Preparing for the role of "runner"

Anthony Edwards returns to TV in the NYC Marathon from Anthony Edwards

: D  Too funny!! Good luck to all the runners out there this weekend!

Moonlight 4 miler

Any race that serves pumpkin bread and hot apple cider is a good race in my book.  Throw in a glow stick (am I dancing to techno at Eden with Reggie Miller?) and a race shirt that glows in the dark? I'm in. 

The race was a nice course that wove through downtown Indianapolis, with about a mile along the canal.  Very nice.  And, oh yeah, it was at night. So it was much different than I'm used to.  I've also not been running lately due to shin splints and plantar fasciitis, so I really just wanted this to be a fun run.  However, the competitive spirit always wins out, and I was passing all kinds of people in the first mile.  I hit the mile in 8:28 ish.  That is all well and good, and I try to focus on a girl in front of me.  I do so for awhile, until she stops for some water.  In a 4 mile race? Goodness.  Anyway, another lady who was running about the same pace as me and I run around her. I try to stick with that lady, and finally pull away from her.  My second mile is about 8:54.  Ohh. I didn't feel like I was slowing down; better run my own race and not focus on other people.  I put in a spurt to distance myself from the people behind me.  Then I remember, I don't know what my own race is! I haven't been training, and I've obviously lost alot of fitness from my stellar running season last fall/early spring.  Oh well.  I just keep chugging, mostly by myself.  I pass a guy around the mile 3 marker and I have slowed even more, 9:03.  Are you joking - I haven't run this inconsistently for a few years.  Ugh.  I try to pick it back up, but my lack of training has seriously become apparent.  I am running alone, I can see the finish line, but it is a block over - we still have to go up and back.  That is so not a funny trick.  I am still passing people (that is one thing about passing people early - if you don't want to get passed back and look really dumb for going out too fast, you gotta keep the pace up.  Luckily, I was only passed by one person right at the 1 mile marker.) Finally I head around the turn and see our truck. I start my finish "kick", if you can even call it that, and my last mile is 8:46 for a total of 35:16.
So, my time wasn't great, but it was enough for a PR.  I also got 2nd in my age group and won a $15 gift certificate for that! And I already mentioned the pumpkin bread, but who doesn't like hearing that twice?  The lady who won my AG had an 8:02 pace; if I were properly trained, I could have given her a run for her money (last year at the Drumstick Dash I ran under 8 minute pace for 4.5 miles).  I would definitely recommend this race and would love to do it again next year. 

There will be detailed racing blogs, I promise...

but first let me just tell you, the vudu, it is powerful. 

Last night was the thundercar enduro.  Let's see whose nights ended earlier than they probably anticipated:

Josh Poore (hahahahahahahahahhahahhahaha BIG BREATH hahahahahahhahahahahahaha - and right in front of us.  Honestly, I could have left right then and been happy.)
Ronnie Rose (OMG. Suck on that.)
Sam Folsom (ok I like him but he's friends with Ronnie Rose, so he got a teeny tiny bit of vudu, and it took him out. Choose your friends wisely is all I'm sayin.)
Randy Hoppes (Again, just an itsy bit of vudu, and his car is filled with smoke. I really just wanted a flat tire or something so he wouldn't place as high. It's like I can't control it.)
Jake McElfresh (Yeah, he was driving a Swinford car, but sorry, I've always kind of thought that he's a punk.)
Eric Evans (I AM DRUNK WITH POWER!)

So, maybe you're thinking that it was all a coincidence that all of my least favorite drivers were stopped short. It's a 200 lap race with almost 50 cars starting.  There are always alot of wrecks and surely some of them are going to be your least favorites.  Some of them, perhaps.  But the only people that I knowingly don't like that aren't in that list are Shawn Cullen and Nick Warner.  They are both low on my list of people I don't like, (ok, they've almost fallen to the indifferent list - Cullen is/was a friend of Rose and Warner is an alleged pothead) but Cullen, although finishing 2nd, was involved in one of the early wrecks and Warner ended up finishing 4th maybe (I totally don't remember and Anderson Speedway hasn't updated it's freaking website yet, ugh!), so at least he didn't win. AND THEN, in the FWD feature, he was in 2nd with I think less than 10 laps to go, and he got a flat.  He got it changed and made it back out, but he still ended up in 5th or 6th (due to a DQ of someone else). So the vudu was there, people. I am not even kidding - don't screw with my drivers and wind up on the vudu list.  

Now I'm irritated because I can't remember where Warner placed in the Thundercars. 
1. Johnny Magee
2. Shawn Cullen
3. Rod Phipps
4. ? Nick Warner? Someone from out of town? I don't remember.
5. Herb Rose (as much as I don't like his son, I don't totally hate this guy.  Not saying he wouldn't dirty you up, but he wouldn't be a whiny prick about it either and say he was going to rape your wife. So, yeah, he should have brought his son up better, but my mom certainly didn't raise me to drop F-bombs at the track and I still do it, so I can't totally blame that on him. Plus he raced with my Pappaw. Talk about old school.)

Well, upon checking the Herald Bulletin website http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/sports/local_story_290233529.html?start:int=0

it seems Warner did finish 4th. So it was all Anderson guys.   And one more thing - can Johnny Magee be stopped? I mean, other than when Ronnie Rose puts him out in the last turn? He's a freaking enduro MACHINE. 

Oh Jon Stewart. How I love thee.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-14-2009/rape-nuts

I can't get this to embed for some reason, but go check this video out.  Crazy.

Another Planned Parenthood closing

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=11317330

This just makes me sad.  There are going to be 6 communities where people, and especially women, will have even more limited access to health care in a time when health care costs are rising astronomically.  Many people don't know what Planned Parenthood brings to the community.  Here are just a few services they offer:

Breast Exams
Pap Smears
Urinary Tract Infection testing and treatment
Menopause services
Cervical Cancer screening
Colon Cancer screening
Testicular Cancer screening
Routine physical exams
Vasectomies
Birth control services
STD testing and treatment
Flu vaccine
Smoking cessation
Cholestoral and diabetes screening
Abortion services
Childbirth classes
Parent education classes

and the list could go on forever. Check out their website at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ for a complete list of services. 

It really stinks that they are closing, and I guess it is par for the course in the economy. People can only donate so much when they are struggling as well.  What really irritates me are the people who are so happy that PP's are being shut down, just because they provide services that they don't agree with.  I guess the fact that even more people will lack health care is ok with them as long as their "moral agenda" is spread far and wide. 

Support your local planned parenthood - you can donate via their website above or call 1-800-798-7092 to make a donation.   

 

A racing post will be coming soon, but first...

I ran today! Just a little, with walk breaks.  But it felt so good to be back. I hope I can keep it up 1-2 days per week, because I just do not like walking, especially in the cold. (Running in the cold is a different story.)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

The witches will cackle and leaves start to crackle
Under your feet -
It's the hap happiest season, Trick or Treat!

Halloween Theme


I seriously cannot wait until the Haunted Houses and scary movies are in full swing. BOO!