April Showers Bring...

Empty pocketbooks. This scares me. What happens when we buy a house? Erica's a lover of the plant kingdom. She waters, prunes, admires and cares for the multiple plant species we have strewn about the house. So what will happen when there is much more than a front porch to provide color to? The good part is that she enjoys this stuff, so the worst that might befall me is lugging trays of annuals from the car to the yard. I could think of worse sentences.

Not much else going on. Memorial Day came and went. It's good to know the pools are open... but I can't say that 73º, humid and overcast is ideal for swimming conditions.

Smokey Smoke

This here's Smoke... Sticky Steve's new silver lab. Not gonna lie, he's pretty sweet looking (sorry for the lack of a better image). I finally got down to Cincinnati for work and was able to size him up. He's going to be a monster. Then again, I thought the same thing about Ms. J and that didn't turn out like I thought. She's a wee thang. I'm still waiting on her growth spurt to prove me right.

Ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K Saturday with Bradley... of Hoffmann fame. They had oversold the race by thousands so neither of us had bibs. We were basically bandits. And on top of that, the start line was a mess. We were four or five rows from the front and there were obvious walkers in front of us. Organizers attempted to hold signs up designating a particular pace so that runners might find their respective start area so that they didn't end up in front of faster folks. Clearly, people didn't give a shit.

This is the problem that arises when holding a "race" for people that don't race. Yeah, you can call me an elitist, but I'm far more concerned with the courtesy factors than with whether they're considered a runner or not. Personally, I think it's great that nearly 50,000 people crowd the streets of downtown Columbus and run/walk for a great cause. With a $30 registration fee, that's something close to $1.5MM. That's cash that might cure breast cancer this year. But you want return customers and poorly organized events work against that goal. Unfortunately, it really would've been as easy as people abiding by the system the race directors had in place, but with 50,000 people, that's just wishful thinking. So we still had to dip and dodge our way through the first mile, but after hearing from some of those that were much farther behind, I'll consider us lucky. I still ran a 19:33. I could definitely feel the 20-miler in that last mile. There wasn't much left in the tank.

Ugh...

I had a 90-day checkup for the Jetta this morning at the dealership, which is located off the Georgesville exit on 270. It's on the southwest side of town and I really know nothing about it. If it's not Grandview, I'm a lost puppy. But I had to run out the door and wasn't able to get any breakfast. Upon exiting, I saw there was a Kroger and decided that I'd walk over while the mechanics marveled at the amount of tread I burned through in three months. I try and keep my rants to a minimum anymore, but I couldn't help but feel absolutely disgusted with the planning, or lack thereof, of the immediate area surrounding the VW dealership. It was the most pedestrian-unfriendly place I've been in some time. Not a single sidewalk. Crossing the main drag was death-defying. I felt like Frogger. The side street that got me to Kroger was dotted with restaurants of comparable quality... just different signs welcoming you in. It was shit. It still is shit. It's low quality everything... food, infrastructure, planning, etc, etc, etc. It's like the community equivalent of the Verizon logo. I would like to think that a change is on the way. Like the '08 election. You just felt that a change was coming... but there is no changing this. It really makes me want to cry. Have we settled, or do we just not know? I wish we could put all this and those that support it on a reservation with all the cars and asphalt parking lots they please. Why walk 200' to the store when you can drive it. And when you're done there, and it's time to head to the store 200' from the one you were just in, you can drive that, too. It makes me think of Wall•E (found it) and how brilliantly and blatantly true it was. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

I have been flirting with the idea of running marathon #2 on the 6th of June in South Bend, IN since the Mini. It's basically the closest "last shot" of the spring marathon season. Over the summer, they're few and far between and I'm not in the market to run 26.2 when it's 90. Sorry Chicago. When I thought this all over, I knew that I'd have a month to "prepare" but I thought the extra miles I was putting in for the half were a good base. So I came up with a training plan that would help me decide what to do. Last week was a 16-miler (one week removed from the Mini) and this week was the one and only 20-miler. The 16 miles were hard as hell and I didn't see this turning out well, but I thought I'd at least run the 20 and make a decision based on that. Well amigos, it's go time. The weather was perfect, and I had a pretty fantastic run to boost my spirits. I had that appointment at the dealership at 9am so I knew I had to be up earrrrly for this one... and on top of that, I played volleyball last night until 9pm. But the alarm went off at 4:45 and I knew there wasn't much I could do after that. I was out the door by a quarter after and went about my business. I took it out slow and made sure I kept it that way. The patience paid off when I brought in the last 5.5 miles at my goal race pace (7:15/mi). So that leaves an 18-mile rehearsal run followed by a two-week taper. I'll drive over Friday night, run the race and be back in Columbus by 3pm Saturday. Should be fun.

Lost Dog?

I saw elephants on the street outside my office window yesterday. I guess they stop the train right by Grandview and unload the restless pachyderms to stretch their legs as they walk to Nationwide Arena... or wherever the circus is preforming.

Now there's something you don't see every day.

