Photo Friday

“Hey, just so you know, we’re out of Ginger Ale.”

That’s Callie, the newest edidtion to the Fitnessgeek family.

I had a nice run yesterday afternoon through the streets of Cartersville. I did about six miles at just under a nine minute pace. No Achilles pain, not any knee pain. I’ll run tonight again after dinner and probably tomorrow again. Sunday will be an off day in anticipation of Monday’s 10K.

It’s going to be an interesting race since I’ll be running with my brother-in-law, and it’s his first race. I haven’t run a race with a partner since my dad and I ran together almost 15 years ago. So I’m not going for a PR, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.

I’ll have a full report Tuesday, but I’ll be posting some over the weekend too. I’m planning on catching up on a few movies this weekend too…

TIART – Resting Sucks

This week’s TIART is resting. I hate resting. I hate off days. I hate not running. But I understand it’s importance.

But it still sucks.

Today is my first day back to running after a week off due to work and a terrible cold that also had me staying home from work for a couple of days. I wanted to run yesterday. A lot. But I didn’t. I gave myself another day.

Usually, I’m pretty good with resting. I run 3-5 days a week and always rest before and after my long runs. I know that’s when the body heals and strengthens itself. That’s when the running pays off. Those rest days make me stronger.

I still hate them.

The best advice I can give for this who are restaphobic (it’s a word, I promise) is to remember how important rest is to the body and the mind. You’ll run faster and easier after resting. Schedule in the days and stick to them. Scheduled rest is good. Rest because of injuries is no fun.

Moving on…

I missed my Tuesday addictions, so here they are in condensed form

1. Cold medicine – Thank you Tylenol. Perhaps I’ll name my first born for you.

2. A new kitty – Callie is a bit rambunctious. She also wails like a banshee when she’s ready to eat.

3. Crazymonkeygames – A great site for fun flash games.

4. Photography – Check out http://www.schulmanphotos.com/ I need to update it, but there it is so far. I’ve had a blast getting started and I can’t wait to see how my new venture takes off.

Finally, head over to http://cscreations.net/ for all your handmade card needs. Yeah, it’s Mrs. Fitnessgeek’s site, but she does a stellar job and I’m excited by how much she enjoys making her cards and making people smile. Go ahead buy one. You know you want to.

Back tomorrow with Photo Friday…

Fightin’ the Funk

Well, I haven’t posted in a few days, I haven’t run in a few days and I haven’t felt good in a lot of days. You see, Mrs. Fitnessgeek is a giver. She gives, gives, gives. On Friday she gave me a cold.

A simple card would have been fine.

So I made it to work for an hour Monday before heading home. Tuesday I spent mostly in bed. I’m back at work, and tonight I’ll get back to working out. And what a time for a break too. I’m running a 10k with my brother-in-law on Monday.

So I’m going to get some last minute running in today and over the rest of the week. The last day I ran I had some Achilles issues which brought up bad memories. Here’s hoping that was just a one time thing.

I’ll be back tomorrow with an extended post, TIART, some late Tuesday addictions and more.

Photo Friday

Hurray! A new feature! Since I’m getting into photography, I thought I’d start posting photos of my work. This one is of downtown Cartersville with a bit of editing.

Today will be a 5-7 mile run…if the weather holds. My long run will be Saturday. I think I’m out of the non-running funk I was in, and for that I’m happy. Also, the Braves suck. Still. As Homer Simpson said, “Those guys sure did suck last night. They’re the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.”

Sigh.

TIART – It Just Takes Some Time

The theme this week for Take It And Run Thursday is the Middle miles. The title of this post is of course from Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle.”

For me the problem is motivation. How do you get through the slow months, the dog days of summer, the bitter winters, etc.

I’m having this problem now. How do I go run when I’m so far from my goal? When there is great baseball on tv (not the Braves), air conditioning inside and a Wii calling my name?

So last night I wore my butt out. I normally have a four to six mile run on Wednesdays, but last night I just did hills. No watch. No iPod. No excuses. I ran up this one hill and then down it 10 times. At the end I was huffing, puffing and about to fall down.

But I felt alive. And I was back in love with running.

So that’s the big secret. Get there and do a different type of run that just wears you the hell down. Then the next day you won’t be able to think about anything else.

Run. Run hard. Just run.

I was up early this morning do work, so my run will be tonight as soon as I walk in the door. I’m looking forward to going out there and sweating all this energy out.

Memory

I upgraded the ol’ computer last night with an extra gig of memory. I know that’s not too exciting, but there ya go. Now Photoshop runs lightyears faster. Hurray!

