New Stuff
My collection of Dilbert books is now in the Lists section.Sometimes, fun things just sort of come together. That was certainly the case last week, as Borgess Run Camp gets into full swing and my team continue to come together. I’ve got a great group of campers, and I’m very lucky that my first team are so awesome.
As usual, though, my week in running started alone and on the streets of Schoolcraft, as I logged a quicker-than-I-should-have four miles. I made up for that Tuesday with a slower-than-the-program-calls-for four-miler with two of my teammates. I was just late enough for Wednesday’s run, so I managed to get in plenty of speed work in trying to catch everyone. That was a challenging run, too, as the trail was decked out in random patches of black ice.
Thursday offered me a special opportunity. I had to work a long day out of town, so I packed my running gear and logged my run while I was out of town. Basically, I worked from 7:30 to 1:00, then ran four miles on the streets of Saugatuck and Douglas, then resumed work at 2:00. I picked up my colleague Sarah on my way to Berrien Springs that evening (because it’s cool to carpool). We finally had time for dinner at 9:30. After the dinner break, I made my way back to my office, arriving at 11:30 p.m. The meetings were all good, the results were great, and I had a lot of fun.
Dear Run Campers,
I also have a great response the next time one of you says you couldn’t run because you were out of town for work. Of course, you would never do that, would you?
Sincerely,
Darrell
I didn’t run on Friday, but I did squeeze in a few camp-related e-mails and managed to do some preparation for some of our forthcoming fun times.
Throughout the work week, a growing rivalry emerged with Chris Thomas (and, presumably, her team). It’s sort of taken on a life of its own, especially after Chris’s declaration last Saturday that she is my arch-nemesis. Conversations on Facebook amongst some of my running friends have been way too focused on the classic cinema masterpiece Spaceballs, given that my team have embraced the use of plaid as their identifying, unifying color.
Yes, plaid is a color. It is a color because I say it is. Deal with it.
In those conversations, a small amount of trash-talking took place, in which I declared Chris to be the Lone Star to my Dark Helmet.
Let’s face it, folks, Dark Helmet is cooler, and he and I share the same initials. It’s a natural fit.
She responded by referring to herself as Lone Star in a team e-mail. In response to that, because I refuse to be topped, I replaced my Facebook profile photo with one of Dark Helmet. Chris responded with one of Lone Star. It is officially on.
Dear Lone Star,
I’m looking forward to this; it’ll be fun.
*closes his visor*
Let’s see what you’ve got, Lone Star. Bring it.
Sincerely,
Dark Helmet
Saturday was eventful. We all got to be there to see Chris Crowell start his 50k run; I also got to be there to see the finish.
Dear Chris,
We’re all so proud of you! You’re such an inspiration.
Sincerely,
Darrell
My team also picked their team name. Several good choices emerged, but it came down to two, with Plaid to the Bonecoming up short against Plaidiators. I think this is a great team name (even if I did suggest Plaid Romance), and I look forward to leading the Plaidiators through their training and on to victory. As for the run, I felt really good during it, despite having some big hills to climb. After the run, my right heel was a little sore, so I spent my Saturday evening being good to it. All in all, it was a pretty good week in running.
January 31: 4.09 miles, 40:23
February 2: 4.06 miles, 42:45
February 3: 4.33 miles, 42:22
February 4: 4.06 miles, 40:10
February 6: 8.48 miles, 1:26:00
This week in running started off very slowly. By “slowly,” I mean that I skipped my Sunday run because I was dealing with a nasty little stomach bug. I picked that up somewhere, and it made its presence felt while I was at the Brandi Carlile concert with Mary and Sheila.
The Intersection in Grand Rapids is a nice concert venue, but probably not the place to be when you need to spend lots of time in the restroom.
I picked up running again on Tuesday, and started sticking with the training program … at least the running part of it. I’m still working on the cross-training schedule. I need it to somehow not interfere with the rest of my life. That’s hard.
I probably shouldn’t have started running on Tuesday, given that my stomach seems to be fond only of foods that rhyme with “soup.” For the record, there aren’t a lot of them. To be fair, it’s tolerating bread fairly well, too. So, I’m trying to eat good soups filled with vegetables and otherwise enjoying the benefits of a reduced-calorie lifestyle.
The weather took a nasty turn in the middle of the week. We had a decent amount of snow and a lot of wind. That made for some tough running; I’m glad I got out and ran, and I’m proud of those who stepped up and got in their mid-week runs, too.
