Aahhh yes the Steers to what do we owe the name of our beloved moniker too???

but first




if you think this secene is funny....you are on your way to steerdom

or perhaps if before a big game or a big run you like to listen to music to gear up like....




well...this might make you a steer as well.

but maybe you prefer a little bit more cerebral comedy



again, you get the point. And if you understand the meaning of the word



JUJUNE....you're in.

Because waaaay back in the late 90's there was a residence hall on the campus of Central Michigan University named Tate Hall. Up on the third floor was "Hell", i lived in Hell. Along with roommates, Tange, Piss-boy and Alki, i was Luki. (Tange, now a regular stalker of this blog, and commentator).

Tange, ran swam and biked
Piss-boy, a business major and dip addict
Alki, drank a lot
Luki, well i slept a lot, 2 time resident hall "skipper"

But we all played pick-up basketball, and when intra-murals came out we and others in the hall needed a team name....so the story is rather dull, but we went with steers cause the Bulls were still getting beat up on by the Pistons back then....and....the definition of a steer in a dictionary is....

a castrated bovine

try to say those words out loud and not giggle or snicker a little. So Steers became the name and till this day exist.

As Steer players have some and gone, fer instance, Nitmos....brother of King (who lived in Hell) have both been members of Steers basketball teams.

And so the name lives on.....sometimes in odd ways....The Steers, Da Steers, AAA Steers (for higher alpha placement and earlier games)

So the secret of the Steers moniker is out. And all are invited to become members of the new Steers Running Team. Maybe.... Stampeding Herd (sounds like a Marshall thing, maybe not)

Now as i have gotten a little older on wiser...the idea of joining a team named after a castrated bovine seems oddly enough.....appropriate????

Lady Steers??? welcome to the group, but what the hell are we supposed to cut off of you???

Steers Team must do's.....listen to Def Leppard prior to a big game, recite Caddyshack and laugh at Woody Allen movies....and this is not required but a good idea to understand the mentality.....

watch the movie "Eraserhead" one time and try to explain it. Good luck with that one




Thanks for reading

In an effort to post a thought about as the Animal updates his blog, i figure an update is due.

first things first; sorry to not have an update following the 20 mile midnite run. It's been so long and i figure LISA's site covered it and moved to the CRIM and beyond, but a quick little 3:04 am snippet from the night....




...with a little song thrown in....



But since i have been not really updating and am using videos to take up space to avoid typing any real thoughts...let me say i loved my 10th annual 30th birthday party....next years midnite run will be a 40 miler in anticipation of the big 11th 30th party.....funny math for the Germans also know as Kim and Uwe who brought me my favorite beer as a gift....and i'm drinking one now...yep it's....




oooh the alcohol abuse.....but why WARSTEINER?????

three magical little words GERMAN PURITY LAWS

See the germans made it a law that only four things can go into beer around 400 years ago....oddly enough one of the things that can go into the making of beer is.....

wait for it....

...water. oh my god....what can the other three things be....

barley....malt...hop extract....

isn't that truly amazing????? look on the bottle for ingredients and that's what appears.

Cause life is too short to drink cheap beer. thanks guys

The party had beer from canada and germany, and vodka from the ukraine much fun was had by all....so.....

LET'S PLAY MEXICO

Moving on to a little snippet from late in the evening

long distance on the phone with Zack in Utah....

must have been the vodka

thank goodness Kim was there to open the vodka bottle as i had trouble....

open the european style bottle....

again good thing Uwe was distracted

a good time was had by all. How am i going to do this again next year after running 40 miles to commemerate the event. And who is going to join me for this one????

Maybe we can get shirts.....like.....STEERS RUNNING TEAM shirts. Something like a running with the bulls but more of a running with the steers. With individual names so marathon cheerers can root for us. Maybe even a "bib-goes-here" spot for bib....duh.

