40 on 40

i truly need to credit this gem with the orignator of the Steers moniker. Thanks Tange, no really, thanks

He sent me an email about his endeavor to try for this on his 40th and so i joke about it with GLRG, and Voila...

a challenge has been issued, well not so much a challenge but a chance to try for it.

Why not??? After all, like i'm gonna let a trumpet player do this to me, a bone. It's a band thing.

Since we both turn 40 within days of each other a couple rules:

We need a support vehicle, no running with camel-baks.....sig-other(s) can follow and meet with water and gu... and god knows what else a person needs when running a marathon and a half in one day.

We can't do this on the day of the summer BBQ, 'nuff said there

Friends and family are encouraged to join us on bike or foot for a couple or hell, all the miles, except those manning the support vehicle, what do ya say, Nitmos, got a few miles in ya???

And there may be more rules to follow and maybe even an idea of a route. Like an area downhill and going from west to east the whole time, to take advantage of prevailing winds, that's using my noggin!!!!

The Bayshore.....is looking like an event to debut the Steers Long Distance Project jerseys at....if they exist by that time. There may be 4 steers there....2 halfer and 2 fulls....a maybe a 5th if i can sell Kim COG, to sign up for the half and recruit her into the SLDP. SWEEEEEET!!!!

Dances With Dirt!!!!!!

Welcome to the dark side of running.
Weak, wimpy, treadmill running pansies who are afraid to get some dirt in their shorts need not apply.
Expect to be scratched, muddied and bruised by the beauty of this unpolished gem.
Expect to get out near the edge where life is full color.
Expect a day that leaves you knowing you are fully alive, awake and crankin' on all cylinders.
Expect insanity, stupidity and nirvana.

Amazingly....i have been invited to join a 100k existing team for DWD next fall. If this works out...i will get to run 2 legs of this monster. un-effing-believable.....




Somehow, the story of me withstanding the heat in Chicago and finishing impressed a few people on a team and when they had an opening....my name came up....no pressure here, eh???

Anyway...thanks for reading....and i think i may be due for a political tirade....after all.....looks like Obama might win in Iowa. The guy looks like a runner and is also struggling to quit smoking right now!!!!

About Last Night......

What a nice evening for a run. i had a client meeting in the evening and arrived home around 8:00, Dancing with the Stars be damned....i was going for a run.

It was great!!!! The days rain had eased into a steady downfall of white fluffy snow. Y'know the kind of snow that just floats; no wind; no rain, just a light dusting on the ground. i was in heaven.

i really love this time of year. Not enough Christmas lights on yet, but thats ok. My neighborhood allows for a simple route that lets me get an easy 3 miles in without ever leaving the subdivision. Since Fun Guv was still at work, i was able to pass by the house a few times making sure the kids were fine.

3 miles, or 23:56, later...workout done.....and i was still able to watch the second dances of the finalists. Still not gay....not sure how....but guilty pleasures are exactly that....guilty.....kinda like the ABBA on my mp3 player....nothing beats a tempo run to a swedish blond chick, and her wing-girl...




C'mon click it!!!!

Anyway back to the point. As i ran through the sub, i remembered times growing up and how much i knew about my neighbors as a kid. Y'know when everyone knew each others names. Like the Davis's across the street, or the Craven's (whose lawn i mowed), the Rice's, Gauthier's, etc.... With people who would smile and wave in that old soooo1970's way and with a goofy smile. People who didn't mind telling my folks when i was seen acting like a moron, or were given my parents permission to corporal-ly punish me (the ultimate embarrassment), but mostly people who i liked and at least seemed to like my folks and through osmossis....me.

Well, truly today, know a lot of my neighbors and they know me. Across the street are Tim and Jackie, who moved into the house the Jackie grew up in, as her mother has had a few bad years. Across the other side (we live on a corner lot), is Tony, retired and lives alone but friendly enough. Next to Tony is Jerry and Ginny, 30's no kids and Jerry has 7 screws holding his back together after an accident a few years ago, Lucky to be alive...let alone walk.

