Bib #580

There it is. The official Bib # 580, for the bayshore.

It's really here. This is a big moment when the marathon is now real in my mind. i have a bib#

Since i am midway through the taper a few reflections.

Since i am running my second marathon, i have my goals in mind, as far as finishing and time and with respect to what i can control.

But with respect to what i cannot:

-i consider myself fortunate to have not suffered through any running injury yet. As i have stalked other blogger/runners, i noticed that recurring theme, both bayshore and non-bayshore. Two of my fellow bayshore bloggers have had injuries that will prevent them from running/finishing or even starting the attempt to finish the full or half. To both Russ and Runner Girl, my deepest regrets you will not be able to run.

-i will be giving myself up to the elements next weekend. 7:00 am late May, can be chilly along the shores of Grand Traverse Bay, but it can be unbearably sticky quite quickly. Average temps be damned, i know to expect 40's at the start and up to 80's by the finish. That's just life in Traverse City and it could always rain.

-Phantom aches and pains of the taper are normal. i know to trust the healing of the taper as preparation for the long run, and with less miles i will not lose my current fitness level, but i'd be lying if i didn't desire to be running more.

-What do i do next? Three weeks is a 10k trail/adventure run. Y'know dirt/mud/river crossings/massive hills; do i give it a go? It's close to home. i have an inkling to give it a go.

-Since i have received all of my study materials and i start the new gig monday, how much running will a be able to do?

So in retrospect, mid-taper here's where my thoughts are:

i'm excited to get to another marathon
i'm excited to get to another race after the marathon
i'm excited to start a new career
i'm excited for Nitmos as he attempts a try for Boston
i'm excited to think i could give it a go, in a future marathon attempt
i'm ecstatic that i have not yet suffered through a nagging running injury

i'm in a good place right now. Piston's are still winning, Wings are in another great playoff series, Tigers still exciting in this early season, and the Lions are off-season.

Anybody else have any positive things to say???

Life is good, anything else i can jinx????

Thanks for reading

Happy Birthday Fun Guv'nor

Yep, today is a big day around the house and i always think Fun Guv gets a little pimped in the month of May. Our Anniversary, Mother's Day and Birthday are usually within 10 days of each other.

Anyway..... Happy Birthday.




Wha a ham.

Yesterday's 5 mile run was great. And at 38:54, it felt fast. Today is a crosstrain day and with Lisa's Birthday, i'll be eating lots soooooo a nice relaxing bike ride should be nice.

Brush with Pseudo-Celebrity......

Well, i thought a video with Velvet Revolver would be a hint.




He bellied up to the bar Saturday night after VR played a show in Royal Oak. Matt and, i think, the tour manager just had a couple glasses of wine and tried to get some food delivered for Scott, Slash and Duff.

Now, i've had a few brushes with folks at the hotel over the years. Kennedy, of Mtv Fame, was a doll and nothing like her old persona. Aaron Neville may be the largest man i have ever met. Neal Diamond requested all hotel employees turn and face the wall if he walks by because he didn't want to have eye-contact with anybody. Hank Williams, Jr may have been one of the coolest as he was in for the SuperBowl and just wanted to meet and greet and take pictures.

Matt was a drummer in one of my favorite bands, heck, two if you count The Cult.

i was extremely surprised that he was such a great guy to talk with. The bar was empty, and security had to keep some groupies away from the hotel just of the Scott and Slash factor but who wanted to see the drummer???

Well, he was cool, and i got a sense that he's asked about GnR a lot. So i didn't ask about Axel or Slash or any GnR stuff, but i did extend my appreciation of the groups he has been in and we left it at that.

Anyway, it was a fun night at the bar.

Thanks for reading, and happy birthday Lisa

.....And now batting for the Clinton Twp, Bronx Bombers, wearing number #8

Jimmy.





we opted to spare everyone but yes he did go on to score. Actually, at this level everybody scores as no outs are called and no score is kept, seven batters a side take turns and the lucky 7th batter gets to hit a home run regardless of power or lack thereof at the age of 5 & 6. Once and while a ball does trickle out of the infield.

At the end of the season, every kid gets a league champion trophy. AAaaaaah, what a wonderful world of peace and harmony......well, except for the parents.....or maybe just me.

