My nephew - he's a fighter

I know I said everything was perfect in Kansas City this weekend. And really, in KC, it was.

But that isn't to say that everything was perfect elsewhere. My new nephew came into the world last Thursday. While there some minor complications, everything seemed to be clicking along just fine. Things appear to be getting better now. But starting Friday morning through the weekend, there were some tense moments.

Fortunately, I had multiple commitments that kept me busy all weekend. Even though I was out doing everything I did, I was always thinking of my new nephew, little sister and her husband. I was almost always close to my phone waiting on news, be it good or bad. I remember commenting to Courtney on the way home from the run Saturday morning that I was relieved that no voice mails or missed calls appeared on my phone. I was only away from the phone for ~2 hours, but those 2 hours would have been the time when my family would have tried to contact me with any bad news. But there were no voice mail or missed calls. This was a good thing. Later in the day, I talked to my mom and things were slowly getting better. And the news has, for the most part, always been good.

For now, my family it just thankful for those baby steps that my nephew is taking.

oh, and on a totally unrelated note (and probably slightly inappropriate in this post), I just gave some GU to some trick-or-treaters because I totally forgot to get candy and my porch light is always on and I wasn't planning on being home because I am off to do dinner with the emmy winner so I had no candy in the house. But really, GU is kind of like candy. Right?

And I ran 8 miles on Saturday, too

It was a wonderful weekend in KC.

In fact, it was almost too perfect. It seems almost surreal

But what the heck, I am going to enjoy the ride while it lasts.

A lot of this is because I spent most of the weekend with the new girl. She was supposed to go to St Louis for the regional Emmy awards Saturday night - the news show she produces was nominated - but chose to stay in town. So we saw a lot of each other. From a nice, quiet night Friday to an 8-mile run on Saturday morning to hanging around the house Saturday after the run for Chipotle to open to a crazy Halloween pub craw Saturday night, we were together almost the entire weekend. Oh, and she did get a call around 11:15 from one of her co-workers letting her know that she won the emmy. So I am dating an Emmy winner. That is pretty sweet.

In fact, we are 3+ weeks into the relationship and the only obsticle we have had so far is that she doesn't like peperoni on her pizza and I do. While at one point in my life, this could have been a deal breaker, I have since learned that if you ask, they will only put peperoni on half the pizza.

What will they think of next?

The dog and I go for a run

It's been a crazy week. I have had to drive to Lawrence the past three days (and tomorrow, too) for this GPEN (globalization of pharmaceutical education network) conference my company is co-sponsoring. If you need to know anything about ways to solubilize drugs to increase permeability through the luminal wall of the small intestine by adding a phosphate to the carboxyl group on the 4' terminous of the phenol ring, let me know.

In all seriousness, my role in the pharmacology word is super narrow. This conference is geared towards graduate students to give them a broad overview of the different aspects of the drug development world. It is amazing how much goes into getting a compound to the market. Even more amazing is hearing about new technology being developed in the academic labs around the world. I really have learned a lot at this conference.

But because I have been driving to Lawrence, I have been struggling to get my workouts in AND my poor dog is stuck at home all alone all day. So to kill two birds with one stone, I took my dog for a run today.

We ran three miles.

We had fun.

Shiner peeed on a couple of bushes.

I didn't.

Everything but running

I have taken about a week off from running and 4 days away from the gym. I figured I would let everyone going to Chicago run for me. And from what I have heard and read, most everyone rocked. Way to go!

But just becasue I wasn't running doesn't mean that my life has stopped dead in its tracks.

Last Thursday, I drove down to Tulsa for the weekend. I did dinner with the parents on Thursday night, had breakfast with the grandparents on Friday morning, and then it was off to the west bank of the Arkansas river for a little Oktoberfest fun.

Oktoberfest in Tulsa is a long-time tradition for me and my college friends (and one of the 10 best places worldwide to toast Oktoberfest). We show up at 10:00 am and volunteer in the beer tent selling beer for about 4 hours. Volunteering is fun. We dance, we sing, we talk smack to the other beer vendors. Oh, and we drink free beer. Our crew this year has dwindled down to just me and Marty, but his boy will be picking up the slack soon enough.

