Quick update

The pouring rain prevented me for my scheduled run yesterday, but I was able to get out for a nice 2.5 mile run this morning.  Really pushed the pace for the first 1.5 miles.

Teh Grand Theory of Teh Glaven Disappearance is in the works1!

Total miles: 42

First long run done

Saturday morning I completed my first "long" run in my super-non-scientific 1/2 marathon training plan.  As a matter of fact, I don't even have anything written down in this training plan...I wonder if that is going to be a problem??

During this run, my brain did some serious wandering.  I do believe that I came up with teh real reason why Glaven went missing.  I can't remember all of it, but trust me it was odd (just like him).   Expect more on this topic later.

After my run, teh Son had his Pack Pinewood Derby.  His car won 1st in speed and show.  Very cool.  Unfortunately, I missed it all because I had to leave to go coach his basketball team.  Once we got done with the derby, I had to go pick up some firewood.

Mrs Needle's grandfather had a tree cut down Friday and had them leave some firewood sized pieces for me.  Loaded a full size truck and 8 foot trailer with wood.  Some of the pieces are a good 2 foot around (that's what she said!1!).  Unloaded the trailer when I got home and then headed to teh Daughters basketball game.

Crashed early Saturday night.

Sunday was teh Son's birthday.  I celebrated by getting up and going outside to split and stack firewood for 2 hours.  Fun, fun.  After dealing with the firewood, I loaded the truck and trailer up with stuff we are donating to a local yard sale that is raising money for the Susan G Komen foundation.

Did some Girl Scout stuff with teh Daughter and family where she got her badges she has earned.  Finally, crashed at home.

This morning...every. muscle. hurts.  All. of. them.  Even my pinkie finger hurts.

run+firewood+yard sale stuff=very sore and tired Needle

Needed to go to work just to rest up for a day or so.

Total Miles: 40

Gonna run that Half Mary

Alright, since I got all of 2 votes to do the half, I am going to do it.  Didn't take much to push to into wanting to run it.  And really, I posted it here because I just wanted someone to agree with me that it would be a good idea.

In order to train, my plan is to run at least 4 miles tomorrow.

As I was getting dressed for my run this morning, I was looking for a pair of shorts.  I have this "area" in our half bath/utility room when I put all my running clothes (complete and total disaster area).  When I grabbed what I thought was a pair of running shorts, I pulled out a running jacket I had forgot about. WIN!  It still had the tag on it.  I bought it at Dicks this past summer on super clearance and forgot all about it.

Of course, I wore it this morning and absolutely loved it.  For some reason, I get really hot around my forearms when I run with a jacket on.  Normally, I just wear a zip-up vest and short-sleeve tech shirt.  This jacket was VERY breathable and was super comfortable.  It will be in heavy rotation when it is cold outside.

Total miles: 36

Conundrum

Alright, here's the deal.  Just found out this morning that the local running club and the local community college are hosting a 1/2 mary / 5K.  The run is April 3rd.  So, this is a possible half mary within 10 minutes of the house AND it only costs $40.

Should I run it?

My longest run this year is 3 miles.  That gives me 5 weekends to ramp up the long run to at least 10 miles??

Am I crazy?  Help!

Also, there is this rumor that a certain, pervert, um...blogger may have returned.  If so, where is my freakin comment1!1!

Nothing to see...move along

I keep expecting that the more I run and then blog about said running that eventually I might learn to write worth a damn.  Unfortunately for you, I don't think it is going to happen.  I finally came to the conclusion, that I am just a dull, boring man.  My life revolves around being at work (no actual work gets done) and doing stuff with the kids.

Sounds exciting...

I have discovered my workday crosstraining....ping pong.  Here at work, in the warehouse, is a ping pong table.  I started playing about a month ago.  It was the first time in 15 years that I picked up a paddle.  It was ugly to start.  Really ugly.  I have slowly gotten better, nowhere near that good, but I am out there to have some fun.

See, I told you I was boring.

Total miles: 33

Is it spring yet?

I am really, really, really ready for this arctic blast to return to the arctic.  I live in Alabama and I expect my mild winters.  I deal with the 90+ degrees (in the mornings) in the summer so that I can have a nice mild winter with lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's.