As you may be able to see, there are no bleachers at these games. Basically parents sit up some summer folding chairs and watch the games. All the teams in the league play at local schools which happens to have two fields. At the first game, everybody gets pictures taken, teams and individual, and games are fairly tightly time monitered to stay on schedule, between t-ball, machine pitch, coach pitch, minors and majors about 20 game need to be played.

Anyway, Fun Guv sits down and i open up my chair next to hers and Macks and sit down to watch Jimmy play.

Then i hear....

"so that's the way it is then," right behind me.

So i turn and look and a guy is standing there, with 4 folding chairs and i guess i didn't see him as i walked up to where Fun Guv and Mack were sitting. i tend to get a little lost just looking at the surroundings and Fun Guv needs to rein me in to the smaller picture.

i guess i had sat my chair in front of where he was setting up chairs for his family.

Totally, my bad, So i apologize.

"y'know, i'm real sorry, i was just sitting here next to my wife and daughter, i didn't see you."

Now, Lisa had sat next to another Mom, with whom she had struck up a conversation, so she was fairly set, and i guess i could have moved, with the 10 -15 feet of room to my right, where nobody was sitting and be closer to the diamond.

If so, sitting on the third base line for this game. pecking order would have been...

homeplate, third base, a few parents, 10- 15 feet space, me, guy with four chairs, Mack, Fun Guv, Mom with said convesration, or

homeplate, third base, a few parents, guy with four chairs, me, Mack,Fun Guv, Mom with said conversation.

So the guy just won't let it go. He keeps on about how i wouldn't move, just talking to nobody really. He starts to move the chairs and just keeps on about how he can't believe how difficult i am being, and how he has to move to sit, and see the game.

Now, i assume he's got a kid on the same team as i do. And looking back, i should have handled things differently. i could have extended a hand in friendship, offered to help reposition his chairs, struck up a conversation, but.....

...and not to make an excuse, i had bartended the night before. It had been busy at the bar, so getting home after 2:00 am and back up at 7:30am to go to a t-ball game had left me tired. i basically sat, and opended up my new issue of Runner's World and sat to nod off in between Jimmy's T-ball action.

i really felt the honest, humble apology was enough, but it wasn't.

i know, at most it took him 30 seconds to move these few chairs, but after i apologized he first stood behind me and kept on me, the as he moved the chairs he just kept on me, and finally i snapped....

"Will you stop??!!!"

"huh??," the guy looked at me, as i snapped my head up, and turned to face him. i stayed sitting in my chair.

"Look, i tried to apologize, apparently that wasn't enough. You would rather keep on-and-on, if you want something ask. Get over it, this is the first game of the season and we may be seeing each other at every game. Thanks for helping to start the season great. If this is the way you will be at every game, i can't wait!!"

"well, you know, you sat right where i was opening up my chairs"

y'know, i got that. i understood. i had felt bad for doing it, not so much anymore. i didn't want to have a scene here, with the kids, and really, it's a stupid no-competitive t-ball game. i finally, just responded in the only way possible, without dropping a f-bomb or getting vile...

"will you just, SHUT YOUR HOLE!!!"

That seemed to do the trick, and he must have really wanted to pounce, but while still sitting down i had actually used my gutteral, scream at the rookies on the marching band practice field, or make MacKenzie cry, voice.

So he kinda got real quiet, real quick and slinked off, presumably to find back-up.

Now i had to apologize to ALL the parents, who were looking at me like i was born with 666 birthmarked into my scalp.

"i'm real sorry 'bout that. i swear, i'm not a jerk."

And y'know what? Everybody seemed to have heard the entire exchange and thought i was okay.

i think the funniest part, if there is a funny part, is that remember how i mentioned there were two fields at this school? Well, eventually the guy came back, with his entourage, in case things escalated, to collect his chairs cause.....

yep.....

he was at the wrong field. D'oh

anyway, no fun running stuff, except i had a wonderful 12 miler saturday. The taper is on!!!!

thanks for reading, next post preview....brush with semi-celebrity.oooooh the suspense, but i have left a clue

post 8 mile speed work, the ABC's of Mike, note the third person reference, and iced coffee.

Let me take a moment to defer any notion that this will be a long post on my dear friend, Animal, and since it takes extra time to link, feel free to hit the link on the side bar, after reading this post, cause he has tagged me and left me with the option for a post, that runs on and on...like this sentence.

Anyway, first things first, in my not so much thinking just running blog. Speed work!!!! A few things with me and speed work. first, contrary to some folks opinions, i'm not really fast, so me trying to identify if Speed-work is oxy-moronic or redundant, to me.

