Rapture or lack thereof

A senile asshat in California decided Saturday May 21 Jesus would return and take the faithful to heaven.  He lined out the very elaborate proof in scripture and numerology but completely forgot the part in the bible where it says no man can know the day!  The whole point to the vagueness of prophecy is so you can avoid the whole being wrong part. He's going to get what he deserves.  Saturday evening he had to look his followers in the eye and say 'oops'.  Can you imagine the realization he had to come to?  Either he was wrong and a spectacular lunatic (he is) or, and this is the part that would crush him, it did happen and he's still here!  Asshat.

While these well meaning followers of his were wringing their hand and praying I was at my own temple.  I planned to go out in style.  Jimmy played in Frisco, baby!  My friend Bad and I got kitchen passes and road tripped the 5 hours to Frisco,TX.  We were met by 4 friends (Steve, Stacy, Dan and Sharon) and the 6 of us tailgated until the show.  Even though it rained like a mofo on the trip down with flash flood and tornado warnings the grounds were in okay shap and there was no mud pit.  In fact, other than a brief time when I was concerned Steve had been raptured (false alarm he was checking out a jeep) it was a great time and everything was great.

The show was great as well.  You don't perform as long as Jimmy without polishing the show.  He has it all down.  He played the standards as well as dusting off a couple of my favorites from the past.

Live from the floor.  I would think this about sums it.

BTW the photo's in focus we're the ones out of focus.

I thought maybe we had in fact been raptured.  Jimmy on stage, all the beer I could drink, good friends and great food what what else could it be but heaven? The thing that brought me back to realization was the fact that without Angie and Chloe it couldn't be heaven, but man it was close. 

Funny story but not really

So funny story, after posting about the whole nipple chafing thing I did a 9 mile run and really wished I had done a better job of lubricating.  No blood but chafing. Unpleasant chafing.

Ouch.

Always time for lubrication

Life is full of nevers.  I'll never run unless chased by something I can't beat down.  Then, okay I'll run but I'll never run a distance where I have to carry water that's crazy.  Lubrication while running?  I'll never need that!  I could go on.  Once you become a parent dignity goes right our the window.

Why does this come up?

As I get older (another day closer to 40) I find more and more things are no longer black and white.  If I hadn't already given in on the frst one I wouldn't be writing this.  If you've read the other posts where I review my Camelbak you'll know I gave up on that one when I started running 10 + miles at a time.  So now we're onto lubrication.  It's not something I hear talked about much on podcasts or in magazines.  Although I will give a shout out to Running with Pack podcast.  Alan and Stevie had a guest on who threw out more info than I think even they were expecting on the subject.

Lubrication huh! What is it good for?

I haven't really run longer than 8 miles at a time sine the Little Rock Half Marathon March 6th.  I've had a hard time with my longer runs because I'm bored with my route.  I found a way to add 4.4 miles of new territory and am excited about Saturday's long run.  That brings me around to the lubricant.  An 8-10 mile run like I'm planning will require lubricant or I'll experience chafing.  This is something you learn from experience.  Harsh, harsh experience.

The office pointed out that bloody nipples are an actual problem for men but there's also the chafing issue.  Even when you were comfy clothes, compression shorts or whatever there are still places that rub.

   Do you need lubrication for a 5k probably not.  10k doubt it.  Half marathon or more I would say almost defininitely.  As Orlando Jones pointed out in the movie Evolution, there's always time for lubrication. It is the endurance athlete's dirty secret.  That thing that's just done and not talked about.  If you are experiencing issues chafing don't get discouraged.

Here are some alternatives to using a lubricant.  Your moment of Zen?

Yes, the first dude is wearing manpasties.

So the next never is I'll never wear tights to run...
                              

Camelbak test

I tested out my Camelbak Mini Mule Sunday.  The intention was to run 9 mile on my 39th. It didn't happen.

I ran the 5k Saturday and for whatever reason my calves got that tired muscle burn almost immediately.  It never went away and I struggled through the whole thing.

When the Sunday run rolled around 1/2 mile in I was in the same position.  Calves were on fire.  Here lately runs haven't felt good until around mile 4 anyway so I thought if I could hold on maybe it would even out.  It didn't.

I carried my Camelbak Dave and Jess got me for my Bday.

I liked it pretty well.  It was overkill for a 3 mile run it's really more for a 9 mile + run but i think it was for the best I did a shorter run to test. 

There were a couple things I learned before we step up to a longer run.

1. Bleed the air. Hold it upside down and suck the air out so it won't slosh.
2. Run the hose to the left side.  It faces to the right and was inconvenient to grab flip and sip.  A simple switch to the left side fixes it no problem.

Update 1 week later:

Saturday rolled around again and I made the changes and went out for a comfortable 7 mile run around town.  Again, the the capacity is a bit much for even 7 miles but it's fine when you consider the room you have for a cell phone, keys and wallet.

I was concerned about chafing which is another reason for slow increases in mileage.  Even after an hour and a half comfort was great.  After bleeding the reservoir there was no sloshing and it rode comfortably on my back loaded with wallet, phone and house key.

It's crazy now I think about the start of my running and how getting through the first 3 miles sucked so hard and I was wiped at the end now the first 3 suck but it is fun after that.  It's as if my legs just quit bitching and decide to go with it.  They're like f*ck it!  I ended my run at 7 only because I had stuff to do not because my body said stop.

On Sunday I broke out the Vibrams again and did a short 3 miles.  My calves are a little sore/tight but no big deal Monday off should help quite a bit.  I really like the Vibrams I'm just not the most patient when it comes to slowly adding miles.

