Random brain dribbles

A thought on parenting

2011-06-30T17:55:00.002-04:00

Just a random thought - I criticize my kids. Lots of parents criticize their kids; obviously I am not alone in this. But I am trying very hard to keep complimenting my kids when they do something nice, or are well-behaved. I'd really like to compliment them more, and complain less.

Grocery shopping

2011-06-28T15:19:00.002-04:00

Just a quick vent - I think the next time that I take both kids grocery shopping, I am going to employ several sherpas, some pack mules, and pack enough to mount a week-long expedition. It;s not that the local mega-store is exceptionally large, it's that my kids both want to steer the cart, in opposite directions, neither of which is the direction in which we need to go, and, when they are not fighting over the steering, they are treating the cart as though it were some sort of primitive trampoline.

Disney Parent Pulse vent

2011-06-27T14:47:00.002-04:00

OKay, so I haven't written here in more than six months. It's been a busy year, and I might explain later, but right here, right now, I feel the need to say this:

Just a quick vent - but come on, Disney. If you claim that you want Dads involved as well, could you stop with the presumption that the only playgroups are some form of "Mommy & Me"?

I stopped looking for local "Mom Group & gatherings" years ago - when it became obvious that the local "Mom" gatherings were all variants of MOPS, and would not welcome a SAHD. (I do look for "Parent" groups - which do accept SAHDs, though sometimes only grudgingly.)

I know SAHDs are a minority, but cripes, I'm getting tired of being invisible.

I'm really, really, really getting tired of the whole "We welcome Moms and Dads" routine, when it is followed by a constant presumption that only Moms are actually participating. I'm tired of panels and groups and organizations calling themselves "Moms Panel", "[organization] Moms," "Parents Panel" and so forth, claiming that they are open to all, and then being little better than MOPS when it comes to actually listening to, or including, men and fathers. (For those who are not aware, fathers cannot join MOPS - so if the local playgroups are all MOPS-based, SAHDs don't have a playgroup for their kids.)

Productivity (or the lack thereof)

2010-10-23T23:01:00.002-04:00

If you ever want to feel utterly unproductive, and like completely wasting your time - try spreading rock in your yard. We ordered 10 cubic yards a while back, and I can spend an afernoon moving rock, 10, 20, 30 wheelbarrows - and, at the end of the day, I'm hot, sweaty, sore as hell - and that %&*$ pile that was 10 cubic yards looks pretty much unchanged.

Small victories

2010-10-19T15:41:00.001-04:00

Some days you have to accept that you will only have little victories. And today, simply getting the wee ones out the door on time (more or less) was as close to a victory as I was likely to have.

He lives!

2010-10-18T11:43:00.001-04:00

And I might even start writing here again. It's not that I got bored with it - I fell out of the habit, got busy, and never picked it up again. But with one in school, and the other in preschool, I have time on my hands again. It's either blog, or laundry.

Or Mafia Wars on facebook.

Special Agent Oso

2009-08-28T10:28:00.002-04:00

You know, it's hard enough teaching my kids the concept of telling time without Special Agent Oso and the "We have to leave in exactly eight seconds" garbage. Those eight seconds take half a minute or more to elapse, and I would like to know who says "We are leaving for the party in twelve seconds, so you have just enough time to wrap a present."

$%&$%( CafeMom site

2009-07-28T00:08:00.001-04:00

Dichotomy of the day - "We want men to be more active, involved parents" proclaim the women of CafeMom - who then deny men access to the site. Yay. Another reminder that, as a SAHD, I am neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring.

Magnificent Desolation

2009-07-21T16:26:00.001-04:00

Watched "When We Left the Earth" last night. Could have sworn that Gary Sinise claimed that "It's a journey we can't repeat with today's technology." Apparently we've forgotten how to build Saturn V rockets or primitive computers.

Random thought #2

2009-07-08T15:53:00.001-04:00

Why is it that the green beans on their plate were horrible, but the green beans on my plate were irresistibly delicious?

Random thought #1

2009-07-08T15:52:00.000-04:00

Does the existence of "Thriller" make a zombie Michael Jackson inevitable, or merely more probable?

Facebook

2009-07-08T15:51:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I'm on it. If you really want to friend me, contact me or something. I may not have a high readership, but just in case. . .

Heh

2009-05-27T15:51:00.002-04:00

DS just made some randomly correct science statement out of the blue. When I heard it, I asked "Where did you learn that?" expecting to hear Bill Nye, I Love Toy Trains, or something like that. He looked at me and said "Phineas and Ferb."

All-righty then.

KGB

2009-05-27T00:40:00.002-04:00

So, I found myself wondering - who decided that a good name for an info service would be "kgb"? I mean, my first thought when I hear "KGB" is not 542542, but rather, Комитет государственной безопасност.

(Yes, I copy/pasted it. Blame the original if there is a typo.)

Lunacy

2009-05-09T16:07:00.001-04:00

Last night, I bit the bullet and registered for an event that I have considered for the past couple of years - the Howl at the Moon ultra. A timed, 8-hour run in the middle of August in Illinois. How bad could it be, right?

Running streak update

2009-05-09T16:06:00.000-04:00

Some time ago, I mentioned that I was trying to run on a daily basis. So far, I have maintained that streak for more than 260 days. Yay me.

Platypus omelet

2009-04-19T13:52:00.002-04:00

The other day, I was talking religion with my sister (in which I was maintaining the Almighty must have a profound sense of humor, with the noble platypus being Exhibit A), and I suddenly wondered:

Is the platypus a protected species?

If not, is it possible to obtain platypus eggs?

And, if you could obtain said eggs, how many eggs would it take to make a decent omelet, and what would said omelet taste like?

Beer, superheroes and Jedi

2009-04-01T12:20:00.002-04:00

What do they have in common?

Well, Molson beer has a series of questions on their label, designed to provoke conversation. Naturally, they are only superficially philosophical, because what sounds like wisdom after your sixth beer is actually much closer to idiocy.

Anyway, the other day, the bottle I happened to be drinking posed the question:

"Which would you rather be: an ugly hero, or a sexy villain?"

Hrm. Tough question, but I would go with villain. (Duh.) Forget the physical aspects - villains just have kewler powers. (We've already established a connection between beer and superheroes, thanks to their question - here comes the Jedi.) Jedi are, in essence, heroes, with the Sith being their villain counterparts. Heroes can leap around, lift X-wings (or possibly only small rocks), do keen things with their lightsabers, and influence the weakminded. Sith can do all of the above, plus toss force lighning and crush tracheas - even over the phone. C'mon, like that's a contest.

And, a random Wii/Jedi thought. In Empire, Yoda states "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." In the Wii game, Lightsaber Duels, every character has a Force bar, which measures how much they can use the Force. Use the Force for anything, and it drops. How do you restore it? Attack, attack, attack - damage is what refills the bar. Apparently, all the Jedi are Sith in training.

Running note

2009-03-31T23:52:00.003-04:00

This deserved its on post, albeit a short one. Last Monday, I managed to do something to one of my feet. I don't know exactly what I did to it, or how I did it, but walking, let alone running, was painful.

Since I have a (short) running streak going, of a mere 220-odd days, I wasn't going to toss it aside without a good reason. And since walking and running hurt the same amount, I did very short and slow runs for a couple of days. I'm still not at 100%, but I am getting close to what my workouts had been. Fortunately, my idiocy didn't screw me over this time.

Not sure how he knew.

2009-03-31T23:46:00.002-04:00

One a recent grocery run, we picked up Aquafresh toothpaste for DS. When he first tried it, he put it on his toothbrush, looked at it, stuck it in his mouth, and pulled it out, exclaming "It tastes like an American flag."

Alrighty then.

A close call

2009-03-18T18:55:00.002-04:00

I was going to post about the Illinois Marathon being in desperate need of volunteers, but it looks like the crisis may be averted. They could still use some, of course - I doubt that any race ever has to turn away volunteers, but the race may be held after all.

On a related note, I am currently considering my first real ultra. I have done a couple of "baby ultras" (50k races), but this would be my first "real" ultra - a timed, 8 hour loop course. Registration doesn't open until sometime in April, but the field is limited to 200 or 250, and I understand that it fills fast.

Quick 5k race report

2009-03-10T20:00:00.001-04:00

March 7 race report

The race: Jack Kenny 5k

The place: Glen Oak Park, Peoria, IL

The time: 9 am

The numbers: 20:15, 3rd in age division (former PR 22:46)

The report: When I woke up Saturday morning, I knew it wasn't going to be the best race I could do. The weather was fine (cool, cloudy and only a slight blustery wind), but I had spent over 5 hours driving down the night before, and since I am allergic to my father's dog, I was a little conegested. (Nothing wrong, BTW, with combining a family visit and a race.) I didn't bother with breakfast, since it was only a 5k, and I could just eat afterwards.

When I got to the race site, I had to go register. Once that was done, I killed time, wandering a little, taking a couple bio breaks, and a little stretching. Soon enough, it was time to line up.

The course is a simple loop, repeated 3 times. So, while it is a little repetitive, it's also short enough that it's not a mind-numbing ordeal. (I wouldn't want to run a 10k on a 1 mile course though.) I lined up fairly close to the front, but made sure to place myself behind the contingent of high school runners. I knew I wasn't going to beat most (or any) of them, but I wasn't running against them anyway. The way I see it, if you are not in the top 3, you are really only running against the other people in your age/gender bracket.

A brief "Runners, take your marks" and we were off. My first mile was fast, too fast. I think I clicked through it in 6:20, and that includes my efforts to slow down after the first quarter. If I had held my initial pace, I would have managed to come in at about the 18 minute mark!) I had some fading for the second and third laps, although I am sticking by my official story, which is that I dropped down to about the pace I intended to do all along.

Soon enough, I was climbing the final hill the last time. I saw the runner ahead of me, started closing the gap, and finally kicked it into high gear as I approached the finish line. It was not to be be, however - I had started my final kick too late, and he finished 1 second ahead of me. (For the record, he took 2nd in my age group. Grr..)

I stuck around after, and my dad cheered on several runners he knew from work. We waited until the end of the awards ceremony - both to collect my bling, and to congratulate his co-workers, who had taken age group awards as well.

It was a nice race - if I happen to be visiting next year when it is being run, I'd happily run it again. Probably won't beat the high school kids though; I think a couple of them had times in the low 16-minute range.

Verizon Ringback

2009-03-09T14:27:00.001-04:00

Sure, I haven't mentioned this before. And I don't have Verizon. But, go watch the commercial.

