriFit sleeveless top, arm warmers, white cap, black headband, work gloves and the adiZero's I've come to love (they've seen me through an amazing 2009 and I refuse to turn them into a football field when their racing days are done). I had a long-sleeved throwaway shirt that I ditched at the start, but I felt very comfortable for the entire race. It ended up being perfect weather once again. The wind was a bit chilly at the start, but I can't get picky.

I lined up near the start... in between the 3:10 and 3:20 pace groups. I was going to go with what felt comfortable and I wasn't going to feel compelled to stick with anyone. I wanted to run my own race and based on how I was approaching this thing, I knew I had to stick with the plan or I'd screw up Columbus and Indy. So the gun went off and so did we. The first miles were easy, breezy. Just punching along at 7:15's. I let the 3:10 balloons open a lead and kept them on a horizon. There weren't many folks to talk to, so I just kind of took it in. Noticed a lot of things I hadn't noticed last year. I got to high-five the governor which was cool. Took in the crowd more. As the 3:10 group is pretty large, I was kind of in no-man's land with the stragglers, but it was fun. I ran alongside a woman for a long time and she was having a great time. She really got the crowd into it and talked up everyone around her. The first 10K went by in 45:18 (7:17/mi).

Heading into the halfway mark was about the same... pretty uneventful and still gauging how my body felt. I was well aware that I had run 13.1 miles, but still felt like I had a lot left in my legs. I crossed the 13.1 mile mark at 1:35:00. I was sticking with the plan and was glad I did. Up ahead, I saw the balloons and knew I'd have to let them go soon.

Miles 13.1 through 17 take you through campus (sucked again this year) and down to the Olentangy by the Horseshoe and then begins the climb up to the 20 mile mark... the course's highest elevation. It's really not much of a climb at 130-some feet, but it does come at a precarious part of the race. Last year, I tried to stick with the pace group and wore myself out. This year, it was all about even effort. It meant that my pace would slow, but I'd be prepared to bring the last 10K in strong. It was here that I was going to decide what to do about the rest of the race. If I felt good by the time I got to Hoffmann's (Mile 19.5) I'd take that momentum into the last part of the race and if I didn't feel it, then I was walking/jogging the rest of the way. When I turned left onto Berkshire I still felt good, so I ditched the gloves and headband with a toss into Hoffmann's yard (it floated on me and Brad ended up catching that nasty mess - sorry Hoffmann!). Those miles did end up being the slowest at 7:20/mi.

I couldn't see the 3:10 group by this point, but that didn't bother me. It was always part of the plan. So I picked it up a bit and just focused on the task at hand. Grandview came and went, then onto the steep downhill on 1st Avenue and the 23 mile marker. Just a 5K to go. Turned right on 5th Avenue and headed uphill to Neil. The BQ was well within sight and with a mile and a half to go, I wasn't about to let up. Took a gulp of water at Mile 25 and turned left onto Buttles which again rises slightly on it's way up to Front Street. Took the turn around Goodale Park with tons of crowd support. It was all fairly drowned out at this point. I wanted to make sure my legs didn't let up. As I approached Nationwide, I saw Erica on the right and got pretty pumped up. Another 100 feet and there was my mom... another high-five. Turned onto Nationwide and pretty much coasted to the finish as I knew I had a BQ time... 3:10:02.

I took it in for a moment and kept moving. I felt so much better than what I had last year and 10x better than what I had felt at the end of Sunburst. I met up with my dad and then Erica who gave me a huge hug. We met the rest of the group and got out of there pretty quickly and back to the house. My mom had brought over her famous chicken and noodles for some deserving runners. We enjoyed a pretty lazy afternoon with each other before they took off later than evening. We got to bed pretty early and I was out like a light. What a day.

So congratulations to Meghann, Dan and Erica who all ran great races. And it was just nice to hang out. I'm pretty pumped about the BQ and am looking forward to Boston 2010. I'm also looking forward to the Monumental on the 7th of November. Like I said, I feel good and am ready to get some miles in and possibly lower that 3:10. We'll see how everything goes in the next week, but I'd still like to consider Indy my goal race for the fall. Thanks to my parents for making it to Columbus and once again acting as our bag drop. Thanks to Hoffmann for buying a house at the 19.5 mile mark and being out to support everyone. Can't wait for next year.

