Hunkerin' Down

This Sunday is it. My first....and certainly not last....half marathon is upon me. I made the decision to go out on one run this week and that was yesterday (3 miles). That should do it. I'll stretch, ibuprofen, cross train (i.e.-walk the course) until the big day.

Until then, I leave you with some bullets (ironic choice of words considering the past week's events):

• Feet Meet Street, while a very funny blog, is doling (+2 points) out wayyy too many points when it comes to big words.
• I'm going to win a new bike. That's what Vanilla told me. He emailed me and told me that I won. The rest of you shouldn't even try. For those of you who recognized that there wasn't a link to his blog, that was by design. If you can't figure out why I did that, should you really be riding a bike?
• There will be no SSTIFY Friday this week. Even though I've added to the repertoire (+10 points), you'll have to wait till next week.
• Golf was interesting on Monday. I managed to hit a moving Honda CR-V and roll one up underneath the scorer's table. Nice shots, coach!
• The down side of running with my dog? He can't run more than 2 miles right now and, when I go on my long run without him, he goes into our room and whines, consequently (+6 points) waking up my wife.
• No treadmill just yet. I haven't had time to pick it up. I've been told that I am to be picking it up this Saturday. Imagine my enthusiasm.

My next post will be my 100th. I'm not quite sure what the format will be, but I think it's apropos (+1 gagillion points) that it will be my half marathon race report. Tis all for now. Hope all have a great week.

*note-my goal is 2:00:00. That way, when I write about it afterwards, there is documentation about it and I can't say, "Well, I was shooting for 2:45:00 and I beat it by 35 minutes!!"

SSTIFY Friday

Today at school was incident-free. After school, a bunch of us determined that an FAC was in order. We were commenting after our 2nd or 3rd beer that today was the least nerve-wracking day since this started. Probably due to all of the increased security. I'd say outside of Offutt AFB, it was probably one of the more secure places in the metro. Thanks to everyone who had me in their thoughts. It meant a lot.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff. I ripped this off from The Office, but...goddamnit...it gets stuck in my head every time I hear it. Enjoy:

A Surreal Day

Today's the day.

More specifically, today is the day that someone wrote on a bathroom mirror earlier this week that "13 people will die" and that they "died young".

Administrators decided to have school. It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If you shut down school, the little punk got what he/she wanted. If you keep it as normal as possible, you run the risk of something happening.

Our school is open today.

Surreal is an understatement.

We're expecting 50% attendance. I'm thinking about 30%. No one is in the hallways save for 20+ administrators and police units. Bomb sniffing dogs went through the school earlier today and will do the same in the parking lots soon. Everyone got searched when they came into the building today. Of course, I have a lot of crap on the ONE day that I shouldn't. Laptop bag, duffle bag, and camera bag. I kind of clogged up the line. Oh well. Better safe than sorry. That's what we're here for. To keep the kids safe. Quite honestly, it's the safest this building has ever been.

Who knows what will happen today? I hope to not modify this post. I hope that it's business as usual (relatively speaking) and that it's incident-free. One question I keep asking myself:

"Does this happen in any other profession?"

*on a lighter note, I hope to post a SSTIFY later on. It is Friday, you know.

Irony of Ironies

INTERIOR SHOT OF RAZZDOODLE'S KITCHEN
Raz's lovely wife and wonderful children are enjoying their dinner. The 4 year old is truly enjoying her ravioli with pesto and red bell pepper. (she won't eat a hamburger, but she'll throw down ravioli and pesto like no other). The 10 month old is blowing raspberries to his big sister. It's truly a Norman Rockwell moment.

LOVELY WIFE:
We should get a treadmill.

RAZZDOODLE:
Holy crap, why?

4 YEAR OLD:
Oooh, Daddy. You said a bad word. You said "crap".
(always a prime opportunity for the 4 year old to say a bad word)

10 MONTH OLD:
Thhhbbbppppttttttttt....

LOVELY WIFE:
Well, you like to run and I want to get more exercise.

RAZZDOODLE:
What about going outside?

LOVELY WIFE:
Well, I want to exercise when the kids go to sleep.

4 YEAR OLD:
Daddy, remember when you said "crap"? That was so funny.
(truly enjoying her verbal freedom right now)

RAZZDOODLE:
Um....I hate treadmills. You obviously haven't read my post about running on treadmills. It's legendary. I'm kind of a big deal.

LOVELY WIFE:
(rolls eyes)
Our friend wants to get rid of theirs. It's only 3 years old. 25 bucks.

RAZZDOODLE:
Deal.

4 YEAR OLD:
Daddy? Remember when you said, "Goddamnit"? And then you said not to tell Mommy? That was so funny!

10 MONTH OLD:
Crap

So there you have it. I'll be the owner (notice I didn't say "proud owner") of a treadmill by the end of this weekend.

