Three weeks from Saturday, I will be running 26.2 miles in the Baltimore Running Festival. It's been a long, interesting preparation, but I'm not quite there yet. That's because this Saturday's 20 miles will be my longest training run yet, and the longest I will complete before October 15th.
Believe it or not, I'm actually pretty excited to run 20 miles. Not only will it give me a pretty good idea of what I'm capable of when it comes to the real deal, but it's also my last run before taper starts! For those of you who have swam or run (I think they do that for track?) competitively, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and you know why I'm excited. For those less in the know, you usually cut back on the length and intensity of your training a couple weeks or so ahead of your championship meet or competition (in this case, my marathon). The idea is that you've already put in the training and built up a certain level of performance over the course of training, and by letting up on your training intensity, you allow your body to relax and recover.
The decreased amount of activity often leads to an increase in energy levels, which is one of the best and worst things about taper. Think of it as compressing a spring (a very powerful spring) over an extended period of time, and then releasing it the day of the big event. As you get further into your taper, your energy levels skyrocket, and it's really hard to sit still. You're accustomed to a certain level of activity, and suddenly you're slowly weening your activity level, but not your energy reserves.
Back to the marathon. I've been reading a lot about the Baltimore Running Festival and every time I do, I get more and more excited about it. As I already explained in a previous post, the turnout for this event (at least from previous runner's accounts) is amazing. It's also making me feel a lot better about the hilliness of the course. There's nothing incredibly steep, just more gradual hills, which is good, because running down steep hills is probably one of my least favorite things to do, while running up a gradual hill isn't too bad.
So that's what I have to look forward to. It's going to be a great experience (probably pretty painful, but hopefully not too much), and I'm looking forward to it. I'll do my best to provide updates each week and of course a play-by-play of my first marathon experience. Stay tuned...
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
It's September Already...??
So it's been almost a month since I updated this (oops), and I will try my hardest to be more frequent with the updates (although I can't make any promises). A lot has happened in the last month or so, most notably last week where the east coast experienced its strongest earthquake in over 100 years as well as a hurricane. Both were underwhelming.
First the earthquake. Being from California, this wasn't a strange or new experience for me, but it was clear the same could not be said for the majority of the DC population. It was a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, not terribly strong, but for a region where any sort of earthquake is a rarity, an earthquake of 5.9 is a pretty big deal. And you could tell from the reactions of the people here. It was like the world was ending or something. Nobody knew what was going on, or what to do. Everyone immediately ran out of their buildings and into the middle of the streets (THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO). I found the whole situation rather amusing, but I guess for someone who's never experienced an earthquake before, it was probably a rather traumatizing experience.
Then there was Hurricane Irene. Oh what a disappointment that was... As someone who has never been anywhere near a hurricane, I was pretty excited, especially because every news station was making a pretty big deal out of it. Of course I didn't want there to be a ton of destruction or anything, but I was excited about the possibility of hurricane-force winds. And then, nothing. Wind speeds less than 50 mph? Come on Irene... Yes, parts of the east coast were hammered pretty hard (sorta), but they (the news stations) had made such a big deal out if it that I figured there would be a bit more fireworks.
The Giants are killing me right now, and I really don't want to talk about them, so I won't. I think there's still a good chance they could come back and win the NL West, but they're not making it easy to watch right now...
It's a little over a month until the Baltimore Marathon, and I'm starting to get pretty excited. And by excited, I mean intimidated. 26.2 miles is a long, long way to run. The furthest I've run so far is 16 miles (I have another 16 to run tomorrow) and the fact that I'm going to still have to run 10+ miles on top of that is a bit daunting. Although as more information about the event is posted, the more I'm looking forward to it.
For the first time ever, the marathon course will go through the Baltimore Zoo, which should be fun. Unfortunately it's at the very beginning of the race and it's also for less than a mile, so I'll probably get to see the animals for maybe 5 minutes.
From what I've read, this event has been growing more and more every year, and it seems like there is a pretty good amount of support for it in the area, which will be great because it's always nice to have people cheering you on.
There are two characters towards the end of the route that I'm especially looking forward to, Eye of the Tiger Guy and Gummy Bear Guy. It's pretty self-explanatory really, but I'll fill you in nonetheless. Eye of the Tiger Guy has been going for the past 6 years or so (maybe more, I'm not sure). He sets up around mile 23 which is typically an uphill section (I'm not sure if he's at the bottom of the hill or in the middle). He has a stereo on top of his car blasting Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" on repeat. Oh, and he's also dressed in a full tiger suit and has been known to run the length of the hill with struggling runners. Should be pretty awesome. The Gummy Bear guy is not dressed up as a giant gummy bear (unfortunately) but he does have a station set up with a bunch of huge bowls which are, you guessed it, full of gummy bears. Exactly what you need for those last few miles. Simple carbohydrates. Energy.
I also don't have much to say about the 49ers, because I honestly don't know what to expect this year. The NFC West is wide open, so anything could happen, and I'm cautiously optimistic that Jim Harbaugh will be able to turn Alex Smith into the quarterback we thought we were drafting when we took him first overall in 2005. Who knows.
Well that's all I have for now. I'll do my best to provide more updates (I really will), especially on my marathon preparation, and I definitely plan to give a play-by-play account of the marathon (once I've recovered of course).
