Happy Christ-ma-hana-quanzika

Hope you had a good 2007 and a better 2008!

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Akron Pasta Dinner

A totally staged photo of Cathy, Rich, and me. The photographer was the same guy who fell asleep (I think) during his Burning River 100 finish line photo duties while I was finishing. Pasta for everyone!

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Led Zeppelin - December 2007

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USATF National XC Championships

Mason, Ohio - This is my 3rd year of doing this race. I am fortunate to be on an elite running club that participates in this event. Every year it is different and better. The 2007 edition was cold and muddy. The snow had mostly melted by the time we ran and it turned into sticky soup. My time wasn't very good...but expected based on my speed fitness right now. A great group of men and women participated. All of the photos can be seen here.

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Good Blood

I got the blood work results back from my physical today. Liver, kidneys, etc are all good. Here are my cholesterol numbers (sorry Jo)

• Total Blood Cholesterol Level - 188 (under 200 is desirable)
• HDL / Good Cholesterol Level - 63 (above 60 is excellent)
• LDL / Bad Cholesterol Level - 115 (100 to 129 is near optimal)
• Triglyceride Level - 48 (Normal is less than 150)

I will celebrate with a Mountain Dew and a couple Twinkies

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Inventor going to Heaven or Hell?

The only bank that reinforces both your principal for saving money and your faith.

Finally, a bank you can trust! Do you have a friend who would need a miracle to save a dime? Well, it's arrived! Who can resist dropping a few coins into this Original Jesus Saves bank? Plus, it's safe! What thief would dare steal money out of a Jesus bank? Most likely they'll just drop a few coins in it and beg forgiveness.

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The Landlord

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Damon Nilesh Loop

Working on another staple run. Wednesday mornings. Seems like it gets earlier and earlier each week...but I start at 4:48am-5:00am. Today it was cold. 23 degrees cold to be precise. I meet Damon at Sand Run Parkway and Revere Road. We pick up Nilesh near the water. Joe jumps in at Stan Hywet. Tony and Mike make appearances from time to time. Today was a bit faster than usual but comfortable. I had two issues along the way. First I slipped off a rock trying to cross the creek. My foot remained frozen most of the way. Second I had to tie my shoe while running up Merriman. I stopped and my laces were frozen. This was a bad move. Trying to catch Damon and Nilesh....going up hill no less...is not easy. I think (or hope) they realized I had dropped back and slowed down to wait for me. This is a good run that usually follows a tough Tuesday. Below are our splits and route.

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Happy Turkey Day

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The Intensity Palace - 2007

Jo and I went to Fredericksburg VA this weekend to visit two of my college roommates....Simon and Dave. It was great to see them both and their significant others. Liz and Amy are very nice and I hope we get together more often as the years go by. We spend time talking about our days at Ohio University and the house we lived in known as "The Intensity Palace". I had almost forgotten about some of the parties and things that we did as stupid college kids. Great memories. I wish we were a little bit closer because I do consider Simon and Dave my best friends. I felt really bad about not being able to go to Liz and Dave's wedding. We will find a way to make that up.

While we were there we also squeezed in an 8K race in Richmond. Nothing but driving and running this weekend! Here are a few photos of Jim and Jo running.

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SuburbanUrbanJungle Run

I sometimes run a variation of the Joe Salwan loop. I call it the SuburbanUrbanJungle Run. It starts in Cuyahoga Falls (Suburban), heads down State Road then to Howard Street (Urban) towards Downtown Akron. Once you hit North Street you take the towpath to Memorial Parkway and finish with the final 5 miles of the Burning River 100 course (Jungle).























I kept it under control at a moderate pace today and found myself running faster and feeling easy. This is a good sign. I may not have the speed I want for Club Nats...but my fitness is snapping back.

