My Trusty Garmin:

Well, after a day, i went back to the Garmin and looked at a breakdown of the 18 miles on PCT.

i must admit i am very happy with the pace. For the first 12 miles we ran a very quick less than 8:30 mile. A couple miles were in the lower 8 minute range, at the beginning of the run.

Lessons learned: Don't go to fast. i started too fast. Had we kept a nice easy 8:50 first half and increased slightly, i think things would have been different. Better i learn this now, than at the Bayshore.

Monday was a good 9 miles, strong and slow, sorta. My goal was just to have a nice recovery, and work out any kinks left over from Saturday's run.

i achieved these goals and forced myself to a 8:20 pace. After 7 miles, 58 minutes had passed, since my marathon goal is a 7 mph pace, i opted to take a walk break until the one hour mark.

i restarted and finished the last two miles feeling great, and still on pace to continue as i had the first 7 miles.

It may be a new plan for the bayshore. Run my normal pace for 7 miles and if any time is left in an hour take a walk break. Of course without going too fast at any point.

After talking with Fun Guv, we have determined my goals for this marathon. She can be a great coach.

1. Finish, anything can happen in a marathon, just finishing is enough, considering this is only my second attempt at a marathon;
2. Enjoy the marathon, have fun, remember to enjoy the views of the bay, make whatever happens with the weather, an injury, any negative needs to be viewed with humor and make the best of any negatives to help ensure i still want to keep running marathons;
3. Run with my heart;
4. Break 4 hrs;
5. Break 3:50;
6. Break 3:45.

i've decided any loftier goals will have to wait for Chicago.

Sorry, no social-economic-religion, or other Vote for Mike '08, stuff in this post. Just boring running update stuff.

i'm just gearing up for a massive brain dump.

Thanks for reading.

Paint Creek Trail, Round II

O.K., maybe lifting a heavy sledge hammer and breaking up concrete, than moving broken concrete on Friday night wasn't the best way to prepare for a 20 mile run.

And maybe working in the patio, moving furniture and a basketball hoop, Saturday morning, prior to said run, again not the best way to prepare.

So Paint Creek busted my A$$ Saturday. What a shocker. Nitmos and i headed out at 11:30. The day was beautiful. No sun, no real wind, and of course, no shade, bummer the leaves aren't quite out yet.

Lot's of bikers on the trail. Lot's of bikers with their little bells ringing that they're on our left. i appreciate the politeness of the warnings, but the damn bells can go away.

My legs were sore, and just got worse as the run progressed. PCT is 9 miles each direction. So 18 and we figured we'd add another mile or two.

Nope. So although my pace was better than the first marathon, or even half marathon, i left a little disappointed with my performance. i may have been trying to add to an incredible week of training with a final HURRAH, that wasn't in the tank, that day. i did leave my best run, that day, on the trail, and i am happy about that.

Nitmos-you are the man, i swear, he hadn't even broke a sweat when we were done.

Alas, with minor heavy heart, i have removed two no longer bloggers from my links:

And with great joy can re-add them should they ever re-join the running and blogging world of crazies again. Or just the blogging part as both seem to not have issues with running.

Maybe i do a post.....

"Mike's thoughts about successful blogging in a manner that doesn't cause you to become so engrossed that it takes control of your real life, to the point that the only way to control it, is to remove in completely."

So, i may go with a shorter title, but it's in the works.....

yeah, like i plan this crap.

Thanks for reading,

In NOT my usual tongue-n-cheek way;

i had decided to not post for a while, like a day or so, to allow my feelings about Va Tech to not take on a long winded, inappropriate blog post.

This is more due the some what cynical nature of the blog and satire. i try to type about my feelings and what i think about while running and although i admit to this not being the widest read blog out there, i have seen where people have stumbled upon it.

So we leave the tragedy alone, except....

i like this article

When purchasing the paper yesterday, i had two choices. One paper had a picture of the victims on the front page, another had a picture of the shooter.

i choose to read about the victims.

i wonder which paper sold more yesterday?

i wonder if the two front pages were an experiment by the newspapers. Since the two major Detroit papers are co-owned, each taking a left or right viewpoint, i'm sure marketing was involved to see which paper sold better should, who am i kidding, when, this type of tragedy happens again.

On a positive running note:

i ran my fastest 8 miles evah, wednesday. 1:02:46. i bested my 8 mile race around Mackinac Island by better than two minutes. Yay Me!!!

