Althlete's Blog

T-Minus one week and counting for the triathlon. I'm hitting the bike pretty hard (which is where you make up the most time) but it's almost to a fault. I'm cramping up again. Bad. Really bad. I know, I know... I need to hydrate and eat bananas. Well, I already feel like I drink my bodyweight in water everyday and I still can't eat bananas after throwing them up while training for the Chicago Marathon last year. Argh. Any suggestions?

By the way, I'm officially in the Chicago Marathon again this year. I can't wait. I may not be the fastest runner in the world, but running Chicago makes even a fat man feel like a Kenyan. People are screaming your name the whole time. It's completely rockstar. I'm also trying to talk a friend into doing the Paris Marathon in 2007. (I lived in Paris about 10 years ago, so it would be a fun trip in addition to running the marathon).

Oh, and Loki is doing great. We went for our first "post-accident" run yesterday. I let him determine the pace/distance, and we went a very impressive 7 miles. It was a near-perfect run. One of those rare days when everything just flows perfectly. Loki was even wearing his favorite "Stars and Stripes" bandanna (in honor of Memorial Day), and a cute woman told him he had a "cute outfit". He totally bragged about it the rest of the day.

So to to celebrate the perfect run, I've written a hai-ku about it. Nothing says celebration like a little Japanese poetry.

Morning trail running
Cool rain, fresh air, dog in tow
Perfect nirvana.

Well, I'm off for yet another a bike ride. Hope to keep those cramps at bay...

LTNB

Long Time, No Blog. Yeah, yeah, yeah... get over it. I'm a busy man, people. Rest assured that I'm still alive and kicking (luckily, so is Loki - he's doing GREAT) so I thought I'd send a quick shout out to my peeps in Blogland. I hope you're all doing well. You look amazing.

Life has been pretty crazy here in Mateoville, so here's today's list, the disco mix:

1. I have my first sprint triathlon in a couple weeks, so I've been training like a maniac. Surprisingly enough, right now my swim is feeling like my strongest leg. Obviously this has me a bit concerned, as I view myself primarily as a runner. To boot, my running feels like my weakest leg right now. Hmmm... I don't completely know what to make of that.

2. My running. I ran a fun little 5k last weekend, and didn't do so hot. (Plus, they gave me LAST YEAR'S t-shirt. Uh, thanks.) Anyhew, back to the the actual run. Yet again, we had to run through a cemetary (and you KNOW how I hate running through cemetaries - I'm always afraid that the dead will spring to life and try to grab at my ankles. I know, I know... it's a result of watching too much "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"). My final time was a weak and pathetic 26 minutes, which I suppose isn't that bad considering I only slept for 30 minutes that night. I know I need to take better care of myself - especially during racing season. I've never been fast, but 26 minutes is pretty slow, even for me! Regardless of my time, I saw so many of my running friends and just had a GREAT time.

3. The reason I only got 30 minutes of sleep was because of a 80's retro rollerskating birthday party I went to the night before the race. It was an absolute riot. My friend Mary bought the roller rink for a couple hours, and we all came in our finest 80's attire. You know I dusted off my high school letter jacket and rollerskated with the best of them. And by the best of them, I mean I fell in the first ten minutes and totally screwed up my knee. It's fine. I'm young and invincible. You can see "fun photos" at my friend's website - www.marydiers.com

4. Yup, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole "I'm going to have a new Phillipino half brother or sister in August" thing. Honestly, I'm not completely sure what to make of the whole thing. Until I can figure it out, I will continue to use humour as my emotional shield. :-)

5. The Relay For Life is just around the corner, and so is my full head of thick hair. It looks like I'm going to indeed hit my $2,000 head-shaving target, but keep the donations coming. The American Cancer Society is a great cause. I'm so very excited to run the relay again. It's one of my favorite events of the year.

6. I'm organizing a bike ride in two weeks (yes, the day before the triathlon) and hopefully that will have a good turnout. I know the timing isn't the greatest - but I'm an aries - do now, think later. Yet another week on no sleep. Argh.