Maybe it's just me, but at the end, when the woman asks "Why did you pick up the phone?" I really have to bite my tongue to avoid replying "Because you called me, idiot."

Changes in the layout

2009-03-02T18:53:00.002-05:00

I'm dropping the "Last [X] workouts" stuff in the sidebar. I haven't been using that tracking program for some time. Most of my stuff is now via SportTracks, and I am not quite as . . . attentive when it comes to counting the miles on my shoes anymore. (I have noticed that, as a daily runner, my running stride is much improved, even if it isn't much faster.)

I'm going to make some changes to my favorite links, so if you want a free mention (to a very small audience), post a comment.

Random gaming thought

2009-02-26T23:17:00.002-05:00

I almost woke up everyone in the house when I read this (from KOTD #148, p 22)

Nitro: If this was Hackmaster you'd have a plan by now.

Stevil: If this was Hackmaster we would've burned down the last town and taken their stuff.

Obviously, they've listened in on a couple gaming sessions I have run.

Random running update

2009-02-24T17:37:00.001-05:00

I posted this some time back. At the time, I had run every day for two weeks.

Well, that two weeks has now stretched into over 26. I have run every day for the past 180-odd days, and so far, so good. I have run the day after a marathon and an ultra, I have run on Christmas, and I ran at Disneyworld.

I still may be jinxing it, but I might manage to make it a full year, after all.

Wheeee!

2009-02-24T15:39:00.004-05:00

After a long hiatus (due to life, NaNoWriMo, a crashed computer, holidays and plain old fashioned laziness), I stopped blogging for a long, long time. I never filed a race report for the USAF marathon, never mentioned running with my dad in his first 5k, failed to mention that I ran another 50k (and took almost half an hour off my time), or mentioned a Disney trip.

I'm going to try and pick this up again, honest. Maybe if I stopped caring what I wrote, I'd do it more often. It's not that I worry about offending readers (since I have almost none, if not fewer than that), but that, should I actually find myself in the public sphere someday, something like this is bound to happen:

Reporter: Did you really mean it when you said that everything would be better under your enlightened despotism?

Me: That was a statement made in my youth.

Reporter: You made it last week.

Me: Yes, but I've had a birthday since then.

See? There's just no good answer to some of my random thoughts. Other than incarceration and/or institutionalism.

Ohio is done.

2008-09-20T23:29:00.001-04:00

Finished the USAF marathon today. Race report to come later, but Ohio (state #5) and marathon #4 for the year are crossed off.

Ah, memories.

2008-09-16T09:42:00.000-04:00

Last night, my wife and I were watching one of the Animaniacs DVDs I had picked up from the local library. During one of the episodes (Les Miseranimals), she commented that she vaguely recalled the episode, and reminisced about how she would come home from school and watch it.

So did I. Only she was coming home from high school, and I was getting out of Hist 281 (or something like that).

It's marathon week

2008-09-15T11:32:00.003-04:00

The USAF marathon is this Saturday. Yippee skippee. I'm undertrained, overtired, and grumpy. So, basically, it's SNAFU. I have no time goals for this one, really. Just completion.

Okay, I actually do have a goal pace and time and all that, with A, B and C goals. But none of them are BQ times, and, given the paucity of my LSD runs this summer, the C goal really is just completion. But the weather looks favorable, so I might make my B goal. Heck, I'm going to shoot for the A, but I need to be realistic here.

And no, I am not going to tell you what they are. I'll be honest and tell you if I missed them though.

The year is starting to wrap up, race-wise. I just have this marathon, then a 5k on Oct 2 (with my dad - it's going to be his first race ever!), a 50k ultra in November, and possibly a Turkey Trot and/or a Jingle Bell run.

Greenskin update

2008-09-09T00:03:00.001-04:00

Assembled (but not primed) LR Terminus (just had to wrap it up to clear space, really), 1 ABR Warboss, 1 Deffkopta, 15 ABR Boyz, 2 Nobz. Also got stuff started from one box of Boyz. Still not pics - forgot to recharge camera.

Not bad for an evenings work though.

That's a lot of greenskins

2008-09-08T14:06:00.001-04:00

I'm starting a thread here to keep me honest and focused - otherwise, this stuff will linger in the basement like a dead woodchuck under a porch. Today, I got my big box of Orky goodness, which contains the following:

2 copies of Assault on Black Reach (each box contains 1 SM captain, 10 tac marines, 5 Terminators, 1 Dread, 1 Ork Warboss, 20 Ork Boyz, 5 Ork Nobz, 3 Deffcoptas. I intend to trade my marines for more Orks)
10 boxes of Ork Boyz (each box contains parts for 10 boyz plus 1 nob, so that's another 110 figs)
1 Warboss.

I also rounded up my big mek, another warboss, 3 bikes, some trashed vehicles I'll be converting, and about 40 old RT-era Orks.

All told, it's an impressive pile of plastic and lead. I'd take a pic before I start, but the camera batteries are recharging, so I might get to work, and fake it using empty boxes later tonight.

My first goal is to have everything (or at least, everything that arrived today) trimmed, assembled and primed before the end of the month. The secondary goal is to have at least 750 pts painted by Nov 1. (And since Orks are something like 6 pts each, that's a lot of them.)

Because I felt like it.

2008-09-08T13:07:00.002-04:00

I'll admit, after I watched his speech in 2004, I looked at Barack Obama and thought "If he holds off until 2012 or 2016, he's going to be unstoppable." A b it more seasoning, some more experience, maybe even time as Illinois governor, and he'd obliterate anyone the Republicans could put out.

But right now, listening to his speeches reminds me of candyfloss and fluff. There are a lot of pretty words, but when I hear "I am going to reduce taxes for 95% of the working families," something in my brain goes poing, and I wonder how that can be done without reducing services. I know politicians lie, but I'm not seeing anything to make me fall (at the moment) for the hopeychangefulness of the Obama-Biden ticket.

Random thought

2008-09-01T22:56:00.001-04:00

I've been asked on several occasions why I write this. After all, my daily readership can be counted on the fingers of a blind, epileptic carpenter, so it's not for fame, glory or infamy. I write it because I feel like it, and, if I were more diligent, it would be good practice for NaNoWriMo.

Then again, if I wanted an audience, I'd write about porn or politics.

Progress

2008-09-01T22:49:00.002-04:00

Remember this post? Probably not, but that's okay.

Anyway, I haven't mentioned it in a while, and for good reason.

I've been maintaining from the start that I wasn't going to get everything painted this year. Heck, I've have been more than lucky to get everything primed. But that list was made before I started on the "Hey, let's repaint the entire basement, both floors and walls" project, and before DS decided that he really, really needed a train table.

But progress has been made. My current "Hall of Shame" lists over 1100 figures (yes, that's 1100, not 110 or something silly like that), of which more than 50% (630 of them, actually) are assembled, trimmed and primed. (Painted, not so many - a mere 52.) Unfortunately, in a few days (curse you GW!), I will be adding something like 250 more figures. . . . so I'll be even farther behind.

Still, a lot of stuff has gotten done this year, even if very little of it actually gets finished. I'd probably devote more time to it if I didn't run, or if I could play the game on a regular basis. Still, it's a nice basement activity, and something I can do while DS is down there playing with his trains or coloring.

Watch me jinx this

2008-09-01T22:45:00.002-04:00

Okay, I know that by mentioning this, I'm likely to jinx it, but hey, no biggie, right?

Today marked almost two weeks of daily running. Yay me!

Sure, it's not a technical streak, according to US Running Streak Association, but still, I don't think I have run that many days in a row since I was a kid in high school. I'm going to keep it up as long as possible, though I suspect that certain days (such as the day after the USAF marathon) will be harder than others.

T minus 3 weeks

2008-08-30T22:19:00.003-04:00

So, in three weeks, I'll be running the USAF marathon. I have no time goals for this one - summer training, quite simply, stinks. I hate it - the heat, the humidity, the bugs. Bleh. Just give me a nice cool day, barely above freezing, and I am fine. 80 degrees in the shade and 75% humidity? Terrible.

Haven't mentioned running in a while, thought I should.

The Dark Side of the Pooh

2008-08-27T23:03:00.004-04:00

Random observation I made some time ago: the voices of Kaa (from the Jungle Book) and Winnie the Pooh (at least, in four different, early movies) are the same. Once you make that connection, Winnie the Pooh always seems a bit . . . creepier, like he's about to maul Piglet or Rabbit or something.

Sexism, Strength and Dominance: Masculinity in Disney Films

2008-08-07T21:45:00.002-04:00

As I promised yesterday, I'm posting about this YouTube video. Loathe as I am to give it views, go watch it first, before reading this.

Done?

Ok, good. The video starts with a scene from The Incredibles, an interaction between Syndrome (nee Buddy) and Mr. Incredible. Syndrome draws an erroneous conclusion from the interaction, and it fits, because that's exactly what the author of the video is going to do. Let's continue.

The author does note that many children have watched Disney movies as children, and that the songs and dialogue are part and parcel of ones cultural baggage. Fine.

Our first real example of poor masculine behavior goes to Kuzco, who is in process of walking down a line of young women, with deragatory comments to all. Unfortunately, this is early in the film, before Kuzco undergoes his transformation (pun intended). He starts out as an unlikeable jerk, and his comments toward the various young women is designed to make you dislike him, if not outright hate him.

The author goes on to claim that Disney movies feature heterosexual relationship. This is true enough, but one could argue that the movies are pale imitations of older legends or plays, so let's give Disney a pass for now - I might revist that in a latter post, but I may not. But the only evidence offered for the claim that men in Disney movies view women as objects of pleasure or service is the lagoon scene ("Kiss the Girl") from Little Mermaid, and "A Girl Worth Fighting For" in Mulan. More on Mulan later.

We then move on Gaston, being portrayed as a model of manhood. Now, Gaston is (let's say it slowly) a VILLAIN. A bad guy. You are not supposed to like him. In fact, I doubt many children (boys) want to be Gaston. As the movie goes on, Gaston goes from being an obnoxious jerk to a borderline sociopath; hardly a likely model for behavior.

Next, we hear the unlikely claim that "Disney movies glorify one body type above all others - chiselled abs, a barrel chest, and massive arms". Okay, I'' grant Heracles/Hercules, but then again, he is the God of Strength, after all, so maybe there is a reason. The author continues, with the allegation that men with other physiques are outcasts or subservient - again, uses Gaston (a baddie, remember) and Lefou as an example here. (Random trivia note - Lefou is phonetically identical to the French for "the fool," "the idiot" or "the insane".) . But, I must admit the author has a point that Disney heroes tend to be rather buff. Look at the barrel chest on Mowgli, and check out the guns on Woody the Cowboy. Other Disney heroes who fit the supposed ideal would be Alladin (athletic, but not the ideals above), the Seven Dwarfs, Quasimodo, Wart (from The Sword in the Stone), Milo, and Jim Hawkins. After all, check out the towering physique of Milo, right?