...and of course the official steers "rock on" wave to other runners gesture...wait for it...it's only another minute long....

you mess with the steers and you'll get the horns....

thanks for reading/watching....whatever

das-be-danya....i can barely spell english...how did you think i would spell this???

later.....

confessions of a half-night runner:

Mission Accomplished

20 miles under cover of darkness.

More to follow

Well let me tell you how much fun i am having.

Meet me in St Louis never rang truer than when 100+ sales people meet to get trained on how to be better sales people.

This may be the most intense, yet educational experience of my life.

More on the later but first:

This week's 20 miler is gonna be great cause the temps will be lower than the 100's the weather has been here. Yesterday i ran 3 miles on the dreadmill at 5:30 in the morning before hitting a shower and training all day. Then a classmate asked me to join him for a run of 3 miles after class, in the gawd awful heat. yippee!!!!!

Hottest day of the year....let's run.....

Sorry to be brief but i just wanted to assure everyone that i'm still here having fun and looking forward to the big 20 miler this weekend.

Thanks for reading

Today was my first ever run west of the Mississippi river.

The plane ride to St Louis was thankfully uneventful and the last day has been spent getting to know my fellow classmates. All in all, this is quite fun.

But after breakfast this morning i figured it's time to get back to training. What a wonderful place to do it at. Except, i really am not acclimated to August in a more southern climate. When i headed out from the hotel, temps were in the high 80's and it was 10:00am.

Wow, this is hot, but being an easy run, i went real easy. Guess what....

No leg pain. My strides were conservative but i figured on about 10 miles would be fine.

The hotel sent me towards a park which has a path which encircles a lake. It was new territory and i admit to being excited. But the run to the lake was about 2 miles. Then 4 miles around the lake and i took about a 2.5 route back to the hotel.

There really are some hillier areas here then i was used too. The return trip had stairs to climb. 220 stairs. And since the temps had risen a lot, i was a bit pooped.

y'know that so hot you feel chills feeling? i had a little of that so i stopped a lot to chat with many of the numerous folks on the trail.

Go figure, i met a runner finishing up his first of two 20 milers before his first marathon. i guess the Lewis and Clark marathon. Sounded fun. He looked in great shape to finish in his 4 hour goal. Of course i cautioned him to be wary of sudden gastro-intestinal issues that may occur while marathoning.

Maybe it's just me but i seem to be comfortable with ALL running topics with other runners. Well, he didn't seem offended so no harm no foul.

Looks like i have found a partner or two to run some shorter distances in the evenings this week.
No one wanted to join me when i said i was going about 10 miles, but there are so other runners here. It could be fun.

Looks like i may get to experience one of my New Years Resolutions soon. Of course i called my great lakes running bud, L*I*S*A to tell her of the beautiful course around the river. and yes i called my wife when we landed to tell her i made it to MO ok.

As Lisa has agreed to help be a rent-a-husband on Friday prior to the 10th annual 30th birthday bash. She may just stay over, go with Fun Guv to pick me up at Detroit Metro and go for her 20 mile run in the morning prior to the party.

i suggested we leave at 11:00pm, due the 20 then be well rested for the party Saturday afternoon, instead of running in the morning. i quest to experience the feelings i.e. thoughts of an all-nite-runner, albeit not quite the whole night is a curiousity.

It could be the start of a new tradition for the 2nd annual running of the 11th annual 30th birthday bash, next year.

Egads, well the hotel pool is calling so i will end this little post with something completely different....or how i ran when my leg/back problems were bad



thanks for reading

84%

That's the score. Yippee. i passed my State of Michigan Life and Health Insurance license exam.

So, on one hand i am a bit bummed that two erroneous answers now have me studying again to attempt the Series 66 Investment Advisor Law exam to be fully licensed, but i am still on track for opening my own office....

Tomorrow, i head to St Louis, MO. You bet this is looking better after passing todays exam.

Somehow, my leg doesn't hurt so much and my back feels tons better. Any relation?????

Enough work stuff, as next week will be fairly intense, let me get back to the streak....