7. The world must have shifted on it's axis this week, because I ACTUALLY WENT TO WORK ON TUESDAY AND LEFT THE COFFEE POT ON! Not only did I leave it plugged in, but I actually left it ON! Luckily nothing happened (I'm sure they're designed with safety in mind), but all heck broke lose in my mind. Regardless, I think I'm going to stick to making French Press coffee for a while. Now if only I can remember to turn the stove off after boiling the water... Eeeek!

Be well, people. Run on.

Hi Honey, I'm Home.

Hi honey, I'm home. What are you cooking for dinner? It smells delicious. Well, As you can see from the photo, Loki is looking and feeling much better. It was mentioned that he looks like "Skar" from the Lion King. Hmmm. You wouldn't hardly even know that Loki was hit a week ago. He's up and bouncing around like the day I brought him home from the pound. I'm just glad that he's back home and feeling great. It's a good thing that chicks dig scars. I would hate for him to lose his reputation. Yeah, now he's going around telling all the other dogs in the neighborhood that he was in a gang fight.

Oh man, so much has happened in the past week, I don't even know where to begin. For you sporty spices out there, I'm officially in for the Pigman sprint triathlon in a few weeks. It's one of the most well organized tri's in the midwest, and I've done it every year since I lost all the weight. I finally dragged my sorry tail to the gym to go swimming, and actually I'm doing much better than I thought I would. I knocked out a few sprint distance training sessions in the gym last week, and I'm feeling fast and strong. So strong that I'm considering an olympic distance tri next year. Hmmm...

One other small piece of news is that I'm no longer going to be the baby of the family. Yes, I found out this weekend that my father and step-mother are expecting. WHAT? I know what you're thinking, but I saw it with my own two eyes. You can't tell me anything I don't already know. Let me give you a quick list. You know how I love my lists.

1. My father is 71 years old and in rather poor health. He will be roughly 90 years old when the child graduates from high school.

2. His wife is 37 years old (and from the Phillippines). On a positive note, her English is getting much better since she's been in the states. Don't ask how they met, I personally choose to live in denial on that one.

3. My father already has 8 children (all boys), of which I am the youngest. This means at thirty three years old, I am no longer the baby of the family. Suddenly I'm the middle child. I'm Jan Brady. I build my entire life around being the youngest, and now this. I don't even know who I am anymore.

4. The icing on the fruitcake is that they have decided to name the child a combination of both of their names. For my family's privacy, I'll maintain some level of anonymity. Therefore, I won't tell you exactly what the name is going to be, but it sounds roughly like "Macarena". So essentially whenever you're at a wedding reception and you see a bunch of rhythmless white people hopping around the floor to some crappy Spanish song, you'll think of me and my little Phillipino sister. Oh dear.

So there you have it. My week in a nutshell. And you wonder why I'm nuts. You can't make this stuff up, people. This is exactly why I run. It's the one thing that keeps me grounded. Well, my mother keeps me grounded too. She's so cool. By the way, I finally got photos from when I was home last week. She loved the sharkstooth necklace I gave her for Mother's Day. I'm attached photos of her in her Dutch costume, proudly wearing her sharktooth for protection.

Perhaps my father should wear some protection too...

dutch mom 

Time Off

Hey gang, just wanted to let you know that the upcoming week might be a bit blog-light for me. My best friend, best running partner, and best pooch got out of the yard this morning and was hit by a car. Of course when I chased after him, he thought we were going for one of our daily runs, and started running towards the trail - right into the street. Watching your dog get hit by a car is an image that is hard to shake.

On the bright side, Loki is doing pretty well, so the vet sent him home already, thinking he will recover better in his own surroundings. So I'm taking some time off to spoil him rotten. He should be alright in a few weeks. He's cut up pretty badly and deeply on his face - it looks like he got into a gang fight. Don't worry, he's on a mountain of puppy pills right now, so he's sleeping soundly.

