Runnin' Right Along...again...sort of...

The recovery is on, and boy am I feeling it. I was able to get a 3 mile run in on Sunday, but it was just brutal. After 2 miles I reallllly wanted to give up as my energy was gone, legs were like rubber..... You know how it goes. However, Jonathan came to mind. His perserverence through all of the stuff that's going on in his life and he still got out there and finished the Seattle half marathon. That really set my mind straight and carried me the extra mile. I tell ya, I don't know of one person on this team that hasn't had that kind of inspiring effect on one of my runs (multiple runs in some cases). I'm going to get back out there today after work and put in another 3 at the very least on my way back to running form. Thanks to all of you :-)

Side note, completed my final class in the MBA program prior to summer break. Start up again next Sept and done June 2010! Woohoo! I need the break, I'm fried!

Rehab Run

1 mile on Friday and 2 miles on Saturday to be exact. No ill effects on the body (other than the flab flapping in the wind...). So I'm pretty psyched that I can get back out there and get my run on! The plan is to take two weeks for rehap runs, nothing longer than 3-4 miles, and then try to stretch it out a bit for a 5 or 6 miler. Knowing myself, I won't last a week before trying to put in a 9 miler, ha!

Is it me or does it feel like the intesity isn't as high this year? How the heck to we get it back!?! I know I've got a ton of work to do in order to regain that marathon form, but with the past three weeks off, I'm itching to do it.

You guys have been great as usual in posting on the blog, encouraging my recovery and I totally appreciate it. :-)

Close, very close...

After 600mg of ibuprofin 3/x's daily for the last week I think I'm close to ready for running again. Tried out the elliptical for 20 minutes last night and I'm no worse for the wear, so it looks like all systems go for a 1 mile light run next. Hoping to get that in tomorrow or Friday, but may push it to the weekend. The important thing being that I'm almost back after a 3 week hiatus! You have no idea how relieved I am.....

So, I'm still way behind on blogs but promise to catch up! REALLY, I PROMISE!!!! I know I keep saying it, but without Team Voice I'm not sure I'd still be running, or wanting to get back to running so much after the past three weeks. :-)

Side note - So I mentioned that I gave a presentation on Disney in my Financial Accounting class a couple of months back...Apparently it stuck as a number of people in my class have mentioned how my prediction of how "Up" would do (despite the criticism at the time) was right on! Pixar, or their advertisers, are genius in how they deliver content so timely. The early ad's are always short in content and look pretty dull, which is why the market seems to respond negatively at first. Then they trickle more and more out just in time for the opening and make a killing (as usual). The constant in the equation is outstandingly creative movies that will never dissapoint. Gotta love it. I also have turned into "The Disney Guy" in class, apparently. We're in a Human Resources class now and someone brought up how Disney bucked southern popularity by giving medical benefits to same sex partners of their employees. Of course, they all turn around and look at me for the rest of the story.... Just so happened that I recall numerous conversations on the DisUnplugged on this very topic and was able to give a bit more information. Too funny...

Ugh....

Nearly two weeks since my last run and it doesn't appear that I'm any closer to getting back on track. Still recovering and not able to run (or even walk fast....).

I'm extremely bummed about this and hoping my condition improves pronto! Sorry to be the downer for Juneathon. :-( Of course, I've gained a couple of pounds in the process as well, but have headed that off with my self created weight watchers tracking sheets.

That's all for now...Hope y'all are in better spirits :-)

Still Hurtin' a bit

Yeah, my layoff from working out might last a tiny bit longer than originally thought. Just not there with the recovery and need to ensure this deal is taken care of (without going into too much detail....poor Rae had to ask ;-)).

Anyhoo, I'm behind on blogs and podcasts once again, but rest assured I'll get back out there! You guys rock and I want to keep supporting that!

Hoping to ditch the ice pack and figure out what my personal Juneathon is going to be realllly soon!!!!

On Hold....

As in, "my running for a week is...". Went for my "procedure" this morning and the doc tells me I should hold off on working out for a week. So, in the spirit of listening to the guy who probably knows more about this stuff than I do, I'm going to listen.

Anyhoo, I attached a pic of the wall I'm working on. Looking at the picture, it doens't look like it would take that much work.... but anyone who's done one these can tell you it's really a pain in the neck. :-) More tweaking to be done prior to gluing down the coping, but it's almost there.