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Hood to Coast 2008

I found out yesterday that our team has been accepted into the Hood to Coast relay for 2008. The H2C is the largest relay event in the world. It is a 196 mile journey from 6,000 feet up Mt. Hood to the coastal town of Seaside in Oregon. 12 runners make up a team and each team member will run 3 legs. I will probably run a total of 19 or 20 miles which normally is no big deal, but with a relay format you are really running back to back to back 4-7 mile races within a few hours of each other. As usual I am the slowest guy on the team, so I have my work cut out for me. The H2C is another race that I can check off of my "wish list" along with the 100 miler last August. As I get older I would really like to do one of these "big" events each year. My list includes the New York City Marathon and the London Marathon. So 2008 is shaping up nicely. Going for a PR at Boston in April, then switch to my fast gears in preparation for H2C.

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Happy Birthday Grandma

We went to a surprise birthday party for my Grandma on Sunday. It was good to see my family on my Mothers side. My Aunts, Uncle, and especially Cousins are great people and I like being around them. I am embarrassed that I don't see them more often. I will definitely try to improve on that.

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The Greatest Race Never Seen

About a year ago Team Good River held a time trial in preparation for the USATF Club XC National Championships in San Francisco. Two dozen or so of Ohio's best runners met quietly at Squire Valleevue and Valley Ridge Farms at Case Western Reserve University to set the basic team groupings for the race. Any one of the men or women running that day could individually place in the top 3 of most races in Ohio at any given time. The time trial was a blast taking the runners through cold, wet, and muddy fields. The theme was "throwback jerseys" and the competition was steller. Click here to see all of the photos from the race that day.

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HalloWeekend

We hit HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. I assumed the crowd would be sparse and only a few rides would be open. Wrong. It was packed and every ride was operating. We did have fun inspite of the cooler temps.





Former rides at Cedar Point Graveyard

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Akron Marathon Weekend

Well another Road Runner Akron Marathon weekend has come and gone. Way too much to document...but here are a few of the hightlights.

Jo ran a PR (personal record) by 15 minutes. She finished in 4hrs 45 mins. That is huge. If you see her tell her great job.

I worked way too much again at the expo. Between setting up, working, and tearing down. Never again. I was beat by the time it came to run. The good news is that our team won again. I got to run the final leg pretty easy for the victory. Very cool to finish in the stadium. Results can be found on www.akronmarathon.com

I picked up Bill Rodgers on Wednesday and was his best friend until I took him and Kathrine Switzer back to the airport on Saturday. A few of the highlights included getting a pair of signed shoes from him, trying to describe e-Bay to him, and just hanging out. He said to look him up when we go to Boston for the marathon. I think I will do just that.

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Van Halen Rehearsals

Here is some video from the Van Halen rehearsals in LA. The show looks like it should be pretty good. More video can be found here-> http://www.vhnd.com

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This is why...

...I live in Ohio and not in Minnesota.

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Thomas Dolby

Jo and I went to see Thomas Dolby at the Tangier on Friday. He is still one of my favorite musicians. He hasn't toured for over 19 years, so I wanted to catch this show. We didn't stick around to meet him...but I got this shot from the Jazz Mafia website. The show was great and the addition of the horns made it a unique concert.

The opening act was called spec.dev

They really sucked.

I will post a video from them soon.

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Do Not Try This

Don't tell my kids that I think this is funny. But it is.

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First XC Meet

Logan ran well at the first meet of the year. He finished 24th overall and 2nd on the boys team.

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7 for 7

Logan "almost" made a double back flip on the trampoline last night. For his mistake, he received 7 stitches that correspond with his number 7 XC jersey.

Pre - stitches

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Times Have Changed

This is a photo from a recent SWAT drill at a local High School. I don't remember ever having SWAT drills while in school. I think we would have Chinese Fire Drills in the parking lot, but that was about it. FYI...the "suspect" in this photo is a young Mr. Z. Hafner - a prototype offender.

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Funny

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More BR100

Here are a few more photos from the race. I am feeling really good after this race. No real lingering effects. Training resumes on Saturday.

Approaching Station Road Bridge. 2 miles before my crash.

