Too Tired to Write, Too Lazy To Race

So pictures from the TC5k from last weekend (courtesy of Nasty Nate) will have to do.

Whatever goes up....



must come down.


These pictures were taken at the same spot of out-and-back course. Nathan was probably at the 1/2 mile mark (which would be the 2.5 mile mark as we came down the hill). What I find remarkable is the guy in the blue and I are pretty much in same spot in both pictures. We probably switched spots four or five times and gapped one another at least twice. But you wouldn't know it from these pictures.

Maybe we could all save each other a lot time and energy in a 5k and just race for half a mile. Does your place really change that much after that? Well of course I know the answer is YES (especially since I'm someone who tries to sit in the weeds for two miles), but you know, like all distance runners, I'm actually a lot lazier than people think.

Let's just run a half mile with mentality and pace that we're running a 5k and stop there! We can call it the Lazy Mike 5k.

Christmas Card Idea

Me, Emily, and a giant pee cup. Happy Holidays Yall.



Insert your own caption here.

And click here for more pictures and an explanation of the event that brought me, Emily, and a pee cup together. Look for the two posts from Saturday 10/4/09.

One More Puzzle Piece

Our neighborhood is awesome. But it could use...

5. One more nice bar
4. A co-op (credit goes to Emily for that suggestion)
3. Thai food restaurant (True Thai is close, but I want one even closer)
2. An Indian food restaurant
1. An easier way to get to all of Minneapolis west of Hiawatha Avenue.

Well, we can scratch item #2 off the list.

Thanks to Nora's observant parents, we learned that an Indian food restaurant has indeed opened in our neighborhood! Gandhi Mahal is located along 27th Avenue (that funny little street that runs between Minnehaha and Lake Street, right by Town Talk Diner).

Great food. We did take-out, but the restaurant interior is very attractive.

Click here for a review.

Click here for the restaurant's website. So many restaurants have come and gone from that location, but they haven't been as good as this one. So if you like Indian food even half as much as Emily and I do, you should go.

Conversations With Emily #7132897

While watching the finalists line-up for the 110 meter men's high hurdles.

Me Oliver looks like he's dirty, but I have to cheer for him. He is an American afterall. (Editor's Note: Dirty = performance enhancing drugs. Click here to judge for yourself.)

Emily What about Urkel? Aren't you going to cheer for him?

By Urkel she, of course meant Dayron Robles, who won the event.

Click here to judge for yourself.



Urkel indeed. She called the winner of the race. She made an Urkel reference.

Well played.

Hurricane vs. Blizzard

What happens when the Olympics meets the Minnesota State Fair head on? We'll find out this weekend, when they co-occur. Maybe Emily and I will just deep fry all our meals this weekend and watch the Olympics in our backyard and encourage people to walk all over our backyard. Then we can experience the Olympics as if we were at the State Fair.

Actually, we are doing the Milk Run again this year. Click here for Emily's full preview.

Random Question #425

Trampoline is an Olympic event. What the shit?

Class Acts

a quick Olympic post. Michael Phelps has amazed not only for what he has accomplished, but with how he has handled himself througout. Cool and classy in victory.

And Tyson Gay impressed me even more in defeat. No Handle Chad has blogged in the past about alibis and running. Gay had a built in alibi. The trackside reporter, Bob Neumeyer (sp?) even tried to hand it to him after Gay didn't make it out of the semi-finals. But Gay refused to accept it. No excuses. He tried his hardest and it wasn't good enough.

I find as much inspiration in that as I do in what Phelps accomplished.

"He's Doing Another Feet-First Dive!"

All of us normal folks know we would look ridiculous in the Olympics. The question is, which event would I look the most ridiculous participating in? Remember: I'd be wearing the same garb as the other athletes and competing without irony. Imagine me on TV...

5. Diving
Weaknesses: I have never taken swimming lessons and I don't know how to dive in the water head first. Emily impersonated an announcer when I asked her how I'd look in the Olympic diving competition. "Unbelievable! He's doing another feet-first dive!"

Strengths: I can also do a cannonball.

4. Weightlifting
Weaknesses: Good God, have you seen my physique? Even in my weightlifting heyday (college, when I was forced to lift three times a week), the most I benched in reps was 125 pounds.

Strengths: If "Jogging In Place With Heavy Hands" ever becomes a medal event, I'd be awesome.


3. Gymnastics
Weaknesses: I can't touch my toes. I can't do five dips or pull-ups unassisted. All limitations I have for diving and weightlifting would apply here.

Strengths: My dad was an All-American gymnast at Indiana University in the floor exercises. I'm shitting you negative. However, I'm not sure how these genes (that I somehow missed out on) would help me with my floor exercise routine, which would feature doing push-ups, jumping jacks, a few somersaults, and holding some plank positions for 30 seconds. But the scary part is this would be my best gymnastic event (what the hex would I do on the rings, just try to hang on for two minutes?), unless the judges would allow me to treat the vault as if it were a wet jump in the steeplechase.

2. Swimming
Weaknesses: Did I mention I have never taken swimming lessons? I know zero strokes outside of the doggie paddle and I could wing freestyle. Also, I sink like a rock. My natural buoyancy finds me underwater just below my eyes. In college I had a knee injury during one of the cross country seasons, so I worked out in the pool a lot, running in place. Only I had to wear an aquajogger to avoid drowning.



Kind of like floaties for a grown-up.

Strengths: I could at least finish the damn race, assuming it's freestyle... as long as I'm allowed to rest on the lane lines every thirty seconds and hang out on the edge of the pool for a few minutes when I reach the turns.

1. Figure Skating
Weaknesses: I've never been ice skating in my life. So it's like my inability to swim but worse. Figure skating is like floor exercises on ice. I'm screwed.

Strengths: I can't do my somersault and jumping jack routine on the ice, but if the judges let me do some plank on the ice with my skates on, maybe I can pick up half a point that way.

Conversation With Emily #672392

This one was an incredibly short conversation, as Emily had a question I couldn't answer. We were watching the Olympics and they showed footage of the Great Wall of China, high atop the Himalayas.

Emily What's the point of that wall? Did it do any good? I mean if someone could climb that mountain, wouldn't they have no problem climbing over a wall?

Me Silence (Editor's Note: She does have a valid point. I just had no answer).

Oh Mylanta

Yesterday I had an e-mail exchange The Anginator, a fellow Olympic enthusiast about our favorite Olympic moments. This list is not to be confused with The Greatest Olympic Moments. Instead, it is more personal. Simply, which ones mean the most to you. In other words, which ones would you go to YouTube to watch? And seeing as how three of my moments predate me, YouTube is the only way I can go.

5. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists on the medal stand. Mexico City, 1968. Whether or not you agree with what they did, you have to agree it is one of the most poweful and provocative moments in Olympic history. Carlos and Smith now sound like a couple of grumpy old men sniping at one another. Carlos now says he let Smith win and both bicker over whose idea it was to don the gloves and raise their fists.

Interesting side note: Peter Norman, the Australian silver medalist in the same race (200 m) wore a badge in support of the Project for Human Rights and to support Smith and Carlos. Norman's nephew has made a documentary about the medal ceremony called Salute.

