Thursday, November 30, 2006

Steph on Around Town TV Show

Here's the clip of Steph promoting the Stomp Out MS event on TV last weekend. I thought she did a great job, super smooth...

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Weather for the Half

PERFECT! earlier today it predicted snow flurries.

If you're into Fantasy Football

Joseph Addai made Week 12 possible, you can imagine my frustration when Rivers threw to Ladanian who then threw the TD pass, THANKS I needed that.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

HID is a friend to ME

Tonight was my first ride home in the dark with the NiteRider Enduro HID headlight.
To describe it in one word ... UNBELIEVABLE.
The only other light i've ever used was a small Cateye that didn't do anything.
This thing lights up the road like you're a car.
Everything you look at gets lit up, the road, speed limit signs, street signs, cars, houses, anything.
A car passed me closely on the parkway, so i turned to look at them and completely illuminated the four passengers inside.
Instantly you are seen by every vehicle on the road. I had my blinkie red and white lights on the bike but i'm not sure that anyone can see them because of this enormous beacon on my helmet. I might give up riding in the day just to ride at night.
Yes, it's a pricey purchase, but it's worth it if you're going to ride at night. There's no question you are seen.

Speaking of seen, in our ongoing evolutionary fascination of reality shows, my new favs are Miami Ink and this Everest one. There's just something about permanently dyeing your skin or getting your toes cut off that just sets me up right for the next workday. You know what i mean?

Stomp Out MS with Marcia Ball

If you don't have plans for December 8th, you should check out the Marcia Ball concert, benefiting the Stomp Out MS Foundation. My sister Steph was diagnosed with MS, and she's worked hard to make this show a great night. The Reilly Theatre is a nice venue so there's no such thing as a bad seat. Marcia puts on a cool show, and your donation benefits MS research and support services locally. Check it out, i'll be there.

just stuff

Dr. Frusha sent me this bit of information which i knew instinctively, but it's always great when science confirms one of my favorite post-ride pasttimes.

Did Kramer get some bad drugs or something? What the hell was he going for with this? That was just ugly, and his apology sounds lame too. Dave tries to help him out his hole, but he dug it way too deep, not even Jerry could smooth things out.

This morning was cold, 39 degrees at the house, but i rode in wearing my new cycling jacket and it was awesome. I've never been so warm.

Inside of two weeks now for the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. We're doing a much more active form of taper than i'm used to. My previous definition of tapering was to reduce mileage and intensity approaching an event. Jenny has us reducing mileage but she replaces it with intensity, she forwarded an article to us from Running Research News, which recommends shorter faster workouts in the two weeks approaching your race.

Saturday, we did 10 miles, which included 3 miles at race-pace, then a jog to Catholic High, then 2 miles on the track with 220 pick-ups on each lap, then a jog back to the 5K course, for one mile faster than race-pace. Yesterday was another track-like workout that i ended up doing on the road at lunch. I'm psyched to see how the race goes with this prep.

There was plenty of interesting conversation here about blue jeans. I know i'd never considered it before, but it explains a lot.

Monday, November 13, 2006

what swimming is like to me

Hello, my name is Nuni.
Oh, hi Noonie!
No, my name is Nuni.
Nounie?
No, Nuni.
Noooni?
No, Nuni.
Noeni?
No, that is my wife's name, i am Nuni.
Ninny?
No, Nuni.
...
...
lap after lap

Sunday, November 12, 2006

rectal hernia

This post was originally called The Power of Urban Legend, but i didn't think it would sell as well.

So i'm cooking supper tonight, actually just heating since The Supper Studio entered our lives, THANK GOD, and the phone rings. It's Caroline, and she's laughing hard,

"Dude, we were just watching Rocky III and Mr. T was doing these pull-ups and he sounded like he was having a hernia, and i told Roper that some dude did that once at a gym where i was, and he blew out his butt, and Roper said you told him that happened to you once in a track race because you pushed so hard."