Rave Run #2

I'll take part in my 2nd Columbus Marathon in as many years. I still have no idea how I'm going to approach this thing. Up until last week, this was going to be my last long run (run 22, walk/jog the rest) before the Monumental in Indy on the 7th of November (my brother's birthday!). But alas, the competitive bug may have gotten the best of me. Bottom line is that aside from some inflammation in my IT Band (should be taken care of by Sunday), my legs feel really good and strong. I feel like I'm in 3:04-3:05 shape, so what's wrong with carrying 7:15's through 20? Oh, I should know better by now, but I've got a thick head and am inclined to being stubborn. But the jury is still out and common sense may prevail in the end.

However, whilst in the middle of indecision, I was thinking about a run this past winter. It ended up being a contributing factor to me bringing the mini digi on a couple of my longer runs as I trained for the Indy Mini. I started out as I usually do on Friday mornings... early. It was a cold morning with snow on the ground. The intended route was Griggs Reservoir. It's a favorite of mine for the mid-length long runs as well as a great place for sledding in the winter. As I entered the park and turned right along the paved road, a beige Honda came quietly from behind and passed me as it continued on around a slight turn and out of sight. As I made my way around, I saw the Honda pulled over to the side of the road with the trunk open and its driver leaning an old wooden rail sled against a nearby tree. He quickly made his way back to the car, closed the trunk, jumped inside and eased the car to a stop in the open lot. I passed by but was curious about what would happen next. The man I'd seen leaning the sled against the tree had to be near 60, if not older. He wasn't going to seriously sled down that hill, was he? The road takes a sharp left and then a sharp right under Fishinger Road. I stopped under the bridge to look back. He had gotten out of the car, grabbed the sled and was making his way to the top of the embankment.

I decided to let him have his fun and I went on to the end of the park road before turning around to make my way back home. When I came back under the bridge at Fishinger, the car was gone, but the sled stood against the tree. But how freaking cool was that? Some old guy taking the sled out for one last run before passing it down the line. I feel like you only do that when you, yourself have gotten so much enjoyment out of something that you can't imagine putting it out to the curb. He probably took his kids to the very same spot years ago with that same sled. And then again, maybe not, but I'd like to think he did.

Happy trails.

Ronald English Here!

An Over-the-Rhine resident and street artist. He often announces himself upon entering the studio. Yes Ronald, you are definitely here. I hope you're here for a long time. I noticed a huuuuge mural of Jim Tarbell at Central Parkway and Vine Streets the last time I was in town and had some mixed emotions about it.

I've never been a big fan of Tarbell, so why not Ronald English? Ronald has no financial commitments in OTR. He doesn't own property, nor does he have his hand in some of the recent developments that have taken shape in the area. He's the most un-biased embodiment of OTR I've ever known, but it's Tarbell that gets the mural.

I've always hoped for a renaissance of Over-the-Rhine, but the idea of what it might look like has changed over the years. If development wins, Ronald will eventually lose. I don't want to see that. I'd feel bad for Ronald, but also because I know who would take his place.

Moving Day

My parents moved last weekend. The saga began long ago and couldn't be explained in any kind of time frame that would be conducive to anyone actually reading it all the way through. Bottom line, there was one weekend out of 52 to get this done. Ready, set, go!

It's nuts how much stuff you acquire over a lifetime. It was like Jesus himself, came and did unto their belongings as he had done to the loaves and fishes. It was as if their stuff now had stuff itself. But, regardless of the quantity, the keys were being handed over at 4pm on Monday afternoon. It was a lot of work, but we probably did more hem-haw'n than we actually did work. And because the process was a little unnerving (moreso for my parents and especially my poor Mom) it never really sank in that the house I've known as "home" for the majority of my life was no longer going to be the destination upon entering the "Center of Opportunity" - aka, Piqua. And Erica even asked on Sunday night after our last load was packed and in the multiple vehicles transporting it, "Does it make you sad to think this is the last time you'll pull away from that house?" And it did, but only for a little bit. I have to think that it's because I never wanted to leave the first house I knew, 1614 Nicklin Avenue. I think I still held some resentment over that move. Yes, it was for the space but that move took my world away from me. I was certain that I'd stay there the rest of my life. I never did make new friends on the south side. My brother did and so did the Queen Bee of Mulberry, but I never quite made it click. So I'm not going to lie... I'm almost a little happy to see it go. The only thing I might miss is the maple tree I planted in the backyard and maybe that front yard where my dad made me run out-routes because his arm couldn't handle the "Tweetie Birds" (our version of the Hail Mary) I kept trying to throw into the play calling. Now it's someone else's front yard and that's okay by me.

