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What's Been Going On - 06/11/09

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:05:49 -0400

Note: This was written a few days ago. Since I only had internet access via my phone in Vegas, here it is now. I will provide a recap of our time in Vegas shortly.

I will take this moment, cruising at 38,000 feet en route to a bachelor party in Vegas for my friend, Sean, to catch you up on what's been going on in life. Based on my recent posting habits, you may have guessed I've been a bit busy, and you'd be correct.

Where to start? I have no idea. This won't be in chronological order, but instead as it comes to me.

Toys
I am currently writing this from my [relatively] new Asus 1000HE Eee PC, an ultra-portable netbook computer. I had been eying netbooks for quite a while and was finally pushed over the edge when this none was introduced. It has a battery that lasts up to 9 hours, ample processing power to play all the games of my college days (before PC games started to get crappy) with ease, and only cost $400 shipped to my door. Heck of a deal. The kicker is it's only 11" wide; it fits anywhere. While this also means a rather small screen, I've found it more than acceptable for the basic computing it is intended for. Aside from the battery life, one thing this guy offers over the competition is a keyboard that is 92% the size of a full one. Most netbooks of this size are in the mid 80s, and it's very noticeable. If you're looking for a tiny little machine to sit on a coffee table or throw in your backpack and not worry about, I'd highly recommend this one.

I also built a bike! Completed months ago (yes, things have been that busy), "Black Gold" is a Surly 1x1 that I bought as a bare frame from a local guy and built up with 100% parts of my choosing. It was an interesting build as the 1x1 frame is intended for 26" wheels, but wanting a little bit faster rolling, I threw 29" ones on it. I was worried the geometry would be thrown out of whack, but a 30-mile ride through NYC last month proves otherwise. I really love the bike and it seems strangers do too; I get compliments on it just about every week. I chose to build my own and am very happy I did; I ended up with every single component I wanted and it ended up being about the same price as pre-built bike I was looking at with far lesser components. Oops! Was just about to end this subject when I realized I left out a very important point! It's a single-speed. No gears, a bunch fewer cables, less to break, less to adjust, less to worry about. While it kills me to be stuck in a single gear on a few hills near the house, they're easy enough to avoid. Riding such a bike is like jumping back to the days of being a kid... It is such a more enjoyable experience to just be pedaling away without a care as to what gear you should be in... You've just gotta do what you're faced with.

Some may call their main vehicle a tool, but not me... The Civic is very much a toy. With running ramping up, I haven't been to the track in a year and a half, and really have no plans to get there, but I have so much time, blood, sweat, and money put in to the car, I can't justify taking the loss and picking up something boring; it's still a pretty useful vehicle with the hatchback, good gas mileage, and the fact I can fix and diagnose anything on it. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to keep up with maintenance on it and every drive is one in which I hope there isn't a catastrophic failure. For your amusement and my use [I always forget this stuff], the following are the items needing work:

- Radiator. The original, 16 year old, 194k mile one is just about done. I had been just about done for two years now, but just recently it has shown a very visible crack and steams during each use. I fill it with a bottle of water just about every 50 miles. I have a full-length aluminum [read: bling] replacement to put in, but the installation requires some custom work I just haven't gotten around to.

- Rear brakes. Are both sticking. Odd, I could have sworn I had greased the pins when I replaced the pads during the major maintenance cycle I did a few months back. Either the calipers need to be replaced, I need to regrease them, I need to replace the pins, or I need to replace the dust boots. None of this is hard work, but this will wait for the other repairs to be completed.

- Oxygen sensor. The car used to get 40mpg on the highway. These days, I only see about 28. I have replaced the PCV valve, but that didn't solve it. It could be as simple as going to the new transmission is throwing my RPMs out of the economical zone when cruising (used to be at 2500 @ 70mph in 5th, but now over 4000). Either way, the oxygen sensor is old, I have the replacement, and it only takes about 30 minutes to do.

