PLANET3RRY

Wednesday night I actually got more sleep than usual. I was in bed by 11:30 (okay, it was really close to 11:30) and after a couple of games of Solitare on the Palm TX, I was alseep. The Kids woke me up around 6:30, but I got up made oatmeal and then somehow was able to get back to the bed for some more sleep.

So, I am thinking I may have had around 7 hours of sleep. Too bad it wasn’t consectutive.

My foot is much better today, I can actually put just about all my weight on it and instead of being in pain, I can just “feel it”. My finger is better too, so now typing doesn’t hurt and I don’t have to wear a bandaid that mashed extra keys when I type.

It was a fairly straightforward day, I had a decent day trading today and took some profits on some positions. I will be requesting the money that is dogearred for Elijah on Friday, so I can get that sent in.

I threw together an episode of Gravity. Mainly because I had worked on part of it, but thanks to My Lovely and Talented Wife, that has all changed for the fall marathon training. I didn’t want what I had to go to waste, so ir’s a short episode (10 min) and it trails off after the announcement.

Next week, I’ll post what I am going to do since I will be in Dallas next week and then training will start on August 4th for my marathon. I’m not sure how much internet access I will have next week and I wish that I could get my camera phone to send posts to my “secret” blog email and I would MoBlog.

Stella’s lens covers are on order, but not sure if they are going to make it or not. It’s not that I am too nervous because I can always purchase one from the local camera store. You never can have too many Lens covers when your Father in law is involved. Someone asked how that happened. We were talking and I had gotten pictures off of Stella and she was in the chair. He went to change chairs to better see the computer and knocked it off with his butt.

So is everybody ready for Friday?

I’ve been kinda quiet on my running, but the truth be told, I haven’t really ran at all this month, except for the Fireball run/walk 5k. Part of the problem has been that I have been busy OR I pretend to be busy at lunch and thus didn’t go to workout. It’s not like it’s super hot or anything (yet) but I am struggling withmy performance at Fireball, whether I had allergies or a sickness or not.

So, I kinda decided to take July off from running. It’s not that I am going to be NOT running. I am not scheduling any real runs at this point. I am sure on Terry Day that I might find myself on a trail, but when it comes to the lunch time runs, eh… not so much.

I am working on a Gravity@1053′ that will reveal my Fall Marathon, which I will begin training for on 8/4. Once that happens, it should change my focus back to running. Hopefully, I can catch up on my sleep before then. I am in a HUGE sleep deficit right now.

Has it been this long since my last blog entry? Geez, a couple days of workshops, a day of traveling and the weekend really cuts down on guy’s chance to blog. I even missed Photo Hunters and Success Sunday this week.

Obliviously, I made it from Utah with little problems. I got back to Nashville Thursday afternoon and the drive home to Knoxville was uneventful.

But now that I have my Monday under control, expect a nice Reader’s Digest version of my life this past week real soon. Also I am going to have a new contest for this weekend’s Expo 10k! I can tell you that it’s going to be a BAG! That’s right, all you fellow bag fetishers… it’s a BAG! Details on the contest to come… plus statistics of my past Expo 10k races.

Utah was absolutely gorgeous… I have some pictures, but need to compile them before I put them online, look for some on Flikr and Picasa.

Looks like it’s going to be one of those Digest versions of the week. I did have some incidents that could warrant a seperate entry all to itself, but I ran out of time.

Monday: Terry Day got switched from Tuesday to Monday, so I ended up running 4.4 miles at Lakeshore under some beautiful conditions. After I ran, I made my way over to Panera Bread so that I could use some Wifi while I did some Stock homework for my up coming trip. I had planned on just getting a drink since Panera is the House of Gluten and I can’t really eat anything there. So, I am standing in line and an atheletic couple with their kid is ordering and the guys says he’ll have a salad. The dim lightbulb above my head brightened by 10 watts. Salad? He’s having a Salad! Can I have a Salad? I can have a salad! So, as I was on the computer I was eating a SALAD! And it was a good one too… only think “bad” about it was the casein in the cheese… but no biggie.

While I am at Panera. A mom’s group comes and sits down in the same “area” in Panera. This basically means that you are part of the conversation even if you didn’t want to be, it’s you just can’t chime in. This is why blogging when things happen is so much easier than one of these re”crap” posts. The mom’s group was pretty funny… to get away from their lives for a little sisterhood bonding over coffee in Panera, they sure did talk about their kids alot… oh and pregnancy… and epidurals… and childbirth… and their kids… and their friends kids… and the therapies their kids are taking.