Um, no. No, that never happened to me, if it had, i would have remembered it. If that had happened at a race i'd been at, i'd remember it. If it had ever happened to anyone that i'd ever heard of ever, i'd have remembered it. So if nothing else, we laughed our asses off (no pun intended).

Another classic bit of me in urban legend came to mind, this time with complete strangers. Antique cycling flashback begins here...

Back in 96, i returned to Jackson, MS to race the Tour LeFleur Crit. This was a year after attempting to knock down a traffic sign with my face and causing more than a little damage to myself. I was warming up on the course before my race and i stopped at a corner to adjust something on my bike and that's when i overheard two ladies talking.

Lady 1: "Girl, they are ridin them bikes some fast"
Lady 2: "You know last year, one of em hit a street sign and died!"
Lady 1: "That's a damned shame"

If it adds to the collective lore of the sport, then i'm honored, in the mean time it still makes me laugh hard.

Deer O'Lantern

In case you haven't heard, this deer was successfully tranquilized and the Jack O Lantern was removed from it's head earlier today. Researchers were surprised to find an Easter Egg stuck in it's left ear, Mardi Gras beads wedged in the animal's hooves and a small statuette of Santa Claus lodged in the deer's ass. All of these findings are lending great credence to the biologist's theory that if there is one thing deer hate more than humans, it's human holidays.

Ryan and Dad's Excellent Adventure

Saturday morning was meant to be a dress rehearsal for the Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon. I woke up to a very chilly 60 degrees, i don't mean that 60 is chilly, i mean that it felt like 45, something about the humidity that morning was just plain cold seeming. Not one to slack, Ryan was up like a champ and after donning some cold weather duds, including one ski cap, fleece, layers, etc. was ready to go. I stuck him in the BOB and wrapped him up with a blanket and off we went.

Right after we started, i realized that the course isn't exactly jogging stroller friendly. It involves hopping more than a couple of traffic islands, crossing some major thoroughfares and the climb of the day, the Perkins Road overpass, which can be terrifying when you are just running by yourself. We took a bit of a shortcut on Nicholson, taking the LSU side to skip an island hop. Then ran with Scott all the way up to the tennis courts. Ryan fell asleep somewhere in this section even though we had a few malfunctions with the BOB's adjusting frontwheel. That took some looking into, and i finally returned it to it's fixed position.

The next section of the run was through the Garden District then back by my old stomping grounds on Parker Street. At the turn on to Perkins Road, Ryan and i kept on Eugene and doubled back to the Lakes. This adjustment ended up only adding a half mile to our course.

Ryan woke up with about a mile to go and started some singing. We hit the finish in 1:49.02 which included stopping to feed and the various bits of stroller malfunction, approximately 8:04 miles. I'm thinking race day, without the baby stroller, the addition of a full arm-swing, and in full-on race mode sub-1:40 will be no problem. My goal of 1:35 is doable, it's going to be fun.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

... and we have a winner

The best predictor of Lance's NYC time was none other than Eric, so eternal or temporary UCC fame is his.

Lance A. ticked off 2:59:36

Eric 2:58:11
Lance M. <2:55
Me 2:53:21
Jeff 2:47:07

Remarkably and much to Bob Barker's chagrin, no one overbid.
womp womp womp

The limited tv coverage looked great, the two Kenyans hunting down the Brazilian but it was not to be for them. I thought Lance looked good solid through to the end, considering they asked him about returning right after crossing the line, i would think he enjoyed himself.

"Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind".

My favorite image was the guy who finished right before Lance, he hoisted his arms like he'd won the thing. Either it was his life's accomplishment to beat Lance in a race or break 3 hours, or maybe do both.

and so it is


The paperwork is done, money has changed hands and somewhere in California, my name has been written down next to a number.

After much debate over the I word. I've signed up for the "Half I" that is Vineman. I'm not at liberty to discuss the other participants signed up for the suffer-fest, as their respective press agents may have elaborate plans for each of them. But do know this, i will win Vineman*. If you don't have any plans for the end of next July, consider it.

* Winning is defined as exiting the water under my own power.