- Tachometer. Years ago my tachometer stopped reading correctly. Not a big deal, but it's annoying. It seems the distance between 3k-5k RPMs only moves the tach from 3k to 4k, which results in my "redline" being about 1k lower than what the engine is actually doing.

- Rear shock mount. Buddy Club makes crap products. I just replaced one of my rear shock mounts for $60 and now it seems the other has gone bad. I haven't had the time to properly diagnose it, but I'm pretty sure the noise [similar to a gunshot] coming from one side of the car when I go over a bump is a bearing that is loose. I really need to be careful... this failure could be catastrophic.

- Rear sway bar. I bought a pretty nice kit from a guy used. Unfortunately, he doesn't do his own work, and his mechanic somehow misplaced all the mounting hardware. $30 later, I have it all mounted up to the car, but not actually connected because it's missing some parts that I simply can't find anywhere. REALLY annoying. You'd think a seller would offer some sort of refund or compensation when something like this happens [I know I do], but no. "Sorry about that." Some people suck.

Running
I finally feel as if I'm over the injuries following the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler. I'm no longer sick, my knee doesn't hurt or feel wobbly, and after a half dozen visits to the chiropractor, my hip doesn't cause me to limp when I walk down the street. It turns out my sacroiliac joint was in seriously bad shape; a diagnosis I came up with on my own (yay Google!) and the doctor confirmed. I think it may have been due to regular visits to the track, in which we run hard and always in the same direction. I have stopped going to the track, instead doing my speed workouts in a straight line on the W&OD trail. I miss being the company of friends, but my health outweighs them :P I'm going to give the track a go again very soon, but am also going to suggest to the Board (I am a board member at large as of the beginning of May) that we alternate directions on the track every week.

Luckily, with all the injuries, I didn't have to drop too many miles. I'm now about 700 miles for the year as compared to 215 at this point last year. Just last week I ran my first 50-mile week ever, felt great, and finished it with a 20-miler in sub-8:00 pace. Last year our 20-milers were close to 8:40 pace and were a lot tougher; I'm clearly improving.

My weight has been fluctuating quite a bit and going higher than I like, especially since I'm still trying to drop another five off of the lowest I've been as an adult, but I think a few weeks of not eating ridiculous lunches will solve that. Just last week I took it a lot easier and have dropped four pounds already.

I haven't run any races since the half marathon, but do have a few shorter races coming up in the very near future. After those? San Fran Marathon! We just registered and booked air and hotel... I can't wait!

Just last week I collected my award for winning the Snowball Series this winter. It's now time to defend my title in the summer Bunion Derby racing series. It's going to be a bit tough for me to make five of the races with the marathon falling where it does, but I think I'll be able to make it happen [assuming no really fast guys in my age group just moved to the area].

Caitlin has also been training really well and it's scaring me... I think if she really went for it, she could likely beat me in the marathon. Luckily, she doesn't yet have the confidence to attempt it. Training paces dictate that's all she's really lacking. I will forever dominate her in shorter races (luckily, they're the ones we do most often), in part due to me being more of a mid-long distance runner and her being pretty much a pure long distance runner, but also because women are better at longer distances. If she puts the pressure on at the end of July, I'll simply retire from marathoning

Work
Hectic as ever. Recently finished working on a DFS feature, which was a lot for me to wrap my mind around. Currently working on something a bit more simple, but very broad and in need of a lot of testing over the next few weeks since it's very date-driven. I expect a lot of late nights until mid-July... Perfect considering it's the heart of my marathon training... sigh. Such is life.

We also recently downsized for the second time this year. In this round were two pretty good friends so it was tough.

Video Games
Until recently, I hadn't really been playing anything. It always seems this time of the year that we just came through is severely lacking in quality releases. I ended up starting Lord of the Rings Online, which is a major time-sink (first step is acknowledgment!), but entertaining at times. I also picked up UFC 2009 for the XBOX, but was quickly bored with it... Need to sell... Last week I grabbed Red Faction: Guerrilla and have been having an absolute blast destroying anything and everything (it's an open Martian world in which EVERYTHING is destructible). We also [as a household] played Rock Band 2 at a friend's place and the girls were hooked; we picked that up this week and have been playing it pretty hard the past few days. I do drums and vocals, as does Caitlin, and Erin is our guitar.

General
In another week I head down to Wilmington, NC to help Jessie with her move. With my parents moving later this year and another baby on the way, they decided now was the time to get out of the area/closer to where my parents will be, and in to a bigger place. I'm sad to see them go as I'll only ever see them like two times a year... Gonna miss that little Katie bugger, but I knew this was coming so while I said the webcam I gave them for Christmas was so they could video conference with my grandmother, it was actually for me

Mom had her knee replaced a little over a month ago now. She's still in quite a bit of pain, but she's getting around pretty well and has her good days. I'll have her running that 5k in no time, but maybe after she has the other knee replaced :frown:

Amber is really beginning to age. Lots of gray in her coat, has trouble with her basic bodily functions, had a near-death experience a few months ago after swallowing a rag, and is now deaf. It's tough to have known her as a newborn and having to see her go through all this, but such is life.

Caitlin was told a month ago that she had until October at her current job. The job market for her field is pretty rough right now; she had been looking for quite a while before she was told she was officially let go (she knew it was coming eventually) and found nothing. Luckily, like a day after she was given notice, our former roommate's girlfriend, Jobi, got in touch with her seeing if she was looking for a job. Jobi has been working at a small [currently] two-person firm, Lori Graham Design for a few years, but was going to head back to school. The job was perfect for Caitlin, the compensation worked out, and she'll be starting to commute her little self in to DC in another week! She's very excited to be working in residential as it can be full of fun and she'll be very much involved in every process of design at a small firm.

Two weekends ago was our 4th Annual Canoe Trip on the Rappahannock. This year we doubled in size; seven folks instead of the normal four. I was the odd man out since everybody had a closer connection to someone else than I did so I ended up making it a solo kayak trip, which was a blessing in disguise as I was able to rescue an entire canoe's worth of bags, sandals, and boxes following a capsizing upstream. Was a a good time, as usual, but the water was a bit higher than usual so we moved really quickly, which put us in a bit of a predicament... We were well past the spots we usually camp at and faced nothing but full camps at the prime spots we had never gotten to. This left us completing 75% of the trip on the first day and not being able to enjoy the rest of camp time as much as possible. Click here for pics. This year was a much safer one from me; I actually stayed out of the water the whole time! Last year I got a little more drunk than I should have and ended up swimming pretty much the entire 30 miles.. That took a serious toll on my body and I was recovering for a few days.

I think that covers just about everything. We're halfway in to our flight, but I won't be posting this until I get on the ground with some sort of internet connection. Thanks for reading and sorry for not updating as much as I should!

I added some photos

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:31:09 -0400

I am due a real post; tons has been going on. For now, be happy with some pictures:

Hey, heard of Swine Flu recently?

Thu, 28 May 2009 14:43:48 -0400

Yeah, you probably haven't; the media isn't too keen on admitting they are idiots. As I predicted, we're now at a mortality rate approaching .5%, and that's only of reported cases... You know, the more severe ones.

Where are they now? Franklyn Sanchez

Sat, 23 May 2009 14:06:21 -0400

Reading an article in Running Times, which mentions a guy named Franklyn Sanchez, apparently the US record holder in the 5k for juniors. I had never heard of the guy so I go searching...

Apparently he's my age and ran for Georgetown. Extra odd I had never heard of him... Well, as it turns out, this phenom, who could have been a giant name is US Track and Field today, was plagued by injuries FOREVER. So much so that he really never ran after his first season in college.

I was unable to find much on him other than he's currently in finance and ran a 5k in 2007 in 17:47; not all that much faster than me... Today he's likely slower than me. What a massive fall from greatness.