So there I was, just before 11:00 Friday morning drinking my first beer of the day. We got off work, if you can call it that, around 3:30 and wandered around the festival ground for a little while before heading back to das bier garten (aka the big beer tent) for the evening. We ate, drank, danced on tables. It was a great time.

Until Saturday morning.

Saturday morning was rough.

And the worst part was on my way out of town. I made the mistake of driving down Riverside Drive. Riverside, as the name sounds, parallels the Arkansas River and the riverparks trail system. It was a beautiful morning and the trail was packed with runners. It killed me being physically unable to run because of my hangover. Argh!!! Stupid hangover!

I would have stayed in Tulsa Saturday night had it not been for the date I had with the yet to be nicknamed new girl in my life (according to alejandra's rules of blogging, I am not allowed to use her real name here and I am still working on the nickname). This was technically our fourth date, but the first "real, saturday night alone on the town with both of us on the same page that it was a date" date. We had a blast. In fact, we are clearly becoming that "in a new relationship where we laugh and joke and everything is funny and perfect" couple. I don't know how long that this stage is supposed to last or how long it will last, but I hope the feeling doesn't go away any time soon because I have a blast when I am with her.

Finally, on Sunday, I took my yet to be named girl along with Scott and Shannan, who trained for and ran the triathlon with me, to the KC-San Diego football game. By Sunday night, I was worn out.

I did get in a 45 minute swim today and my hiatus from running ends tomorrow when I knock out a quick 6 miles. I think the time off from running was needed. My body feels as good as it has felt in a long time. I am rested and ready to go.

And this is good because Vegas is just 6 weeks away!

Running As Therapy

My run today was nothing more than 6 miles of therapy.

You see, my day went from great at noon to o.k. by 1:00 and then to absolutely frustrating and irritating by 4:00. Then, just before I leave for my 6-mile run, I get the following e-mail from one of the senior execs who sat through the same 3:00 meeting. It simply said:

"It is really too bad we can't be candid, isn't it."

Talk about giving me something to think about on the run.

You see, I do research and development for a living. I play all day in the lab. I have cloned things. I have mutated things. I have killed things. I have even made life. Basically, if God ever had a sick day, I could fill in. And in my current position, I get to develop and apply new technologies to improve drug safety. It really is an awesome job.

But every now and then we have problems in that what happens in the development phase doesn't always translate well into the production phase.

And then we have meetings about it.

That happened at 3:00 today.

By 3:45, I was ready to scream.

So for 6 miles today, I thought about everything I should have said in the meeting, but didn't. I talked out loud while I ran. I cursed a little. I made myself laugh several times with funny thoughts. I got struck on the head by a walnut falling from a tree (that made me curse some more, then laugh some more). But by mile 5, I was feeling a lot better about everything.

I even determined the best way to solve our little work problem.

My day is once again great.

Sometimes, I just love running!

Parting with memories

Yesterday, I was supposed to finish cleaning out the spare bedroom so my new, super cool roommate can move in at the end of the month. Instead, after finally getting out of bed around 11:30, I spent it laying on the couch recovering from Saturday nights festivities.

Because Saturday night, I got the hook-up. I went up to Weston, MO for the Irish fetival with a group of friends and, well, Courtney (who rocks on all levels) was able to get what we thought were simply tickets to the festival. Well, it turned out they were much better than just tickets.

They were VIP passes!

What do VIP passes get you?

Apparently, in Weston, they get you anything you want, including a key to the city.

Well, we really didn't need a key to the city. So we settled for all the free beer and food we handle. And that was more than enough.

That is why I was pretty much worthless once I finally got out of bed.

So instead of cleaning out the bedroom yesterday, I did it tonight after a quick gym workout.

Part of the process is going through all the old clothes and sorting out and determining what I don't wear anymore - which is about 80% of my wardrobe - to donate to Goodwill. I wound up with three trashbags worth of clothing. I am in desparate need of a fashion upgrade.

The hardest part, though, came as I emptied the bottom drawer of the dresser. You know, the drawer with all those t-shirts from yesteryear that you never wear anymore, but don't want to throw away because of the memories. But I parted with all but three of them tonight.

Of those shirts I discarded was one that simply said "I make stuff up". Another had written on the back the Hemmingway quote "An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with fools" (This is the one I wore for so many years on float trips). I threw away my favorite Adidas t-shirt because the collar was frayed and stretched. I threw away four of my remaining seven t-shirts (and sweatshirts) from my college days (I graduated in '94). And I threw away my Wrigley Field "Shut up and drink your beer" t-shirt.

