Things You Will Do When You Are A Parent

(1) Place a post it note on your computer alerting you that Thomas the Train: Live on Stage tickets go on sale @ 10 a.m.

(2) Sneak to your desk @ 10 a.m. try to buy tickets online

(3) Find out that you need have some special promo code only after purchasing $9.99 or more of goods from Toys R Us.

(4) Pack up your lunch, tell the boss you are taking lunch early and drive like a crazed soccer mom late for practice because you had to get some Capri Sun and slice up the oranges for the kids.

(5) Go and try to fine a $9.99 item at Toys R Us…..there are none!!! You will always spend more :

(6) Inhale lunch as you drive

(7) Go to mall. Find record store ( do they really still exist??) and wait for sullen teenager to tell you that you must purchase tickets online.

(8) Drive back to work

(9) Rush past boss, get on computer and find that server won’t allow you access to buy tickets…:(

(10) Start calling grandparents to see if they can get online…Get grandpa @ work to secure tickets!!! :)

Totals for day:

Productivity lost @ work 1-2.5 hrs
Toys R Us $ 11. 65
3 Tickets for show $144. 35
Look on son’s face from row 3 PRICELESS

A Perfect Day

4:30 A.M. - Little Dirt Dawg calls me to sleep with him because he has a cold

5:45 A.M. - Annoying little alarm on watch goes off, stumble out door to get in easy 10 miler before rest of the crew awakes.

8:00 A.M. - Family walk uptown for refueling...do you know how heavy and cumbersome a double stroller is?

11:00 A.M. - Head to Target with Little Dirt Dawg to get items on list.

1:00 P.M. - Walk into the home of the 2006 American League Champions Detroit Tigers..for a stirring game filled with cowboy pop, an odd tan on my knee from seats, and a walk off homer by Brandon Inge to win 4-3...Who's Your Tiger...??

4:45 P.M. - Pick up the wife and daughter, head to Mother in Law's for post game grub.

8:00 P.M. - Fall asleep with little dirt dawg....

The Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four


After approximately 325+ miles completed by all of the participants during the course of the fun run series this year, it seems that it has been whittled down to the fantastic four. These supremely talented individuals have battled rain, ice, wind, snow, and sun all in the sake of participating in this small little event held weekly in an attempt to bolster their health and camaraderie.

Dirt Dawg after putting down a scintillating time last week, looked to tie for the series lead with Twinkle Toes headed out to Ciociaro to begin his assault on those who do not follow the credence of: THINK FAST GO FASTER. However, T.T. was not quite ready to relinquish his hold on first and the two mutually agreed to take it easy and once again fell into their weekly fireside chat that covered such topics as: tanning packages for cyclists, new running shoes, birthday gifts, training plans for cyclists and ultra marathoners and squatting.

J-NO in the 23rd hour peeked her head out the building, decided it was only mildly crappy out and armed with an umbrella and Abstract at her side ambled along the path.


NAME: POINTS: RUNS:


Twinkle Toes: 41 : 24


Dirt Dawg : 40 : 22



J-NO : 26.5 : 15

Abstract: 24.5 : 12

A Tradition Renewed

Like all great Monday night rituals, MNF (Monday Night Football), RAW (WWE entertainment), and guarenteed leftovers from Sunday night, a tradition was renewed last night.

The Wolverine Sports Club leads weekly group rides in and around Metro Detroit for riders of all abilities. Monday nights are usually considered recovery rides after a hard weekend of training and or racing.

For me, there is no bike racing or real training. I have tried it, racing that is and it is was not pretty, and decided I do not want to put the time necessary in the PAIN LOCKER to achieve any level of measurable success. So I look at it is a time to socialize and get out and see the local area and more of it than in my normal pedestrian plodding mode.

Anyways, the good news about that is that Twinkle Toes/AKA a real elite rider comes over, grabs some grub, and then rolls out of my house to the ride. Little Dirt Dawg is happy to see him and the wife (who donated considerable jack to help purchase the new ride above) likes to cook for us. Tonight we feasted on Mexican Lasagna and enjoyed post ride Pacifico's.

Date Night

First time out since the girl was born so the wife and I headed down to the "D" for a good meal down @ Traffic Jam and Snug and then for an awesome concert starring John Legend and Corrine Bailey Rae @ the Fox Theatre. Probably best concert I have been to.

Island Lake

Fueled by perhaps the greatest breakfast/anytime condiment known to man, Nutella, I rambled out to my favorite trails @ Island Lake today for a 10 miler.

With just a few cars in the lot, I knew the trails would be empty and the near freezing temp (approx 36 degrees) would guarantee stable footing.