Sad story... I'd love to interview him, as he still does hold a pretty prestigious record AND I'm sure he's got some words of wisdom to share.

Race: Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon

Sun, 17 May 2009 10:45:58 -0400

I went and did it. Felt absolutely miserable on a 1.5 miler yesterday, but saw some pretty drastic improvements in my sinuses so I decided to give it a shot.

Prerace I decided I'd just go with Caitlin. She was shooting for 7:15 pace. That's my marathon pace so if I could do a half while sick on a cold, windy, rainy day, I think that puts me in pretty good shape. As we started, I really didn't feel like I was going to last a mile. That feeling continued the entire race... It was a hard one mentally. Around ten miles, I started feeling like I had a little something left so I opened it up a bit, and finished with no motivation, plenty left in my legs, and no energy in 1:35:49. Two minutes or so off my PR (set in the marathon), but given all the things going against me, I'm happy enough. My ten-mile race pace from a month and a half says I'm capable of a 1:25, and before getting sick I was planning on going for 1:29... Oh well, not in the cards today.

Caitlin finished as the 8th female with a 1:36:20 (four minute PR). AMAZING considering it was a race of 5000+. Our friend Clint, also sick, ran with us the first eight miles, and finished in 1:32 something. Erin also ran a great race, putting in a 1:53:04 (six minute PR)... So we're all happy.

The course was pretty hilly, but also had lots of scenery changes, so it was sort of nice. There were 7000 competitors, but they all seemed to corral pretty well; no traffic issues that we ran in to. A well-run race... Thanks to Fredericksburg and the organizers.

I can't say we'll run this one again because it kind of fits oddly in to our usual schedules (I don't plan on running a July marathon ever again... CAITLIN!), but wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Overall, a good wake up call for future races... Weather and health aren't going to always work out; have a backup plan and/or don't be afraid to skip the race you were planning on setting a fast time in and reschedule for the next weekend. Trying to qualify for Boston this year, I need to very much keep this in my mind. Halfway in to training, I've been injured for several weeks, sick for another... It may not be the race for me. Luckily, we haven't signed up yet... Going to give it another week of heavy mileage to see what happens.

It's Allergies

Sat, 16 May 2009 12:38:41 -0400

In case you haven't seen me, I've had a miserable week health-wise. Sore throat, major drainage, eyes feel like they're going to pop out of my head...

I have a half marathon scheduled this weekend. Unfortunately, I don't think I can do it. I'm still attending, and I may pace Erin or Caitlin, but I still have my doubts on that. This reminded me that I had canceled a 5K next weekend in order to make this week's race more doable...

So I began thinking about that 5K last year. I was sick for it! As I recall, it was the exact same thing... So I took a look at my running log. Yep, same thing, just a week later last year. Then I take a look at '07... Yep, same thing, but two weeks later than this year... I think I'm on to something. Looks like I was fine in '06, but my log is a bit bare in '05. Regardless, I've got three years of data showing I have some sort of allergy around this time... That's good enough for me.

So that's that. Journals of some sort are cool. This is the first time my running log has provided me anything useful other than letting me know I've been getting a bunch faster.

I suppose I should no longer plan races from mid to late May in the future. I do think Caitlin and I'll be racing the 5K next weekend though; if you're out by Round Hill, stop by.

Five Boro Bike Tour

Tue, 12 May 2009 16:42:22 -0400

Two weekends ago, I hopped in a minivan packed with bikes and people (coworker Brian, lunch friend Molly, and two of their friends, Pam and Patrick), and made my way up to NYC to ride around as part of the Five Boro Bike Tour. The idea is you start in Manhattan and over the course of 42 miles, visit all five boroughs of the city.

We got in to town Saturday, ventured in to the city for some grub and drink (met John at Blind Tiger Ale House, great place, and great to see him for the first time in five years... I also tasted my favorite new beer there, McChouffe), returned to our hotel to get a few hours sleep, up at 5 hungover as hell, pack up [except for my keys... those are gone], hop in the van again, drive to the Staten Island Ferry, and finally arrive in Battery Park.