4. Jessie Owens wins four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Sometimes the significance of an event is bigger than the man himself that created it. Owens life post-Olympics matches any fall from grace movie. A pack-a-day smoking habit. Racing horses for money. Bankruptcy. Tax evasion. But that's not how I'll remember him.

Gold medals in the 100 m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100 in front of Hitler. Calling out FDR for not even sending a letter or giving him a phone call after the Olympics. That's how I'll remember him.

3. Billy Mills, 10,000 m, Tokyo, 1964. "LOOK AT MILLS!! LOOK AT MILLS!!" One of the biggest track upsets of all time. You could watch Running Brave or watch the footage below.



But what I would do is rent Tokyo Olympiad. A hidden gem is during the marathon footage you will see Billy Mills is running in the middle of the pack. I had no idea he had doubled in the 10k and the marathon until I saw this documentary. There are some visually stunning moments to this movie. Well worth renting.

2. US men's 4x100 freestyle relay team beat the Frenchies, Bejing, 2008. I don't normally get fired about swimming, but that come from behind victory on Sunday night was special.

1. Miracle On Ice, Lake Placid, 1980 We beat the freaking Russians! I watched five hockey games my entire childhood, growing up in Texas. All five of them were in 1980. Who didn't watch those games? During those games, my mom took me and my sister to the flea market where we bought some of those newfangled tennis shoe rollerskates.

My friends and I tore up the lenoleum in my family's knotty pine rec room acting like we were either a bunch of Eric Heidens or the US Olympic hockey team. I had these giant tinker toys. The green pieces were long enough to be a hockey stick (er, pole) and there was even a piece (a black plastic disk) that could pass as a puck. And that was how we did winter sports in South Texas.

Bejing Magic

That title is a reference only Emily and her sister will get.

Anyway, the Olympics officially open tonight. I am one of 17 people left in this country who is completely freaking stoked! In fact, I'm so excited I had to see my take on the Athens olympics four years ago.

Only two posts came up...
The first post is a lament about the lack of love NBC gave el Guerrouj got for winning gold the 1500 m and 5k in Athens. But as I re-read this post and recall a conversation I had with Fancy Kirk last week (about Morroccans and doping/performance enhancing drugs), I can't help but wonder if el Guerrouj was clean or not in 2004. I have no way of proving anything. But I will say this: they're all probably cheating.

And the second 2004 Olympic-related post is pretty amusing in my opinion. Sure the opening ceremonies were as weird as ever, but not nearly as weird as a camel racing five midgets. And if memory serves correct, I think I still owe Angie a special treat from four years ago. She answered my trivia question at the end of the post. But else would you expect from one of the other 17 people left in America who still loves the Olympics?

Gone Fishin' Part III

The final part of Vacationfest Aught Eight found Emily and I driving over ten hours to Eureka Springs, AK at 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning, July 14th, about 12 hours after we landed in Minneapolis.

My mom turned 70 this June, so we spent the week with her and my two sisters' families to celebrate. The town itself is like Stillwater, but built on a bluff.

Highlights included...

going to Thorncrown Chapel



swimming and bumming at a nearby lake...




and visiting Pea Ridge National Military Park. I neglected to bring my camera to Pea Ridge. It was the first Civil War Battlefield I've ever been too.

When I was in college we ran a cross country meet in Virginia. We were not actually on a battlefield, but we must have been close to one. So for some reason in the hour leading up to the meet, a bunch of dudes dressed as Civil War soldiers (some were blue and some were grey) fired off a cannon every ten minutes. And then there were some Revolutionary War dudes there as well. They had their own cannon which they also fired off. So pictures that one: a bunch of skinny dudes in running singlets warming up on a golf course and then a bunch of other guys dressed in old military garb shooting cannons for no damn reason. Random.

But I digress. This was my first up close look at the Civil War. It was grim. When we were leaving the park, I stated the obvious to one of my sisters: I was glad I didn't have to fight in that war. And if I did get drafted, I would have gone AWOL, runing full speed backwards before you could even say, "Damn the torpeedos!"

And then I added that even though my sister wouldn't have had to fight, life would have sucked for her too. To which she added, "Yeah, like I'd wake up one morning and wonder what the hell I was going to do with 300 dead bodies in my front yard."

Which brings me to my point. Ever since I was a kid I have always wondered and never asked, what happened to all the bodies in the Civil War? Was there an agency to recover and bury people? Did soldiers go back later to get their fallen comrades? So I posed that question to a very informed volunteer at Pea Ridge, and he recommended this book. I don't know if I want to read it, but for some reason I feel I should.

Top Five Things I Learned On Trip #3
5. David Sedraris is a morbid dude. Maybe it's fitting, given that we spent a day at a Civil War battlefield, that I learned that David Sedaris can be just as grim as he can be funny. I bought a eight disc CD set of him reading latest book. We listened to most of it on the way to Arkansas and back. But I couldn't take more than 100 miles of it at a time when he got down dark and deep.

4. My family loves cake. Emily still has fun saying, "The Nawrockis... the family that has a cake a night." Indeed, we did bake a cake for each dinner for the week we were there (except the last night because we had to finish all the leftover cake). That's how we roll.

3. Smaller government is a good thing. I'm not about to start listening to conservative AM talk radio, but leave it to big government and beauracracy to ruin a good idea. Lipton Tea has sponsored a program to get people having a healthy experience in the national parks. So far so good. Wal-Mart chipped in on Lipton's program, at Pea Ridge, and donated a bunch of bikes to the park. As a result we could bike the eight mile loop as a family, rather than drive in a car. So far, so awesome.

The hiccup? Most of the bikes were in disrepair (missing any combination of pedals, gears, and brakes) and no one at the park was in charge of bike maintenance. And to be fair, they shouldn't be. They are park rangers, not bike repair pros. And that's what got lost in the shuffle. When this many huge companies are involved in a very local program, who amongst them is going to step and say, "Oh yeah, we'd love to supply the bike mechanics as well." That buck is just too easy for all three players to pass.

2. You get what you pay for. I'm not about to write flaming left-wing Letters-to-the-Editor crying out for more government spending and taxation, but leave it to our business and politcal culture to underfund a cool program like bikes in the national parks.

1. When canoeing in the fog, be alert for crazed jet skiiers. I went canoeing in a dammed river with Emily, my mom, and one of my sisters. It was really cool to paddle through the morning fog. Well, until we heard and eventually saw three jackasses blazing past us on their jet skis. There's no way on God's green earth they would have seen us, which is why we canoed over the river bank.

Add canoers vs. jet skiiers to two cultures that will never get along.

Conversation With Emily #125

Emily and I went to the Twins game Wednesday night. The Twins stunk up the joint so we had some quality time together, along with 40,000+ other disappointed Twins fans. Being bored, Emily thought she'd be all wife-life and cozy up next to me.

Emily (with her hand on my bicep) Hey, don't you usually flex when I touch your arm? (Editor's Note: When I do this, I flex with irony)

Me I am.