Deciding to run the yellow loop out to the 5 mile mark and then turn back, the trail is now marked every 1/4 with a post which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Good if you are counting every inch until it is over or are doing speedwork, or bad if you are only looking at the posts and not paying attention to what is in front of you.

Course completed in 1 hr 29 min today with post run Mahi Mahi tacos @ Baja Fresh. Doesn't get much better than that!!!

Vacation.....

4 a.m. - wake up to change sheets on bed after 10 week old daughter pukes on wife and bed

6 a.m. - little dirt dawg comes up from his lair to bed for morning cuddle

6:01 a.m. - tuck in little dirt dawg and sneak out to get in run.

7:15 a.m. - return home after running 7.4 miles faster than yesterday's 10k with ThE cReW, but ponder the eternal question "Quality over Quantity?"

8 a.m. - make pot of jet fuel and pancakes for ThE cReW

10 a.m. - pack up little dirt dawg and daughter to go to my girlfriends (it is possible to just be friends with a female and not have sexual feelings for them) from work to hang out with their kids

2 p.m. - return home for short siesta

4 pm - consume more jet fuel and watch "Charlotte's Web" with kids

4:30 p.m. - take phone call from neighborhood mom for playdate tomorrow

5:45 p.m. - meet same neighborhood mom @ Detroit Yoga (www.detroityoga.com) for ass kicking and soul cleansing Vinyasa Yoga

7 p.m. - come home to sumptous lamb/potatoes and salad that wife whipped up.

8 p.m. - tuck in little dirt dawg, and collapse on couch to watch baseball.......

ThE cReW

Rare White Tiger...

Down the stretch they come!!!



PRE RUN WARM-UP

Back in Michigan again, out of the snow belt and for just today and today only ( 39 Degrees and rain tomorrow) the clouds have parted and ThE cReW is able to duck out and get in a few miles.

ThE cReW:

Dog (Nemo): 6.5 year old Border Collie Mix (www.michiganhumane.org )/ approx 42 lbs./ YTD mileage: 101.16

Son (lilttle dirt dawg): 3 years old/approx: 32 lbs/YTD mileage: 10.05

Me (Dirt Dawg): 31 years old/approx: 176 lbs/YTD mileage: 446.87

Supporting Cast:

Baby Jogger: www.babyjogger.com - /approx: ???/ Years of Service: 3 - best jogging stroller ever!!!

Boy and Dog take off down the block to the fire hydrant where son must enter the baby jogger and begin the 10k journey before us today.

Today son is overly talkative and says "Hello" to everyone he sees and ask me "why dad?" to every question i ask. Hit the turnaround in about 32 minutes. On the way back, 1 stop for blanket coverage after son says he is “cold”, and for photo op with:

1 Rare White Tiger

Finish run with wild sprint:

BOY AND DOG WIN!

RUN RESULTS: 10k (6.2 miles) – 1 hr 7 min
1.Little Dirt Dawg
2.Nemo
3.Dirt Dawg

Course available @ www.favoriterun.com

Easter "Training" Camp

Easter “Training” Camp

As Twinkle Toes and his fellow obsessed roadies (D.K.N.Y. and G.P.S.) headed down to Georgia to engage in a good ole boy pissing contest, I begrudgingly headed off to Conneaut Lake, PA (there is nothing worth mentioning, outside of the fact that it is in the armpit of lake effect snow reaching from Cleveland to Buffalo) with my wife and 2 offspring for Easter.

My Easter “Training” camp goal was simple. Run everyday so as to maintain sanity from having to be around family 24/7. You know how it is. If it is not your house, you can’t change the channel without so much as a group consensus, and in the true spirit of all family gatherings, my wife has it pegged when she says, “Grab a bottle and hunker down.”

5 days post marathon and the legs felt pretty good, so I scampered off down by the lake for a few miles. Friday goes ok, but by Saturday morning there is 2-3 inches of the powdery white substance sticking to the ground. Is this a sick attempt by the Easter Bunny to camouflage his entrance?

Luckily, the one thing Conneaut Lake has is the behemoth of low prices, cheap labor, and blue vests…WAL-MART. I had forgotten my sunglasses and lucky for me I found some that doubled as snow goggles (cost $5) as I headed out on the same loop, this time returning with a thin coat of snow on me.

Surely, going into Easter Sunday, there could not be more snow, I thought to myself. Low and behold, there was an additional 3-4 inches on the ground by morning. I had to actually get out and shovel!! Again the same route, just a little slower, slipperier, and closer to going home.

Weekly Fun Run Sample

NOTE: Since i have mentioned characters from my weekly fun run/walk series, i thought it was best to include a weekly summary that participants receive. Please note the series takes place weekly on Thursday after school and is approximately 3.25 miles in length.



