Considering that I just got up and moving about an hour ago, 17 miles ain't happening today since I have to be somewhere at 1:30 pm today.
I'll get some miles in and depending on what the weather does (forecast calls for 1-3" of snow overnight tonight and in to tomorrow probably preventing the baseball games from being played) might be able to get my long run in tomorrow.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Really Living Life
Here's my spectacular Friday night plans:
Fix appropriate pre-long run dinner - check
Struggle to stay awake to watch the basketball games - check
Get everything ready for long run (17 miles) tomorrow - check
Fun times, eh?
Fix appropriate pre-long run dinner - check
Struggle to stay awake to watch the basketball games - check
Get everything ready for long run (17 miles) tomorrow - check
Fun times, eh?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Jealous
I dropped T off at the airport early this morning. She is traveling to speak at a conference. The Northwest Athletic Trainers' Association meeting.
In Seaside, OR.
Damn baseball home games preventing me from going.
In Seaside, OR.
Damn baseball home games preventing me from going.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Morning
I'm happy to report that I was able to watch the sun peek over the rooftops of the houses on my run this morning. That means that I was out the door on my run around 8:00-8:15 this morning. I've always enjoyed running in the morning. It's too easy for me to come up with excuses to not run at the end of my day, so my goal this week is to get all of my runs done before I have to be at work.
So one day down.
Now, keep in mind that today I don't have to be at work until noon, so getting up and being out there at 8 is pretty good. Not as early as Maria, but still an accomplishment.
So one day down.
Now, keep in mind that today I don't have to be at work until noon, so getting up and being out there at 8 is pretty good. Not as early as Maria, but still an accomplishment.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Time Flies
Didn't realize it had been almost two weeks since I posted anything on here, but now that spring sports are in full swing (even if the weather is very un-spring sport-like, an aside: the baseball team (my primary responsibility in the spring) played a game on Thursday and the thermometer never got above 38F. Those are great conditions to spend 4.5 hours outside.) my free time is a bit less free and greatly reduced.
The only thing I really have to report is that my spring marathon is now only 5 weeks away. The good news is that my 21.28, and just ask someone else who has run more than 20 miles just how much that 0.28 matters, went great. Yes I had to take a couple of walk breaks, but I'll probably do that in the race itself, but I felt pretty good in the last couple of miles - no drop off in pace - and with 5 weeks left I can still make some much needed gains in fitness. The not so good news is that my schedule is all jacked up from here on to race day with games, etc - I'm keeping my fingers that dry weather prevails over the coming weeks so the schedule will stay what it is and not be completely rearranged - so my training schedule will need to be in pencil, not ink.
Oh, and Saturday is a big day. Adding the color to the latest addition.
The only thing I really have to report is that my spring marathon is now only 5 weeks away. The good news is that my 21.28, and just ask someone else who has run more than 20 miles just how much that 0.28 matters, went great. Yes I had to take a couple of walk breaks, but I'll probably do that in the race itself, but I felt pretty good in the last couple of miles - no drop off in pace - and with 5 weeks left I can still make some much needed gains in fitness. The not so good news is that my schedule is all jacked up from here on to race day with games, etc - I'm keeping my fingers that dry weather prevails over the coming weeks so the schedule will stay what it is and not be completely rearranged - so my training schedule will need to be in pencil, not ink.
Oh, and Saturday is a big day. Adding the color to the latest addition.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Who Watches...
Disclaimer: First and foremost, I am an avowed comic book nerd/geek/aficionado so please keep that in mind as you read this post. I make this disclosure to make you aware of any bias you might infer.
T and I did something unusual for us last night. We went to the movies. On a week night. After the matinee prices expired. Oh, and we paid full price to see the movie in IMAX. I'm glad we did. We saw, what I consider one of the best films I've seen in a long time and that has nothing to do with its subject matter or source material.
What did we see? Watchmen.
Now, go back and read the disclaimer again just for shits and giggles before you proceed.
I've never read the comic series/graphic novel (but I will shortly!) so my opinion isn't based on how well the story mirrored the comic, but I've been looking forward to this movie ever since we saw the trailer with The Dark Knight, and I wasn't disappointed. It is about much, much more than superheroes...in fact I think it's a stinging commentary on humanity in general. The characters are a real as they can be - yeah, they dress up in costumes to fight villains but when was the last time you saw a superhero unable to get it up unless they were in costume? - and have problems and inner demons and agendas to deal with. Yes, there are some very gory, graphic scenes that at times can be disturbing but it also peels back the veneer of the characters to show us those psychological scars that result from their time in costume and what the world has done to them.
It's a dark movie, but at the same time it draws you in and doesn't let you go. It keeps you riveted to your seat wondering what will happen next and at no point do you feel like "come on pick up the pace, get to the end".
The only bad thing about this movie? The chances of it seeing the award recognition that it deserves (I truly think it would deserve consideration for things like best picture, best director, best adapted screen play) is nil.
Bottom line if you're hesitating seeing this movie because you've had your fill of campy-men-in-costume-superhero-films put that notion out of your head. This movie is not that. It's more of traditional film noir, than it is a superhero movie.
Put it this way - over dinner last night after the movie, I looked at T and our friend who went with us and said "I'd pay to see that on the big screen again," and seriously is there a bigger endorsement than that?
T and I did something unusual for us last night. We went to the movies. On a week night. After the matinee prices expired. Oh, and we paid full price to see the movie in IMAX. I'm glad we did. We saw, what I consider one of the best films I've seen in a long time and that has nothing to do with its subject matter or source material.
What did we see? Watchmen.
Now, go back and read the disclaimer again just for shits and giggles before you proceed.
