Happy Thanksgiving

I thought about posting all that I am thankful for this year, but the list would be too long. Let me just say I’m thankful for all of you and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, even those crazy Canadians who celebrate it in October. Which by the way, doesn’t make sense. Thanksgiving is supposed to be celebrated on the Thursday of the Cowboys and Lions games. That’s the whole point of the holiday. I think.

Anyway, I went for a nice run yesterday but the IT pain started to rear it’s head again. I think I’m not landing correctly on my left foot, judging from the wear on my shoe. I’m going to experiment with trying to land more evenly the next time I run.

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog and keeps me motivated. I’ve enjoyed getting to know all of you. Now, off to pack and prepare myself to eat. If I call it fueling for a run, I can justify eating more right?

Back To It

Thanks to everyone for the kind words regarding yesterday’s post. It means a lot.

Yesterday was a long day. I was up early and then my best friend was in town and we were up until almost 1 watching The Shield finale. We had to DVR it because we were meeting one of Mrs. Fitness Geek’s friends for a later dinner.

The finale was terrific. I don’t of a series finale that I’ve seen that matched the scope, power and intensity of this one. And they wrapped everything up. What more can you ask for? I’m sure at least a few Emmys are headed toward the show. Easily one of the best hours of TV this year. Or any year.

I’ve got my running gear in the car for a run after work. I’m planning on doing five miles today, four  tomorrow and four Friday. I’ll take Saturday off and then go for a six miler on Sunday.

I should probably mention that Lost has a nice little trailer out for the fifth season. I’ve only watched it once because I worry that looking at it any more will have me thinking about it constantly and counting the days until the show returns. There are obvious clues in the trailer, but if I even start to think about what they could mean I’ll just go crazy and start shouting out Hurley’s lottery numbers in a fit of geeky Tourette’s.

Finally, I’ll be back tomorrow but I probably won’t post again until Saturday late. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

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Apologies, Miles and Movies and More

I’m sorry I haven’t been commenting on all the blogs that I read. I really need to get better about that. I try and visit all of them at least once a day, but sometimes work get in my way and that sucks. So I’m sorry. I’ll work on getting better about that.

I ran a light, easy two miles yesterday morning. It was another cold morning with temps in the 20’s, and my legs were still a bit tired from the 5K race a day earlier. However, just getting the miles in was enough. It was a slow pace, but it felt right too.

No running today, and I’m going to try and get in four tomorrow before a crazy day at work and a visit from my best friend to watch the Shield Finale. Oh! Tomorrow between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. EST head to www.bartowheadlines.com and click the big banner in the top right corner for the Cartersville station. Then pick the station again and select a media player, either Windows, Real or Winamp.

Mrs. Fitness Geek and I will be doing the morning show on her station. She normally doest he 5 p.m. news, but they needed someone to fill in today and tomorrow. As the joke goes, I have a face for a radio.

Elsewhere, I ended up having to DVR 24 last night, but I’ll catch up tonight. What I saw was good though. I’m starting a new workout that I think will be a throwback to the one I did in college that first got me into shape.

Finally, tomorrow, I’ll be trying something new. I’ve been dealing with something for the past few months that I haven’t mentioned here on the blog. So I’ll be using WordPress’ famed protected posts to talk about it. All you regulars are welcome to read it, just e-mail me at schulmanwriter@gmail.com for the password. The posts are not something wonderfully scandalous like photos of a naked celebrity, but it’s something that I think should be shared. Soooooo, is that enough of a reason to come back tomorrow or what? E-mail me if you want the password.

That’s all for now. I’m off to plan how I’m going to get my runs in with the holiday traveling…

Running/Walking to a Great 5K

This was a pretty big event. It was Mrs. Fitness Geek’s first 5K. See, she has arthritis at the ripe old age of 28. It sucks. But she wanted to walk the 5K and I was proud of her just signing up.

