Monday, June 27, 2011

sleep/rest

I told myself that today was the start of my Wasatch Front 100 training for the summer. So, here goes (again)! Last year I basically sacrificed my whole summer to prepare for the race. This year, I don't plan on "sacrificing" the summer again. That doesn't mean I am going to train any less hard, but it does mean that this isn't the sole focus of my summer. The most important thing in the world to me weighs about 20 pounds, babbles a lot, and is a real bundle of energy. I am not willing to spend family time preparing for what is essentially a pretty selfish endeavor.

HOWEVER, I am still very excited that I got the wife's blessing! I kicked off the season by riding the bike to work, setting a work-commute PR in the process. At lunch, I did my usual lunch time run, and set another PR by over a minute. I think the moral of the story here is not to undervalue the benefit of rest/recovery (I have not run since last Thursday)! I will do my best to remember that as I prepare to go back to Utah.

Shin has been a little bit tight lately, and I have some kind of dull pain in the bottom of my right foot. No idea what that's all about, good thing it didn't hurt during the run today.

Monday, June 20, 2011

more chess geekery

What can I say besides 1) when you're hot, you're hot, and 2) I dig chess, a lot. If I could go back and do it all again I probably would have passed on the football team, and joined the chess club and cross country team. I DEFINITELY would have gotten ALL the chicks.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

unstoppable!!!

on this, my first father's day, i am unstoppable.

the outcome (closure purposes)

I like chess. Yes it is for geeks. No, I don't care. I like (love) it anyway.

backed into a corner

I think this is the very definition of being backed into a corner (I am black).

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

getting my mojo back


I am slowly returning to my old self after MMT. I have been able to run pain-free, although the legs still feel somewhat tired. In addition I have started playing chess again and although I have had to drop down the difficulty several levels, it is good to be playing again. There is no better game of strategy than chess. The garden is doing well, this is the first year that nothing died on me after I transplanted it into the garden. It is nothing fancy this year, I have:
  1. Four beefsteak tomato plants
  2. Three poles' worth of Kentucky Wonder green beans (three vines per pole, the climbing variety)
  3. Three sweet banana peppers (personally I could have done without them but the wife likes them)
  4. Four heads of some oriental cabbage variety (I found the seeds in my garage from last year I guess)
  5. Swiss chard, basil, spearmint, and parsley (the spearmint and parsley look like they may not have come up, I may have to replant)
Everything came from seeds, I did not buy any of my plants. I prefer this because I know what variety I am getting, plus it is exciting watching a plant grow and produce vegetables, knowing it came from a little seed.

Monday, June 6, 2011

A Milestone

Well, its official: I have lost my first toenail as a result of running. It seems that the toenail itself is attached to the skin underneath it. So when that skin starts peeling away, the toenail comes nicely along with it. My little guy valiantly hung on for a couple days, but it started to become obvious he wasn't going to make it. So last night I gave it a nice little tug (no pain involved since the skin was peeling away anyway), and off it went. My wife was not interested in seeing it at all, despite my best effort to show her. I'm interested to see how long it takes to grow a new toenail. Perhaps it won't ever come back? I really don't know. Anyway, pretty interesting from a purely scientific perspective.