This southern boy does not like 15-20 degrees outside with a wind chill even lower.

/end bitching about weather

The old Needle reared his ugly head the past two weeks.  Only 5 runs during that time.  Plan is to get 5-6 runs per week and hope to actually get 4-5.  Just need to refocus and get the consistency back.

Giveaway link (you don't expect my cheap ass to give something away did you?)

It just looks like slow motion is hosting a giveaway for Yurbuds.  Click over and read her.  You really don't need to enter since that will just decrease my slim chance of winning.

Total Miles: 29

Cold, windy and freezing

Got up this morning for my run.  Looked at the temp gauge, which showed a balmy 29 F.  First of all, wtf?  I live in the south for a reason.  Don't like this cold shit.  Not. One. Bit.

Got all my running stuff on (long sleeve tech shirt, shorts, sweatshirt, socks and shoes).  As an aside, I was trying the sweatshirt instead of my running jackets because I seem to get too hot once I have been running awhile, but only on my arms.  Weird, I know.

While I was prepared for the cold, I was not ready for the wind.  The wind was from the west, blowing around 15 mph with gusts up to 20-25.  Damn, that is some serious wind-chill.  By the time I got to the home stretch, Needle's Needle was not liking this run.  Maybe I should have worn some running pants because that part of my body was revolting by the time I was done.

Needless to say, I was booking it for the last 1/2 mile or so trying to get done.

Total miles: 25

Enter creative title here

Sorry for the blog silence, been having to do actual work at work.  Dang companies and their expectations.  Don't they know I have to publish a blog post?

Anyway, I have run the last 3 days straight.  All of the run have been around 2 miles and I ran the last two days without any walk breaks!  I am pretty excited about that and hope to continue to build on that.

According to the fine folks at weather.com, tomorrow's run does not look good.  Supposed to rain, rain and then rain some more.  I will get up in the morning and check the radar and see if I can get out and get it done.

As usual, nothing exciting going on in Needleland.

Total miles: 23

Run...dog...pain

First of all, let me apologize for the last post being such a downer.  Both grandparents are doing ok.

Now back to your regularly scheduled bad blogging.

Completed a 3 mile "long" run on Saturday...in the rain.  I know.  I am as shocked as you that I went out in the rain to run.

I ran again this morning after not running Sunday or Monday.  Sergent Sh*tcramps decided to pay me a visit on Monday.  That bastard is mean.  Did a nice 2 miles this morning.  Nothing great, but still decent.  I am slowly feeling better.

After my run, I gathered all my stuff to feel my two dogs.  I have 2 Siberian Huskies that we recently moved into the fence together.  The dogs are polar opposites of each other.  Koda, our male, is laid back.  Doesn't bother you.  Just wants his food and some petting.  Kylie, our female, on the other hand, is spastic.  She doesn't know how to settle down.  Drives me insane.  As I am trying to get in the fence to give them food and water, Kylie is just jumping all around and over me.  I swing out my right foot (hands are full) to push her out-of-the-way.  Well, I swung a wee bit harder than I had planned and hit the top of my foot on some bone of hers.

Ouch.  Like, I feel like I broke my foot, ouch.  I am hoping that it is just a bruise.  I guess I will find out in the morning if I can still run.

LooMoo, you are correct.  Dogs are evil.

At least this time they didn't bite me.

Total miles: 19 miles

Stuff

First, a quick running update.  Ran again this morning.  A little over 2 miles in 30 min.  I felt good and I ran the entire 1st mile without walking.  Very happy about that one.  It is very slow getting back into running shape, but I know that if I keep at it I will get better.

Second, both my Nana (maternal grandmother) and Paw-Paw in-law (MIL grandfather) are in congestive heart failure.  My Nana is 94, will be 95 in March.  My Paw-paw in-law is 86.  Unfortunately, I am not really that close to my Nana.  She lives in Topeka, KS and I really have not seen her that much in the last 20 years.  They are giving her some drugs to help relieve the fluid buildup and I am hoping that she can recover as much as possible.  We are planning on going to Kansas in March to celebrate her 95th birthday.