We arrived and the temperature was 18 degrees, meaning everyone out there was doing the “It’s freaking cold!” dance trying to keep warm. We had picked our goals before arriving: Mine was a 24:30 (I thought 25 might be better since the cold was so intense, but stayed with 24:30) and Mrs. Fitness Geek picked 54 minutes.

At the start I took off and spent the first tenth of a mile dodging those who had no reason to be so close to the front. We took the first turn and the cold really hit me. My face hurt. My hands hurt. The gloves, to paraphrase Radiactive Man, did nothing.

I actually passed a teenager on the ground crying who had someone trying to give him gloves.

The first mile went by in 7:40, and I suddenly started to really feel the cold even more. My hands ached worse, my feet started complaining and I felt myself start to slow. I managed to hold a slower pace and gave a push at the second mile mark.

15:40.

Not bad for two miles, but not great either. We rounded a long bend and out of nowhere my body suddenly felt warmer. My hands got theirfeeling back, along with my feet. I pushed up the course’s one lone, long hill and started picking up speed. I sprinted hard into the final turn and passed a number of runners and zipped across the finish line.

23:36.

I wanted to be happy, but I had things to do. I filled out the finishing form, turned around and headed backward on the course to find my wife. I knew she would be cold and was worried she wouldn’t be having fun, or worse, in pain.

I found her at the two mile mark. Her smile radiated and I felt warmer just falling in step beside her. She was doing well, keeping up a good pace. She jogged a bit at the 2.25 mark and I could see in her eyes how much fun she was having on the course.

I pointed out the finish and she asked me if I wanted to run. I said yes and we started up a jog again, passing a few more racers. We started toward the finish and she started to hurt. But she kept on. She crossed the finish and I don’t think I could have been more proud.

49:55.

There’s not much more to say. She with the hurt knees and aversion to getting up early had walked AND RUN her first 5K.

To celebrate we hit up Waffle House for some warm, greasy food. I dare anyone to come up with a better breakfast food than hashbrowns smothered and covered.

We’ll be doing another 5K together in the future, I’m sure. Mrs. Fitness Geek may never be able to run an entire race or even half of one, but she did what all of us never-going-to-win runners did: she put her toes on the starting line, decided she was going to finish and then did just that.

Oh, and she did it looking cute too. Something I’ve yet to accomplish. Maybe next race.

On Turkeys and Clowns

Tomorrow is the Turkey Trot. I could tell you how excited I am except I’d really rather talk about the Office. So here goes: Oh Toby how we’ve missed you. As for Michael, there are days when I too feel like Neve Campbell from Scream 2.

And any episode gets better immediately whenever Creed speaks. It’s a law of nature. His look of fear when the police walked in was expected…and classic.

Poor, poor Kelly. I guess it’s better to have loved a complete ass than to have never loved at all. Or maybe not.

Two days until 24’s movie. Now, we’re really RUNNING OUT OF TIME! 24 is one of the shows that brought me and Mrs. Fitness Geek together. She couldn’t understand my unhealthy obsession for the show until she started watching it with me in Season 5. A few months later, she had watched the previous four seasons on DVD and was hooked.

I’ve always seen it as a great B-level action movie. It’s preposterous at times and Jack spends most of his time yelling, torturing or shooting. That’s fine by me. Season 6 was disappointing, but there have been so many good seasons (including pieces of 6), that I’m happy giving this show another chance.

Oh yeah, the fitness stuff. Tonight I’ll be doing an arm workout and tomorrow afternoon I’ll have a race report from the Turkey Trot. Have a great weekend!

TIART – What I’m thankful for in running

This week’s TIART is ridiculously easy. I got back into running in January after a very long layoff because of an injury. Let’s start there.

I am thankful I can run again.
I am thankful I can run pain-free.
I am thankful that the road I run on is dark at night and in the early morning so I can do some stargazing.
I am thankful the road is dark, but that I can still see the ditches in time to dodge cars.
I am thankful for those that read my blog and all the blogs out there that I read. I’ve learned plenty.
I am thankful that running is my outlet.
I am thankful that I found a few old CDs the other day to toss on the ol’ iPod. Hooray for live Pearl Jam!
I am thankful for good runs, bad runs and any run that I get to have.

