Wednesday 3/30/11

As I was sitting on the sofa this morning watching Sportscenter I look outside and see that it is snowing. I won't even comment on what was going through my head, dumb snow. I headed into work at 1pm and it was nothing special...same old thing. I am looking forward to a busy couple days: Reds-Brewers game tomorrow, Civil Wars concert tomorrow night, and Guster concert Saturday night. Oh, and there are some sort of basketball games as well. Should be a good time!

Tuesday 3/29/11

Back to work today after the 3 day weekend was actually good. It was busy, seems like we never have enough hours in the work day to get everything done. The best thing today was I found out somebody could cover my shift Thursday so I can go to Opening Day! I am not a Reds or Brewers fan, but it should be a ton of fun sitting 20 rows behind home plate! Played with Finn for a bit in the yard after work, but not much else to talk about. I am about to join the Blue Ash Recreation Center in the next week so I can start swimming and lifting weights, just some kind work out while I am not able to run. I have never swam without a beer in my hand, hard to think of it as exercising!

Monday 3/28/11

Coffee, mac and cheese, Home Depot, Zip's for a burger and beer, Kroger, Ace Hardware, yard work, cooking chilli, HBO mini-series, Yuengling. That was our Monday!

Sunday 3/27/11

Well, after a little early spring cleaning of the house and a trip to Target for a bookshelf I headed to Mt. Airy Forest for a very casual trail run (hopefully easy on the hip) followed by a Hash trail run. The normal run was pretty standard, just jogging around the trails without the hip hurting much at all. Thank you four Advil. We finished and found the Sin City Hash House Harriers at the oval. We all had a beer, had the rules explained to us, and the "hares" were off into the woods to lay their markings for us to attempt to follow and catch them. It was pretty wild, running off the trails and through brush and some pretty rough patches trying to spot patches of flour left behind by the hares. Eventually we came to a drinking stop where I had n IPA (yum!) and after 5 minutes we began chasing after two more hares through the woods. Finally we came to a "swing check" where we had to swing on a swing set then finish up at the cars. In all we ran about 7.5 miles. The fun was just beginning as we were all put into a circle and songs began being sung at us...not G-rated songs either. We all huddled around the pickup truck with the beer to listen to the last minutes of Virginia Commonwealth beating Kansas in the Elite Eight. Crazy! We headed to some sports bar where I discovered they had Abita Amber on tap! Of course I had to have one before heading home and picking up some delicious Pad Thai for dinner. End of day...wow.

Saturday 3/26/11

It was a pretty awesome feeling to not have any responsibility in life today. Finally around 2pm we decided to be "productive." We headed up to IKEA to look for a new bookshelf to keep the rest of our DVD's and books on. I have never been to an IKEA and it was nothing like what I expected. The best way I can think of to describe that place is a furniture museum. We were just in a line of people being snaked through a bunch of exhibits. In the end they had the shelf we wanted, but we knew we wouldn't be able to fit it in the car. We headed home and we (mostly me) watched the Butler-Florida game. It is amazing what Butler has been able to do. We met up with the Hadaway clan at 7pm at the Cincinnati Gardens to watch the Cincinnati Rollergirls. It was pretty fun I have to say, couldn't believe how many people were there! The names of the players and coaches was hysterical. Here are some photos of the Roller Derby. The third photo is a pic of the sweet beer can pyramid that somebody made next to the rink.

Friday 3/25/11

Well it's winter again. Cold weather is getting old. Today was Day 1 in recovering from this hip thing. Work was pretty normal, but one good thing that happened was I found a guy to buy my marathon entry for Flying Pig (at half price though). At least I will get some of my money back. After work we headed to Casa de Arpin in Milford for some DELICIOUS food. Becca's chicken with baked macaroni and cheese, amazing! Tasted some of David's home brewed beers, pretty damn good I have to say. I picked Ohio St. to win the NCAA tournament, but it was great seeing an SEC team take them down. Virginia Commonwealth playing Butler in the Final Four? That would be entertaining. Here is a video Brian Schoenholz and AJ Hoeltzel posted on FB a while ago, talk about keeping you on the edge of your seat!