First the earthquake. Being from California, this wasn't a strange or new experience for me, but it was clear the same could not be said for the majority of the DC population. It was a 5.9-magnitude earthquake, not terribly strong, but for a region where any sort of earthquake is a rarity, an earthquake of 5.9 is a pretty big deal. And you could tell from the reactions of the people here. It was like the world was ending or something. Nobody knew what was going on, or what to do. Everyone immediately ran out of their buildings and into the middle of the streets (THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO). I found the whole situation rather amusing, but I guess for someone who's never experienced an earthquake before, it was probably a rather traumatizing experience.
Then there was Hurricane Irene. Oh what a disappointment that was... As someone who has never been anywhere near a hurricane, I was pretty excited, especially because every news station was making a pretty big deal out of it. Of course I didn't want there to be a ton of destruction or anything, but I was excited about the possibility of hurricane-force winds. And then, nothing. Wind speeds less than 50 mph? Come on Irene... Yes, parts of the east coast were hammered pretty hard (sorta), but they (the news stations) had made such a big deal out if it that I figured there would be a bit more fireworks.
The Giants are killing me right now, and I really don't want to talk about them, so I won't. I think there's still a good chance they could come back and win the NL West, but they're not making it easy to watch right now...
It's a little over a month until the Baltimore Marathon, and I'm starting to get pretty excited. And by excited, I mean intimidated. 26.2 miles is a long, long way to run. The furthest I've run so far is 16 miles (I have another 16 to run tomorrow) and the fact that I'm going to still have to run 10+ miles on top of that is a bit daunting. Although as more information about the event is posted, the more I'm looking forward to it.
For the first time ever, the marathon course will go through the Baltimore Zoo, which should be fun. Unfortunately it's at the very beginning of the race and it's also for less than a mile, so I'll probably get to see the animals for maybe 5 minutes.
From what I've read, this event has been growing more and more every year, and it seems like there is a pretty good amount of support for it in the area, which will be great because it's always nice to have people cheering you on.
There are two characters towards the end of the route that I'm especially looking forward to, Eye of the Tiger Guy and Gummy Bear Guy. It's pretty self-explanatory really, but I'll fill you in nonetheless. Eye of the Tiger Guy has been going for the past 6 years or so (maybe more, I'm not sure). He sets up around mile 23 which is typically an uphill section (I'm not sure if he's at the bottom of the hill or in the middle). He has a stereo on top of his car blasting Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" on repeat. Oh, and he's also dressed in a full tiger suit and has been known to run the length of the hill with struggling runners. Should be pretty awesome. The Gummy Bear guy is not dressed up as a giant gummy bear (unfortunately) but he does have a station set up with a bunch of huge bowls which are, you guessed it, full of gummy bears. Exactly what you need for those last few miles. Simple carbohydrates. Energy.
I also don't have much to say about the 49ers, because I honestly don't know what to expect this year. The NFC West is wide open, so anything could happen, and I'm cautiously optimistic that Jim Harbaugh will be able to turn Alex Smith into the quarterback we thought we were drafting when we took him first overall in 2005. Who knows.
Well that's all I have for now. I'll do my best to provide more updates (I really will), especially on my marathon preparation, and I definitely plan to give a play-by-play account of the marathon (once I've recovered of course).
Monday, August 8, 2011
Camelbacks and Tennis
So that will be the last time I ever run with a Camelback... Other than the fact that I was constantly fidgeting with it, that it was throwing me off my usual rhythm, or that it was just plain uncomfortable and in the way, my run was fine.
I was actually surprised how much the Camelback affected my running, because it's not one of the bigger models, it's basically just the size of the water reservoir with a couple of pockets on it. It's great for biking and canvassing, good for hiking, but apparently terrible (at least in my opinion) for running.
Saturday night we had tickets to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic, and annual tennis tournament in Washington DC that's part of the US Open series. I had never been to a professional tennis match before, and was excited to see it live for the first time. Unfortunately, Andy Roddick had dropped out several weeks ago, and Mardy Fish had also withdrawn several days before the start of the tourney, so already two of the higher seeds and well-known/recognizable players were out.
The top overall seed was Gael Monfils, a French player ranked 7th in the world, and as it turned out, he was in the match that we had tickets to go see. He was matched up against John Isner, an interesting match-up because Monfils is probably one of the the (if not the) fastest players in men's professional tennis, and while Isner moves surprisingly well for a guy who's 6'9", his game is mostly based on his huge first serve and powerful forehand. Definitely a match-up that would have been very interesting to see.
Oh wait, did I say would have been? Yeah...The one problem with professional tennis (or any level of tennis for that matter) is that they'll take the players off the court if there's any hint of rain. And wouldn't you know it, the forecast for Saturday night called for a 70% chance of rain. Awesome.
When we got there, it was sprinkling. Barely. However it had been raining relatively hard earlier so they were busy drying off the court and trying to prepare to start the match as close to the original time as they could. Unfortunately, drying a tennis court isn't as fast and easy as you may think, because apparently there can't be any moisture whatsoever on the court (which makes sense, you wouldn't want any twisted ankles or worse, and given all the movement and constant changing of direction I can understand the attention to detail).
While we waited for it to stop raining and for them to dry off the court, we walked around the complex and found a smaller court that had a canopy over the seats. This turned out to be one of the more entertaining segments of the night because not only did Monfils show up on the next court over and start juggling and playing around with a soccer ball (presumably to stay loose), there were also a group of ball boys/girls, an older man (probably a director or someone of relative importance at the tournament or complex), and a woman with a camera who were making what looked like some sort of training video or video demonstration for how to properly perform one's duties as a ball boy/girl.
