Beer tasting, Fort Collins, Laramie

For the Christmas holiday, I flew out to Denver to be with my family in Laramie. Evan picked me up at the airport on Thursday after a packed flight. We headed straight to Fort Collins to visit a few breweries before we drove up to Laramie.

By |December 26th, 2010|Family, Friends, Photo, Running, Travel|Comments Off on Beer tasting, Fort Collins, Laramie

Birthday weekend, 9 second 5k

I ran the Elf Trot 5k.

At 4 I headed over to the Elf Trot 5k. I was planning on running it in a squirrel costume from work to promote the 10k race we have in February, but it was raining and I didn’t want to ruin it. Instead, since my peroneal tendonitis felt like it’d cleared up, and it was raining and 50 degrees, I decided to just go out and really run the race.

I was a little upset I hadn’t brought my Garmin 205, but I did at least have my regular digital watch, so I tried to check that at the mile markers. However, they had numerous markers and at seemingly random points in the run, so it didn’t really help.

I ended up running a 20:22. I’m really happy about it because I’ve been injured lately and also I haven’t been doing any speed work. It’s good to know the miles I’m putting in are getting me in pretty good shape anyway.

They gave out a ton of trophies at the race (top finishers and top three age group finishers) and I won my age group, so I got a trophy. This thing is pretty funny since its a bobblehead, but actually really annoying because it’s fallen over twice, broken its neck once, and broken its arm another time.

It’s really tough to glue a bobblehead back on to its body, by the way.

By |December 5th, 2010|Family, Photo, Running|Comments Off on Birthday weekend, 9 second 5k

Sometimes it hurts

Sometimes a run can turn into the opposite of what had been planned. Thursday’s run turned into exactly that.

I generally plan for a run well in advance, but Thanksgiving (and my plans to see my family up in Balsam Grove, NC) threw last week for a loop. Add the facts that I was dealing with a touch of peroneal tendonitis, and that I had a 15 mile run planned, and I came up with a mess of a schedule.

So after some thought, we decided that instead of a rest weekend after the half marathon, I would run 15 miles instead of the 10 that we scheduled. That way, I thought, I would just push my 10 mile rest run back one week and have the added benefit of not being too tired on Thanksgiving day.

Black Balsam area. http://www.summitpost.org/black-balsam-knob/153843

Well that didn’t exactly work out. I had chosen a trail out at Black Balsam, as it would have been decently level. It’s a fun trail to hike and leads out to a designated wilderness area. It’s really pretty out there. Once I got to the parking lot, however, I realized the trail was soaked and there were sections with inches of standing water. I decided we’d try to climb up to the Art Loeb trail and run up there.

But, of course, that wasn’t going to work out as the wind was blowing like crazy. The only other people out there were bear hunters (who sit in their warm trucks while their dogs run around looking for bears to chase) and for good reason. It was freezing and windy. Eventually I decided to just head out to the Blue Ridge Parkway and run on the road. This was turning out to be a mess.

It was cold, windy, and foggy but we decided to get our 10 miles in anyhow. I was coming off of a week of not running due to my tendonitis, and we noticed the toll that was being taken. It was possibly the worst run I had been on in 2010.  But I stuck through it and actually enjoyed a few miles of it (mainly the downhill portions).

It was a tough run, and I learned a few things. I was reminded of the importance of sticking to a schedule or really allowing it to change.

Still, I had some fun and now know what’s needed in the future. On to this week of running.

By |November 29th, 2010|Family, Photo, Running, Travel|Comments Off on Sometimes it hurts

Soldier Half Marathon

This afternoon I’m driving to Columbus, Georgia to run the Soldier Half Marathon on Saturday morning. This will be my third half marathon.

By |November 12th, 2010|Family, Running|1 Comment

Wait, What?

A few things. What is wrong? Nothing, but I’m going to do something a little better than I have been. I bet if I were to look back through my blog, my journals, my photos, etc. there is a real pattern of waxing and waning. Offhand, I would guess there are probably four month long cycles in which I am more connected to friends and family, where I take more photos, and where I try to be more active in designing, writing, and possibly playing music. And then the opposite.

What that means is really up to interpretation, but I don’t think it adds up to something good. But hell if I can find any sort of quality information on it while looking on the trusty internet. Go ahead, search Google for “cycles of relationships in life”, all you’re going to come up with is a bunch of bullshit new age astrology laden claptrap that deserves a week-long seminar at some spa in Phoenix, Arizona. Well, that and this research on the evolution of cooperative interorganizational relationships, but I generally don’t think of friendships as business agreements.

What am I even talking about? I don’t know. I haven’t really added much to this website in a long time and it seems like most of what I’ve posted for a while is passive content that I had no actual thought behind it. I took so many of those photos without thinking about them, and it’s obvious in my writing that I was just going through the motions. I’d rather not do that.

What are my friends even doing these days? I honestly don’t even know.

I should clarify that nothing is really wrong. I live in my head too much, and I haven’t really been able to run lately. Running is my usual outlet for all of this mental noise.  I really sound crazy right now, great.

By |November 11th, 2010|Family, Friends|Comments Off on Wait, What?

12 Mile

I don’t know why I like these so much. Maybe it’s the texture. I have Friday off, so today is my Friday this week. I am running 12 miles this morning. Hopefully it’s not too cold out.

By |November 4th, 2010|Family, Photo, Running|Comments Off on 12 Mile

Hi

I spent some time taking photos with my mom over the weekend. I took a lot of photos like this. I’ve always liked taking these. I have no idea why.

I’m currently planning out a marathon training program.

By |November 3rd, 2010|Family, Photo, Running|Comments Off on Hi

Good weekend

It’s been a good weekend so far. I went on a great run yesterday morning and then ran a few errands and got in a second run for a total of 7 miles yesterday. I also got some tape that should help my achilles problem, but I think it’s getting better on its own as well.

Today I’m planning on another run. It should be a great day for it.

By |October 17th, 2010|Family, Photo, Running|1 Comment

Half marathoning

I’ll stop talking about it, but first I guess I ought to say that I did pretty well in the Asheville half marathon on Saturday. I ran it in 1:41:55 and placed 140 out of 1288 finishers. I’m glad I took it easy last week and had been staying on top of my training. It really helped. I was happy to have Sara and my mom with me at the finish line. Sara actually took this photo, which is a lot better than the official race photo of me. I enjoyed running with Scott for about half of the race, and I was constantly worried that he was about to pass me for the second half.

I had a great weekend overall, if you don’t count the redneck with a swastika tattoo across his back on the four wheeler with a rifle in his lap that decided to take a joyride on our property up in Balsam Grove. Yep.

By |September 20th, 2010|Family, Friends, Photo, Running, Travel|3 Comments

Heading to NC

Sara and I are headed up to North Carolina this weekend. I’m running in the Asheville half marathon tomorrow morning at 7:30, and we’ll stay up in Balsam Grove and spend some time with my parents. I’m really excited for the race and ready to see the mountains again.

By |September 17th, 2010|Family, Photo, Running, Travel|Comments Off on Heading to NC