* I purposely ignored all the animal heroes, like Tramp, Bambi, Dumbo, Timothy Mouse, Mickey, Goofy, Bernard (from the Rescuers), and countlesss others. I could add the villains, but then we have Jafar (no gym rat he), Ursula (whoops, female), Cruella de Ville (oops, female again), and so forth. The exceptions more than outnumber the rule above.

The author also failed to note that "Be a Man" and "A Girl Worth Fighting For" are ironic, in that Mulan is best warrior in her group of the army, saves China. The whole army training arc, in fact, underscores the notion that traditional masculine prowress is not the only way, nor is it always the best way.

Finally, we hear that violence is a key theme, and that the failure to fight to prove dominance is seen as pitiful. Once again, our first example is Gaston versus the Beast - Beast does not want to fight, and forced to do so. While Gaston mocks the Beast, Gaston is clearly evil at this point; shown as a violent near-sociopath, intent on destruction. The Beast does not want to fight because he sees no reason to do so; he wishes to die, and is offering no resistance. I don't think I've ever heard the Beast called pitiful or weak for not fighting initially, and I just don't see it.

The last point is that a final battle almost required to win (the love of a) woman or maintain dominance, and a crucial key to determining which is better man. No. Flat out, no. We (the audience) know by this point in the movie that, for example, Alladin, for all his faults, is still a much better human being than Jafar will ever be, or that Simba is a much better choice than Scar. It should be noted, in fact, that while both those examples are used, the villains are the ones who instigate the conflicts - Simba tells Scarto leave, never to return; Scar choses to fight instead Jafar is attempting to sieze control of the kingdom (and he presumably has intentions beyond); Alladin is attempting to put right what once went wrong.

The author might have had a good point to make, but clearly started with a predetermined conclusion in mind, and then searched for video which would support that conclusion, even if it had to be cherry-picked and stripped of all context.

Adventure to American Girl store

2008-08-06T23:24:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I have been a bad blogger, and the blog went dark for over a month. As Pumbaa says, you gotta put your behind in your past. Or something like that, anyway.

So, yesterday, on a semi-whim, we decided to go to the American Girl store in Chicago. It's not exactly a casual trip, entailing just over 100 miles in a car, and then a couple hours along the South Shore Line. There's a bus ride, as well, since really the trip is first to the Field Museum, and then a short hop, skip and crowded bus ride to the AG store. We wouldn't go alone, however - a friend of DW was taking her three girls, and her son, so the nine of us traveled in a small, mostly-behaved pack, encumbered by two strollers, two diaper bags, 6 kids, 3 adults, and a sherpa named Mahesh.

The Field museum was a blast, as always, and DS loved the dinosaurs. The kids loved being carried around by me - I can still manage to pick up any two or three of them at a time, though I could feel it this morning. But, after several uneventful, noisy, and generally exhausting hours, we departed the museum for the real purpose of the trip - to pay homage at the shrine to the American Girl Doll.

Now, I know that these things are expensive. And, I know that no toy company worth its salt would fail to offer Kit's Tree House, Kit's typewritter and desk, Kit's various sets of clothing, Kit's depression-era furniture, and a replica steam locomotive, to act out some scene in the movie. The shocker was how busy the place was, in the middle of the day, on a weekday. Already outnumbered in our little group, I was one of the few males over the age of 6 in the store, a fact which became readily apparent during a biobreak.

On a random blog, I saw this picture. Go ahead, take a look; it's completely SFW. Pay attention, if you will, to the rich color choices of the tile and the doll-holder. Now, I wish I had taken a picture of the XY version of the same room. It wasn't bad, per se, in a bus-stop-complete-afterthought kind of way, but wow. Normally the difference in . . . facilities. . . isn't so obvious.

After an indefinite time (not long, say the equivalent to being stuck on "It's A Small World" for about half an eternity), we deperated the store, being a mere 2 bags, which appeared to be on the low end of the scale. A rambling walk, a pizza dinner, and some more rambling took us back to the train station, where we could begin the process of riding back to the cars, to begin the long drive home. We even made it back before midnight, though not by much (stupid eastern time zone).

I'm working on a post about this video, but I have to look up socially acceptable ways to imply that the poster was denied oxygen at crucial developmental moments while still in utero.

I should have taken a picture first

2008-06-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

My big painting weekend didn't happen - I spent too much time stuck in traffic, helping someone move. And, the game store were I planned on doing some work was closed. But, I still should have taken a before picture. Over the weekend, I still managed to prime 214 strips of Warmaster figs. Warmaster figs are 2 strips per base, and typically 3 bases per unit. So I primed about 35 units - a typical army has somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 units.

No wonder I was a little lightheaded when I was done.

The sad part is that I already had twice that primed, and I probably have another 300 or more strips to go, if I want to get everything primed.

Sunburst marathon race report.

2008-06-02T14:03:00.001-04:00

Or, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly return. (Sequels work for Hollywood, why not for forums and blogs?)

Actually, this race didn't have much bad or ugly about it, really. It wasn't an optimal race, but considering the problems (lack of training), it was a nice race.

The Good
I finished. That's always a plus. I even brought the time back under the 4 hour barrier, with a chip time of 3:56:34. The splits were, in general, much more consistent than Lake Geneva as well.

Mile 1: 8:18
Mile 2: 8:22
Mile 3: 7:57
Mile 4: 8:10
Mile 5: 8:06
Mile 6: 7:55
Mile 7: 8:11
Mile 8: 8:25
Mile 9: 8:22
Mile 10: 8:15
Mile 11: 8:18
Mile 12: 8:16
Mile 13: 8:16
Mile 14: 9:15 (stopped for a Gu -full stop, not a slowdown)
Mile 15: 8:39
Mile 16: 9:00
Mile 17: 8:57
Mile 18: 8:57
Mile 19: 12:02
Mile 20: 9:36
Mile 21: 9:48
Mile 22: 10:16
Mile 23: 12:14
Mile 24: 10:45
Mile 25: 11:20
Remainder: 8:43

(My Garmin got a little wonky at parts - the course is an out and back, then a different out-and-back, and I'm not sure I had a decent signal when I started. It's USAT&F certified, so I'm not sweating it.)

I held on longer than at Lake Geneva, but since I really couldn't do much in the way of distance running between the two races, I didn't get to compensate for an abysmal lack of training. The humidity was bad, and the temps were a little warm - it would have been easier to handle this later in the summer, when I am more acclimated to such conditions. At the end of spring, I'm still thinking 50 degree days are warm, so 65 degrees and high humidity at the start is not fun.

The race has some ungodly number of aid stations. 23, 24 - something like that. In part because it is an out-n-back, so you can just recycle aid stations (so to speak), but I think that they really did not want a repeat of Chicago. At the finish line (see below), they were handing out towels which were soaked in ice water. Heavenly.

The finish line is quite cool, although I was not in any mood to appreciate it. The race gets very congested at the end, since all events (5k run, 5k health walk, 10k run, half-marathon and marathon) all start at the Hall of Fame and end at Notre Dame (on the 50 yard line!). Although they stagger the starts, I was having to dodge around some of the final half-marathon crowd, plus the health walk people - which is painful at mile 25 and 26. I was having to take sporadic walk breaks, though fewer and shorter than at Lake Geneva, and finally I decided that I would not, repeat, would not, let anyone pass me. I was running (staggering, more like) and turning right to enter the stadium when another marathoner comes up on my right. He sprints ahead of me, and I take off after him - the finish line less than 100 yards away. We barrel down the entrance, passing several other runners (walkers are on the left side, runners on the right), and burst onto the field, with me still a couple feet behind him. A volunteer is directing traffic, and tells us that there is only about 50 yards left. We speed up, when we come up on another runner. He dodges left, I cut to the right, barely squeezing in between the runner and the ad hoc fencing. I manage to find some more speed, and I am matching my opponent, stride for stride. I pull in front of him, the finish line only feet away. Faster still, both of us, when he cries out, and I sprint ahead, beating him by several seconds on the clock.

Afterwards, we congratulate each other on such a fine finish. We fought, not over first, or second, or even eighty-nineth. I think we fought over 165 and 166th place.

I did prove, to myself, that I can run several races in close order. My slower times (still 15 minutes from a PR, and even behind my debut), I can attribute mainly to a lack of preparation. I now have all summer to prepare for the USAF marathon, in September. They say that you have to wait for the pain to subside before you can contemplate running another one, but I signed up for it on Saturday night. Call me silly, call my crazy, or call me Goofy, but I am really growing to like this event.

Looking ahead

2008-06-01T14:53:00.002-04:00

They said that you don't contemplate running another marathon until the pain of the last one has faded. Just as with other bits of conventional wisdom (ie, the need for training), I broke that one too. Last night, I signed up for the USAF marathon in September. I've thought about it since the expo at the Chicago marathon last year, and it'll cross Ohio off the "to-run" list.

Sunburst is done

2008-05-31T19:13:00.002-04:00

It's done. Better than Lake Geneva, but warm and humid, which is not a good mix for me. (Okay, it was only mid-60s at the start. That's twenty to thirty degrees warmer than my optimum, and I haven't gotten used to warmer weather yet anyway.)

I haven't had time to really pore over the splits, but I held a fairly stable and decent pace until mile 18. Mile 19 was bad, and even though I got it together for the next few miles, I was really cramping and doing the run/walk routine for the last few miles. I still finished in style though, sprinting into Notre Dame stadium and racing down the field, fighting with another runner for a completely unremarkable place.

I'm in trouble

2008-05-26T21:29:00.002-04:00

I'm in trouble. Really. That's the short of it. And here's the reason:

I went for a short run today. I didn't plan on going fast; I figured that I would do an east 3 miles or so, and take about 25-26 minutes at least, and really, I planned on holding it down so that it would take me almost 30. After all, it was hot, sunny, and I had spent several hours at a park already, chasing after DS on his bike, and 3 of his friends. Plus pushing them all on swings, teeter-tottering, climbing up ladders, going down slides, and so forth.

And, it felt fairly easy. But it was fast. Too fast. I'm talking like under 22 minutes.

Oops.

So much for taking it easy.