It finally let up, and they finally dried off the court, so everyone went back to the stadium and they brought out the players for their warm-up. That's probably one of the coolest things about tennis that you rarely see (if ever) in other professional sports, opposing players warming up together.
Of course, they didn't even get as far as practicing their serves before it started raining again, leading to the players being removed from the court and the grounds crew once more turning on a bunch of heater-fan things (I'm going to call them that because I don't know what they're actually called and because they're basically a combination of an industrial fan and a leaf blower, and I'm assuming there's some sort of heating mechanism to help facilitate the drying of the court). Anyways, after about 10-15 minutes of this, all the while the rain still coming down, they give the signal to cut the heater-fan things, and everyone retreats from the court.
At this point we're sort of wet, but not really because it really wasn't raining that hard, just a constant amount of barely anything. We go back to the covered side-court and decide that if it hasn't stopped raining in the next 15 minutes, we'll just leave and go home. Since none of us had paid for the tickets we had, we didn't feel too bad about leaving. Well, it stopped raining just before our set cut-off time, so we decided to wait it out until they had finished drying off the court (for a third time) and watch the match.
So they finished drying off the court, the players came out and got through all of their warm-ups, and they were finally ready to start (hooray!). They got through one game, which Isner won mainly because of his serving, and three points (Monfils was up 30-15 on his first service game) when it started raining again and they promptly pulled the players off the court and back into the dressing room. We sat in the stands for little bit to see if there was any chance of it letting up, but it didn't, so we left.
It was disappointing that we were able to see so little of the actual match, but none of us really wanted to sit through rain delay after rain delay. We ended up following the score on a computer later that night and they actually got through almost two sets before they had to stop again due to the rain, at 11 pm. I have no idea how long into the night the match actually went, but all I know is that it wasn't the longest match of Isner's career (see his match last year in the opening round of Wimbledon) and that Monfils eventually at some point in the wee hours of the morning (I'm assuming) finally won it after the rain let up enough for them to finish.
Hopefully my next professional tennis experience will be better.
I was actually surprised how much the Camelback affected my running, because it's not one of the bigger models, it's basically just the size of the water reservoir with a couple of pockets on it. It's great for biking and canvassing, good for hiking, but apparently terrible (at least in my opinion) for running.
Saturday night we had tickets to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic, and annual tennis tournament in Washington DC that's part of the US Open series. I had never been to a professional tennis match before, and was excited to see it live for the first time. Unfortunately, Andy Roddick had dropped out several weeks ago, and Mardy Fish had also withdrawn several days before the start of the tourney, so already two of the higher seeds and well-known/recognizable players were out.
The top overall seed was Gael Monfils, a French player ranked 7th in the world, and as it turned out, he was in the match that we had tickets to go see. He was matched up against John Isner, an interesting match-up because Monfils is probably one of the the (if not the) fastest players in men's professional tennis, and while Isner moves surprisingly well for a guy who's 6'9", his game is mostly based on his huge first serve and powerful forehand. Definitely a match-up that would have been very interesting to see.
Oh wait, did I say would have been? Yeah...The one problem with professional tennis (or any level of tennis for that matter) is that they'll take the players off the court if there's any hint of rain. And wouldn't you know it, the forecast for Saturday night called for a 70% chance of rain. Awesome.
When we got there, it was sprinkling. Barely. However it had been raining relatively hard earlier so they were busy drying off the court and trying to prepare to start the match as close to the original time as they could. Unfortunately, drying a tennis court isn't as fast and easy as you may think, because apparently there can't be any moisture whatsoever on the court (which makes sense, you wouldn't want any twisted ankles or worse, and given all the movement and constant changing of direction I can understand the attention to detail).
While we waited for it to stop raining and for them to dry off the court, we walked around the complex and found a smaller court that had a canopy over the seats. This turned out to be one of the more entertaining segments of the night because not only did Monfils show up on the next court over and start juggling and playing around with a soccer ball (presumably to stay loose), there were also a group of ball boys/girls, an older man (probably a director or someone of relative importance at the tournament or complex), and a woman with a camera who were making what looked like some sort of training video or video demonstration for how to properly perform one's duties as a ball boy/girl.
It finally let up, and they finally dried off the court, so everyone went back to the stadium and they brought out the players for their warm-up. That's probably one of the coolest things about tennis that you rarely see (if ever) in other professional sports, opposing players warming up together.
Of course, they didn't even get as far as practicing their serves before it started raining again, leading to the players being removed from the court and the grounds crew once more turning on a bunch of heater-fan things (I'm going to call them that because I don't know what they're actually called and because they're basically a combination of an industrial fan and a leaf blower, and I'm assuming there's some sort of heating mechanism to help facilitate the drying of the court). Anyways, after about 10-15 minutes of this, all the while the rain still coming down, they give the signal to cut the heater-fan things, and everyone retreats from the court.
At this point we're sort of wet, but not really because it really wasn't raining that hard, just a constant amount of barely anything. We go back to the covered side-court and decide that if it hasn't stopped raining in the next 15 minutes, we'll just leave and go home. Since none of us had paid for the tickets we had, we didn't feel too bad about leaving. Well, it stopped raining just before our set cut-off time, so we decided to wait it out until they had finished drying off the court (for a third time) and watch the match.
So they finished drying off the court, the players came out and got through all of their warm-ups, and they were finally ready to start (hooray!). They got through one game, which Isner won mainly because of his serving, and three points (Monfils was up 30-15 on his first service game) when it started raining again and they promptly pulled the players off the court and back into the dressing room. We sat in the stands for little bit to see if there was any chance of it letting up, but it didn't, so we left.