Day 4....maybe it should be a rest day as it was the worse start in a while to get the pseudo-normal stride. Eventually the pain subsided and it turned into an almost pleasant 3 miler. The running through some pain has brought an old, borrowed mantra

"run till you can't run, walk till you can't walk, crawl till you can't crawl"

It's not so bad that i crawl yet, but i will somehow find a way to finish my next marathon.

Which being a little less than 2 months away still seems far enough away to prepare for, but....

i have opted to ponder more the WHY i run as the idea of a BQ diminishes. Given that this has been a terrible training experience, can i walk, limp, hobble, slither away from this marathon knowing that it may be slower, yet still satisfied with the fact that it will be my third in a 12 month interval???

i think i can

Now, the plan today is to end the streak at 5. So i plan to run a little today. For the record, i count a run as 2 miles or more. Why 2????

It goes back to stupid CMU days when keeping track of how many days in a row a person went drinking. 2 drinks counted as plural. ergo... drinking. Same logic applied to running

so running less than 2 miles is one run while 2 or more is running. (Yes, this is a blatant attempt to win the hearts of the running stats folks out there)

Why don't runners get tattoo's of there favorite shoe logo like bikers with HD tattoo's???

Nice segue to Lisa's decision to not get the could-be-chinese for Tyler tattoo. Go with an Aerosmith logo with Tyler Joseph replacing the band name script. i think that may be the idea to go with, as Animal will be getting a KISS something inked into his saggy man-boobs, and he wanted to go along.

Which really is the segue i wanted to get to Cranial Flatul...just call it brain fart, it's so much easier to spell

Since you will never throw away the parenting books....consider this. Think of parenting kinda like changing a poopy diaper...See this helps cause you're changing a lot right now. Now infant poopy diapers don't start all rank and unbelievably hideous. They start out small and not nearly as stinky as they'll get later. Cause if you had to start with a two-year olds mess nobody would be able to adjust. See, you and the poopy diaper evolve as the poopy diapers get nasty and nastier. By the time you're changing poopy diapers of a two year old...you can almost do it an the dinner table between courses.

Now Roz is just an extension of the poopy diaper....See, first you hit the basics...food, cleaning, health, sleep. That's it. And if you think you love this blob of flesh now...wait till you get a real smile, not one you think is a smile...the walk in the room and her eyes light up....man, it's a killer...

But back to the point....as Roz's needs change, i am sure your instinct's will kick in. Relax....she won't be asking if she can go out on a date for years...and when she does, you'll be ready then, without having to consult a book on what to expect from your teenager.

So this turned into a long winded post about advice on ignoring advice on parenting. Am i being redundant or Oxy-moronic???



And thanks Gknee for the well wishes, you seem to be my exam day good luck vibe

Thanks for reading

A stress free one mile.

This is good news as yesterday, during my 3 mile run, i was able to stretch out and get to old groove back.

It brought back that great feeling of a good run again. Even if it was only one mile, it was back. Now, if it doesn't happen again today, i'll be bummed. Alas, fear will not paralize me, i will try to go again a short distance.

On the new job, things have been going about the same as my running. Tomorrow i sit for the State of Michigan Life and Health Insurance License Exam. 150 questions, 70% to pass. i have passed three pre exams this week with scores of 74%, 82%, & 80%. i think i am ok for tomorrow.

Too bad, i scores a 69% on my first attempt at the investment advisor law exam, Series 66. i missed a passing score by 2 questions.

Let's hope for the best. i pass tomorrow, then go to St Louis for a week, (any good running areas there???), come home late Friday night, and drink beer the next day (more on this later in the post). Start my market research and planning while sneaking in some study time to prepare to retake the series 66 exam.

Piece of Cake, Right????