Second things second, or maybe a 1b category, training to run a first versus a second marathon. Actually this could be it's own subject but for the sake of not rambling on too much, short answer - it's different. For the marathon debut, training was just build a base, do enough miles to prepare for a long slow run. This second training session has had additions to just maintaining the base, it's added activities designed to prepare for the long run by doing better defined work: e.g. prepare to run through being tired by hitting real fast miles and then still run 1.5 miles slow, but run to get replicate the exhausted feeling.

i opted to attack the run, this was my last chance to really hit some fast speeds and maybe feel like an elite or perhaps nitmosic runner. All four speed miles were under 7:20, and i put my garmin to the test, and learned a way to improve this type of training in the future. Miles 1 & 3 were 7:01 and 7:06, miles 2 & 4 not so exact as my laps were set by the mile, but i had half mile recoveries between speed burst, but you can really tell by the graphs, so not exact but 2 & 4 werre around 7:05 -7:10.

Since the plan called for 7:22 miles, i can take a moment to savor the victory, cause this was a battle of will. Since it's basically 1.5 miles around my sub-division, i just did laps through the sub. And since it was noon, and all the neighbors working, i ran with no short on, ooops i mean, no shirt on. Holy naked mile, Batman

but on the plus side....i was able to put water and powerade out on my driveway and drink a little as needed. Since this was a work-like run, not an easy one...no mp3 player.

i do confess this run was a confidence booster. The times did surprise me, since i couldn't have hit them a few months ago.

Well, here we are a third of the way way through the title of the blog..... Movin' On

The ABC's of Mike

A- Available or Single: my heart has hopelessly belonged to the same person since 1990, really hopelessly, i've tried...even if my body was not completely committed; heart and body since we re-hooked up a few years later, thanks to Animal

B- Best Friend: i guess it would be Fun Guv. it's kinda like taking "friends-with-benefits" to a higher level. and keeps things a little spicy...wink, wink...nudge, nudge....know what i mean....

C- Cake or Pie: Pie, wasn't it Homer who said "MMMMM Pie?" Pecan, oooooh i love Pecan Pie, and will repeat a la "When Harry met Sally" to everyone's annoyance out of sheer excitement over PeCaaan PIIIee. Apple is a favorite too.

D- Drink of Choice: Warsteiner Beer, cause life is too short to drink cheap beer.



E- Essential Items: Not much really, the basics. Shelter, food, clothing, family and good friends

F- Favorite Color: Gunmetal Pearl, the color of my bike

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi Bears to eat, worms to fish

H- Hometown: Traverse City, Michigan. "when the lights go down in the city, and the moon shines on the bay" ok not San Fran, but it holds the same meaning.

I- Indulgence: Blogging, and movies by George Romero

J- January or February: May

K- Kids: 3, Allison, Mack and Jimmy

L- Life is incomplete without: not sure, nobody completes life with an empty "IN" box

M- Marriage Date: May 6, 1995, i think, has it been 12 yrs already????

N- Number of Siblings: 1, i grew up with, sister, Kim; a bunch of in-laws, some step-in-laws, some pseudo-steps i've never met, through my fathers second wife; and my tribal brothers and sisters

O- Oranges or Apples: apples, who ever heard of orange pie???

P- Phobias/Fears: i don't think i have any phobias, just fears, like drowning. i love being in the water but would hate to drown, hence no icefishing for me. When i was a kid i was afraid of Spontaneous Human Combustion, so static electricity freaked me out, y'know like flannel pjs and flannel sheets, i thought i would explode. i seem to have outgrown this fear. oh yeah and reanimated corpses

Q- Favorite Quote: "They're coming to get you, Barbara"

R- Reasons to smile: Tess belly dancing, really i can't think of this and not smile. Oh gawd, now everytime i look at Tess and smile she'll be thinking, that i'm thinking of her belly dancing, i think. Maybe the blog should be renamed "Mike has a thought of Tess Belly Dancing, and He's Smiling"

S- Season: Cheyenne pepper is nice, but carribean jerk works well too

T- Tag Three: Let's see if anyone will play along, Miranda, Russ, and Kim

U- Unknown Fact About Me: not really an answer but i get bothered by these type of questions. If it's unknown to me, then shouldn't some one else type, "mike doesn't know this but he tends to ..., or if i spill my unknown to others people here, well, then it's known fact, and not really appropriate in this ABC portion....for the sake of conformity.....if i fall asleep at night on top of the bedcovers, and get cold, i tend to have Zombie movie like dreams until i scare myself enough to wake up and get under the covers. Sometimes i fall asleep like this on purpose, cause i love zombie movies.

V– Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: i love to eat dead animal flesh, with cheyenne pepper, maybe a little carribean jerk. No worms though, just Gummi Bears

W- Worst Habits: Smoking, biting my fingernails, engaging mouth before brain, premature e.... wait too honest

X– X-rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds baby, i had one once cause i lifted incorrectly and felt a strain, so off i go to have my testicles ultrasounded for damage. SOoooo i'm laying down, naked, waist down, and an fairly attractive nurse comes in and puts that ultrasound lotion, y'know on the boys. Let me recount the number of sports stats running through my head that afternoon to avoid any bad habits from occurring

Y- Your Favorite Foods: Pizza, French Fries, Pecan Pie

Z- Zodiac: Born in a year of a monkey, Leo by month

Iced Coffee

i seem to have found a new favorite morning beverage, cause i can really drink a lot of coffee this way, and it seems to energize my long saturday morning runs.

Anyway, thanks for reading

It's a beautiful day for an 8 mile speed run.

Well, that's the goal today, and i will be putting the trusty garmin to the test as i can't go run on my local track as school is in session and since i have to bartend tonite, i have to get my run done prior to 2:00.

i must admit to not being great at being between jobs. i seem to be making my way through my honey-do's and the pool is almost open. The yard is in great shape. The garage is clean.

What else do i do with my time?

Well, good question. Jimmy is spending the most time with me that he ever has, and we are really having fun. Most of Jimmy's life, i have been working a full and part-time job. Ooops, not exactly father-of-the-year stuff but, he hasn't spent a lot of time in daycare.

Thanks to my friend Steve, who let me borrow his extra copy of Guitar Hero II. What guy hasn't danced around his bedroom as a young child, air guitaring with a tennis racket????? And while Fun Guv is tired of the click-click noise of the pseudo-guitar, she's had moments when she wants to play too.

And now Jimmy and Mack's favorite song list consist of "Shout at the Devil" "Surrender" and "Tattooed Love Boys" Rock On

Yesterday, my new laptop and printer arrived from the new employer. It is nice to see work stuff showing up but.....passwords and study materials still need to arrive. Soooo, right now it's just a big box in the middle of the family room.

Lastly, just a quick thanks to all the well wishers on the new job. Thanks Everyone.

Well not quite last, but as i typed this, UPS man shows up again with another packet from new employer. Yipppeeeeee!!! Now i just need my study material, schedule and first conference call info.....i almost feel like a working man again!!!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Over 400 miles and counting.....

Since i really went off on a tagent last post, i'll try to behave better this one and keep to running, mostly.

Today was a nice 7 mile run. Reminding me again that a body needs to recover somewhat after a 20 miler, i was a little sore for the first two miles. i did end the trip on a nice 7 miles 58:39, and after the first two, i went a little too fast, no Nitmos here, but i did take a 3 minute walk break in the middle and left the timer going as i walked.

So i have ran over 400 miles this year, i don't really have a goal in tracking mileage, it's more of a curiousity. The biggest shocker is that today is the 8th of May and i have already gone 43 miles.

About the taper. i really have a couple more hard training runs ahead. Technically, Thursday is my last speed day. 8 miles, 1 mile warmup, 4X1600m @ 7:22 pace w/ 800m recovery, 1 mile cooldown. Saturday is a 12 miler. So although 12 miles doesn't sound long in my head anymore, it is still going to take about 1:40 to run it, so it's not really "taper time" yet.

But with the taper starting on May 15, Fun Guv's birthday, i have 8 runs until the marathon.

2 this week, already in this post
6 during the taper, real short and less intense although some tempo work,.....finally
1 Marathon.....

On a happy side note, i am happy to report that while i do not train to lose weight, i am down to 195 and a smidge, per our bathroom scale.

More true rambling to follow

Thanks for reading

i made the final 20 mile run a fun one.