Emily No, I mean really flex.

Me I am.

Emily Are you sure?

Oh snap.



Nasty Nate took this picture of me after I ordered a salad in a bar and grill last week. In my defense, I had a wild game burger the night before and wanted to take a breather from red meat.

Gone Fishin Part II

July 11 found Emily and I celebrating our five year wedding anniversary in a very boring remake of Planes Trains and Automobiles. Well, I say it's a very boring remake because our travel plans went as scheduled. No crazy adventures with John Candy. But we did take the light rail (trains) to the airport (planes) and rented a car (automobiles) once we got to Sacramento. We went out there for a wedding and came back Sunday night, two days later.

So we drove out to Grapes of Wrath country but hung out on an organic farm run by yuppies-turned-farmers, rather than a Bossman and his 1200 Okie day-laborers. Hybrids ruled the scene, not jalopies. It was a very relaxed setting, with one exception. We stayed in a casino hotel near the farm. walking through the seizure-inducing, smoke-filled casino = not very relaxing.

Top Five Things I Learned On Trip #2

Four years later this blog has finally completed the hostile takeover of my other blog. So all lists will be found here, keeping Mrs. Deets off my back.

5. A lot of people in the casino probably couldn't tolerate five minutes in a Chuck E. Cheese. Irony, or just a contradiction?

4. This may have been a mistake.



According to to someone who knows a lot more about water resource management than I do, farm creek water, no matter how organic, is, um, less than clean. But I am sure the same can be said for any body of water.

3. Emily is a doctor. But this guy is The Doctor.



But I wouldn't follow his medical advice. He's not a real doctor. Well I guess I already knew that, so that's not something I learned. He's also not a Yankees fan, despite the Yankees hat. The Doctor is a Cub's fan. I'm also not sure why he's wearing two t-shirtd. He's an enigma. It was good to kick it with The Doctor again.

A lot of shenanigans went down at The Doctor's wedding many many moons ago. When I compare that to how tame this California wedding was, I realize we have indeed grown up over the years.

2. I ain't too bright. The car Emily and I rented had a keyless start. You push a button to start the car. We sat in the Hertz/Avis/Whatever parking lot for five minutes, the midday heat beating down on us, as I failed and failed again and again trying to figure out to start the damn car. Finally I had to get an attendant to help me. Turns out they don't teach "Car Starting 101" in college or grad school.

And then, once at the farm, I lost the keyless key for about ten minutes. Turns out they don't teach "How To Keep Track of Your Belongings" in academia either.

1. I love being married to Emily. Full disclosure here: I was hesitant to fly to Sacramento for this wedding for a weekend and then turn around the next day and drive to Arkansas. But she really encouraged me to do both trips, because she knew how important it was that I go to this wedding and how glad I would be once we did it. And she was right. It's not always fun to push someone into action (or be pushed), but I am so glad we went out to California.

Coming Soon: Our trip to Arkansas

Conversation With Emily #7812

This afternoon when I got home from work, Emily alerted me to the fact that we were out of toilet paper. I have been married long enough to know that this was not a conversation starter or a statement of fact, but an indirect request for me to go to the store and buy some toilet paper.

So I grabbed the keys, let the dog know he was going for a ride with me to the store and was halfway down the stairs to leave when Emily stopped me.

Emily Wait. You know you need to buy a certain kind right?

Me Oh yeah I forgot. You're protesting the bears right (Editors note: I actually had forgotten Emily has specific toilet paper requests. Good thing she reminded me, or I would have ended up buying a Hannah Montana spiral notebook because it was on sale: two notebooks for 99 cents. I'd figure we could use the notebook paper as toilet paper).

Emily It has to be Cottenelle, the one with the puppy on it. No bears shitting in woods or bitches who cross stitch.

I have no idea what "the bitches who cross stitch" reference is all about, but I knew I had better come back with some toilet paper with a puppy on the wrapper. So I came back with mixed news: somewhere during the course of the evening I had to let Emily know I was able to buy Cottenelle, but only in a four pack.

Emily But they had jumbo packs of the other brands?

Me Yup.

Emily Well they must have been sold out of the big packs of Cottenelle because it's so popular.

I should add that she made this statement as if it is one of God's truths.

And what I love is how this was perfectly logical to Emily. It is assumed everyone who shops at the Walgreen's on 46th and Hiawatha in the Longfellow neighborhbood of Minneapolis adheres to the "Don't Buy Toilet Paper With Wrappers Depicting Bears or Bitches Who Cross Stitch" rule. As if it's a widely taught bathroom rule, right up there with "If it's yellow let it mellow" and "Knock before entering a Port-A-Potty."

Gone Fishin Part I

Between the July 4th weekend and last night, Emily and I have made three trips. First, over the July 4th weekend, we went to Emily's family cabin near Hancock, Wisconsin.

Never heard of Hancock? I hope not. There's nothing to do there but farm. Or hang out at a cabin on some land near Hancock that your wife's family farmed over 100 years ago. I chose the latter.

We went with our friends Zander and Julie. We were also graced by the company of Emily's sister and husband and their two sons.

There was a perfect storm of photography mayhem the night of the 4th. My brother-in-law just happens to be Minnesota's best photographer and the light was perfect for taking pictures, at least according to the Mr. Minnesota of Photography.

So while we played with whiffle balls, Ben played with his camera.



Well, we humans played whiffle ball. Pancho chased a tennis ball.



Julie has also uploaded some more of Ben's photos on her blog. Click here to see them. Ben is such a good photographer that it is worth your time, even if you have no idea who Zander and Julie are.

Top Five Things I Learned During Trip #1
5. It is legal to shoot off pretty much any kind of firework in Wisconsin.
4. Pancho is terrified of most of these fireworks. Especially ones that look and sound like professional fireworks. And are fired off non-stop for 45 minutes. Less than 500 feet from our beachfront.
3. The one place Pancho feels safest when he's away from home is the backseat of my car. Actually I already knew this. But what I didn't know is he sheds like crazy when terrified.



2. Zander and Julie love s'mores as much as Ben loves building a bonfire as tall as he is. In fact Zander and Julie love s'mores so much, they will make them even while the fire is taller then Ben. Ben is taller than I am, meaning that was one tall, hot fire Zander and Julie broiled their s'mores in.
1. Leinenkugel's makes a summer shandy, which I liked a lot more than the self-proclaimed experts (snobs?) at Beer Advocate. Of course those guys have some sort of a grading rubric with its own language.

Here's my rubric for scoring a beer:
Does it go down singing hymns?
If the answer is YES, drink more.
If the answer is NO. Finish the beer anyway and do not order or buy it again.

I found Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy went down signing hymns. Some people less secure in their masculinity may slap the "girlie" label on this beer, but I don't care. I am comfortable enough to hold a bottle of it next to me. It's not like it's a Zima or something.

Coming Soon: Our trip to California.

All Is Quiet On the South Minneapolis Front

Emily and I had a very active weekend. Friday she returned from Chicago and three hours later we were on our way to a wedding at Mill City Museum, where we had our own wedding reception almost five years ago.