Hopefully, tomorrow i don't slow down the Nitmos too much as we run a 20 miler together. We're hitting the Paint Creek Trail, anyone want to join us, about 11:30. It should be a nice, sunny 57 degree day.

An apology:

Mea Culpa, for leaving the "Jeremy" video up a few days after the Va Tech Tragedy. It was put up a few days prior to Monday, when Bob made a reference to my stunning resemblence to Eddie Vedder. Back in my long hair, hippy grunge years, hey, the early 90' were very influencial to us X'ers out there. It's one of my favorite Pearl Jam tunes, and i forgot it was there.

Thanks for reading

And i wanted to add this real short piece....



Ha,ha, oh John you are so funny....cut it out, ha,ha...Oh god, i bet you and Ann Coulter in a room together must be a million laughs....

Yesterday was one of those fun training runs!!!

Finally, i had fun again while running. Yesterday, the plan had me on a 9 mile run. i went 10.

It finally was fun again. Oh sure, the wind was strong, but not cold. My run took me through my normal ten mile route, and although the wind slowed me down a little, i still managed a overall 8:18 pace.

My fastest miles were under 8:00 and the slowest an 8:48. Take a guess at the one straight into the wind.

i want to start a streak. It's calling me to try to go as many days as possible, but again, real life may come calling, and while my heart is calling me to run every day, my brain knows it's not the best thing to do for training.

Wow, this is dull post, so far. i guess yesterday's run was too good to have any negatives to rant about. i wasn't rained or snowed or sleeted on. No frost-bite. No almost being hit. Drivers were actually courteous, shocking. The sun was out. i ran a good distance at a time one minute a mile faster than my training plan.

Man, what a dull, but incredibly fun, run. i even lucked out on hitting the traffic lights without having to stop long.

Go figure, i throw an attempt to be thought-ful and provocative in the last post, yet no comments.

Let's go with a few other inconsistencies that make "Vote for Mike '08" the people's choice:

The current government doesn't want us to use less gas and actually conserve, although it tells us too. Reality is gas taxes create a huge revenue. If we actually, drove less what would be taxed to replace the monies?

Same thing with smoking. Although, we are told how bad it is, Smoking creates a huge revenue. That's why smoking will never be outlawed, and probably why pot is; anyone can grow pot, where would the tax revenue go? It is a weed afterall. i'm not saying pot should be legal, just why tobacco is.

We should be wary of anyone who is willing to take a pay cut for power. This reminds me of the Springsteen lyric;

poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king,
and a king ain't satisfied 'till he rules everything.

i think we've gotten a bunch of wanna rule everythings out there, and they're winning.

Egads, what a dull post!!! i need to just stop it.

Thanks for reading

Another Training Post?

maybe...since i didn't train at all last week. 4 miles total distance, was actually the least amount of running i have done in months.

i have every intention of re-committing right now. Today, i see 4 weeks of hard training, the 2 week taper, the marathon.

If things go well, i may be able to complete a run with Nitmos. We're looking at a 20 miler this weekend. Details will be worked out as the week goes.

Vote for Mike '08:

Well, i suppose i should address my main campaign issue. i am tired of inconsistent leaders of a supposed free world. Let's go with an easy one....

Pro-choice vs Pro-life

being a shades of gray, not black and white, person, i wonder, ponder....think. see blog title for reference

Isn't this really two arguments? Isn't the real questions Pro-choice vs Anti-choice and Pro-life vs. Anti-life?

i believe i am the only candidate that can tell you... i am both Pro-choice and pro-life.

Let's try a tougher, made for campaigning, drudge it out, of the closet , every 4 years issue....

Gay Marriage,

traditionalist would have us believe that the traditional marriage, one man/one woman, is a foundation that should not be messed with....

OK fine,... and i won't even mention the number of times Jesus addressed this in the gospels, for the religious right folks out there, but it looks like a round number, i mean it is a round number, big enough hint??? never mind...the number is 0 times...(maybe it really wasn't an issue then).....

...let's go back to the traditional value of marriage;

Since the romantic notion of marriage is relatively new and in contrast to the traditional value of marriage, we throw that non-traditional marriage notion out.

Since marriage is about aligning families, we go back to that. Marriages are now all arranged by fathers and many times husbands and wives now marry without ever seeing each other.

Also, traditional marriages are where daughters are offered as a peace offering to align warring nations and create a large community of peace.

