The Mike-Speed "Kill Everybody" Challenge

As our Miami-dwelling friend would say “HOLY CATS”!!!  Mike-speed is really out to kill us this time around.  100 miles and running with no Eazy-E to help (sorry for the reference as I know not everyone is into gangsta rap…as I’ve mentioned prior, my music taste is, well, eclectic).  Now, I realize that with a marathon staring me down this October, 100 miles for a month should be the norm, but I haven’t gotten passed 65 miles this year as of yet.  Actually, looking back on last year I only hit over 100 miles once, last June in the Stroller Boy v. Voice challenge (aka. The Battle from Seattle).  That was quite a month running for me as I competed in my first half-marathon.  Ah, the memories….

I know, I know, whine whine whine…..  Actually, after the initial shock I though “I need to make a run at this” (pardon the pun).  The push-ups and sit-ups are no problem as Mike whipped me into shape on these with his past challenges; the mileage is going to be tough though.  I think this means that I’m going to have to get myself out of bed bright and squirrelly on those days that I have the opportunity to do so.  Ugh…was hoping it wouldn’t come to that….ANYTHING but THAT! LOL

One more thing….Yes, Heath…Go Sox, indeed J

 

Monday, Allergies, and such

I feel like Garfield every time I start a week with the “I Hate Monday”.  Something about looking back on the weekend and thinking “man, I really didn’t get much that I wanted to done”.  Heck, even with a good plan I typically feel that Monday defeat…..  Perhaps I’m setting my expectations too high and should go back to the old days where I would take on 1 item for completion over the weekend and that was it.  If I did more, great, if not..well…I got that 1 thing done.  At least the weather is starting to actually look like spring..or summer in our case over the weekend.

So, I promised a long run and fell a little short.  Plan was to get out last evening around dinner time as I had a family event earlier in the day.  No problem, getting geared up to go and then..  my 17 month old decides he’s going to fling his chair backwards and whack his head.  Lovely.  Yada, yada, yada, momma called the Dr and the Dr said..no more monkeys flinging themselves backwards in their chairs and hitting their head…or something like that.  He’s alright, but I didn’t want to leave the house with a head injured kid….so I reduced myself to the treadmill after the kids went to sleep and put in 5 miles.  Not was I wanted to do, but 5 miles is 5 miles.  I’m up to a paltry 37 or so miles running for the month and plan to get in at least 6 more over the final days here in April.  Working from home 3 days this week which typically allows me to sneak in runs a lot easier.  I’d like to say May is going to be better, but jeez, I thought April was going to be better after a strong 60+ miles in March.  Not to mention the allergies kicked in yesterday and I was sneezing all about and rubbing my eyes all day.  I suppose it’s still better than having swine flu, but not by much. 

Thanks for the comments on the ADR and dining question thing.  I found the same information that you guys pointed out and think they are more reliable than the other source I found which stated it didn’t start till the end of the year.  They may have made a mistake and meant to put 2008?  In any event, we’ll just wait till August and go from there.  We spoke with the other family folk that are heading down with us and the consensus is Chef Mickey’s.  I mentioned that my on-line Disney expert friends agreed with that assessment as well, which pushed the vote over the top.  I like the idea of getting in the park earlier, but think for this group they’ll want to see Mickey and co. over Pooh and friends.  Since we’re going down ahead of the rest for a couple extra days, we might made an ADR at CP just for us.  Anyhoo, thanks for the input and comments, you guys rock (as usual).

ADR Duped?

So after my bubble was burst by a Team Voice member not to be named, I went out and did a search to verify the whole change in ADR periods.  Low and behold, most sites state that one can make an ADR 90 (+10 days for onsite folks) days out.  But wait….my wife points out to me something on the top of the following site…. http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/dining/ADR.shtml    This one says it doesn’t go into effect till the end of this year, huh?  Now, I know I’m only a level 2 or 3, so I’m in need of clarification from one of you level 5’ers out there.  I’m going down in November, can I make my ADR’s in mid-May or do I have to wait till mid-August?

 

Can I get outside already!