Yippeeeee!! one more tough we week of training and bring on the taper. i am sooooo ready for it. i give mucho thanks to the healing powers of the taper. And, laugh, in the face of temptation to run more miles in disbelief of THE PLAN, btw side bar here....my many college friends, i mean who actually, teach college.....D'y'know the greek word for the plan.....is.....Syllabus.

So next semester, please feel free to just put "THE PLAN" on top of your plans that you hand out to your wee little pupils, cause i'm starting to feel like,....well it's tough to put into words....i mean being an X generation guy, another sidenote to a sidenote, great band, rocking punk, Billy Idol and all. i'm hearing the college grads are now taking their parents to job interviews after college, and interviewing companies are letting them, and actually marketing to the parents to enlist their kids.

Hu'h How did this happen?

Can we just name this generation "our lamest generation" or maybe, "the guilt of the baby boomers"

Okay, i admit to being real far off the topic of my 20 mile run, which i didn't call my dad to ask him to for permission to cross some streets without holding his hand, i did it all by myself. Ain't i a big boy?????

But this is the kind of stupid crap that gets out, and then some yahoo in another country, that's being controlled by US interest, looks at the US and says "these friggin morons can't even raise their brats to think for themselves, yet they want control the, whatever i have that the US wants in hypothetical country, oil, bananas, oil, kiwi, oil, etc....pick one, maybe,.....Oil, well screw them!!!"

And so he gets a few buddies together and then a few more and then...Someone says ",hey, let's blow some stuff up", it's a Y chromosone thing, mostly we get out of it, with y'know bottlerockets or playing baseball with frogs from a local pond. Every neighborhood had one of those kids in it. Not me, mind you, but my neighborhood had one.

Anyway, i ran 20 miles, thought about moronic 20 something year-old teenagers and the idiot companies that see these idiots as leaders.

The was able to slippery slope myself into a rationale that this type of stupidity is a cause of terrorism.

And now a campaign issue, if i want to go to Canada and enjoy all the fruits of Windsor, i bet my canadian friends cuckle at that, i just want to have an ID and a Birth Cert.

Vote for Mike '08

We'll get homeland security, oxymoron alert..... cracking down on the real idiots who put our culture at risk.

Thanks for reading

A little self discovery is good for the sole.

i just need a moment here to do a virtual jump up and down in near ecstatic glee over a great 7 mile tempo run.

The plan called 3 miles at 7:49, and four miles of just running, no real pace indicated. No big deal, but i figured 3 miles at 7:49 would be a piece of cake, see previous post.

Does a 10k PR count if it's in a training run? Not intentionally, i hit some new speed record for me. i started with the goal of 2 miles easy run, 3 tempo, and 2 easy, to warm up, hit the hard stuff, and cool down.

Well, my warm up was right at 8 minutes, so i figured i'd just do the tempo workout begining mile 2. i know i always say stats are boring, but....miles 2, 3 & 4; 7:32,7:25 &7:35....

After 4 miles my time was 30:32, and the hard part was over so mile 5, 8:21. And i feel real strong, and it's requiring effort just to restrain my running from being fast. Don't misunderstand, i feel tired.... but strong. Plus i get new appreciation for those 7:11 paces that Nitmos seems to be hitting.

But, back to me, and my little tale. So 5 miles at 38:53, but mile 6, speeds back to the 8:01 a little faster and total time is now 46:54. Now i admit to being a little jazzed up looking at my distance for the .22, to complete the 10k. Per the trusty Garmin, i hit the 6.22 mileage at 48:24, beating out my time at the Turkey Trot.

Anyway, 7 miles, 54:58, the last mile was 8:04.

Let's bring on the last 20 miler for the training this weekend!!!!

Anyway, on to life stuff:

Thanks for all the support from everyone. i just received an email from my new employer that my new materials for studying will be arriving next week. There will also be a laptop, to log hours and provide online support.

So, i go back to school, it should be fun.

Since, Nitmos asked what he can do to help.... i'll be looking for some new clients, you may be on the list of prospects. We'll see how it goes.

Stepping away from lending has allowed me to compare the two fields, lending versus saving. In lending, i had to negotiate interest rates with my clients. The higher the rate, the higher my commission, so while i provided sound lending rates and advice, i financially benifitted by selling the highest rate. Which meant that i never made very much money per loan, ergo i'm out of lending.

i very much looking forward to see the difference with personal finance, with a savings emphasis.

oops sorry to be redundant there.

Anyway, mostly i wanted to update my running stuff with this post.

