Liam At 14

Hopefully a good day for my son, Liam. Had his buddy Bryce over last night. Received a new HTC One phone. (Swwwweeeet!) Golf shirts. Golf shoes. Money. Friends and family swung by. And favorite meal for dinner.

School starts soon enough. Music. Studies. The usual litany of woes a teen has to suffer. Learning to drive soon. Maybe a job in the future? Growing up all too fast. Can we slow down just a bit here?

Pictured below, left to right, Tolar, Liam, Alex, and Meg. In the background, Darren, Amy, Cindy, and Gigi.

And after the break, a video?

Here's August

What a day. Brutal heat. Swapped out a robotic arm. Wrestled with four different techs, with four different accents, on a super-prolonged Citrix issue. Nearly 11 hours at the office. G'Ma in the hospital after five unexpected ulcers cause massive bloodloss. Liam's new phone. My new Nexus. Cindy's migraine. Missed my THREE workouts. A coworker gets sent home. "Wepons!" Chinese food. And boom, here's August.

What. A. Day.

Widening Gyre

Burned out on the job. Contemplating a long vacation. Burning out on training. Tired of being tired. Cindy growing increasingly frantic as she crowds towards graduation. Stress making her physically ill. Along with the rest of us in her wake. Meg growing with each second. Embarrassed when I hear she has to shave her legs tonight. She's trying out for a theatre group next month. Liam's fourteenth birthday nearing. Next year he'll be driving. Maybe working a little part time gig. On his way to college soon.

My kids, becoming teens. Then adults.

All too soon.

Everyone moving in their own directions. Our orbits expand. An invisible, glacial pace.

Turning and turning in my ever widening gyre. The runner cannot hear what he is running from. Threads unravel. The center never holds.

Sighting

Click the image. Look closely.

See that tag? Uncle Ted, yo! First sign of trouble.

Notice the equine, yet? In the passenger's seat.

Yep. That's a horse, riding shotgun.

Summer in South Mississippi.

Recover

Odd thing about bruises. They remind you of your stupidity at the oddest time. Even when you don't stare at them, they make themselves known. And then there is the constant cracking and flexing of road rash on an also-bruised kneecap. A keen eye will observe three areas of impact. It hurts worse than it looks. Especially when you're trying to watch a show and your daughter decides to poke one of them. We both jump at my reaction. Me from the surprise of pain. Her from the surprise of my yelp. A good laugh for both of us.

Then a run. Five kilometers through the jungle-like humidity of a post-thunderstorm South Mississippi. Felt good. Despite the rivulets of sweat. Should have done more. Trying not to over-do it, though. Short run today. Running drills Wednesday. Long run Friday. Ten weeks until Augusta. It all hinges on my run. In the meanwhile, it just: recover from these bruises.

Fueling For A New Week

Long swim today. After a major squall blew through. Tons of newbies. First open water for some. All of us huddled under the pavilion. Wind blasting the rain sideways. Temperature dropped to seventy. Or less. Twenty or so minutes of Nature's abuse, then we hit the water. Full distance for me. For Augusta. Felt good. Just boring. Oddly surreal, swimming in a rainstorm. The lake slightly warm. Cold drops on my arms. Goggles all foggy. Swimming among ghosts.

Came home, grabbed The Boy, and went shopping. Supplies for dinner. Cooked a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce. Complete with grass-fed ground beef. Side of squash + zucchini. Good stuff. Surprised that something I make tastes so good. Went overboard with the fresh oregano, though. Waaaay overboard.

Fueling up for a new week of training.

Near the two month point.

Already.

Quick FIx

Didn't leave work until 7P. Dragon slaying is tough stuff. Builds an awful appetite. Came home and needed a quick fix. Ended up with something terribly easy and delicious.

Sauteed a thin-sliced onion in some coconut oil. Threw in some minced garlic. Let that soften up and added half a box of baby spinach. Grabbed a low-carb wrap. Handful of rotisserie chicken. Couple of slices of fresh cheddar from the farmers market. And voila!

Not exactly Paleo, but still super nummy. Didn't  need salsa or sauce or any additional seasoning. 

Actually ate two servings. And there's a happy belly in the house, now.

Neighborhood Run 07/16/13

Another late evening run through the neighborhood. Slightly cooler. Still drenched in sweat. Felt comfortable. 5.7 miles. 54:57. 885 calories. Should have done another half mile. But ended close to the house, on a good note. And significantly less dog-ified, too.

