53:28 and something new

Before I get into the race details, I thought I'd share some more pictures and new stuff about Megan. It happened quite on accident really, I was simply changing her and she was crying/complaining for her bottle. So I grabbed it quick figuring I could distract her while I changed her, only to see this happen:



I was floored! This is actually one of my few firsts... I don't see many, being at work all day. I know Andi is going to be jealous. I had to just check to see if it wasn't just a fluke, and so later in the day... sure enough:



You will also notice Megan again practicing her Ninja skills in the above picture. She had the colors off a little bit this time, attempting to blend into the couch for maximum sneakage.

Anyway... the race. Or as I like to call it, "The shittiest day to run 6.2 miles outside, EVER." It was raining, it was cold, it more or less sucked. Oddly enough, it was still fun. The first mile was cake, I was feeling good, passing people left and right. Almost running people over at times. I was quickly caught up in the "keep up with the pack" mentality.

Mile 2, I more or less knew I was running too fast. I could feel that, although I was okay now, it wasn't going to last. At that point, I sort of had to make a decision. Slow down to a pace I could keep going with or just go all out and see what happens? I choose to just keep going at the fast pace I was.

By mile 3.. the rain & cold were starting to catch up to me. I couldn't see anything. My glasses were completely drenched and fogged up. My t-shirt felt like it weighed 5 pounds. I was slowing down big time. People were passing me all over. The whole second half of the race was a non stop pass fest, only this time I wasn't doing any passing. I tried not to let it get to me. I focused on the fact that I had just trained 8 weeks, running 80 miles in preparation for this. I was going to get my goal of under an hour no matter what.

I remember someone calling out a time of 44 minutes as I passed a mile marker. At the time, my first thought was "44 mins... 4 miles... 11 min miles, crap". I now realize, I heard that called out at mile 5 NOT, mile 4. What's funny to me, is that after having the "oh shit 11 min miles" thought, my next immediate thought was "Okay, sweet 16 mins to finish 1.2 miles. I can do that." Strange how the mind works.

The last mile was easier then the first 5. At that point, all I could think about was the finish line. I had planned to sprint part of the ending, and I felt I still had enough energy to try. As I crossed the last bridge to the finish, where I wanted to sprint, I couldn't. I had to wait... after the bridge, up one last incline, and then I sprinted. For probably 500 feet? Maybe 20-30 seconds worth. At that point I was totally spent. I grinded to a slow crawl, but still running. I crossed the finish line and was immediately stuck in a sea of people. Not the best place to be when you want nothing more then a little space. I got towards the edge of people and tried to catch my breath. I was dizzy... I had to grab a railing to catch myself. I thought about jumping the railing to get away from the crowd, but stumbled through them.

Final time: 53:28. Average pace: 8:37.

I'm happy with the results. Will I do another one? Maybe, if for no other reason to be able to actually enjoy a decent event in better weather. And before you ask me, no, I have NO plans to start training for a marathon.

3 Day Weekend

Just what the doctor ordered. Even though this entire weekend is packed with Megan, running, roleplaying and video games, it is exactly what I needed. A lot of my recent 3 day weekends have been unplanned ones. Meaning, I wake up on a Monday morning realizing I just don't feel like going to work. For some reason, those times don't FEEL like a 3 day weekend even though they are. Planning can make all the difference.

I haven't posted any pictures for awhile, so here are a few for now.


No, she did not get up her self. I propped her like that for a photo, but she stayed there for 30 seconds and I never had to catch her or anything.


Megan in her pretty Easter dress. Okay, so we don't have a lot of dresses.

The rest of the posts this weekend (if there are any) will most likely just be about me, health, and the 10k race. I'll try to really focus on what goes through my mind during the race and write about it afterwards. I read a few "runners" blogs here and there, and find thier post to be... a bit extreme. Posts where people talk about "my entire body screamed at me to stop, but I kept going". Umm... that's not exactly who I am. If my body screams at me to stop, I'm going to stop. Running for me is "fun" in that, it's exercise and it helps me reach my goals. Running is NOT something I choose to do as a form of entertainment. It's just something I have to do. Just like all the things I HAVE to do to live a healthy life style. There is no emotional attachment to running.

That's probably why I will never run a marathon. If I'm going to do something, there has to be a reason behind it. And that reason has to be more then just "because it's really hard". If I ever did run a marathon, it would be by accident. It would be simply because I was already running that much on my own. That's how the 10k came about. I was already running 4-5 miles on my own, so why not just tack on another mile and do a race. But in my head, all I see is my weekend exercise routine.

Terrible Tuesday

I should just focus on the positives this week. Not the crap at work, not the fact that I might have to do a 9pm phone conference tonight, and not the fact that it might rain for the 10k this weekend. I should focus on the fact that Megan went to sleep easy twice this week, and slept through the night both times! And not just 11pm to 5am through the night. We're talking 8pm to 6:30am through the night! I'm glad, and hope she keeps it up. We were borderline about to start the "cry it out" method, and although I was willing to do it, I don't know if deep down I agreed with the method. I've told Andrea more then once, that I believe the "cry it out" method was invented more for the parents then for the child.