Somewhere in the middle of all the moving, I got to run my 2nd Minster Oktoberfest 10K... one of the best races in the state. I ran it last year and did pretty well and afterward, we stuck around long enough to hear the awards being announced and after they announced the "weight division" awards, I thought I might be able to beat some of those times. So I went into this year's race with two goals... run a sub-40 and get a place at the table with the fat boys. Sunday morning wasn't the best weather-wise, but that's never stopped a race before, so the gun went off and so did we. I was running solo this year but my dad came up to watch me finish, which worked out great. We headed west, right into the wind, for the first half of the race and after a 22-miler on Friday morning and no recovery run in between, I was feeling it a bit more than what I would've liked. I hit the 5K mark at 20:10 and knew I'd have to suck it up in the 2nd half if I was to go under 40. I was pretty conservative with the "push" as I still wanted something left for the last .2 miles (you turn right at mile 6 and head up a hill to the finish... I think 100 people passed me there last year). I wasn't sure how things were going but I didn't really care. I just wanted to go and pick up the pieces in the end. Hit mile 6, saw my dad, gave him a wave and took it to the hill. I actually passed some guy with about five feet to go. I looked like hell and hope no one took a picture, but I'm glad I got him. A little revenge. Final tally was a 39:36 (20:10/19:26). The time was good enough for two hand-painted clogs... 7th in my age group and 2nd in my weight group (I weighed in at 200.8 lbs. Had I been under 200, I would've gotten 1st in the 185-199 group). The guy that got 1st was a runner at Ball State and whipped me by three and a half minutes. And we ran into a bunch of people we knew as Minster's only 30 minutes north of Piqua, so it was a great race... again. I'm already looking forward to next year. The battle between my brother and sister will be epic.

What Up G?

This rant may contain cursing... just a forewarning.

I never have and probably never will consider myself much of a designer. I do the work I'm told to do to the best of my ability, but I don't spend countless hours keeping up on trends, new fonts, programs and that might put me at a disadvantage, but there's just so many other to-do's that my interest holds in higher regard. It was the same way in school. Regardless of the aforementioned excuses above as to why I'm not at a big firm in New York, I do know a little bit. If there is an aspect of design that I'm keen on, it's branding. I like it for a number of reasons that you probably don't care about... always have. And I'm not necessarily saying I know a lot about it, I just lean towards this facet of design.

Earlier this year, Gatorade rebranded their logo and the labeling on the iconic bottle (you know when you're holding a Gatorade vs. a Powerade or other assorted sports drink). I didn't really think much of it. I didn't actually consider it all that necessary other than the fact that their labels were starting to look like video game ads. And if you want to call it "G", fine. It's stupid and gimmicky, but you're trying to introduce this to a increasingly younger crowd who are all about gimmicks... again, whatever. And if you want to put stupid quips in big, bold letters with funky breaks, do as you please. I'm sure it'll all be different five years from now. On a positive note, I do like the size/placement of the "bolt" on the labeling.

The problem comes in when I finish up 21.2 very cold, very wet miles and head to Speedway to pick up the usual quart of choco milk and donuts. I decided that I wanted the regular "G" rather than the watered-down "G2" we had at home. I open the cooler door, look for a minute and grab what I thought was the orange Gatorade. Now that they've let the color of the "juice" do the talking, they should mean what the F they say. So what I thought was orange, was actually some mango, A.M. bullshit. I F'ing hate mango, but was thirsty enough to try and choke it down. Nothing doing. Didn't even like it enough to thwart possible death. So Gatorade, if you want to keep the "G" that's your right, but get rid of that stupid shit in bold type and maybe use it to explain what's in the F'ing bottle since your 1,001 flavor colors inevitably overlap in similarity. And yeah, maybe I could've read the small indistinguishable type above "SH-bolt!INEON" but I didn't.

