Tidbits

Wow, busy past few days. I haven't had a lot of time to put much effort into anything other than working and entertaining. So tonight's entry is just about updating what's going on, from every aspect of life...

• For weeks I anxiously awaited the arrival of my Springfield XD9. Yet, two weeks into ownership I've yet to shoot it. So many demands on life, so little time for play. I'm sure you realize that's partly tongue-in-cheek. I play a lot. I'm hoping to get to the range some time next week.

• My new job is going great. Finally done with training and now being baptized by fire. I'm currently  covering for my partner who is on vacation, all while still trying to learn what the heck is going on. It's been interesting for sure. 

• A good friend of mine from Atlanta is moving to Greenville to manage to a big construction project downtown. Laura and I are pumped about that, as I haven't had a really good guy friend here in town since Daniel moved down to the beach. Lots of guns, golf, and beer to follow I'm sure. 

• Our lab is in heat. We were told she was spayed when we got her, so we're a little confused at this point. As soon as the bleeding is over (should be soon), we'll be taking her to the vet to remedy this problem. 

• Football season is shaping up to be pretty amazing. I love being in Clemson for those home games, and look forward to many more memories this year with our football season group. I probably just jinxed us. 

So there's a snapshot at the past week. I ran tonight for the first time this week...our weather has been terrible the past couple days. Everything felt great, ran about 4.5 miles at 42:00. That's my longest run thus far in this process, so I'm encouraged...very encouraged. Sooo, this weekend is another wedding (during football season, seriously this makes two) so I'll be in Rock Hill catching up with old friends. Expect me to be near a TV at 7:00 pm though. 

New Diet

Started a new diet this evening. Consists of consuming straight protein in the form of bugs.

Had a great right tonight, and for the first time, I rode with another person. Thus, lots of talking...which results in the ingestion of winged insects. Not exactly appetizing. But by far the best part of the ride was partnering up with Will McCameron over at New World Frontiersman. Will is the type of guy that can pick up a conversation from 2 years ago and make it seem like you've been hanging out daily. Hoping to make this ride a weekly thing from here on out. Of course, riding in the evening only gives you so much time, but it was a needed 15 mile social session where I got to catch up with an old friend. Hard to complain about that.

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks/month. The weather here in South Carolina is phenomenal right now, making for some really enjoyable runs/rides. Laura and I are looking at some races that happen before the Cold Winter's Day Run aka Sharp Family Fun Run in December. Need some type of intermediate goal to keep everyone focused. Or just me. Not sure what Laura needs to focus on other than her 5 year olds.

 

Quick Update

Not much to say at the end of this weekend. Might not be running for a few days, as I suffered a horseshoe to a sandaled foot this weekend while tailgating. It didn't hurt too bad last night, but that might've had something to do with the bourbon. Today the top of my foot is on fire, so I'll probably take a couple days off.

In other news, Congrats Clemson! What the hell is a Hokie anyway?

Thank You For Smoking

Ok, gonna go ahead and put it out there. If you're easily offended, you might want to hit the back button on your browser, as I'm about to RAGE.

I got home from work today and immediately hopped on the bike, leaving roughly an hour of daylight. It's amazing how much can happen in an hour of daylight. Frightening to think about what could happen in an hour of darkness. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, scares me more on the bike than elderly drivers and the various nationalities that are taking over my local park. I don't care if I lose readers because of this, because damnit, the majority of the time generalizations are completely true. That's how they became generalizations. Allow me to outline the things that happened solely during this evening's ride:

• Enjoying the sweet smell of Black 'N Milds while riding through the park
• Little kid (not supervised) kicks a soccer ball across the road nearly taking out my front tire
• Gentleman crosses the road with dog, which decides to crap in the middle of the road
• Multiple cars decide to pass/cut me off with 20 feet remaining to a stop sign
• Car (elderly person) pulls out in front of me while I'm cruising at 20 mph 
• The constant passing way too close to the bike lane when the on coming lane is open

Now, I understand that cyclists are sometimes the problem, and I will focus my attention on that in a later post. But right now, the cycling movement in Greenville is full bore, and I want to be a part of that movement. Unfortunately, I anxiously await another article in the paper outlining a new accident involving a cyclist and motorist. In my opinion, with cycling gaining so much attention, it'd be nice to see driving tests include lessons on safely navigating pedestrian and cyclists. I don't think Driver's Ed currently addresses such matters. Of course, that would only include people with legal driver's licenses, but we'll avoid heading down that road for now.