Saturday’s episode of Borgess Run Camp was just cold. When I left my apartment this morning, the temperature in Schoolcraft was a balmy 1 degree Fahrenheit.
That’s -17 degrees for those of you in Canada.
The Team to Be Named Later have picked a team color. By a fairly overwhelming vote of those present, we’ll be sporting plaid. Given that most teams tend to sport solid colors, that should help us pick each other out amongst the masses.
There’s more to come on this topic. We’re going to have loads of fun with it.
We picked up five more folks today, bringing the roster to 22 (not including me). I’m excited that the team are vibrant, active, (seemingly) happy folks. I want that to continue.
It was a good week of running; I’m happy with my results, and hope I feel like this for the rest of the year.
January 26 — 5.01 miles, 51:59
January 27 — 3.16 miles, 33:16
January 28 — 4 miles, 39:17
January 30 — 6.69 miles, 1:09:33
On a related note, my primary personal running goal this year is to get through the entire year injury-free.
Second, though, I’m leading a BRC team. At first, it was exciting to know that I’d be leading a team through the rigors of training. Once the first question from a team member arrived, though, I also felt the pressure of responsibility.
Dear Team to Be Named Later,
Yeah, I really do feel some responsibility for getting you there. We’ll still have fun, for sure, but, well, “With great power comes great responsibility.” I’m sure I have tremendous amounts of power, right?
In any case, I’m looking forward to working with you all. It’s going to be a hilly ride, but it’s going to be fun.
Sincerely,
Darrell
At last Wednesday’s registration event at Gazelle Sports, I got a feel for how much fun BRC would be. It was crazy-busy, but I had a blast! Truly, it was. It was really hard work trying to keep up with folks scattered throughout our 10:00 to 11:00 pace zone, but that was just fine. All in all, I think — and hope — we’re going to get along great.
I ran last Saturday in a new pair of shoes. Now that my feet are actually healthy, I’m finding that I don’t need quite as much support in my shoes. So, I got a shoe that offers slightly less support. I learned a while ago that it’s never good to shop for running shoes based on their appearance. This shoe certainly put that to the test. I tried so very hard to make the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10 work. I love Brooks shoes; however, the heel box is just too big for my very narrow heel.
Dear Brooks,
I still love you. I’ve been living in NightLife gear this winter. That won’t change.
Sincerely,
Darrell
For your viewing misery, here is the horrible thing that I will be occasionally strapping to my foot.
My new running shoes (click for a closer look; opens in a new window)
The bottom line is that it was an eventful week in running. I’m running, though, and that’s the exciting thing. As cold as it will be for some of these runs, it’ll be important to keep running.
January 17 — 2 miles, 18:55
January 18 — 5.14 miles, 51:02
January 21 — 5.11 miles, 51:54
January 23 — 3.99 miles, 41:40
- “Asphalt: The Quiet Pavement”
- “Black and Green: Sustainable Asphalt, Now and Tomorrow”
Last week was an eventful one in my running world. I got in three runs of decent length; while I don’t think I was spectacular, I’m gradually feeling better about each run — especially during the run. All three runs were group runs; I was the only person at more than one of the runs. I enjoy drifting back and forth amongst groups.
Monday, January 11: 4.71 miles, 46:46
Wednesday, January 13: 5.62 miles, 55:55
Saturday, January 16: 6 miles, 1:06:28
On Thursday, I attended the orientation session for Borgess Run Camp (BRC). I’m excited about being a team leader at this year’s camp. After getting through camp last year, I’ll have the privilege of helping others do the same thing.
Disclaimer: Shameless plug forthcoming.
If you made a New Year’s resolution to get healthy or do something you’ve never done before, maybe BRC could help you do your first 5k or half marathon. We have a lot of fun and accomplish some pretty cool stuff (outright cold some days).
This week saw a gradual return to what would be a normal running schedule for me. I ran three times in the week, and I ran with other people for the first time since my running privileges were restored. I spent a lot of time in snow and on hills this week. Each run had some challenging hills, and each run required me to navigate some fairly deep snow. Today’s run was the big test, as I headed out for four miles, ultimately stretching the distance to five miles. I ran a bit slower than my normal training pace, but the snow on the course made for a good workout.
January 4: 2.5 miles, 25:52
January 6: 2.05 miles, 21:02
January 9: 5 miles, 59:04
Also this morning, I attended team leader training for Borgess Run Camp. I am hoping to be a team leader for half marathon training. In my perfect world, I’ll be doing that in either the 10:00/mile or 10:30/mile pace group. Given that I’m going to be attending Run Camp anyway, it made sense for me to consider being a team leader. I’m looking forward to it, and hope that my team would include some friends as well as some folks I haven’t yet met.