Next to us on one side is John and Shelly, again early 30's, but kids....had a few tooooo many adult beverages with them this summer and learned all about how Shelly was a homecoming queen in high school, a little embarrassing for her and John as Shelly's folks, also a bit of a party-ing crew, loved to talk about her time as a high maintenace high schooler. Lot's of Fun , and fellow Billy Idol fans. One Saturday, sleeping with the windows open, Fun Guv and i were awakened to the Kareoke Stylings of MONY MONY at about 2:30 am

Gotta watch the cussing....the kids read this.... y'know????

Anyway....on the other side is Lynn.....Looooove Lynn..... and our occasional Friday nite Happy hour(s). Well....the happy hour(s) started innocently enough, but none of the neighbors join us....so usually it's Mike (ME) and Lynn, drinking until one of us is ....done.....and Fun Guv enjoying the talk with her Diet Coke.

Well, i guess as i ponder sociatal changes, and risk this post getting as long winded and tiresome, as if written by a college professor...of music, i know that many of my other neighbors only know me as that weird, ex-hippy guy on the corner, who runs a lot.

i wonder how much of my out-going nature and desire to know the neighbors, is a leftover from growing up small town northern Michigan??? Most people i talk to while knocking on doors, plain ole'cold-calling, part of the new job and a definite, take-a-person-out-of-their-comfort-level meet people and shake their hands, never seem to know anybody they live next door to.

Once i met a nurse, who had a nursing student living next door, neither knew the other person, and i introduced them. Not my neighbors, just people i met door-knocking.

Where was i going with this again???

Thanks for reading

Well back by popular demand, a running post

It's been a good few weeks of running around here. i am starting to use the treadmill a little bit. With Fun Guv picking up extra hours at work and my new career, i must admit to finding the DREADMILL to be an easy way to log in the miles, of course a working TV and DVD or good sports game helps.

Anyway....looks like i am hitting my favorite time of year to run. The early winter around the holidays, what a fun way to stroll through the neighborhoods; a lite dusting of snow, a crisp dryness to the cool air, and of course, the Christmas Lites. I even have a totally dorky looking Red-n-Green Christmas colors oufit to wear. Not quite the GLR Chick's little running shirt but to each their own, right? Like i could pull off the red and green look with a shirt on?????

On to a borrow Post Race Marathon Report:

Tange sent me this little gem after his outstanding showing at Richmond, sorry no pictures.

Mike,

I still have a ways to go to get to 2:57. Kim saw the pics tonight and asked what I was doing with my hand.

I told her “Steers running club” she just rolled her eyes. I like the ones were both my feet are off the ground.

Here is a mini recap of the race If I haven’t sent it to you yet.

I ran my first half just as planned (no miles faster than 7:30 miles and split the half in 1:39:00. It was actually 1:39:04). Then around mile 15 I hooked up with 3 guys who started picking up the pace around mile 18 and I ran my fastest 10k of the race from mile 20 on. 6 of my fastest 8 miles were after mile #18 including my fastest mile of the day, a 7:10, to finish the race. I thought I had a 3:20 in me, maybe a 3:19, but no way I thought I had a 3:16:30 in me. Before that race, I thought the negative split marathon was just fiction, or people just slacking off for the first half then getting serious in the second half.

Richmond is a great course, decent crowd support and if I guy who hasn’t seen a hill in 4 months can do the rolling hills of Richmond, anyone can. The course starts out going due west for the first 4 miles before any turns, so that helps out a lot in not having to weave around people and keeping the 26.2 mile race a 26.2 mile race and not 26.7 miles.

Nice job, Tange!!!!

Moving to other running things, i'm going to try to stop taking my good fortune for granted. At least from a running stand, i tend to forget that i have dear friends who can't run at all due to medical issues, while i tend to whine about my pace being off a couple seconds from one week to the next. And some of these people are folks who would like to run a little.

That said, i have picked a spring marathon to train for, or maybe it picked me again as the Bayshore seems to fit into my schedule perfectly, with another runner or two i know doing it. What the heck??? Let's enjoy the training, enjoy the race and try to run the best race i can run on that particular day.