I didn't hurt myself or anything. But it's not a sustainable pace for a marathon. Not yet, at least for me. So, all my other runs for the week (such as they are, with the Sunburst marathon on Saturday) have to be on the hamster pad, at a set speed, just so I can remind the legs of the pace they are supposed to hold. I have no desire to crash and burn on this race - if nothing else, because I have to drive back home afterwards.

He will be Myth-ed

2008-05-23T21:34:00.002-04:00

Robert Asprin, author of the Myth series, Phule's Company, Cold Cash War, editor of Thieves World, and a whole bunch of other stuff, died. He was one of my favorite authors, and the Myth series never failed to delight me, no matter how bad the puns were.

Allergic to WiFi?

2008-05-23T12:31:00.001-04:00

Now I've heard everything.

Happy delivery

2008-05-20T16:02:00.002-04:00

The son has been a little train-obsessed for a while. Well, about 2 years, but anyway. . . earlier today, outside our door, the USPS dropped off a package. A long, wide, flat package. One which, when we opened it, held his first train set.

We've been telling him for a while that he would get one, and he knew it was coming, so it wasn't some huge, Christmas-level surprise, but he was bouncing off the walls when he saw it. It's an older set, so none of that fancy EZ-Track or anything, but it's (1) similar to the first set I had when I was a kid; and (2) inexpensive. I've told him that anything he breaks beyond my ability to repair does not get replaced, so if he trashes the engine, he's out of luck. But so far, in 30 minutes of play, he's been very careful with it.

We'll see if I am still saying the same thing next week.

A running update

2008-05-20T15:54:00.003-04:00

Ya know, I haven't talked about running lately, which is odd, since for a while, almost every post involved running in some way, shape or form. So, here's an update (though my sidebar is still waaay out of date. I should fix that.)

Saturday - I went running with the Y group. Most are training for either the 5k or 10k race in June (Cereal City Classic), but a couple of us are year-round runners. (For what it's worth, I will be running the 10k. It's two weeks after Sunburst, so I am not expecting it to be too quick.) Since most of the runners are some variant of "Couch to 5k in 10 weeks", I wind up being counted among the fast runners. Anyway, I wound up doing the long 7-mile route (there are two routes - one slightly less than 7 miles, one slightly more - hence the short 7 and long 7), and the guy I was running with kept talking about how he's been told that I am the one to stick with, about how fast I am, etc.

The bad part is that I kept telling him, "Dude, your 5k time is better than mine by 2 minutes or something. Just get the miles in, and I'll be working to keep up with you." It's probably true, too.

Yesterday, I went out for a quick, just over 5 mile run, along a new route. First, you need to understand that, where I live, we don't have sidewalks. Seriously. Along a couple of my routes, I have the option of running in the road, on the gravel-and-litter studded shoulder, or through the tick-infested underbrush. I generally opt for the shoulder (which has a pretty decent "sharp litter to tick" ratio), but sometimes, the choice is made for me. Like, when some idiot in a behemoth of an SUV decides that flooring the gas and swerving towards the shoulder is "funny." Oh well - adrenaline must have done some good, since I was able to run fairly consistent splits, with a total time of 37:03 for 5.3 miles! Woohoo for post-marathon legs - that's close to race pace, but it certainly didn't feel like it.

Oh yeah, like that's needed.

2008-05-17T19:18:00.002-04:00

The other day, I purchased a tree pruner from a large chain hardware store. Now, this thing is (when not telescoped) better than 7 feet tall. It's bright orange-red, and, frankly, rather awkward to carry if you are carrying anything else. And, by the way, watch how you take corners, because one slip, and it's good-bye lightbulbs, hello HAZMAT team.

And yet, this thing (unlike the new blower or weed whacker I got as well) had to pass over the scanner which deactivates an anti-shoplifting device! Really now. . . the only way this modified, 21st century pole-arm is being smuggled out of the store is hidden in something like a roll of carpet. Of course, you'd have to unroll the carpet first, then wrap the pruner up in it. That strikes me as a bit inconspicuous, but what do I know?

(And, for the record - in any post-apocalyptic scenario, I'm heading for a hardware store. Propane tanks, 2000 degree torches, poleaxes and machetes. Plus, of course, chainsaws.)

Oh yeah - I also went running today, for the first time since the marathon. That actually deserves it's own, non-blade-related, post.

Lake Geneva Marathon

2008-05-12T22:58:00.002-04:00

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

OKay, the good, the bad and the ugly are in, and I can start writing a reasonably coherent report. (Hey, the blog is Random Brain Dribbles, not "Deliberated Thought" or something like that. You get what you paid for here.)

The Bad
I finished. Technically, it was a huge improvement over my last marathon (Disney in January), but then again, this time it wasn't 100% humidity at the start, nor was I wearing a hydration pack, and, oh yeah, it wasn't my third race in three days.

My official finish time was 4:05:34. That doesn't sound too shabby, until we get to

The Ugly

Let's look at some splits, shall we?

Mile 1: 8:14
Mile 2: 7:37
Mile 3: 8:00
Mile 4: 7:51
Mile 5: 8:03
Mile 6: 7:57
Mile 7: 8:50
Mile 8: 8:02
Mile 9: 8:10
Mile 10: 8:23
Mile 11: 8:19
Mile 12: 8:14
Mile 13: 8:42
Mile 14: 8:35
Mile 15: 8:06
Mile 16: 9:16
Mile 17: 10:01
Mile 18: 9:14
Mile 19: 10:34
Mile 20: 11:27
Mile 21: 12:55
Mile 22: 12:03
Mile 23: 12:49
Mile 24: 9:31
Mile 25: 12:18
Mile 26: 10:19
The final .2: 2:04

I think it's pretty obvious where the wheels started to come off, looking at the splits. It actually happened a bit earlier than that, however. See, about mile 15-16, there is The Hill. And yes, it deserves the capital letters. It's long, it's nasty, and it just goes on and on. And it is preceded by it's little brothers, and the big brothers come along after it.

Now, in all fairness, you are warned about this in advance. It just didn't really sink in until you keep going up, and up, and up, and then down, and up, then down, then up, then down, and so forth, for mile after mile after mile.

I eventually wound up going to a run/walk routine, and having to take stops to stretch and try to get my quads and calves into some sort of co-operation.

The Good
(No, they aren't in order. Who cares?)

The course is beautiful, aside from the stretch where you run alongside (and I mean, alongside, as in, on the shoulder) of a highway. The crowd support is pretty slim, but there were a lot of informal aid stations set up by some local residents. (I had one couple offer me ibuprofen or Tylenol told them end - I declined, but I did ask about the availability of beer.)

I ran this on almost no training - my "long runs" were pretty much 12-13 miles long. (In my defense, I found out how short those trails were when it was too late to make up for it.) I was sore that evening, but not too much, and, despite the hills, I could tackle stairs the next day without more than a slight grimace.

It still counts for Wisconsin, and, if nothing else, I should (hopefully) do a bit better at Sunburst at the end of the month. After all, that one is flatter.

Race report

2008-05-11T21:49:00.001-04:00

I'd like to give one for Saturday. Honest, I would. But, I installed Sporttracks on my computer, and now Garmin's Training Center can no longer communicate with my Garmie, and I want my mile splits before I give the gruesome details of exactly how the wheels came off during the race.

But, it is done, and Wisconsin is now crossed off the list.

I was only kidding.. . .

2008-05-07T21:28:00.003-04:00

A couple of days ago, I was talking with our babysitter, and for some reason, we were discussing how to get rid of weeds. I joked that I wasn't going to mess around with any sort of harsh chemicals or truly toxic herbicides this year. No, I swore that this summer, I was just going to fire up an acetylene torch and burn those things out of existence.

(Disclaimer - some people don't consider a patch of violets to be weeds. Normally, I wouldn't either, but since the local deer population apparently needs a violet-scented restroom, I want to take action to avoid doing the deer-dropping two-step every time I mow the back yard.)

Anyway, I was only kidding. Better living through chemistry, and really, why not use an herbicide so powerful that nearby plants wilt when you open the container? But, lo and behold, I see that this is available.

2000 degrees of propane-powered incineration at my fingertips. What could possibly go wrong?

This seems suitably random

2008-05-07T07:51:00.002-04:00

The Running Jayhawk wrote a post about something called Million Blog list. So, I added my name, at #1359. It's been running since April 10, but my guess is that it is going to grow in an exponential, rather than a true linear fashion, so it probably won't take too terribly long to hit a million blogs.

Not that I am going to tie myself down to a WAG "estimate", however.

Race report - Lakeview 10k

2008-05-06T23:16:00.001-04:00

So, on a whim earlier this week, I signed up for a 10k race today. Just another sign of taper madness (Lake Geneva is only 6 days away now!), but I figured that I wasn't going to run more than 6 or 8 miles anyway, so I might as well get a T-shirt.

It was a pretty late start (8:30), and DW decided last night that she could take DD and DS in the jogging stroller, and do the (untimed) 1 mile fun run. That way, she could take a couple pics of me at the finish line. So, this morning, she woke up the kids (while I got ready), and then while they were still eating, I left in car #1, and they would follow in car #2. (The fun run had a later start, and this way, if something happened, she and the kids could leave early.)

There's not much to say about the course. It's moderately flat, with a couple notable hills. I ran essentially the same course last year, but in the other direction. I prefer the original version, because while you have a hill to climb almost immediately, you then get a nice, gradual downhill that lasts almost .5 miles. Today, you ran up that slow, gradual, quad-killer of a hill, in exchange for a short burst down the other side toward the finish.

The big problem I had was that my legs kept wanting to race, and my head kept saying "No. Yes, it's only a 10k, but you do something stupid now, and you have no time to heal or fully recover before next week. Dial it down a bit." My pace was relatively consistent (7:05, +/- 10 seconds or so), but it was faster than I originally planned.

Now, keep in mind that this is a small race, with only 30-odd people running it today. (The 5k had 60 or 70 though, so I think this will keep going in the future. I'd have liked to seen another 60 or 80 runners between the two races though.) Anyway, for most of the race, I was in 4th place (which, frankly, would never happen in a larger race). I ended up 6th overall - I kept calling to the two behind me to come catch up, and tried very hard not to keep up with them. I probably could have - they finished only about 5-20 seconds ahead of me, so a good kick going up that final hill would have brought them close enough to fight it out toward the finish, but it wasn't worth it.

I picked up an age award (#2), and had a good time. Hopefully, the good feeling from today will get me through some of the miles next weekend, because that one is going to be much, much harder.

Afraid of speed?

2008-04-21T21:58:00.003-04:00

A while back, someone posted on the Runners World forums this question (paraphrased, since I am not going to look it up right now):

How many people are afraid to be really fast; that is, how many people cheat themselves out of a PR and/or significant improvement simply because they believe that they are incapable of anything greater than their current best?