So after I left Panera, I headed to errand run at Target. I did the “Perimeter Run” in Target to see if there were any good deals on the Clearance, but no such luck. I found some running shorts that I could use, but decided to just use what I have for right now. So I am in the check out… waiting… it’s almost close so there’s only one cashier open on the electronic’s side of Super Target.

I would have sworn the couple ahead of me was a Hooker and a Trick, based on the way she was dressed. Then I noticed how much they resembled each other… and so then it was just a  father/daughter  outing.  But While I was paying, this woman is storming out of the store… walking fast with bags. Then you here “Hey, I am talking to you. Hello?”

“I’m talking to you,” he calls again as she is just out the store. She does say something to which you hear him reply, “Liar!” Oh, THAT’S going to end well tonight. Too bad there was a kid following the dad. I guess the woman could have been his daughter, given the fact that I had mistaken the hooker daughter earlier.

Tuesday: I gave blood: 1) I could give again, 2) I don’t have a race until the end of the month and 3) They called me personally to ask to give because they were short in the blood supply. I am in demand. Of course, now I am “untouchable” for 16 weeks. And I forgot to bring in my Super Donor card for my extra t-shirt.

Wednesday: Nothing Really to Report

Thursday: In our neighborhood, we have a neighborhood watch program which requires (loosely) to patrol the neighborhood once a year. This is a deterrent for criminal activity, but doesn’t deter houses getting Rolled (with TP). Thursday was our day… and out of ALL the days in the week, Thursday is the worst day. 1) I have the kids in the evening and 2) My Lovely and Talented Wife has her unit meeting that night.

So instead of the normal: Tub Time, PJs, Books and Lights Out, it was Get Your PJs On And Head To The Van!

Now, the last time we went into the van in PJs, it was BOOMSday here in Knoxville so The Elder asks, “Are we going to see fireworks?”

“Not this time.”

We drove around the neighborhood once and then parked near the entrance so that I could inspect the cars that were going in and out of the neighborhood and Make My Presence Known! The kids were watching a video and I even popped some popcorn for them while in the van with the hopes that they would fall asleep and I wouldn’t have to do anything but lay them in their bed.

After a while I felt the urge to go. I would taken care of it right there in the van, but I am still trying for that Parent of the Year Award and although it would have been resourceful, using the 20oz Diet Coke bottle as a portable receptacle was not really prudent with the kids. So, we went home, briefly.

We snaked around the neighborhood again looking at basically nothing. It had been raining all afternoon and there was not a soul outside. Not even some punk kids having fun in the rain. I did stop and unclog a storm drain that had been partially clogged from the Eucalypus leaves and pollen. There was a small dam formed and the water was backing up making a 6 inch deep area, that was about 3 feet from one of the “High Voltage” boxes in the neighborhood.

On our way back to the stakeout point, I saw something in the road. It looked like a curvy stick, but what’s better than a curvy stick? A SNAKE!

And that’s what I said, “A Snake!”

“Where?” questioned The Elder.

“In the Road, right here,” as I pulled upside it so that I could take a picture. I had Stella with me in case I needed photographic evidence of something. I took 1 picture and the batteries died. *sigh*

“You want to see the snake?”

“Yeah,” The Elder replies trying to get out of his seat, “I want to see the snake.”

“Me Too,” chimes The Younger.

“OKay, Hold On.” I back the van so that I can approach the snake from a safe angle. But I pulled The Elder out of the van and showed him the snake. This was one of those non-domesticated snakes. It started to pull it’s head up as if to say “My Dad was a Cobra and My Mom a Rattler… so Back off!” But seeing that the snake was almost accross the road, I put The Elder back in the Van and popped out The Younger.

By the time we got to the snake, it was almost in the woods. But he did get to see it move. Had I not been holding The Younger, I would have grabbed the snake out for a better view… but I didn’t, although I did touch the snakes tail.

So we went back to our stakeout place and we hung out here for a while. It was now dark and rainy and I couldn’t really see much of anything. By the time I got home The Elder had fallen asleep, YES! But The Younger was still (wide) awake, DARN! So, it sorta worked out.

Friday: After 3 days of not working out, I finally decided to run. My intention was to do 5 miles, but once I got started, I bargained with myself to do 4 miles. But the 1st mile was REALLY hard. I could not figure out why it was so tough. At the end of the 1st mile, that I would only do 2 miles with a long walk break in between. As I was walking, I realized that I did give blood this week and this was the first workout since then. So, I wasn’t so upset that 2 miles was about to kill me.