What I really wanted to post instead of the picture was a super slo mo motion piece of a bullet from a gun I don't own blasting through the gut of this bottle. Lesson learned... and let it be a lesson to you folks at home. Gatorade is the sports drink equivalent to Pepsi... they do stupid stuff with rebranding projects and big, bold type. The only difference is that I'll keep putting "G2" on the grocery list every week. Dammit.

So East Coast

We've had our fill of Jehrzee (New Jersey), Bah Hahbah (Bar Harbor, ME) and, of course, chowdah (New England Clam Chowder). Or maybe we've just had our fill of traveling. Either way, we're back home and glad to be sleeping in our own bed.

The whirlwind tour of the east coast was a success in patience, directions and more patience. It all started around 4am on the morning of the 18th. With only three hours of sleep, we packed what remained, piled into the VW and set a course for the Columbus Airport. The flight left early and we had landed, been shuttled to enterprise and set off to Boston before we knew it. We were in Boston shortly after noon and even got to get into our room which was great. The Collonade was perfect. Not too overdone, but they made sure the sheets were clean and it was right around the corner from Copley Square. Had a great time in Boston as the weather was beautiful and we were able to walk all over the place. Woke up Sunday and we were off to Locale #2... Maine.

We took the scenic route (Route 1) shortly after crossing into Maine. It was a good call as we had plenty of time to get to where we were going. With little fanfare, we arrived at the Moorings shortly after 7pm... which is straight-up nighttime in their neck of the woods. Again, this place ended up being perfect. We had plenty of room and it was in a great location on the island. In retrospect, we probably did too much, and that was probably my fault, but it was a great time nonetheless. We spent a lot of time near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Acadia is stupid pretty. The whole area is for the most part. The area we were in was an actual working harbor. Dudes hauling in lobster and fixing boats. It was cool to be close to that and get a glimpse of a completely different way of life. I got in a few really amazing runs. One happened to be a trail run that I came across on accident that went along Long Pond... which is poorly named as it's miles long. Took a whale watching cruise, which ended up being pretty weak. Only one whale and he wasn't much in the mood for showing off, but the boat ride was nice. It was choppy as hell, but I was able to keep my lunch contained. Unfortunately, others around us didn't have such luck. It never seemed to bother Erica either. We were meant to be one with the sea. So Friday morning came too fast, and it was up at 4am again for a 5am departure in order to make a 3pm wedding ceremony in Newark.

The drive was nuts... especially when we got within about an hour of New York, but we made it to the hotel where everyone was staying. It took over eight hours. We were both pretty beat, but made the quick transition into a lovely couple. The ceremony was held outside at the Skylands Botanical Gardens in Ringwood, NJ and the bride and groom couldn't have ordered up more perfect weather. The reception was at this crazy cool Japanese place nearby and we ended up having an incredible time with everyone. The food was top notch, too, which helped because we hadn't eaten since leaving Maine. As much as we would've liked to have stayed up, we got to bed pretty early in preparation for the final leg of our journey... New York, NY.

We woke up and had breakfast with Erica's Aunt Barbara, then dropped the car off at enterprise... but not before trying to find gas in NJ... which happens to be my second experience with the matter and while this time was considerably better than the first, I would still recommend filling up in any or all of the adjoining states before entering Jersey. So we took a shuttle from the airport into the city. It boggles the mind how many people are there and why on earth they allow anyone other than a cab service to have cars on that island. But we made it to our gracious hosts' apartment with nary a scratch. We walked around some and ended up having a fabulous night out in the big city. After breakfast in the morning and a little more walking around, it was back in a cab and off to the airport for the flight home. Many thanks to Ryan and Carrie for putting us up for the night as well as a great night out.

It was a great trip and I honestly wouldn't have traded it for anything. I'm already looking forward to going back. The people were great and the land they live on is a treasure in and of itself. So many places to visit and so little time.