Ten weeks out from Augusta. Got half the distance under my belt. Without any concerns. Just keep pushing my curve. Celebrate the series of small victories. Anyway, feeling much better about the race, now. Slowly and surely, I'll get there.

To Do List

A day of rest. Almost. Still managed to bang out some things on my To Do List. Chore list for the kids. Laundry. Dishes. Plumbing parts & top soil from Lowes. Working with Liam to mow the grass. And a dash over to Mexican food with Bride & Kids for dinner. All's well that ends well in my book.

Long Beach Hill Repeats

Heat index of 98 degrees. Not a cloud to be found. And yet Jon takes it upon himself to train, outside, after a long day slaying digital dragons. And not just normal training. Oh, no. Something brand new: hill repeats! Which (as it sounds) means attacking a specific set of hills. Over and over.

Forty minutes of that. Nearly 12 miles. Chain popped up. A dog thought about gnawing. And rivulets of sweat flowing freely.

Good training. Along with Eddie, Dr. Jim, Nikki James, and David Sullivan. Hoping to continue through to Augusta. 14 weeks. Practically right around the corner.

NOLA Visit

Ran this morning. With Luke. Before work. Learning experience there. Terribly hot. Think my system has developed an intolerance for Gu. At least while running. Sat in my stomach like a gnarly little brick. Had to throttle back. And only did 5 miles. Instead of six. Good workout though.

Drove into NOLA, after. Work-related. Check out some potential hardware. Backup to disk. Instead of to tape. Vendor ran a touch late. His client ran later. Met in the bottom of the French Quarter. Obscure sammich shop. Sample of cane-sugar beer. Spinach and artichoke dip. Super delicious pobody. Some kind of slow-cooked pork with garlic and jalapenos all-but-melted into it.

Interesting product. Not sure if we'll take the leap. Or not. Trying to align the moon & stars.

Sweltering on the way in. Mid-90s. Deluge on the way out. High 70s. Three hours of road time. Then office hours.Oh, the lonely life of a wayward geek.

Sickness & Health

In three years, only one ailment keeps resurfacing. Sinus infection. 

From the pool. Or lake. Doesn't matter. (Though the lake seems worse.) Pretty simple symptoms: face full of cement. Sometimes burning sensation in the face. Voice turns froggy. And then the sneezing. Fortunately that's the usual extent of it.

Some prescription Claritin and real Sudafed (ie: pseudo ephedrine) knock it out in two days. But, of course, prescriptions run out. And then it is time to dance with Med Analysis, to get more.

Some odd news during today's visit. Should be good. But didn't sit well. Seems Your Humble Narrator has lost more weight. Below 180lbs. First time since the mid-90s. Wasn't actively trying. 185 seemed right. Now that's history. Gotta find a balance point sometime soon. Have either train less or eat more. So that's a no brainer. 

And training is only going to get harder. As Augusta approaches. 

Improvements

Mood getting better. Except when things piss me off. Two examples: 1) The Crossfit folks using the entire six lanes of the lap pool for their crossfitting. Which means there are no open lanes for Jon to do his laps. 2) One of the locals at the office came to tell me about his woes. Twice. We logged in as him. Couldn't duplicate the problem. I showed him, right there in front of him, what to do and how it works. He went back to his office, and called me. Went to another guy's office, and called me. Then emailed me, after-hours. Twice. Finally, he figures out what he was doing wrong the entire time, and everything works like it is supposed to. Which I could claim to possess some magical powers that resolved his woes, but his wounds were all self inflicted.

Since I couldn't swim, I ran tonight. Nearly 10P and I'm dashing through the neighborhood. No socks. Reflectors, from Father's Day, catching headlights. Better than the last couple of runs. But not back up to full speed, yet. Felt good.

I like improvements.

Woolmarket Ride

Post-work ride from the Woolmarket Community Center. The 11 Mile Loop. Trying to chase down Eddie Holmes. Glued to him for six miles. Then fell off.

Have to keep tackling those hills. Get in better shape for Augusta. It won't be flat. And there's nearly sixty miles of them. Thankfully, Your Humble Narrator has plenty of time to work on it.

Feeling better, now. The sweat and physicality and focus cleared some of the cobwebs. Some. Maybe I needed a few days off. To collect my thoughts. Come to grips with my concerns. Fears. I dunno. But I smiled on the ride home. And sang. And felt good. First time in a while. Hope it lasts.

Lots Of Meh

Up with the kiddos. Get Liam to Golf Camp. Work from home to keep an eye on Meg. Lunch time dash to retrieve Liam and food. Then more working from home. Until 5P. And a crushing wave of tiredness descends upon Your Humble Narrator. 