Point is, if you're going to introduce bike lanes and parks to encourage people to get outside, then safety needs to be the primary concern. Personally, it'd be nice to see some patrol efforts in the local parks. Instead of pulling over the person going 40 in a 35, maybe officers could ensure the safety of pedestrians (See Dude in the Red Van) and cyclists. /rant.

So...obviously I rode tonight. Short ride, 45 minutes and 12 miles. I did discover that I need my bike tuned, as there were multiple occasions where I got out of the saddle only to have my gears slip. Didn't take long for me to realize I need to stay seated. But it was good to get out there. Feeling pretty good about 3 straight days of running/riding. Beast Mode.

Lots to Think About

Get some Poppa Doc

I've never been one to think about life while running. I don't know why, but instead of deep personal reflection, I find myself wrapped up in a make believe underground battle against Eminem...except I'm just rapping his music, as if it's my own. Next week I think I'll be Weezy.

Anyway - today was different. I started a new career venture today, and found myself pondering many different things. Maybe this pondering should've happened a couple weeks ago, before deciding to change jobs. But I was so focused on getting the hell out of dodge at my [ex] job, there was no hesitation in leaving. So I found myself reflecting on today's events and fighting doubt. Talk about a way to relieve some stress. I would've been screwed if it rained today. I won't get into the details, but I had some serious thoughts on whether I made the right decision, but I can truly see this being a career (climbing the proverbial corporate ladder). Feels Good Man.

Ran four miles today [quickly run to edit my last post]. It wasn't as good as most Monday runs, but not terrible. No home game this weekend, so I'm looking into a bike ride on Saturday. Exciting. Oh, and GO TIGERS. The whole world is getting introduced to SFYMANPOW. Google it.

Bacon Bits

I ramble...but I warned you all about that early on, so I have no late night feelings of guilt over my posting style. The funny thing about today's post, is that I skipped running today so I could write a post. I have a long list of things to complete tonight, including the following:

• Recover the hard drive from my college laptop
• Cringe at some of things I find on said hard drive
• GTL...minus the G and T
• Find my brother a birthday present that can be shipped to Colorado in 24 hours
• Research and make my college football picks

So obviously you can see why I needed to forego the run today. Plus all my "running gear" was in need of a good wash. I can literally shake salt off my Dri-Fit hat. Disgusting.

Something I've realized over the past few weeks is that I'm no longer concerned with the notion of training too far in advance. It's going to take me a long time to achieve 13 miles. I diagnosed this issue by noticing that my longest runs aren't getting any longer. I feel that I should be able to run 5 miles continuously right now, but I'm struggling to do that. I ran on Monday, and felt good, but still cashed out at the 5k mark. Frustrating. Which leads me to wonder why this is...

My right leg is giving me fits. It hurts...a lot...every time I run. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but could it be because of the break back in 2006? I was always of the belief that broken bones heal stronger, but that could be something I saw on TV. But it's definitely one those "hurts when it rains" things. So maybe I'm onto something. I need to Google these kinds of things before writing about them so I sound intelligent. Note to self. Oh well, I need a picture for entertainment. I couldn't find my actual x-ray so here is one that is similar to mine. Funny, as I look at this, I can completely understand why it would hurt when I run.


So, that's all I've got today. Like I said, Laura and I ran on Monday. Roughly 27:00 for the 5k I recall correctly. Another run tomorrow, then we'll be going for a hike with the dog on Friday.

Mile Widget

Per the suggestion of my brother, Razor T. Sharp, I've added the daily mile widget to the sidebar. I only added this week's runs, but I'll be interested to see how many miles I cover over the next 8ish months. Cheers to Wednesday!