It's an interesting thought, actually. I have noticed, over the last year, that my race speed is significantly faster than anything I manage to achieve while on the treadmill. Some of it is undoubtedly due to the magic of race day, some of it due to the sheer drudgery and pace-killing effect of the hamster pad, but I wonder if there is something else there.

See, without a Garmin, I only have the vaguest idea of how fast I am going for most races. I may hit the split button when I pass a mile marker, but I have learned that I can either run a 4 minute mile in the middle of a half-marathon, or those markers are sometimes off by a tad. . . or more. I can do the math in my head to figure pace and splits, but mid-race, it's usually not worth it. If I am slow on that day, I know it - my pace is off, my stride feels "funny", and nothing settles into place. I don't need to know that I am 30 seconds per mile off my planned pace, because I am not going to catch up. Likewise, if all is going well, or really well, I want to paraphrase Han Solo, and say "Never tell me the time."

But I have a Garmin. So, I have been eschewing the heart rate monitor lately, and running an outside loop. I know the distance, and I try to ignore the pace. I glance at it from time to time, but I try not to speed up or slow down based on what it is saying.

The result? On a treadmill, a speed of 8 mph or more is difficult, and bordering on a tempo workout. Outside, my last short runs have all had an average speed of greater than 8.0, and most closer to 8.5. But they seem only moderately difficult.

Maybe I have been afraid of going faster. I'd like to break that habit, if it is true.

Ouch (or, Holy $%$*&, that hurt!)

2008-04-05T22:04:00.003-04:00

So, because I was really tired on Thursday (like, almost no sleep on Wed night), I decided to skip my scheduled hill workout and make up for it today on a trail run.

I wanted to get in 16 miles, which would be two loops of the red trail at the Fort Custer Rec. Area. The red trail is a fairly technical bike course, and is actually pretty fun to run. I finished up the first lap in a reasonable time, noting that (1) it was just about 8 miles, so I was good with my plan; and (2) my Garmin lies. I'd be running a section, and suddenly notice that my average pace was 4.1 mph. No, it's because there are many series of switchbacks, and on the "take a reading every three seconds" setting, the Garmin just wasn't keeping up. On the other hand, it did a passable job of telling me afterwards that some of the hill sections are 40% grades, which feels about right.

So, on my second lap, I am going through an area known as "Granny's Garden," which can be described as "up, down, left, up, right, down, up, left, down, up, right, up, down, left, up, right, down" and so forth - but that section only describes about 50 yards. Somewhere in there, I must have landed poorly, because my knee started bugging me. I kept trying, but eventually switched to a jog/walk routine, and took shortcuts to avoid the technical sections of the course.

I still finished 13.41 miles or something in about 2:10, but the last 3 miles or so are pretty ugly. I think that I stopped early enough that I will be able to bike for the next couple days and not suffer a long injury. I'll avoid speedwork or hills for the next week, and maybe, if the weather holds, go back and try it again next weekend.

Schedule update

2008-04-01T13:56:00.002-04:00

With the Trailbreaker cancelled, I went looking for another race. The best fit that I found was the Lake Geneva marathon, which gives me about 6 weeks to train and attempt to regain some of the fitness I lost over a couple of lousy months.

Now, looking at the elevation map for Lake Geneva, I noticed that there are some hills. So, in addition to getting in the long runs, and starting up intervals again, I needed to fit hills into my routine. I don't mind hills, or intervals, but both of them in the same week, while I am also getting used to long runs again, has me a little concerned. So, I'll take note of anything that doesn't feel right, whether it is on the treadmill, the road, the trails, or just walking around the house.

The other potential problem (aside from Lake Geneva occupying the #9 slot for "Toughest North American marathons") is that the race is on May 10th. On the 31st, I plan on running the Sunburst marathon, so there isn't much recovery time. I am not planning on "racing" either race, per se, though I'd be fibbing if I said that I didn't have time goals. At any rate, it will give me a good indication of how I would fare this fall, if I actually run the Detroit Marathon and then follow it up with the Lakefront 50-miler.

(Oh, and though I have few, if any, readers, I just wanted to congratulate Running Jayhawk and Leah on new PRs at the Shamrock Shuffle. Stop by and say congrats.)

Hooray for running again

2008-03-10T21:51:00.001-04:00

First run tonight in over a month. Took to the streets, and ran 3 miles (per Garmin) in 21:59. But it was tough, far harder than it should have been, even if I account for the near-freezing temp and the headwind. I've lost a lot more than I thought in the last month. Hopefully it comes back fairly quickly.

It never rains but it pours

2008-03-09T22:07:00.003-04:00

No posting for the last couple of days because I have been tackling a recurring problem - our basement is flooding. Not huge, build an Ark kind of flooding, but there are areas of standing water when the snow is melting or the rain pours for a day or so. So, I have to move everything around, waterproof as much as I can, repaint as much as I can, etc. And, since I don't want to empty the basement first, I have to do the whole project in sections. This takes extra time.

Anyway, I lost a lot of time today, because this morning, our TV gave up the ghost, and completely lost picture. We went shopping for a replacement, and went with an upgrade. Bigger screen, not nearly as deep, and I no longer have to do that whole "Unplug the DVD player inputs to plug in the Wii" routine. Expensive, but nice.

Sick and tired of being sick

2008-03-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

The lung crud is mostly gone, now I have to deal with some sinus infection. Blerg. The son is also sick - I kept him home from preschool today, and he basically slept all afternoon. Daughter is a little sick too, but she is mostly over it, I think.

Someday soon I get to start running again. I hope.

One of those nights

2008-03-05T14:53:00.002-05:00

Or, technically, mornings. The daughter has some sort of stomach flu, the son has been getting up early, like before 6 am. So, last night, she had to be changed at midnight (normally, she gets through the night okay, without any worry of diaper leakage). Get her taken care of, and the son comes out of his room to get a drink and demonstrate his latest potty-related skill. (He's a boy, and fond of waterfalls. You figure it out.) He does this twice in a 20 minute period. Then, about 2 am, he comes to our room, with a nosebleed. My wife helps get him cleaned up, while I change his bed, check all the toys etc for blood, and calm him down. I let her go back to sleep, then stay up with him for the better part of an hour until he falls back to sleep. At 5 am, the daughter wakes up, needing fluids and a new diaper.

Nothing in over a month

2008-03-04T23:52:00.002-05:00

And I am almost referring to my running. I managed a couple of runs during this last month, but I spent a lot of time simply trying to expel my lungs from my body. I'm finally getting better, thanks to some intense antibiotics and some wonderful codeine-based elixir, but I probably won't be running for another couple of days.

But, that's not a big deal, since my next race got canceled. Yep, the Trailbreaker Marathon got cancelled, which is kind of a shame. So, I am revisiting my schedule, and considering trying to run the Lake Geneva Marathon about a month before the Sunburst. Lake Geneva is supposed to be tough, and the remarks on MarathonGuide seem to bear it out:

On race day there was not one indication of where the start line was! There was NO spectators. I felt like I was running a neighborhood 5k. The course was nice for the first 5 miles, but out in the middle of nowhere for the rest of the race. NO miles markers anywhere!!! The hills were killer. Over all very disappointed and won't run in again.

I realize I'm a bit touched in the head, but that actually sounds kind of fun. They have a course map available as a .pdf, so I might download it and enter the route onto gmaps pedometer or something, just to judge the hills.

Army projects for 2008

2008-02-05T22:20:00.000-05:00

So, over on the Reaper board, there is a thread where people can list what army-sized projects they are hoping to complete in 2008. And, being slightly insane, and very behind in my painting, I posted the following:

Here are my "Pie in the sky" goals for army-level projects, 2008. Right now, everything ranges from "still NIB/NOS" to "partially painted" though sadly most is no better than "assembled/primed" if that.

GW
Tau - I have something like 4k points (3 XV88, 6-7 Devilfish, 3 Hammerheads, about 80 Fire Warriors, 9 or 10 crisis suits, 5 Pirahna, lots of gun drones, etc, etc.)
Imperial Guard - IG Tank Company, Baneblade, plenty of guard on foot (70?), plus heavy weapons, command, Chimeras, Hellhounds, etc
Marines - 2 dreads, 2 Terminus crusaders, about 60 marines, 30 scouts, 3 rhinos, a predator, a razorback, 20 assault marines, lots of termies.
Orks - I've thought about making a small army of these as well.

Reaper
Lots and lots of CAV. I've lost count, but I have a hundred CAV that need painting, plus the same in infantry & vehicles.
Dwarves, Necropolis, Nefsokar, Crusaders, Reptus -all these armies need to be worked on.

Flames of War
Germans - sort them out, see what I have, and start buying pieces to make them a coherent force. Looking for about a 2k Panzergrenadierkompanie
Soviets - I have almost a full Strelkovy Batalon (which means almost several hundred bases of infantry, plus tanks, guns, assorted light vehicles, etc)

Warmachine/Hordes
I have fairly substantial amounts for all the factions that need work, ranging from the low of "just the starter box, plus a couple figures" to "hot $%(&$, so that's what 2500 in Cryx looks like."

And that's not even addressing the stuff that I would like to work on, time permitting. Right now, I try not to look at the whole thing, and devote some time every day to assembly, priming, painting, etc. It's not all going to get done, but I want to look back at the end of the year and say "I made significant progress this year."

EDIT - I'm not even including terrain projects. That's a whole additional list of stuff. I'd be working on stuff now, but now while my wife is out and the kids are awake.

As you can see, it's a pretty big list. Since then, I have also added figs for the old SJG game: Ogre. (Especially since it is supposed to be back in print later this month, and they are making figs for it again.) Now, the depressing part is that, so far, my current count of the aforementioned miniatures is 637, of which perhaps half are assembled and primed. It gets worse - my current count is no more than 50% of the above list, and possibly as low as 30%. So, my final tally is certainly in excess of 1000, and might come close to 2000. If I add in terrain projects, it gets even worse.

I can't decide if I run to get away from the backlog of lead, plastic and resin, or if I paint in order to recuperate from running.

On a running note, I have started doing most of my workouts with the Camelbak again. I need to get comfortable with it before the Trailbreaker marathon, so I only have a couple of months for intense hill and speedwork wearing an extra 4 pounds before I run that race.

Soon or later, I'm gonna pay the piper for this

2008-01-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

But not today. Short post, since I need some food and what not, but 2.2 k on the rowing machine, followed by 5 miles on the hamster pad. Still wearing the Camelbak for both, I figure it's going to pay off come April.