Deb = Mom

My mom's going to kill me for posting anything that has her mug on it, but it was Mother's Day over the weekend... what else would be appropriate? We were over there Sunday, but I never did take the camera out. These were from various occasions from this year. It was a beautiful day. We deserved it after the five days prior to Sunday were tough to stomach. Erica, myself, my dad and my mom took a walk in the afternoon around the canal and cemetery. Stopped at the Tyler plot and then over to the Casertas. It's strange to see all these stones for people you knew. It had never hit me like that. Forest Hill used to be a place we'd ride our bikes through. We'd fish in the canal that ran through it, and now it's a resting place for more and more of the people I knew as a kid. So enough of that...

We had steaks on the grill later in the evening and never made it back to Columbus until midnight. I was exhausted, but I love that drive. State Rte 36 into Urbana and then follow State Rte 29 down to Interstate 70. You pass all the stuff you've passed a million times. And there's a fair amount of places along that route that I wouldn't mind eventually living in. So anyways, it was a great day spent with a great mom. You never know how lucky you are as a kid. It takes years for you to realize what an ass you were for so long and what a saint someone must be to have not easily ended your selfish little existence long ago.

The sketches were for my Uncle Tom's little baking business. I think they had asked me at the beginning of the year to do this... so yeah, it's May. Obviously, they acquired someone else to do the work. It's probably better this way. Last time I did a job for a family member, it cost me $400. But it had been a while since I sketched out logo concepts on vellum and I wish I could do it more often.

Indy Mini '09 Race Report

The biggest running weekend of the year has come and gone. It's not often that you drive 175 miles one-way to run 13.1, but when it includes spaghetti dinners, cookouts and good times... you pony up for the gas and hit the road.

We unfortunately missed Taryn's all-you-can-eat spaghetti smack-down Friday night due to work schedules. We ate at an uber-crowded Olive Garden off Wyse Road in Dayton. Not sure how much sense that made. Sub-par all around. I would've rather eaten leftovers at 10. And through a steady rain, we made it to Primrose Street tired and ready for bed. I woke up shortly before 5 and took to preparing for the race. Half a toasted bagel with peanut butter, a banana and coffee. It was me and the dog for awhile before everyone else started to emerge. I don't like to be rushed on race day. So we were in the car at 6:15, off to Nick's and on the way. We had a sweet setup with parking which left us with a short leisurely walk to the bag drop. We dropped the bags, wished everyone luck and it was off to our respective corrals. I was meeting up with a forumite I had met on runnersworld.com in Corral B. We met up shortly before the start and went over the game plan again just so we were on the same page. The gun went off and so did we.

Miles 1-6: A  little scary. I knew this guy was faster than me and we had originally talked about taking 6:50's through the track (~ mile 8.5) but at the start, I told him that I'd hang in there with him as long as I could if he was feeling like speeding things up. So we came out pretty hot, but had it under reasonable control by the end of mile 5... still faster than the 6:50's we had talked about, but I was riding the line between being ok and imminent disaster... so I went with it. (5mi - 33:40, 6:44/mi)

The track, Miles 6-8.5: These are the toughest miles for me. Only people from Indiana could get into running around a track that was meant to be driven. The coolest part was when we got onto the track. When you come on, you're 20ft from where you exit, so I was actually a stone's throw away from the leader at the 6 mile mark (of course, he was at the 8.5 mile mark). He was cruising. It was a sight to see. This is the part of the course where I have to hunker down, take it a little easy and get fluids in me, so I wished my running partner luck and let him run ahead. It ended up not being so bad this year and I was off the track in no time.

Miles 8.5-10: In years when the sun's been out, this area provides well deserved shade and a chance to recover. I usually take the opportunity after the track to figure out what I've got left so that the last 5K is the fastest part of my race. I was pushing it pretty good still and was worried, but decided that no matter what, I'd still have something for those last miles. Grabbed water and downed a Gu at the 10-mile mark. Time to go. (2nd 5mi - 33:53, 6:46/mi)

Last 5K: There are two incredibly rough straightaways in this stretch. Mile 10 to 11.75 is tough to stare down, but it's slightly downhill. I was able to get in a nice rhythm and make the right turn along the river and continue with a pretty hard pace. At mile 12, you make a left turn on New York Street, up and over a bridge and you begin the mile climb to the finish. I'm still not sure what the elevation gain is, but when it comes in the last mile, it's brutal no matter what the grade is. You really do have to choose between maintaining the pace or having the final kick. I chose the former. I don't have a Garmin, so I'm not sure what that last split was, but it felt like my slowest. I still was able to give it some kind of kick... I think. (last 5K - 20:40, 6:39/mi)

The final tally was a 1:28:13. A PR for that course by more than 8 minutes. That put me in 452nd and got me a spot in the top 500. Top 500 in any race really isn't a big deal but there were over 30,000 finishers this year. They give you an extra medal for it, too. Swanky. I forgot my camera in Columbus, so these shots were taken at the race. The one of me is in that last mile. The guy behind me had been in front of me for the hour or so prior to that. Every time I'd inch in front of him, he'd speed up. It wasn't until that last mile that I got him. The other racers shown are Matt Elliott thinking of his happy place and Nick Koon giving praise where praise is due, I guess. They didn't have a good one of Erica, but she ran a pretty incredible race, too. 2:01:29. I'd say that's pretty damn good for not really training.

Great weekend all around. Everyone had a great race in the morning and we all had too many beers in the evening. Now it's time to drop the hammer on a BQ.