It was disappointing that we were able to see so little of the actual match, but none of us really wanted to sit through rain delay after rain delay. We ended up following the score on a computer later that night and they actually got through almost two sets before they had to stop again due to the rain, at 11 pm. I have no idea how long into the night the match actually went, but all I know is that it wasn't the longest match of Isner's career (see his match last year in the opening round of Wimbledon) and that Monfils eventually at some point in the wee hours of the morning (I'm assuming) finally won it after the rain let up enough for them to finish.
Hopefully my next professional tennis experience will be better.
Friday, August 5, 2011
[Insert Post Title Here]
So yeah... About posting twice a week, that clearly hasn't happened... But I'll keep trying, I promise.
Running has been going OK. Not too terrible, not great, just OK. I've missed a few days, but for the most part, I think I'm doing a decent job trying to stay on schedule. It's not so much that I'm having difficulty waking up at 4:45 am (It's kinda hard to ignore your cell phone blasting Van Halen's "Eruption" and vibrating under your pillow), it's convincing myself that I want/need to get out of bed and go run. In fact, I've gotten to the point where I'll wake up several minutes before my alarm even goes off, which is good, but also bad because I sometimes turn off my alarm, roll over, and go right back to sleep. Fail.
Nevertheless, I feel like I'm coming along rather nicely. I feel great, the soreness I was feeling when I first started has long since gone. Either I've just gotten used to running on a fairly consistent basis, or my decision to switch shoes has made a huge difference. I'd like to think it's a bit of both, with a majority of the credit going to my Saucony Kinvaras. Seriously, they really are the most comfortable running shoes I've even had.
Last week was one of the most exciting weeks in sports in recent memory. Not only was it the week leading up to the MLB trade deadline, but also the beginning (finally) of NFL free agency. As I predicted last Monday, the activity in the NFL was fast and furious. It was awesome. However, as a 49ers fan, it was a little disappointing because while other teams were making trades and signing (well agreeing to terms with) new players, all the 49ers did was sign a kicker (granted it was David Akers, a pro bowl kicker, but seeing how there were much more glaring needs, it was a bit disconcerting). There had been rumors that the Niners would make a serious push to sign Namdi Asomugha, considered by many to be one of the best, if not the best shutdown corners in the NFL. As nice as it would have been to have been able to land such a prized free agent, the more I think about it, the more I'm glad the 49ers didn't sign him, because they would have had to spend a large amount of money to get him, which would mean less money to spread around to sign other players.
Another exciting recent development in the world of sports was the USSF firing Bob Bradley (finally!) as the Men's National Team Manager and appointing Jurgen Klinsmann (YES!!!) as his replacement. As you may or may not know, I haven't been the biggest supporter of Bob Bradley or the US National Team in the past 4 years. I'll be honest, they probably wouldn't even rank in my top 10 favorite national teams. This of course has nothing to do with me being unpatriotic, but more with the fact that I couldn't stand watching the US Men's team play. Their shape, their organization, and just their overall strategy really never made sense to me. This is mainly due to Bob Bradley, because after all, it was his system, and it just wasn't working. Hopefully Klinsmann will be able to bring a different approach to the US National Team, not only in his tactics, but hopefully in his player selection as well.
I'm slated to run 11 miles tomorrow, which will be my furthest run thus far in my training. The 5 miles I ran this morning felt pretty good and I feel like tomorrow shouldn't be too bad, it won't be too hot and hopefully not too humid. Since it will take me longer than an hour to complete, I'm going to try running with a camelback so I'm able to stay hydrated. I've tried running with a water bottle, but it's kind of awkward holding it in your hand while running. I'll do my best to try to recap how it went as soon as possible, maybe even after I've cooled down and stretched afterwards. I'm also going to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic (an annual men's tennis tournament in DC) tomorrow night, so I might wait until Sunday so I can recap that as well. I've never been to a professional tennis match before, and while there won't be the biggest names there (Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick both dropped out before the tourney began, and none of the really big names in men's tennis are there), there should still be two great match-ups to watch.
If there's anything in particular you think I should talk about, let me know! Hope everyone's doing well.
That's all for now.
Running has been going OK. Not too terrible, not great, just OK. I've missed a few days, but for the most part, I think I'm doing a decent job trying to stay on schedule. It's not so much that I'm having difficulty waking up at 4:45 am (It's kinda hard to ignore your cell phone blasting Van Halen's "Eruption" and vibrating under your pillow), it's convincing myself that I want/need to get out of bed and go run. In fact, I've gotten to the point where I'll wake up several minutes before my alarm even goes off, which is good, but also bad because I sometimes turn off my alarm, roll over, and go right back to sleep. Fail.
Nevertheless, I feel like I'm coming along rather nicely. I feel great, the soreness I was feeling when I first started has long since gone. Either I've just gotten used to running on a fairly consistent basis, or my decision to switch shoes has made a huge difference. I'd like to think it's a bit of both, with a majority of the credit going to my Saucony Kinvaras. Seriously, they really are the most comfortable running shoes I've even had.
Last week was one of the most exciting weeks in sports in recent memory. Not only was it the week leading up to the MLB trade deadline, but also the beginning (finally) of NFL free agency. As I predicted last Monday, the activity in the NFL was fast and furious. It was awesome. However, as a 49ers fan, it was a little disappointing because while other teams were making trades and signing (well agreeing to terms with) new players, all the 49ers did was sign a kicker (granted it was David Akers, a pro bowl kicker, but seeing how there were much more glaring needs, it was a bit disconcerting). There had been rumors that the Niners would make a serious push to sign Namdi Asomugha, considered by many to be one of the best, if not the best shutdown corners in the NFL. As nice as it would have been to have been able to land such a prized free agent, the more I think about it, the more I'm glad the 49ers didn't sign him, because they would have had to spend a large amount of money to get him, which would mean less money to spread around to sign other players.