Numero Dos

Welcome Kendall Marie Tyler! She almost held out for the 16th, but decided the 15th was a better fit and snuck in just before midnight. She's little and beautiful and pretty perfect as far as babies go. I didn't get to stay long, but was able to take some pictures and hold her for a minute. It's amazing to think that the little person you're holding isn't even a day old. If you're ever doubting your own capacity for compassion, go look at a newborn baby.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with her more, but for now, we're off to the east coast. Flight leaves at 6:10am tomorrow morning. Yikes.

Norris '09

Had a great time down at Norris Lake this past weekend. We both wish we could've stayed longer. It only means we'll be more prepared next year. The wedding and subsequent honeymoon did make things logistically difficult, but we still made it, still got out on the water, still drank too much beer and still felt let down by the coaching staff at the Ohio State University. Oh well, I really don't see anyone backing out of the big games with the Bucks. The boys worked the surfboard pretty good. I wish I were able to get up, but I lacked the coordination, apparently.

Heading to Cincinnati in a couple of hours to see my brand new niece! Not even a day old. Pictures will certainly follow.

08.22.09

I know I'm making this so much harder than what it should be. I had a blurb all written out and I managed to delete it. Bottom line is that I wanted to thank a whole bunch of peoples that made all of this possible. Looking at these pictures makes me realize how lucky we are to live where we live and love who we love. Everyone should be entitled to this kind of happiness, not just us. Ross did an amazing job capturing the day. I keep going back through the images and smiling like it's the first time I've seen them. Bradley gets a special thanks for hitting the game winner as a freshman. In his ceremonial debut, he delivered one for the ages. I do hope they all are as good as ours was, but I can't see that happening. And while I may be biased, it really was perfect. My Uncle Chuck delivered a heartfelt reading that Erica's dad had written.

“It is generally recognized that a picture need not take for its subject an apple on a plate – though some good pictures have done so – and that a sonata need not be written in C-major and two-four time – though some music has dared to.”

But –

It is generally recognized that love cannot have too complicated a design nor be too comprehended in its scope. When (if) love becomes “too complicated”, if it becomes too abstract and we suddenly have too many places to go, too many things to do and too many excuses to expound – if suddenly it is too ordinary, too similar to what it always was, we become bored. As life becomes more and more complex, love must remain free and dependent only upon one’s feelings for the other. Your true and lasting feelings cannot be dependent on age, on career, on complications of life.

There is no easy way through life, there is no convenient way to stay in love.

A life together cannot become filled by too many good times, for it is not the good times that define a life of love. Love is not what gets you through the first years – love is what gets you through the rough years. Love is what helps you grow – as a couple, as a family, as friends.

But rest assured, love will, on occasion, seemingly disappear – to be totally beyond the moment, be impossible to even ever again consider. That is when you reach back “to when” . To when you chanced to look in the eye, to hold the hand, to be held and be silent.

The ability to prosper emotionally as husband and wife, as parents and as children, and friends and as lovers – that is the continuation of love, the painting of the apple, the composing of the sonata in C-major.

Donald C. Weiss
with many thanks to Dame Rebecca West

Everyone there made it great and I could go on with thank-you's for days on end. My family, especially, could have a whole day of thanks reserved just for them. My brother delivered a great speech and I enjoyed hanging out with him for most of the day. I was proud to stand up there with my mom and dance to the song that she wanted to dance to. And everyone that made the long trip to Cincinnati. It just all made for a pretty amazing day.

Later Summer

I'm breaking rank here and posting out of format... only because I'm not on my computer, thus have no access to Photoshop as I haven't cared to install CS anything on Erica's machine after her big HD meltdown. But there's been some things that have transpired in the last month.

For starters, the wedding's over. And by "over", I mean that it's happened and it really turned out better than Mr. Glass Half Empty could've expected. To say the least, it was perfect and everything came together in that manner almost on its own. It was as if it guided us, not the other way around and I thought that was pretty cool. So many times, people get caught up in the fact that their wedding "has to be" like this, or like that. And much like life, that kind of control is impossible. Now, I'm not saying that it was a walk in the park or there wasn't hard work put into it by a number of parties, but when you let people do what they do, it's great and wonderful things occur because of it. And one of the better parts is the honeymoon isn't for another two weeks. We have a bonzer vacation to look forward. Honestly, I was waiting on images from the photographer to post, but those are in the mail somewhere, so I will save that for another day. In retrospect, I do wish I'd have taken at least one photo the entire weekend. Many props to my sister for making it out with me for a run around Lunken to calm the nerves.

