Clarification re: North Pole Marathon entry

I've realized that my original posting re: my contest entry was a little unclear - if you are wanting to post a supporting statement regarding my entry, please do it at http://www.yourrunning.com/story-inspired_to_head_north (my entry statement), not on my blog...

Thanks much!

Yes, I'm crazy

As of today, my entry has been posted to the Yourrunning.com North Pole Marathon contest - if I win, I'll be running in the North Pole Marathon on or about April 15th. The contest closes on January 31st, and they'll be announcing the winner on or about February 15th.

Please feel free to post any supporting messages to my entry if you've got something to share that the contest organizers should hear. Or if you just want to send me to the North Pole....

;)

Update: if you are posting a supporting message, please make sure to post it to http://www.yourrunning.com/story-inspired_to_head_north (my contest entry) - thanks much!

hardcore.

That's the only way I can describe my day yesterday - 5.5 mile training run @ 8:20 pace, very cold and windy. The wind chill during my run was -3F. And the scary thing is, I had a blast! The only complaint that I really have is not so much due to my glasses fogging over from the face mask as much as said fog then freezing solid on my glasses

Last weekend is best described as epic...Saturday, I ran one loop of the course for the Clinton Lake Ultramarathon - 10 very hilly miles, in pretty cold weather (not nearly as cold as yesterday, but at the finish of the training run, I saw someone with a sizable icicle hanging from one of his sideburns). Ended up finishing the run at about a 10:40 pace, which put me at the front of the mid-pack or the back of the front-runners. Grabbed a quick breakfast (my new traditional post-training/race breakfast - 2 pancakes, no butter, no syrup, with 2 over-easy eggs sandwiched inside). Rested up for most of the rest of the day, devoured the entirety of a large vegan pizza (I recently discovered that Papa John's will make a pizza with no cheese), and slept like a baby. The following day, I set a new PR for the 10k flat indoor time trial at Champaign Cycle I got my time down to 17:30, shaving 21 seconds off my previous PR, and increasing my average wattage to 255!

So, what did you have for dinner?

So, what did you have for dinner?
Originally uploaded by infoninja.

I had buffalo jellyfish! (1 package jellyfish, sauteed briefly with Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce)

Most horrible inter-business unit marketing EVER!

Recharging via cable and sunlight

Recharging via cable and sunlight, part 1
Originally uploaded by infoninja.

Vet + medication bill to diagnose and treat lung infection: $800 and counting
Value of Best Buy gift card chewed up by dog: $50
Having an adorable beagle whose ears must be snorgled: priceless

Update re: new year's progress

Well, the original plan had been for this posting to accompany a new design for the blog, but the design isn't ready yet, so here goes....

I don't know if it's getting on top of my nutrition, or what, but this has been a great year thus far in terms of training - see below for workouts/paces, etc:
1/2 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/2 PM (lunch): 1.75mile run to track, 7x600 @ 6:20.85 pace, 1.75mile run from track

1/3 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/3 PM: Gym - 10:00 treadmill warmup, 35:00 freeweight circuit training, 10:00 treadmill cooldown

1/4 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/4 PM: 45:00 indoor cycling - Spinervals No Slackers Allowed

1/5 AM: 7mile slow training run @ 9:44 pace

1/6 AM: 3:00:00 indoor cycling - Spinervals Tough Love

1/7 AM: 6mile run @ 8:21 pace

1/8 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/8 PM: Gym - 10:00 treadmill warmup, 25:00 Crossfit, 10:00 treadmill (hill intervals) cooldown

1/9 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/9 PM: 6mile run @ 7:55 pace

1/10 AM: Core/flexibility work¹

1/11 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/11 PM: Gym - Treadmill interval workout (10:00 warmup, 12x00:30 @ 6:18 pace w/ 1:00 @ 11:00 pace rest intervals, 7:00 cooldown), 10:00 free weight circuit training

1/12 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/12 PM (lunch): 4.4mile run @ 8:24 pace

1/13 AM: 8mile run @ 8:36 pace

1/14 PM: 01:30:00 indoor cycling - Spinervals Mental Toughness

1/15 AM: Core/flexibility work¹
1/15 AM: 3.5mile recovery run @ 8:26 pace

Most of the runs have, even when I've been pushing myself, felt better than I remember in a long time. I did briefly worry that it was due entirely to the CW-X tights that I got for Christmas, since I was using those for the first speedwork run @ the track, which felt unnaturally good for speedwork, but I've done runs both with and without the tights, but I've had really good runs both with and without the tights (the 7:55 6-miler was w/out the tights), so that's definitely not it. That said, I'm a huge fan of the tights, and will definitely be continuing to use them...

If I can keep things up, 2007 is looking to be a great year!

¹Core/flexibility work consists of:
50 Stability Ball Crunches
15 Stability Ball Push-ups
50 Stability Ball Crunches
15 Stability Ball Push-ups
50 Stability Ball Oblique Crunches
20 Stability Ball Push-ups
50 Stability Ball Reverse Crunches
5:00 stretching

Road trips, new places to run, and the quest for the One Ring

Christmas was spent in Iowa, half w/ Kathleen's family, half with mine (see pictures below of me with a Christmas elf my mom (geez, when did I get so tall?), as well as a picture of her two Braccos (Jasper in the foreground, Grace in the background)



I got a bit of running in while in Iowa - an easy 8 mile recovery run (9:39 pace) while visiting Kathleen's parents, which was fantastic - left the house before the sun was up, ran 4 miles out into the country (out to the entrance to Kent Park, for anyone from the Iowa City region), then ran back. Also did a 4 miler while at my moms, which was awful (the run, not my mom's) - I don't know if I'd had too much Christmas food, or what was up, but my speed was awful (ended up averaging 8:34, and was supposed to be doing much speedier than that), and my legs just felt dead.

The last night we were in Iowa, Kathleen was playing my mom's harp before I made dessert. At one point shortly after she finished playing, I was in another room, when all of a sudden, I could hear Kathleen and my mom talking in a hushed tone about something. I came downstairs to discover that, while putting her wedding ring back on, Kathleen had accidentally dropped the ring into the open heating register in the floor, and the ring was too far into the ductwork to be able to reach.


So, without further ado, we journeyed forth into the gloom of the unfinished century-old basement


The basement consisted of a dirt floor....


cobwebs and spider fossils...


and plenty of fiberglass to wrestle with while questing for the one ring.


After about an hour of fiberglass/ductwork wrestling, I managed to get the section of ductwork leading to the register detached from the duct closer to the furnace at which point I was able to push the ring close enough to the opening of the register that my mom was able to reach it from above.

(My initial idea had been to detach the duct from the register, reach in and grab the ring - however, there was no way we were going to be able to get the duct taken off of the register)

With that, I scraped off the dirt/fiberglass/dead spiders, showered up, and made the dessert (a variation of Escoffier's Christmas omelette, which is basically an omelette filled with mincemeat and flambeed with rum - I filled it with a mixture of ground almonds (and I think hazelnuts - I'm not sure on that), raisins, Grand Marnier, and orange juice, and added a little vanilla to the eggs before making the omelette) - turned out very well!

The following will only be truly significant for one reader - shortly before leaving for my mom's house, I said the following to Kathleen:
"If someone gets me Lore of Running for Christmas, I'm going to train to run Comrades in a few years"

Well, guess what my mom got me?

Josh, you still up for it? I'm thinking post-Boston :)