Sunday's Brunch

Well, we certainly had a good time!
Thank you Star. Thank you Armando!
Top Drawer, Top Drawer, you guys are.

It was fun hearing about each of the adventures out there on the course. Seems we all had highs and lows. But we hung in there as long as the medical dudes let us, which was till the bittersweet end in almost every case.

During the party I gave my rookie attempt at a "mock cast" trying to copy Chase Squires most excellent Podcast of the Bighorn 100 in 2006, available here:

There is also a nice slide show through this link

Well my effort had no professional editing team, but if any of you have Power Point and would like a copy of this slow moving (like me!) 30 minute presentation, I'd be more than happy to send it to you.

In the meantime, here are some brunch pictures :-)

Roger Scolds Vicki's Dog, Polly

Our Star Hostess

Whatcha Grabbin' E?

Jill lives! And Armando lurks!

Vicki, A2 and son examine

The floor, while June says,
Seen it!

It's me, watching me, watching me!

Castaway Tooth

You ever seen that movie Castaway? Yeah, that one, Starring this guy:

They called him Wilson.

Yeah, well, what I remember most about that movie was that Tom Hanks' character had this massive toothache. Anyway it got so bad he finally took a rock and bashed himself in his own mouth to lose that tooth.

I am not going to do that, but I did call the dentist for an emergency appointment (not the same one Chase went to, this one has a real license from THE University of Florida and everything) So, don't look for pictures from Andrea and Armando's fabulous brunch, they are such great people, until I am able to concentrate on something besides, "When are my four hours up? When can I take more Advil?" Hopefully tomorrow.

Until then, A-Man

Song of the Week: Closest I'll get to MJ!

This one is inspired by yesterday's most excellent post (by the way, that thread is still very much alive) AND by the Harley watcher extraordinaire for my 2 day Universal trip.

I went to make some toast this morning before my little morning jog and noticed that the Harley watcher, had eaten 1/2 loaf of bread and the better part of a jar of peanut butter. Now that's no big deal except, he spent all of let's see ..... 16 hours in house alone with Harley . And I had taken him out to Breakfast Wed. morning. And his mom had took him to lunch on Wed. afternoon. Still despite the brevity of time, and the being taken out for 2 meals in 16 hours he managed to do the following damage, I am NOT making this up! SuperD, could we have done this in such a short time?:
10 Pepsi's (Wild Cherry)
4 Starbucks coolers
.75 Gallon of Ice Cream
1/2 loaf of Bread
1/2 Jar of Peanut Butter
8 Special K bars
6 Quaker Chewy bars
2 Smart Ones Mac and Cheese Dinners
***Late addition****
As I was putting away the groceries just now I noticed:
6 Pop Tarts @ 210 per.
I'm sure the ripples will be felt for weeks as I go to grab something.
Jeez, common courtesy says leave one! WTF?

Karno was taking in 5 - 6 thousand calories a day while running a marathon a day for 50 days, guys that up there is, schmitz, that's like 8,000 calories while watching TV. That's 8,000 calories in 16 hours, not counting the Pancake, egg and bacon breakfast, nor the Burger Fries and Milkshake lunch! You know that's 10,000 (now at least 12 thousand!) Calories in 16 hours! Happily, the cous cous and asparagus leftovers I had in the fridge were still safely stored when I got back.

I have no response to this, but my man Weird Al has one thing to say..... Just EAT IT!

Ok, Well, the young man is 16, and at this point still very lean, personally, I'm going for a run... right now!

Too Many Beans, not enough Deans

Over the last two days Ali and I were at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in Orlando. Orlando is on the cutting edge of two things: Tacky, and dealing with large humans.

First, tacky, go there and get back to me. If the World's Largest Bargain stores don't do it, the $24 parking at Universal will. For dealing with large humans (darn if I didn't forget my camera) but at the roller coasters they had this sign:

"For those of you with extra dimensions, Rows 3 and 6 have modified seating to handle people of extra dimensions." NO SCHMITZ!

Hey, Universal, got anything for this? Turns out they don't Ali felt bad for one lady that was too big for the added dimensions.

Hey, I feel bad for anyone that has this type of issue, but there are certain places that not everyone belongs. For instance, I don't belong at a bridal or baby shower, I've done both in my life, if you ever see me at another, feel bad for me. The butt above doesn't belong on a roller coaster or on an airplane. Sorry, I feel bad, but you just don't belong. You want to belong, you fit the seat, don't make the seat fit you!

Ok, I got home from Universal and shagged it over to Centro Ybor and saw the new film about Dean Karnazes' run or 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 days. Dean kept harping on the fact that 33% of America's youth are obese. He thought this was unacceptable. Dean, I agree! And I believe he is out there inspiring people to do more and live better. You go Dean, you go!

Dean said, "if I can get one person off the couch, that's worth more than a million dollars!" Well, I'd like to get some people off the couch too, but I'm not rich like Dean, so my saying is a little different, "if I can get one person to get off the couch and give me two million dollars, that's worth more than a million dollars!"

So, at least Dean and I are on the same wavelength.

Tail on the Scale #173

Yep, Gained two pounds post Vermont. Back up to 173.

