May 2007 Archives

I have been sitting on my fat, lazy ass for the almost two weeks since Green Bay. We are going to Virginia this weekend (kids and all) and training for LBCM starts on Monday. I'll report then.

Until then, I literally have nothing to say.

The second marathon in my 3 for 30 quest is in the books. I know I haven't even finished the race report for Pine Line. Who knows if that'll ever happen. I guess I need to post more. Either way, Green Bay went well. My time was almost exactly the same as Pine Line and yet I felt like I ran better. I didn't have to take a major (i.e. unplanned) walk break until mile 21. The weather could have been better. It was cold and windy the entire race.

The sissies running the half marathon and those stallions running the full were on the same course for the first 12 miles. At that point those half-marathon nancies ran home to momma while those of us with true desire and determination soldiered on. From miles 12-17 things were great. I even took off my headphones and enjoyed the sights and sounds of this area that I am growing increasingly fond of. It wasn't until mile 17 that I really felt the need for mental distraction.

At mile 17 the race moves onto the Fox River Trail for five miles. I have run this stretch of trail so many times that I know every crack and tree and house and river view. So I put my headphones back in and told myPod to shuffle it's little heart out. After a few musical duds I was treated to "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and The Pips. This is one of my all time favorite songs. It carried me through almost five miles of late marathon running this past Sunday.

The Fat Runner has a new look...can you tell I have been bored at work today?

Let me know what you think.

Something I read recently made me want to clarify something...the Lifetime Running Mileage number on the bottom left side of this page is total total number of miles I have ran since August of last year. Just wanted to point that out. The actual number is probably somewhere over 3K considering training for and running the Richmond Marathon in Nov. 2004 and all the miles since.

Don't know why I felt the need to explain all that. Maybe in the interest of full disclosure? Maybe I just want people to think I'm totally bad-ass. Yeah, it's probably the second one.

For those of you just joining us, this is part two of an as-yet-undertemined number of posts describing my running of the Pine Line Marathon on Meford, WI on April 28th, 2007. When last we met, I was talking about the pizza I had for dinner.

Fast forward a few hours from the completion of the pizza to when I slipped into bed and tried to go to sleep. Tried and gfailed for a very long time. The bed was horrible. Too firm here. Not firm enough over there. It was as if two midgets, one under and the other over weight, had a wrestling match on the bed an hour before I got there. Eventually I was able to get to sleep.

The morning of the marathon technically began for me at 2:30 a.m. when I arose with the desire to pee (two bottles of PowerAde before bed will do that to a brother). While standing in front of the bowl waiting for the flow I became lightheaded and started to see stars. "Great," I thought, "All this effing training to passout and die in a crappy hotel bathroom." I was able to finish peeing and make it back to bed (with only a few dribbles on the carpet) and lie down. The lightheaded feeling passed. I thought that I simply got up to fast and had a head rush, but who knows? Either way, I got back to sleep until my alarm went off at 5:30.

Last Saturday was the Pine Line Marathon in Medford, WI. What follows is a breakdown of the weekend in however many parts makes sense.

I left work on Friday afternoon around 3:30 and drove to Medford from Appleton (about three hours). The whole way I had cows and grass to inspire me. Wisconsin might not have a lot...actually, there is no continuation to that thought. Wisconsin just doesn't have a lot. While on highway 10 between Appleton and Steven's Point there was one (1) exit for a gas station in over 90 minutes of driving (bearing in mind that highway 10 is a four-lane road!) Upon reaching Medford I quickly learned that there was no need to print out directions to my hotel as there was just one main road in and out of "town."

I have stayed in some grand hotels in my time. The New York Palace. The Burlingame (CA) Sheraton. The Sydney (Australia) Harbor View. I can now add to my list the Medford, WI AmericInn. After I checked in I was directed to room 150 in which a smoking convention must have taken place the previous evening. As an ex-smoker you would think this wouldn't bother me so much, but sitting there was like being in Hell's waiting room. I suppose I could have asked to be placed somewhere else, but I didn't because I don't like to cause trouble. I have no one to blame but myself...and God.