Thanks again for reading.

Where to Start????

Let's start at the beginning and go with a quick running/training update.

Last week was a great 27 miles. 3 runs of 9 miles, all easy pace. i'm still probably running too hard as my pace seems to be in the low 8 minute range, but the addition of some walk breaks after 7 miles, to hit a 7 mile hour seems to be working.

Again, i hope to train harder than the actual pace i plan to run in Traverse City. As always, the goal is to finish and enjoy doing so. But hey, the chance to maybe move into a starting corral for the Chicago Marathon is a great motivator. If not ready for a BQ attempt, how about a starting corral attempt, Babysteps baby.

Anyway, this week looks like a nice 8 miles yesterday, 7 miles with 3 tempo at 7:49 pace, piece of cake, and my last, final, 20 mile run until the big 26.2. That means Saturday will be my last run with the camel-pak for a while, as the following week has a long run of 12 and then the taper.

Now for the sake of my running blogging buddies, that's the running update, but how about real life?

Well, this is going to be a little while to get through so everyone, grab a soda, take a pee break or whatever you need to do. Cause, in breaking my rule about too long of a post, and for my great friends, who are also clients, i really need to go into detail regarding the complete break in my career path.

Last Wednesday, after a few months of interviewing and making some personal assessments of what i want to do, i have left the home financing business. This was a tough decision, since i have been involved in lending for about 8 years. But the time has come to move on, to advance, into an area that allows me to still develop new clients and business relationships, and in a way that further allows me to help provide financial advice.

Now this is a huge step. Not without some risks, but the rewards can be great, both financially and mental health wise.

From a mortgage lender standpoint, i really look to the great times of the refinance and housing booms as a negative. A few years ago let's see....i worked 70 + hours a week, and wrote more business than ever believed possible, and made more money than ever, but.....

i weighed 260 lbs. i never saw my wife or kids. walking up one, that's right one, flight of stairs left me winded.

i had decided that i was just going to be a fat guy for the rest of my shortened life-span. Adult diabetes was most likely a few short years, if not months away. i ate every meal at my desk and only left my desk to get more food, usually chinese take-out, and hit the bathroom.

Feeling like i only really had a few good years left before i started to truly fall apart, i began to give as much as i could to friends and family. If i was going to live unhealthily, i was going to enjoy it.

So, Pistons season tix's, yep....Concert tix's....yep, always spend big and take a loved one along to enjoy.

Life was good, and thankfully, the market shifted.....The refinance boom ended.....the housing market stalled and loans were harder to come by.....

As i sat in the office i began to take inventory of who i was. i actually had the time to consider some items....

Although my kids had a nice, comfortable life, i couldn't take time to play with them, or even have the energy anymore to do so.

My relationship with Fun Guv was miserable, and she'll agree to this one. We had contemplated splitting apart a few times, and never because of infidelity (at least, not me, who wants a 260+lb work-aholic??), but because of lack of real time together.

i missed....me. i had deteriorated so far from the person i had been, and the self image of myself, that i didn't recognize myself in a mirror any longer. i had been so busy being the mortgage guy, that i let everything important, everything that i had cared about, become second to writing loans.

The exact opposite of what led me to want to write mortgage loans in the first place.

So what happened....????

So today, 60 lbs lighter, significantly in love with my bride, involved in my kids lives, happy with my self and extremely, financially poorer,.....honestly feel the richest that i ever have.

This is the big thank you to my family and friends.... Although i owe so much to so many, and i am sure to leave people out, here goes.....

Mark....for being the friend, who has also struggled with diet issues and helping me see the difference between a low fat and low carb diet;
Mac and Gknee....for showing me 38 isn't too old to change careers
Tess...for actually telling me, and believing, i could get into better shape, by just running, even real slow
Brett...for our lunch discussions about family, and how the simple things are most important
Fun Guv....for not leaving me, or giving up
My ex-co-workers... who have shown me the real meaning of "friends are friends and business is business"

In a small way, mortgage lending is that last bit of old me.

This is one of those reflective post. i guess it really means to bridge the difference between a journal and my need to write. To have anominity and be honest and open.

For a few running bloggers out there, still reading this non-running so much post~ Thanks for sticking in all the way to the end of the post.

More to come on, i've gotten some free time as i am off work until May 21st. i need to use posting as a good excuse to get away from the ever increasing list of honey-do's.

Thanks for reading.

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