400 miles later

I just returned from Ohio last night and will be setting forth on another trip for Caldera tomorrow. This time it's driving the truck to Florida from Colorado and back. All this travel has added an unexpected challenge and perk to my marathon training. I put in a couple runs out in Ohio while out there with Tiff and realized that in my training for the Chicago Marathon, I have now ran in 6 different states. They vary greatly in challenge and reward, but every run has been fantastic.

So far I have the obvious Chicago, IL under the belt which is especially helpful as I will be trying 26.2 miles here. Last Wed. I put together a new farthest with 16 miles which took me deep into the South side of Chicago. Pretty cool! Then there was Minneapolis, where I did my first 10 miler along the Mississippi. I still have the scar on my left knee from the digger I took getting across downtown. I then added Colorado. Home sweet home was a little less so when gasping for the thin air on hills. Plus, water became indispensable on those few runs so far. That's when I added a Camel back to my gear. I also ran in my original hometown, Houston, TX. That was the equivalent of putting a treadmill in a shower, even in May. I did my first 12miler there. Funny, no one but the Army was out running there with me. I also ran some in Detroit along the Detroit river and on the 42nd floor of the GM building, where our hotel was. That brings us to the corn fields of Ohio where I just did my last 9 miles. Fresh air was never more noticeable!

Now I am out to add a couple more states, hopefully!

The guy that does not sell you soap

Last week I got some new headshots done and thanks to the digital age, the online gallery was made available within 24 hours. I am so glad to never have to improvise light table again to see negatives. The aim on these was to get shots that convey the sketchy characters I am more often considered for. The saying in the industry for shots to be used for commercials is the "guy you'd buy soap from." I am not that guy, as experience is showing. If anything, I play bad guys selling you soap (see Shout commercial). Any case, these are more designed to be the guy that sells you as security system. Let me know your thoughts.

http://www.jontylercore.com/webgallery/troycoleman/index.html

I truly can not say enough good things about this photographer either. I have been fortunate to work with a couple great ones over the last couple years. This recent photographer, Tyler Core, was solid and a lot of fun to work with. For a shoot that at one point he nearly stepped off a roof and I hung (by my suggestion) off a 2nd story fire escape... well, it was a shit eating grin day for both of us. His friend, a nurse, that was helping out with the bounce board was less excited about the near misses.