My wife's Paw-paw on the other hand is not doing so well.  He is in the hospital again now and will be in there for a few days.  He is the closest thing I have ever had to a grandfather.  Both of mine died before I graduated from high school.

I apologize for being a downer.  Just remember to tell your parents and grandparents you love them today.

Total miles: 14

Still on that wagon

Didn't run yesterday.  Regretted that decision as soon as I walked outside to go to work.  Really have no idea why in heck I didn't go.  I do consider it a success that I did get pissed at myself for missing it.  In the past...no regret, didn't give a crap if I missed it.

Nice 2 miler this morning.  Finally had some moments of being "in the groove" while running.  You know, when it feel effortless and everything is just flowing.  Loved. It.

Absolutely nothing interesting going on in Needleland.

Total miles: 12

Craptastic and fantastic

I actually got off my lazy butt and completed my "long" run.  It was on 2.7 miles, but considering that I really have not run much for the last 5 or 6 months...I'll take it.

No run on Sunday due to this little thing called lightning in the area.  Just felt it was prudent to lay around on the couch and watch Sportscenter rather than get electrocuted.  Poor excuse, but I will take it.

Craptastic 30 minute run this morning.  Everything sucked.  My pace, my effort...you name it.  And you know what?  It was fantastic to be out there having a craptastic run.   In the past 7 days I have run 5 times.  I do not believe that I have ever run 5 times in a week before.  Ever.

There are no "grand" or "big" plans.  As I wrote the other day, this is about me.  Me going back to running because I love it.  Not because I want to run a marathon before I turned 35.  Not to live up to other expectations of my running.  Just for me.  Damn, all this talk about me and you would think I am this guy, or this guy or this guy or that n*t@ack loving guy who left blogland.

Total miles: 10

Back on the wagon

Since I figure that everyone has deleted this retarded blog from their reader, I guess I am just writing this for me.  I am finally back on the running wagon.  For the last month, I have used every excuse in the book to skip my runs.  Every. Single. One.  I finally ran out of excuses.

I decided that a year of moping about my marathon FAIL was enough.  It was time to start fresh.  New online tracking, gone is BIMActive, now going to use DailyMile.  Going to just get up in the morning and go.

I have now been officially back "on the wagon" for two days.  Both runs were shortish and I sucked, but I now remember why I started.  This time, the running is about me.  No far-flung goals to run this race or that race.  I am running for me.

My plan is to post most every day to at least say, hey I did a run today.  Maybe if I write enough I might actually become a competent writer (not likely, but still).

I would say that I am going to write about all the interesting stuff that happens to me, but as I have discovered I just can't seem to write it.  Oh well.

A whole bunch of random crap

I have been meaning to post for a couple of days now.  For today's bit of random BS, I am going to the blogger favorite...bullet points.

• I spent a good deal of time and energy this weekend loading and unloading 2 truckloads of firewood. 


• By Monday, EVERYTHING from the waist up hurt.  When I got up Monday morning to run, I could barely walk due to lower back pain.   Does this count as cross-training?


• While perusing Facebook the other day, I noticed this back and forth between one of my college buddies and his wife.  First of all, neither one of them is what you would call healthy.  Both quite large persons.  They were making fun of a group of runners wearing Will Run for Beer shirts while eating at a place called Chunkys.  WTF, at least the runners will burn off all those calories they are consuming.  I know these people are not runners, but you are eating at the same place (most likely eating more than the runners) and you think it is ironic that the runners think they can pig out because they run!?


• Running while windy outside:  tailwind = good; headwind = bad.

Dang, for some reason I had allot more in my head the other day to write and now I am drawing a blank.

A big thank you to all our service men and women and veterans today.  Because of you, I can write the crappy blog without worrying about the gov'ment spying on me.

Soccer Coaching Fail

As you can probably guess from the title, the soccer team has concluded the season winning a grand total of ZERO games.  Let me tell you about the game before I get into the coaching fail.

The game, in a word, awesome.  The girls played their butts off.  We failed to capitalize on some really good scoring opportunities, but they really played great.  Actually, both teams really played great.  At the end of regulation, we were tied 0-0.  The score had more to do with the awesome defense played by both teams.  Both teams have really gotten much better during the season (even though we missed tons of games and practices due to the rain).

