It was a Good Week!

I started the week feeling less than great about my running life. But alas after these 6 days:

Friday: 6 yuck very hot, very hard.

Saturday: 7 at Flatwoods- Good run, nice easy pace.

Sunday: 14 at Croom with Davo, Hot, horrible, wanted to die!

Monday: 5 at Flatwoods in the pouring rain. Awesome, no problem

Tuesday: With Davo in Lutz. Easy for Davo, almost impossible for me. Too fast, but valuable.

Wednesday: 15.5 with A2 and Nick. I felt pretty good. For the first time in a while I felt like I may be able to run long distances again.

What made the week good was that I felt much better at the end of the week than the beginning of the week. I actually got the sense that if I keep it up, I'll be ok.

It's an up and down thing, and I think that's what it's going to be like as I enter my 50's. I'll just prepare better than I have been. Better nutrition plan. Keep check on weight. And for God's sake, cross train. (I recently bought a bike race, now there's a baby step in the right direction.

We'll see.......

God, I Hope this is Real!

Jeez, I gotta say, I hope this comeback is real!

See, I just got back from South Dakota where I laid an absolute egg in my try for 100 miler #17. I sabotaged my own arse. What a buffoon! Ok, ok, ok, I got out there a week before the race. Good right? I could acclimate to the altitude and all that rot. Well, not so good. See, I got drunk like 4 times the week leading up to race. Yeah, that's my year's quota, used the week before a 100 mile run. The Thursday before Saturday's race I stayed at the Casino in Deadwood until after 1 am drinking. People, I'm here to tell you that is NOT a recipe for success! What a tool!

Anyway, I got back and I sulked. I bitched, and today I went out with my good friend Amy, and ran 7 miles, and it was fun. And I'm excited about running again. And I'm excited about IntheSlam again!

Look out Heartland. The Andyman is going to start his 50th year with a dead bang! It's gonna be a Jailbreak! The A-Train is going to roll again!

No more of these boners leading to the race!

S.W.A.T Sweat and Swear!

My buddy Dave and his family are thinking about putting on a mud run. S.W.A.T, Sweat and Swear!

S.W.A.T. because it's put on at a police training range that his family owns. Sweat, because Florida is Hot! Swear because it's a hard MFer!

What do you think? Send me your suggestions. If I use yours you get a free entry. (you still have to pay for parking :)

Time to Update the Ipod

You guys have always been good to me in the song department.

It's time to get Rocky Roads 100 off the Ipod and Sturgis, South Dakota's Blackhills 100 music on the Ipod.

Send me song names, send me songs, send me 8-tracks. Regardless, it's time to update!

Racing Director

The much fun, much tiring, and much satisfying Croom Fools run is now in my rear view mirror. I really like this race directing stuff, I like it the most when I'm 35 miles into running a 100 mile race. I can be heard muttering, "yeah, I could be a full-time race director, I don't have to actually run!"

Still, I am planning to keep running. Something over Memorial Day, June a 100, October a 100. Who knows what else. Roger says I need to get to 32, don't know about that, but I'm pretty sure 20 will happen even if the Aztecs are right and we wrap up this rock on 12/12/2012.

On the RD front, I am running with Ultrarunning and RD legend Jerry Dunn in Mayakka State Forest tomorrow morning. We are scouting out a location for a Sarasota County 50 Mile race. This and a 12/24 hour race I'm planning with Debbie Voiles, the Croom Zoom, and the Fools puts a lot on my plate. Shoot, but I do love it! Except for the lack of sleep, I'd do it all the time. But my brother's best friend said it best...

Fierce New Family Member

There is a new resident at my humble abode in Seminole Heights. My good and great friend Tracy, turned me on (how I wish the sentence stopped there!) to a lost dog. A beautiful, sweet, loving, medium sized mixed breed, 1-2 year old puppy. I don't know what her breed is, but who cares?

Thing is, I was just looking at rescue dogs this weekend and just couldn't pull the trigger. But when I found out Sasha Fierce needed a home, I knew it was right.

It's only been two nights, but she's slept quietly and hasn't chewed anything. She has had no problem running with me either. We started at 2 miles, which we've done twice, and she could easily have gone faster and farther.

I think it's the beginning of a wonderful friendship! Ok, so who wants to watch her while I'm Colorado June 17 - June 27?

April Fools Test

April 1. I love it. I love it much more than Ken Methanny ever did. Poor sap gets shot every year. Guy oughtta move out of Town and Country man. When April 1 falls during the week I give an April Fools test in Psychology. I get them every year. The test is impossibly long with the first page being dead serious. There are some clues on the second page, by the third page the answers don't even make any sense. By the fourth page the students that haven't given up start laughing, then rolling. Question 21: The DSM IV is: a. My Brother David Scott Mathews IV b. Deviant Sadist and Masochist Manuel volume 4 c. A Manual of Diagnostic and Statistical Mental Disorders d. Disorganized Saliva Mastication (Drooling and chewing on the spit) e. All of the above (most people get this one right!) This year's crop weren't too happy with me. They were pissed. "I was really trying! " "I can't believe I did all that work!" But you get a 100%! When's the last time you did that? "Yeah, but I would have gotten that even without trying." Gee sorry, I thought a free A and a little chuckle were things. And so did the last class. As Steve Martin would have said.... Well ExxCUUUUse ME!