Another exciting recent development in the world of sports was the USSF firing Bob Bradley (finally!) as the Men's National Team Manager and appointing Jurgen Klinsmann (YES!!!) as his replacement. As you may or may not know, I haven't been the biggest supporter of Bob Bradley or the US National Team in the past 4 years. I'll be honest, they probably wouldn't even rank in my top 10 favorite national teams. This of course has nothing to do with me being unpatriotic, but more with the fact that I couldn't stand watching the US Men's team play. Their shape, their organization, and just their overall strategy really never made sense to me. This is mainly due to Bob Bradley, because after all, it was his system, and it just wasn't working. Hopefully Klinsmann will be able to bring a different approach to the US National Team, not only in his tactics, but hopefully in his player selection as well.
I'm slated to run 11 miles tomorrow, which will be my furthest run thus far in my training. The 5 miles I ran this morning felt pretty good and I feel like tomorrow shouldn't be too bad, it won't be too hot and hopefully not too humid. Since it will take me longer than an hour to complete, I'm going to try running with a camelback so I'm able to stay hydrated. I've tried running with a water bottle, but it's kind of awkward holding it in your hand while running. I'll do my best to try to recap how it went as soon as possible, maybe even after I've cooled down and stretched afterwards. I'm also going to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic (an annual men's tennis tournament in DC) tomorrow night, so I might wait until Sunday so I can recap that as well. I've never been to a professional tennis match before, and while there won't be the biggest names there (Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick both dropped out before the tourney began, and none of the really big names in men's tennis are there), there should still be two great match-ups to watch.
If there's anything in particular you think I should talk about, let me know! Hope everyone's doing well.
That's all for now.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Random Thoughts.
So yeah... I'm not doing a very good job of updating this regularly. I'm going to try get better at that (I promise!), and hopefully I'll be able to do at least two each week (slightly wishful thinking, but we'll see how much time I have). My plan right now (that I literally just thought of) is to do one random one during the week, and then another one sometime on the weekend recapping my marathon training for the week. Seeing as Saturdays are my long run days, we'll see if I have the energy to do it afterwards, so I reserve the right to put it off until Sundays (it's my blog damn it and I'll do what I want).
Anyways, today is Monday, but not just any Monday, it's the end-of-the-NFL-lockout-Monday! Finally, after listening to ESPN update us daily (was that really necessary??) on the current situation with the lockout, it's finally over and the owners and players have agreed to a new CBA. And now we get to listen to ESPN talk about it 23.5 hours a day! They would be covering it 24/7, but for some reason unbeknownst to me they continue to put Sportsnation on the air. I'm sure Colin Cowherd will have some unintelligible thing to say about it, but seriously, that show is the worst thing on television (well, at least on ESPN). I would tell you what I think of Colin Cowherd, but I'd like to keep this a PG as possible and I'd rather not spend the entirety of this post about him, but suffice it to say I think he's a worthless POS and never has anything important or intelligent to say about anything.
Back to there finally being football again. The one good thing about there being a very abbreviated "offseason" is that free agency is going to be ridiculous. In a good way. By this I mean that instead of weeks (even months) of speculation about players signing new deals or being traded, it will all happen in a matter of hours or days, which for me - being the impatient person that I am - is awesome.
I was recently introduced to a band called The Joy Formidable (thanks Johann!). They're a three-piece alternative band from Wales, and they make enough noise that you'd think there were at least three times as many people in the band. They're one of the most original bands I've heard recently and though they only have one full-length album, it's an amazing album. They're definitely a band worth looking into. Here, I'll even put one of their songs right here so you don't have to waste the two seconds it would take to look them up on Youtube (hopefully it works):
For those of you on the West Coast (the best coast), you've been lucky enough not to have to endure the heat wave we've been experiencing for the past week+. Upper 90s with humidity through the roof and the heat index consistently near or waay over 100 = awfulness personified. Today, it rained A TON (for about an hour), which cooled everything down nicely. ...Unfortunately the forecast says it's going to be back up towards 100 by the end of the week.
The new Old Spice commercials with Fabio are ridiculous. That is all.
X Games 17 starts this week. Super stoked.
For those of you not brave enough to sit through an entire 90+ minutes of Spanish broadcast, or didn't know or don't care, Uruguay won their record 15th Copa America, thus proving that last summer's World Cup semi-final appearance (and but for a Diego Forlan free kick off the post at the end of regulation, very nearly a WC finalist) was no fluke. But seriously, for a team with Uruguay's pedigree (2 World Cups and now 15 Copa America titles), it shouldn't be that surprising that they've done as well as they have in recent tournaments.
Well, that's enough for now. Hopefully by Saturday afternoon I'll have run over 20 miles this week and I'll let you know how that all went.
Anyways, today is Monday, but not just any Monday, it's the end-of-the-NFL-lockout-Monday! Finally, after listening to ESPN update us daily (was that really necessary??) on the current situation with the lockout, it's finally over and the owners and players have agreed to a new CBA. And now we get to listen to ESPN talk about it 23.5 hours a day! They would be covering it 24/7, but for some reason unbeknownst to me they continue to put Sportsnation on the air. I'm sure Colin Cowherd will have some unintelligible thing to say about it, but seriously, that show is the worst thing on television (well, at least on ESPN). I would tell you what I think of Colin Cowherd, but I'd like to keep this a PG as possible and I'd rather not spend the entirety of this post about him, but suffice it to say I think he's a worthless POS and never has anything important or intelligent to say about anything.