Next Week: I will be in Utah for most of next week at  Trading Education Seminar. Although I will be very busy, I will have computer access, so maybe I can catch up on some people’s blog and actually leave meaningful comments. Maybe even work on a little Gravity while I am there!

This week has been fairly busy for the most part. It seems that I could use just a little extra time management and I would be about perfect. I guess that I can’t complain… I’m not getting overwhelmed. And I am not making it a plan to get overwhelmed either.  So we’ll do the short version on what’s been going on:

RUNNING
I have officially [woop woop ding ding] started into the spring racing season by my interval workout on Monday. I did a 4×800 interval session on Monday with some success. I was pretty surprised that I was able to get the faster speeds, at least initially. I kinda had some very slow recovery intervals at the end.

I am going to start training with a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM), to see how my conditioning is coming along. I am not going to use it as my main method of training, but I am going to use it as a tool to help me train more efficiently. I changed the battery of the watch section of the HRM, but can’t find the chest strap right now. Curious.

I will be a course monitor for the Knoxville Marathon. I know it will be toward the end of the race on a new section of course. So, I am excited. Again this year, I will have my own water station complete with gummy bears and pretzels. I will need to post some banners about the Phedippidations World Wide Half as well. Plus, I’ll have Stella (my camera) with me to take some pictures as well.

THE YOUNGER
Had his surgery last Friday and did pretty well. The morning was an ordeal, but he has been using that cast like he was born with it. He’ll have his cast on for about another week or so

GRAVITY@1053′ PODCAST
I have audio recorded for this episode, but I thought that it stunk and did not flow very well. Instead of posting what I have, I am going to re-record it, this time with a little bit more focus. It should be out near the weekend.

WEBSITE
I’ve added my 2008 Race Schedule to the Left Sidebar below my Trading Goals. I have included the date and links to the website, just in case you need that information or just want to reference the race.

UPCOMING
Photo Albums from my Christmas Photo Safari with my Neice

An update on the Ass Mirror 

Today is an important day in the history of my running life. Today marks the 10th anniversary when I officially became “A Runner”. In Late February back in 1998 my friend Gray was visiting me from Richmond VA and said, “Hey, You want to run an 8k?” And like the classic non-runner that I was at that point I responded, “What’s an 8k?”

Finding out that it was near 5 miles, I figured that I better get out and do some “real” running. Up to this point, I was heavily into winter indoor soccer. I played on 3 different teams: 2 very competitive teams and one not-so competitive teams. So I knew that I was in shape, sort of, but I had no clue how I would do during the 8k. At least the soccer games consisted of 2-20 minute halves, so I was playing soccer for nearly 3 hours a week, sometimes back-to-back games. Little did I know that soccer would do little for my running, but running would intensify my soccer!

The race we were doing was the Smoky Mountain 8k, which was held in conjunction with the Smoky Mountain 1/2 marathon being held on Feb 28th 1998. At this point in the running scene in Knoxville, this was a long standing race of both duration and consecutive runnings. The race was held in Townsend TN, at the base of the Great Smoky Mountain. However it being in the mountains, the 8k was one of the flatest course I have ever run in the Knoxville area.

I remember being at the starting line (which happened to be roughly 1,053 feet above sea level) not having a clue what to do. I remember having Gray there kinda showing me the ropes, but so much was going on. There were some freaks running in tank tops or shirtless. Some other’s with belts of water and stuff I had no clue what it was strapped to them. I could sense the excitement of the starting line, but I felt like an unbridled horse trying to start the Kentucky Derby.

I can remember a few things from that race. I remember running along thinking that I wasn’t running fast enough, but Gray telling me that things were okay. I remember thinking that t the turn around that I didn’t feel all that bad. I don’t really remember the actual finish line crossing, but I do remember being in the food area thinking that I had a blast. I then proceeded to grab a bunch of race entry forms and that was the start of ALL THIS!

So what has happened in 10 Years?

4615.32 miles total
508 average miles per year
134 Races
19 Pairs of shoes
10 Marathons
10 Triathlons
12 Age Division Top 3 awards
2 Age Division 1st Place awards

Race that I have done EVERY year since 1998: Scholar’s Run 5k, August

Most Miles in a Month: October 2000 107.7
Most Miles in a Year: 2006 665.4
Months with 0 Miles: 2 (June 1999, January 2000)
Month with highest average miles: October

Run-Halting Injuries
4 Pneumonias
1 Pulled Hamstring
1 Pleural Rub

I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest of what’s been going on in my Universe. It was a very busy weekend with lots of traveling and now we are home, but it seems that we are going to be on the go… How did so much stuff get planned when our Au Pair is on vacation? I dunno.