I've never read the comic series/graphic novel (but I will shortly!) so my opinion isn't based on how well the story mirrored the comic, but I've been looking forward to this movie ever since we saw the trailer with The Dark Knight, and I wasn't disappointed. It is about much, much more than superheroes...in fact I think it's a stinging commentary on humanity in general. The characters are a real as they can be - yeah, they dress up in costumes to fight villains but when was the last time you saw a superhero unable to get it up unless they were in costume? - and have problems and inner demons and agendas to deal with. Yes, there are some very gory, graphic scenes that at times can be disturbing but it also peels back the veneer of the characters to show us those psychological scars that result from their time in costume and what the world has done to them.
It's a dark movie, but at the same time it draws you in and doesn't let you go. It keeps you riveted to your seat wondering what will happen next and at no point do you feel like "come on pick up the pace, get to the end".
The only bad thing about this movie? The chances of it seeing the award recognition that it deserves (I truly think it would deserve consideration for things like best picture, best director, best adapted screen play) is nil.
Bottom line if you're hesitating seeing this movie because you've had your fill of campy-men-in-costume-superhero-films put that notion out of your head. This movie is not that. It's more of traditional film noir, than it is a superhero movie.
Put it this way - over dinner last night after the movie, I looked at T and our friend who went with us and said "I'd pay to see that on the big screen again," and seriously is there a bigger endorsement than that?
Monday, March 09, 2009
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Clarification
Since my post "Maybe..." I've had a discussion or two about places we want to live with people, and I've had a few questions concerning why I consider Oregon home, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to explain.
I have been a gypsy, for the most part, my entire adult life. Even if you factor in the four years in Oxford, Ohio, for undergrad the most time I've ever spent in one location is four years. That's right, since the age of 18 (that's 18 years if you do the math) I've lived in Ohio (4 years), Alabama (2 years), Tennessee (5 years - but 2 years in Pulaski and 3 years in Murfreesboro), Oregon (4 years), and now Michigan (3/4 of the way through year 3) and I've held 5 jobs not counting undergrad and grad school. I truly am a product of where I grew up. T gives me shit on a regular basis about the blue-collar-work-ethic that prevents me from calling in sick and taking mental health days from work, and she's right. It's a product of where I grew up and the example of going to work every day to provide for your family that I saw that instilled that in me. Mea culpa.
But, of all those places I've lived the only place I've felt like I've belonged has been Oregon. Way back in July of 2001 T and I took our only vacation to date. That summer we went to see her mother in Seattle, rented a car and travelled to Eugene. The week we spent there was amazing. I can still, to this day, remember at one point her mother looking at me - she probably noticed the goofy grin on my face - and saying "Kevin, you're a Pacific Northwesterner at heart...you just weren't born here." Two years later we moved there and my life really hasn't been the same since. Last summer when we were in Seattle for a quick visit it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders the minute we stepped off the airplane.
Friends came easier there...the things T and I enjoy doing in our free time flourish there...there are remote mountains, urban city life, an ocean and everything between in the borders of that state. There's really, really good beer. Professionally I hit my stride.
Those of you reading this in Michigan (or anywhere else for that matter) please don't think I'm disparaging your beloved mitten. I'm not. It too is a beautiful place with its own unique appeal. To you it is home, but for me it's just another place I've lived. A place that at some point I'll leave, hopefully to head back home.
Yep, you heard me. We've (okay I'm the one who suggested putting a timeline on it) got a 9 year plan. That amount of time will put me at 45 years old and I'm going on the record here and now: by age 45 our goal is to be living back in the pacific northwest, and ideally Oregon.
A guy has to have dreams, right?
I have been a gypsy, for the most part, my entire adult life. Even if you factor in the four years in Oxford, Ohio, for undergrad the most time I've ever spent in one location is four years. That's right, since the age of 18 (that's 18 years if you do the math) I've lived in Ohio (4 years), Alabama (2 years), Tennessee (5 years - but 2 years in Pulaski and 3 years in Murfreesboro), Oregon (4 years), and now Michigan (3/4 of the way through year 3) and I've held 5 jobs not counting undergrad and grad school. I truly am a product of where I grew up. T gives me shit on a regular basis about the blue-collar-work-ethic that prevents me from calling in sick and taking mental health days from work, and she's right. It's a product of where I grew up and the example of going to work every day to provide for your family that I saw that instilled that in me. Mea culpa.
But, of all those places I've lived the only place I've felt like I've belonged has been Oregon. Way back in July of 2001 T and I took our only vacation to date. That summer we went to see her mother in Seattle, rented a car and travelled to Eugene. The week we spent there was amazing. I can still, to this day, remember at one point her mother looking at me - she probably noticed the goofy grin on my face - and saying "Kevin, you're a Pacific Northwesterner at heart...you just weren't born here." Two years later we moved there and my life really hasn't been the same since. Last summer when we were in Seattle for a quick visit it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders the minute we stepped off the airplane.
Friends came easier there...the things T and I enjoy doing in our free time flourish there...there are remote mountains, urban city life, an ocean and everything between in the borders of that state. There's really, really good beer. Professionally I hit my stride.
Those of you reading this in Michigan (or anywhere else for that matter) please don't think I'm disparaging your beloved mitten. I'm not. It too is a beautiful place with its own unique appeal. To you it is home, but for me it's just another place I've lived. A place that at some point I'll leave, hopefully to head back home.
Yep, you heard me. We've (okay I'm the one who suggested putting a timeline on it) got a 9 year plan. That amount of time will put me at 45 years old and I'm going on the record here and now: by age 45 our goal is to be living back in the pacific northwest, and ideally Oregon.
A guy has to have dreams, right?
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)