Last night we went bowling at Memory Lanes with her sister and her family and then went to pretty funny improv show at Brave New Workshop.

But now our life is back to the pace that I prefer. We watched the Twins game this afternoon at Emily's aunt's house. At least once a summer we make a point of going to her house to watch a game OUTSIDE on her TV, while other people paid money to go into the Metrodome to watch the game. And the weather was awesome today, so it couldn't have been better.

But what post is meant to be about is s p a c e.

Normally, I get in bed after Emily and out of bed in the morning before her. So I covet the rare times I have the bed all to myself. What I found while she was gone for so long is that this is really overrated. Sure, it's great to stretch out and have the bed all to myself for five minutes, but then the novelty of that wears off and then I'm just a lonely dude hanging out in a bed by himself. It's kind of boring.

But I also leaned one aspect of bachelorhood that is decidedly underrated, in terms of space. Emily had her parked at work while she was in Chicago. So I had the garage all to myself. Of course, if I just sat in my car for five minutes, I would be even more bored than when I am laying in bed all by myself, so maybe the I just never stayed in the garage long enough for the novelty to wear off.

Regardless, man was that luxiorious having the garage all to myself. No more tight turns to fit my car in, or having to go back into to reverse to get my lined up how I like it. Keep in mind I am always the first to leave for work and we drive my car when we go places, so it is rare when I use the car without Emily's car already in the garage.

No siree, it was like having an eight line highway all to yourself. One one night I parked the car right down the middle. That was satisfying. Another night I parked my car on Emily's side and put my bike in my parking space.

All that space... made me feel like my garage was a McMansion.

Of course I'm glad Emily is back, even if the garage has a clausterphobia vibe once again.

Bachelor Party

Emily has gone off and got her one of them booklearning degrees and an important job. As a result she travels a lot for work. She was gone from Monday to Friday last week and left today for another work trip and won't get back until Friday.

Needless to say I miss her. So does Pancho. I think the cats even miss her, the same way I missed bugging my older sisters when I was a bored eight year-old.

But I am proud of myself on several fronts. The house is still standing up. I washed the dishes tonight and cooked a meal for myself that included vegetables. I still get out and exercise. I even ran a pretty tough workout tonight. Two back to back sets of something I call the Texas Fartlek. I could tell you what it is, but then you would know my trade secrets. You know the secrets that allow me to run with no shirt or shame, but with a beer belly, pale skin, and a bald head. The Texas Fartlek kills your pride.

What is crazy is before Emily and I got married I was cooking all the time, mostly vegetarian. Lots of beans, rice, and salad. I ran pretty reglularly all by myself. I didn't need races or friends to help me along. Maybe I wasn't running as much, but when I did, I just ran for the hell of it.

Perhaps it was a matter of survival. Review the summary of my week last week. If I lived this way on a regular basis for the past ten years, my heart would have given up on me sometime between some pick-up baskteball game I played two years ago and this morning when I ran up the stairs at work.

Sunday Dropped Emily off at the airport. Went home and watched the Twins on TV with a can of Coke. Then biked over to my friends house where he grilled brats and burgers for dinner. I drank two or three of his beers and gave him a PBR and beef jerkey for Father's Day. His wife also served some salads she bought at Lund's. I was in bed by 11:00 p.m. This ended up being my healthiest night of the bachelor week.

Monday I went to the grocery store and bought fruit, believe it or not. Then I went for a short run, came home and finally got around to eating around 9 p.m. I had some of those salt and pepper chips I blogged about earlier for an appetizer and then an entire frozen pizza as my entree. Oh yeah, and a can of PBR. I stayed up past 11:00 watching the first 70 minutes of Once Upon A Time In America.

Tuesday Fancy Kirk and I ran a somewhat hard workout followed by Jucy Lucys at Shamrock's on W. 7th in St. Paul. We had two beers while watching the Celtics/Lakers game. We knew a third beer would park us on our ass. So I went home and watched the next 70 minutes of Once Upon A Time In America. I had some more of those salt and pepper chips and was glad I am too lazy to go the garage fridge once the movie is on. Otherwise that third beer would have been pretty tempting. I then read unitl about midnight.

Wednesday I had a Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon meeting. I drank a Coke and had three slices of pizza. This would end up being an appetizer (read on). No Handle Chad was at the meeting and chastised me for not blogging. I came home and it was too late to run. But it wasn't too late to walk the dog, eat another frozen pizza, and stay up past 11:00 finishing Once Upon A Time In America and watch some of the special features. Two beers were also involved.

Thursday I don't work Fridays, so I was out until 1 a.m. and in bed at 2 a.m. I went to The Hexagon Bar with my friend where I took in four bands and three beers. I actually had a healthy risotto primavera at the Birchwood Cafe, but this all has to be offset by how late I was up. I did get a run in and rode my bike to The Hexagon and Birchwood. When I got back home around 1:30 a.m. I polished off those salt and pepper potato chips.

One week does not an unhealthy life make. And I know there is no way I could lived like this for more than maybe ten days.

But this summary does answer my question, as to why I used to be on such regular good behavior before I got married. I didn't have a choice. I think left to my own devices I would find my feet again. But as unpracticed bachelor, I flail around a bit and end up eating potato chips at 1:30 in the morning. But this week has gotten off to a better start than last week.

For example, it is time for bed.

Back In The Saddle

I went out for my quarterly sortie to Matt's Bar for Jucy Lucys with, among others, Fancy Kirk, Awalt, Los Deets, and Mrs. Los Deets.

I do not know if Los Deets will post a field report on his Jucy Lucy website, but I do know this: the waitress was the most organized and, dare I say, regimented server that restaurant has ever seen.

Anyway, Mrs. Los Deets scolded me for not blogging anymore. And I know she loves lists. So I thought I'd get back into the blogosphere with what's new. I have a new...

1. Favorite Restaurant Brasa has a simple menu and really good food. A great summer spot. Ride your bike there and then you can head over to St. Anthony Main for a nightcap. It looks like I have the next date night planned for Emily and me.

2. Favorite Bar The Hexagon Bar. Great live music that is usually free. Cheap beer. Half the bar is for the music; the other half is quiet enough to socialize. It has a mix of quasi-hipsters, locals, and aging lamies like me. It's like a cheap First Ave without the scene.

3. Netflix Series Emily and are caught up on Weeds (well maybe not, season three might be out now) and are now making our way through Entourage It's like Sex and the City for guys. But so far Emily has been watching it with me.

4. Favorite Twin Carlos Gomez. The Strib ran a story last week about how he was scared of a ghost in his hotel room. He sometimes tries to steal third for no appearant reason. He can outrun a comebacker to the pitcher (okay I exaggerated on that one). What's not to like?

5. Training Plan I will train for both the 5k and the marathon for the rest of the year. Is such madness possible? I will tell you after my first injury. I pretty much knew after my last race in college I'd never run that fast again, much less break 15:00. I knew I was too lazy to keep training that hard. But I always figured I could hop off the couch and break 16:00 until I was like 70 years old. Obviously I was an idiot back then; but I would like to break the 16:00 barrier one last time (I ran a 16:20 a few weeks back). I'll focus on a marathon goal after the Victory 5k in September.