Thursday 3/24/11

Today after work I headed to Clear Creek Park for a 5-6 miler on the grass. After 4 miles I stopped and walked back to my car because my hip/groin was hurting really bad. I decided tonight it is not a good idea to attempt 16 miles on a hilly, muddy trail this weekend. I am taking off from running until this gets better. That means I won't be running the Flying Pig either. If anybody wants and entry into the full marathon or half marathon (it can be transferred to the other distance) just let me know and you can have mine. On a good note, since I requested this weekend off for the race I have off Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Carrie took Monday off work so we will have three days together. It should be fun...planning on going to the Findlay Market this weekend and then maybe the Newport Aquarium on Monday. I'm watching the SDSU-UConn game right now. These are going to be some exciting games coming up in the next couple days. Here is a video that still gives me goosebumps when I watch it, as it will to anybody who watched last year's national championship game.

Wednesday 3/23/11

Carrie woke me up around 8am, but I ecided to keep sleeping since I didn't have any place to be until 1pm. I headed to Panera for some coffee and some reading. I took a drive to Ault Park and through some neighborhoods below it that I have not been to yet. Work was steady, but not nearly as crazy as yesterday. The most exciting thing that happened today was the tornado sirens going off twice. Took today off from running, but plan on running a bit longer than previous days tomorrow after work. I am going to start posting videos on here that I find amusing, entertaining, or maybe even controversial. Here is one that I think is hilarious.

Tuesday 3/22/11

For a nice change I got to open at work today which means I got off at a normal time! Went in at 9:30am and left at 5pm. I went back to Clear Creek Park after work and tried something a little different. I wore my Nike Lunaracers, a lightweight racing flat, instead of my normal Nike Structure Triax. I was thinking with running in water and mud the lightweight shoe will be less strain on the hip/groin than a heavy trainer that holds all the water. It seemed to work well...it still hurt, but was MUCH better than yesterday. I did 5 miles in 37:23 (7:28 pace). I was given a pair of Saucony Kinvaras last week at the expo and I may try running in them with a Superfeet insert this week. I could tell my Lunaracers would start hurting my ankles pretty bad after an hour of running. I am just trying to decide what shoes to wear in the trail race Sunday. Carrie made an awesome dinner tonight of grilled chicken, potatoes, and steamed green beans. The marinade she used on the chicken was awesome!

Monday 3/21/11

I lounged around the house until it was time to go to work at 11am. Work was way more busy than I expected, which means it went by very fast while also making us exhausted. I stayed 30 min. late to help out with some stuff then headed home to change and run. I got to Clear Creek Park around 8pm and there was a little daylight left. After one loop it was completely dark (no lights in these fields). I busted out my trusty headlamp and went for another loop. All the way in the back fields I was running along the treeline and whenever I shined my headlamp in the brush I could see tons of sets of eyes shining right back at me! It was pretty freaky when one of them busted out of the bushes and started running along side of me, but luckily it was just a rabbit. I must have seen 10 sets of eyes in that half mile stretch. I ran 4 miles in a slow 32:04 (8:01 pace). My hip/groin was hurting a lot worse today than yesterday...not a good sign at all. Once I got home I showered and walked down to Oakley Pub and Grill for a burger and some brews. My buddy from work Robert met me down there and we hung out on the patio for a bit, then decided to walk down to another bar called Animations. This is the bar to go to if you want to shoot pool. Overall a pretty solid day. Here is a photo of the view on my run with the headlamp.

Sunday 3/20/11

I am pretty excited because I FINALLY was able to run. I had work from 11:30am-6:00pm then headed to Clear Creek Park hoping that the flood waters had receded. There was still a small portion of the park flooded, but about 75 percent of it was dry. The hip was still hurting, but seemed to loosen up after the first mile. In all the run was 4 miles in 30:32 (7:38 pace). After only running 5 of the past 15 days it is going to be tough in the trail race next Sunday. I feel there is no way I can run on the road anytime soon because every step feels like a knife in my hip. The grass (and hopefully no more flooding) is going to get me to the starting line of the Flying Pig. On another note Carrie and I finally saw The Fighter tonight. It was pretty good, Christian Bale very much played a "Daniel Day Lewis" type role.

Saturday 3/19/11

Another day of no running. This is starting to really get to me. I headed to Starbucks to pick up Diane this morning and we headed downtown to the Convention Center to work the Heart Mini Marathon Expo. It was a lot of fun, worked with the Saucony peeps most of the time. At 2pm I headed back up to the store to work the last 4 1/2 hours of the day on the sales floor. Watching the NCAA Tournament right now and I can't believe Butler is doing it again. How can anybody not pull for those guys? Tomorrow after work I am going to attempt to run, but we'll see how it goes. The hip is still feeling pretty bad.

Friday 3/18/11

I thought I was going to be setting up at the Expo today, but worked at the store from 9am-7pm instead. Pretty long and busy day which will be followed by another crazy day working at the Expo tomorrow. Enjoying a Goose Island Honker's Ale  and some NCAA basketball right now. Hip is still killing me, so again no running. I am looking forward to watching the Illinois-UNLV game tonight just because I have some friends back in St. Louis that are pretty big Illinois fans. I am sure they were pretty happy to see Mizzou lose in the first round. :)

Thursday 3/17/11

Worked from 11am-7pm today, then came home to an awesome dinner of grilled salmon, couscous, and steamed carrots. Not much else to report, hip is still hurting pretty bad so no running. I will be downtown at the Convention Center all day tomorrow setting up for the expo. Maybe Sunday I will be able to get some sort of run on the grass. Just frustrating.

Wednesday 3/16/11

I didn't have to work until 1:00pm today, but I decided not to run because my hip is hurting pretty bad. It is strange because I can't press on it anywhere and feel where it hurts. It seems like it is deep inside and only hurts when my left foot hits the ground. Hopefully I can get this thing healed up so I can attempt some sort of long run this weekend. After two days off from work it was good to be back at it. I even helped a guy about my age that is originally from Hahnville, LA which was pretty cool. We are gearing up for the Heart Mini Marathon and expo this year where we will have a booth. I haven't worked an expo since the 2008 Portland Marathon. Should be fun!

Tuesday 3/15/11

I was pretty much a bum for the first 5 hours of being awake today. I just drank coffee and watched ESPN. I was determined to run on some grass today to give the body a little relief, so I drove 25 min. north to Winton Woods. I looked at the park, which is 2,555 acres on a map and it looked like there were some blacktop paths all over which hopefully had enough grass along them to run in. I parked next to the huge 156 acre Winton Lake and started my run on the edge of said path. After crossing a bridge less than a mile into the run I saw a trail heading off to the right. I decided to run onto it since it looked nice and soft, thinking in my head it was probably only one or two hundred yards long. Well it just kept going and ended up veering off of the path and pretty soon I was running in the woods! The trail was pretty muddy and hilly, but still very runnable. I decided to keep going and see where it took me. After about 2 miles I came upon a creek that was about 20 feet across and about knee deep in water. I said screw it and I jumped in and ran through it. After about another half mile I came into a field and realized I had been running on horse trails and was now on the horse farm where they originate. I turned around and ran back the same way (including through the creek again). Once I was back where I had first come upon the trail I saw that it continued in the other direction, so of course I wanted to see where that would take me. It went through a very hilly patch and through some sort of field with bird houses on poles probably every 15-20 yards or so. The trail took me back into the woods and winded around until it dead ended at some country road. I turned around and headed back the same way, then back around the lake to my car. In all the run was 7.8 miles in 1:00:19 (7:44 pace). I figured there are about 5.5 miles of horse trails in all. I will be coming back here quite often, such a fun run! For dinner Carrie and I headed to Gordo's Pub for some burgers and brews. The food was great, but not too expensive. The beer and wine selection was outstanding. I had the Surf and Turf burger with a side of Mac and Cheese, a Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA (from Milton, DE) and a Flying Dog Raging Bitch IPA (from Frederick, MD). We will be back there for sure!

