First Quarter 2011 Results

Running: 155.7 Miles - on pace for 620M = 1000Km

My "casual" training pace has dropped all of a sudden to the 8:40-8:30 neighborhood.

"The elements, dear Watson, are coming together"

Cycling: 6.6 on the day after New Years, then another 12½ Bike-Date on Friday afternoon in March ... That's it, sorry

Weight: Down 3½ to 153
BP: Down 15pts [!!!] to 138/78

Does this Make Me a Doper???

As I stated a few months ago, my Blood Pressure's been up.

I've tried to manage it through exercise alone [which has worked in the past] but have made no headway; only taking it down to 150/80 in December before it rose back to 160/80 at a screening we had at Assumption a couple of weeks ago.

I made an appointment to see the Doc again this morning [without having to be told to by D'Wife to do so (!!!)].

At the office, my BP was down from 160/80 to 150/75; not bad since Mariel woke up throwing up and I got pulled over for speeding in Cherry Hill on the way over [talked my way out of it by saying I was taking her to the Pediatrian’s :-)]

Doc is putting me on this to get me to <140/80: “Amlodipine is called a calcium channel blocker. It works by relaxing blood vessels so blood can flow more easily … It may help to increase your ability to exercise …”

Uh-oh, I’d better check with the Olympic committee on this one [or Lance Armstrong]

"PRECAUTIONS: ... Limit alcoholic beverages"

Um ... Define "limit"

Cabin Fever

When coming home from Michaels on an errand to pick up some crafty goods for D’Kid a couple of Sundays ago, my car, Max, had - what felt like - an epileptic fit as we backed out of our parking space. My first thought was to put it in Park, then Reverse again to rule out a transmission issue; which it passed. Then once we returned home, I check the oil to make sure it hadn’t leaked/burned out and that I was on the verge of seizing then engine. Again, good results there.

It felt fine to drive even though there was some shuddering & puttering, which at first was startling then merely annoying.

Then the engine light came on.

That Saturday, I took it to our mechanic who ran the diagnostics; something to do with an ignition coil and possibly an injector issue.

I asked if would be okay to drive until Friday [when we BOTH get paid] … his mouth said ‘yes, but not too much’ but his eyes said ‘I wouldn’t’ … especially with 40 miles round trip ever day

So, told my manager that I’d be telecommuting in the rest of the week, if that was okay; which she was fine with.

It just got even better

That Tuesday Bank of America processed a loan payment that we didn’t authorize, which put our account $1300 below zero [see attached]. I had HOPED to get the refund from them by that Friday so I could take the car in, but it STILL hadn’t showed up when we both got paid; essentially putting us back to a single pay week.

Which meant we STILL couldn’t afford to have it fixed.

Which meant I STILL couldn’t get in to work.

So, I wait and work online in the meantime [while calling Bank of America everyday to bug them]

The ONE upside is that I can take a later lunch and go for my run outside, instead of getting up at 5:30AM and jogging around in the dark.

Postcards from the Curb

There's always been an ongoing debate as to what is the difference between a runner and a jogger.

Some say it's a paceing thing ["anyone slower than me ... is a jogger"] or there's the argument that "the difference between a runner and a jooger is an entry form" [which bugs those of us who run for fun and don't often race] ... a friend of mine, however found this gem on Slowtwitch:

"Joggers bounce up-and-down and stop lights. Runners just stand there looking pissed!"

I thought 'Oh that's GREAT!!! I gotta put that on my wall at work!!!'

I went into Flickr and poked around until I found an image that fit PERFECTLY, then added the text



I thought, 'Hmmm, that's really quite good. I should do another, maybe for someone just starting out'

I found inspirations in the email signature of another friend; slightly modified



I pulled forward one I had made a while ago and added IT to the collection






I was soon actively SEARCHING for quotes to illustrate. Once I'd compiled a dozen or so, I set them up as an album on my Facebook page, and started "tagging" my friends.

Well, word got out, and I recieved the following message on FB [emphasis mine]:

Hi Randy...I'm Bill of the Pineland Striders. "Medford Jeff" shared some of your postcards today on our Yahoo Posting Board. I've been a runner since 1979. Your photos are the finest I've ever seen in my over 30 yrs of running...seriously. They're magnificent. You should market them as posters. I'd love to know the locations of some of those photos...is that possible? One of my favorites are those guys in a bike race (or group ride) riding in a pouring rain.

After checking the viability of such an endeavor with my friend Jill of Lehigh Valley Running Scene, I replied thusly:

Thanks, Bill;

I can’t claim credit for the images, truthfully. I just pull them off Flickr & add the captions [which I find here & there]. The postcard files are not the greatest resolution in the word - only abt 100 pixels/in - so they're not exactly poster material, but PERFECT for printing out at home and putting on the fridge or hanging in the office

MOST of them are under a Creative Commons License, so they're shareable; please, feel free [I haven’t even taken the trouble to “watermark” ‘em or anything]

Thanks again,
Randy

Who knew I’d get so much “mileage” out of these silly things???

2010 Year End Results

Total Miles Run: 540.1 miles - just missed 900K = 558 Miles
Biggest Running Month: May [72 Miles]
Lowest Non-Injured Running Month: December [26 Miles]

Number of "Offical" Races: 0
Number of Virtual Comps / Time Trails: 3

Total Bike Miles: 248.5
Biggest Bike Month: September [73 miles]

Other than the Big POINK!!! ... A pretty good year.

Looking ahead to 2011, … I have a super secret goal of breaking ALL my v2.0 PRs this year [5K, 10K, 10M, HM] before I turn … well, y’know, THAT Number.

Wish me luck