Since this was part of the Regional Tournament, we had to decide a winner.  The normal process for this is called "Kicking from the mark."  If you have ever seen any soccer, the mark is the penalty spot on the field.  The coach, me, picks 5 players (that were on the field at the end of regulation) and gives the ref the order in which they will kick.  It is basically the kickers versus the goal keeper.  Most goals win.  If we are tied after 5 kicks, you repeat.

1st round: weak kick by them, but our keeper bobbled it and it goes it.  Miss kick by our girl, misses the goal. (1-0 them)

2nd round: good kick by them, goal.  Teh Daughter makes an AWESOME kick (not just saying this as her Dad, it was the best kick of the night), goal (2-1 them)

3rd round: miss kick by them, missed the goal.  Our girl make a great kick, but the goal keeper made an even better save.  It was really spectacular. (2-1 them)

4th round: good kick by them, goal.  Miss kick by our girl, missed the goal.  (3-1 them)  End of game.

It was really a great experience and the girls played so well.  A couple of these girls could be very good if they keep on playing (they just need a better coach then me, as you shall see).

Coaching FAIL:

Right before the start of the last period started, my best defender decided that she wanted to sit out.  In her defense, she has played every single minute of every game except for the 1st game.  She has been awesome and was playing great last night.  So she sat.  The girl (H) that was rotating with teh Daughter at goal keeper didn't want to play keeper the last period (she is also a good mid-fielder/striker).  I put my #4 keeper in hoping that we would score with teh Daughter and H playing offensive positions.  FAIL and FAIL.

The #4 keeper was really struggling during the kicks at the end and we would have been much better off with either teh Daughter or H playing there.  I learned today that I could have switched out the keeper during the kicks.  FAIL

Oh yeah, I ran 2.08 miles this morning.  Sorry BMI active will not let me go past 2 decimal places when I map my run, but I am pretty sure it was 2.082112544 miles. (No, I will not list times because they are pathetic)

Running happens

I know that you are all waiting eagerly to find out if I got off my lazy, pathetic ass to go running since my last post.

Surprise! I actually did.  I went out for a nice 2+ mile run this morning and it felt pretty good. 

Amazing how this "running" always makes me feel better, but I don't do it enough.  (Yes G, I am talking about running)

Tomorrow night, is the start of teh Daughter's Regional soccer tournament.  Since our team is 0 for the season, we get to play a "play-in" game with the other non-winning team.  We played them this past Saturday and tied.  At least someone will get a win on the season.  It may take overtime or penalty kicks, but one team is finally going to get a win.

If we win tomorrow, we play again on Saturday morning.  Our chances of winning that game are around 0.0000012%.  This team beat us 7-0 earlier in the season and it was not that close.

Back from my hiatus

I know that absolutely no one has missed me and I cannot blame you at all.  I have been too lazy to get off my butt and write a post.

Well, since no one saw my last post due to the fucktardary of wordpress (go ahead, read it), obviously no feedback on teh daughter running with me.  Today was our first run together and it was awesome. 

We were planning on running Monday, but the downpour outside gave me the perfect excuse to just go back to sleep for another hour instead of running. 

The weather Tuesday was great, but I was lazy again (go figure, and you will see this trend rather prominent in my posts).  Wednesday morning was misty rain and temps in the lower 60's.  I tried for about 5 minutes to get teh daughter up, but she refused.  I did go running, just with out her.

Yesterday was a rest day for me (the schedule I am using said to walk for 30 mins, but as you know by now I am just lazy).  This morning she got up and went out with me.  It was a PERFECT 56 degrees outside.  I put a reflective vest on teh daughter and out we went.  Since she is starting, we are doing a run-walk program together.  I have run 2 half-marathons and attempted on full, but I have always been super slow.  My thought is that I will do this program with her running at a much faster pace.  I want to improve my snailish 13-14 min/mile pace to around 10 min/mile.  I think this program is my way to do it.  We ran 2 minutes and then walked 2 minutes.  We went out from the house for 11 minutes and then back.  We covered 1.9 miles in 21 minutes.  Damn good running pace.

The schedule call for another run tomorrow morning and we are planning on doing it.  However, since I found out that teh daughter will be playing soccer tomorrow, I may just do it by myself.