Monday 3/14/11

Today I decided to take a drive to downtown so I could snap some photos of the flooding Ohio River. It is pretty crazy how high it is. Riverside Dr. in Kentucky is completely under water. I crossed back into Ohio on I-275 and headed to Newtown and Anderson to check out Clear Creek Park where I have been running. It was under about 5 feet of water which blows me away since 6 days ago I ran there and it was totally dry. I also bought a scale today so I can monitor how much I weigh. So far since New Year's I have lost 10 pounds, hoping I can knock 5-10 more pounds off before the Flying Pig. I headed out for my run around 3:45pm and the first half mile I basically hobbled because my left groin/hip was killing me. It loosened up after a while, but felt pretty tender the whole way. The good thing about that is it kept my mind off my bum toe. I headed up to Hyde Park Square and up Edwards towards Grandin. I hung a left on Madison and ran up to Woodburn, then turned around and ran the same way back for 8 miles in 57:50 (7:13 pace). The pace was much better than yesterday and felt like less effort, but I am feeling pretty beat up. This week I am just going to have to run through it and hopefully the body holds up. I made baked ziti for dinner, DELICIOUS. Here is a pic of the finished product.

Sunday 3/13/11

Woke up at 8:00am (felt like 7:00am...dumb time change) and left to drive to Clear Creek Park for a run. After I got in my car I realized because of the time change I would have enough daylight to run after work, so I went back inside, made a pot of coffee and watched CNN and Sportscenter. Carrie's parents came over around 10:30am and we all headed to Panera for breakfast. Work was really slow the first hour, not normal for a Sunday. We figured it was because people probably forgot to change their clocks. Drew, who I work with and lives near Clear Creek Park, told me today it was now completely under water from the flooding. That is crazy to me since 5 days ago I ran there and it was totally dry. I was determined to start back training today no matter how much my toe hurt. I took a box cutter and cut a hole in the outside of the toe box of my shoe to give my swollen pinkie toe a little room to...well, be swollen. I headed down to Hyde Park Square then down Linwood to Mt. Lookout Square and back up Delta. I then headed down Erie to Brotherton and back to Oakley Square and the house. Total was 6.2 miles in 46:13 (7:27 pace). The toe didn't hurt too bad, but I could tell I haven't run much recently. Here is a picture of my shoe after taking the box cutter to it.

Saturday 3/12/11

Worked from 8:00am-4:30pm today, pretty good day. It went by very fast which is always nice. After work I headed home to take care of Finn then headed up to Loveland to meet up with Carrie and her family for dinner at Shooter's. After that we headed back to her cousin's house from some Wii Pictionary...that is a fun game! Not looking forward to losing an hour of sleep tonight, but it will be worth it with the longer days coming up. Congrats to my good buddy Michael Burke out west who just finished 32nd in the Way Too Cool 50k in California. I am sure he will soon have a pretty cool race recap on his blog soon.

Friday 3/11/11

Carrie woke me up this morning to tell me about the earthquake in Japan, so I got up, went downstairs and turned on CNN. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Watching the waves take out everything has to be the scariest thing I have ever seen on TV. This has to be the worst natural disaster in our lifetime. My heart goes out to everybody in that part of the world. Worked from 11am-6:30pm today, busy as usual. I rushed home, showered, and changed so we could head to Wildflower Cafe for dinner. This is easily my favorite restaurant in Cincinnati as of right now. Carrie's brother Tim drove into town today and we joined their parents as well as their aunt and uncle for dinner. It was DELICIOUS! Busy day tomorrow, then back to running Sunday morning.

Thursday 3/10/11

Another gross day today, rain which turned into about an inch of snow this evening. I decided since my mileage this week is already shot, I may as well take off the rest of the week from running to make sure my toe heels up. I will be back at it Sunday. I did buy a new pair of shoes today, the Asics DS Trainer, to wear in the marathon. That will be the first time I have ever worn any sort of light weight shoe in a marathon and also the first time I have ever worn Asics in a marathon. I was pretty pumped when I found out we would be bringing them in. Our Diva Night was just getting started when I left work at 7pm tonight. I think 130 women in one room  is a little much for me, so I was happy to head out. :-) We had an awesome dinner of grilled salmon, couscous, and steamed carrots. I am really starting to enjoy this healthier lifestyle. I need to buy a scale to see how much weight I have lost since Christmas...has to be at least 15 pounds. Carrie's new computer finally came in today, a MacBook Pro. I don't know what kind of stuff it can do, but it sure looks cool.

