February 16, 2009

Mercedes Half Marathon Report

Yesterday I ran the Mercedes half marathon in Birmingham. I was a little nervous about being kinda sick for it. About 2 on race morning I woke and sneezed at least 2 dozen times over about 5 minutes. I was worried about not being able to breathe out of my nose, although after the race I realized I shouldn't have been since all I did was pant the entire run.

The weather was great at the start - high 40's maybe and dry. After I got to the racesite I realized I forgot my chip at home so found the help desk and they were able - after a scolding my mom would be proud of -give me a new bib number and chip. But the last minute chip fix took away my alotted time for a warm-up jog, so I started off pretty stiff.

I had already decided well before the start of the race that I was going to run within my limits and not try to be fast. And I think I was able to maintain that strategy throughout the run. I stayed comfortable, never chased when others passed, and stayed relaxed.

The first 7 miles came and went easily, but the last 6 were hurting me a little. This 13.1 miles was the longest by 5 miles I have run since the Air Force marathon in September. My thighs were a little stiff, and my knees were starting to get slightly achy from the pavement pounding by the end of the run.

I finished in 1:45, right at 8 minute pace. I was satisfied.

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

February 13, 2009

Sick

I'm better today I think. I can breathe through my nose. Breathing through the nose is one of those little things you don't appreciate until you can't do it.


I'm overwhelmed. I don't feel like I can keep up. My house is a wreck. Maybe it's time to move again, somewhere with more space so my mess isn't conentrated in such a small area. It'll look cleaner that way.


I'm supposed to do the Mercedes half marathon Sunday. But I'm sick. And really, I still just want to lay in bed. The kids are with their mom this weekend, and I don't have to work. And all I'm thinking is wouldn't it be nice to spend the entire weekend in bed with a couple of books...


But I'd have to let Mars out... And turn on the heating lamps for the snakes and gecko... And change their water... And feed the dog... And my house still would be a wreck at the end of the weekend, and I won't have another no work no kids weekend until end of March, and I'll be out of town for that one. And I know I'll feel like a defeated poser if I don't run the race Sunday, even if I am sick... Being sick can't stop me...


Not me... I don't let it for some reason... Someone asked me the other day, "Can't you just call into work sick like anybody else?" No, actually, I can't...


I've been pushing myself pretty damn hard on the computrainer. It's funny how year to year I have improved since I started triathlon training in 2006 even though I can't remember any particular eureka moment when I felt like I had arrived. I remember when I first got the computrainer I would do my rides at 140 watts and my intervals would be 170 for 5 minutes at a time. Then last year I usually would ride at 170 watts and my intervals would be around 200. Now I easily can sustain 200+ watts and my intervals are at 300. We'll see how that translates to performance on race day.


Speaking of raceday, I think my first multisport race this year will be powerman alabama in april. I'm still trying to throw together my race schedule, and the only certaintly right now is ironman louisville in august.


The top secret project is still top secret for now, although it apparently is progressing and certainly is the reason I have felt overwhelmed this week. Hopefully there will be a reveal soon if the project launches.


Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin...


February 1, 2009

What? A blog post from DV?


There's so much going on right now I don't know where to start. I feel guilty that I'm so neglectful of this blog. When I moved into the current house I started using my den tv for my monitor. It seemed a good idea at the time since I'm half blind and its a giganticanormous (by my standards at least) screen. But there's no desk there so I lay on the floor to use the computer and my neck gets craned back to see the screen, because, well because I'm still too blind to sit on the sofas and computerize. Not ergonomic and it's just a pain in the... neck. So I need to fix that because I think I would blog more if I did.