The saddest part of it is that I parted with at least 30 t-shirts that I received from races, volunteering, vollyball, softball, and soccer events. Yet, I still have at least that many I didn't part with. Where do they all come from and what am I supposed to do with them?

I'm due

I really get annoyed when all someone talks about are the good runs. We know everyone has bad runs. But some people pretend they don't exist.

Well, I do have bad runs.

Just not lately.

And it is starting to drive me crazy.

I don't want to be that guy that writes the daily "I had the best run ever" blog.

So I haven't blogged lately.

Beacuse, seriously, I have been on fire lately.

I am not yet up to Kenyan speed. But I'm not waddling around in the back of the pack, either.

Saturday was no exception. I kept passing people that normally finish way in front of me. I was pushing a 9:15-9:45 pace for most of the run. I felt great.

I don't know how much longer this will last.

I know I am due for a bad run. It will probably happen in the next couple of weeks. And when it does, you will read about it here.

I GOT to run today

For so much of the summer, my training schedule defined my life. I didn't work out because I wanted to. If there was a bike ride on the schedule, I rode. If it said swim, I swam. And yep, the only time I ran was when the schedule said "run".

Well, things are different, now. Thirty mile bike rides and 1.5 mile swims are not dictating my training. Don't get me wrong. I didn't mind the structure that was summer. At some point, I will be returning to that insane training schedule. For a while, however, I am going to mix things up a little. And that starts with running.

I am going to mix speed workouts with distance. Hills with flats. But most importantly, I am going to run to have fun.

I did this on Saturday.

And I did this today.

The weather turned today. The first true cold front of the fall blew through and the temperatures plummeted. There was a light rain/drizzle falling.

This can only mean one thing. It's shorts and long-sleeve shrt weather. And I love running in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. Drop the temps a few more degrees and I will trade my Adidas visor in for a dry-fit stocking cap.

Today I ran just 3 miles. But it was three hard, fast miles. There were hills and speed intervals mixed in. I ran hard when I felt good. I backed off when I needed to recover.

Today was perfect.

I have a good feeling that tomorrow will be even better.

And this weekend, off the charts.

KC 1/2 Marathon - If you look this good...

All summer long, I had taken my training serious. Even going into the ironman, I thought I should do my best to play the role of the serious athlete. Therefore, I didn't write my name or anything else of my shirt.

Seriousness got kicked out the door for the KC 1/2 marathon Saturday morning. Friday, I ate pizza for both lunch and dinner (hey, it was free both times), and had 5 or 6 beers throughout the evening (it was free for packet pick-up volunteers - and I was a volunteer).

So when I finally got home Friday night and started gathering my gear for Saturday morning, the sharpie came out. And on the back of the shirt wrote:

"If you looked this good, you wouldn't run fast, either."


So how was the run? The race itself was perfect in almost every sense. The weather was perfect. It was in the 60's at the start of the race and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I ran the first 6 miles of the run with my friend Abbie, who was running her first marathon. We ran the first 6 miles at just under a 10 minute mile pace. We had some good laughs along the way. The marathon-1/2 marathon split was tough because I felt I was helping Abbie and I knew Abbie was pushing my pace. I seriously considered making the turn and running the entire marathon. I was feeling good. I was feeling strong. But I didn't have the e-caps and GU to get me through 26 miles. So we split.

After the split, I pushed the pace and passed several people looking for someone to run with for the remainder of the way. I caught up with another TNTer, Rick, who was waiting for his daughter who was having some trouble with the longer hills. I then caught site someone who I thought was a new TNTer raining for RNR-AZ, her first marathon. I had never talked to her on the trails more than the occasional "Hi".

Still, I was really wanting someone to finish the run with, so I ran up beside this unknown person and did the whole "Hi, are you training for Disney or Arizona." Fortunately, it was who I thought it was and ended up running the remainder of the race with her.

I finished the race in 2:12:23, which beat my previous best 1/2 time by 11 minutes and my time in the 2005 KC 1/2 (which was 0.4 miles short) by 15 minutes. My average pace on Saturday was 10:07/mile.

And all this raises the question about when you stop being a slow runner and start getting classified as "fast". After all, I did claim that I didn't have to run fast because, well, I am good looking.

And I think I deserve to know when I officially become "Fast".

The best sign along the way: "China has a wall, you don't."

Next up, Vegas!

I should have done it

No, I did not sign up for the full marathon. I am running the 1/2, which is what I need to do.

But that is not what I am talking about.

I almost picked up an addition to the family today.

At the packet pick-up, the local pet adoption agency had animals there for adoption. And one was the most adorable lab puppy. I have been thinking for a while that Shiner needs a playmate and holy crap if this puppy wasn't the cutest thing in the world.

I managed to walk away. But it was hard. Really hard.

This is the second time in the past month I have managed to walk away from adopting a puppy. I don't know how many more times I can say no.

He no nuts, he crazy

Remember that scene in Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom where Indy is getting ready to cut the rope bridge. Willie cried out "Is he nuts" and Shorty responded with his classic line "He no nuts, He crazy".

Well, I have to admit that I had one of those moments today.

It only lasted a couple of minutes, but this thought did cross my mind and I seriously considered going for it.

You see, I have 2 friends running their first marathon in KC this weekend. I, all along, have been planning on running the 1/2 as a training run for Vegas. Today, I had conversations with both of my friends. They were both going through the emotional roller coaster that we all went through prior to our first marathon. Part of me really wants to be there with them.

So today, I thought about blowing off the 1/2 marathon and just run the whole thing. Some how, I was convinced that there really isn't much difference between a 1/2 and full marathon.

OK, let's all say it together.

"He no nuts, he crazy!!!!"

Luckily, the insanity was short-lived and I am back on track for just the 1/2.

But understand, I am not registering until tomorrow, so there is still a possibility that I may venture back into that wonderful world called crazy.

And I may end up running 26.2 miles on Saturday.

Probably not.

But crazier things have happened.

I refuse to do the what if's

So why have't I posted anything else on the triathlon experiences?

Two reasons, really.

First, for such a long day, I really don't remember a lot of the details. Sure, I remember thinking along the way "wow, I have to tell this story when I blog. I just have to remember that at mile 22 on the bike, this happened". Well, the same thing happened at mile 30, 31, 34 , 40 and so on. So instead of trying to remember the really important things, I don't remember anything.

I was in sensory overload.

But I do remember things like almost getting run over by an ice cream truck. That's right, on my second bike loop, I heard the ice cream truck. I assumed it would stop for me (hoping the driver might offer me a bomb pop), but no, the s.o.b. pulled right out in front of me.

And I do remember how much I loved everything about the swim. Everyone swears the water was choppy. I must have been having too much fun to notice. It was like bumper cars in the water. You look, see a open space, head there, and then get kicked in the face because someone else saw the space first. Or even better was not being able to sight going down the back-stretch because the sun was directly in line with the markers. I was just hopng that everyone in front of me was swimming in the right direction (they were). In fact, I even asked my coach at the end of the day if there were any 5K or even 10K swims out there.

I remember seeing my family getting out of the water. I got a high-five from my niece and nephew.

I remember the awesome water stops throughout the day. The volunteers were the best I have ever seen.

But it was such a blur. It was such an incredible day.

The second reason I haven't posted any more on the day was that I don't want to start doing the "What if's." I have sat down on more than one occasion to write on the experience, but every time, it turns into a "if I had only done this" or "what if I didn't do that". And I don't want spend all my time second guessing what I did. That is not what this experience was about.

This experience was about taking on the seemingly impossible. I hadn't been swimming where a beer wasn't within arm length since high school. The longest I have ever ridden a bike was 25 miles before April. Running the 26.2 was the least of my worries,.

But now, I have a new love for swimming. I am looking forward to improving my swimming throughout the winter, working both on speed and endurance. I have put up the bike for the winter (although if it doesn't get cold soon, I am going to have to pull it off the ceiling for a couple more rides next week). But I will not give up riding. I have targeted three spin classes a week with the intention of returning to the bike in the spring stronger than ever.

I will worry about those what if's and discuss them as I begin training for my next Ironman.

Until then, I need to start focusing on my upcoming races.

That starts with the KC 1/2 marathon Saturday morning.

And Vegas is just 10 weeks away!