Logan and I at Boston Store #1. 50 miles down and catching my second wind.

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BR100

Before I begin....mucho thanks to Jo, Tracy, Hillary, Ed, Rich, Al, Logan, Kelly, the Young Family, my Mom, Ron, and everyone else who helped me get through this "race". My first and only 100 mile race. Very difficult. Hats off to those who do these all of the time. Not me. One and done. Here is my recap:

• Miles 1-26.2 - went out way too fast. My time after the "first" marathon was 3:25
  
• Miles 26.2 to 32 - slowed down and ended in a total crash. I was fried. I sat down on a bench for at least 5 minutes and rethought my approach. I decided to just walk the rest of the way to the finish.
  
• Mile 34 - My GPS lost the signal. I turned it off. Best move of the day.
  
• Mile 34 to 43 - Found that I felt much better around 40. Did a slow trot and walk to 43.
  
• Mile 43 to 50 - Got my second wind. No damage to the legs. I was still mostly walking but ran every now and then.
  
• Mile 50 to 65 - Kept a steady walk / run pace. Felt really good.
  
• Mile 65 to the finish - Picked up my first pacer and we decided to go 5 minutes walking then 2-3 minutes running. Because my legs felt great we ran at about 8 min pace. Kept the same strategy after getting my second pacer at mile 84. I passed everyone who had passed me during my crash.
  
• Final - 5th place overall (144 starters, 68 finishers, tough course on a hot day). My time was 20:55:12.

Some Photos....

Barking out commands at mile 50

Finished after almost 21 hours

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New Technology

I will have to get one of these soon.

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The Calm Before The Storm

On Monday I begin my taper for the Burning River 100. The taper is significant because it means it is almost time to race/run. All of the training over the last few months will determine when I finish. I will finish by the way. I have told Jo that I am finishing no matter what. There are no do-overs with something like this. I am lucky and thankful to have a great support crew that day. Jo (of course) will be handling everything from aid station to aid station. Here is the happy couple pre-100 miler.









We will not be this happy during the race. I think we are both prepared for the crabbyness on both of our parts. Assistant crew members are Tracy, Connie, and Hillary. They will give Jo much needed support as the day wears on. My pacers will be Rich, Tracy, and Ed. Their job is to keep me moving forward, spot tricky sections of the course, and make sure I get to the next aid station. We are all going out to dinner on the 27th to review the game plan. I hope it is as much of an adventure for them as I expect it to be for me.



BT 50K Epilogue
Here is a shot of my toe. It hurt more at the time than it looks. The purple spread over the next day. I will take better care of my feet during the 100 miler.

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Near Miss x 2

I have dodged 2 bullets over the last few days. On Saturday I ran the Buckeye Trail 50K. This is a very difficult trail race in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We went out pretty fast and hit the halfway mark in 2hrs 8 minutes. About a mile and a half later I hit a root and went down hard. I really smashed both of my feet right into a large root. It took me a while to get going again....but eventually I kept moving forward. I could manage the uphill sections, but the flat areas were tough and the downhill sections impossible. Once I got to the mile 26 aid station I took off my shoe and saw my purple toe. Broken for sure. I dropped out of the race at that point.

Good news. I had an x-ray on Monday and the toe is NOT broken. Training for the Burning River 100 starts again today.

Bullet #2 - My car was struck by a young driver last night who completely ignored his stop sign. I could see him coming out of the corner of my eye....so I hit the brakes knowing he had no intention of stopping. The right front of my car is totalled. I can drive it, but it is a mess. Fortunately no one was hurt.

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Nuns in NYC

I love this picture. No particular reason. Just funny.