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting #2 any day now! Holy crap, what's it gonna be!?! I have money down in Vegas that he has four girls. I'm not sure poor Lauren is aware of the life-changing event that will soon be taking place in her little world. Maybe she'll be cooler with Uncle Jason, although I can't complain too much. Other than a little spell around Christmas, she's been more than willing to hang out and get picked up. She even let me put her down one night not too long ago. She twitches more than me when she's falling asleep.

Labor Day weekend is here. The unofficial end to summer. High school football is already two weeks into their season and the Buckeyes got away with one over the weekend against Navy. It blows my mind how tentative Heacock is with that defense. For years, he's played soft in the first half... always on their heels. Marathon training is well under way. My first 20-miler is this week, and it doesn't really let up for another month. It'll culminate at the Columbus Marathon as that will be my last "long run" before I taper for the Monumental Marathon in Indy. I can't wait. I feel good following the bike fiasco and I'm ready to put the hammer down on a BQ. My mileage is almost 20mpw more than what it was last year at this same time, and I'm hoping that it helps me come race day. I ran in the rain at the Leap for the Ligers 5K this morning at Griggs Reservoir. The rain was actually pretty nice, but I once again went out too fast and blew up in the end. I'm going going to get it right one of these days. I do have to keep in mind that this came following an 18-miler Friday morning and then seven miles of hills yesterday. But it still should be better than a 19:17 (noticed the official time on their site... my watch sucks). I think that's what it was officially, not entirely sure. Their clock was a little weird. But I met some great people and got in a good workout.

So that's about it. I'll have to get a picture or two up tomorrow when I'm in front of my computer at work. We spent the afternoon down in Hocking Hills yesterday. I love that place. It was too bad we couldn't have stayed. Hope everyone's Labor Day weekend was as good as mine.

Ride Your Bike

Down a hill.
With no hands.
Drink the wind.
It's awesome.

Hiding the Pain

I needed a laugh, so I put on a mask with Erica (not pictured) the other night for the first time in my life. Instead of a laugh, I got a deep cleansing peppermint burn. Let it be noted that face masks are not for the faint of heart. But they do leave your face feeling clean and refreshed. The pros may be outweighing the cons here.

I've been bummin' lately and that last post wasn't helping matters... at all. The car door kept me off my feet longer than I anticipated. I know... I'm lucky it wasn't worse, but that's not much consolation when the reality is that it wasn't worse and I still can't run. I did end up running that 5K the day after which wasn't bright in retrospect. I honestly thought I'd be doing my long run that Sunday. My Peroneus Longus had something else in mind. It's been almost three weeks and it stills feels like Play-Doh. But it is getting better. After logging only 10 miles over a two week period, I've run three days in a row and the leg feels relatively good. The worst part is that I have no idea how much of my running base I lost over that two week stint... and this Saturday marks 12 weeks to the Monumental. Now is the time to be putting in some serious training. I'm really hoping things clear up in the next week or two.

On a side note... nine more days of unmarried-ness. This is officially my last unmarried weekend.

Door'd

I'm on a roll here, but this time, it's for all the wrong reasons. Had a nice little jog this morning in order to keep things loose for tomorrow's 5K that I've been looking forward to and it went well. Humid, but I got a good stretch in after I got back. Got my paycheck in the mail yesterday so I thought I'd swing by the bank on my way to work. Erica's car is in the shop getting a new ball bearing that I correctly diagnosed, so she had mine and I had the trusty Trek 4500. I get in and out of the bank without a hitch and I'm rolling down Grandview Avenue towards the Global Living Building, cars on my left, parked cars on my right... cars on my left slowing because of a parallel parker ahead, I slow as well and move to pass on the right and BAM... car door swings open and my bike and I lose that battle. I sat there for a second as my brain did a quick diagnostic check. Everything seemed ok, so I got up. Lower right leg took a pretty good beating but I was walking, so that's half the battle. It was a pretty busy section of Grandview and by this time, folks had rushed out to see if I needed help. Being the hard-headed individual I was raised to be, I decided that I'd chain my busted bike up somewhere close and walk it off. The guy who had opened the door was FREAKED. Shaking like crazy, offering to take me to the hostpital. I gave him my card, told him to email me thinking the best of him would prevail and waved him off. So I made it down the hill and to the bp station where I picked some ice and Advil. I can take care of this myself, thank you. It just sucks that I won't be able to break a world record in the 5ooo meters tomorrow morning.

