Could it?

“Could switching to GEICO really save you money on car insurance?”

I don’t really know for sure—I haven’t called—but I’m tempted.

Really tempted.

Why?

Because a former drill sergeant makes a terrible therapist.

Because the little piggy cried wee-wee-wee all the way home.

Because Abe Lincoln was honest.

Because having a snowball fight with pitching great, Randy Johnson, is a bad idea.

And because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!

~

Yeah, it’s kinda been a long night. So many things going through my head right now—and not a darned one of ‘em makes a lick of difference.

~

The St. George Marathon is coming up this Saturday. In the words of Enrico Pollini, “It’s a race!” and, “I’m getting goose pimples!” (Rat Race, 2001, Paramount Pictures)

Lost it

Have you ever come up with the perfect subject to blog on about, but you're at work or driving or something and you can't actually act on it right there and then?

Yeah, me too.

Like today.

And now that I'm home and on the computer I don't even remember what it was all about. The only thing I remember is thinking about something incredibly novel to write about.

And now it's gone.

I'll probably remember what it was tomorrow. While I'm at work, or driving, or something.

Top Of Utah Marathon 2010: There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things…

...and once in a great while, going about it the wrong way will get you where you want to go.

But…

There will be consequences.

The Piper will have to be paid.

I knew that going into the Top of Utah Marathon this year.

My longest run since mid June was 13.1 miles and I knew there was a pretty good chance—almost guaranteed—that the second half of TOU would be difficult and painful.

And what do you know.

The week following the Spanish Fork Half, I ran all of 4 miles hoping to recover as best I could from that race and save as much energy as possible for TOU. However, my 4 mile run ended up being about 30 seconds per mile faster than I wanted, and Friday found me with tired legs. I was anxious enough as it was—you don’t jump back into running after a potential stress related injury by running 13 miles one week and 26.2 the next. There’s supposed to be a gradual build up of the miles, right?

But nobody has made a legitimate argument in favor of my intelligence, so…

Nobody has really argued in favor of my rugged good looks either, but still.

I spent Friday night with my daughter (a student at USU) and actually managed to get a good 4 hours of sleep—a rarity for me the night before a race. Saturday morning she took me to the busses. I forgot and left my “breakfast” in the trunk of the car. Fortunately, a friend offered me half of her pop tart, and then I stumbled across a banana that was about to be tossed about 20 minutes before the start of the race. There’s nothing like starting a race on an empty stomach and I’m glad I was able to dodge that bullet.

About 6 of the first 13 miles were sub-9 and only 2 were on the plus side of 10 (courtesy of bathroom stops). I was feeling pretty good about that, but they all felt slow. Really slow. It wasn’t until I got home and looked at the actual splits that I realized I actually fared pretty well.

At mile 14 I was supposed to meet my good friend Smooth, but because of a bit of a mix up we ended up connecting between miles 16 and 17. From there on in to the finish I was pleasantly entertained, encouraged, and motivated by Smooth. What ended up being about a 2:10 second half could very well have been 3:00. My quads and calves were tired and sore. Each step sent an uncomfortable shock through my legs—it was almost as if all the muscle tissue in my legs had turned to glass and each time a foot would come down that glass was going to break. There were quite a few times I had to walk and while Smooth allowed me that, she was quick to get me running again each time.

Can I just say that running with Smooth is a complete hoot! If you haven't had the opportunity yet, schedule some time when you can—it'll be completely worth it!

As we approached the finish line, Smooth broke off to meet her family and I never got the chance to thank her properly. I owe her, at the very least, one big hug!

Finished in 4:15:57. Went and crashed at my daughter’s and then took in the first, and apparently best, half of the Aggies football game before heading home.

The next couple of weeks will be spent trying to recover and rest up the legs enough so that I can, hopefully, pull another sub-4:00 race out of the St. George hat.

Details of a 200 pound man running around in a pair of Kinvara's...

These shoes are actually quite amazing. Light. Very light. Almost like I was running with EVA foam strapped to the bottom of my feet--which, I guess I was.

Not sure how they'll hold up to the 200 pound guy running around in them though. Durability has got to be an issue with these things. Only time will tell, I suppose. Hopefully more than less...

Elevator Etiquette

Yes, there is such a thing and it should be adhered to.

A web search will bring up a plethora of hits, but this one right here is the most important.

There are some gray areas, but there are most definitely some that are black and white.

• Don't pass gas, fluff, break wind, cut the cheese, or in any way fart in an elevator car. C'mon! Where's that polluted air going to go? And it's especially not cool to cut it and then bail. If you're going to stink it up in the elevator, at least have the brass to stick it out with the unsuspecting innocents that are blindly walking into your foul stench. Same goes for burping. And if you happen to reek of body odor--consider the stairs.
• Don't try talking to strangers on the elevator. The elevator is a place of solitude where one goes to be alone with him or herself for a few moments. Don't make it uncomfortable for them. They'll just get off the elevator thinking you're a complete idiot and mumbling something about how they hope the cables snap before you get off.
• When boarding the elevator, don't get right in the door and throw yourself through the opening as soon as you can fit. Give the people on the elevator a chance to get off. Let me repeat that: Don't get on the elevator until those who are on have a chance to get off.
• Unless you've got an injury or a medical condition that dictates otherwise, take the stairs if you're just going up one or two floors. For crying out loud, no wonder obesity is such an issue!
• Allow people their personal space.
  