Back to there finally being football again. The one good thing about there being a very abbreviated "offseason" is that free agency is going to be ridiculous. In a good way. By this I mean that instead of weeks (even months) of speculation about players signing new deals or being traded, it will all happen in a matter of hours or days, which for me - being the impatient person that I am - is awesome.
I was recently introduced to a band called The Joy Formidable (thanks Johann!). They're a three-piece alternative band from Wales, and they make enough noise that you'd think there were at least three times as many people in the band. They're one of the most original bands I've heard recently and though they only have one full-length album, it's an amazing album. They're definitely a band worth looking into. Here, I'll even put one of their songs right here so you don't have to waste the two seconds it would take to look them up on Youtube (hopefully it works):
For those of you on the West Coast (the best coast), you've been lucky enough not to have to endure the heat wave we've been experiencing for the past week+. Upper 90s with humidity through the roof and the heat index consistently near or waay over 100 = awfulness personified. Today, it rained A TON (for about an hour), which cooled everything down nicely. ...Unfortunately the forecast says it's going to be back up towards 100 by the end of the week.
The new Old Spice commercials with Fabio are ridiculous. That is all.
X Games 17 starts this week. Super stoked.
For those of you not brave enough to sit through an entire 90+ minutes of Spanish broadcast, or didn't know or don't care, Uruguay won their record 15th Copa America, thus proving that last summer's World Cup semi-final appearance (and but for a Diego Forlan free kick off the post at the end of regulation, very nearly a WC finalist) was no fluke. But seriously, for a team with Uruguay's pedigree (2 World Cups and now 15 Copa America titles), it shouldn't be that surprising that they've done as well as they have in recent tournaments.
Well, that's enough for now. Hopefully by Saturday afternoon I'll have run over 20 miles this week and I'll let you know how that all went.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Running...Shoes...
So after running 6 miles today, I'm officially 12 weeks through my preparation for the Baltimore Marathon (10 weeks of pre-marathon-training, essentially to get me into shape for marathon training, and 2 weeks of a 16-week marathon prep cycle). I haven't been doing the best job of getting all my runs in each week, mostly for two reasons. There have been several occasions where I have woken up to run and promptly gone back to bed with the intention of running in the evening, and then not doing it when the time comes 15 hours or so later. I have also skipped runs in favor of rest because I was suffering from the aches and pains of getting back into running shape (no major pain or discomfort, so if I had just kept at it, it probably would have gotten better much faster than stretching it out over several weeks). I attribute most of these difficulties to my choice in running shoes.
A few weeks before I was going to start my pre-marathon-training training, I went to the store to find myself a pair of shoes. After trying on several pairs of Asics, New Balance, and Nikes, I decided on the Nike Free Run+. I had heard a lot of really good things about running in these shoes, and when I tried them out in the store, they felt great. As they are supposed to give you a barefoot running feel, there isn't a whole lot of heel support. What had felt like pretty decent cushioning when I tried them on proved to be virtually non-existent. I think they would be great to run in if I was running on a more forgiving surface than cement or asphalt. To be honest, I probably wore these shoes for too long in hopes that they would get better, mostly because Nike released a newer version that was available to be customized on nikeid.com, and I thought it would be really cool to have a spiffy pair of kicks for my first marathon. Finally I realized that I needed to worry more about the comfort of my shoes rather than the appearance.
So, before I bought a new pair of shoes, I tried running in the shoes that I use to work out in, the Nike Lunarglide+ 2 which by nature, are supposed to be running shoes. The cushioning on these shoes is ridiculous. It feels like you're basically running on air, which is awesome, but after a while, I decided that they weren't firm enough and started looking for a replacement.
I had had my eye on Saucony's ProGrid Kinvara for some time, and everything I had read about these shoes (including what I had read in my friend Jason Leman's blog here) had been very complimentary. I thought, if someone who runs 50k races for fun (which by the way is nuts) thinks these shoes are great, and so many reviewers had called them "the best shoes they've ever run in" I figured that I should at least check them out. My decision was made a very simple one when I found them on sale on Zappos.com, and with free shipping both ways (I can be very impulsive when buying things online, especially when free shipping and no sales tax is involved).
A quick note about Zappos, not only do they have free shipping no matter how much (or little) you order, they also have amazing customer service that upgrades your shipping service at no extra cost. So basically I payed the price of the shoes on sale, and got the shoes the next day for no extra charge. That's great customer service.
Ok, back to the shoes. Immediately when I pulled these shoes out of the box and put them on, I could tell why everyone had been so high on them. For starters, they're incredibly lightweight (8 ounces), but also surprisingly cushioned and supportive. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I've ever run in (I don't have much of a track record in this department, but that's besides the point). The fit of these shoes is pretty snug, which I personally like because I don't like my feet sliding around inside the shoe while I run. If there's any complaint I can make about them is that they don't have the best arch support, but that's a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, after several weeks of running in these shoes, I decided to buy another pair so I could cycle them in my training and thus prolong their life, and wouldn't you know it, they were still on sale on Zappos, and once again, I got them the next day with no extra cost. I love Zappos!
