Decision 2008

I've been looking up and down for a nice bike to race and ride around town on. I'm not anxious to throw down more than a grand for a bike, even though gas is getting outrageous. I think I'm finally onto the bike I'd like to get. Not as expensive as a super performance tri bike or anything like that, but still hopefully a fest little.... fixie/track bike. This is a whole new world for me, and I'm a bit intimidated by the idea of hopping on a bike with no brakes (traditional that is). It all looks very dangerous and I'm not super confident in my riding ability, especially sans brakes. I ride my MTN bike around town and do fine with it, but I do end up using the brakes. haven't had any close calls or anything serious, but I think if I'm riding a fixie it will put me into positions where I'm more likely to get into trouble. And if I'm planning to ride to work... morning traffic is a killer and I'd hate to be riding through that in the morning. I guess it's just going to take some getting used to all around though. Now just to get the bike.

Running has been not so hot this month, after taking a long time to recover from the foot injury, I'm been a bit hit and miss with day to day running. I think I've dropped a step or two and The last 3 miles I did really were not fun. It's incredible how much that recovery time affected my training. I just need to get back on it though and I should be fine. Sadly I've neglected many of my other chores lately, and now am debating a no show for tonight, when in fact I really need to get it done.

The road to recovery is filled with boredom.

Finally, after 2 weeks I'm finally feeling at 100%, so I get to start running again!!! Thank goodness, I was seriously going stir crazy for a bit there. So what did I do you might ask, well... Mostly I did things to the point that I could keep off my feet. Luckily we've had some beautiful weather here and we have a hammock at the house, so I was out on that a lot. I tried to read, but kept dozing off. It was fine, but I'd prefer to have accomplished some reading, I've been so remiss in my reading and the list of books I want to read keeps getting longer...and longer.

Speaking of reading, I'll just make mention that I'm keen to start reading some books about sports nutrition. I made a point to up my protein intake while recovering from this injury, as I think it was muscle damage, and I don't know that it helped, but I was keeping it in mind. I'd like to get more knowledgeable about sports nutrition, that can only help me in recovery and training, and I need all the help I can get.

After the run/walk of Bloomsday I continued to rest the foot, but did more walking around and things. I was very conscious of my step/gate, and made sure not to limp, to the best of my ability. I think I've recovered well, and my foot feels good, so we'll see how I do running on it. I think I'll start with a 3.

I helped my father do some work on Friday, that involved driving his little tractor around and burying some root guard material in the ground. The little tractor is kind of fun to drive around, and I didn't have much trouble with it, but it was so dirty out there...I was filthy when I was done. I did chores at home after that.

Saturday my brother and I drove to Portland to see my mother for Mother's Day. It was a really nice drive and we made good time. We saw my mother for a bit, walked around downtown Portland for a bit then went for dinner at a nice steak house. It was very good, but not the best steak I've had, surprisingly. Thank you Bro.

I just followed the links to Parallels myspace page, and let me tell he's got some killer tunes on there.
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Now playing: Parallels - BacktoEarth.Mix.for.VALERIE
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Some Bloomsday Factoids

Finish Time: 1:31:09

Overall Place: 13,684 out of 42,697

Ran with a pace of 12:13 per mile

The average pace for 30-year-olds was 14:46

Placed 253rd among people the same age Top 25

Placed 135th among people from Richland, WA Top 25

Placed 10,164th among people from the State of Washington Top 25

Placed 6th among people with the same last name Top 25

Placed 7,729th among males Top 25

Placed 125th out of 243 among 30-year-old males Top 25

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Now playing: Hollertronix - Never Scared
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Beautiful Bloomsday in the slow lane.

For the past week I've been being especially careful to not do too much on my injured foot. I had a couple days in which I didn't do anything, just rested the foot and laid around. It wasn't fun. I started getting to the point that I could walk on it and that was just in time for me to head to Seattle for Cut//Copy. They played an excellent show, a lot of fun and sold the place out. everyone was really cool and I really enjoyed getting to see them live, definitely worth going to see. I didn't get much time there so wasn't able to see my buddy Allan, but we spoke for a bit and we hope to get together for a baseball game or something! As I was watching Cut//Copy, I could feel my foot pop and then was able to put more of my weight on it, but it was still painful. I drove home after the concert and continued to rest my foot.

Mark, another buddy of mine invited me to a Pickle Ball tournament he was holding, so I went to that on Saturday. We had a nice time, ate some burgers, and played Pickle Ball and Wii. There were quite a few people there and the tournament went on for quite a while. After playing a couple games of Wii I left there about 10. I was had to go to Bloomsday on Sunday, so I had to get up early.

I set the alarm for 3 and got up about 3:30 to get ready for Bloomsday. My foot was still bothering me, so I fully intended on walking it, but I was going to do it regardless. I convinced Kate to follow through and go, especially since I'd be walking it. She did and we left for Spokane around 4:30/45. The drive up was nice and the weather looked good. by the time we got to Spokane it was clear and sunny with few clouds. It wasn't cold and wasn't too warm. We picked up our packets and headed to a drop off point to catch the bus down to the race start. We had to wait for a long time for our actual start time, and we just went to Starbucks for some snacks/coffee. After a bit we headed to the start and just stood around waiting for the start. After the start we jogged a bit, and I was surprised that my foot didn't bother me all that much. after getting through some of the crowd we walked a bit then jogged for a bit more. We were trying trying to keep an eye our for her brother who would be coming along behind us so we could run with him and somehow I was able to pick him out from the crowd as he ran by. We jogged and walked the rest of the way with a sprint at the end. I ran the entirety of "Doomsday hill" and was surprised how it wasn't as difficult as I expected, of course I hadn't been running much up to that point. After the race we got our t-shirts and went to a bar to shoot the breeze. we hung out for a while then Kate and I had to get back to catch our bus back to my car. The drive back was uneventful and we stopped at Kate's families for dinner then came home for a winning softball game. It was a great day in the sun!
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Now playing: Vostok - Airplanes Main Mix
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