I finally joined the ranks of facebook Friday. I've been told for years to do it but I resisted. A few days ago Nikki told me about a family group facebook site that was created and had old photos of distant relatives and even a baby pic of my dad. So I had to join! In the pic on the left the baby is my dad Diamond Jr and Diamond Sr is on the far right. I don't think I had seen a pic of my dad's dad in 15 or more years, so it was awesome to see. On the family site there is also a photo of his parents, John Konstantine and Armenia.
Now I understand a little better where I get my height from ;)
The snake saga continues... So Syranji the boa constrictor now has a continual battle with mites. They're the size of a pinhead, black, and if you watch closely you can see them crawling on him. Boas have mites in the wild, but they cause no problem in the wild just in captivity where they cause anemia and dehydration. The treatment is snake baths and decontaminating the cage. I've bathed that snake so many times it's gotta be cleaner than my kids; but, it still has mites. And it's getting wrinkly and dehydrated. Last week I got it a rat from Ed's. Usually the large rats at Ed's are manageable for him, but this rat... Dude, this rat was the size of a guinea pig. It was a rat on steroids, straight from a b rated horror flick. I had no idea it was so uber-husky until I dumped it out of the box into the tank. Syranji took one look and hid in the corner. I'm talking about a nearly 7 foot long boa constrictor afraid of a rat. That's not right!! So I decide to give him a chance to man up and let loose some brutality on the roided rat. 2 days goes by. Snake still afraid. Rat is now hungry. So Wednesday night I'm getting ready for work and I hear a banging in the snake cage. I'm hopeful Syranji has finally moved into action but instead I see the rat attacking the boa! Stupid rat is biting my snake repeatedly, on the head on the body. The snake is squirming trying to get away but there's no where to go. I have 5 minutes before I HAVE to walk out the door to be at 1opm shift change and my daughter's boa is being eaten alive by a stupid steroid sewer rat. I immediately decide that I CAN NOT reach in and just get the rat out. Uhm, I don't like the snake THAT much. But I've gotta do something. I can't find my yardwork gloves so I grab my ski gloves. I look at the rat, and realize that even if I pulled him out with the gloves on I don't have anything to do with him and I'm not risking a rat running around my house. I have to kill the rat.
But I don't know how to kill a rat.
So I go to the kitchen and get a butcher knife. I grab a thick metal wolfgang puck saucepan too thinking maybe I can just cover the rat up with the saucepan and then deal with it the next day. I opened the cage but couldn't easily manipulate the pot into position. I put the top back on...
So there I was, kneeling in front of the snake cage with my ski gloves on, a butcher knife in 1 hand and a metal pot in the other, trying to muster the courage to stab to death the rat.
I was sweating, anxious and nervous. I stared him down. And then I let him win. I couldn't do it... I put the knife down.
I swiftly grabbed Syranji out of the cage and threw him in a big ice cooler and left the rat in the snake cage. I must admit I felt a little defeated, but I saved the snake.
I thought the rat would just die with a day or 2 since he had no food, but after 2 days when he was started jumping up and crawling on the underside of the mesh top trying to escape Emma and I took the cage and dumped him in the woods.
And Syranji is still hungry...
What else is going on? Oh, yesterday I raced in the Brenda Ladun Conquer Cancer 5 mile race in Hoover. I had worked overnight so was really sleepy. In fact, I had a few extra minutes before the start so actually fell asleep in my truck until 15 minutes before the starting gun went off. It was cold too, in the mid 30s. The official results aren't posted online yet and I didn't stick around after the race to see them, but I finished in 33:45. I think I was about 20th overall out of maybe 300 runners, so I felt good about that. I liked the course in that it was 80% trail, but I didn't really like all the looping. Overall I was happy with the race though.
2 weeks from today I'll run the Mercedes half marathon here in Birmingham. They changed the course this year so it's not as hilly and I'm excited about that. I wasn't sure up until this week if I was going to enter, but my back has become sufficiently painfree (after I hurt it changing a flat tire on the Landcruiser - yea, I'm getting old I know) so I think I'll be good for it.
On the horizon there is potentially HUGE news about me and the troupe, but it needs to develop a little bit more before I spill the beans. How's that for a teaser!
Until next time (which hopefully won't be another month), thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin...