Fat Nerds should not Run

I ran my second half marathon this last weekend. I did it in 1 hour 55 minutes which is real close to what I thought I would do it in considering the course.
This race course is a tough one. It starts right at the base of a mountain to which you climb 275 feet at a 6.4% grade. It levels off for a ¼ of a mile and then you head up Monster Hill and climb another 250 feet at a 9.2% grade and all this climbing is in the first 1.5 miles. The course then slightly declines till mile 4 at which point you again climb another 200 feet at a 5.1% grade.
Now you have been climbing for 4.5 miles and the downhill quad burning part begins. For the next ¾ miles you drop almost 300 feet at a grade of 7.9% leveling off at the for a 1.5 miles decline. At mile 7 comes the last double whammy hill that you now have to climb again another 150 feet at 5.9% grade in a double climb drop and climb again type hill. Your legs are now tired and burning hams from earlier uphill’s and your quads are still complaining from the downhill. To which they yell at you even more with the final big drop of 6.6% grade off that last hill to end 8.5 miles.
Now you are tired from 8.5 miles of up and down 4 big hills at a mile high elevation and no air with 871 other people all breathing and gasping for their last breath and you realize you still have almost 5 miles to run. The rest of the run is down a trail along a river thus slight down grade and or flat.
I did run a good race though as far as reserves of strength. I started out slow climbing the hills but did not walk. I managed my output and then when the last 4.5 miles came I was able to slowly increase my speed to the end finishing at a sprint. For this part of the race I was only passed by one person and I don’t even know how many people I passed. They seemed to fall to me in waves and groups as some had taken to walking from burning themselves out by going too fast to early. Others at this point I just went by as I put my sites on the next batch of people to try and pass.
In the end I finished near 300 out of 871 thus in the top 1/3 of the people racing. All my friends I hang out with though were finished ahead of me by like 10 minutes or more. I told them afterwards that I was going to have to find a new group of friends since they are all too fast for me. They laughed and said I would not be happy unless I had them to push me further. One of the friends even started at the finish line, ran 7 miles across the town to the start line, ran the race finishing with 20 miles and beat me still by almost 15 minutes. Where do these people that can run come from sheesh.
Another friend has been very supportive and has me registered for the upcoming marathon. So I guess with his notice last night I am officially in for it. I run it the first weekend in May. I will do my best to be able to type after that and let you all know if I died or lived.

WOW 2 posts in a week.

This is way outside the normal to write a couple times this soon but I felt this was news worth to document and let the few in the world out there know what has happened.
Smarter (Dumber) sent me an invite to go to lunch today with him. It was to celebrate my 1 year, (Tomorrow) from being free from the hell hole Addroc. Yep, can you believe it I am been free now for a year. It is a good feeling. And, with that good feeling a couple of things we have found out.
First both Smarter and I do not get any information out of anyone at Addroc anymore. We believe that ever since a friend of mine turned down that job offer to work for them because I told him he was nuts to think about an offer with them Addroc has been worried about me. Smarter and I think there was a memo, typed and passed around (old school) or a big meeting where everyone was told to not converse with Smarter or I. The answer if either of us contacts them is “We are making money.” No more and No less. Addroc didn’t like me and now I think Addroc is lumping our poor little Smarter into the same class as me. I kind of feel bad for helping him get out as just think of the step up in stature he could have had if he had stayed.
Second, Smarter shared this small bit of news with me today as we were riding to lunch. He was with his kids at church and singing “Where is Thumbkin”, that FAMOUS kid’s rhyme where you use your fingers for the characters. Well when they were all asked where is tall man guess what finger came out on all the 6 year olds. Yep, you guessed it he was at church with a bunch of kids all holding up the finger. Only Dumber would be there with them singing and NOT get a picture. LOL
Tomorrow is a big day with a softball tournament. Sunday I will be running my second half marathon. I will try to post my time next week.
So there a quick post.

Alright Already Stop the Strike

OK OK I am sorry that I have not posted in a while. Just without the last place I worked there is just not much for me to complain or story tell about. Or at least I think what I do have to talk about to be boring by most people’s standard. Maybe I am wrong and need to write about my lame life a bit more. What are your thoughts?
So to catch up I guess here is the latest in my life.
Softball Season has started for my daughter. As I am an assistant coach to her team I am now spending a couple nights a week out on the field in practice. We will be heading into a very aggressive tournament schedule in the next month. We competed in our first tournament a week ago. It was a whole new experience for both the girls and for me as a coach. The game is now so much more intriguing and exciting. We moved up into a new age group where now we can make plays that allow us to steal home plate etc. It also means we are against girls that have played at this level and we won’t be the top dog this year so will have to work hard to compete. We have a special tournament this weekend. Our main coach lost one of his daughters a couple years ago. So he started last year a tournament in her name. So we as a team are very busy both putting on the tournament and playing in it. He will be occupied and us assistant coaches will try to run the games.
New Age. My son reaches 16 this coming Wednesday. We have started looking for a car. He had a very hard weekend facing the fact that the amount of money he has for his first car won’t buy the kind of car he wants. Reality and Fantasy are not matching for him right now. Welcome to adulthood and the fun decisions of wants and needs. I was also amazed as we went through lots this weekend that as we walked onto a lot I walked over to the 2 door convertible and he walked over to four door black cars. I think he wants a granny car. He really wants an Audi A4 but they are out of his price range. Time will tell and I have to help him get a car soon because I am selfish and don’t want him really driving and tying up our cars sitting in a high school parking lot all day.
Running and Injury. I have continued my running. I decided to go for a marathon. YEP, a fat nerd running a marathon! OKAY you can stop laughing now and continue reading. See why I put this part at the end of the blog? Well I have been fighting this Achilles heel hurting issue for a while. Been stretching and such but a couple weeks ago that calve decided to cramp and put my running to a halt. As I could hardly walk I stopped running for just over a week. Last Thursday I went out for a 4 miler and it was tight after that again. I was worried. BUT, Saturday I left at 7:30 am on a long run with my cell phone in hand. I might have to call for help who knows where I fell with my legs cramped. Well I made it 20 miles before my calves started twitching. I walked and ran for the next 2 miles before my wife and kids found me and picked me up. I made it 3 hours and 44 minute and 22 miles. I spent the rest of Easter Weekend with sore legs and recuperating. That will end my long runs now and I will compete in a half marathon next weekend and start tapering into the marathon the first part of May. I am going to go forward with it as I have so much support from friends and family to accomplish this. I have a few friends coming to run the last miles with me to get me in on the marathon and one friend is even paying for my entry fee to support me. Guess I have another fun, pain filled weekend coming in the near future.
There now you have a post. I hope you can all lift that strike on me now. It is nice though to hear you all care and want to know what is happening though. J
Ohhh and it is spring and Buggy Time again!!!