O.K. that was easy we all seem to agree on marraige now, let's move on to a tougher issue.

Iraq

Well, i admit this is a hard one to settle. After all, we have two sides looking to gain political power in Iraq. On one hand, we have the Sunni's, and then the Shi'ites on the other.

i guess traditionally speaking, if only a leader had two daughters that could be used, in the traditional sense, in arranged weddings to help bring peace to all parties. A nice large wedding would be nice, and the new sense of traditional family values could bring peace.

Twins would be nice to ensure a feeling a equality.

Too bad, we don't have a traditional family values leader, with twins, willing to sacrifice said family members to bring the peace.

Are you folks out there getting the metaphorical use of marriage vs war, traditional vs non-traditional values, and stuff? .....Please don't tell me you only been taking this in, on the literal level.....not to mention a world leader un-willing to ask his own children to fight for a war, that he has no problems asking other parents to encourage their children to sign up for....

Vote for Mike '08

Thanks for reading

Go Wings!!!!!

O.K. the obligatory, move on from scandal and redirect to sports stuff, damage control to the campaign is complete.

"Vote for Mike '08" moves forward....

remember to mention campaign slogan....

"i can't do any worse than anyone else!!!"

Back to running, this is a running blog???...

This is turning into my worst week ever for running. It's the weather and other life stuff getting in the way. Mostly the weather.

i knew to expect a cold winter, and mentally i was good, but....c'mon now, it's April 12th and it rained, hailed and blew winds at 20+ mph yesterday.

So i missed yesterdays 8 mile, speed workout. Saturday is a 20 miler, but i have a meeting all morning for Rotary and i bartend that night. Maybe i'll get it in Sunday???

But that'll take all my weekend time, and i need to be a little bit of a father too.

After a little personal debate, i have added another bayshore marathoner to my list of bloggers. Ken is a bit of a blogger-of-a-blogger, but he looks like an experienced runner and newbie's like me, need to find as many as seasoned runners as they can.

i also noticed that Ken appears to be an east-sider, it's a detroit thing, this may be a potential training buddy.

i've 4 more weeks of hard training to hit for the bayshore, then the taper.

thanks for reading

And now to add to the scandal...

Here are the few more pictures I promised.

Mike & Scott circa 2004. It's 3:12am ~ think they were drinking?

Mike & Scott NYE 2005

Mike & Scott NYE 2005 trying to make it a threesome with an unwilling Drew

Mike with a still not so willing Drew NYE 2006 ~ sensing a trend here?

And now the probably most damaging picture to his whole campaign....

What the hell are you doing??????

Now I'm sure Mike is probably totally thrilled that I have access to his blog!

Love you honey ~ Fun Guv

Scandal Rocks the "Vote for Mike '08" Campaign Trail...

But first a running update.....

...and a Happy Easter wish and a late happy Passover wish...

...or why michiganders don't do winter marathons.

It snowed here. Yep, in the midst of true Tiger spirit, i also called off a run/game due to cold weather. After the week priors 80+ days, see picture of playing in the street trying to help Mack play tennis, we were back in the 26 degree area with wind chill in the teens. Of course blizzard conditions too, and not the yummy DQ treats either.

So my 30 mile planned week became 21. i'm okay with the change, and i did try to go 16 saturday. After 7 miles, at a 9 minute pace, in the 20 mile pace wind, and 100 yards of visibility from snow, and almost being hit twice, i quit. i wasn't tired. i was cold.

i'm not even going to try to make up the miles. i'm just going to move on...

Movin' On

Scandalous as it may be, my friends and earnst-while campaign supporters have rocked the campaign with your favorite candidate in unflatteringly, sexists, photos...

To bring everything out in the open. Yes, potential voters, it's true...

...i'm a boob man.

Here i am, a true, honest candidate. To prove it, i'll even help to bring to a close; the scandal.....

The evidence...






i also like beer in the morning. Great evidence to also...why i run, (and LISA, too). Animal once wasn't completely gay, i mean gRay....when were those short shorts ever in fashion




But, there's more.... in a photo named "never change" by the recipiant of attention...




So yes, i like boobs...and admit to many other pictures of similar nature.....

....and just to show that i am an equal opportunity boob man.







what's a little twist between friends? Notice Animal is a little gayer, a mean gRayer, damn you freud, but he does seem torn between me and the lovely Miss Tessmacher, sitting at our left. Notice clever placement of his left arm and "WATER" bottle, Damn you Freud

So there you are. The first scandal of the "vote for mike '08" trail.