Because I'll either be wearing it, or feeling awfully light on my feet without it.

Slacking time is over.

2008-01-29T21:55:00.000-05:00

Yep, I've been slacking. I could blame being sick, or a pulled muscle, but really, even though both were true (still are, to some extent), I've just been slacking. No races officially on the schedule, and I haven't been feeling like running much lately.

Well, I hadn't, anyway. I just needed some time off, kinda recharge those mental batteries. So, while I haven't registered for it yet (going to in the next couple of days though), I have my next marathon planned.

See this?

Yep. That's a 70-step, 4-story tower that you climb at the halfway mark. It's a trail marathon, too, which means (1) mud; (2) rocks; (3) hills; (4) a lot fewer aid stations. Sounds fun. (Actually, it does. It was ranked by Marathon & Beyond as one of the 25 Toughest Marathons in America.)

It will take care of Wisconsin for me, if I finish it.

So today, I ran 5 miles of hills, all with the Camelbak. And I did some weights, and some rowing. I need to get back in shape, if I am going to run this thing faster than I did at Disney.

Oh yeah

2008-01-23T00:11:00.000-05:00

I'm also not running for a while. I'm sick, a happy little souvenir from Walt Disney World. (Okay, it's not the fault of the Mouse. Someone in our group was sick, and I brought it home with me.)

They say . . .

2008-01-22T23:45:00.000-05:00

that the first year is the hardest year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, even Halloween were tough these last few months. Today marks the first anniversary of my mother's death, and going through the holidays just wasn't the same.

42.4 is the new 26.2

2008-01-21T15:29:00.000-05:00

So, on the second weekend of January, I went out and did a little running. On Friday, I ran a 5k, followed by a little 13.1 mile jog on Saturday, and then a longish run of 26.2 miles on Sunday. If you only run the latter two, Disney calls it the "Goofy Challenge". When you add that additional 5k, you are running what is unofficially known as the Dopey.

And boy, it fits.

Let me start by saying that all the experts pretty much agree that you have to respect the distance of the marathon. 26 miles, 385 yards or 42 kilometers; either way, you can't bluff your way through it. Sure, they say, you can get through a 5k or 10k okay, and you might even manage to get through a half on pure talent, but to run a marathon requires training and lots of long runs.

They lie.

At the tail end of October, I ran a 50k ultra, just to get some use out of all the training I put in for my aborted Chicago effort. From that point on, I did almost no long runs. I think I logged a 16 miler in early December, and maybe a couple of 12 mile runs, but basically, everything was done in less than 90 minutes, with most being in the 5-6 mile range. Keep that in mind, as you read the race summaries.

Friday, the 5k.
This was the day that I got to sleep in, as the race didn't start until the late hour of 7 am. So I got to sleep until 5 am or so, hopped on a bus, and basically loitered in the Animal Kingdom parking lot until it was almost race time.

I had been to the expo the day before, so I was wearing my bright orange wristband, the one that declared my lapse in sanity and declared proudly that I would be doing the Goofy Challenge. There were other lunatics wandering around Friday morning, and we all agreed that today was simply a warm-up day, not a day to try for a new PR or anything.

Well, I was going to PR anyway. See, I have never actually run a 5k. (Well, until Friday, anyway.) My high school XC races were 2.5-3 miles, and as an adult, everything has been 10k or longer. Thus, technically, no matter how slowly I ran the race, I would have a new PR. I did run a little faster than I had intended, perhaps at a moderate training pace.

The real high point of the race came at the start. See, it's not a chipped race, nor does Disney keep track of the results. You were also expected to line up at an area indicated by your expected pace (ie, sub 7:00 miles, 7:01-9:00 minute miles, etc). A lot of kids, however, lined up toward the front of the pack. And, predictably, most of them faded hard and fast; barring a couple notable exceptions (wearing track or XC jerseys), all the kids faded during the first .75 miles or so, which is basically a circuit around the parking lot. Apparently, if I had stuck around after finishing, I could have watched a bunch of kids cross the finish line and promptly toss their cookies. I admire the spirit that compels someone to push on regardless, but for a non-chipped, unofficial race, I can't see the point.

5k time: 22:46

Half-marathon, Saturday
Ah, the joys of waking up at 3:10 am. There aren't any. But you have to wake up by about then to get on the bus that will get you to the starting line at 5:30 or so, in order to be ready for the 6 am start. Predictably, our bus got lost, and we circled Epcot (and the Sports Complex, Animal Kingdom, Tampa, and possibly Atlanta, GA, for all I know) before finally getting to our destination.

I had brought clothes purchased for the specific purpose of wearing them until the race started, and then tossing them. It's one thing to run in a tech T and shorts, but sitting around in 40 degree weather is something else. Fortunately, it was an oppressively balmy 64 degrees (and high humidity) at the start, so I didn't have to wear them.

In my area of the start corral, we had a small contingent of orange-banded Goofys. We just gravitated toward each other, a bunch of runners, all in the front corral (A), who, under other circumstances, would be trying for a sub-1:40, sub-1:30, or even a sub-2:00. But today, to a one, we all declared that we were taking it easy.

And easy I did. I fell in with a couple of other Goofy runners, who were going about the same pace I was. I had originally planned for a 1:55-2:00 half - faster than my last race on the same course, but 15-20 minutes slower than my current (and fairly recent) PR. Instead, I found myself moving along at a 1:50 pace, which, while faster than planned, didn't feel difficult.

I hung with them until mile 10 or 11, when I grabbed a drink at a water stop and promptly choked on it. I lost some time coughing and gasping for air, and decided that it wasn't worth the effort to catch up to them.

I did spend a short period toward the end running with a guy who reminded me of my first race. He was running along, gasping "The pain. It's too much. If I fell over here, I'd die. I wouldn't be able to get back up." Apparently, he is a 5k runner, and this was his first half-marathon. It probably didn't help his confidence that Goofy runners were passing him, talking casually at a 1:45-1:55 pace.

I finished with a nice sprint, partly because it is tradition, and partly because a fellow runner on Friday had told me that he figured I wouldn't be able to do a final sprint on either the half or the full.

Half marathon time - 1:51:52

Sunday
3 am doesn't get any better on the second day. This time, however, my wife and SIL joined me, as they were running as well. The three of us got ready, and got on a bus that actually knew where we were going. I left them, and started looking for a friend of mine from my Saturday running group. I had been leaving messages on where to find me, and hoped that we could find each other before heading to the corrals. No such luck, and I eventually headed over to the corrals without him.

As luck would have it, however, he found me a couple of miles into the race. I had told him that I would be wearing my Camelbak - I wasn't going to be without a personal water supply, given a 64 degree, 100% humidity start. He found me because a bright yellow Camelbak is a lot easier to pick out of a crowd than "I'll be in a white jersey and black cap."

By mile 3, I was drenched in sweat, and the two of us were going with our agreed-upon goal: finishing, probably about a 4:30 pace. I wasn't going to push it, and we both wanted to spend time with our respective families in the parks later that day.

Now, let me say that, in light of the heat and humidity, I think Disney did a fine job of providing for us. I probably could have left the Camelbak in the room, but didn't want to chance a heat-related DNF. I saw plenty of water and PowerAde, and they had plenty of sponges out at mile 15 or so. (I grabbed one - new race plan for warm weather is going to call for a sponge inside my hat. Very refreshing.)

And it's fun running through the parks. It's fun to interact with the various CMs, the characters, and the crowd. The route has so many choke points and enough runners that you probably won't PR, unless you are near the front, or are trying to beat a previous 6 hour time, so you might as well just treat it as a 26-mile training run, with the added bonus of crowd support, water, and a medal at the end.

I did declare mandatory walk breaks about the end of the Animal Kingdom, however (mile 16?). At that point, I noticed that I wasn't sweating as much as I had been at the start. This could have meant one of two things:

1) I wasn't working as hard, and didn't need to sweat as much to stay cool; or
2) I was dehydrated, and it could get dangerous, fast.

So, I decided that we should slow down a bit, and take walk breaks every 10 minutes or so. It turns out that I was fine - it was about that point when the humidity had begun to drop, and a breeze was cooling me off. Still, I didn't want to chance it, and kept a careful eye on fluids and my heart rate.

We stuck together until almost the end, alternatively encouraging each other. When we hit the choir at the end, I told him that I was going to empty the tank, and started that final kick toward the end. As I dodged and weaved my way through other runners toward the finish line, I heard the announcer ask if there were any Goofy runners in the pack. As I shouted "Heck yeah!", he noticed me, and commented on sprint towards the finish. I crossed, and promptly slowed, causing a volunteer to ask if I was okay. I told him yeah, just tired, and slowly started moving, so that my buddy, who was a minute or so behind me, could catch up.

Full time - 4:38: 40 (a new PW, almost by an hour. Who cares though.)
Goofy time:: 6:30:22 - I missed my target by less than a minute. Good enough.
Dopey time: 6:53:08

Considering I did very little training for this, and spent my non-running time chasing my kids around the parks, I'm happy with it. I'd be signed up for the 2009, but I've been told that until the kids are older, I have to put plans to do this again on hold. I'll just content myself with marathons and ultras for the next few years, then.

Not dead, just resting

2008-01-20T22:29:00.000-05:00

Been a busy couple of months. I will be posting about how 42.4 is the new 26.2, and how the experts are wrong, that you can actually bluff your way through a marathon on almost no training (but it's ugly).

My Garmin works outside too!

2007-11-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

Sure, it's supposed to, but it's nice to know that it actually does. Last night, in the pleasantly cool (ie, sub 40) darkness, I went for a few laps around the block. Technically, it's loops around our cul-de-sac, but same thing.

In the car, I had previously measured it as 1 lap = .50 miles, and the Garmin confirms that. Actually, it says that each lap is a whopping .52 miles, but I am not going to go and correct my logbook for the extra .3 miles for the year (or whatever it would work out to be). I didn't beat my previous heart rate high of 203, but I hit 199, and the Garmin clocked me at a top speed of 15.0 mph. Holy cow! (Granted, it was on my final sprint to the end, but it's reaffirming to know that I actually do run faster than my treadmill's maximum setting.)

First try with the Garmin

2007-11-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, it was inside, and I hit the wrong buttons a couple of times, so it really did not do a good job of recording time. But it was an ID-10-T error (remove the hyphens, it's a geek joke), so it's my fault, not the Garmin's.

I did learn at least one important thing though: according to several formulas, my maximum heart rate should be either 185 or 203. It's at least 203 in reality, since the Garmin recorded my HR at 203 during my final, high-incline sprint at the end of the run.