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Summer Sweating

I knocked out my Saturday run after working at the Muddy Paws 10 miler today. I had hoped to run, but a few snags with the registration and my paranoia about the scoring of two races kept me behind the scenes today. Vince and Bill came along for the first 5 miles. We ran the Muddy Paws course as a reminder of the pain everyone had to endure this morning. I was left to go solo for the remaining 3 1/2 hours. I burned through all of the water I had very quickly. My goal to run out and back was quickly killed as the better move was to just do loops and refuel as much as I could. Thank God Jo brought a bag of ice. I was able to use that water for most of the run. You see I sweat a lot. I sweat in my sleep, I sweat sitting at my desk at work, and I sweat after about 1 minute of running. I have lost as much as 6 pounds during a single run. I was quickly reminded that during the BR100 I am going to have to hydrate as much as I can. I was also reminded that I need to Body Glide everything. I am really hoping that Body Glide will reduce the chances of Monkey Butt. Enough said.

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Energy Drinks

I am not an energy drink guy. I know many people who can drink this stuff for an extra boost. I have tried but it goes through my body like the acid blood from the movie Alien. IF I could drink the stuff....this would be my drink...

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Back to Work

After a nice recovery week the heat gets turned up again. Here is what I have this week.

Mon: 1 hour trails - easy
Tue: AM - 1 hour easy, PM 2 mile w/u then 12 x 400 meters with 200 recovery
Wed: 1:45 hrs on trail - moderate effort
Thu: 1 hour easy with some striders
Fri: Rest day
Sat: 4.5 hours total beginning with a 10 mile trail race
Sun: 5 hours total


The weekend miles are the ones that count.
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Who is this kid and why does he love math so much?

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38+32=70

* This was my weekend. 38 miles run on Saturday. 32 miles run on Sunday. 98% of the miles were on trails. Funny enough my legs felt fine at the end (and still do), but my body was very fatigued. I know that with consistant fueling along the 100 mile course on August 4th I should survive. I am starting to get my pacers in line as well as some help for Jo. Her job will be equally as difficult as mine. Hurry up and wait will be her theme for the day.
* I was slightly freaked out on Friday night when I realized that the body of Jessie Davis was less than a hundred yards from Jo and I on Tuesday night. We stopped at Hampton Hills to see the ISS and Shuttle go overhead.
* The cross country teams had their time trials today. The girls team looks awesome. The boys need a little work.

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Best Commercial

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More Miles in the Bank

I had another heavy week of running, capping off with 26 miles of trails on Sunday. A good group at a good pace for the first 2.5 hours, then 2 more hours with a friend of mine. Next weekend I go 5.5 hours on Saturday then 6.5 hours on Sunday. All this mileage should pay off on August 4th.

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Beware of the Blog

As you know, I switched from a traditional website to a blog-type website not too long ago. I did this because it seemed so much easier to post comments and family updates. The trade off is that my website is now truly in the world wide community. Just for kicks I clicked on the "Next Blog" link at the top of this page 5 times. Here is what I found:

Mistress Wylona's OTK Playhouse
Welcome to the World of Sensual Spanker and NYC Pro Domme

Laura Keating
I'm (now alone) in Slovenia for my RC6 Internship. I am learning to deal with a culture that doesn't speak your language, and which is inherently withdrawn and reserved. It is hard, so I post here. Please leave comments, I loves them I do.

Clothes-Pin
hanging style out to dry for the neighborhood to see

How to write FUNNY IDEAS & make EASY MONEY!!

Creative Intelligence
Tips for success; living intelligently, intelligence working better and succeeding in life, scientifically creative ideas.

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You Tube Concerts

The best thing about YouTube is how you can access older music footage. Here are a few of my favorites:

* Genesis - Cinema Show (Part 2)
* Thomas Dolby - Leipzig (from a Podcast)
* Devo - Commercial for Honda Scooters
* Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
* Kiss - Black Diamond
*
Then you have the absurd
* Mini Kiss - Jimmy Kimmel Show
* Brazilian Queen - We are the Champions

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Summer Starts

School is out for the Summer. Let the chaos begin!

Here are a few of the balls in the air that need to be juggled: Cross Country Camp, Trip to Cedar Point, Burning River 100 Training and the Race, Basketball Camp, and Work.