6. Favorite Snack Kettle Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper Chips. A friend of mine introduced them to me last week. I have eaten an entire bag since then and I am still wanting more. Damn those sons of bitches at Kettle make good chips.

7. Hobby Biking everywhere. The same friend who got me hooked on those chips, got me hooked on biking everywhere. On Saturday I a) ran 18 miles through Afton State Park with Fancy Kirk and Grizzly Christ, b) worked in the yard for three hours, and c) biked to Dominguez with Emily. So I was pretty tired, but we had a summer solstice party to go to. We were both thinking we didn't want to go, due to fatigue. But as we rode our bikes there, we got so energized.

8. Favorite Day of the Year Summer Solstice in Minnesota just beat out Thanksgiving. We went to that party, which was a summer solstice patio party with awesome food and great beer, and last night we had a our solstice meeting at Matt's. It's like two Thanksgivings without the turkey.

9. Horrible Idea A Jucy Lucy turkey for Thanksgiving. Instead of stuffing, inject the bird with cheddar.

10. Blog to Read Coincidentally, it's all about one lady's quest to do new things. Check it for yourself. I have know Maureen since college, so I know a lot of things she's already done and therefore can't count them as new things. You know, things like "watch Mike shotgun a can of Busch Lite" or "chant ' PARTY! PARTY! PAR...' with a bunch of idiots." That would describe the four years she had to come across me in college.

He'll Be Missed

There are a lot George Carlin routines that I love. His pacing and timing was as brilliant, if not more brilliant, than his content. His baseball vs. football routine is my all-time favorite, and somehow it is actually safe for work.

The Ends Justify the Means

This afternoon I got an e-mail from Emily while I was at work suggesting we go out to dinner tonight and then to IKEA to shop for new deck furniture. Knowing my distaste for shopping, she knew the best way to woo me into this errand was to agree to eat at Dominguez Family Restaurant.

I loooooooooooooove Dominguez! But man was it crowded tonight. Maybe it was all the white people in Noko (downtown East Nokomis neighborhood) who wanted to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, even though they weren't sure what is was all about. Or maybe it's because because DOMINGUEZ JUST GOT AWARDED BEST TACOS IN THE TWIN CITIES!!! (open letter to The Harvest Moon Lover: Those all caps were for you).

So instead, we decided to go eat at Al Vento, across the street.

We struck gold, as bottles of wine are 1/2 on Mondays at Al Vento (as it seems is the case in most nice Minneapolis restaurants). So we drank a few glasses with our dinner (which was awesome) and they recorked the bottle and let us take the rest home.

Emily and I had a great time during dinner even as we scolded ourselves for never straying from routine and therefore only eating at Al Vento once in the past. Sure, Netflix, Parkway Pizza, and Longfellow Grill are great, but we have been missing out.

During the course of dinner, I spilled marinara sauce on my shirt and Emily got olive oil on hers. So we decided to skip IKEA and go back home so we could put stain stick on our clothes. Live it up yall!

But we REALLY want new deck furniture for nights like tonight when the weather in awesome. So do we regret how off track our plans went?

Not one bit. Emily said, "We can always have a picnic on the deck tomorrow night if the weather is good." I don't know if tonight can be called a perfect night. But for a Monday, it was pretty awesome.

Boston Roll Call

My blood blister burst over the weekend. I am still sore but was able to get two runs in this weekend. Pancho is calming down from his separation anxiety. And like most of us, I have to a five day work week coming up. In other words, the dust from the Boston Marathon has finally settled. My summary is in the post below. For more stories...

Nasty Nate summarizes his race. Open letter to the Nasty Man: you are too hard on yourself. I think we all tend to second-guess ourselves after a race. Outside of the winner, all runners tend to analyze and deconstruct their race. We find things we did wrong or wish we did differently more than we celebrate what we did right. Bottom line: you ran a fine race.

I for one am already wondering what would have happened if I had been more aggressive after the first three miles.

So I admire Nathan's race in that he ran aggressively yet intelligently, compared to my "hedging my bets" style of running.

Awalt has a nice recap of how connected we feel to those who follow us from afar and some nice tidbits that explain why Boston is such a special occasion. And I agree, there is something emotional about crossing the checkpoint mat every 5k. You'd here the mat beep and you know your split time was being posted on the web for all your family and friends to see. I felt suddenly connected to my running friends here, Emily, and my family in Texas every time I heard that beep.

No Handle Chad summarizes his race here, talks about what makes the Boston crowd special here, and highlights the women's' trials and, well ME (sort of) here.

Fancy Kirk deconstructs his 2:55 and ends up feeling just as happy with his time as I did mine. Open letter to Fancy Kirk: your take that Boston is essentially for the 40+ year-old marathoner with disposable time and income is a good one.

Tall Colin has some pictures of me, Mr. Nasty, and Mr. Fancy, along with a story of why the Boston crowds are different than any other. A good read for sure.

Running to The Walking City

Well, now I know why the Boston Marathon is such a big deal. It truly is special. There are runners who have tried for five years to qualify and finally did. And there are others who love the city and the race so much they have been there for the last 20 years. But no matter what, every runner is more excited to be at Boston. I feel lucky to have been a part of it all.

And I feel extremely lucky that we had ideal weather for the spectators and runners.

Here are the nuts and bolts of the race: I ran a 2:55, good for a PR.

I ran the (mostly downhill) first half of the marathon in 1:29 and I followed that up with a 1:26 second half. Somewhere between the 35k mark and the finish (42k), I must have thrown in an 18:00 5k.

So basically I sandbagged my way to a PR. I sat in the weeds for 16 miles. Halfway up the first Newton hill, I decided to start pushing it. Maybe not the gutsiest way to run a race, but it has to be the only comfortable way to run that course.

Now, onto the pictures, taken by Emily around mile 24.


Fancy Kirk, on his way to a 2:55 of his own. We had two very different races. Two guys who run a 2:55 in a marathon can have as much in common with their race as two golfers who both shoot an 85 in 18 holes of golf. Bottom line is, Mr. Fancy "schooled me" by 18 seconds, good for 5th fastest among Twin City marathoners.



Emily said I looked really happy when I passed her. This picture offers photographic proof to the contrary.



Duel of the Bald Guys.

What a race. The crowd really is unique in Boston. There is a connection we the runners have with the spectators that you can find nowhere else. From the families handing out sponges and water in the early towns, to the drunk college kids in Boston, and the rabid marathon lovers as we head into downtown, you really felt the crowd. They were just as much a part of the race as we were. They weren't just there to cheer on their friends and family. Instead they were there to cheer on the entire field.

No Handle Chad and and Tall Colin both did an excellent job of capturing what the Boston crowd is like.

And it was awesome to be a part of it. Here's to Boston 2009.

Cool Pictures

Los Deets has cool aeriel photos of our neighborhood and some of St. Paul he took from an airplane. I wonder if I heard the plane as it was passing overhead.

Click here to see them.