Anyway… Here’s the scenario: The In-laws My Lovely and Talented Wife’s Parents had some Rental Property in Winston-Salem. For some reason, the furniture had to go. So Lolo (Tagalog for Grandfather) goes to Winston-Salem from Loris, SC (think Myrtle Beach) with help. The get a 26′ U-Haul from W-S, load it up and bring it back to Loris. The furniture that is staying stays, a few pieces of furniture stays with dpal-in-law and the rest come home to Tenn.

So I got to drive the U-Haul for about 8 hours, sometimes in the pouring rain, almost all of the time with high winds, and the entire time with The Loud and Lovable Skipper Doodle, who slept in the cab with me most of the time. I started to get a feeling like I had a “Big Rig” out on the highway (having to go to the ‘Truck’ side of Rest Stops) but in all actuality still just had a van on steroids. Nothing exciting happened… didn’t get pulled over, didn’t wreck, didn’t blow a tire, didn’t have kids try to get to honk the horn, no long haired blonde in a red sports car drive beside me… wait, that last one was National Lampoon’s Vacation.

We use possessive’s in our household as marketing ploys for the kids. Such as “Oatmeal” is called “Daddy Oatmeal” or Green Tea (and/or Diet Coke) is called “Daddy Juice”. The U-Haul was a source of fascination for the kids and a personal training room for The Younger (our acrobatic, daredevil, stuntkid). We constantly had to shoo them away from the truck, which ended up being called the “Daddy Moose Truck”

One of the things that I was able to secure was permission from my neice (who needs a good nickname) to highlight her photography talent with pictures from our Photo Safari from Christmas. I let her use Stella and I used my Trusty-Rusty AV-1 35mm camera and we took pictures around the In-Laws house & pond. I have a good portion of my pictures, so I want to put up a couple of albums with her pictures… they are very good. I’ll have to see if any of my trade (successes) and go to fund her a digital camera…

Our house has been in perpetual sickness. Although the kids were pretty sick free (some congestion), we have been going nuts. I still have some congestion that is almost cleared up. I hold to eventually get back to running… sometime in the near future. February is going to be really lean on the miles this month.

It’s like we both are falling in love again,
It’ll be just like starting over - starting over

JOHN LENNON - (Just Like) Starting Over

Today marked the 3rd day in a row that I was able to run.  Wednesday was a 2.98 mile “Welcome Back” run which consisted of a new route going down to James White Parkway. It felt pretty good, but I was really trying not to run fast.

Thursday rolled around and my hamstrings were sore. Apparently it had been to long since I had ran and so my body wasn’t used to all the work. I didn’t run at lunchtime thinking that I would get to run in the afternoon. A change of plans made it so that instead of running when and where I wanted to, I ran a little later and near my house at Concord Park. This was actually a nice change in plans because although Concord Park is a single track root infest rock grabbing rollercoaster of a run, it makes me run slower than my street speed. I decided that I would run for about 1/2 hour or about 3 miles (estimated). I rolled in around 28 minutes and change and was pleased with my efforts. I ran slow and the hills were difficult but I didn’t have to walk up them.

Friday, I had grandiose plans of running somewhere between 4 or 5 miles at lunch. But as soon as  started out, I could feel that my hamstrings were not back to normal. I ended up running only 2 miles at around a 9:30 pace. My Hamstrings are still sore and I imagine that they will be slightly sore for a while. I’m having to start over in my conditioning now… I don’t want to even think of what my 5k time would be right now.

I need to sit down and figure out what day is going to be what for my lunchtime and Terry day running schedule. Soon the days will be long enough that I can get some distance in them and perhaps even ride my bike some. I dunno.

Among other things, I bought some POT today. Yup. and I am going to turn it over for some profit too. POT is looking pretty good right now and so I knew I needed some. (of course, now as I get ready to send this… POT is being hazardous to my profit line. *sigh*)

But what I really wanted to tell you is that I did this new craze that is sweeping the nation, circulation running! With a 10 day absence of pounding the pavement, I strapped on my Harmonys and headed out at lunchtime for a 3ish mile run.

It went fairly well, I wasn’t expecting very much from the run and I got what I expected. I am not sure of my split times yet, but I did stop to walk a few times as well as watch the sea gulls fight over stuff floating in the river at the turn around point.

