SSTIFY

Don't ask....


This song always reminds me of the Murphy/Piscopo version on SNL. One of my favorite SNL skits.

Have a good weekend everyone.

A Man with No Plan

Apparently, I'm also a Man with No Substantive Post, either. The title is about as far as I've gotten in the past few hours. Here's my deal:

My big race for 2009 is an 86-mile* relay. Our team runs from Omaha to Lincoln. Curiously enough, according to Google Maps, Omaha to Lincoln is only 59 miles. WTF? Can you say "Off the Beaten Path"? I guess running on I-80 is frowned upon.

As I perused the relay's website, I was fortunate enough to find a 9 week training plan for both beginners AND intermediate-ers. Lucky me! Now all I need to do is determine what I am (feel free to comment like I know you will). As I jumped on my calendar and counted backwards, 9 weeks has me starting to train in mid-August. I guess that just means I'll hang out until then. Ya know, throw in some runs when the mood hits, maybe try that whole speedwork thing that the kids are talking about these days.

Yep, summer's here and the living is easy.

Oh, by the way, neither training plan suggests a half-marathon 2 weeks before the relay. You know what that means.......I'm dropping down to the Omaha 10K! Woo hoo! The tradition continues!

*not a typo.

3 Day Weekend Odds and Ends...

Since I refuse to Tweet anymore, I'm going to dance with what brung me. Bullet points!

Some odds and ends from a much necessary, non-eventful weekend:

• KidDoodle 1 scored her first goal on Saturday. It was a garbage goal, but RazZDoodle's take what we can get. She was pretty proud of herself and she should be. Team Green Machine is unstoppable.
• I was apparently in trouble for the better part of Saturday morning and I didn't even know it. WifeDoodle dreamed that I was having some sort of sordid affair with one of her friends from college. A little background....I didn't even know my wife when she was in college AND I don't even know "Dream Girl". So how the hell does that work? Proving for the 3 billionth time that I'll never understand women.
• I attempted speed work for the first time yesterday. Essentially, I was figuring my base for track repeats, or intervals, or whatever the hell they're called. It wasn't much, but it was different and I'm looking forward to and dreading the next session at the same time.
• My feet hurt. Not during a run, not right after a run, but after being off of my feet for an extended period of time. After a few minutes, the pain goes away. Weird. I'm sure it's God's way of saying I need new shoes.
  
• I almost had to give last rites to my Garmin this weekend. I was flicking off a wayward snot rocket on my hand and the face flew off (not mine, the Garmin's). The remainder of the run consisted of me composing a Garmin RIP post. As it stands, a couple drops of Krazy Glue has seemed to do the trick. Fingers crossed.
• I opted to not run the Boys Town Memorial Run this year and I was kinda bummed. It's the one race I've consistently done. On the flip side, though, it looks as though I've successfully dodged yet another meeting with XC2. Her loss.
• My first race of the season is this Saturday. It's a five-miler and it's for a cause that's important to our family. It should be a lot of fun.

And finally.....

• Hey, did you know that Jon and Kate are having marital problems? Ya know, every time I flip around and see that show on, she is just riding the poor guy. Yap yap yap. I'm not justifying what he allegedly did, but good God, that'd wear on anyone.

SSTIFY - History Lesson

This week's entry should be familiar for 2 groups of people. As I see it, the dividing line is 1981, the year this album came out.

For those of you born pre-1981:

Journey's Escape has got to be one of the most iconic albums of my generation. I had it on cassette and I played the hell out of of it on my Walkman and boom box. Steve Perry had some mad vocals and he alone made Journey one of the most recognizable sounds of the decade. There are just a handful of front men during that time period (mid 70's - late '80's) that can lay claim to that:

1. Axl Rose
   
2. Freddie Mercury
   
3. Bon Scott
   
4. Bono
   
5. Steve Perry
   

Can you imagine GnR, Queen, AC/DC, U2 or Journey without them? Really?

