Red Dirt Harriers

I've been listening to a lot of covers lately, good and bad. I'm typically not a huge fan, simply because there are so many bad takes on great original songs but I suppose it's a show of respect that a band chooses to run with the same toon, now rap and r&b songs where they use the same backbeat, lets not go too far. Some of the more enjoyable takes in my mind are: Yeah Yeah Yeahs covering "Zero" by Animal Collective (I think the original is better) The Sounds in My Head did a whole Cure covers show that was pretty enjoyable. I don't care for Death Cab for Cutie, they do get the award for the most unaltered impression, which isn't really doing anything for me and doesn't warrant a post: Here are The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and the White Dwarfs covering Madonna's "Borderline." sidenote- How many hammer and sickle T's does Ivins have? Or here is a rendition sans Flaming Lips at our very own Norman Music Fest : I'm throwing...

It's a cool, rainy spring day in Norman today and as such I decided to look upon the recent World Barista Champs . This year's edition took place in Atlanta and was won by the UK participant, Gwilym Davies. As each participant is required to prepare an espresso, a cappuccino, and a signature drink, the competition involves both technical and aesthetic factors in addition to the savvy and impulses of the barista. Interestingly, in recent years, some baristas have preferred to get away from the common "espresso roast" and moved towards a more medium roast technique that better showcases the bean. It cracks me up how nervous these people are, I'll chock it up to the caffeine jitters. It's worth noting that the '08 champ from Ireland, Stephen Morrissey, looks exactly like my former co-worker alias Sean Connor... I'm 99% sure it's the same dude. Jordan and I are going to hit up a slog this evening when each of us get off work, but I think I'll be ne...

Stumbled upon THIS and it's just silly, it makes my running seem so un-inspired but that's just because we have lame venues in these parts. My goal is to make my running more impressive to watch, at least cough up blood or look good just gliding up a hill. We all know I have no footspeed but maybe I can look impressive from a k out in some 5k until the kickers feel their oats and look really good coming after me. I've been running a little bit, after taking Monday off, I ran 45' Tuesday, 35 and 35 on Wednesday, 50 and 30 yesterday, and 50' this morning with 15 uptempo(felt king of rough) but it was warm and 95% humidity. My legs feel alright, but my lungs have been a problem, of course it's super humid too. I'm now doped with Singulair AND Symbicort so maybe these will help keep my asthma at bay. It's really hard to simulate the late marathon issues I've experienced so I'm just going to gauge their effectiveness by how many minutes faster I run ...

Well, the 9th annual OKC marathon has come and gone and I'm left with frustration in it's wake. I knew the day was going to present some obstacles with the humidity and winds and so I did what I could to prevent against those problems but it didn't seem to matter. The first half pace felt really doable, but I sort of felt myself getting a little warm, despite dumping water over my head at every water stop. I could sense a certain amount of futility in the morning's endeavor. Jordan looked good, particularly heading back into the wind along Lake Hefner, which was the last good look I got of him. I want to check out this asthma issue that seems to plague my marathon races, but as with any bad race I mainly let my mood sour my racing vigor. I wonder what would have happened if I would have actually stopped, stretched, and thrown up the excess fluids that seemed to be going nowhere in my stomach. I was kind of afraid that I might stiffen but I don't think my legs ever r...

I can't help but look towards the weather conditions on Sunday and it seems dicey. But as the title suggests, I think it will bother everyone and hopefully I can work with Jordan and whoever else shows up (pacers are welcome). Next in the list of scenarios that this title alludes to would be the taste of low-ball alcohol. Now I've shared my sentiment that there can exist some differences in taste for the cost i.e. the Pigs Eye superiority to Keystone or Natty Light options. Yet when one of my patrons come in here and bitches that we aren't carrying her Tvarscki (we do sometimes, but regularly have McCormick's) and that she's "going to have to start going somewhere else" prior to a string of expletives to convey her frustration, I really am not compelled to care. I mean nobody is drinking that stuff by itself for love of flavor, they're masking it with juice. We all know this, don't act like you're a connoisseur if all you're after is the ef...

Alright now, with yesterday marking Patriot's Day, the Boston Marathon of course went down and as usual it was an inspiring feat of humanity. I was amazed to see Ryan Hall streak off the line like he was setting off for a 5k and immediately put the elite contingent on edge. I thought it was unnecessary but I don't really think it significantly affected his race and he may have even weeded out some competitors by starting them off with some discomfort. Ryan Hall ran very tough, but Merga is a beast and there is no shame being around a minute behind him. THe women's race was uninspired but Kara Goucher still was impressive and it bodes well for her future that she has continued to perform consistently well in long races, it just comes down to the day. I just don't believe that she could outsprint the other two flat out so what are her options, especially into a headwind. She may have lucked out but the odds were stacked against her whether she lead for 5 miles or .5 and I...

Somehow a Boricua tradition was begun when some presumably inebriated farmer tied his cow up to a tree next to the ocean. As cows are wanton to do, it met its demise when it fell into a water spout. He proceeded to scream at the ocean, "dame la vaca!," demanding the sea return him his prized Bessy. Now I don't know why this tale has been immortalized but I can say that today is indeed $3 burger night at McNellie's and at Kats (?) recommendation we are staging at that most pleasant of locales for a pint and some vaca. The proud and spiritual Boricuan people must know something so I'm going to assume that this is a good move for all involved. If only I had some more of that choice lychee infused Puerto Rican rum that my friend Rose sent me to go alongside this noble burger... On a related note, I here that the US embargo on Cuba may soon be lifted and that it may be feasible to make a visit to this place. While I'm aware that wasn't impossible to do before a...