Wednesday 3/9/11

I really did not feel like running today for whatever reason. Maybe it was the fact that it was 45 degrees and raining all day. Just nasty out. I also thought I should rest my messed up toe for at least a day. Work is getting crazy since out inventory is getting huge. In the nine years we have been open we currently have a bigger inventory of shoes than we have ever had. One cool thing I found out today, I am going to MLB Opening Day here when the Reds play the Brewers on March 31st if I can get off work. Not only is it Opening Day, but the tickets are free...and not only are the tickets  free, the seats are 20 rows behind home plate! I hope I can get off work, that would be one fun day.

Tuesday 3/8/11

Went to Panera this morning to eat, drink coffee, and do some reading. Took a short drive to Otto Armleder Park where I have done some workouts on the soccer fields and saw it was completely under water from the Little Miami River flooding. That was pretty crazy to see. I then went and chopped off my hair hoping it would make me more aerodynamic. On my run at Clear Creek Park I felt surprisingly good again. The 1.8 mile grass loop gets pretty boring, but it is so much easier on the legs...and the toe for that matter. After 4 miles my toe actually stopped hurting. I took that as a good sign and continued on for a total of 7 miles in 47:40 (6:48 pace). The bruising on the toe/foot has spread, but the swelling has gone down a bit which I think is helping as far as the running goes. Carrie and I met four of her friends from work for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Hyde Park Plaza tonight. Ashley is from Chicago and Ben, Rhiannon, and Oli (I think his real name is Oliver) are from Britain. Needless tos to say all the British accents and sayings were cracking us up. I learned that "dodgy" means "sketchy" or "shady." Overall a good day. Back to work tomorrow!

Monday 3/7/11

Happy Lundi Gras to everybody back home! Even my parents are in on the action...they sent me a photo from the French Quarter today. I pretty much bummed around, and when the temps warmed up I headed to Clifton to hang out at Sitwell's Coffee Shop. Pretty eclectic crowd in Clifton, probably since it is right next to the Unversity of Cincinnati. After that I headed to Clear Creek Park to attempt a run on my messed up toe. With the help of some tape and multiple advils I managed 4 miles on the grass fields in 28:38 (7:09 pace). Other than my toe hurting I felt really good. I had to cross a blacktop path a few times, and every step I took on it with my right foot I thought my toe was going to crack. On the grass it was tolerable, so I guess I will be spending a lot of time at this park in the next couple days. Here is something funny I saw in a book today about running:

Rule 1.2-Expand Your Definition of Fun

For runners this may include:
-waking up at 5:30am to run 10 miles
-running in blistering heat
-running in the rain
-running in 400m circles
-feeling as if your lungs are about to explode
-paying a race director good money for the privilege of turning your own toes black and blue
-any combination of the above

Sunday 3/6/11

I skipped the Sunday morning group run to rest up some aches and pains, and around 9:30am I slammed my pinkie toe in the corner door. Awesome. I may have let out a few four letter words. I had socks on and once I limped back downstairs I looked down at my feet and noticed a discrepancy between them. I took my right sock off and noticed my pinkie toe was facing sideways! I had no choice but to pop it back in place. That was interesting to say the least. I headed into work at 11:30am, had a crazy busy day, and once I got home I took my shoes and socks off to see if it had swollen. To my shock it was solid red and purple. Again, awesome. I have a bag of ice on it as I type right now and plan on attempting to run on it tomorrow. I am pretty sure I broke it, and the thing about a pinkie toe is that there is not much you can do with it and it can't really get worse...just going to hurt like hell. Here is a picture I took when I got home from work around 6:30pm.

