Red Dirt Harriers

If you're into that funky, picquant flavor only brought about through fermentation and the work of microbial elements, than may I suggest a product that JoKIN tipped me off about, Kombucha. Native Roots is now carrying High Country Kombucha , which is organic, fair trade certified, and augmented with a variety of additional flavors. I can vouch for the wild root variety and don't forget to watch out for indiscriminent particles floating around in your drink, as they could definitely be a choking hazard. On a similar note, I taste-tested my Pear-Cider and other than a little less carbonation than I had hoped for, the stuff is pretty reminiscent of a domestic(read US) hard cider. I think the vintage is still a bit young and will only improve throughout the fall. I will say that I'm not the biggest fan of hard cider, simply because of its sweetness but I was compelled to test my brewing meddle and Johnny Sharp had a bumper crop of pears on his trees, so I went with it. I can s...

Why is it that the Norman/OKC running scene can never get on the same wavelength as far as health and motivation? Today, we had 7 representatives shipped out to various competitions across the nation. Holly had the best result at the T-town 15k Run w/ 49:0X finish, next was Stu and Cat, who hit the Monster dash with respectable performances. Cat should be in good shape for a Guinness Run if her drinking is coming along any where near respectably, and finally me and a bunch of law dogs hit the local streets for a Judicata slog. My performance was satisfactory but I'm still at odds with how to go about training with this PF that really isn't improving much. I've been lazy in general and more specifically in rehabbing, I suppose. The race all of us are waiting for is of course the Marine Corps Marathon. Megan and Jilane have most impressively completed their preparations without injury or default and it does me good to see these two ready to give it a go after having gone thro...

And now for the rant of the week: Alright so if you don't know, the now infamous Outback Steakhouse theme song was stolen from the dicoteque product from Of Montreal . The fact that some marketing exec for Outback was able to nip this one from the band, despite compensation, is disheartening. But I just want to know how they decided to go for this one. CLearly, they are counting on the fact that most people don't know who this band is or that their lead singer is known to be lopsided at best and has on multiple occasions performed nude during live shows. I want to believe that some savvy person went to a show and knew exactly what they were doing when they pushed this one in hopes of helping the band and promoting fucking real music and culture, not shite ballads. I'm not knocking the band, I'm just saying their a real band with drug and sex innuendos and a Muslim drummer and in America today that is still a very dangerous, unpatriotic notion and maybe the fact that Out...

This weekend went by ohh so fast. I had the pleasure of attending Tulsa Octoberfest on Friday evening with Holly, Spenis, John & Heather. The evening consisted of drinking free beer to our hearts content for 2 hours and then working the Spaten tent for 4 hours while intermittently making treks back to the beer tent w/ Spencer. Needless to say, the evening flew by and I was considereably inebriated by the time midnight rolled around and the cops booted us out. This year Spencer yet again rewarded me by purchasing a chicken head hat and escorting me around demanding I wear the sorry rag. Although, I will say that Spenis should be mightily congratulated for scoring some chicks number while working the beer garten. Evidently those crazy Bavarians are into odd-themed garments on top of their lederhosen and massive beer steins. After a miserable predawn run and drive back to Norman, I pretty much crashed for the entire afternoon and evening while taking in the obligatory OU football. The...

As we are rapidly approaching this year's edition of the McNellie's Pub Run, people are starting to get pretty fired up. As all of you readers should know, someone from our training stable has taken the title since the inception of the race and we aim to keep it that way for a long time to come. While I'm appalled by my own fitness level, I know Holly is pipping this race as a crucial mark of his fitness and he looks to be the man to beat. Being that yesterday was Humpday, we decided to head up to the city for a practice session and a $3 burger. The practice went alright although I was unhappy that when Skolnick made a little move going into the last 1/4, I was unable to cover it, but like I always say- it's hard to beat the buzz that culminates after a hard fought, beer fueled footrace.

Yesterday, I got some football viewing in, making for about the first such instance of this season. Both OU and OSU played exciting games and although I didn't care for the officiating, I would bet that Texas is beatable in conference play, allowing us to still make it to the conference championships. Maybe I'm overly hopeful in the wake of my Pig's Eye buzz from last night. I was happy to be able to get in a decent run yesterday, although today my foot is pretty sore as a result. I have definitely turned a corner with the injury and if I don't overdo it, I think I should be able to progress without any more major time off. I still feel pretty weird from the biking transition. The impact of running is muscularly way different than any effect you experience on the bike, I don't care what anybody says about genetics, drugs, or VO2, Lance Armstrong will never run under 2:40 for the marathon. THe Chicago marathon was today and without wondering what if, I can say that t...

Last night I was lucky enough to see the Romeros in concert up in the city. While I doubt that this was a particularly memorable show for them, I really enjoyed the show. The performance was booked by OCCC and due to the nature of the show, the moved it to First Presbyterian Church in Heritage Hills, which is a nice place but it was a little tough to see all of the players antics without stadium seating. In any case they played a variety of songs and styles from several different time periods. Celin, Celino, Lito, and Pepe Romero are clearly very pleasant musicians who enjoy playing before all types of audiences. I was a little surprised that OU didn't book them but evidently there was a conflict at Catlett and the quartet are playing so many shows that they have a very limited flexibility. I have always been particularly fond of the piece Granada (this is Segovia and the video is not Granada, it's La Malaguena), and it was nice to see the two elder Romeros' duet rendition...

So in lieu of any running during the month of September, I've been getting in some biking and I think I'm actually alot stronger right now as I've been basically doing daily rides back and forth over the vicious southeast Norman hills to the house the I'm watching. Well yesterday I was screwing around on this quiet road and naturally I managed to bite it on some loose gravel or an acorn. I was going so slow that I didn't get any excellent road rash or exposed butt-cheek for the ride home, I just nailed my hip strait on which made for a very painful ride home, I had to get out of the saddle every time I needed to apply any force as the seated position was excrutiating. I feel geriatric sometimes. All this biking made me contemplate yet again why running doesn't maintain the same atmosphere. I've always played with the idea of hosting a race and I would definitely make it mandatory that we have ladies (and gents) at the finish to help celebrate the winners, no...

The transcript documented this couple , that go collectively by the moniker Bumfuzzle. It sounds like a spectacular way to see the country. I think I would have to grow some padding on my ass first, because the '58 VW panelvan can't have much in the way of suspension to contend with the myriad of potholes one must encounter. I am surprised they haven't gone the biodiesel route on this one but it still seems like there getting by very well without having to pay rent and waking up to the sunrise in a different latitude daily. Also, in the Oklahoman this morning, there was notice of the City of Norman making an effort to increase biking feasibility around town. They mentioned such bizarre notions as "pilot testing bike lanes" and "painting dual bike/auto marks on the road." All of this is in hopes that the city can gain a Bike Friendly title, with which I'm very surprised they are even concerned. I can say that they're a long way off right now and t...