Pretty pointless speed workout

2007-11-07T12:44:00.000-05:00

Last night, I did an actual, dedicated speed workout. See, at the end of every run, and I mean every run, I always manage a kick, ranging from only 100 yards or so to a full mile of ever-increasing speed. I like to think that it helps me in races, because if nothing else, I am learning how to finish strong regardless of how I feel.

But last night, I decided that I would do an actual speed workout again. The plan was simple - a half mile at a fairly relaxed pace, and then .1 mile at a fast pace (10 mph), then .1 at a recovery pace (about 5.5 mph - still running, but recovering). I managed to do 15 of them, and could have kept going, but I had other things to do, so I called it fine there.

Anyway, I'll do it again, but I think I need to increase the sprint distance to .12, and reduce the jog to .08, and try it again at the same speeds. If it's still too easy, then either the sprint or the recovery is too slow, possibly both. Still, I'm not working on speed too much, but getting faster is always a good goal.

Lookie what I got

2007-11-06T13:34:00.000-05:00

Aw, I'm all happy now. It works on so many levels - it appeals to the runner and the geek in me.

50k Results

2007-10-29T09:31:00.000-04:00

I'll post more later, but since I was out of town and away from my computer, I hadn't posted results yet.

Long run made short - I finished the 50k, with a total time of 5:00:25. With no long runs (ie, over 15) in more than a month, and not much in the way of quality workouts in that time, I'll take it. And yeah, it was one heck of a fun race.

Ave caesar! Morituri te salutamus.

2007-10-26T18:24:00.000-04:00

It's just over 12 hours until D-Day. Wish me luck, as I attempt my first 50k.

Painting challenge

2007-10-24T16:45:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated the status on this in some time.

These pics are really lousy, but it's not worth using the good lens and moving the stuff from the painting area to someplace with better light for WIP (work in progress) pics.

The stealth suits are still a little bright, but a light spray of a matte sealer should reduce that considerably. I've started the bases (yes, I do my bases when I am almost done with the fig), but I had to let the Magic Dip dry completely. That trio should be done tomorrow, if I can get around to finishing their bases. The Fire Warriors are almost done with the base colors - the details are lacking, because I didn't bother with the good lens. Tomorrow I should finish the base colors on the remainder, and start working on the highlights.

The drones are started, and I would have gotten more done on the Crisis suits, but I had to repair one of them, so things got a little stalled.

So far, I am reasonably pleased with the overall progress. I wouldn't claim these to be painted by any stretch, but ya gotta admit, it's a vast improvement over bare plastic and metal.

Truly a random thought

2007-10-24T14:40:00.002-04:00

I bought several packages of socks the other day. Just your average, run-of-the-mill, 6 packs of white cotton socks. (No, they are not for running.) I understand putting them in a sealed plastic bag, and I'm kewl with that. No, what I don't understand is this:

Why does that sealed plastic bag, for my cotton socks, have a resealable closure?

I mean, really, am I supposed to be keeping them sealed for freshness or something? Maybe I should refrigerate them, or at least check for a "Best if worn by" date.

21 Day Challenge, continued

2007-10-15T07:19:00.000-04:00

Finally have some pics. These are from before I started work last night. I didn't get as much time as I wanted the last couple of days, but. . .

Day 4 update - bodies of Piranhas are assembled, remaining Fire Warriors now have legs. Gun drones for Piranhas assembled, which was almost a disaster. It as very late when I started on these, and I glued the guns on backwards. Fortunately, I caught it before the glue set, but it was a close thing.

Day 5 update - Piranha wings and bodies now glued together. All Fire Warriors now have heads, bodies. A few have backpacks. Heads glued to Stealth Suits. The bad news of the day is that I lost the auctions for the RE magnets. I may have to just make some permanent weapons choices for everything in this box set, which, although disappointing, is probably not such a big deal in the long run. I plan on adding more Crisis Suits & Hammerheads in the future, just to play Apocalypse.

Day 6 update - got a lot done. All Fire Warriors now have backpacks. Main bodies of both the Devilfish and Hammerhead are done - all that remains for each are the drones and turret assemblies. And deciding what to do with the landing gear. Although no piece is technically fully assembled, many things are getting quite close, and plan on getting plenty of things ready for the priming stage after tomorrow.

Letter from Pinkowski

2007-10-12T14:46:00.000-04:00

There is a letter out from Pinkowski. In a nutshell, it says "Sorry if your race experience was less than you expected. We're listening, honest, despite the way we've been talking for the past week, and we promise that we are taking your criticism seriously."

Update on 21 day challenge.

2007-10-12T00:31:00.000-04:00

Remember this? I haven't been posting my updates here, but I'll do a quick recap.

Day 1 (official, long version): The Tau Megaforce set contains two (2) Crisis Suits, three (3) Stealth Suits (and Markerlight Drone), twenty (20) Fire Warriors, six (6) Gun Drones, three (3) Piranhas, one (1) Devilfish APC and one (1) Hammerhead Gunship. That's an awful lot of stuff. I sorted through everything, getting everything set in the appropriate area, and got to work cutting and trimming things from the sprue. I bagged stuff as I went, so that I would not have to try and find the legs from the Stealth Suits, only to find that I used them for some Fire Warriors. When I called it a day, the only things still left on the sprue were about half of the Fire Warriors.

Day 2: The Fire Warriors are all off the sprue and bagged. I've started trimming and assembling, and the Stealth Suits are mostly assembled. I'll probably leave them as they are for a few days, since I don't have the codex yet, and I don't want to commit to a particular weapon configuration. Tomorrow, I plan to work on getting the Fire Warriors started, as well as the Crisis suits.

Day 3 update - real work has begun. The Stealth suits are mostly trimmed and assembled. I still have the heads, weapons and some optional bits to add, but those will wait until I have the codex. The Crisis suits are partially assembled; right now they are Crisis Torsos. The wing assemblies to all 3 Piranha are done, and 10 Fire warriors now have torsos and legs. Not as much as I would like, but I did not have as much time tonight as I had originally hoped.

I haven't bothered posting any pics yet, because right now, everything is still bits of gray plastic. I should take one tomorrow, since now things are at least starting to look like something.

Looking for some redemption

2007-10-11T17:21:00.000-04:00

So, I want to get the bitter taste of that DNF out of my mouth. I'll be honest - that was my first DNF, ever, and if I had not passed by my support crew, and been within 50 yards of where I was staying, I probably would not have quit. But quit I did, and I need to do something to redeem myself, in my eyes if no one else's.

Unfortunately, I really cannot afford to blow the $300 or so that Detroit or Indy will cost me right now. (I'm including hotel and race fees there, plus something for gas and food.) But there is a 5k and a 10k race about 90 miles away in November.

And here's the first fun part. The 5k is at 9 am, and the 10k is at 10 am. So yes, you can sign up for both, and some people do. 15k is no problem - it's not even 10 miles.

And the second fun part is that the course is supposed to be hilly. The 10k is apparently a double loop, so you pass over the same hills twice.

Cold (Michigan in November certainly won't be 85 degrees), hilly and possibly even rain? I think I am in. It sounds like fun.

Staying cool on the course

2007-10-10T10:33:00.000-04:00

My main lesson learning from Chicago is that I cannot rely on race organizers to necessarily provide liquids or cooling services on a hot day. So, although I already have a fuel belt, and an amphipod, I am currently trying to decide which I want to get - a cooling vest or a camelbak.

I'm leaning toward the camelbak, but I don't want one of those little ones. I'm going to want to hold 2-3L of water. Screw the extra weight, because 4 pounds of ice water would have made a major difference in completing the death march on Sunday.

Any opinions or reviews would be appreciated.

21 day challenge

2007-10-10T10:23:00.000-04:00

I decided to bite the bullet, and get back into GW games. Normally, I prefer Warmachine, Flames of War or CAV, but sadly, none of those games are played in my neck of the woods, and frankly, I don't feel like trying to get another game group going from scratch again. But GW games are kind of a ground state in miniatures gaming; it's hard not to find players in most areas.

So, I found a group that's only 20-30 minutes away, checked them out, and decided that a game which is fun, but not my favorite, is better than no game at all. After some thinking, I chose an army for my 40k forces, and ordered the army in a box deal.

It arrived yesterday, and I have decided to attempt Dr Faust's "21 Day Challenge". I probably won't finish everything before the end of the month, but since November is NaNoWriMo, I want to get as much done before then as possible.

Daley blames us too

2007-10-09T20:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is really starting to tick me off. I carried water, I slowed my pace (more with every mile), but I do not deal with heat well. It's not something I can overcome with training or conditioning; it's a simple biological reality.

See, one of my legs is basically scar tissue. To be fully honest, it's only scar tissue from ankle to just under the knee (and then around the back of the knee), and then scar tissue for most of the thigh. The other leg has a bunch of scar tissue around the thigh. (Multiple hits from a car, then the scars from skin grafts, including several failed ones, respectively. OTOH, I know exactly what a compound, complex spiral fracture looks and feels like, because it happened to me almost 30 years ago. But I digress.) Scar tissue does not sweat. I can run hard intervals, and aside from drips from my shorts, there is a distinct lack of sweat on much of my legs. No sweat means it's harder for me to shed heat. (It's a big plus for winter running though - 35 degrees is quite pleasant, aside from hands and head, which are easily remedied.)

Anyway, with the official cooling stations all being in the back 6.2 miles of the race, I was hosed. I had planned to keep my pace down, then basically stuff my shorts and/or hat with ice and use several of the sponges. Guess what I never saw?

I bailed because I was getting stupid, though not yet so stupid that I couldn't tell. My wife and future brother-in-law both tell me that I was babbling a bit when I bailed, and I ran a pretty high fever until sometime last night - my wife guessed it at 101 or 102, but to be honest, I didn't bother checking. I probably should have, but since I could keep fluids and solids down, I figured it would solve itself in a day or so (which it did).

I'll run again - Goofy is coming up. I might do Chicago again, but if that weather is a possibility, I am either going to fill a 3.0L capacity camelbak with ice water, or get one of those cooling vests, because I can't trust the race officials to take care of my cooling needs until mile 20, apparently.

DNF

2007-10-08T23:57:00.000-04:00

Chicago sucked. Big time. I was overheating early, and dropped somewhere past the halfway point. If I had walked only a little bit, I would have been part of the diverted, still got a medal crowd. Still feeling sick, and not just over the DNF.