One Week Out

The Boston Marathon is one week away. Emily and I will be flying out first thing Friday morning, assuming the FAA and American Airlines will have their shit together by then. The race is Monday and we fly out the next day.

This isn't a marathon I really have a lot of goals for. I assume I will accomplish my basic goal: be healthy enough to start the race. After that, I'd like to finish, break 3:00, and anything beyond that is gravy.

No matter what happens in Boston, I already accomplished a huge goal, and that was to be in good shape at the start of spring. And I had a lot fun along the way, training with Fancy Kirk and Nasty Nate.


This picture is from the Run the Valley 5k/10k two Saturdays ago. The close observer will note that Fancy Kirk and Nasty Nate are both sporting champion's medals. I have an equipment bag. I was bascially their water boy. Kirk won the 10k, Nathan won his age-group in the 5k, and got beat by an Olympian. Me? I got to hold their Gatorade.

One of the highlights was doing our lone 20 mile run with Minnesota's most famous blogging marathoner.

Throughout the week, all four of us (myself, Fancy Kirk, Nasty Nate, and Chad the Blogger) will likely be updating our week of anticipation. Obviously, I'll stop after Thursday since I'll be in Boston and not blogging. Check in afterwards for full reports.

Click here for Fancy Kirk's blog. He already got up at 4 a.m. yesterday because of his marathon fever.

Click here for Chad the Blogger's updates. I see Chad once a month now, but thanks to his blog, it's like I see him every day.

Click here for Nasty Nate. If the shape of the Minnesota gets him fired up, imagine how hard he'll be typing on the keyboard, USING ALL CAPS, and lots of exclamation points as we get closer and closer to next Moday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Random List #6

1. Something I Cannot Do Whistle.

2. Something That Has Never Worked Another person saying, "What? You never learned how to whistle? It's really easy. Here, let me show you." And then the person proceeds to try to teach me to whistle before giving up after about 30 seconds.

3. Worthless Skill That I Am the Worst At (besides whistling) Foreign accents.

4. Last Place I Shopped Petco. I bought kitty litter and a new water bowl for the cats. Nothing for Pancho.

5. Today's Sign That I Am Getting Older I spent two minutes debating whether or not I should also by some new airtight food containers that Petco sells, but ultimately decided I should get Emily's input. Live it up!

6. Number Of Times I Ate at a Restaurant This Weekend Four.

7. Number of Meals I Have Cooked For Myself or Emily in 2008 Two.

8. Dumbest Argument I Had As A Child I got in a fight with my mom that my eyes were not blue, but red, because that was my favorite color. Despite the fact that she had all the evidence in her favor, she eventually agreed with me about seven seconds into the fight.

9. Least Favorite Condiment Mustard.

10.First Song I Learned All the Words To "The Gambler," by Kenny Rogers.

Uncle F

I am an uncle to yet another child.

Click here for pictures. Emily sure looks comfortable holding eight pounds of human, compared to me.

No word yet what the new baby's name is. For now, I'm calling him "Q." And no word yet what will happen the the name of the blog, "followart." Art is Q's older brother, so the name of the blog will have to be changed. It just to show how much more complicated life gets when you double the number of kids you have.

Elvis Is Back in the Building

Emily's blog is back up and running. It's as good as new.

Phew.

Ugh-ly

Just because a basketball game is close does not mean it was a good game, or a well-played game. Last night's NCAA title game proved that. Basically, Kansas sucked less than Memphis in the end.

So does anyone think the pro or college game is better now than it was 15 years ago? Has anyone benefited from the fact that no makes it past his sophomore year before turning pro? The college game suffers. The pro games suffers. Fans suffer.

Oh yeah, players and agents really benefit big time, and we fans keep paying to watch. So I guess things will stay the same as long as this is true, no matter how much people like me piss and moan.



And now I have that &%*$#@!@! "One Shining Moment" song stuck in my head.

Oh well. Chalmers shot was pretty exciting.

Random Question #890321

Do runners drink more alcohol than the average American?

The Deets already posted about a pizza party Emily and I had at my house last Thursday. Click here for his report on The Battle of Longfellow Pizzas.

We had all this pizza at my house as part of the "closing ceremonies" to an annual workout we run on a track near my house. So there were 12 of us over at my house after the run. After everyone left, I gathered, rinsed, and put all the empty bottles together.


The close observer will note a few Coke and Gatorade empties, but also an empty champaign bottle, to go along with all those beer bottles.

So as I was cleaning, I thought about my non-running friends here in the Twin Cities, my college friends (those who don't run anymore or played other sports), my family, and my high school friends. If you put all those people together, I don't know if all those people combined would have had as many beers as the 12 of us did on that Thursday night.

And this was a very tame social event. No one was even close to being out-of-control. It's just that we all enjoy drinking beer.

So I'm not suggesting runners are drunks. In fact, in all my years of running and knowing runners, I personally know of only one person who actually had a drinking problem. And that was in college. And no formal diagnosis was made. And that dude was never going to be a scoring runner on our team, in part because of his drinking.

So beer is at the center of most running circles, and I don't think it is unhealthy or bad. But I do wonder, is this true for other subcultures? Chess enthusiasts? Bloggers? Cartoonists?

As Good As It Gets

Last night Emily and I went to dinner in Uptown with some friends of ours. On the drive back, as we went down Hennepin Avenue towards I-94, Emily asked about three times if I wanted to go to Sebastian Joe's. As I kept on saying, "No, not really," it dawned on me what she was really saying. She wasn't so much asking me if I wanted to go there, but telling me to.

But I had bought bag of Oreos the night before at Wallgreen's and had eaten many of them earlier in the day. And that was really all the sugar I wanted to subject body to in one day.

Or was it?

As we got on I-94, I realized Izzy's was more or less on the way home. So I suggested we go there. In my opinion, Izzy's is that good. I had overdosed on sugar to the point that I did not feel the need to appease my wife's request for ice cream, with one exception. Izzy's is just too good to pass up.

I ordered Coffee Break with Tiramisu as an Izzy scoop. They also had Peace Coffee flavored ice cream and coffee ice cream with Fine Grind Coffee--the coffee shop next door (thanks Emily for remembering that one). Three coffee flavors. Weird.

I can't wait for the spring to get warm enough for Emily and I to ride our bikes to Izzy's. That will be fun.

So now that warm weather is upon us, it is probably time to rank the best ice cream shops in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

5. Grand Ole Creamery. Maybe it's because the way they spell the word "ole" (a reference to Scandanavian culture?) annoys me, or maybe it's just because the ice cream is actually too sweet for me (I didn't know this was possible), but there are clearly four places I would go to before I go to Ye Grande Olde Creamerye. But I'd still go there if I was in the neighborhood.

4. Sebastian Joe's. Nice range of flavors. Good atmosphere. Maybe I don't go there enough. But in my opinion their ice cream has always been very good, just not as great as the three shops ahead of them. I guess I would describe the ice cream as dutifully delicious. But the Sebastian Joe's in Linden Hills definitely has the best outdoor seating of all the places on this list.

3. Crema. Home of Sonny's ice cream. I love Sonny's ice cream. Crema could probably be bumped up to number two, but they have so many other good desserts that Sonny's ice cream gets lost in the shuffle.