This weekend, Andrea is going out of town for a UU district conference. As always, Andrea is very involved and is actually running a Workshop. (scroll down to B4, you will see her name) She leaves on Friday morning so I'll be taking the day off to stay home with Megan. (and pick up my 10k race registration early!)

I'm looking forward to the 10k this weekend, I hope it's not raining. I don't care about temperature, I can deal with cold/wind. But rain is a whole different ball of wax. For such a big milestone in my new healthy lifestyle, I'll be strangely alone for this weekend. Although I'll be starting out with my buddy, for the most part he has a much faster goal then I do. So for the majority of the race, I'll be on my own. As I cross the finish line, it will be with no fanfare. I'm not even bringing my camera, as I don't really see the point. (no where to put it, and it's too bulky to carry around). The only record of this weekends race is going to be my memory, a t-shirt, and maybe a web site that shows my time. In a lot of ways, it seems better this way. I started this health journey alone, and so it seems only appropriate I do this race alone.

8 days between posts?!?!

I had been meaning to post all week, but things have been pretty busy lately. Megan has been needing much more attention at night, I've got my training for the 10k, and we've had a burst of friend visits! It's been a pretty fun week, but hectic.

Wed night we had a friend from college over that I hadn't seen in 5+ years. She's living on the east cost in the New Jersey area. It was a very nice visit, and Megan was super well behaved. We were all just upstairs relaxing and talking and she fell asleep in my arms on the glider rocker. I was able to just slip her into bed after that, it was nice.

Saturday morning my running partner and I went down to Minnehaha Falls to run the actual 10k course. The weather was damn near perfect, and we had a GREAT run. We did the whole thing in 58 minutes, which was awesome. I've decided I want to try and finish the actual 10k in under and hour as well.

After the run, I mentioned to my friend how I had lived really close to there when I was growing up. I said we should drive by and check out my old house... So we headed out, it was only about a mile and half away. It's really weird because my perspective of that as a child was that the Falls were really far away.

As we drove by, there was a man working in the yard next door to our old house. I recognized him as my neighbor from all those years ago. His son and I were very good friends, we basically grew up together. I don't even remember when we became friends, because we just always were. When I moved away from Minneapolis, we tried to keep in touch, but eventually lost contact.

In classic Shawn weirdness style, I jumped out of the car and struck up a conversation with the guy. I remembered his name, and so it wasn't too weird. (hell, I remember there phone number for that matter. Stupid memory) We had a quick 3 minute conversation, and I asked how my old friend was doing and where he was at these days. Here is where the story takes a very strange turn.

He says, "Oh he's living in Apple Valley now." I respond, "Seriously? I live in Apple Valley too, where is he at?" "Down there off McAndrews? Right near the Zoo." Say what? I was floored... To think, that such a good friend from my past has been living a few blocks from my Mom's house, a few miles from me, all this time? I checked the phone book, sure enough there he was.

At this point, I'm giving serious consideration to giving him a call sometime soon. I dunno.... is that too weird? I need some opinions, so post me some comments.

What is Funk?

Before I begin today's post, I would like to share with everyone Megan's progress with her Ninja skills. As the following picture shows, she has just about mastered the secret art of camouflage. Can you see her sitting there on the couch, ready to pounce at you?


Once she has her Ninja mask made and some nice Ninja gloves, you will hardly ever see here at the Anderson house. And if you do see her... it will probably be the last thing you ever see!

About every 4-5 months, I get in a bad funk. What do I mean? The best web definition I could find to describe my funk is as follows:

A feeling or spell of dismally low spirits

Yes, my spirits are low. I think I shall replenish my spirits, by drinking spirits tonight! Alas, that is not the solution to my funk, merely a temporary fix. It's hard to say what triggers these periods - in the past it used to be things like... Getting down on myself for being a fat ass, or playing too many video games, or not spending time with Andrea. Often times it was also work that would bring them on.

Now most of those things have been removed from my life - I'm healthier then ever. I feel like my relationship with Andrea is at an all time high (even though we struggle with Megan sometimes). I moderate my video game time... for the most part. So why the funk? Work.

It's pretty sad really... to think that ALL these things in my life right now are going so well. And yet this one minor aspect of my life has the power to just bring it all down to where I can't even get enjoyment out of some of the things that I do. Why is that? It just seems so... stupid.

I wish I had the ability to just not care about work. To just go in, do my time, and go home. The problem is... that's not the kind of person I am. I can't do things half assed. I'm either going to do it right, or not do it at all. It all goes back to my all or nothing personality. To this day, I still can't decide if it is a strength or weakness for me.

Of course all this is just a precursor to the actual question... Am I happy? That's a pretty loaded question and one that is not easy to answer. Some people would argue that happiness is simply a choice. I tend to disagree. But if not a choice, then what is it? I'm not sure I could define that either.