Pre-race analysis

2007-10-03T14:03:00.001-04:00

Okay, so maybe all I manage with this is to demoralize myself ahead of time, but I'm thinking about Chicago on Sunday, and here's the thoughts concerning my time:

Cons

I'm sick. Yep - no fever, but hacking phlegm is a bad sign for running. It might clear up before then, but it's not certain.
Sleep? What's that? Between a teething baby and a toddler who keeps getting up in the night to wander into my room, I haven't gotten as much as 4 hours of continuous sleep in several months. 6 hours of continuous is a dim and distant memory.
It's going to be hot. Damned hot. Right now, it's looking like there will be near-record highs, with a low that is more than 10 degrees higher than my ideal running temperature. (Actually, my ideal is close to 40, so a probable temp of 75 at the start is bad.)
I'm not sure my training has been wholly up to snuff.

Pros

I know that I have been getting faster, and last years time would have been great (for me), or at least tolerable, had I not wrenched my knee somewhere about the 25k or 30k mark.
That's about it, really. . . .

At the beginning of the year, I had hopes for a BQ at Chicago. As late as last month, I was hoping to come close to a 3:20. I'm still thinking that a 3:30 is doable, and if the weather co-operates, I might even manage to get down towards the 3:20, but it's not looking good right now. . .

On the plus side, I don't need to worry about having extra clothes to keep warm before race time, though a couple of fans to keep cool would be nice.

Gebrselassie sets new marathon record

2007-10-02T17:13:00.000-04:00

Meant to post something about this yesterday. All I can say is "Damn, that's fast."

Bailing on Detroit

2007-10-02T16:31:00.000-04:00

Well, for the time being, anyway. For various and sundry reasons, I have decided to do only one marathon this year (and, as I noted previously, it probably won't be a BQ, though I still have confidence in a strong PR performance), and since I hadn't registered for Detroit anyway, it wasn't a hard decision.

But I am already planning for next year. So far, the tentative schedule is as follows:

January - WDW Marathon (technically, the Goofy challenge), which takes care of Florida.

April - Boston Marathon. Okay, I can dream, right? Actually, I might do the Country Music Marathon, which would take care of Tennessee.

June - Sunburst Marathon, which takes care of Indiana.

September - Air Force Marathon, which takes care of Ohio

October - Detroit Free Press marathon, which takes care of Michigan.

My thought is to try and do 3-5 marathons per year, depending on location and how old the kids are. As they get older, I can do more marathons farther away, but while they are young, I pretty much need to concentrate on the nearby races, which means the midwest. Alaska and Hawaii are probably going to be the final 2 of the group, and they'll be tied to family vacations.

Yeah, I've been gone

2007-10-02T16:04:00.000-04:00

And now, I am sick. Chicago is less than a week away, and I am coughing and hacking. Gah. I blame some of it on traveling to see my family two weekends in a row. Don't get me wrong, I love them all, and it was good to see them, but they have a dog, which is basically an allergen-spewing attention hound, who, as so many animals do, gravitates toward whomever is the most allergic in the room. That would be me.

I'm hoping it will clear up soon. As it stands, with the weather for Sunday being on the warm side (almost 60 at the start! ack!), the lack of my desired pace group in my corral, a general lack of sleep, and what I feel to be insufficient training, I'll try for, but do not really anticipate making, a BQ time.

And I'm really feeling down, seeing lots of people (okay, mostly women) who are in good shape for their BQ, which is either a time I have already made, or 15 minutes slower than I anticipate running, even if I still have this cold. I'm happy for them, but the difference between elite men and women isn't 30 minutes, so why such a large time spread for Boston?

Too little, too late (probably)

2007-09-13T16:29:00.000-04:00

Today I made a slight discovery - if I tarry at the library at all once I have dropped off the son, I have to cut my workout a bit (or a lot) short. You would think that I could manage to get in a short library visit (like 20 minutes), and still manage to have 75 minutes for a run, considering that the library is 2 blocks from the Y, and preschool is a full 2:15, right?

Nah. So instead of 10 miles, I only got in 9. But they were a quality nine, thank you very much. Quality enough to have me nodding off this afternoon while sitting on the couch, anyway.

I planned on writing more, but the baby is awake and fussy, so I'll cut this short to take care of her.

Oh my quads

2007-09-12T15:43:00.001-04:00

I haven't done a good hill workout in a looong time. My usual weekend long run has some small and gentle hills on it, but it's essentially flat. So, yesterday I decided (on a semi-whim) to do 5 miles of hills. The lowest incline was .5 degrees (nothing, really, since I generally run with somewhere between .5 and 1.0 degrees to get a better gauge of pace), but the hill program kept shooting it up to 7.1 degrees!

And then I went home and mowed the lawn. This morning, my legs were stiff, really stiff. I skipped on running (so far), but I might do a quick 3-4 miles tonight, just to get the kinks worked out before tomorrow.

Boston denied

2007-09-09T23:01:00.000-04:00

Or most likely delayed.

I know I haven't posted in a long time, so this might be going out to an audience of, well, zero. That's okay. This isn't a vanity blog, though it is nice to get comments.

I had a race on Labor Day, a half-marathon tune-up race that I have done twice before. I went into it expecting a slight PR (since it is flat, versus the hills on my last attempt), and I have been trying to do some speedwork over the summer. My worst case was that I would get about my current PR, but it would be an easy effort.

How about barely managing to avoid a PW? I could say that I went out to quick, I could blame a bout of the flu that sidelined me for a couple of low-mileage weeks, I could blame the weather (high 70's at the start, 80-something before the end, and humid as all heck get out), but in the end, I joined all the other people reduced to shambling along in a run/walk zombie deathmarch. It wasn't pretty, unless you mean pretty awful, and it completely blew my confidence for Chicago all to heck.

I'll still do Chicago, I'll aim for a PR, but after Labor Day, that 3:15 BQ seems like a pipe dream, so Boston might have to wait another year or two.

A tale of two runs.

2007-08-06T15:11:00.000-04:00

It was the best of runs, it was the worst of runs. It was a run of happiness, it was a run of despair. It was a run of joy and confidence, it was a death march.

Okay, they were two different runs, actually. One week apart. One was 7 laps of a 2.2 mile course (per GPS, the sign lies and says 2.5), which is about 1.5 miles of uphill, a steep downhill, and the remainder fairly flat, and the other was 15 miles of almost all flat asphalt.

So, about the same distance, one with noticeably harder terrain. The easier terrain had more water, both runs had companionship for the first 7 miles or so.

There just happens to be almost 30 minutes of time difference between the two runs. And the tougher run has the better time.

I was feeling pretty shot, confidence-wise, from that second run, until I did my 20-miler on Saturday. Easy, breezy, little water, no gu or gatorade, and still finished in well under 3 hours. I'm feeling a lot more confident about Chicago now.

Another milestone

2007-07-15T19:04:00.000-04:00

I do my mileage tracking on Breaking The Tape, and it tracks workouts on a Mon-Sun week. As of five minutes ago, I did my first 40-mile week. Onward and upward, leaving a trail of sweat behind.

Another LSD run in the bag

2007-07-14T15:07:00.001-04:00

I hadn't mentioned this, but a couple of weeks ago, I went on a long run (17 miles), and basically got reacquainted with The Wall. It was a bad, bad run, probably the worst I have had in well over a year. The first hour and a half wasn't bad, but the temps kept climbing, and even though I was toting water (and refilled past the halfway point), it just wasn't enough. My last 3 miles or so more closely resembled a death march than a run. My legs cramped up, almost seized completely, and I had to do a hobble/walk routine for a while until I could get them stretched out again.

So why do I bring this up? Because today's run, even though it was only 13 miles (possibly 13.2, but I'm only claiming 13, just to be safe), could not have been more different. Relaxed, easy pace, and if it had not been for a potty break, it would have been within a couple of minutes of my current half-marathon PR, for almost the same distance.

I'm waffling back on forth on whether or not I can really qualify for Boston at Chicago this year, but runs like today's really bolster my confidence.

I've been a bad, bad blogger.

2007-07-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

But not a bad runner. I've kept the mileage up, but haven't had anything interesting to say lately. I'll post something substantial tomorrow, even if it is a list of recipes or something, just to prove that I am still here.

WDW marathon

2007-06-22T11:30:00.000-04:00

The marathon at Disney is one step closer to being filled - my wife signed up for it. It's going to be her first marathon, and she is planning on using the walk/run Galloway method. She's been waffling for months, but she ran the 5k a couple of weeks ago, and I finally talked her into training for Disney.

She's a little concerned about how both of us are going to be doing our long runs, but I keep reminding her that I'll be doing most of my long runs in July-September in preparation for Chicago, and then for Nov-Dec, I can do shorter ones or run later in the day, so that she can do her long slow runs on Saturday mornings or afternoons. (And, to be honest, if one of us is going to run outside late in the day, when the sun might be setting - it's going to be me.

My son has a crush

2007-06-22T11:17:00.000-04:00

The little guy has developed a crush on someone.

It's quite cute,. actually. We're going to WDW next year for the marathon weekend, and so we requested the vacation DVD. It's mainly to acquaint the munchkin to several things: (1) Goofy is huge, and even Mickey, Daisy, Minnie, Donald, et al are quite big, compared to him; and (2) what sort of things he can expect to see.

In the process of watching the video/commercial, he's become quite smitten with Cinderella. He's talking about taking pictures that he has drawn to show her, and he keeps asking when he can talk to Cinderella. Sure, it's months before we go, but it's awfully cute, watching the little guy gush over her.

Ouch. Why don't I ever learn?

2007-06-22T10:48:00.000-04:00

I can file that under "Bad Ideas". I just started adding a constant incline to the dreadmill again. It's not much, but a constant .5 or 1.0 degrees means that your entire run is essentially uphill, albeit a very slight one. Adding that incline is meant to simulate the effects of wind, hills, air resistance, and so forth, all of which you would encounter outside, but not in the "comfort" of your gym. I say "comfort" because, in my experience, outside is almost always more pleasant, and faster, than my runs at the gym.

Anyway, it's a bad idea to add an incline at the same time you are trying to increase your cadence. See, my cadence (steps per minute) is actually pretty low. Basically, the faster you take steps, the faster you run (in general). So, I went to a site that has podcasts you can download for free. Each podcast has a certain beat to it (ranging from 130 bpm to 181) and the idea is that you try to run to the beat. So, I've been trying to run at about the 165 to 170 bpm mark, which is an increase from my current cadence, which would be in the 155-160 range.

Anyway, last night, I quit a dreadmill run early because my legs were just heavy and sore - I've got my long run tomorrow, and a moderate workout for today planned, so I'd just as soon save some energy for those.