O.K. next little tiny issue. Next Saturday, the 18th is the 10th annual Mike's 30 birthday-slash pool party. i will be leaving Saturday the 11th for the gateway to the west, and coming home Friday the 17th, arriving at Detroit Metro at about 8:30 pm. Since i am unavailable to assist my lovely bride next week.....she needs a rent-a-husband.

Now of course for those of you who know the Fun Guv this will not be a surprise but....She'll need someone who is good at following direction. Or at least as good as i do (so the bar is set real low)....to help prepare the homestead. Any takers??????

odd observation: i received an email from Fun Guv's uncle, i get a lot of emails from him. Y'know the generic joke emails of funny pictrures and movies.....but this one was odd pictures of....PLANE CRASHES...ooooh for christ sake!!!!

Anyway, i'm off for another short run tonite. The streak is currently at 3 days, tonite i go for 4.

Thanks for reading

What we've got here is.... failure to communicate....

Well, let me say the running without a GPS for the past few days has been enlightening. Now, i will be returning to the GPS soon enough. But being injured, and i think being able to start running again, i am having a better time listening to the clues ones body gives them, when not having these bodily clues argue with a per mile pace.

i have decided to streak for a few days. Meaning that since i am doing a lot less miles at a time, i'm going consecative days now. Yes, i am sure i need more rest but...i've put on about 8 lbs through this, and the reality of hitting 200 lbs is a benchmark i am looking to avoid. Weird thing is i can actually feel the added weight.

Not that failing to communicate has anything to do with my running blog, but actually to yet another disappointment in the incredible saga of realizing how a man can ignore the son he choose to adopt 30 some years ago.

Yep, this is a fatherly-son vent. As i have stated before, sometimes i need to remind my father he has a son. i guess i needed to do this last Saturday. Let me set the stage.....

At my Grandmothers 90th birthday party, the summer version for those of us unavailable to go to Florida back in April, my father had the nerve to tell me i do not call my grandmother enough. Now my anger could be an indication that he hit a nerve with me that i realize i don't call her enough. This may be true and coming from anyone else....i would have listened, but for Christ sake...

My grandmother's 90 birthday was in April. i could not make the party in Florida. So i called her the next day, knowing everyone would be gone and without calling the day of said party, we would be able to enjoy a lengthy pleasant conversation.

Which my grandmother and i did. Which even included an explanation from me as to why i did not call during the party. She was busy with other family and i thought it rude to call the day of. Plus being 90, i figured she would be exhausted the day of the party.

Anyway, back in April my sister tried to lecture me that i didn't call. Cause she had left the morning of the day i called and was unaware that i did call. Since my father left the same morning, he too, did not know that i had called. But he decided to wait until the next time we spoke, yep, almost 4 months later, to lecture me that i do not call my only grandmother enough.

Now being the spiteful man i am, i always call my father on his birthday to wish him a happy birthday. Sometimes i send a card. Sometimes i even use the excuse to ride my motorcycle. It's only an hour away. And visit for a few hours.

Apparantly, from my fathers perspective, i made him look back by not calling. Cause, she received a lot of calls that day. Which in hindsite i should have lied and said that i had tried but the line was busy.

So when i lambasted my father in a quiet-yet very stern manner that his argument held no water coming from him. That he couldn't pick the last time he had called me to wish me a happy birthday, and i could tell him all the most previous dates i had called him. That he hasn't bothered to speak with or try to see his grandchildren since December 23. That even though we only live one hour away, they never have been over to our house for a family dinner, because i got tired of asking and being told they couldn't attend because of church functions. Very Christ-like eh????

Please let me vent more, whose blog is it???

My father had no idea i have changed jobs. i had the opportunity to tell him of the change when i called him prior to the Bayshore, but figured why bother. i didn't need the lecture about changing jobs in addition to being told he wouldn't be in Traverse that weekend. i was hoping he would be in Traverse that day and might like to attend. i guess thinking he might call after the race to see how i did was hoping for too much. Hell, my sister lives there and she couldn't bother to attend, but she did offer to let me drive the 20 plus miles out to her house from the Bayshore to visit.

