Recreation Through Endurance

After I dislocated by finger, I gave myself two goals. Most importantly, get full movement back. With the exception of a little stiffness in the morning, I got this one done. The other was to get the knuckle size down to where it was by wearing the scar-tissue down. This didn't work. Now, I'm either going to have to leave it the way it is, keep massaging it though it hasn't done much yet, or go in for surggery. I imagine this would take a week to heal afterwards, which I could tolerate if it was timed right...

Still at least I've kept a positive attitude about it. These things can sometimes get a guy down.

Appearantly, I'm unique in that I'm the only one of me... I also happen to be one of the least popular people in America.

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

When I moved to Richmond several years ago, I had a 4-string stunt kite. Kites in general are mildly interesting and generally boring unless you're doing something like windsurfing or have a stunt kite. The thing was awesome as it would spin circles, fly sideways and backwards, land on it's side like a flagpole then launch again, skim the water, and even fly underwater if you had the right technique and a deep enough lake.

The problem I had was that Richmond is very forest-like with tons of trees, which makes for little wind. The only times I got to use it was when we went to the beach where there was a constant wind. On one tragic beach trip, in a Charlie Brown-esque moment when flag-poling, it got hit by a car. I piece of me died that day and I made a promise to the heavens that I would never spend over $200 on a kite again.

The past several weeks have been cold, cold and wet:

Today, in late February, we had an unusual 60 degree day caused by some warm-front or whatever. Checking the temps, I had to get out on the bike. The trails were muddy, so I hit the road for the first time in several months. Hilly Riverside to downtown, the out to flat Varina. I was feeling good and strong which I accredited to an light week but more importantly my gym work. I was probably averaging about 3 mph over what I was doing last fall, which is a huge gain. It felt too good to be true. I did a loop around the battlefield and started heading back home after 30 miles.

Sure, I was feeling tired but not that tired. I was going slow. Apparently, the warm-front or whatever turned into a wind-front or whatever. At times I think the leaves were moving faster than I was, just in the other direction. The flat part of Williamsburg Rd. just east of downtown kept me at 14 mph and I struggled to get 8 mph on the downtown hills. Did I mention how many times I had to stop to cry the dust out of my eyes?

Not once though did I think I shouldn't be out there despite saying "Shit, this sucks" more then a couple times. Besides, it was 60 degrees in February. What was I supposed to do...? It's not like I had a kite to fly.

It's friday, but it's not the 13th. That doesn't matter because it's not this friday that matters, it's a friday three years ago. Three years ago, the day before Valentine's Day, Liz and I went on our first date. Looking back, we've now been married for almost two years and were engaged for about one. Did we even date at all? Doesn't matter. She's all at matters, to me.

With the exception of a few phases here and there, I've never really been a gamer. I've always laughed at the people that camp out waiting for game consoles to come to market. Then, somehow, someway, I suddenly became one of them.

I don't know how it started or how it happened, but I got sucked in. The hype, scouring the internet, driving around to every store I could think of... It's been kinda sad this last week. Sad and exciting, because I got so close so many times to getting a new Wii. The easy part was deciding I wanted one. I went to the local GameStop and played the sports games that come with it and a Zelda sampler they had and I was hooked.

If you're out of the loop, as I was a week ago to this brilliant marvel of engineering genius, it's not like other gaming systems. Rather that having just a controller and buttons, it senses your movements so you can swing your arm to play tennis, go underhand to bowl, or make a throwing motion to pitch in baseball. Liz told me her arms were sore yesterday, why? She's been boxing!

Check out these players.

I'd tell you more, but I got something I need to do... I think Frazz had it right this week.

I'm finishing up my 2 hour stationary bike at the gym today with some pretty hard intensity, completely worn out and wondering if my stream of sweat is going to make it over to the bike next to me. With just a couple minutes left, I open my eyes and lift my head from it's hanging, rocking position to see one of the gym staff laying a mop in front of me and I had to laugh.

Last weekend, a friend a friend put on a pseudo-race that was a completely new type of event for me. Reading running publications you're told you're supposed to be excited about the big events. Monument 10k is now up to 24,000 runners and is almost full. Some marathons are twice that big. As a new runner, these are great events since they're inclusive (aka "walkers welcome"), generally well organized, lots of food, and no matter who you are you probably know someone else that doing it.

Honestly, as I've gotten faster, I'm enjoying these races less and less. A couple years ago, I got stuck behind a military group marching 8 by 8 in formation down Monument Ave. and ended up running on the median to get by them. I support the troops and all that, but come on... Get out of my way. There's so many people you can't possibly perform well. Sure, you can do it just for fun, but I have more fun when I finish knowing I ran my hardest.

Saturday, a guy I'd never met organized a trail run leaving from his front yard doing a lap around the downtown trails and finishing back in his front yard. He limited it to 30 people and it was solely word-of-mouth. It was timed, a couple significant-others handed out drinks, he rode around taking pictures, and no crowding. The whole time, I felt like I was running my best (though I wasn't quite sure how to pace myself for a hilly 15 mile trail run), I talked with new people, even tried jumping onto a bridge trellis in Forest Hill for a photo op (which didn't work).

After the race was over, I sat on the floor of his dining room and talked with friends and people I just met. I ate delivered pizza, drank a couple keg beers, and checked our the pictures in his living room (none of me falling off the trellis though).

Beat that Monument!

What happens when you take my carpentry skills, Llz's electrical skills, and my good friend Jay's tooling skills?

A 2-day project completed in only 3 weeks!

A combination of things happened last year that were very encouraging (doing pretty well in the Off-Road Tris) and need to be rectified (DNFing at the SM100, improper marathon training). Put them together and I'm excited about having a good race year. What races, you ask? Here they are:

Xterras:
5/6 Uwharrie, NC (conflict)
5/20 King of the Hill, NJ (possible)
5/27 Smith Lake, NC (possible)
6/3 Ace Big Canyon, WV (possible)
6/17 East Coast Championship,Richmond (definitely)
7/15 Midwest Mudder, KS (possible, close to parents)
7/15 EX2, MD (definite, if the Mudder's out)
7/29 Crested Butte, CO (possible, right?)
8/5 Appalachia, PA (possible)
8/19 Charlottesville, VA (definite since I missed it last year)
9/30 USA Championship, Tahoe, NV (start saving now)

Others:
3/31 Monument 10k (already registered)
4/21 Charlottesville Half-Marathon, VA (definite)
4/22 Poor Farm Spring Cup, Ashland, VA (definite, should be fun after that half-marathon)
5/6 Middle Mountain Momma XXC, VA (conflict)
9/2 Shenandoah Mountain 100, VA (definite with a vengeance)
9/22 Odyssey Off-Road Half Xtreme Duathlon or Triathlon (possible)
10/7 Chicago Marathon (possible backup if I don't get into NYC)
10/14 Poor Farm Fall Cup, Ashland, VA (definite)
11/4 New York Marathon (pending application accepted)

Ok, not all of those. Realistically... half of them.

If anyone know a sponsor willing to pay race entries, I know someone whose willing to wear any jersey out there...