The guy did email me back and is more than willing to pay for any damages, so I guess the point is moot, but at the end of the day, whose at fault? Cars don't get behind me in traffic, they pass me on the left... so when traffic slowed to allow for the parallel parker, and I have a lane to the right of those cars, why can't I continue on? It's not like I was being reckless. I slowed as well. It's a good thing, too. That little accident could've been a lot worse than what it was. If you ride a bike on the street, it's not a question of "if" you'll have an encounter with a car, but rather "when" you will have an encounter with a car. One thing's for sure, after 30 years, my nine lives are about up.

Scrabbbbbled

I got beat last night in Scrabble by the girl in the bottom right corner. All tiles were used and in the end, she got me by a point. I was leading most of the game, but she posted 50 points on me in the later stages to set herself up for the final lunge. What's worse is that this has happened before. The scores were higher as we were smarter then... and she beat me by three points, instead of just one. It's tough playing with her though. She never... EVER... gives up the Triple Word Score. There was nearly a border of unused spaces encircling our game last night because neither of us were willing to let the other one prosper. Cagey.

I was perusing my satchel yesterday looking for past training guides to help me piece together one for the Monumental and I came across a $10 gift card I got not too long ago from The Running Spot in Cincinnati. It was for finishing in the top 10 of the Mini Heart Marathon's Two-Beat Challenge (run the 5K and the 15K back-to-back). It's the first time I've ever gotten prize money... although I did get a plaque at the Lehman Alumni 5K. I'm unwilling to accept it though. I just don't think I'm ready to turn pro. And what if the NCAA finds out about this and yanks my eligibility for the 2009-10 OSU football season. I can't imagine Coach Tress being too happy about a $10 mishap.

We're heading home this weekend to run a local 5K and pick up some things for the wedding. This race will be what I base my decision on. Stay tuned.

Honey-Do

Bottom line... I came home for lunch. I had clothes in the dryer that needed to be fluffed and folded so the queen bee would have nothing to hinder her laundry night. Mission accomplished. Check that off the list. I also ate a fruit cup... or half of it. I left the honeydew for another day.

I hit a small milestone this morning on my run. It's the first year I've kept a detailed log of my running and right around mile seven, I cracked the 1000-mile mark for 2009. It's roughly 35mpw, which is nothing, but it's still cool to see the four digits up on the log.

Untitled

I can't really bitch and complain much more about the way weddings work these days. At some point, you're just beating a dead horse while less and less people care and actually hate you because some actually like the way weddings work these days. The hardest thing for me to swallow was the gift registry. Yes, yes... I get it. It makes the process easier. People are going to get you something regardless of whether you want them to or not, but I feel like "gift registry" is slightly misleading. I feel "Here, buy me this" is a little more true to the game.

Where's the fun in that? Isn't life about chance? Aren't we supposed to harness our talents and use them in extraordinary ways? Yes, I actually would like to see what Aunt Rita brings to the table. I've got creative friends. Why stifle that creativity on a centrifuge for lettuce? Admittedly, it was hard to justify gunning down those bar codes for half the stuff I put on the "buy me this" list.

And this is where it gets deep... uh oh. I feel like we used to ask ourselves "Do I need this?" and marketing has ever so subtly shifted that question to "Will I need this?". Big box stores thrive off this mentality. I was at home over the weekend and got to looking at my dad's mess of tools in the garage. Every single item up there was purchased for a precise use. He's built up quite an arsenal over time... but it was based on need. And I'd say there's a piece or two that was passed down. The wood planer had to come over on some boat.

I seriously put a couple of shovels on the list. I can't tell you the last time I used a shovel. Sure, I can see a use for that shovel down the road, but why am I strapping stuff to my back now that I don't need? It confuses me, but in the end, you just play the game. And honestly, we're pretty damned fortunate to be able to do any of this at all.