I had a dream... It was really odd. Dad, Katie, Caitlin, rest well knowing you were not in it.
I had a pet Anole living in a plant in my room, which was reminiscent of my dorm room in college, but not an exact match. I was very in touch with this creature; we had an understanding that I would not cage him if he just chilled in this plant.
One day, my brother in law came over. I would call him a "poker" of a person... He likes to aggravate, like someone else I know... (me!?) Andy decided he would get under my skin by messing with my lizard. He knew that part of the training of the lizard to chill in the plant was that people couldn't touch or mess with it. It was also important that nobody touch it because the lizards catch diseases from humans very easily and die (I don't know if this is a fact, it was just part of my reasoning in the dream). He touched it, pissed it off, it jumped out of the plant on to another without leaves, changed color to brown, and refused to go back in to his proper plant. I asked Andy to leave, he refused, continued to poke the lizard, at which point I told him I was going to beat him down if he didn't leave. He could sense the anger in my voice and decided it was best to leave.
In come sister and mother. I don't think they were there when this all started, but they magically appeared; Mom was by my desk, sister was sitting on my bed, and Mr. Lizard was now on the ground, really angry. Jessie was on her iPhone (she doesn't even have one), hung up, and decided it would be funny to throw her phone on to the lizard. I got livid. I slapped the &*%# out of her, at which point Mom decided I was out of control. I punched her a few times, and she gave up, but kept a hold on me. I then looked down at my lizard and in the scuffle he had been stepped on. His back right leg was pretty mangled and I could tell some of his ribs were crushed.
I was now really mad. My Mom still had me in this hold... I turned to her and bit a freaking chunk of meat out of her chin! I didn't bite hard, but a piece just came off! I woke up immediately.
Ms. Caitlin and I woke up early this morning to head up to Kensington, MD for this race. The idea was to treat it as a long run. As usual (I'm giving up on the idea now), we both went harder than we had hoped.
Results aren't online yet, but you can check out my GPS data. This was my first 10-miler, so a PR. I went through the 10-mile in the marathon at 1:11:38, but I'm not going to count that.
Caitlin finished in 1:17:34, 3rd in her age group, which earned her a nifty new running hat.
My age grading was 62.07, hers was 63.67. She wins... Guess that means she's buying dinner! I'm really growing tired of her beating me despite not training at all... KJSDF%$#$.
Ok, I lied about the excitement... '09 is here, we've got only a year left to figure out what we're going to call this decade, and I've got a lot of goal attaining to do.
A year ago tomorrow, I made this same post. I'm going to be sticking with that same format more or less.
2008 Goals 1. Learn Spanish - I went with Japanese instead. I'd say that's a fair trade. 2. Complete a marathon - Done. Didn't qualify for Boston, but maybe next year. 3. Run a sub-19 5k - Done. Twice. 4. Skydive - Done. 5. Visit the Virgin Islands - Done. I still need to post about the trip. Pics for now. 6. Visit New York - Done. I ought to write that up as well. Pics for now.
2008 Notes - Ran 858 miles, biked 472, and swam 2. Up from 402, 107, and 0 in 2007. - Lost 7 pounds. - Moved offices, now have a sweet cube. - Swapped transmissions between two cars. - Replaced 1 XBOX 360. - Got an iPhone (didn't post about it... weird)
2009 Goals 1. Run a sub-18 5k 2. Run a sub 1:30 Half Marathon (should be cake) 3. Run a sub 3:10 Full Marathon (Boston Qualification) 4. Go to France 5. Continue Japanese (102 and 201) 6. Revisit NYC, go to the top of the Empire State Building 7. Bike 100 miles in a day 8. Run 1000 miles
Lots of running in '09. Pray for healthy legs! I've also updated my schedule. Plenty to add later, though. And yes, you'll note a few track events again
Dreams is just that, a collection of dreams from one of the greatest writer/producers of all time. I can't say it was all that entertaining, but it was truly awesome that he had the means to put his dreams (or nightmares) in to film for the whole world to see. It was neat to see others have such crazy thoughts racing through their heads while they sleep... My biggest takeaway was that I'd very much like my funeral to be a celebration, not a mourning.
Had this race on my schedule because it's part of a winter racing series with the club and because I needed to get some miles in. The plan was to take it pretty easy, but not quite as slow as training pace. I don't know how hard I actually pushed myself (harder than I had planned), but I'm pretty happy with what I pulled off.
The race has been around for years. The idea is you pay an entry fee or bring some home-baked bread. Since I technically get in to the race free I didn't have to do anything, but we had a bag of banana bread mix sitting around so I spent some time the night before making it... No idea how it turned out as the baked breads were given out as awards.
The race itself... Started at Glen Echo Park... Really cool place, I need to schedule a trip up there with some of the younger ladies in my life... They'd like it. Down through some residential areas, on to the C&O Canal for a few miles, and finally back up to the park for the finish. My goal was 42ish in this, my first 10k ever, which would be 6:45 pace. At mile five I was looking at 6:40 overall pace. Great! I could cruise this last mile and meet that "goal," which I had set prerace... Much harder than I had planned to go the night before, but that's how trying to just get some miles in during a race goes... What I hadn't thought about is at #5 we were still down in the canal. We had descended quite a bit to get down there... We'd have to ascend. A slow ascent would have been alright, but the entirety of this ascent was covered in probably a tenth of a mile or so. Basically a staircase that was straight up. I contemplated walking... When I reached the top, I was staring 6:47 overall in the face. Absolutely exhausted from the climb, it was going to be tough to pull that lost time back out. I gave it nearly my best effort to finish in 42:05 (6:45 high pace).
I was 11th overall, 2nd in my age group, and would have been 2nd if I were a female. My friend Toni passed me around mile 4 to take the win for the ladies... She said she was taking it easy since she had done a long run the day before, but I think she's like the rest of us... We're gonna run hard if we're out there.
My prize? Choice of bread! I didn't look long as a foil-wrapped plate seemingly jumped out at me with a label "Brownie Bread." I live with two girls... "Brownie Bread" would be a nice treat for them. I get home, uncover it, and it's just a giant pile of brownies. I had been had! Someone is pretty funny, and the ladies are quite pleased with their giant supply of brownies.
Oh, it should be noted that since I was not planning on running hard, I dined on a giant Reuben, fries, Buffalo Wing dip cheese sauce something or other, and both 60-minute (6% ABV) and 90-minute (9% ABV) IPAs at Dogfish Head Alehouse the night before. Awesome, awesome place, but probably the worst meal you could possibly eat the night before a race.
Ohoh, another great thing about this race was it was held at 10:30AM. That is one of the most brilliant logistical decisions I've ever seen at a race. It's the winter... The sun doesn't come up until like 7. By 8 (typical race start), it hasn't had any time to heat the air. By 10:30, it has... It was a warmer than average day, but even on a cold one, the difference a few degrees would make would be huge. Bravo to the race directors! Definitely a race I'll be doing again next year.
