Time coming down

I turned in another personal best on my three-mile run. This morning I came in at 30:25. That's almost two minutes better than I ran last Sunday.
whoo hoo!

Swell Season in Columbus

Bad video, OK audio.

school photo

Another PR

I finished my 3-mile loop in 31:32. That's about 50 seconds faster than last time.

Today's Plan

We are going to see Swell Season in Columbus! We have had the tickets for ages!

Personal best

I ran three miles this morning in 32:23. That is a minute better than my best time! I feel pretty good too.

Birthday Cake

Mary did a wonderful job painting a Pikachu on to Lucy's birthday cake, that she shared with friends at her birthday party.

Later, when we got home. Mary made some quick alterations and the cake became one for me!



I love me some Pikachu cake!

Award inflation

looking back, I realize that I have won a few awards.
I am an award-winning Chicken Wing Eater, an award-winning Writer, an award-winning Manager, an award-winning Runner, an award-winning Bowler, an award-winning Tight Head Prop Forward, an award-winning Nose Guard, an award-winning Online Editor, an award-winning Newspaper Managing Editor and an award winning Cancer Survivor.
When you consider my talents and skills it is obvious that I have spent my entire life in the Everybody-Gets-A-Trophy Universe.

Lucy Celebrates Constitution Day

Lucy won an essay contest and got to read her work in front of the entire school on Constitution Day!

photos from the race

All these folks finished several minutes before I did!



This is just a few yards from the finish. I look a little tired, but both my feet are off the ground.

Something I got going for me

I have some sort of stomach flu, which normally would open up the sluices at both ends.
Fortunately, because of my intestinal set up, I only have one inconvenience.
Most of the time, I have determined, you start throwing up only because you jump up and rush into the bathroom to avoid soiling yourself.
The sudden movement jostles your sensitive inner ear and kicks the nausea into gear.
Because I just have to worry about occasionally voiding my pouch, I take my time getting up and going to the bathroom, hence no nausea.
So, I got that going for me!

More Cartoons

It's true. When she gets tired she stops. She can't see any reason why anyone would deliberately get tired.
She is a stand up comic in this one. Get it? I need to work on my lettering. ... And jokes. ... a lot!

My name is in the Sunday newspaper!

Sarah Palin name generator

Sarah Palin has picked out an All-American set of names for her children. There's Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

Ever wonder what your name would be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Well now you can find out!

My name would be: Rust Mustang Palin

visit the Sarah Palin baby name generator

Cartoon

Lucy loves to go to the Chinese buffet. I have a hunch it is not just about the General Tso's chicken.

Race results

I finished with a time of 33:25 - a personal best. That's a pace of 5.56 mph and 10:43 miles

I was given a bronze medal. I came in 8th out of 8 runners. Everyone got a medal. I still like it.

I screwed up the start line of the run, but this is the general route of the race.

New, improved, corrected version

It is 11:30 p.m. and I have no interest in sleeping.
Green Camp 5K is tomorrow.
Here are my goals:

No. 1 - Finish the race while running the entire course.

No. 2 - Finish on or about 30 minutes.

No. 3 - Have such a good time that I do another race soon.

the one thing I know for sure is that I will run a personal best. I have never run 5k in my life, that I know of.

I have, in the last two weeks run 3.06 miles two times without too much stress. I don't think the extra few yards are out of reach.

I will post my results tomorrow afternoon when I stop huffing and puffing.

Weigh-in

Get your own graph at skinnyr

Today is weigh-in day for week 43. It’s been a good week all-around. The scale reads 215.5 this morning. That’s a 2.5 pound drop from last week. My body fat percentage reads 28.8, which is down from 30.1. My BMI is at 30.9, which is down from 31.3. ... I had a good yoga class last night and feel ready to go for the Green Camp 5K tomorrow. I am curious to see how that goes. I had promised myself to stay at my own pace at the bike ride last week and then could not resist riding up front for as long as I could. I have never run in a group and it will be interesting to see how my competitive nature presents itself. I would be extremely happy to finish in under 30 minutes but I know it is much more likely that I will finish in something closer to 35 minutes, but I have never pushed myself. I have always run at a comfortable pace. I will need to work hard next week. Birthday celebrations are looming and visitors are coming. I also need to start getting some miles on the bicycle if I want to complete a century ride in September. I know I can do it. Right now it is a matter of will rather than physical abilities.

Lucy walks and talks and talks and talks

You would think she invented streaming.

Ride completed

Phew. I made it in 4 hours and 6 minutes. My average speed was 15.28 mph and that includes the time I spent at two food stops. My first half speed was much faster than my second half speed.
Now I am off to the Popcorn Festival to do some Representin'!

90 minutes to go

Only 90 minutes before I set of on the 62-mile Popcorn 100. I am going to finish my yogurt, drink my green tea, take a fish oil tablet and do some yoga before I don my stretchy black pants, Hawaiian shirt and helmet and peddle out to the start finish line.

It is only about 300 yards from our house which is lucky.
Later today I have to work a few hours at the Marion Star booth at the Popcorn Festival and then take Lucy on the rides and such. It should be fun and expensive - whoo hoo!

Song in my head

This is the song I want in my head while I ride the Popcorn 100. It's "Route 23" by Chatham County Line.

Popcorn 100 route

Prospect loop

this is my short bike ride route.

Richwood loop

This is my regular "long" bike ride route.

My loop

First three-mile run ever!

I just completed my first three-mile run ever! It kind of took me on surprise. I was ready to do the walk/run thing this morning and I just kept running. The sad part is that I only shaved one minute off my walk/run time. I guess I must be a fast walker. You might think otherwise and I am OK with that.

When you consider that last November walking three miles was a big deal, I am very pleased.

Thinking back, I might have run three miles in one go while I was on the high school wrestling team.

I never kept track. I just put my head down and trudged around the gym for an hour during lunch every day. I must have covered three miles.

So, I guess I should amend this to the first time I have ever run three miles intentionally.

Tomorrow I ride the bike. Friday I take the day off to rest up for the Popcorn 100 and then I start to get ready for the Green Camp 5k.

After that I have my self-imposed “Age 50 Century Ride” to plan.

It was 65 degrees when I hit the streets this morning. The first song on the MP3 player was “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” by Richard Thompson.

61-mile ride

I rode my bike 61 miles Saturday. I took a 15 minute break after the 36th mile. My total time in the saddle was 4:15. The last six miles or so were a little painful and somewhat slow. I was grateful to be stopped by a train for about three minutes on Bellfontaine Avenue. Even with the train stop my average speed over the entire ride was 14.35 mph. Not too bad. I think I should have taken it a little easier in the beginning and I might have finished stronger. I was considering taking a ride around the block to get my mileage up to 62 miles or 100 kilometers, but I decided to stop at 61. That will make next Saturday's Popcorn 100 my longest ride of the year. I am still planning on doing a 100 mile ride some time after my 50th birthday but that is coming up quick and it will require some planning that I have been putting off.