No how do you suppose that happened?


............ Thank you mam, may I have another?.....

I'll be good here on in, promise

It's an ancient Native American Symbol, it means good luck losing weight. What? I swear!

Ok, I'm off to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure with my lovely daughter Ali, so you won't hear from me again until Friday. But have fun, be young, and drink whatever you like!

Fact or Friction?

Just got word from a source close to the source.

His words:
This might or might not influence your decision to support events in the future by this race management staff. Most of us were informed late Wednesday night via e-mail about the race cancellation; however the elite running field was notified Wednesday morning to cancel their trips to the race.

er, yeah, nice to know that the race staff went into the Wednesday evening meeting with an "open mind."

Roger, please tell the world how this makes me "feel."

Thank you Roger.

What's Different This Time?

Ok, I'm back, and I'm looking forward.

To get forward, it is prudent (if that means the "right" thing to do) that I take a look back at my year's training and my run in Vermont.

Hey, for me to be pointed at success, I've got to analyze the data, isn't that one of the steps in a theory building and the scientific method and all that Dizzy Gillespie jazz? I believe it is.

So, here we are. Things I should have done differently in the year's training:

1. I remember saying, "I'm going to go to the gym twice a week." I remember going to the gym a couple of times total. I wasted a golden opportunity to sculpt my body in a Barrettesqe form in the last year. Yes it would have been nice to have chicks falling all over me, and yes, I would have loved to be helpful when people asked, "Where's the beach?" but more important than all of that is that I could have strengthened the legs and core and given my body a break from all that pounding. Drats! I can't go back in time, but I can go to the gym a few times during what's left of the slam.

...........These doors clearly did not see enough of me!.............

In addition, more biking would have helped. I did one sad ride with Star and the Good Docotor, and they toasted me! To be truly ready for the slam I should have worked to be able to pull them through the hills instead of having to beg them to leave me to die in peace! Er, yeah, mistake!

2. It would have behooved me to hook on as either Roger or the Wedge's cabana boy in their North Georgia estates. Mountains, mountains, mountains are bigger bigger bigger than tiny little hills hills hills! This one would have been harder to enact, but I needed more time hiking in the mountains. Yes, there were reasons I couldn't go, either injury or Harley issues. I'd trade the injuries, but I wouldn't trade Harley, I've come to really love that dog. He's cool. Sometimes you just have to admit, I did the best I could. As for the mountains, I did the best I could.

3. Injuries. They needed medical attention early and I'm such a home remedy guy I was like, "I'll fix 'em." Hey great, unless you like need to use the feet or hips for I don't know..... running 4 x 100 mile races! I'm not always the brightest bulb, but at least I've got ADD. Hey did I ever tell you guys about the time with the monkey, the rooster.... wait, I think I had more.

Ok, so the training issues I can't really change, and I believe by changing course ever so slightly I'll be getting that cool Miami Ink tattoo in October. But not if I don't take heed of my issues from the Vermont 100.

Issues at Vermont:

1. I started out too fast. I didn't believe the RD when he said, "hot and humid." I thought the same thing that AB, Jon, Roger, Michelle, Rob and a host others did. "I'm from warm weather climate, I'll be fine. I'll just run my race." Don't tell me you weren't thinking it, because I was on 20-hour pace through 50 and you guys were an hour or more ahead of me. We all faded, and we didn't have to. Should have walked more early and dialed it back a smidge. This, I'm not too worried about because normally pace is a strength, I just needed a reminder.

2. I was thinking too big at Vermont. Oh, this was almost my downfall. My success in ultras has always been not even focusing on the event that I'm doing, rather on getting over the hill, or even just getting to the next tree. At Vermont, not only was I thinking, "10 more hours, I'll never make it, I'm so tired." no my mistake was bigger, "Even if I do finish this one, 3 more to go, this is insane!" Yes, it very well may be insane, but I know it's insane for me to be thinking about the long hard race in the Wasatch Mountains while I'm actually running in Vermont's Green Mountains. Be where you are AndyMan, be where you are!

3. AMCD PACER? AM (andyman) C (see) D (the) PACER (dude whose job it is to keep you company and keep you from taking naps on the trail, in people's yards, or even in someone's galldarn driveway!)? Ok, in hindsight, perhaps I should have signed up for a pacer at Vermont. I'm relatively sure that a pacer could have replaced some of the negative energy with positive energy during those last 30 miles.

The beautiful thing is, I can learn from each of these, during the race boners. With little effort I can relieve the effects of a hard situation and clean my race up. Focus on the chore at hand! Start slowly finish strong! Get some company, it's better and easier that way!

So, speaking of company: I'm set for Leadville. I know Wasatch is tough to get to, fly in and out of Salt Lake in early September, but I'd love to have a pacer there, I'll see if the race can help me there, and honestly, spending money to get there is dicey because Leadville only has a 40 -50% finish rate, so practically speaking... we may want to wait on this one (but I'll still take a volunteer!) and then Arkansas. The second Leadville is over, I'm putting the squeeze on somebody to come out there and finish this thing with me! It's what the Doctor ordered!