Yeesh, you’d think the weather wouldn’t have been a limiting factor at this point in the year…. Rain, rain, and more rain lately though.  Okay, that’s not the only reason as I really don’t mind running in the wet stuff at this point.  It’s more along the lines that I haven’t had the time lately (with the exception of 8-10pm) to get out.  Excuses, excuses…that’s really what they are.  I have an option that I haven’t dragged myself to yet, but might just have to give it a go shortly.  The dreaded morning run…ugh…I hate morning….  Always been a night person, so it’s brutal for me to get up at 5am even when it’s required to get the kids to day care, let alone getting up to run.  However, the temps are about right for my lungs, so that’s not an issue any more…just the will….  I think Rae mentioned a while back that it takes 6 weeks of an activity to make it a habit…6 weeks of getting up early?  OUCH!   Actually, I’d only have the opportunity for this on Monday, Thursday and every other Saturday and Sunday due to work/daycare schedules and such, but at least the option is there and I think I need to opt for it.  Now, if I could just keep the work vultures from scheduling meetings at 8am, I’d be all set. J

Wow, on the number comments lately, more Team Voice activity indeed!  I’m starting to check more frequently on others blogs as well.  Have scheduled a 15 minute meeting here and there in order to do this.  It’s great cause it gives me a reminder notice.  They’ve tied me down at work with a blackberry finally, so I got that going for me….yeah right….like a noose…   Although, it does allow me to Blog on the run, so it’s not all bad.

From the sounds of it, the team is doing great with their goals and training for the most part.  Few lapses in progress, but I’m confident in this community to help prop ‘em up and get ‘em going again!  I’m not going to make the advanced challenge this month, just don’t have the long runs thrown in there to boost the numbers yet.  I’m going to get ONE long run of at least 8 miles this month if it kills me (and it just might!) so stay tuned.

Heath – Thanks for the heads up on the ADR’s, wow, I’m shocked!  Given that, what do y’all think the BEST breakfast character meal would be for a group of 8 kids and 8 adults?  The day we’re going to do this will most likely be at the Magic Kingdom, so we were thinking Chef Mickey’s or the Crystal Palace.  We did the Libertry Tree Tavern for dinner a couple of years ago, so perhaps Pooh and the gang would be a good change.  If we do CP we’re going to try and get a pre-park open time as we had a great experience with CRT in doing that last year.  Anyhoo, would love to hear what you guys think.

Testing, 1,2,3

Hello there folks, just now getting around to figuring out how to post when not actually logged into the Blogger site.  The funny thing is that I work in Technology/Informatics!  How lame am I!?!?  Okay, don’t answer that….  That’s when happens when you start to manage projects, you lose touch with the latest and greatest.  Anyhoo, just a quick post to give this a go, hope it works. 

 

Training-wise, it’s been tough over the past couple of weeks to get any more than 10 miles a week in (with a couple of elliptical sessions to add to that).  Not thrilled, but have dusted off my home grown Weight Watchers tracking spreadsheet to help balance out the lack of runs.  All in all I’m somewhat near my weight goal for the month, still need to lose a couple more pounds for 192 though.  May end up 193/194 which isn’t horrid, just means I need to figure out a way to get the mileage back up.

 

My wife and I are going to register for our first 5k of the year (May 16^th I think).  Was a race we ran last year, nice easy flat course.  Hoping to beat my best 5k time of last year (24:17), but we’ll see.  Will be happy with anything sub 25 minutes.

 

May also brings a milestone for our fall Disney trip as we’ll be able to make ADR’s….woohoo!   Have some draft ideas at this point and will solidify them by the end of the month.  This will be my first 10+ day trip to WDW, as we typically opt for the 6-7 day deals.

 

Movin' right along...

Thanks for the comments Matt and Amanda. The presentation went very well, best in the class I think... Other groups presented the financial pictures of Apple (got my Jobs on Dis board comment in there..), Pier One (yikes, what a mess!), Saks Fifth Ave, and Starbucks. Overall, Disney is one of the more diverse and financially sound companies of those that were presented. Some concerns for Disney Studio's segment on Wall Streets reaction to "UP", but Pixar will pull it off as they usually do. :-)

Of course, I got to show my half-marathon medal off a little bit too. Some were impressed with my Disney knowledge/geekyness, but hey, I'm an annual passholder now....I've got to know what they are doing, right? LOL Just glad this class is done with. On to Law for business managers next, 11 chapters to read for our first class on Monday, lovely.... One more after that and then a summer break.

On the training front, still not up to speed as I'd like to be. Getting decent quality runs in of 3-4 miles and one long run a month, just not there yet. Now that I've moved to our other campus for work, I'll need to figure out some new running routes. The campus I moved to is enormous and I haven't worked at this site in 10 years, so it'll take a bit to get my bearings again.

Need to catch up on AATM as well, haven't listened to a show since episode 99........ugh.....

Quick..

Sorry for being such a lousy team member as of late, folks. :-( I've been doing pretty much the same as when I last posted, just busier at work/school. Big presentation tonight in the financial accounting class on our analysis of the Disney Corp. annual report. Wish me luck :-)

Bolt Blu-Ray is awesome! Just had to add that in there...love that movie.