Best of luck to Justin and Jeff Wasowski at the "DAM" race!

Just like the Amazing Race...I got...

Road Blocked! Although I came to the realization that I wasn't going to hit 100 miles for the month, due to this coming weekends run restriction, there was still a glimmer of hope. Well, the hope is now gone, and to add injury to insult I've got a major blister on my right foot. The blister came from working all weekend on my retaining wall and adjacent landscaping in my old work boots. Needless to say they are not a pair of comfy running shoes.

So I'm limping around work today and hoping to get in at least one run prior to Friday's procedure. If not, I'm going to cut back on the eating and see if I can still elliptical or bike. The bright spot from the weekend is that my retaining wall is nearly complete and I got to use the pool for the first time this year. A chilly 78 degrees, but warming up quickly due to the crazy afternoon sun we get in our backyard.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and celebrated the freedoms we enjoy due to the heroic men and women who gave their lives defending it. We took in the local parade and had a blast. Why is it that I always come near to tears at these things when the band struts by playing whatever patriotic tune they happen to be playing. Love the bass drum beats as well... Good stuff. :-)

100 Miles and Runnin'...Still...

Got creative and took the last meeting of the day on the phone in my car. The extra hour was enough to allow a 4 mile run when I got home, so I'm still in it for the 100 miles. Going to be difficult, but I'm hoping the long weekend will afford me the time to run. Next weekend will be completely out for running as I've got a minor medical procedure thingee that will keep me away from it for a couple of days. What can do...So that will also pose a challenge. In any event, I'll have my highest mileage total for the year and pretty psyched about that. We start our half-day Friday's in June which will allow me to get a long run in nearly every week....looking forward to that.

Oh, and the 5k split yesterday was 25:50. Really not that bad for a training run with a few good sized hills. :-)

TM - Rest in Peace (or pieces..)

Sad to report that my treadmill is moving on to greener pastures and we hardly knew yee... Of course, we told the kids that we dropped it off at a farm in the country so it could hang out and play all day without anyone pounding on the track due to...I don't know....saaaaay, 100 mile Team Voice challenges and such. Yes Mike, you owe me a treadmill! LOL

This puts a serious kink in my 100 mile aspirations for the month as most days I don't have time to get a run in outdoors till the kids go to bed and then have to listen to the monitor. Thus the greatness of the treadmill. Not sure how I'm going to make up the miles yet, but will try to come up with a plan. Not totally out of it yet.... 47.86 to go, BTW.

Thanks for the nice comments on the 5k time. :-) Feels really good to hear that kind of stuff from my peers. Speed wise, I've conditioned myself enough to run that fast for the 5k, but take it down a notch for 10k or more. Hoping to improve on the longer runs as the summer goes on, but I don't really have too much of a plan of attack as of yet. As for Mike-Speed...Nooooo, I'm nowhere near that guy! He put up a 24:4x with a recovering knee.... The 24:19 I put up last year in Wethersfield was just ideal conditions, good warm-up, and energy levels were right. If I drop a couple more pounds I might be able to improve on it...

First 5k of 2009 - Results

Cold and rainey, that's what we got this morning for the Newington Library 5k. Not a good mix for my lungs and did cause an issue early on. Ran this one last year and had cramping issue then as well, but managed a 26:13. This year, I was able to shake off the cramp by mile 1.5 and finish fairly strong with a 24:56, which is really all I could have asked for considering the weather. No complaints, still amazed I can run like this :-) 82nd (out of 210) overall and 13 out of 25 for my age group (30-39).

Glad to have gotten the first race in for the year. Not planning a ton of them this year, but would like to get in a couple more 5k/10k and possibly the 10miler in Rhode Island that I ran last year. Then the big marathon in October....

Happy running all!

