Photo Friday and More

Ugh. I’ve been up since 3:30. I’ve got a head cold. It should be a very long day.

I worked out last night and tonight I’m going to try and ride the stationary bike before falling asleep. Or maybe I’ll sleep on the bike. I haven’t decided.

After watching The Office last night, I’ve been singing “Life is a Highway” for the last hour. I’ll miss Holly Flax…

Favorite lines: Did Darryl touch you?
Da-na-na-na-na!

I’ve got a run planned for Saturday, 4-6 miles. I’m trying to just do some light running before amping up my marathon training in two weeks. Now for the photo!

Yes, another photo with the infamous parrot costume. I didn’t get to take a lot of photos this week, but come on, who doesn’t like a giant parrot?

TIART Super Powers

This week’s theme at the lounge is running super powers. Hmmmmm…I’ll divide this into powers I have and powers I wish I had.

Powers I wish I had
1. To look good running – Vain yes. But who doesn’t want this?

2. The power to change traffic lights on a whim – No more jogging in place at intersections. Woohoo!

3. Ability to sing – Yeah, I run with an iPod and it sounds so much better than me.

Powers I do have

1. Super dive into the ditch just in time power – Dodging traffic that slips to close to the road is a nice power to have.

2. Super no fashion sense power – I wear shorts and a white t-shirt.

3. Inability to know better- I’ve been known to run with injuries or not wear enough clothing when it gets cold.

4. The power to really enjoy running – Because I know people who don’t enjoy it.

Last night my dad and I watched Quarantine. This is an intense movie. And bloody. And awesome. We went to see this since Mrs. Fitnessgeek was at her New Kids On the Block concert. For those interested, head here for all the details.

Glad to see the Phillies win last night. They deserved it. No running tonight, but I’ll get a few miles in tomorrow and a nice run on Sunday too.

On Nightmares

I pushed myself a bit too much yesterday. I did about 5.5 miles, but at the end my calves started to tighten up pretty good. I spent last night hobbling around and stretching. They’re somewhat better today, so I’ll do weights tonight and then an easier jog tomorrow.

Had the worst dream last night. I was at a bookstore, Borders or Barnes and Noble, and went searching for hours trying to find something and couldn’t find it. I went through fiction, then mystery and even into sports but couldn’t find any books. I’m pretty sure you’re a geek if this qualifies as a nightmare.

I’ll also have normal nightmares about money, family, etc. But this was one of the geekier dreams I’ve had.

Mrs. Fitnessgeek is regressing to the age of 9 tonight when she and my sister head to the New Kids On The Block concert. Or NKOTB as they prefer now. I wanted to want to go. Instead, my dad and I are going to see an R-rated movie, Quarantine. It’s funny to see my wife act like a kid when she talks about her first concert with her dad. And how now she still gets all shrieky and giddy when talking about tonight’s concert.  Perhaps I’ll have photos to post tomorrow.

Tuesday Addictions

Well, the parrot photos have been quite a hit. Who knew I looked better with feathers?

On to the Addictions!

1. Marathon re-pre-preparations – Now that I have a new first marathon picked out (Knoxville Marathon on March 29), I’m starting to get my running schedule together. I think I’m going to be very prepared. And uninjured. Sweet.

2. Hating Bud Selig – Can the guy do one thing for baseball without screwing it up? He tells only the general managers he’s going to suspend a rule about rained out games. Would have been nice for the rest of the world to know. He messed up the All-Star game, steroid testing and is in general not made baseball better.

3. Ranting about Bud Selig – See above.

4. Getting back into weight lifting – I really, really need to do this more. I’ve been so-so at it the last week.

5. Running in the cold – I’m not looking forward to this afternoon’s run with temperatures in the mid 30’s. I hate the first weeks of my body getting acclimated to a new temperature. But I do enjoy the cold running once I get a handle on it.

Proud

Well, I have a second part to the Parrot running adventure. This one doesn’t involve costumes.

My wife has rheumatoid arthritis. It keeps her from running and hiking is something she used to love but must now do in much more limited amounts. She is too young (and pretty) to have to deal with this. But she does it with a strong heart, a big smile and a husband who never stops being proud of her.

I signed up for the 5K because Mrs. Fitnessgeek was planning on doing the one mile Fun Run/Walk. I was more excited for her than for my race. Unfortunately, they started both races at the same time so I didn’t get to see her finish. I was actually planning on walking her race with her, but the stars didn’t align for us.

Yesterday she wore her first ever race shirt. You should have seen her smile. She finished the mile with her mom and her brother’s girlfriend. Mrs. Fitnessgeek was the first walker to cross the finish line. She finished in first place in her first race! Not too shabby.

I’ve already started looking for her for other one milers. She keeps asking if the races have 5Ks for me, but she doesn’t understand I want to go just to watch her.

New Course Record!

That’s right, I set a new course record at the Southern Shuffle 5K last night. Not a personal course record, an overall course record. Given my previous times I’ve posted here over the last 10 months, that may be hard to believe.

I am now the course record holder for overall fastest time for anyone wearing a giant parrot suit. Really. And no, costumes were not required, suggested or even recommended for the course.

Four hours before the race my brother-in-law comes into the house and says, “Hey, I’ve still got these old parrot costumes, want to wear them?”

I say sure and minutes later my mother-in-law is hemming the tail so I don’t trip over it running. When we show up at the race, our outfits are a hit.

 

That’s Mrs. Fitnessgeek posing with her feathered husband after the run. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be photographed with such a studly looking bird, but she was a good sport. The suits looked great. However, we were burning up, even in the 45 degree cold. To make matters worse, the course is not well lit.