I haven’t posted one of these in a little while, so I thought I’d update you on the highlights of my recent musical acquisitions.
- Blue October, “Kangaroo Cry” — I heard this one on an episode of NCIS.
- Cheap Trick, “Dream Police” — The music makes up for what the lyrics themselves lack.
- Eminem and Dr. Dre, “Guilty Conscience” — This is the radio edit. I don’t normally care for edited music because of the whole free speech thing; however, I enjoy the singing between the verses of this one.
- House of Heroes, “Silent Night”
- Jura Orchestra, “On the Franches Mountains” — You’re more likely to remember this as the music from the game Cliff Hangers on The Price Is Right.
- Kool and the Gang, “Ladies Night”
- Lady GaGa, The Fame Monster — Shut up.
- Natalie Merchant, “My Skin” — I heard this one on a commercial; I think it was for the ASPCA.
- Night Bird, “I Got You Babe” — This is used in that commercial for diamonds or jewelry or something.
- The Royal Guardsmen, “Snoopy’s Christmas”
- Sixpence None the Richer, “Silent Night”
- Smashing Pumpkins, “The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning”
- Smashing Pumpkins, “The End Is the Beginning Is the End”
- Styx, “Lady”
Here is the third and final set of my picks. I finished the last round with a 13-12 record and 231 of the total 412 confidence points I had placed on the games. These picks cover games played from January 2 through January 7.
January 2
International Bowl: South Florida 27 – 3 Northern Illinois (14-12, 28 points won, 259/440 total points)
The MAC continues its anti-dominance of the bowl season. Fortunately for me, I didn’t pick Northern Illinois to win this game.
Cotton Bowl: Mississippi 21 – 7 Oklahoma State (15-12, 18 points won, 277/458 total points)
Neither team looked great, but they did it together; then, when it mattered most, Oklahoma State took bad to a new level. Sure, one of the interceptions never should have happened (if only one of the officials had noted that the Mississippi defensive lineman was offside), but Oklahoma State did so much more to cost themselves the game.
PapaJohns.com Bowl: South Carolina 7 – 20 Connecticut (15-13, 15 points lost, 277/473 total points)
South Carolina continue the less-than-stellar showing for the SEC during this bowl season.
Liberty Bowl: Arkansas 20 – 17 East Carolina (16-13, 30 points won, 307/503 total points)
In a game that no one wanted to win, Arkansas finally scored more points.
Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech 41 – 31 Michigan State (17-13, 31 points won, 338/534 total points)
An undermanned MSU team put up a great fight against a Texas Tech team (that may be better off) without Mike Leach, but the Spartans came up just short. On an unrelated note, I’m guaranteed at least a .500 record. Yay!
January 4
Fiesta Bowl: TCU 10 – 17 Boise State (18-13, 3 points won, 341/537 total points)
I don’t suspect many people thought that the dominant defense would be wearing blue, orange, and white. Is there a better coach than Chris Petersen at figuring out ways to win ball games?
January 5
Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech 14 – 24 Iowa (18-14, 12 points lost, 341/549 total points)
The triple option worked much better for Navy than it did for its former coach.
January 6
GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan 44 – 41 Troy (19-14, 34 points won, 375/583 total points)
CMU left it very late, but pulled out the victory. I appreciate it, as I attached the largest number of confidence points possible to this game. Troy showed up to play; it’s a shame that they were victimized by a blocked field goal in overtime for the second bowl in a row.
January 7
BCS Championship Game: Alabama 37 – 21 Texas (20-14, 1 point won, 376/584 total points)
That was an incredibly stressful game. Alabama brought home national championship #13. Nick Saban actually smiled after the game. It’s too bad that Colt McCoy was injured; he deserved to have a better ending to his career at Texas. Granted, I didn’t want him to go out with a win, but I definitely didn’t want to see him get injured.
That, my friends, is it. It’s my best showing in bowl picks in a long time. The fact that the bowl season ended with a national championship is particularly pleasant. Roll Tide, people. Roll Tide.
Probably the most noteworthy information is that I can actually write a post entitled “Last Week in Running.” Everyone who had a vote cleared me to run on Thursday, December 31, 2009, and I took advantage of it, getting out twice last week. I didn’t do anything particularly spectacular while I was out there; I kept the speeds low and the distances short. Still, I got out there, and I’m happy about it.
December 31: 1.78 miles, 17:43
January 2: 2.08 miles, 21:28