Upon arrival at the event, we're greeted with a street packed with cyclists. Very little room to move, and in 30 minutes, we had gone 1/4 a block. Bad news. We decide to instead take the Hudson River Bike Path, and catch the tour closer to Central Park. Definitely the way to go. As far as the ride goes, the singlespeed was perfectly suited, but the weather was not in our favor. 50 degrees and raining. Out on a bike in that for six hours is pretty miserable. At the 30 mile mark, we decide to cut it short by going across the Brooklyn Bridge... Enough was enough... There was no trophy at the end; why suffer?

Back at Battery Park, we hop on the Staten Island Ferry again, get to the van, change, and head on home... Tired, cold, and soaked to the bone.

Overall, a very cool event, and one I plan on doing again, but if there is foul weather in the forecast, I'm going to just forfeit my $48 entry and head home or see a museum.

Brian's Blog Entry
My GPS Dump
All My Pics
Only My Better Pics

My Thoughts on Swine Flu

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:01:33 -0400

Just the media needing a story to latch on to. Let's look at some mortality rates:

Avian/Bird Flu (H5N1): 56%
SARS: 15%
Swine Flu (H1N1): 4.5%
Typical Flu Season: 1% (couldn't find good data so I estimated based on what I did gather AND this number is only for the US, where Swine Flu has a 0% death rate)

And that 4.5% will only go down as we're now able to recognize and treat it properly. I hate media and mass hysteria.

Katie's Pretty Face and More

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:03:07 -0400

Paid a visit to the family out in Herndon. Kids are hilarious... Katie does this "pretty face" thing that is absolutely atrocious and hilarious.

Click for Gallery

Race: Crystal City 5K Friday #4

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:52:55 -0400

Last week I paced Erin to her adult PR. This week, I was feeling good, was able to get in all my training mileage, and decided to give this race a solid effort.

It was a hot and somewhat windy day. My goal was 6:00 pace, which equates to an adult PR (18:49 last year). Having run the course pretty easily the week before, I knew it, and really liked that. I knew to line up pretty close to the front, where the miles were, where the hills were... It was cool. Unfortunately, my GPS watch wasn't sitting in the cradle correctly and the battery was done... Poop! Regular old watch it was...

Line up, guy tells us "go," and we're on our way. Bit of a crowd for the small mats they had so the start was a bit rough, but it opened up pretty quickly. 6:00 for the first mile, which had a fair amount of wind. Great. Had a decent pack ahead of me including the first female... Targets... At about a mile and a half, I leave that little pack and then there's only a few lone runners ahead of me. Close to the two mile, my friend Brian hops in and runs for a bit. I go through the 2nd mile at 12:07. Damn! Slowed. Still have a handful of targets in front of me... After the turnaround at maybe 2.5 miles, there is a slight hill. It was time to go. I gave it a bit more gas, pulled a small gap on all the targets, and held it. Final time was 18:56. Not bad, but also not as good as I was hoping for... It really took a lot of effort to make it happen. I finished 8th overall. What is odd is the person in front of me was 1:56 ahead. It was as if I won the race of normal people I didn't even see the guy.

Caitlin and Erin also ran... They're both somehow missing from the results, but Caitlin improved on her adult PR with a 20:30. We then capped off a good night of running with some Jaleo and Cold Stone.

There is another race this Friday, but I think I could use the rest... This was my first week really getting back to the miles, I was absolutely exhausted after our 15-miler today (combination of the heat, the hard week [hill workout, 40 miles, race Friday, harder than cross-training mountain biking yesterday]), and I've got a 42-mile bike ride in NYC next Sunday.

Next race is the Marine Corps Historic Half on May 17th. It will likely be crazy hot and I'm training through it; despite my 1:04 10-miler saying I can run a 1:25, I think I'm just going to go for accomplishing the sub-1:30 goal.