Coordinating schedules during the Summer can be a real chore. Logan starts his Cross Country training on Monday, but he will be in Florida for the week. I hope he sticks to the schedule. I have been "hands off" with his running up to this point, but he wants me to whip him into top 3 shape. As long as he sticks with the program he should have a really good season. I put together the training schedule for the Copley CC team. We are going to take a little different approach this year by separating the boys and girls during key workouts. The school has hired "Pookie" as an assistant coach. Yes....Pookie. I am not sure I can call her that...but she insists that everyone else does....so I will give it a try. It really is good that she is on board.

* Shaw-Blades - Jo and I went to see Tommy Shaw from Styx and Jack Blades from Night Ranger last week at the Tangier. A friend of mine is now the owner of the Tangier and was very kind to get us tickets. It was a great show.

* BR100 Training - We had a really good group run over the weekend on the Buckeye Trail. Next week should be interesting as I have to run 3 1/2 hours of trails on Saturday, then 4 1/2 hours of trails on Sunday. Happy Fathers Day.

* I have mentioned this to only a few people, but I am now convinced that once Maddie graduates from High School I am going to move to California. Check back in 9 years for an update.

* Web Site O' The Week - I often check out the twisted Photoshop work on Worth 1000. Pretty cool stuff.



* Photo of the Week - My Buddy Joe doing whatever it takes to get to Boston 2008.

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Test Drive Part II

The test run went much better than I had expected. We started at Happy Days under sunny skies and dry conditions. I wasn't sure what to expect as Kurt and Steve were fully armed with Fuel Belts and supplies. I carried a simple fannypack with a few baby wipes. By the way...baby wipes are used versus toilet paper. Vince says that baby wipes prevent Monkey Butt. Our pace was pretty slow as the goal was to run the course without getting lost. We actually were able to follow the directions well except for two spots. Hopefully those spots will be marked come race day.

Running 35 miles can be harder and easier than it sounds. I made sure to take note when we passed the 26.2 mile mark, since that was the farthest I had ever previously run. We hit that just past the poop plant in the valley around 9:20 pm.

We finished just before Midnight. I was really satisfied with our effort and how good I felt. I actually considered getting up at 7am to run with the Sunday morning group!

Special thanks to Jo for being our support crew. She met us three times along the way with supplies.

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Test Drive

* On Saturday I will be running the last "third" of the Burning River 100 course with Kurt and Steve. Although I have run 26.2 before, running 34.3 will prove to be interesting. First I am going to learn to take it easy. Second...learn to eat while I run. Lastly I hope to get a good sense of running the final miles in the dark. We should finish around midnight to 1am if all goes as planned. Jo was sweet enough to offer to crew for us. She will meet us twice along the way with supplies. I am also going to bring along my camera phone and take photos. I will attempt to post the photos directly to our photo album site. You can check them out between 3pm and midnight this Saturday.

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How far was that Marathon?

* Uhh...26.2 miles. This is a question I get alot from people at work. We all have our hobbies that most others could care less about. Mine is running. So as I head out at lunch each day to run, I think about how passionate my friends and co-workers are about their particular hobbies, and about how little I really know about them. I will work on that this year.

* Marathon and Beyond - So after dropping out of my last marathon attempt due to some sort of flu bug, what is next? Why a 100 mile race of course! I think this is going to be more about survival than running. I just think if I am ever going to ATTEMPT anything of this magnitude....now is the time to do it. Especially when it is local. I have already decided to scribble "Patience" on my left hand and "Damage Control" on my right. You can get all of the gory details here - > www.burningriver100.org

* School is out in about 11 days. Summer is almost here. We belong to Loyal Oak Lake. I am also kicking around the idea of re-joining Fort Island pool. So we will have a pool and a pond. A pond would be better for you.

* My Deaf Dog - Tiny is totally deaf now. The squirrels in the backyard taunt him. I wouldn't be surprised to see one sling an acorn his way.