Lots of Meh behind my eyes. About training. About working. About everything in between. Another attack of, "Why do I bother?" With a side order of doubt. And concern for future plans. Race in just over 100 days. Cindy graduates in just over six months. Liam starts driving in just over a year. Meg breaks into her teens in less than two. Holding it all together, one day at a time.

Ended the night craving something hardy for dinner. Manly. Something to sooth my inner carnivore. Thought a Philly cheesesteak would suffice. Favorite place ended up closed. Over to Plan B: Irish Coast Pub. Taunting me with its cider on tap. But I resisted. For whatever stupid reason I've conjured to tell myself not to drink any more. Stuck with a corned beef sammich. White cheese. Bacon. SPICY mustard. Side of eggplant fries. Super double delicious. It sufficed. And then some. 

Needed that little taste of private peace.Maybe it will last long enough.

Father's Day 2013

Father's Day 2013. Slept until eight. Some cool, homemade cards waiting for me. And clever nighttime running gear. Good day to be a father. Proud of what I helped create. But still didn't feel perky for most of the morning. General lack of energy. Lack of motivation. One of those, "Why am I doing this?" kind of days.

Didn't go to the lake. Too far. Too much time. Didn't feel like biking. Such oppressive heat. And Luke wasn't riding. Hit the pool, instead. Bored silly. Wanted 2400 meters. Ran low on time. Stopped at 1600. Just not feeling it.

Dinner at Robert's. Father-in-law. With Darren's family. Brother-in-law. Good to see everyone. Good prayer about appreciating the efforts of fathers. Great food. (I ate three burgers!) Cindy made a delicious pineapple rollup. And fun for Liam & Tolar afterwards, sniping cans with Robert's scoped pellet gun.

Should be happier. Not. Can't put my finger on it.Yet. Probably just a mood. Will see.

May Rewind 2013

Bit late getting this one into place. (June has been busy already.) May was somewhat dull. Training a bit down. But first Olympic of the year. Kids wrapping up school. Cindy wrapping up another semester. Lions. Tigers. And bears. Oh my.

Swim: 9 miles

Bike: 90 miles

Run: 15 miles

Strength Training: 6 hours

Calories burned: 15710

Friday Night

Waiting until nearly 10p to run. Beat the heat. First time without socks. (Don't ask why I think these little changes make me faster somehow.) 7K to start. Wary of blisters. One of my best solo runs in ages! The dark computer gods smiling down upon me. Cold shower after. Barely feel its bite. Chocolate milk with dark chocolate covered almonds to recover. And an episode of Madmen. With the dog snoring by my feet. A miniature grizzly bear growling in her sleep. That's Friday for Humble Narrator.

If I Slept

If I slept, it wasn't long. Four hours? Tops. Or maybe I was just dreaming that I was awake. Tossing. Turning. Trying to get comfortable. Looking for a cold spot on the sweltering sheets. The uncomfortable pillows. Whatever happened, I feel hungover. Tired. Achy. Brain hurts. Eyes hurt. And a big fist behind my eyes eager to punch its way free.

I never really know if I slept or I'm sleeping now.

Fitness & Food

After thirteen hours on Monday and eleven hours on Monday, I get to wrestle with one hundred large worth of new servers. Unbox. Stack. Rack. Power. Network. Load 'em up. Almost a dozen of them. Some weighing 75lbs each.

Post work is dedicated to fitness. Start with strength training. (New weights this week!) And end with 1500 meters in the pool. Just thirty laps in the fading sunlight. Nothing challenging. But terribly boring. Need some tunes to do the longer distances. Otherwise my brain goes numb around thirty laps and there's little benefit in staying after that.

Once I get home: time to cook. Tonight's adventure is Jon's Spin Greek. Homemade coleslaw, with Italian Vinaigrette instead of mayo. Lamb sliders, hand formed with sauteed garlic & onions in the mix. I put them on some flat bread then topped them with Greek yogurt. And finally, the appetizer (which didn't we didn't get to sample until the main dish was ready:) baked spinach & feta with sun dried tomatoes on a quartered piece of flatbread.

Thought it turned out nicely. The lamb (which cooks down like crazy!) was a touch over-done and under-flavored. Should have hand-made some bread for them. But the coleslaw was a huge hit with Cindy. And the appetizer was OH YEAH! good. 

For a professional nerd, Your Humble Narrator does a fairly good job in the kitchen. Maybe he missed his calling? Or maybe his self-image is a bit skewed...