So there's the story of my running shoes experience. More to come on my training progress once I've logged a few more miles...
 |
| Nike Free Run+ |
 |
| Nike Lunarglide+ 2 |
 |
| Saucony Kinvara |
A quick note about Zappos, not only do they have free shipping no matter how much (or little) you order, they also have amazing customer service that upgrades your shipping service at no extra cost. So basically I payed the price of the shoes on sale, and got the shoes the next day for no extra charge. That's great customer service.
Ok, back to the shoes. Immediately when I pulled these shoes out of the box and put them on, I could tell why everyone had been so high on them. For starters, they're incredibly lightweight (8 ounces), but also surprisingly cushioned and supportive. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I've ever run in (I don't have much of a track record in this department, but that's besides the point). The fit of these shoes is pretty snug, which I personally like because I don't like my feet sliding around inside the shoe while I run. If there's any complaint I can make about them is that they don't have the best arch support, but that's a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, after several weeks of running in these shoes, I decided to buy another pair so I could cycle them in my training and thus prolong their life, and wouldn't you know it, they were still on sale on Zappos, and once again, I got them the next day with no extra cost. I love Zappos!
So there's the story of my running shoes experience. More to come on my training progress once I've logged a few more miles...
Friday, July 1, 2011
Half-Way There
It's halfway through the Giants' season, and they're 2 games up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West. When you take into consideration all the injury problems the Giants have had, it's pretty remarkable that they're a) winning on a fairly consistent basis, and b) that they're in first place. Yes, the NL West isn't the strongest division in baseball, but the pitching from top to bottom is pretty darn solid, and when you couple that with the Giants scoring the third-fewest runs in the majors, it's even more impressive for them to be in this position.
So how are they getting it done? Well, basically, the same way they did towards the end of last season and into the playoffs: solid, sometimes-dominant starting pitching, timely hitting sans the two best hitters on the team and the team's leading RBI man from last season hitting below last season's numbers, and a mostly air-tight bullpen. Is it pretty? No, not usually, but then again, Giants Baseball never really was. It is, and always has been (in recent years anyways), as Duane Kuiper so famously dubbed it, "Torture".
When Posey went out for the season, it didn't look good. Panda was already out 4-6 weeks, and there was no knowing how he'd return from a broken bone in his hand. To make things worse, Freddy Sanchez went down with a pretty serious shoulder injury about 2 weeks after Posey's injury. Luckily, Sandoval returned the series after Freddy went down, so there was some hope that his return would provide an offensive spark. Unfortunately, there's only so much one play can do to enhance the offensive production of a team. Even if said player were to hit .400, the rest of the team would still have to get enough hits to either set the table for that player or to drive them in.
There has been some speculation that the Giants could be interested in a trade for Jose Reyes from the Mets, and while this would be a positive move for the offense, I don't think it's a good idea. First of all, they would have to give up a fairly substantial amount of talent (potentially Jonathan Sanchez or Zach Wheeler plus a couple prospects). Reyes is having a phenomenal year, there's no doubt about that, but he's also been rather injury prone the past few years, and there's no predicting whether or not he'll be able to remain healthy for the rest of the season. There's also the problem of him becoming a free agent at the end of the year, which begs a couple questions. First, is he really this good, or are his numbers slightly inflated by his motivation to sign a big multi-year deal in the winter? Second, if the Giants were to trade for him, would he be a half-season rental, or would they really be able to re-sign him in the offseason? I think he is this good, if he's healthy, and so far he's been able to maintain his health, and his numbers are a reflection of that. Whether or not he'll be able to carry on at this pace for several years to come is another question. If they Giants traded for him, I don't think there's any way that he would be able to re-sign him. Other than Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, I think there's a pretty good chance he gets one of the biggest contracts in the offseason, likely something to the tune of 5-7+ years at over 100 million dollars. There's no way the Giants would be able and/or willing to give him that kind of money. Plus I think that the Giants would be very reluctant to part ways with either Sanchez or Wheeler, even with Sanchez being as inconsistent as he has been of late.
Miguel Tejada has been one of the more disappointing players for the Giants this season. I was pretty skeptical when he was signed in the offseason. I really wanted them to bring back Juan Uribe not only because of his bat, but because he can basically play every position in the infield. Unfortunately the Giants were not able to offer him enough money, so he left for LA. Although Tejada brings the same versatility in the infield, his range has vastly decreased and he has become somewhat of a defensive liability. To add to those troubles, he isn't hitting all too well either. .227/.257/.304 with 2 HR and 20 RBIs just isn't getting it done.
Brian Wilson is having another solid year and leading the MLB in saves and is exactly on pace for the number of saves he had last year (48). And this is with him starting the year on the DL. He's pitching well and his beard is stronger (and more ridiculous) than ever.
One of the major surprises this season has been Ryan Vogelsong. When Barry Zito went down, he was brought in to fill in as basically the 5th starter the expectation was as long as he could pitch decently well and give the team a chance to win each time he took the mound, he would be doing his job. Well, to put it simply, he has exceeded every one of my expectations, and has been arguably the Giants most consistent pitcher since being added to the rotation. In 12 starts, he is 6-1, with 77.2 IP, an ERA of 2.09, and a WHIP of 1.15. In addition, 8 of his starts (75%) have been quality starts. What this all means (for those of you not privy to the statistical lingo of baseball, it basically means that pitches late into the game (giving the bullpen less work and therefore more rest for when they're needed), he doesn't give up a lot of runs, he walks or allows a hit a little over once every inning on average, and he generally puts his team in a good position to get a win.