* Maddie had a bridge ceremony with her Brownie Troop. She has graduated to Junior Girl Scout. Must mean higher cookie quotas next year.

* Logan's girlfriend set the school record for the mile last week at 5:15. She has relationship bragging rights. Rock on Shannon!

* The sunflowers that Jo and I planted are starting to grow. The backyard should look pretty cool once that are 8 feet tall.

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Living like a Kenyan

I participated in the Fifth Third River Bank Run on Saturday in Grand Rapids, MI. The race was the USATF National 25K Championships and I was able to go because of my affiliation with Team Good River (special thanks to Tim Budic who continually drives the team forward). TGR had received free entries and elite status. What a cool race. Great day, great town, great course. A perfect prequel to the Cleveland Marathon on 5/20. Best of all was getting to hang out with the likes of Greg Meyer, Bill Rodgers, and the best young American distance runners. The Brooks-Hanson team was strong, but TGR held its own. I think this would be a great club trip for 2008. We were treated like Kings from the special suite of our own before the race to the elite athletes area at the finish line. Very cool.

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Out of the Target Demographic

* I went to see Spiderman 3 with my son Logan last night. Clearly I was the oldest one there by 20+ years. No problem. I am used to that with most of the runners I compete against. About 1 hour into the movie I realized that everyone else was enjoying the movie way more than I was. I quickly realized that I am no longer in the target demographic. The old man in me started thinking it was too cheesy, needed to be shortened, and very predictable. I probably have more in common with "Uncle Ben" than I do "Peter Parker".
* The Cleveland Marathon is in two weeks. This is the toughest time in marathon training. You just want the race to get here. Unlike a 5K or any race under 10 miles, your window of opportunity is very narrow to run well. You just don't bounce from marathon to marathon. I think I am going to skip the Fall marathon season and really focus on the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in December. Wedged between will be the Burning River 100 mile race in August.
* A great new airline is about to bloom. Check out SkyBus.com. If you can get to Columbus...they fly to a few cities for as low as $10 each way. Great concept.
* I highly recommend the new Nine Inch Nails CD - Year Zero. Sounds alot like their darker, earlier stuff. Guess I haven't completely left that demographic.

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Cool Artwork

* Photo Fiddle - I heard about this on Howard Stern of all places. Very cool stuff. I might order a print or two for my house. There are many types of designs you can apply to each photo. Click on the photo of Maddie to see a larger version.

* My 20 mile run kicked my butt yesterday. I actually took a nap for a short time once I got home.

* Had a blast at the Games Party with Jo on Saturday night. We didn't repeat as champs this year, but third place had a very nice prize.

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Training Tuesdays

Tuesdays are always busy from beginning to end. Here is how today will play out:
4:45am - get up
5:00am - run
6:00am - finish run
6:15am - pick up Logan
6:55am - take Logan to school
7:05am - head to WalMart for pantyhose for Maddie
7:25am - pick up Maddie
8:45am - drop Maddie off at school
9:10am - get to work
noon - head back to Copley. Logan forgot his track uniform AGAIN
5:00pm - leave work and head to Jo's
6:00pm - volleyball at Whitey's
7:05pm - run from Whitey's back to Jo's - Workout is 2 mile warm up then 4 x 3 mile repeats @ 6 minute pace with 1/4 mile recovery between. Total will be just over 15 miles
8:50pm - arrive at Jo's

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Heads Up

My friend Rich was running through a cemetary this morning and came across a dead body. You never know what is going to happen while on a run.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/17122350.htm

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A New Approach

I am going to start this "blog" thing on our website. I think it will take some time to get in gear, but hopefully I will keep it current for my family and friends.

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Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon was a trip. The Nor'easter hit the coast and brought cold wet windy weather. Jo and I did have fun with our friends....but the race was miserable. I was on my pace through 11 but started slowing after that. Hit the halfway mark behind schedule...so I shut it down for the rest of the day. Slower running + cold + hills created cramps. I had to stop at three different aid stations for a leg massage. Cleveland Marathon is next.

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