Red Dirt Harriers

Thanks to Sallah Hussein for that gem. Well as luck would have it, my legs do hurt but I think I have an explanation for that. I seem to be a bit slow right now with all the miles. The long run on Sunday was not devastating but I ran enough yesterday that I still didn't feel fresh by the end of the day on Monday. Typicallly, I like to wait to work out until Wednesday due to the volume I am putting in but I moved the workout to this morning because the weather is supposed to turn nasty tomorrow and I didn't think it would be too tough. I pulled out the old 10x half mile w/ ~1:30-2:00 jog, but intentionally set the goal time of 2:40, which is about my goal half marathon time for next month. Anyway, I took a few repeats to even get under 2:40 and then just felt like I was working alot harder than I should have been to run pace. I did the work and so I'm just going to treat this like a pretty high density block with a steady long run, a total of 16.5 on Monday with some hill pr...

Rapped up a solid week with 120 miles. Got in a 10 mile marathon effort run, a Mono fartlek at the rec fields on Friday, and then was put through my paces by Jordan on Sunday morning for a steady 20 spot. Last night, John's special lady friend Heather treated us to a tasty dinner with some central coast wine, coincidentally. Then we headed over to Joe's Taverna for a brief interlude. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the new Shiner Black, while not being an inherently bad beer, is pretty much exactly the same as a regular Shiner Bock, despite its mysterious "black lager" classification. If I were to recommend a quality beer that I've had lately and which might be aptly categorized under the heading to this entry, it would be either of two fine central coast produced ales- the hysterically hopped Lagunitas IPA or the North Coast Brew Co.'s Trappist style Belgian Ale which I sampled immediatley prior to a run on Saturday. If you cannot make it ...

Back from the great beyond- all parts, California. I got a little bit of everything in: a stop at Polly's for coffee on a couple occasions, wine tasting in Napa, celebrity treatment at a top-notch French restaurant, and some excellent scenery and running. I spent the first couple days in Long Beach and got a solid 20 miler in running from my uncle's house all the way down to Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica. Next up was a stay in Escalon just north of Modesto, which is serious orchard country with trails in every direction and fresh fruit stands all over the road. From there we headed to Napa to stay with my dad's old UCLA roommate. He took us to 2 really nice wineries set in amazingly lush hills. We then had dinner Chez Jeanty which offered traditional French fare. It was a great experience as we were treated by the owner to several dishes and desserts in addition to what we ordered. I had Coq Au Vin, but also sampled sweet breads, escargot, pate', and crepe suzette...

Finished up season 2 of Little Britain and now feel thoroughly sullied, psychologically. Had a good 10 mile marathon effort run yesterday afternoon in freezing drizzle and otherwise adverse conditions. Can't complain as the hamstring actually felt much better than it has lately. My legs have been a little beat lately. I had a pretty solid 20+ miler on Monday afternoon, with my mom along on the bike. It was a really nice day and I ran fairly steady the whole time with a hard mile in the middle to lose a friendly canine before he got too far out of his territory. Also, watched the second half of the Man U- Everton replay yesterday, watching Portugal's most flamboyant and gelled footballer score 2 goals. Heading to Long Beach early tomrrow and possibly a run up in the hills above Malibu. It should be a very exciting trip with a foray north through Jokin's stomping grounds, Modesto, Napa, and Rio Nido. Today, I will bring attention to the city of Norman's outdated and comp...

Gene and Dean Ween said it best. I have managed to develop a bit of a cold. Nothing serious, but I think it's making me feel a bit more lethargic than usual and contributing to some GI issues during the run. In any case, I was able to get in a decent 3/4 effort run yesterday but when I doubled back in the evening I had to make a pit stop which makes 2 evenings in a row. I was getting kind of pissed during the run because I made up a route that should be fairly traffic free, but did have some close calls, more in terms of having to put on the brakes and then speed up on my own part which sort of neglects the purpose of a nice steady paced run. I really wish that Norman would make a working bike path that doesn't just abruptly end. In other news, my cat Deq (said Deek) made his first kill. Yes, I was very proud of the young beast, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure the shrew he killed was defective in some way. I'm also working on producing a podcast for all my rabid f...

Headed over to last night's 2nd annual Holiday sweater party layered in as many woolen goods as possible. I went with the most standard of holiday beverages: Rum spiked nog with fresh cinammon and nutmeg. Nothing much else to report there. The running volume is back in the triple digits, legs feeling pretty good other than a slightly tender hamstring most likely resulting from the weather and hills. However, since the centennial ice storm last week the weather has been really nice. Today was one of those days when I was tempted to get after it a bit. Settled for an 11 and 6 double with 6 hill charges. My Christmas light display is nearly complete and I shall post documentation when I feel they is up to my expectations. Other than that, I've been reading up on my Ian Fleming, very deep stuff. I am dissapointed to note that Bond, James Bond could have been much more bad ass if he had not neglected his aerobic system so much. Link 'o the day(week) is www.couchsurfing.com wh...

Wow, I've neglected posting, but alot went down this week. The above title is in complete disregard of Andrew Call's clothing policy but probably applies to most everyone else. Anyway, today marks 2 weeks since a very long, hard run and I feel pretty decent and have got back to doubling the last couple days and have done a bit of steadier work. I had the pleasure of attending an O'Connells karaoke night for the first time with Libby on Wednesday. I managed to avoid getting roped into a song, but promised that upon returning I would step up to the plate. I was thinking of going with "Boogie On Reggae Woman" but might have settled for something else mellow. Thursday night skolnick and I biked around and cruised campus before settling down for some Scrabble at THe Plaid and then bugging a grumpy Hollingsworth at the Midway. Better still, I managed to make Friday lunch at Pepe's con Sacker. THe tamales were sublime, the staff eclectic and sttractive, and Sacker up...