Another little vent, even though my sister knows i write a little blog, and Fun Guv has the link on her email signature, my sister has never read a post.

i wonder if my father thinks i don't call enough, where the hell he thinks i learned it from.--- " 'Cause the new jobs a hassle, and the kids got the flu but it was sure nice talking with you, dad"






Am i the father or son in this song??? At least, the dad in this song called once.

Thanks for reading, my self therapy, sorry if it's a little dis-jointed.

This is one of those forced moments to blog

It's hard to explain why, but i think i understand how a person can let a blog, and really let a Running Blog, become tedious. For the last few weeks this has become so for me.

So no, this isn't one of those moments where the author sends out a fond fairwell, a final thanks, and moves on. It's more of that internal why has this become so. After all, this started as a way to express those oh-so-introspective moments of running. The 5-plus-miles-from-home-zen and the way that my life has improved through getting into a less than round shape.

And, while i type awaiting the muse to grant me quick fingers, with better accuracy, and a moment of clarity. Which truth-be-told exist....it's more of a how and wording, and do i risk letting real feelings out, not just thoughts????

Somehow my little corner of Blog-land has morphed into a statistical wasteland. How many miles do i run, how fast, what are the goals, how i use speed work to gain an extra precious few seconds per mile, and on and on....

i like to look back on the greatest Detroit Lions coach of my lifetime, so far, i hope for a better one....Mr Wayne Fontes, who said after his first lions victory, as an interim coach, on his way to finishing the last 4 games of the miserable season which produced the great draft ability for Barry Sanders. It's not too late Barry, come back..., in which the Green Bay Packers dominated every aspect of the game, except the final score...

"STATISTICS ARE FOR LOSERS"

And so, that's may be why my little blog has become boring, to me and i assume others. It has/had taken on a life that wasn't me. Which if you know my rules for the blog, is a big no-no as i aspire to be truthful.

An oddity in this observation is that while taking so many writing classes on my stellar way to an average English major in college, is that i struggled with the aspects of technical writing most.

So my lesson is learned. As i strayed away from what i loved about running and writing, both passions suffered. To the point that my injuries have me upset about the possiblility of not finishing the Chicago Marathon. My obsession with stats may have been a contributing factor to my injury and so...

I AM A LOSER

So i'm gonna right this ship now......

SING IN ME, OH MUSE....AND THROUGH ME TELL THE STORY

i like to think that all members of the X generation who grew up with FRIENDS, oh the irony, have their own infamous 5 hypothetical free romps in the sack with famous people. Y'know the freebies from marital/significant other wraith. A great sorce for fantastical discussions and while if i was to ever meet Diane Keaton in person, i am quite sure neither she, nor Pamela Anderson, Terri Hatcher, Jessica Alba, or Reese Witherspoon will feel an uncontrollable urge to get to know me, at least in the biblical sense.

Alas, with little fanfair, someone's getting booted today...no... not Diane. Ms Annie Hall is a permanent fixture, as i watched "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" at waaaaay toooo young an age, and as a newly hatched duckling becomes imprinted with the first moving object it sees as a mother, so she has been imprinted as the sex symbol for me.

It's Terri Hatcher. Sorry, although they may be real, but they haven't been spectacular in years. And fine...i'm a pig, but it's my fantasy world and aren't i allowed a little piggishness????? Besides, i'm sure Ms Hatcher is not sitting home sobbing about not being on this list.

But in my new era of enlightenment. And to balance out the ying to Pamela's yang....finish your own joke here

i am pleased to announce the newest member of the Mike's 5 Freebie's

man....i'm such an idiot, if only i had this idea earlier i could of replaced one woman with all the Dixie Chicks....wait that's a totally different type of fantasy.....and a little twisted, buuuutt...hmmmmmmm

But, God this is so sexy




Sorry, i just got lost in a thought, oh well could-ah, should-ah, would-ah

Thanks for reading