2. Pumphouse Creamery. A bit overpriced, but they do a nice job of using only (mostly?) locally grown and produced ingredients. They also do a good job of reminding you again and again about this fact. But the ice cream is good, I certainly support the effort to buy locally, and they have some fun flavors.

1. Izzy's. Izzy's has it all. Outdoor and indoor seating. A nice range of flavors. Solar power. The ice cream is creamy and sweet, but not too creamy and sweet. And of course, they have the izzy scoop.

Technical Difficulties

Emily's Reuben Sandwich blog was accidentally deleted. She is trying to contact blogger to get it back on-line. So all you Emily fans take a step back from the ledge. I am confident her blog will be restored soon.

PLAY snowBALL!!

Thanks to the greatness that is Emily's job, she was able to get four seats for tonight's Twins' season opener against the Angels. We had 12th row seats in between home plate and 3rd base. Crazed Twins fan Nasty Nate and his friend, an even more crazed Twins fan (complete with Minnesota Twins shoes with Minnesota Twins shoe laces) joined us.

Sure Torii Hunter made his debut as a non-Twin. And yeah, he did go 0-4 and strike out in the 9th inning. Oh yeah, Carlos Gomez is going to be a lot of fun for us Twins fans to watch this year. And of course TWINS WIN!!!

But none of that was the story this night. The pictures tell the real story of how baseball opens in the state of Minnesota.


Here I am in our front yard as we are leaving for the game. I'm fired up. It's time to tailgate! Are the coals hot enough for me to throw my burgers on?


The woman behind that parka is Emily. You can see the Metrodome in the background. Insert your own isn't-indoor-baseball-great joke here. Nathan got to the game before we did and said they made a big presentation of showing only 162 more home games to go before the Twins play in their outdoor new stadium. Irony.


My car in the parking lot after the game. Nothing sounds like spring more than anti-lock breaks kicking in on icy roads in front of four-way stop signs and baseballs deflecting off the speakers on the roof of an indoor stadium.

But inside the climate controlled Metrodome, it's always spring.


Here is Joe Mauer's first at-bat of the season. My ears survived the spontaneous and simultaneous shrieking of every girl between 12 and 25 years of age as he stepped to the plate.

And this is for folks like the like The Anginator. The Anginator was one of many people who texted us to say they saw us on ESPN when Torii Hunter first came to bat for the Angels. I guess ESPN first showed Nasty Nate's friend cheering and then panned over to me and Nathan taking pictures of Torii with our digital cameras. This is the picture I took of Torii Hunter while ESPN was taking a picture of me.



It will be weird having someone else besides Torii Hunter roaming centerfield. Carlos Gomez has a long way to go, but two stolen bases, two hits, and two runs is a nice start. Immediately after the game, Gomez went back out to centerfield to practice catching pop flies in the Metrodome. The Twins really need this guy to excel to help with damage control from the Santana trade. It's good to see he is doing his part to help with that mission.

Here's to a 162-0 season.

Pancho Has A Question

Is it really supposed to snow tomorrow?

Because I speak for the both of us when I say we are both sick of having to run on days like this...


Especially when tomorrow is Opening Day for the Twins! Give it up for another year of indoor baseball in Minnesota!

And give it up for Emily, who was able to get some pretty good seats. We're going to the game with Nasty Nate. Should be fun. As per usual, the face of the Twins, Torii Hunter will be starting the season out in the Metrodome in centerfield.

What is unusual is the fact that he now plays for the other team, the Angels, who just happen to be opening their season against the Twins. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran a really nice story about how Hunter is fitting in with his new team. Click here to read the story.

The Twins will probably finish third in their division this year. Detroit and Cleveland are superior to them. Chicago is overrated, but Kansas City seems underrated. So I see the Twins battling it out with those two teams for third, significantly behind the Tigers and Indians.

But I have to admit, part of me is cheering for the Angels just because Torii Hunter is now on their team. When I was a kid I had one favorite team: whichever team Nolan Ryan was on. Torii Hunter is that kind of player.

I FAILED!!

This blog may be the last outlet on the web to show ot link to this video, but so be it. Five different people e-mailed this to me. Well, I guess I passed the last four times I took the test.

Happy Holidays Yall

A belated Happy Easter. I am always interested how a holiday of such spiritual and religous siginificance like Easter seems to seemlessly allow for such a secular or commercialized aspect. For example, how Peeps can be associated with the day marking the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ is beyond me. I guess it has also been a holiday for some to mark the upcoming Spring, though it's hard to believe that when it snowed all weekend up here in Minnesota.

Either way, the Pagan Peeps may have to get a holiday of their own. The St. Paul Pioneer Press now has an annual Peeps Diorama Contest. The winner gets a toothbrush for a trophy.

Click here for pictures and the story. There's a Peeps Goodnight Moon, Peeps Gulliver's Travels and Peeps doing yoga, to name a few. Very clever.

Pinche Gatos!!

A few months ago, I was unpacking from a trip, I left the room for two minutes and came back to this.




Make yourself at home, Nacho. A lot of those clothes were clean. The operative word ther being were.

And then about a week later I entered the kitchen and saw Toonces found a new place to hang out. Some of you may think this picture is cute. I know someone who doesn't.



I'll hand it to Toonces: she broke nothing on this sortie to the top of the kitchen, which is full of fragile items. No harm, no foul, I say. But still, seeing her with those crack-addled eyes, like a strung out bull in a china shop, makes me want to scream "Piiiiiiincheeeeee gaaaaaatos!".

Taking My Place In The Human Race

For runners in the Twin Cities, The Human Race is like the first day of school. The weather has a hint of a new season in the air, everyone is back in one place together again, we all have uniforms on, we're all excited to see each other, and we are all back to our cliques (but we have no problem being friendly with the cooler kids in the cooler cliques).

Before I go any further, it is time for full disclosure: a week ago I had no interest in running this race whatsoever. So, I gotta send a shout out to Chad Austin for being the straw that broke the camel's back as it was a conversation I had with him that convinced me to race. Chad and I are both on a committee for Twin Cities Marathon and we had a meeting last Wednesday. At the end of the meeting Chad said he'd see me Sunday at the Human Race.

"Yeah I'll go watch," I told him, "That's what I do every year."

I can't speak for Chad, but he basically looked at me like I had just told him I was going to skip the first day of high school because "I don't feel like going."

So I ended up running the race.


While I'm doling out props and love, I gotta give it up for Gene Niemi for sending me this picture of me he snapped near the finish line.

So like I said, Chad was the straw that broke camel's back. But my two Boston Marathon training partners Nasty Nate and Fancy Kirk also helped. They never pressured me, but each week they reminded me the race was coming up. So when we went for our weekly run on Thursday they made it clear to me how much fun it would be to run the race and be with the team. Especially because the beer and burgers would taste that much better post-race. So, I'm sending a shout out to them too.

I guess I was hesitant to race because I was less than happy with how I ran at the Frozen Half. I just wanted to get back to running for fun and not worry about place and time.