I didn’t run yesterday. I was at work until almost 7. Which isn’t an excuse in itself either.

I’m in a rut. I’m not sure what I need to do. I know I need to run. I need to work out more (a lot more) and I feel like I can’t figure out where to start.

So I’m just going to start. I have a marathon in just about two months. Tonight I’ll work out harder than I have in months. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up and run. Friday morning I’ll run and work out. Saturday I’ll have an easy run and Sunday will be my long run.

That’s the plan. I’m sticking to it.

Bringing the Thunder

Go see Tropic Thunder. It’s fantastic, funny, satirical and people who are boycotting it are wrong because the movie is on their side. It’s blasting Hollywood for making movies about those with mental handicaps just to win Oscars.

Also, Tom Cruise dances to Ludacris. What else needs to be said?

I had my long run Saturday and I finished at 12 miles and right at 2 hours. I was definitely worn out by the end, but I was pretty happy with the speed. My knees were sore afterward, but not as bad as I expected. I just hope they can handle longer runs. My ultimate goal is still a sub 4, but I’m aiming for a sub 4:20.

I had my high school reunion Saturday night. What a surreal experience. I wasn’t the cool kid in school (see my blog name), but I had hoped I had changed. I don’t know. There were plenty of people who didn’t talk to me at the reunion, but I didn’t talk to them either, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

I’m still that same guy I was 10 years ago. Same positives, same negatives. I had thought I had changed, but I really hadn’t. I still see myself the same way but maybe I’m just older. On the other hand, most people hadn’t changed either. The people who were pricks in high school are just older pricks.

In other news…go see Tropic Thunder. Really. Tom Cruise plus Ludacris equals gold.

On Snakes and Running

Was set to go running last night. Then I discovered what turned out to be a nearly four foot long rattlesnake in my front yard. I spent the next hour finding somebody to “take care” of it. That was…disturbing. There is nothing more unnerving in nature than the sound of rattlesnake. It grates on you and you feel it under your skin.

So, after the snake was finished off, it was pretty dark out. After nearly walking up on the rattlesnake in plain daylight, I had no plans to push my luck by running in the dark past large fields and yards.

I did work out last night. I’m doing a variation of the “300″ workout. I’m calling mine the “150″ because it’s probably not as tough, but it’s rough on me. My long run will be tomorrow. It’s supposed to me Sunday, but I have my fantasy football draft Sunday and I’ll need Sunday morning to cruise the web and cram for my draft.

So tomorrow’s 12-13 miles…

TIART – Feet

This week’s Take It And Run Thursday’s theme is feet. Foot care, protection, etc.

OK, so first things first. I’m a dude. I watch football and baseball, drink beer, believe know that Die Hard is the greatest movie ever and I don’t do pedicures. Ever.

However, since I’ve been doing the running thing this year, I’ve noticed my feet look pretty bad. And I don’t care that much. Really. But they also hurt a bit and I’m pretty sure that has something to do with the fact that I care for my feet is limited to washing them.

So I’m thinking once every other week I’ll use Mrs. Fitnessgeek’s foot bath thingy. With the curtains drawn. And I’m not using any type of smelly lotions. Maybe one. But I’m not going to enjoy it. And while I’m bathing my feet and lotioning up I’ll be watching football or a movie that has a lot explosions.

I think I’m going to enjoy it. Please don’t tell.

I ran seven miles yesterday for my mid-week long run. It’s the second week in a row I’ve added a mid-week run, and I’m glad I threw it in. My schedule’s been a bit wonky of late, so I sometimes miss my run on Tuesdays. This longer run is a nice addition. Today I’ll do some hill work and my new workout which I’ll post tomorrow.

My fantasy football draft is Sunday and I’ve done zero research for it. Mostly because my fantasy baseball team is in the midst of a pennant run. Wow, that’s tremendously geeky. I apologize.

The Rain Won

Well, I tried to go running yesterday, but by the time I left work it was pouring. So I skipped my run. I’ll run this afternoon. If it rains, I’ll bike inside.

I did hit the library and grabbed a few books. I’m on an Elmore Leonard kick so I picked up “The Hot Kid.” I also borrowed Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.” I’m a little apprehensive, because a portion of the ending was accidentally told to me. But he’s an incredible author.

Not much else at the moment. I’ve been having trouble getting motivated to work out, but I think that’s about to change…

The Braves are still reeling from the loss of Skip Caray. Games won’t be the same.