Also, please think warm thoughts for me this weekend.  The whole family is doing a cub scout camping trip and it is supposed to drop into the 30's Saturday night.  Brr.

Have a great weekend.

No, Mrs Needle didn't kill me in my sleep

Ed note:  I actually wrote this thing 10 days ago and for some reason it didn't publish.  Damn wordpress.  So today you will get a two-fer.  Sorry.

Greetings! I have been thinking about posting for a couple of days, but every time I think about starting I realize that I have nothing interesting to say. Life has been pretty boring lately. It has primarily consisted of soccer, football, work and a little family time. Do you notice what is missing? Yeah, running.

Last weekend we had a soccer game at 9 am (we lost, as usual). For the season we are 0-5-1. Not sure why that one team stunk so bad and let us tie that one game. S, teh daughter, finally got to play this past weekend. She is doing ok, but you can tell she has missed allot and is kinda out of shape (being in a cast will do that to you). C, teh son, also played Saturday and he is doing pretty well. However, the poor guy got kicked in teh n*ts@ck during the game. REALLY felt bad for him. He kept saying he got kicked in teh weenie!

Anyway, after soccer, we headed to Mississippi to watch the old college team lose, again. See a theme here? My teams and losing? Geez. We had a good time tailgating before and after the game. We stayed in Mississippi Saturday night and went back to campus to watch the women's soccer team play. It started raining about the time we left the hotel and didn't stop the rest of the day. We only watch about 30 minutes of the soccer game and about 20 minutes of the women's volleyball game before we decided to head on back home.

See, really, really boring.

I do need some advice though. Teh daughter really wants to start running with me in the mornings. Which I think is great. Problem though is that I go running on the roads around the house while it is pitch black outside. I have no problem with ME running at dark thirty in the morning on these roads, but I really don't like the idea of HER running at dark thirty on these same roads.

Should we drive the 10-15 minutes each way to the nearest town and run in the park? Run an altered route around the house that does not include so much time on the busy road (there is almost no traffic on the side roads)? Needs me some help here.

Rain, rain and more rain

Sorry for the lack of blogging for almost two weeks.  As I have pointed out previously, I am a slacker.  What did you expect?  Daily blogging?  Interesting stuff?  Yeah, right.

There really has not been much to write about lately.  In my neck of the woods, it has rained ALOT.  None of the rain has interfered with my running (that slacker part did that just fine). 

This morning, on the way to work, I heard the news lady warn that there was fog close to my place of employment.  Gut reaction: F*ck! Damn! Sh!t!

The morons that make a similar to commute to myself have a hard enough time driving like they have any sense when it is sunny and the roads are dry.  Now these same morons have to drive through fog?!  F*ck!

Fog = Needle late for work because people don't know how to drive (not that it matters if Needle is late because he is salaried and nobody give a sh*t except him that he is late - I am anal like that) (and no, Glaven, NOT like that).

Oh yeah, running.....hmm....yeah, I have done just a little of it.  Need. to. get. more. consistent!  Why, of why, will I not get off my lazy a$$ and go running when I know I should be??  I wish I knew.

Have a great day and I promise to post a little more often, I swear!

Surprise! I am a MORON!!!

Hi.  My name is Needle and I am a dumba$$.*

I went for a run this morning and after taking a shower and getting some coffee, I went to bimactive.com to add the run.  I use the hybrid map because I know the landmarks.  As I was looking at the map, it dawned on me that I have been using the wrong house as my start point.

Now, to those of you that live in a neighborhood, you are thinking "Pfffft, it is only like, what, 20 feet!  What kinda loser writes a blog post about 4o feet during a run?!"

First off, I don't live in a neighborhood and secondly, I am that kinda loser.  My neighbor is almost 0.1 of a mile into my run.  So I have been shorting myself, almost 0.2 of a mile on a 2+ mile run for a couple of weeks.  How could I not notice that I was using the wrong house as my starting point?!?

Time for a day of soccer and football.  (For my non-existent Euro-trash readers, that would be football and American football).

Hare a great weekend everyone!

*I have heard that admitting your problem is the first step.  The first step to what, I am not sure of.