Red Dirt Harriers

Tried to vote early last week but that wasn't happening as Cleveland County doesn't have much of a venue and evidently alot of folks are turning out. Being Oklahomans, we have some very important fundametal state ballot issues. For instance, we have an initiative to add hunting as a constitutional right. Now being a liberal who enjoys fishing and sees an importance in hunting (it's a crazy paradox right?) I still don't see any need for this issue and I don't like the notion that people could override state conservation experts if a animal species were endangered. Remember this is a state where you can legally noodle with spearguns, trap animals, shoot mountain lions (which are not in abundance), kill feral pigs without a license, and buy automatic weapons at flea markets and people get all worried that a vegan PETA supporter would somehow get elected and then pass an initiative to ban hunting? Not bloody likely. More reasonable would be that the allowed people to sh...

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...