Saturday 3/5/11

I had to work from 8am-5pm today. Not much running going on with my groin not feeling good, raining pretty hard outside, and wanting to chow down on some Indian food. The rain is supposed to turn to snow in the morning so I will probably skip the Sunday morning group run. I can get my long run in Monday or Tuesday since I am off work both those days. One crazy thing that happened today was at the gas station at Kenwood Rd. and Montgomery Rd. I walk into the gas station to buy something and there is a young guy and middle aged lady working the registers. The young guy is checking two teenagers out and as they walk off the lady, who is checking me out, says "Those kids are freaks." I laughed out loud a little and she then says "No, they are freaks. That bitch told me one time that she didn't know if I was a man or a woman. I wanted to tell her that she should check between her legs to see if she had a dick." I was shocked and just started cracking up! I am sure her manager would not approve, but that is what free speech is all about.

Friday 3/4/11

Woke up to a rainy day, pretty nasty. Had work from 9:30am-7:00pm then headed home for a run. It was my first night run in a while and I was really looking forward to it since it was 50 degrees with a foggy, misty rain. After about 2 miles I could feel something was wrong with my groin. I figured I had tweaked it during the track workout yesterday that I had no business doing. Finished up the run pretty slowly, only 5 miles in 38:10 (7:38 pace). I was going to run tomorrow, but may take the day off to let this groin issue heal up. Hopefully it is better for the long run on Sunday. Finishing up the pot of jambalaya right now with a big glass of chocolate milk while watching the movie The Chase with Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson. Only Charlie Sheen could have sex with Kristy Swanson while driving a car at 90 mph that is being chased by tons of police cars. If that is not a winner, I don't know what is.

Thursday 3/3/11

First thing that needed to be done today was wash clothes and go to the grocery. Once those chores were done I headed to a small high school about 10 min. from home. I planned on doing 16x400 at 80-82, but after I ran the first couple way too fast I decided to cut the workout short. This was my first time on the track since Aug. 24th at Fleet Feet Fenton speedwork. Needless to say, I was WAY off on pace. After a 2 mile warmup I ended up doing 10x400m with 90 seconds rest in 77, 76, 74, 76, 75, 76, 75, 77, 78, 77. I then decided to tack on 4x200m in 36 seconds each. I had to dodge a lot of high schoolers that were conveniently just walking in the first 2 lanes. I didn't really enjoy being back on the track, so I think from now until the marathon I am going to do workouts on the grass or tempos on the Little Miami River Trail. After the workout I decided to take Finn on a little adventure to Ault Park and Alms Park. We made jambalaya for dinner again, and once again it was just a little bit better. We used a different sausage which I think helped a lot. Here are some pics of Finn on our adventure today.

Wednesday 3/2/11

Didn't do too much today except watch CNN, Sportscenter, and play with Finn in the yard. I was going to go to the track, but decided instead to run to Hyde Park Square and all the way down to Marimont and back. It was so nice out, 53 degrees and sunny, that I wanted to enjoy it a little. It ended up being 9.5 miles in 1:05:32 (6:54 pace). 7:00 pace is getting to be pretty easy which is a good sign. I think tomorrow instead of a track workout I may see how fast I can run 10 miles. That sounds fun right? This nice weather is really making me want it to be summer. I am sure it is just a tease, since there is always that one last March snowstorm.

Tuesday 3/1/11

Woke up to a gorgeous day, although it was still a little chilly. Headed to Clear Creek Park for another run on the soft grass, trying to take it easy on the legs. Covered 6 miles in 43:29 (7:14 pace). I felt really good and am really looking forward to the next two days. We are supposed to have perfect weather and I am off work both days! Work was interesting with having the store closed and having to re-inventory everything along with training on the new POS system. One cool thing I received in the mail from my mom is all our old family videotapes that I had no idea even existed, but converted to DVD's. There are videos from holidays and birthday parties along with me playing basketball at Madisonville Jr. High, little league baseball, and high school cross country/track. It was crazy to see how young we all looked! One of the coolest videos was one of me, my dad, my brother, my uncle, and my grandpa who died in 2002 all standing around chatting at some park. Good memories.