Asscrack of dawn

Up this morning at the asscrack of dawn.  I'm not talking about a stripper.  I'm talking about the sucky time before the sun rises.  I decided in my warped logic to run a 5k this morning.

Why:
1. Lovely wife is gone to medical coding class and child is asleep so I'm solo anyway.
2. It's the day before my birthday (warped logic).
3. It's for a program that helps fund PE4Life in school.
4. Its international week in the Premier League no games this morning.
5. Why not?

I've got to leave and go do this now I'll finish this when I get back.

I'm back.  It is 44 degrees and rainy.  I made all the rookie mistakes.  I got there 15 minutes before the start.  I didn't do a good job stretching.  I had to make a last minute port a potty stop.  I started too fast.

I'm pretty sure that wearing the Vibrams Sunday and the Wednesday before the race trashed my calves.  They were sooooo tired at the very begining of the race I can't think of any other reason why that would happen.

No PR for me.  (UPDATE: around 3:30 off my 5k PR) Oh well there are always more 5ks usually 3 or 4 a day this time of year.

Anyway, it was for a good cause, I didn't walk it and the t-shirt is kinda cool.

In case you're curious the PE4Life program is designed to encourage lifelong fitness and combat childhood obesity by teaching kids about sports, fitness and nutrition.

Happy Birthday to me...

Last weekend I had a birthday party with friends.  It was kind strange for me because I generally don't like to do stuff before my birthday.  However, schedules are what they are and this was the most opportune time.

I got an awesome Batman cake.  It was homemade even better!  Sorry bakery cakes can't compete flavor wise with a good homemade cake.

I also got a couple of great running related gifts.  I will discuss them more later because I haven't been able to use them yet.

One is a Camelbak Mini Mule hydration pack.  This one was hand picked by my good friends Dave and Jess.  They are aware of my running and are accustomed to the insane summer heat and humidity in Arkansas so this is the perfect gift.  Besides the hydration bladder it also has enough room for cellphone, gels, a small camera, cash or whatever.  It even has the front chest strap for comfort.  As next January rolls around and I'm looking at 20 mile runs I think this might be my new best friend.  Sunday is my actual birthday so I'm going to run 9 miles on the 39th birthday.  I'm looking forward to trying the pack out.

                                       
The other amazingly thoughtful gift was a pair of Motorola SD-10 bluetooth headphones.

                                                               Like dees ones.                                     

I am planning a phone upgrade in the next couple of weeks.  Almost certainly a windows 7 Samsung Focus.  It integrates my Zune software with a smart phone ( I hope I'm smart enough to use it).  Anyhoo, Microsoft say they aren't making Zunes anymore so I figure upgrade the memory on the phone and use it  double duty music player and phone.  I realize I'm not the first to come up with this idea.  With the Bluetooth headphones shown above I can listen to music while running and make and receive calls as well.

My lovely wife loves the idea of being able to get a hold of me in case of emergency.  I like that aspect as well but I have to admit part of me like the thought of being in my own head a bit without the interruption.  It's a trade off accept the possibility of the unimportant interruption to be able to receive the important message.

Update on the Vibrams:  I've worn them on 3 runs so far.  Recapping- first run was a 2 miler on Wednesday.  After this first run my calves were pretty sore.  The second run was the following Sunday (much sooner than they recommend starting off) 2.25 miles.  After the second run my calves were fine so the third run was 1 week exactly to the first.  I ran 3 miles the following Wednesday (yesterday).  Today my calves are fine everything's groovy.  I intend to wear them for a 5k this Saturday.

I'll post on how that goes and family bday party we're having tonight.

Are you looking at my monkey... feet?

Happy (early) Birthday to me! It's early but I got my birthday present from my lovely wife and daughter last night.  I got just what I tried on at a local store and then ordered from the ol' interweb.  A pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes.

As a disclaimer, I always try to order from local companies.  I believe in supporting the community even if it costs a couple extra dollars.  In this case, none of the local retailers had the style I wanted so I had to confirm proper sizing in the store and then I ordered online.

That said, my lovely wife and daughter hate them, but they're what I wanted so I got them anyway.   Thank you girls.

What are Five Finger Shoes?

I'm glad you asked.  Here's a picture.

Fit your foot like a glove.  The idea is we were made to not wear shoes and this is as much like bare foot as you can get but still protect your feet.  This model in particular is made fro running.

They make me look like this...

Obviously, I don't obsess about my appearance.

I did a lot of research before buying these shoes.  How to run in them etc.  All the books say start slowly and gradually add distance.  They say use the 10% rule.  No more than 10% of your weekly mileage should be run initially.  For me, that's 2 miles.

I was so excited I got up and did a 2 miler on my usual day off just to try them out.  It seemed to be a big success.  We'll see tomorrow I guess.

The usual problems people encounter are foot problems (too much reliance on cushy shoes), Achilles tendon problems (it natually shortens because of heeled shoes) and calf soreness ( back to the cushy shoes).  Several months ago I changed my stride because of achilles tendon and hip flexor issues I went from the typical running shoe heel striker to a more mid-foot strike.  Because of that change the Vibram were not much of an issue with the footstrike and while I have some calf tighness my foot and ankle feel fine.

If I can walk tomorrow I'll do another 2 miler with them Sunday.

I can say that my average pace was up a good bit.  I don't know if it was because I felt like I was running in socks or just the general feeling of freedom.  I was like the return to a simpler time when I was a kid and went barefoot all the time playing in the yard.  It felt good.

I know I won't wear these for every run.  My wife my not let me wear them in her presence.  So far though no buyer's remorse.

UPDATE: The day after using the new shoes my calves are really tight and kind of sore.  Still no buyers remorse but I'm glad I took the advice to go easy.