30 days...

That's all it is, 30 days! For the record, I haven't had fast food in 30 days...yeah, that is how short 30 days is. In other terms I can say I am getting married THIS month! Yeah, so much to do so little time, right? Actually we've got quite a good grasp on things right now. Of course there are always obstacles in planning any event and we are working through some of those but for the most part we are good to go!

Weekend is coming...nothing scheduled...lots of ideas though so we'll see what prevails and what doesn't. I'll be watching some football on Sunday, that's for sure!

I hope all is well with everyone and I'll shout at you soon!

Oh yeah, check this out...you won't be dissappointed!!! Make sure you watch the whole thing to the end...it's legendary!!!

Random Stuff:

Our work donated like 75lbs of food to a food pantry which is pretty cool! But I went and looked through the food (no I wasn’t hungry and looking for lunch) and I saw like 10 boxes of Kraft and 15 boxes of Roundys Mac & Cheese in there. I assume people that go to the food pantry aren’t very well off. I eat exclusively Kraft, because I like it so much I am willing to pay the extra $.20. But if you aren’t very well off which do you prefer?

I was eliminated from making our Fantasy Football playoffs. Last year I was the champ. Guh!!! I suck!

Get rad!

Ran into Barry Alvarez last night. Barry (not Alvarez,) Riz and I rocked the Quaker Steak last night, two of us (not me) even went Atomic to some extent. Whack! Barry even complained to the waitress that the Atomic Wings weren’t hot enough. I’d agree…he didn’t even break a sweat this time. I had a few wings (medium which means mild I guess) and one of the top 5 burgers in town (this ranking has yet to be established.)

From Kelson: “Hey, I almost forgot!! We had a free lunch at school today and I wandered in and wound up eating 7 soft tacos from Taco Bell. It was so hot!! I wish I had a blog”

Last night I parked in the garage. Makes for a nice morning!

Berbee Derby Race Report!

I haven’t written up a race report in a while but I figured I owed it to my fans! A couple weeks ago Jess and I signed up for the Berbee Derby. The Berbee Derby is a 5/10K race on Thanksgiving morning and is one of the big three 10k races in the Madison winter running season (Jinglebell Run and Shamrock Shuffle are the other two but I probably won’t do those this year.) I ran this race last year but only because I preregistered. I woke up last year and it was 0 degrees and windy which was doubly bad because it was the first crappy day of the season so I wasn’t used to any cold. Had I not paid already I would’ve bailed but such is life and it was go-time. I finished in 58 and a half minutes last year although I think my time was off a couple of minutes. Anyways, I was afraid to preregister again but Jess was so I went for it.

This year was different. I’ve done an Ironman and have been doing some faster running although I didn’t feel like I’ve ran enough. My goal was to run a sub 50 minute 10k. In training I’ve been close so I hoped with a race pace I could do it. I got up 3 hours before the race to eat breakfast and have some tea. Diet-wise I was ready. Jess and I got there a bit early and read the paper for a while. A half hour before the race I started to warm up and my legs were very dead! I was afraid it was going to be a long run! Finally I warmed up and stretched and got my starting spot right in the front! My other goal was to lead the race. It was 45 and sunny out, perfect running weather and I was a tad overdressed!

The gun sounded at 9am. I was off and it was pretty hard to lead the race as someone else had the same idea. I held him off for about a quarter mile before he just ran by me and the fade was on. I was probably about 100th place when I passed the 1 mile sign at 6:42. I kept getting passed and hit 2 miles in under 14 and 3 miles in 22:11. I thought I was fading faster than I was as the next couple of miles were pretty tough but I hit the 5 mile mark at 38 minutes which pretty much sealed my sub 50 minute 10k. The last 1.2 miles is tough, lots of uphill with a small downhill and then a flat finish. I hit 6 miles at 47 even but didn’t feel like sprinting it out to try and rock a 48 and ended up cruising in at a 48:25. So I was pretty excited for that. Jess came in at 1 second over 1:04 which is awesome for her! Saw a bunch of other friends out running and all were pretty happy with how they did!

My stats:
Place- Overall 312/958, 263/593 males, 44/78 in the 25-29 mens age group. My mile pace was 7:48.
I was one of only two leaders of the race; the guy who passed me a quarter mile in went on to win.

My reward, a PR in the 10k, some Boston Cream Cake, a Caramel Latte from Starbucks and some awesome Thanksgiving dinner later that day (and a happy fiancé!)

Later that day I learned they showed the start on the news so you could see me rockin’ to the lead on TV! Unfortunately I missed it but hopefully I’ll find some footage and some photos to post later.

Thanks for reading!

Well I suppose it's time for a new post! Let's hit y'all with a recap!

Wednesday: Worked a ton of hours. Hit the Gritty with the future in-laws and then we went to Point and took in the Happy Feet movie. It was ok but nothing special. Took it easy the rest of the night.

Thursday: It was big 10k day! Berbee Derby! Goal was under 50 minutes. I took the early lead (I even got on the news) and was one of only two people to lead. I got passed 1/4 mile of the way in. I ran a 6:42 1st mile and a sub 23 minute 5k and settled in finally finishing in 48:25. Saw alot of friends out there running too. Jess rocked it too and rolled a 1:04 even. Awesome!

We hit the Starbucks on the way home and read black friday ads. Then off to the in-laws again for some turkey. Good eats, great company, and good weather made for a fun time. Football wasn't so hot. We finalized our black friday plans too!

Friday: Got up at 4:05ish and was in-line at Circuit City (about 300 deep) at 4:30. The rush began at 5 (800+ people), I was done shopping by 5:05 and checked out by 5:20. Went on to Boston Store and Penneys for some small deals and was basically done around 6ish. Went out to eat and then I rode 31 miles. Went to the dog park as well and then hit the hot tub. Chilled for a bit before Thanksgiving at the Long's place. More great eats and great company, thanks!!! Then off to see Stranger Than Fiction which I highly recommend!!!

Saturday: 2 hours of basketball & grocery shopping start my day on Saturday. Then I spent 4+ hours cleaning our garage and I can almost park my car in it! Then a little rest (mostly just watching Wedding Crashers) and then off to Hez's birthday! Food, comedy and darts! Good time! I played well at Ms. Pac Man (60K) and won a game of darts! It was a really good time! Got home a little after midnight, ot 2-1/2 hours before Jess who closed down some bar!