Mo Miles, Mo Miles, Mo Miles...(55.46 left)

So I had a couple of meetings cancel, moved a third and decided to head home early to get a run in.  You know how you just feel good some days, you know the feeling right?  Those kinda days where you can overachieve and not even feel like it was that hard of work.  Well, I suppose my legs felt that way today.  They took me 9 miles at an average of 8:24 per mile.  This is pretty quick for that route as I typically run in the 8:40 – 9:00 range.  Again, the legs just never got tired and chugged along even when the rest of me was starting to get tired.  You can probably tell that I’m pretty psyched about this run by now… LOL

Anyhoo, here are the splits.  I added another .3 miles in a warm down jog for a total of 9.31 miles

Mile 1: 8:46 (one steep hill)

Mile 2: 8:41 (not as steep of a hill, but about .3 mi long)

Mile 3: 8:22 (flat)

Mile 4: 8:24 (flat)

Mile 5: 8:23 (flat w/couple up and downs)

Mile 6: 8:12 (flat and fast stretch of road)

Mile 7: 8:18 (good music on the iPod helped to push the mind)

Mile 8: 8:07 (some flat and downhill)

Mile 9: 8:20 (flat with a couple of inclines)

64.77...

Got in another 4.12 yesterday, against all odds mind you, and just under pace to hit the 100 for the month. It's all going to come down to the long runs. Hoping to get one in either Friday morning or Saturday sometime. The two things working against me are the retaining wall that I need to get going on, and a research paper that I've got to turn in for my Business Law final (Monday). Chose Vizcaino v. Microsoft for the case to work on. We recently went through a major overhaul in our contingent worker policy so I thought it was fitting.

More later when I get some time. :-)

68.89 to go...

Up to 31.11 for the month thus far. Took the last two days off from running but itching to get some miles in. Hopefully I'll get some work tonight on the treadmill as I just don't have the time at work to get one in and definitely don't have the time right when I get home from work.

First 5k race of the year coming up this Sunday. Kinda excited to get back into an event, but at the same time I'm thinking I might end up sick. Kids are sick now (same exact time as last year) and I'm starting to feel it a little more than just the alergies. I recall running this same race last year when I could barely breathe and ended up having to take two weeks off from running due to it (Still ran just over 26 minutes... ;-)). I'd like to put up a good time here, but will have to guage it with the lungs, weather, etc. Plenty more races around here during the summer, so I'm not worried about it. My wife is going to run this one again as well. Her knee and foot have been acting up a little bit due to ramping up on the mileage, but she's feeling pretty good about this one. Long way to January is what I keep telling her.

Other notes... Pool is opening this Friday, pretty psyched about that and having another mechanism for cross-training. Still have alot of work to do on the ol' retaining wall project. The paver base and pavers are sitting in my driveway, so I've got to clean up the trench from all the rain and such and get the base in. Hoping to have it near complete by this weekend, but will see what the priorites du jour bring.

75.69 to go

Another 4.06 miles last night on da mill. Legs are little sore with the consecutive running, but nothing major that would hold me back from putting in more miles. I think tonight is a rest night from running, will elliptical instead if I have the time.

So I mentioned Dis stock jumping to 23 or so the other day. On the ride home last night I see it was up more than 2 bucks in yesterday's trading period. Checked the news and not a heck of alot. They have that deal with Hulu and such, and Iger seems to think that the worst is behind them in theme park admissions....but nothing earthshattering. Huh. In any event, I missed the boat on that one, oh well. I'm guessing we're in for another bubble burst or two by the end of the year (tons of stuff going on behind the scenes that the mainstream media has turned their back on...) so perhaps I'll get another shot to buy low. :-)

79.75 to go...

With 20.25 miles under the belt in the first 5 days of this challenge I’m feeling pretty darn good. J Considering that the mileage in previous months have been lacking (40’s-60’s range) this challenge is really what I needed. Time to grovel to Mike I guess…..Sorry Mike….didn’t mean to pick on your challenge…*head down* The key to this month and hitting the target is going to be the “long run”. I’m planning on getting one “long” run in every week. Hoping to add distance to them each time as well; even if it’s just a half mile.

Spent 1500 bucks yesterday on a pile of stone……finally building that retaining wall in the extension to my patio area. Sweet retaining wall blocks, but they better be at that price… So, the trench is dug now I just need to wait for the rain to stop. My daughter asked when it would be ready so she could toast marshmallows. Huh? Soooo, a while back I explained to her why I was building a wall out back. The wall first, then the patio extension, then the fireplace so we could toast, you guessed it, marshmallows. That was like two years ago, that kid has a memory on her. I’ll take some pictures before/after and will perhaps post them…depends on how the wall turns out…. ;-)

How’s everyone else doing with the challenge this month?