Thank goodness i haven't had to address the number of pictures taken of me kissing people not named Fun Guv. But somehow she's always the one taking said pictures

Thanks for Reading

Interview with an Animal, Part 3

The final two questions. This is rather interesting. i had completed the post once and due to idiot use of internet, me, i lost the post prior to saving it as a draft. So here i am writing it a second time. It's just a little rant out of frustration.

Anyway, yesterday the snow started again, yippee...

So my 7 mile run turned ugly. The wind was strong out of the west and the run took a little longer than normal, but i still finished in under one hour, the good. The bad was the cold, and wind chill was back. The difference in stride length in the cold, is quite a shock, but i managed to finish in good shape. The ugly, my calves, man, playing tennis with Mack the day before really gives them no rest.

Anyway on to the next question:

What three things do i enjoy most about camping?

it's tough to narrow this down. Camping, for me, is the one time a year, i can really relax on vacation. It's just the lack of a clock. i don't wear a watch ever, but camping means no cell phone, no schedule, no special sites to see.

It's also a time to spend with kids, and acting like a kid. Cooking on an open fire, roasting s'mores, the smell, the open air, being outside, getting caught in the rain, trying to dry out after the rain. i love it all.

Exploring nature trails, showing the kids how to find salamanders under old logs, getting lost in the woods.

Hanging out in the beach, enjoying the water, the sun

Having a beer

The three best things have got to be:

Spending time with the family
Spending time with friends, who are closer than family
Spending time, being a kid again, if only for a few innocent days

If you could take back one stupid thing you ever did, what would it be?

Nothing. i tend to not look back and wish i had done things differently. i really like to reflect on the past and use errors to make new choices but i wouldn't change a thing.

Let's say, for sake of argument, i was able to change my departure from Traverse City. Well, although my relationship with Allison would be better, i wouldn't have my relationship with Fun Guv, or Mack, or Jimmy, or my friends that i hold so dear. The distance would be too much.

i wouldn't have been able to follow my current career, and would not be the man i am today. Not that this is nessecarily a good thing, but it is who i am, and i think i like myself.

So, i try to reflect on the stupid things with the same joy as the smart things, which is good, cause the stupid things outnumber the non-stupid.


Recent reads revisited


Ironic, but with the last answer i would like to add another book that greatly affected me. Based solely on the book itself




The most significant anti-war book ever written.

Try reading this little bit from it. Scary



Banned during WWII, because of fear that it would prevent young men from enlisting.

The movie was used in the "One" video. Although the movie is difficult to find, directed by Trumbo, it does ask the question?

"what is democracy?"

"i guess it's got something to do with young men killing each other"

As powerful as the Metallica video is, the movie is ever more so.....but even that pales in comparission to reading the book, written in the voice of an extremely disabled WWI vet.

Thanks for reading, too bad, my original lost post was better

Interview with an Animal, Part 2

....but first, yesterday was a 7 mile run. Nice weather and since the Tigers lost, a good way to not dwell on a terrible beginning. Let's just say that yesterdays run was windy, but being shorter than the 20 miler, i was still going to try to pick up the pace a little. i finished about 55:45 for about an 7:55 pace.

The wind took a bit out of me at the end and the beginning was a little tighter than expected. Overall it was a good work out. I dare say, i may threaten to break 1:20 for a 10 miler this year.

Anyway on to the next interview question(s):

What's a book (or an author) that had a huge impact on your life?

How do i narrow this down to one? Authors, geesh...Hemingway, Eliot, Byron, Blake, Thomas, Shakespeare, Sagan, Rice, King....

Books....why settle there? What about short stories, and poetry?

What about the ancient plays of Greece "Sing in me, oh muse, and through me tell the story"

A more recent read with a huge impact was "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. Not so much for the book itself, although the style is interesting, but more for the way James was treated by Oprah. Fun Guv and i were in the studio audience at the taping of her show about this book.

James explained throughout the 2+ hr taping for the show and the Oxygen Network additional 1/2 hr segment that the book was a fictional account based upon characters he had met. Things were extended and embellished for the sake of drama in writing the book.

Yes, he had a drug problem and yes, he was an alcoholic. The book was based upon notes he had taken in rehab and the characters were based upon people he had met but the book was a memoir and not an auto-biographic account of his stay in rehab.