Upside: Don't have weather or lack of time as an excuse to get a run in.
Downside: see above

P.S. - We've had 3 terroristic threats in the past 2 days here at the school. Tension is rather high. Keep ya posted. Isn't being a teacher fun?

Weekend Recap

I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing. - Marsha Doble

We're going to do this old school. Here goes:

• Went to the Nebraska spring game this past Saturday. I may have to recant my bold prediction. Maybe not the 2008 Big 12 North champs, but they're going to surprise people. I'll save my bold predictions for next year.
• 81,000 people in downtown Lincoln on Saturday and I saw at least 3 people trying to run through it. Really? You had NO IDEA that there'd be this many people an hour before kickoff? Did you not pick up a paper or watch TV? Did the fact that thousands of people in red were streaming into downtown not register with you? How 'bout re-routing your run? I'm all for getting a long run in on the weekend, but I would at least try to go around the chaos.

• We took my daughter to the game. It was her 2nd spring game. I think she goes for the tailgate food. Menu: Mac and Cheese with cheerleaders and footballs, chicken fingers, mini corn dogs, Juicy Juice, veggies, cookies, etc.
  
• She was really into the game for the first quarter and then we went had to go on a hunt for the dance team, cheerleaders, and Herbie Husker. She got sidetracked after the cheerleaders and saw some kids playing putt putt on the adjacent track. Here are some pics:
• Since we shipped her off with the grandparents, I was able to get a 4 mile run in on Monday morning. Knee kinda hurt and I'm convinced that it's due to the hills on my route. I'm fine on a flat surface as was evident on my treadmill run on Friday (5 miles). Rain and 40 degree temps forced me indoors for that one.
• Truly enjoyed tracking the runners in Boston yesterday. I was completely addicted! I even managed to sneak a peek here and there on TV during the day. Congrats to Nitmos, J-Money, and all of the runners who braved the course. My blogging hat is tipped to all of you. I'm inspired to run a marathon now. Des Moines seems to be the most logical choice, even if it's hillier than Non-Runner Nancy led me to believe. Ha!
• Is there anything more addictive than tracking a package through UPS? I bought myself a gift for all of my hard work announcing basketball games. Nothing much, but I'll be sure to give you a review once I get it and put it through its paces. Get it? Paces? Hilarious!

I have no solid close to this, so I'll end it here. Till later.

SSTIFY Friday

My wife was humming this little ditty while she got ready for work yesterday. Personally, I think it's grounds for divorce, but that costs too much money.



If you want to contribute for next week's SSTIFY, email me at runningoffatthemind@gmail.com. Have a great weekend! I'll be in Lincoln on Saturday to watch the Huskers play the Huskers. 81,000 expected to watch a scrimmage. No lie. It'll be a nice preview of the 2008 Big 12 North champs. Best of all, I get to take my daughter. She's more interested in the cheerleaders. Hey! So am I! Go Big Red!

Long term/short term goals

By no means am I good enough to qualify for Boston anytime soon, but I just watched this video and got pumped! It may be the Starbucks talking, but:

I want to qualify for and run the Boston Marathon.

There, I said it. Of course, there's a lot of commitment involved (physical, emotional, financial, etc.), but I think it'd be cool. I'm even trying to convince my sister to run it with me. She's a BU grad and a Sox fan as well. The ultimate in my running career, albeit a short one, would be to run past Fenway with my sister. I'm giving myself a long-term goal of 5 years.

Short term to mid-term goal should probably be to run a marathon, huh? Of course, I've got the Lincoln Half Marathon in less than 3 weeks (gulp!) Well folks, I'm going to train for the 2008 Des Moines Marathon in October. If I remember correctly, Non-Runner Nancy told me that it's a pretty flat course and it's a lot of fun. (Nancy: feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

So there you have it. It's written down. It makes it a little more real. Once I register (i.e. - pay) for Des Moines, it'll make it even more real.

Not much else to post. Vanilla unknowingly guilted me into running with my dog, Maxfli. It was a nice morning and he was definitely up for it (my dog, not Vanilla). Max knows 2 speeds: Lying on the couch (see right) and dead-ass sprint. He started out on dead-ass sprint mode, stopping only to sniff every mailbox, hydrant and tree along the short route. During the run, he slowly came back to me and by the end of it, he was behind me. I've taken to labeling this a "Max Run" in my log. I take a little more time yanking on the leash prying him away from marking the entire neighborhood.

*Note- I think that all dogs have to give this look. It's in their genetic code.

Good luck to Nitmos, J-Money and everyone else that are running Boston on Monday! You're an inspiration to a lot of people!

Quick Update

Ran a "long" run on Sunday. My intention is to come back slowly, so I went 4 miles. Problem is, I got gassed at 3.75 and quit. I just didn't have it in me. I really think it's my allergies. They're causing some breathing issues. Got some Allegra-D and today's run went much more gooder.