I think for the rest of week, I will just run easy paces and knock off “the rust”on my legs and then jump back into regular training next week. Seeing that I am not doing any half marathon on Feb 16th, I can just work on building mileage for Whitestone 30k on Mar 2nd. Plus start getting in some swim workouts and other brick (two discipline) workouts in preparation for Triathlon season.

Strange Things have been afoot at the Circle K Planet3rry Household. I think that everybody now has had their mandatory stomach virus issue now. Seems that our Au Pair and My Lovely and Talented Wife both had the virus yesterday. They were pretty much useless out of commission for the entire day. I came home early to help with the kids. I took The Younger to me to Kroger so that I could make some Ginger Tea for My Lovely and Talented Wife so that she could get rid of the nausea that kept her prone in bed. And the way I make Ginger Tea is with Ginger Root, so we were fresh out of Ginger Root from the last pregnancy, so I had to go to the grocery store. I took The Younger by stealth, as The Elder was absorbed in a video game and would want to come if he knew we were going. Going to get ANYTHING with one kid adds 10 minutes… with 2 kids adds about an hour. It’s insane!

So me and my helper went to the store. Typically, he wants to be carried all the time. I mean, when you have your own portable carrying system (i.e. mommy daddy grandma, mommy daddy grandma) you use it. But I unbuckled his carseat, I said, “Ok, let’s go.”

I made him crawl out of the seat and the car. Before we walked to the entrance I said, “hand please.” He cordially took my hand and we went inside. I found the ginger root that I wanted, gave him the bag and said, “let’s go this way,” leading him to the Natural Foods section (as if there even should be the need to label ANY part of the grocery store ‘natural’ or ‘health’, we should ALL be eating healthy natural food). He was perfectly content on just holding my hand, keeping up with me, avoiding traffic, etc.

“Okay, let’s check out,” I told him as I scored with some Fruit leather on sale. Fruit leather, being in the natural food section, is “real” fruit dehydrated and smashed into a flatten slab o’fruit. The difference between this and something like Fruit Roll-Ups is about 2lbs less sugar in the Fruit Leather. Anyway, you have to pay the “healthy tax” on them, so normally, they are $0.59-0.69 each, but now there is a brand on sale for $0.33. SCORE!

We made our way to the check out, a U-scan at that, and proceed to check out. While we are checking out, The Younger kept putting his hand on the check out bag scale. So the polite womanly voice kept saying “Please put the item back in the bag.” Once we were checked out, I gave the bag to him and said, “Here, carry this.” We then walked to the car and headed home. Done and Done.

At some point in the early evening before putting the kids down, I was hit with “The Black Sleep“. I could not stay awake and I thought that if I just laid my head down, all would be okay. In a 10 minute span, I started to dream some very strange dream that involved The Loud and Lovable Skipper Doodle and some people from our Sunday School class. Very strange… but I didn’t get to finish it.

So I’m leading into the post title, just bear with me. So, I am hit with The Black Sleep and managed to sleep a little when I put the kids down. I wake up and closed down the house minimally so that I could get back to laying down again. Where I would lay down mattered little as to laying down period. Had there been a pillow in the kitchen, I would have napped there.

Despite wanting to sleep the sleep of the undead, I had to stay on point and wait for 1:00am to arrive so that we could get My Lovely and Talented Wife registered for Career Conference. Once that happened, I was out. I woke up late this morning, which was kind of okay because with it being Super Tuesday, the school system was closed. However, The Younger was using me as a trampoline so that I would wake up and make French Toast Sticks. Once the sticks were completed, I DID nap on the kitchen floor.

I managed to make it into work, but all I have wanted to do is sleep. I have been very tired. So tired that I missed running at lunch despite the fantastic 70F weather outside. I rested my head down when lunch finally arrived. I never slept but the resting helped. I haven’t ran since Calhoun’s 10 miler on the 26th of January… almost 10 days ago. what’s up with that! Stomach Bugs… that’s what! I was thinking that with my stomach bug over and done with that I would be back on schedule… Noooooo. But I figured out what is the main culprit of this session of The Black Sleep… Gluten. I had some birthday cake yesterday and although I didn’t get a big piece, I made up for it with some cookies.

If I can some how make it through this afternoon… I should be okay. That’ll teach me. Tomorrow’s weather is also supposed to be warm, so I should get to enjoy this weather before it gets back to the regular scheduled programming… winter.