The Beard Experiment

After my race in New York, I sorta let my beard just go. It was November and the no-shave November was just enough excuse to pardon any wayward commentary till the month was over. By December my beard had reached a respectable length and I just opted to let it go a little longer, assuming my wife would soon request a shave before the holidays. No such request came and I went through the holidays in Ohio without being called a hippie even once. I hit the roads today for a morning run in the heavy snow fall and must admit I truly enjoyed the frost and ice in it. I don't really know how long I'll let it go, but it has been a fun little experiment.

Simple Love

xo

Sometimes you just need a comfy place to curl up...

1 week...

Heh.

A Picture vs 1000 Words

Seriously… I have this much fun doing this. :)

Marathon of Errors

I ran my 7th marathon yesterday here in Denver and the first of a two week double header. It was a new approach for me to recognize I needed to run this marathon differently than I had before. Of the few resources that I could find on what to do when running 2 marathons in 2 weeks (beyond, "are you nuts?!?!") was that for the first one, run easy and treat it like a training run. Ergo, I dropped my hope for a new PR and tried to ease back to see the bigger picture. It was a little refreshing honestly, but hard one the day itself. Luckily, the universe managed enough set backs to keep me from ever getting too competitive on my 26.2mi "training" run.

Here are the set backs I had on the Denver Rock n Roll yesterday, for your viewing amusement:

1. The start line was ridiculously close to my home allowing a near humane wake up time. That was foiled with a simple mistake on my alarm. I woke up with enough time to get ready and out the door on time, but it was far from the leisurely pace I thought I was in for.  Just started off my day a little off balance.
2. It got cold here in Denver with starting line temp's near 40 degrees. When the sun came up it was immediately behind clouds. Then the wind picked up a little. It actually was colder by mile 25 than it was for mile 5. Running clothes are not meant to stop wind usually slow the chill factor got your attention. I'd rather run cold than hot though.
3. iPod fail. My higher tempo playlist failed to upload on my aging iPod. Music isn't all that important to me, but it was disappointing to be at the mercy of shuffle again. I know have a band and a song nemesis for running that my iPod loves and I do not while running. Again, not a big deal.
4. Hydration belt fail. My hydration belt is on its best day a nascence. On it's worst, it is like a hangnail that you can't stop hitting. Yesterday was the later. Additionally, I was wearing my runner bib lower due to my PAWS singlet and it kept snagging it, my shirt, and my drawstring on my shorts. I was quite happy to drop it with my family at our first rendevoux. 
5. My sportswatch took a dive. I wasn't using it so much to watch pace, but distance. I am pretty regimented on my refueling so as to not crash later and once it stopped tracking where I was on the course, I couldn't keep up so much as to when I should be popping gels till I hit markers. Again, not a terrible problem, but I needed to time them with water stations that were not always before markers. Slight annoyance.
6. Lastly, my ITB started talking. Any runner fears that chatter. It means bad things are coming if you don't ease up. It might also mean no running by injury if you don't take heed. I began peppering my running with walking the last 8 miles to avoid it getting more aggravated. That worked out well with the plan of "training" run, but remember how I said it was getting colder?

When all was said and done, I was certain I had just logged my slowest marathon ever. It was a jaw dropping shock to find out a actually hit my second fastest. It was fun for the most part, all the setbacks aside. My family was there and that makes any marathon an incredible experience.

By mid morning, I starting to move a little easier and am ready to do the unusual between marathon recovery. Thank you again to all those that have been sending support, both encouragement and donations to PAWS. There is one more week available to donate before the New York Marathon.

Simple Thursday Wish

Happy Thursday ya'll! Do something fun!

S-M-R-T... Smart!

I've been doing my best as of late to offer insights to why I am running for PAWS and what PAWS does to help keep the donation ball rolling. Today, I am just going to lay it out as plain smart. Estes here  has offered to help with a visual aid, although I suspect my with had more to do with this picture than Estes did. None the less, I offer you a shameless plea to doing something smart like donating to a good cause like PAWS. Having fostered a few rescues now, the tremendous difference in effort required in taking in an animal in need and donating to an organization that will is immense! I am all for helping out (to the tune of 2 marathons in 2 weeks), I appreciate that I can offer financial help and do as much good! Plus I don't have to clean up accidents all over my house when I do that.

Smart, isn't it?

http://teampaws.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1052581&lis=1&kntae1052581=E8A44FBEC339431094A2863563EF4D0D&supId=296965664

Happy Tuesday

There are some days, you just need to go with your happy's.

Happy Friday to You

Happy National Dog Day

How the hell did we find out about these holidays before Facebook? :)

Simple Joy

It's all good

Comforts

Simple

Calm

True Valentine

I am not one to get all that jazzed over Valentine's Day anymore. It has three parts really that keep me from being too enthusiastic about our mid-February ritual. The first is that it just seems fake. If Charlie Brown once bemoaned the commercialism of Christmas, the V-day is it's unbridled sequel. The second is that I generally seem employed in places that keep me from making any traditional plans, a fact my wife has long since given in to. The last though is probably the best one though. I am madly in love with my wife. I tell regularly so in fact. I buy her flowers when she is blue, not because the calendar tells me to. With her, I feel the spirit of Valentines, if there is such, all the time. It seems as odd as proposing Drink Coffee Day or Walk Day.I must confess though, the recent Pancake Day was pretty awesome. With my wife, I am inspired to all the tenants of Valentine's Day but without the needless urge to go buy it. I love her and waited a long time to find her. Of course I will let her know she's my love and I am damn grateful she's in my life. 

I will now step off my heart shaped soapbox.

Happy Picture Saturday

Super Bowl

Enjoy the game!

All This Time...

So I have been trying to figure this whoe thing out for quite a while. What the hell it all means, you know? Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? Then it hit me. We just need to...

Enjoy it a little more and a little louder.

Hope you all will! (Especially you... yes you.)