Anyway that's a long way off. There will be plenty of time to keep posting about running and stuff i think about while running in the next few months. I think i have worked out a decent work/life schedule finally.

We'll see

Thanks for reading

i promise to again return to posting thoughts about running....it is a running blog, right??? or was....but right now...a favorite Thanksgiving traditon, and not the whole song....just a minute or two....



Go Lions!!!!, i love Favre and all but really who isn't a Lions fan on Thanksgiving. If you time the turkey coma right.....you can miss the whole second half!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks for reading

From the mouths of babes, or

Strange Handwriting on the Wall, or

What Jimmy drew on the back of a paper placemat while waiting for food at a local restaurant.

In his words....as told to his mother...and grandmother....

The American Flag, dead people, lots of blood.

Is he ready to sign up for Young Rebublicans yet????

Well, Fun Guv needs the computer for some auction thingy so i'll just end here.

thanks for reading

All great stories start with a well written sentence.

That's not to say this is a great story but as i have been away from updating for various work and running related reasons let me at least be comforted with the fact that at least today i am putting digits-to-keys again and enjoying some time to dump out some thoughts....

Random eight things....

Not sure about the task...as i haven't really read or typed in a while and my brain has turned to mush, i seem to have been "tagged" with a task of posting of 8 random things...if i post eight....well...not quite random in preparation eh?

But to move on....sorta random

Superman....y'know the illegal immagrant who wears his underwear as outerwear

i've always been a big fan....and while big blue tends to not make a good impression on the big screen the ideal of Superman....why???

Well, Superman represents Americana, yet the character was created by Canadians, Toronto was actually the inspiration for Metropolis, well nice idea but really Supe's inspires me because of the nature of man. In his case...

Absolute Power does not corrupt absolutely

In an odd way i associate Superman to my grandfather, the two are intertwined as my grandfather died during the death of superman story-line from 1992.

Now, this is not meant to be a melancholy post....it's just a reason why for ten years i collected every Superman comic i could get my hands on. So i guess maybe there are two reason i tend to idolize Superman.

Anyway....as the posts rambles on.....my dear friend, Scott, actually listened to me one day when i mentioned putting together a mix CD of popular songs with Superman references in them. And so for my birthday, a year ago he gave me such a CD. With a nifty little bit of a cover to the jewl-box and everything.

As i listened to it today...i realize the thought that went into the gift and, while the songs aren't quite what i would have picked, i don;t think i have ever properly thanked him...So....Thanks!!!!

Moving on from this, or with this....or something....i think it's is again time to update the look of the blog..... maybe another revamp of the appearance will inspire me to type more often. This post has been tedious and yet it's more of a rustiness, with some familiarity......y'know, that feeling of re-hooking up with an old girlfriend after a year or two apart....familiar yet.....the exact words escape.....hmmmm. Well that's the tedious part again.

Moving on to another random thought....and i realize i haven't read any other post in a week or so, but ....isn't quoting yourself redundant??? Like referring to yourself in third person.

Mike thinks as Mike types this post that Mike's an ass, not really mike's...i mean....my usual diction, eh?

Congrats to Tange, sometime stalker, as he nailed his last marathon and finished in 3:16:something. Great Work!!!! (how's that for a random statement??)

Let's get back to the man crush.....

Saw the Boss last week. remeber when i used to post regular about stuff? He is the man!!! If i could pick one person to shake hands and gush about how much i admire his work....it would be his....



Actually, this features two of my favorites...honestly they could have been promoting clubbing baby seals and i woulda jumped at the chance to see these two on stage together.....

But, for last weeks show....great show....great new album....if i wasn't such a big fan, i would have been bummed cause it was definitely not a greatest hits style show. Great set list....but again not the hits.

And just cuz Jimmy hasn't been on a post in a while



That's my boy!!! Dancing with the Stars???? watch out, this kid is ready to mambo!!!!

Thanks for reading, if you stuck around long enough to see if i updated.....

(Thank goodness for GLRChick, to send me an email once in a while to update a post)