This should be fun. The horn goes off and we race out. My brother-in-law is on my tail, literally. Behind us we hear, “Those parrots really can run!” and “I don’t want to be beat by a parrot.”

Almost instantly I’m overheating. At the half mile mark I push the parrot head back. I’m sweating something fierce. But I’m up toward the front and flying fast (last pun, maybe). My first mile is a fast 7:40, but I’m starting to tire. Foam bird suits are not made for running.

Two miles in and I’m just over 16 minutes. I grab a cup of water and toss it over my head. I’m still burning up, but it helps. The closer I get to the finish, the more I can hear the cheers. I’ve been battling another runner for the last half mile, and I finally pass him just a 100 feet before the finish line.

The clock reads “25:05.”

Not bad for a parrot suit, right? As soon as I’m done Mrs. Fitnessgeek comes over and takes a few photos.

I’m the one on the left with the regulation size shorts. My fellow parrot finishes at 27 minutes. In my age group I’m 6th out of 10-12 runners. Not too bad for a parrot. I did however finish first in the parrot division!

Overall it was an absolute blast. We had people congratulating us and shaking our hands the rest of the night. It’s fun to race hard, but it turns out it’s more fun to do it as a tropical bird. Who knew?

By the way, the shins felt great, but I’m sore today just from running at such a good clip. Also, Mrs. Fitnessgeek set her own record at the race. More on that tomorrow!

Photo Friday, etc.

It’s 5:25 a.m. and I’m wide awake. This is due partly to going to bed last night around 10,  the earliest for me in a long time. I got home around 9 with a bad eye thingy caused by a dying contact lens and that gave me a good-sized headache. So I crashed early and now I’m up early.

Super.

Anyway, here’s this week’s photo:

That’s AJ. He’s tuckered out. Poor thing.

Due to my early bedtime last night, I missed the Office. This is causing lots of hurt.

Take a look to the right…yep, the blog roll has finally been updated. There’s more to add, it’s just taking me some time. The shins are continuing to improve. I’m going to do an easy jog tonight and then figure what time I’d like to shoot for in tomorrow’s little 5K.

Mostly though, I can’t wait to start training again. I’m thinking of either the ING Georgia Marathon or the Knoxville Marathon. Both are March 29. I’m leaning to the Atlanta one, but we’ll see. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

TIART – Running and Weight

This week’s topic at the Lounge is running and weight. I’m not sure what I can offer, but I’ll do my best.

Let’s see:

I’ll never give up pizza. Ever. Ever ever. But I use running to keep the weight down.

I love to think about what I’m going to eat when I get back from a long run. Even if I don’t actually eat that food. It’s just a motivational technique.

I try to eat in moderation. This started about a year ago for me. It’s important especially out at restaurants. I eat and when I get full I stop. No more trying to down a few more fries or the last bites of a sandwich. I don’t feel terrible when I get up from the table and it helps keep the weight down.

I love pizza with jalepenos on top.

When I snack, I try to set limits. I also try to eat small meals throughout the day. That’s a big one for me.

Finally, when I get back from a run, I allow myself to cheat just a bit. Not much. Just a bit.

That’s all I got. Eat smart, but have fun too. Don’t starve youself or deprive yourself of cookies (I’m looking at you Nat).

I did a two-mile run last night to test the shin. The run felt good, but today I’ve had a few minor aches and pains. I’ll skip running until the 5K on Saturday and then back off again for another week or so before beginning my next training program. If I do weights tonight as planned, that’ll be three days this week that I’ve lifted. It’s been a while since I’ve had that many days.

The Office is on tonight. Here’s to Creed to saying something totally inappropriate…and hilarious.

Recharging

I ran yesterday… 2:30. It was a record time for me given that it was the longest I’ve run in two weeks and the shortest I’ve run in like ever. Yeah, I just used “like.” I’m not proud of that.

But the shin had only a minor twinge. No pain lingering afterward. Today I’ve had just a twinge every now and then, but nothing like a few days ago. I’m still sitting out the marathon though. There’s no going back on that.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and encouragement. It really is appreciated. I’m looking forward to getting back out and running again soon. So a question now: has anybody used the Galloway method of training? A friend swears by it, but the idea of walking during a long run just goes against my nature. I love to run. I want to push myself. But people love Galloway’s plan.

Also, Fringe is fantastic. I’m in love with this show. It’s filling the whole left by X-Files.

The World Series starts tonight. Go Phillies. I say they win in 5. My friend picked the Rays in 6…

Down Not Out

So I’ve decided to not do the marathon. My shin is fine when I walk, but running even small distances causes it to ache. I need to stay off it for a few more weeks, which means no marathon.

And that sucks. I biked last night at home and I’ll keep doing that 4-5 times a week until the leg heals. I’m also continuing with the weight lifting.

I need to let the shins heal. But as soon as I can, I’ll get back to running. My first marathon will be the ING Georgia Marathon on March 29, 2009. I’m hoping to be back running in early November, not counting the 5K on Saturday.

I’m pretty bummed, but deep down I know it’s the right decision. It just sucks. I just bought new running shoes that have two whole miles on them. Oh well. I’ll wear them out eventually.

Tuesday Addictions

1. Plotting my recovery – I’ve read at least two dozen sites on shin splints, fractures, etc. I know way more than I should. Also, I know way less that I really think. That part’s been proven.

2. Weight lifting – It’s fun to get back into this. Except for the being sore part.

3. 50/50 – Just finished the book. I enjoyed it and felt jealous reading it with an ice pack on my leg. I highly recommend it for all runners.

4. Finding my winter clothes – The temperature dipped a good bit here recently. My body’s in shock.