For those of you born post-1981:

It's from Fox's new series, Glee.

I feel bad for the future.

Enjoy.

Quality vs. Quantity

Normally, when I read your blogs, I skim over the post, look for a link to my blog, laugh at a jab at someone that's not me, and I then go on with my day. There was one post this week, though, that piqued my interest and I hate to admit the source:

Feet Meet Street

Yep, Nitmos recently posted about "junk miles". Well, I've been slowly becoming a believer of this concept (NOT of Nitmos). Currently, I've been running 3 times a week. Here's how it breaks down:

Day 1 - 3.5 miles
Day 2 - 3 miles (much hillier course)
Day 3 - long run (5-6 miles)

My goal this year is to break, nay...shatter, 2 hours for a HM. I looked at FIRST training and I don't think I've built a base to that just yet, but would consider it later on. Here are some questions that linger:

• Do I need a base before debating the quality vs. quantity?
• If I just start doing speed work (in 2 weeks) without a base, could I get injured?
• If I could do some speedwork, what would it look like in the beginning?
  
• Did I really just use "believer" and "Nitmos" in the same paragraph?

I considered contacting Nitmos directly, but I figured that someone out there is a lot more qualified than a guy who promises to shoot fruit out of his ass. I'm just sayin'.

this is the most backhanded compliment you're going to get from me, Nitmos. Bookmark this page and remember it fondly.

Remember Me?

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (woo woo woo)

I tried to replace "RazZDoodle" with "Joe DiMaggio", but I just couldn't. I have too much respect for Simon and/or Garfunkel.

It's been awhile since I've posted something rather than dancing slugs and The Most Annoying Sound Ever, but things have been crazy with a capital "C". I'd go into all the details, but I'm going to spare you for 2 reasons:

1. Everyone is busy
2. I hate it when other people try to "out-busy" me.
   

We all know a #2. Nothing is more important - in anyone's life - than their busy schedule. By nature, I'm a nonviolent guy, but those people should be stoned via their own Blackberries in the Town Square.

I digress. The month of May is busy for all teachers. Just ask 'em. They may nod or they may give you this glazed look. Either way, you'll get the point. I've grown accustomed to it, but the RazZDoodle's decided to add another layer of stress by switching our daycare providers. I won't go into a lot of detail because I don't think that this blog can handle the space. Suffice it to say, our previous daycare situation went from great to questionable to shopping around for a new one. Child Protective Services got involved. Fortunately, no children were harmed, but the number of kids grew out of control (18 at last count....for one provider). To top it off, the sitter even managed to lay a guilt trip on KidDoodle 1 for at least one week about alllllll the fun stuff that she'll be missing out on if they change sitters. Nice. You can pull that shit on me, just not my kids.

Through it all, though, I've managed to get some runs in. I'm only at about 3 times a week and the longest I've gone is 4 miles. I'm running a really cool race in a couple of weeks that is very meaningful to me, so that's cool. Couple that with the fact that our team was accepted in the lottery for the Market to Market Relay and things are looking up.

I'll be back in the blogosphere soon. Until then, I'll just lurk when I can and give keen inspriation when necessary.

SSTIFY Friday - Sweet Mother of All That's Good and Holy

Hey, remember when I wrote about running and stuff? Yeah, me neither.

I don't think anyone's Friday would be complete without dancing slugs. Enjoy.

SSTIFY Friday - Pluggin' Away

I'm still around. Just getting my miles in. As any teacher can attest, the month of May is in-sane. My iCal is almost comical. Couple all of that with the fact that we've got daycare issues. Yeah.

This week's entry is my son's fault. He loves dancing to this song before bedtime. Should I be worried? Have a good weekend everyone!

SSTIFY Friday - Wanna Hear Something Annoying?

The following has been stuck in my head for awhile. WifeDoodle, KidDoodle 1 and I like to sing this in the car. KidDoodle 2 looks at us like we're nuts. Oh well.

Have a good weekend everyone!