The other silver lining is that about seven strangers came running to help, and my phone has been ringing off the hook with concerned people - friends and strangers. One stranger even went to the animal hospital and anonymously paid the bill before I had the chance to. Talk about restoring your faith in humanity.

The irony of it all is that he was hit by a car while running about 100 yards from the exact spot where I was hit by a car while running two years ago...

Long Time, No Blog

I know, I know. I'm a bit behind on the blog. Cut me some slack. I had a long week/weekend. For starters, I went to my hometown for the Tulip Festival - primarily to run the Festival 5k with my family. Well, the good news is that I was the fastest one in my family, but only because everyone backed out except my 45 year old sister-in-law and her 12 year old son - who has a touch of asthma. So my 25 minute 5k certainly wasn't my best time, but it wasn't my worst either.

As a result of my recent racing times, I'm on this hardcore diet regimen for race season. I call it "2000 in 2005". I can only consume 2000 calories a day until I get back to my racing weight. Well, you know what that means... I couldn't enjoy all of the delicious Dutch treats - which were everywhere! Dutch Letters, poffertjes, you name it... I couldn't eat it. Yes, I even had to help my mother make homemade Dutch Letters (which are a delicious treat if you've never had one), but I didn't get to eat any. Oh well. Speaking of my mother, she LOVED the sharktooth necklace for mother's day. She even wore it proudly with her Dutch costume. I should hopefully have some pictures of that soon. It was too funny.

So my life is a bit on the crazy side lately. Just to mention a couple of "interesting" things that happened this weekend...

1. While I was gone, my friends decided to "Queer Eye" my bathroom, and put in NEW FLOORING and a new toilet. I mean, it's one thing to add a photo or paint the walls, but to tile a floor? I had no idea it was happening. Let's just say, it was quite the surprise. It looks awesome, though. I love it. Now I need to buy new towels to match the new floors.

I guess I should be used to things like this. The last few times that I've left on vacation, I come home and my friends have redecorated a room in my house. One time, as a joke, they actually tried to sell my house while I was gone. NICE. I don't need a new house, I need new friends...

2. So I attended my first (and hopefully last) birthday party in a funeral home this weekend. The party was great, but... drinking Miller Light around dead people... well... it's just a bit odd. I was assured that there were no dead bodies at the actual funeral home during the festivities, as the dead kind of freak me out. (Sidebar, I run a lot of races which cut through cemetaries, which totally freaks me out - anyone else feel this way?)

Yes, I know that I wear dead men's clothing that I buy at the Salvation Army, but that's for sport. It's not like I'm actually taking the shirt off Uncle Mark's cold, dead body. I just don't like to be around dead people. I don't know if it's more respect for the dead or fear of the dead. Either way, I'll pass on partying in the funeral home. All night I was having flashbacks of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, and it was freaking me out. Not because the zombies are so scary... but because Michael Jackson is. Yikes.

Oh, and for a little OCD update: Since the truck is in the shop, I drove my car to my hometown this weekend, which is 110 miles each way. Well, I'm happy to report that my car didn't blow up. (Don't ask, I have this crazy fear that my car is going to overheat and blow up while I'm driving it. Which is exactly why I bought the truck. Rather than confront my fears, I chose to live in denial, thanks.) But I drove my car, and I didn't completely freak out... which means I'm getting better with this OCD thing... well, at least I think I am.

*Runs to the kitchen to unplug the coffee maker*

PhotBlog, Part 2

Well, word on the street is that y'all are dying to see what I look like, so here's a photo. It's not the best photo of me, but it's one of the most current. It's from Hawaii (obviously) and I'm in the center - the geek in the cowboy hat. Now don't you go making fun of the cowboy hat, it was a gift from my friends after I ran my first marathon in Dallas. After you lose 110lbs and run your first 26.2 miles, I'll let you wear whatever you want. Thems the rules, folks.