This morning was an early (4:30) four-miler where I did get to do some stargazing. I work at a science museum and I’ve really gotten into trying to identfiy the constellations. This morning I saw the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt.

I also had a really good workout last night before bed. I threw in some incline pushups and some lat raises and I’m sure I’ll  be feeling it in a few hours.

And now it’s three days until the big 24 movie. As Jack Bauer would say, “We’re RUNNING OUT OF TIME!”

Chills X3

Went running last night just as the cold front moved in. It was one of those runs that was tough, but I felt better afterward. The cold (really cold, Mr. JogAmerica ) took some getting used to, but the game of chicken with the cars was even worse.

I spent a good bit of the running running into ditches and ducking behind mailboxes. Good times.

But despite the sideways running I kept a pretty decent pace. I’m really looking forward to Saturday’s Turkey Trot. I’m thinking a sub-25 should be no problem.

As for the second set of chills, The Shield’s penultimate episode was epic in scope. As soon as it was over I was on the phone with my best friend. We’re stoked about watching it together next week.

On a really geeky note… I finally caught the full trailer for the new Star Trek movie. Cannot wait to see this. It’s been a long while since a good Star Trek movie or series, so this’ll be pretty awesome.

Finally, four days until the 24 TV movie. Not that I’m counting. Finally, finally, I didn’t realize so many vegetarians read my blog! I’m having vegetarian chili for lunch today. Is it 11:30 yet?

Tuesday Addictions

I wanted to run this morning, but it was too warm under the covers. So I’ll go after work, and my legs are already itching to hit the pavement. Now… the Tuesday Addictions!

1. Turkey Trot – I’m running it on Saturday, as I mentioned earlier. I’m really looking forward to this race since it’s in my backyard, just miles from my home.

2. 24 – Sunday is the TV movie. My checklist for the night: pizza, popcorn, drinks and the cell phone turned off.

3. The Shield – Only two episodes left. The cool thing is my best friend from high school will be in town next weekend and we’re planning on watching the finale together.

4. Marathon Training kickoff – If this week goes well, I’ll get into my training plan on Sunday or Monday. Yeah, the holiday will be fun to work around, but the scenery change will do me good.

5. Odd Thomas – If you’ve never read this book, go pick it up right now. Really. It’s by Dean Koontz and it’s fantastic. I’m reading the fourth in the series, Odd Hours. Good stuff all around.

Back to the Fun Stuff

So last week was pretty somber for the most part here at the Fitness Geek. Now it’s back to the fun stuff. First, I ran four miles on Saturday. It felt good and had even less shin achiness later in the day. Tomorrow’s run should be great.

On Saturday I’m running the local Turkey Trot race. I’m hoping for sub-Parrot suit time somewhere around 24 minutes. Mrs. Fitness Geek will be doing the one-mile walk. Irony alert: She’s a vegetarian, so she doesn’t eat turkey. And she’s not a runner, so she won’t be trotting either. I hope they still let her take part.

Also with Mrs. Fitness Geek, she’s got coupons for more than half off 30-page photo books. If you want one, e-mail me at schulmanwriter@gmail.com. Here’s the whole shebang in her words from her blog:

“I love photo books. I made photo books of our wedding for our grandparents the first Christmas we were married. I think they make great gifts for others as well as keepsakes for ourselves. Plus, they’re fun to make. I have 10 coupon codes for a discount of more than half off of photo books if any of you are interested in making one either as a gift or to keep for yourselves. You get a 30-page photo book for $11.99, which is a fabulous price.”

We had a nice weekend. Spent Saturday with her family then caught up on Office, My Name is Earl and 30 Rock. The best line came from 30 Rock and was courtesy of Liz about her crazy, nympho friend: “She’s like a human Macarena; something everyone did at parties in 1996.”