Of course after watching the show, none of that footage made the cut for the 40+ minutes of actual show. After watching the Oprah episode, mostly just to see if we were caught on camara, i was amazed by how the book was portrayed. It was completely different, and all should praise Oprah for showing us the book.

Poor James Frey...after the smoking gun got hold of the facts, and Oprah had Frey on for a live interview he was destroyed for misrepresenting the book.

Nothing was ever said about how the editing of the original show truly misrepresented the book.

Mr. Frey took the heat, and never threw the Oprah show under the bus, but only a few hundred people, if that many, from the original taping remember the way he portrayed the book honestly on that day.

....next question Dr.

Is it harder to run a shorter distance and really push yourself, or a longer distance at a comfortable pace?

It's totally way harder to run a short distance and push. These are the runs i reflect on my Garmin more. These runs have goals greater than just finishing. These runs force me to push harder and shorter. There is no time for walk breaks, or seeing the sights. These are work.

The work, though, allows me to really enjoy the long runs. It's a Yin/Yang relationship. The long runs are fun, filled with water and breaks, some food on the run. It's a much more enjoyable training run, but the enjoyment is due to the hard work done in the shorter faster runs.

Therefore, i find enjoyment during the faster runs as they allow for more enjoyment during the longer ones.

Emotionally, i can find great reward in a short fast run. These are the runs that establish training PR's. These runs can be euphoric with speed. Nothing is better then running 7 miles under an 8 minute pace and then hitting the last mile under 7:30.

Two more questions to go

Thanks for reading

Interview with an Animal, Part 1

Well, the good Dr has decided to try a new pseudo-blogging tag game with an interview format. He has decided to pass on a few questions for me, and as my not-so-much-running-blog, running blog wanders into a few other areas, i will be taking the next few posts to answer his 5 questions.

Secretly, it's a marketing ploy to keep bringing you back to the blog. Setting up more hits, ergo stroking my ego.

Alas, prior to answering the first, shockingly insightful question, a running update:

Last week marked the return to a 30+ mile week in a loooong time. 39 miles. Sunday, 3 miles with aforementioned Dr, Monday 8 miles, Wednesday 8 miles and Saturday......20 miles.

No runs cut short, good times....figurative and literal

Garmin has all the boring stats, but the best numbers....20 miles under 2:51. Pace 8:31....i may be able to hit the 21 mile 3 hr goal for the bayshore. It may actually be a whole hour before Nitmos runs away from my visual identification. Really, why am i concerned about watching his ass for a whole hr???....not sure myself, but it's just stuck in my head like a Sanjaya rendition of a Kink's Tune

So Saturday, i run south then east until.....i ran out of land. Damn you, Lake St Clair!!!!! i was almost to Canada. If a huge body of water isn't enough to tell you to turn around and go home, than what is????? And really, where else in the US can you run South to get to Canada???

Camel-pak bladder=2 liters, empty at same time as run ends.

30 miles this week should be a piece of cake.

Movin' On... to the highly anticipated answer to the first interview question.... and for some, the first interview question....

You get to spend the weekend at Camp David with any U.S. president, living or dead; who is it, and why?

Good start, eh? i guess the obvious answer would be Al Gore. If only that were a possiblity, but due the obvious fleecing over the americans eyes that, God Forbid, the votes in Florida were, let's say... actually counted, or the number of people denied their right to vote actually got to vote. Good thing the Supreme Court threw in their non-partisan opinion and FOX news did a great job a fair and balanced reporting...

If i was just looking to party, well i guess having a cigar with Slick Willie would be nice....JFK would be fun just to hear about Marilyn Monroe...

Assuming, i wanted to talk to a president, who i considered honest and a boon to humanitarian efforts, i would have to say....




JIMMY CARTER

What a great man. Perhaps the most under-appreciated president. He restored faith in the office after the most criminal adminstration, up to that point, in american history.

A devoutly christian president, who believed in seperation of church and state.

A man who negotiated peace, at Camp David, between Egypt and Israel.

Helped establish and actually works on Habitat for Humanity.

As a "Lame Duck" president, negotiated with Iranians to peaceful release of american hostages. Again, he showed humility and did not demand the release occur during his remaining last weeks as president to claim the victory personally. Although, he most likely wanted the release to happen sooner, his give-and-take style allowed the Iranians to feel some victory. The hostages were released the same day he left office.



A target for right wingers, who used his honesty as a sign of weakness.



What a great man, if not a great president.



Thanks for reading