Although the Giants haven't necessarily been all that impressive when you watch them, the more I think about it, the more I think that they'll be able to hold onto the division lead and possibly run away with it. I'm not buying the D-backs remaining serious contenders in the second half of the season, and the Dodgers and Padres don't have enough offense to make any sort of run. The only team that really worries me is the Colorado Rockies. While they may not have stellar pitching, but they have some pretty solid starters and Houston Street is one of the top closers in the NL, and when you play in Coors field for 81 games a year, you're going to score a lot of runs (and give up a lot as well). It always seems like year after year, the Rockies make a second-half-of-the-season-run, so if they're anywhere within striking distance come August, there could be some cause for concern.
That all being said, I am fairly confident the Giants will be able to maintain their division lead. Am I saying they're going to repeat as World Series Champions? No. But anything is possible, and as we've seen, once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen.
So how are they getting it done? Well, basically, the same way they did towards the end of last season and into the playoffs: solid, sometimes-dominant starting pitching, timely hitting sans the two best hitters on the team and the team's leading RBI man from last season hitting below last season's numbers, and a mostly air-tight bullpen. Is it pretty? No, not usually, but then again, Giants Baseball never really was. It is, and always has been (in recent years anyways), as Duane Kuiper so famously dubbed it, "Torture".
When Posey went out for the season, it didn't look good. Panda was already out 4-6 weeks, and there was no knowing how he'd return from a broken bone in his hand. To make things worse, Freddy Sanchez went down with a pretty serious shoulder injury about 2 weeks after Posey's injury. Luckily, Sandoval returned the series after Freddy went down, so there was some hope that his return would provide an offensive spark. Unfortunately, there's only so much one play can do to enhance the offensive production of a team. Even if said player were to hit .400, the rest of the team would still have to get enough hits to either set the table for that player or to drive them in.
There has been some speculation that the Giants could be interested in a trade for Jose Reyes from the Mets, and while this would be a positive move for the offense, I don't think it's a good idea. First of all, they would have to give up a fairly substantial amount of talent (potentially Jonathan Sanchez or Zach Wheeler plus a couple prospects). Reyes is having a phenomenal year, there's no doubt about that, but he's also been rather injury prone the past few years, and there's no predicting whether or not he'll be able to remain healthy for the rest of the season. There's also the problem of him becoming a free agent at the end of the year, which begs a couple questions. First, is he really this good, or are his numbers slightly inflated by his motivation to sign a big multi-year deal in the winter? Second, if the Giants were to trade for him, would he be a half-season rental, or would they really be able to re-sign him in the offseason? I think he is this good, if he's healthy, and so far he's been able to maintain his health, and his numbers are a reflection of that. Whether or not he'll be able to carry on at this pace for several years to come is another question. If they Giants traded for him, I don't think there's any way that he would be able to re-sign him. Other than Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, I think there's a pretty good chance he gets one of the biggest contracts in the offseason, likely something to the tune of 5-7+ years at over 100 million dollars. There's no way the Giants would be able and/or willing to give him that kind of money. Plus I think that the Giants would be very reluctant to part ways with either Sanchez or Wheeler, even with Sanchez being as inconsistent as he has been of late.
Miguel Tejada has been one of the more disappointing players for the Giants this season. I was pretty skeptical when he was signed in the offseason. I really wanted them to bring back Juan Uribe not only because of his bat, but because he can basically play every position in the infield. Unfortunately the Giants were not able to offer him enough money, so he left for LA. Although Tejada brings the same versatility in the infield, his range has vastly decreased and he has become somewhat of a defensive liability. To add to those troubles, he isn't hitting all too well either. .227/.257/.304 with 2 HR and 20 RBIs just isn't getting it done.
Brian Wilson is having another solid year and leading the MLB in saves and is exactly on pace for the number of saves he had last year (48). And this is with him starting the year on the DL. He's pitching well and his beard is stronger (and more ridiculous) than ever.
One of the major surprises this season has been Ryan Vogelsong. When Barry Zito went down, he was brought in to fill in as basically the 5th starter the expectation was as long as he could pitch decently well and give the team a chance to win each time he took the mound, he would be doing his job. Well, to put it simply, he has exceeded every one of my expectations, and has been arguably the Giants most consistent pitcher since being added to the rotation. In 12 starts, he is 6-1, with 77.2 IP, an ERA of 2.09, and a WHIP of 1.15. In addition, 8 of his starts (75%) have been quality starts. What this all means (for those of you not privy to the statistical lingo of baseball, it basically means that pitches late into the game (giving the bullpen less work and therefore more rest for when they're needed), he doesn't give up a lot of runs, he walks or allows a hit a little over once every inning on average, and he generally puts his team in a good position to get a win.
Although the Giants haven't necessarily been all that impressive when you watch them, the more I think about it, the more I think that they'll be able to hold onto the division lead and possibly run away with it. I'm not buying the D-backs remaining serious contenders in the second half of the season, and the Dodgers and Padres don't have enough offense to make any sort of run. The only team that really worries me is the Colorado Rockies. While they may not have stellar pitching, but they have some pretty solid starters and Houston Street is one of the top closers in the NL, and when you play in Coors field for 81 games a year, you're going to score a lot of runs (and give up a lot as well). It always seems like year after year, the Rockies make a second-half-of-the-season-run, so if they're anywhere within striking distance come August, there could be some cause for concern.
That all being said, I am fairly confident the Giants will be able to maintain their division lead. Am I saying they're going to repeat as World Series Champions? No. But anything is possible, and as we've seen, once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen.
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