But then I wondered if I was being selfish and realized I'd be missing out in all the fun of running and racing with my friends. And that is way more important than how fast a 36 year-old bald never-was like me runs 8000 meters.

A funny thing happened on the way to the finish line. I ran over a minute faster than I thought I was going to. I knew the Human Race is a ridiculously fast course, but I factored that in, and I figured I break 28:30 and be okay with that.

So I was freaking shocked when the finish line clock was first close enough to read, and it said 27:15. I ended up running a 27:21. One more shout out to a very savvy veteran runner in Apple Valley (sorry Chad, it's not you) who told me if I opened with a 5:45 mile, and then get aggressive at mile two, and I'd end up running a 27:30.


This one came from Fancy Kirk who lent his camera to that Apple Valley savvy veteran runner.

So I opened with a 5:45 mile, felt good and decided at that point to start running aggressively, a mile ahead of schedule.

You know, I've learned it's easy to be zen runner when you don't run the time you want; but it's damn hard to stay even keeled and in the moment when you run over a minute faster than your goal time. Emily can attest to that. I was pretty wired when I got home from the race and post-race festivities on Sunday. And Emily gets the final shout out for putting up with all my weekends and nights spent running and talking about running. She also has been encouraging me to race more and have fun with it.

So as you can tell, I needed this race. I realize now that the TC10 in October and the Frozen Half this winter both affected my confidence. My challenge now is to remember what got me here. It was more than just hard work. It was letting go of trying to run certain times and enjoying every run, whatever it would bring. I wasn't doing that last fall.

My challenge is to hold onto that focus.

Here are some other recaps that are well worth reading.

Click here for Nasty Nate's recap. It's interesting to see how both of us needed the Human Race to give us back the confidence that the Frozen Half took away.

Click here for Chad Austin's take. The guy gets the Standard Deviation Award for how similar his performances have been over the past three years.

Click here to see what New Guy Nick has to say. As his name suggests, he is new to Minnesota, new to Team MDRA, but he's an OG runner. He's also good people. Anyone who will sit across me post-race at O'Garas as I deliver my rants, and not get up and leave out of boredom/frustration, is not just good people, but patient good people.

Los Deets

Los Deets tagged for a meme.

Click here to see his post.

Here are the expectations:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.


1. the Onion Ad Nauseum #13
2.Done, but it's hard to type with one hand (my left hand is holding my place in the book).
3. Done.
4. I quote:
However, the 46 year-old delivery for Tyson foods remains modest and somewhat bewildered by his gifts.

"I only graduated from high school and never went to college, so when people say I'm a hero or genius, I have a hard time believing them," Sullivan told reporters. "I did not have the advantages others have, so I am grateful to God for endowing me with this gift. I do not take it for granted, because I know how much it means to so many people."

Sutton then concluded his remark with his customary, keenly anticipated recitation of the 50 states in alphabetical order."

Thank God the meme instructions didn't have me type the first six sentences because the next sentence is the guy saying all the states up to Maine. Ugh, I wouldn't want to have to type all that out.

Anyway, that reminds me of Lower 48 by The Gourds.



Not the best video quality but the best sound quality I could get.
Texas reference at 4:25
Minnesota reference at 3:24
All the other states that don't matter: 1:46
5. And I will tag Fancy Kirk, Reuben Sandwich, Jocelyn, The Anginator, and Deb.

Los Spurs

Spurs rule.

Los Spurs don't.

Today is March 6, the anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. One hundred seventy-two years ago Santa Anna and Co. topped off a 13 day siege of the Alamo with a final assault of hand-to-hand combat. It took three hours to polish off most of the Texas soldiers at the Alamo. But Texans got the last laugh a month later when they surprised Santa Anna's forces at San Jacinto, and The Republic of Texas was born.

So even though Mexico won the Battle of the Alamo, the battle is regarded as an integral battle in what ultimately lead to Texas Independence. And white boys have been running the show in Texas ever since.

So doesn't it seem like an odd day for the Spurs to celebrate their Latin American fan base by wearing uniforms that say Los Spurs?

Don't get me wrong. I get why they went with a Spanish-themed jersey. Two of the Spurs' players are Argentinian and one of them, Manu Ginobli, is wildly popular. And San Antonio prides itself on its Mexican heritage. So a Spanish-based Spurs jersey makes sense. But maybe having the Spurs market and wear these jerseys in December rather than March 6 makes even more sense.

But that's not what really seems odd to me. My issue is that phrase "Los Spurs" makes even less sense.

First of all, it's not as if their regular uniforms say "THE SPURS" on the front. They just say "SPURS." So the "Los" makes no sense.

Instead, if they wanted a true Spanish version of the uniform it should just say "Spurs" in Spanish. I should look it up, but isn't espuela how you spur in Spanish? Maybe el patron de Los Spurs (Peter Holt, I mean Senor Pedro Holt) didn't want to do that because "Los Spurs" would have to be "Las Espuelas."

A team of 12 tough guys with a feminine ending? I don't think so.

As it stands, I know of no language where "Los Spurs" means anything.

Jucy E-Mail

I am a fan of...
1. The San Antonio Spurs
2. The Nook in St. Paul.
3. La Tuna in San Antonio
4. Jones, my friend in San Antonio, TX.
5. The Anginator, my friend here in Minneapolis.

So what happens when these five forces of goodness mesh in one evening?

This is what happens. Maybe a little context will help.

About five weeks ago, Emily and I went out to The Nook for Jucy Lucys with The Anginator and her husband. Summit Winter Ale was on tap, I had a Matt Birk burger, and the company was good. I was still a little homesick from my last trip home, so I got to thinking, what would be the eqivalent in San Antonio of going to The Nook, where I can get that warm glow of being content?

Well, La Tuna in San Antonio comes close, but the warmth may be lacking when you go in December, since the place has no walls beyond the bar where you get your drink.

But back to Minneapolis five weeks ago. As the Anginator was driving Emily and I home, I had a few rants. In between rants, I remembered my last trip to La Tuna was with Emily and Jones. After Anginator dropped us off, as I was getting ready for bed, I remembered the Spurs were playing that night. I checked the score on-line and was horrified to see they losing by over 20 points. At home! It just seemed logical to e-mail Jones and e-rant against the Spurs.


With Jones at La Tuna. Find the real south Texas blogger and find the south Texas poser.

Little did I know I my letter would make its way into blognation. If I did, I may have cleaned up the language a little and maybe proof-read it so the former vs. latter agreement at the end of the letter didn't get crossed. Actually, I would have done neither. Fuck it.

Click here to read the entry.

His whole post is worth reading, because as I was getting ready for bed, he was at the game. Oddly, I think we both would agree, even though he had great seats, I had the better experience.

Reading his description of the SBC Center experience makes me nostalgic for the old HemisFair Arena where the Spurs played when I was a kid. I wonder if, decaeds from now, people will yearn for the Metrodome the same way we old Spurs fan yearn for The Arena, as we called it. In retrospect, it was a pretty crappy place to watch a game. But there wasn't one damn corporate thing about the place. And that is one reason it is missed.