Less than 3 weeks to my first HM and I can't even run 4. Think I'm a little nervous? I need to slow my pace down, too. I've been sub 9:00 for the past few runs. It must be my new shoes. That's good, but bad at the same time.

Spring break this week, but I'm swamped with golf practice, catching up on some much needed business work, and spending some time with the kids. We're going to Omaha's world-famous zoo on Friday, so we're all pretty excited. That's about all for now. Nothing too damn exciting.

SSTIFY Friday

We're starting a new segment here at Running Off at the Mind. Hopefully, it will be even more of a phenomenon like "Meatless Friday". Yikes.

It took me 2 days to get the Sanford and Son theme song out of my head. I know, I know....it was my own doing. So that got me thinking:

• Me: You know what would be cool?
• Me: What?
• Me: If I could get other songs stuck in people's heads.
• Me: Yeah, that'd be sweet. What about writing about your running? How about that?
• Me: Screw you.
• Me: Whatever.
  
• Me: Gotta go.
  
• Me: Talk to ya later.
• Me: Call me.
  

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Song STuck In my head FridaY. Acronym: SSTIFY.

Feel free to email me with your contribution. If I don't get any emails, I have PLENTY of my own (videos, that is. not emails). Here's my first offering:

Cinderella Story

In honor of the first day of The Masters, quite possibly the greatest scene in cinematic history.

*can you tell I just found out how to post a YouTube clip to my blog? Very exciting

**note the foreshadowing.

Short Post Fore You Today

School is getting crazy. It always is this time of year. 4 video projects on the board (with more to come) for yours truly (part of "other duties assigned"), end of year wrap up sort of stuff, and golf practice and/or competitions. I'm reading other blogs, but making my pithy comments has been curtailed somewhat. Apologies.

We had a golf invite yesterday and coaches got to play. Yippee. I shan't bore you with the details, but I was on my way to a career round and I proceeded to 3 putt the last 3 holes. Grrr.... Poor me, right? RIGHT??? Anyway, after the round, my legs were in bad shape. I ran a mere 2 miles that morning with NO PAIN, and I then walked a 6500 yard, HILLY course, with clubs strapped to my back. That's 3.75 miles. Because of this, I'm now including walking the golf course as part of my cross training. So there, nyah!

*Programming note - tomorrow should be fun. Stay tuned!

This Morning's Run

junk miles this morning.

*I dare you to get this song out of your head for the rest of the day.

"It"

Topher tagged. Therefore, I must be it. Here are the rules from which I must abide:

(1) Write your own six-word memoir. Easy enough

(2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want. I'll come back to that.

(3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogs-universe. Did that.

(4) Tag at least five more blogs with links. RunnerGirl, Feet Meet Street, Non-Runner Nancy, Vanilla, Absolutely Fit. Apologies to any of the above that have already done this.

(5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play. Yes, sir.

After much consternation, I came up with my 6 words. For fun, here are some that didn't make the cut:

• KSU and CU suck. Huskers dominate.
• Cheeseburgers and fries cure my hangover
• Life sometimes sucks. Wear a helmet.
• I don't like a limited word count.

And then, the skies opened up, the birds sang, and Moses himself came down off the mountaintop with something engraved on a tablet. The tablet read:

Life is a series of choices.

One of my favorite high school teachers gave me this piece of advice. It's very basic, but it's something I've adhered to for most of my adult life. It's also something I try to impart on my students when they graduate. I truly believe that things happen for a reason and those things are determined by the choices you make. Some are big and some are small, but they're all important. For example, when I was in college, I made the decision to pick up an overnight shift at the college radio station. It was something I've always wanted to do. That decision got me interested in broadcasting, switched majors, got a job in TV, met my wife at the station we both worked at, got married, had kids, etc. Not a big decision at the time, but it turned out OK for yours truly.

That's enough deep thinking for me. I think I'm going to lie down now.

It's Gotta Be the Shoes

Went on my first real run (i.e. - on the road) with the new kicks. VERY HAPPY!!! Save for the aggravating IT band, I felt great! My only issue is is that I could hear myself run. It was weird. It sounded like I was running in moon boots. That, my friends, is how my funny little brain works. The small/weird things get to me.

A few of you have begged me to tell you what type of shoes I got. (There's no clue in the title, either.) I mean, it got pretty embarrassing. Rather than tell you, I'll do one better. Here's a pic:




Pretty sweet, huh?

Long day, yesterday. We had our golf invitational yesterday. Tee times started at 9:00am. 35 degrees, winds at 15mph, and rain. And it didn't get better from there. Yours truly had to stay on the 1st hole and announce each group teeing off along with going over some course rules. To top it all off, I forgot my running hat and gloves, so one of our guys donated me his NY Yankees stocking cap. So for 2 hours, I was cold and a loser.

I'm back on the road tomorrow for a whopping 4 miler. I'm looking forward to it. Why? Because I have new shoes! Have I mentioned that?