2010 Spanish Fork Half Marathon

It's a very fun race held in Spanish Fork in September. The last two years I've run it they had it on the first weekend of September, but this year it was on the second Saturday: 09/11.

I don't recall why I ran this race the first year--I think I was encouraged to join with a bunch of running buddies. Yeah, that was it. And while the course itself, that first year, didn't really impress me; the good time I had with friends and the raffle afterward won me over and I've been back ever since.

Funny thing is, I've never actually had my number drawn in the raffle, but I did benefit from one of the awards the first year--a friend won something but had no use for it.

Back to the course. Last year the course grew on me some, and this year it did even more. It's a mostly flat course--the start is at 4600 feet and the high point at the half is 4800 feet--that runs from the center of town through the river bottoms and then through some farm country at the foot of the mountains south-west of Spanish Fork Canyon.

Like I said, I have really come to like the course and would rate this course above the Provo River Half and the Hobble Creek Half courses. And the organization for this one beats both of those as well. Of course, this is a smaller race (210 or so total Half participants, plus 74 in the 5k).

The technical shirts that come with the registration have always been pretty cool, but this years was probably one of the cooler race shirts I've gotten from any race. It had, on the left sleeve, an American flag with the date, 09/11/10, below it, in recognition of the events that took place 9 years ago. I thought it was very cool!

Here are some of the cool people I had the pleasure and priveledge or running with this year.

Vestigial Muscles

Vestigial: (of certain organs or parts of organisms) having attained a simple structure and reduced size and function during the evolution of the species. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vestigial)

On August 09 of this year, on a fairly short and mundane run--only my third after a six week layoff--I was about a quarter of a mile from home when something in my right calf went "doink!" The way it kind of popped, and felt like something was slithering down through my calf muscles, gave me cause for real concern--never mind the pain and the limping I had to suffer.

So I looked things up on the internet, as we are wont to do in this modern age, and made some assumptions. The description of how and what it all felt like drew me to the conclusion that I may have ruptured, or at least injured, my plantaris muscle.

Further internet searches revealed the possibility that, if it was a plantaris muscle related injury, there may actually be no need to do anything about it. Some research suggests that 7 to 20% of folks don't even have that muscle.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1978447/)

Well, it's been a month since the "doink!" and I've run a few miles with no apparent impairment. Other than some persistent soreness in that calf that I would normally attribute to normal muscle aches that you might get when significantly bumping up the intensity of, or starting a new, workout. That and some of the same in my ankle.

Could these both be related to my "vestigial muscle" injury? Or is it just that I've been coming off a 6 week running sabbatical due to a stress injury in the other leg?

If it is related to the plantaris, I'm thinking that maybe mine was actually being used for something and now that workload is being picked up by other muscles and it's just taking some time to learn the ropes.

But I don't know. Food for thought though. It's proven to be quite interesting looking these things up and learning how they possibly relate to what I experienced.

Vestigial muscles and/or organs... If they are, in fact, vestigial, I wonder how many the human body has. I know of at least two that I have.

Lake Catherine plus

Made the hike up to Lake Catherine today. Went up to Catherine Pass and then continued on up to Sunset Peak.

Sunset Peak is the highest point in the picture above.

It was a nice hike. Not too difficult. The trail is well maintained but quite rocky in spots. The hike to Lake Mary (just shy of 1 mile) is quite popular, and the next mile up to Lake Catherine still gets quite a few travelers as well.

Hiking to Lake Catherine, just to get to Lake Catherine, in my opinion, really wouldn't be worth the trip. To get your money's worth you've got to go up, at a minimum, to Catherine Pass--and preferably all the way up to Sunset Peak. Most of the images I've seen on the internet of Lakes Catherine, Martha, and Mary are taken from there. Like this one:



Here's one with me in it--just so you know I was really there:



Nice hair, eh?

To get there: I-215 East to the 6200 S (#6) Exit. Follow the signs for Big Cottonwood Canyon, Solitude and Brighton ski resorts. Drive all the way up to Brighton and at the top of the one-way loop that is Brighton, park in the resort parking lot and look for the trail head--about 4/10ths of a mile beyond the visitors center.

I have no sink

Kitchen or bathroom. Or utility.

The water to the tub/shower still works, but there's no hot water--the gas has been turned off.

The stove and the clothes washer and dryer have been hauled off.

Splintered wood litters the kitchen, and the door leading from there into the laundry room has been pulled off its hinges.

But I've still got power and my internet connection--and there's Pepsi in the fridge. The fridge just happens to be in the living room.

I'd really like to wash my hands in some nice soapy, warm water; but that hand sanitizer stuff is going to have to cut it tonight.

I need someplace cheap to stay.

Or lots of patience.

Until the remodel is complete.

Please let it get done quick!