Unfortunately, this photo doesn't really show me that well, but perhaps that's best. Keep the mystery alive. I like the fact that the cowboy hat covers my hair, as we had a bit of a haircoloring mishap before vacation. Let's just say that I was going for "cherry cola", but the end result was closer to "Grape Nehi". Yes, my hair was purple. Don't ask. Maybe it's a good thing I'm shaving my head for the Relay for Life.

Speaking of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, you all are awesome. People keep surprising me with their selfless and generous donations. Last night, I got a donation from my friend's sister, who is a poor college student. Wow. She could be out spending it on underage drinking, but rather she gives it to people in need. How cool. Also, I wanted to give a shout out to Lori, who was my first "blog donation". Would that be a "blogation"? Regardless, it was very cool. So keep spreading the word people - tell your friends. And by the way, I looked into donating my shaved hair to "Locks of Love" but the minimum length is 10". I don't think I'll be able to grow 10" in a month. For more info, check out www.locksoflove.org.

Well, I'm headed to my hometown for a few days to run a race with my siblings, and to spend some quality time with my family. And by "quality time", I mean fixing everyone's computers. Ever since I started working in computers, I'm "Uncle Fix My Computer". I miss the good old days when I did translation, because my family never asked anything of me. Anyway, I'll be away from blogland for a while. Sorry, campers.

Oh, and don't forget that Mother's Day is this Sunday. I'm giving my mother a shark tooth necklace from Hawaii. I know she's pushing seventy, but she's gonna' love it. After all, it has to be better than the Mother's Day when I was 5 and we filled the bathtub FULL of tadpoles from our pond. Hey, we were young farm boys, and we thought it would be the coolest Mother's Day present EVER. Well, so she didn't exactly LOVE it. On the bright side, she's finally able to talk about it without crying...

Non-Running blog

Yes, I know... my blogging has been a bit running-centric lately. Sorry about that. It's just that the running passion is back, so that's been my focus lately. Well, I promise you that today's blog will be run-free. Well, mostly.

Yesterday was one of those "harsh realization" days. Admittedly, I've been slacking a bit in all aspects of my life lately. I realized that I need to seriously regain my focus on my health. I also realized that I need to be better at keeping in touch with my friends. Finally, I had the harsh realization that I'm turning into my parents. Not specifically one over the other, but both of them at the same time. Oh man, help me.

Proof that I'm turning into my father: I can't believe I'm telling you this, but since I decided to get super healthy again, we went shopping at SAM's. Yes, I know for the most part that store is on the evil side, but when you want mass quantities of health food, it's a pretty good deal, so cut me some slack. Well, while I was at SAM's, I bought... uh... hmm... well... I bought slacks. Yes, I bought slacks at SAM's. Proof that I'm turning into my father. *hangs head in shame*

Proof that I'm turning into my mother: Although I RARELY watch television, I heard that CBS was airing a movie last night called "Riding the Bus with My Sister". It starred Rosie O'Donnell as a mentally handicapped person, and basically was the story of her sister (Andi McDowell) coming to terms it. For those of you who don't know me personally, let me explain a few things.

1. My mother works with the mentally handicapped, so I grew up with a heavy influence of mentally handicapped people, almost as a part of the family.
2. I'm not terribly emotional. Before this past year, I probably cried a total of 10 times in my 33 year life. And that's being generous. I'm not dead on the inside, I'm just very much in control of my emotions. Plus, I'm the youngest of 8 Iowa farm boys. Boys don't cry.

So I'm watching this movie last night, which I must admit, wasn't even that acted all that well... but I'm bawling my head off for the entire two hours. To make matters worse, it was a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" movie, so the only time they interrupted the movie was roughly every fifteen minutes for... you guessed it... A SAPPY HALLMARK COMMERCIAL! That just made me cry more! Argh.

So last night while you all were watching Desperate Housewives, I was sitting at home crying like a desperate housewife. Oh man. Well, there you have it. I'm off to pay bills.