Update - Just read about Disney's earnings report for last year. Sounds like ESPN (revenue up 4%) helped bolster the 46% disapointment overall. Honestly, in this market I'd say they did a genius job keeping their brand/image alive for the long haul. Sure they discounted prices and cut into profit, but in Orlando they still ended up at 89% occupancy (up from last year). What does that do when they aren't making as much money on it (spending per room down 17%)? Brand loyalty. They still provided a top notch product for less money and will most likely get people to come back cause of it. They also did a great job, in my opinion, cross advertising through the use of their other segments. Wondering how the deal with NBC/Hulu is going to go....I'm still not sold on this segment, but could just be old school and not in touch with the youtube times.... I wish I sold that Staples stock a couple of weeks back when it was 2 bucks higher than Dis stock...Now Dis stock in near 23 and my Staples is hanging in the 20-21 range....Oh well... It's all good, both are solid companies.

I survived...

the 9hrs of Bus. Law yesterday. :-) Thought I was going to say something different, didn't you..ha! Thanks for the comments feeling my pain, folks. I tell ya, I've taken two law classes in my undergrad (and a number of criminal justice classes with the same ring to 'em) and you'd think there would be something a little different in the MBA program, right? Nope, same ol', same ol'. Facts of the case, legal issue, application of law..... Okay, I'll admit a dirty secret... I actually love this stuff. Arguing over the smallest of points while my classmates roll their eyes. I envy Jonathan and Justin in that they went to law school (and Matt pretty soon). Something I always wanted to do, but life got in the way. Oh well, perhaps when the kids are older and all of my yard projects are complete (shaaaaaa, right..).

Realized yesterday when reading WSJ that Disney's earnings are coming out today, so apparently the stock price rise is tied into some positive speculation around earnings. There was an article in there as well around Disney banking on 3Q park attendance numbers to pay "dividends", but I didn't get a chance to read the article :-(

Not sure what I'm going to do today, need to get a run in, but also need to get out and decide on some retaining wall blocks for the neverending patio addition project.... I've got the trench dug though and think I'm going to see an end to this in May! Perhaps a quick 3.75 to round out 20 miles for the first 5 days of May....

Justin - You can use whatever useless stuff I post on this site! My plan was to come up with a new name for Mike's challenge for every run I post.... Today's will be ..hmmm.....Mike's "Give me 100 miles, or give me death" Challenge... ehh, ehhh, what do ya think? ;-)

Strong out of the gate

Hey folks, great opening weekend to Mike’s “Die runner, DIE” challenge.  Kicked it all off on the 1^st with 9 miles, followed it up with 4.25 (8:20ish average mile), and had an easy 3 mile treadmill run last night.  Grand total of 16.25 for the first weekend of the challenge.  Fell a little short on my push ups and sit ups for the weekend 80 su’s and 180 pu’s, but that’ll pick-up as the month goes on.

So, finally a rest day today… If you call early to work and then 9 hours of Business Law, a rest….  LOL 

What the heck happened to Disney stock last week?  I’ve been watching it and it had trailed my Staples stock by about a buck, but I noticed this morning on my XM ticker that it’s around 22 bucks now?  Quite the jump….  I haven’t seen any earth shattering news so I suppose it’s just market fluctuation…

 

Happy training all!

The Fine Nine

What a way to kick off the Mike-Speed “I’m gonna git you sucka” challenge. Nine miles at around 8:57/mile, some a little over 9/min and some a bit under, all in all it’s great for the route I take as it contains two very large hills. It’s a good start, but still a long way to go in order to hit 100 miles. Going to add in 100 situps and 100 pushups later on today to round off a good start.

Also, I’m over 300 miles on my current shoes and already thinking about the next pair. It took a while, but I like the Asics GT-2130, so I’m leaning towards ordering a pair on-line and saving some money. The other option is to head back to the run shop and trying out something else…..Perhaps for the next go-around…

If you guys didn't see the comments on my last post, you've got to read them...Heath and Mike trading jabs :-) You guys crack me up. Although, I think the new dirty word to a Sox fan is "Rays"...... Jus' Say'n...

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).