March 29, 2007



Bridging the Gap…..

2:30 p.m.

Dirt Dawg eagerly awaits Twinkle Toes to get out of meeting to begin fun run. Also notes that J-No is stuck in meeting as well.

2:31 p.m.
D.D. entertains thoughts of running by himself :(

2:32 p.m.

D.D. begins doing push-ups in parking lot.

2:33 p.m.

D.D. runs back to building and sees Huff N Puff J. Coerces him into cutting short his warm-up and begin running. H N P states that he won’t be able to keep up but D. D. tells him not to worry, this is a FUN RUN and has to take it easy for he has a marathon this weekend www.martianmarathon.com (YES, THIS IS A SHAMELESS PLUG)

2:37 p.m.

While D.D. and H N P were swapping stories about their Glory Days

Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

D.D. I spied Twinkle Toes attempting to bridge the gap.

Bridge: When a lone rider or smaller group of riders closes up the space between them and the rider or group in front of them. Most notably when riders catch up with the main pack (or peloton) of riders or those who are leading the race.
After successfully making the jump, T.T. stated that it was good practice for his upcoming race weekend, and left Huff N Puff to pontificate on his own “What is fun about this?”

Citing muscular strains and fatigue from aerobic squats, Vanna White sat out and left J-NO and Abstract to ramble the course in 52 minutes tying a previous course record!!

FUN RUN/WALK OVERALL STANDINGS

NAME: POINTS: RUNS COMPLETED:

Twinkle Toes 38 21

Dirt Dawg 38 20

EINSTEIN 37 19

J-NO 24.5 13

Abstract 22.5 10

Vanna White 11 4

Goucho 10 4

Huff N Puff 8 3

Big Red 5.5 1

Short Stack 1 1


LEFT FOR GREENER PASTURES:
EARTH WOMAN/YEAGERMEISTER

RECOVERY SUCKS...

Ok.... 2 days post marathon..and i hurt..i think they call it DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)..well no shit, i just ran for over 3 hours for no other real purpose than to say that i covered that amount of ground faster this time than in the previous 9 attempts...it's kind of like that one time at band camp...

Anyways, yesterday was an easy walk and some yoga to just get the legs moving. My son added to my recovery by making me chase him around the block.

This morning, the dog and I set out for a run/walk. Run 5 min then walk 5 min in a further attempt to flush the lactic acid or whatever the hell makes my legs hurt that the copious amounts of tylenol has failed to do. I think the walk was faster than the run.

NOTE: The pic is of Twinkle Toes attempting to "choke my chicken" at our weekly fun run.

One for the ages!

Dirt Dawg Achieves New PB!!!



On a cloudy and cool day, with remnants of a storm lingering around, I had decided that this marathon (my 10th official) would be an easy long run to just get in some miles before I began in earnest again the pursuit of a fall 50 miler. In my head, I had projected a 4:15 or so given my last long run time and started off in route with my Go-Lite Tailwind Pack (www.golite.com) stuffed with Hammer Gel and Perpetum (www.e-caps.com) .



Naturally the cool weather had me bounding down the course like a happy sprite and the little voice inside my head said “slow down, you have a long day ahead of you.” The miles just seemed to float on by and I even garnered a few comments from fellow plodders as to why I had the pack.



“Are you getting ready for an adventure race?” (No, I just like gear and the refreshments provided by the race support I don’t use))



“Are you an ultramarathoner?” (Working on it)



The one thing I dislike about this race is after about 10 miles, the half marathoners make the turn around and the participants drop significantly. Basically you are running by yourself, a great exercise in focus. Passing the half marathon in 1:46 (8:05 /mile), I realized that I had a shot at breaking my PB of (3:47) set at Detroit in my first marathon attempt.



Things were going along pretty well until mile 19 and 2 things happened that I would never wish on anyone in a race. First, at mile 20 I had to go to the bathroom, which has never happened in all my races. Don’t hit the panic button yet, I thought, things are fine. Then nearing the 21 mile mark, the stomach started gurgling….Not good….. Slowed to a walk I had to stop by the side of the road and faced a dilemma:

(1) Continue at a walk and just make it to the finish, good effort for the day

(2) Blow chunks…hope it clears the mechanism and try and still set a PB





Ok, so I chose #2. It wasn’t pretty and I felt like crap the rest of the way but I managed to finish in 3:44, a PB by over 3 minutes! Thought when you set a PB, you were supposed to feel great the entire way.



TIME: 3:44

½ marathon split: 1:46 (8:05 per mile)

½ marathon split: 1:58 (9:00 per mile)