Like every funk, I know this one will pass as well. The interesting thing, is that sometimes, I make my best decisions in the midst of a funk. Decisions that bring about change to my life that got me into the funk in the first place, so that it doesn't happen again.

I am Kevin Smith

Andrea found a web site today that finally proves, once and for all, I am in fact, Kevin Smith. The web site is called My Heritage. And within that site, they have a section where you can upload a picture of yourself, and they will find the celebrity you most resemble!



As you can see, the above proves that I am Kevin Smith. Well, at least 71% Kevin Smith anyway.

The Next Level

Today was a stressful day at work, and at the same time successful. Once again I was thrown into something I knew absolutely nothing about, and some how came out on top. I'd like to think these minor victories will add up to something eventually, but it's hard to say if they will. I've got to stay positive and focused on the belief that I have control over my situation at work.

I've also refocused on my eating habits. They were getting out of control for awhile there. I wasn't exactly gaining weight, but at the same time I knew I was making decisions I shouldn't have. After making some readjustments (i.e. only eating what I'm supposed to) I've dropped 4 pounds in a week in a half. Ahhh... it feels good to get back on track. A woman I worked with today jokingly said I was "getting all sexy like". That was a nice compliment!

Tonight Andrea made her famous chocolate chip cookies, with Andes mint chips. She tried something new - she replaced 1/2 cup of sugar with Splenda! They taste just as good as normal cookies. Granted, a 1/2 cup of sugar is only about 390 calories, it adds up. I love her for trying so hard, she is such a great source of support for me.

So where do I go from here? I have worries lately about what I'm going to do after the 10k. What should I do stay on track, keep on pushing myself, get to the next level? I know I want to start biking again, because I really enjoy it (vs sometimes running seems like a chore). Should I sign up for more races? Should keep focusing on weight loss or should I finally shift over to body toning and weight lifting? I'm not sure... and I'm scared I won't be able to make some of these changes on my own. Sure, I'm a smart guy and all, but when it comes to health knowledge I feel like I've still barely broken the tip of the iceberg.

Someone else I work with said he wished he could still run, that he'd like to go running with his dogs. But a bunch of sports related knee injuries make it impossible for him. My thought was, I'm just now benefiting from a life of sloth. No sports, exercise or any intense forces on my body for 25+ years. Means my knees should be good to go for at least another few years here. I sure hope!

New home

If your reading this post, you've found the new URL for my blog. I'm not quite sure why I didn't just let blogger host my stuff when I started. I guess the main reason was that I wanted easy access to everything so that I could backup my entire blog. Odds are there is a way to do that through blogger, I've just never looked. The reason for the switch is that my charter account only lets me have 20 meg, and I was at 19. So... change is good right?

The time change has had very weird effects on Megan. At first, she was staying up later. So when she normally used to goto bed at 8pm, she was up until 9 or 9:30. Then she slowly started to adjust back down to 8... Only is she adjusting too far? It's 7:30 right now and she MIGHT be down for the night. That's very odd...

Don't know what else to blog about tonight. I have things going through my head lately, but they aren't forming cohesive thoughts. I'll mention the exciting news for this summer. Looks like I'm going to Disney World!

Good Weekend

So far, this weekend has been pretty good. Friday night Andrea and I got away for a much needed date night. GG babysat Megan for a few hours, which was nice. Got Megan home shortly before 9pm (which was risky, I know) but she went down okay. Saturday I just relaxed with Megan. This shot is from her Saturday morning.



Can you believe it? She can stand up in her crib already! Hahaha okay, I'm just kidding. I propped her up for the picture. But she can stand pretty well on her own with holding on to things for short periods of time. I'm convinced she is going to be an early walker, simply because I was also. I was walking either right around 8 months or just barely after. I have a feeling Megan will be to.

Speaking of Walking, my sister-in-law, Val, is doing the Beast Cancer 3day That's 60 miles of walking in 3 days! That's gonna be tough, I don't even want to imagine the blisters. I did a few 15 mile walks for MS back in college, and those were tough. The walk is in August, so she has some time to collect donations, but if you want to donate, you can email her at yeti2927@yahoo.com

Last night was roleplaying group #2 at my house. This is my AD&D group where I'm playing a Dwarven Cleric. I like the character a lot - there was some worry about one of the players, but I think it will work itself out. He's trying to roleplay someone who is borderline sociopath / doesn't care about the consequences of his actions. Last night's session was a lot of fun - we spent the first 2 hours describing characters and character backstories. This worked it's way into how our characters met and why they are traveling together. All great things. It's amazing how much easier it is to roleplay when you come up with motivation and goals for your character.

It's supposed to be a sunny 60 degrees this afternoon - perfect running weather. Should top the weekend off perfectly.

Just some pictures

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile, they are so damn cute. I remember my parents doing the same thing to me (with the glasses) and taking pictures.





Just some random afternoon, messing around with Megan. Her 3rd tooth on the bottom is coming in. I don't really know if any top teeth are coming in yet, but I don't think so. She will be 6 months old this Sunday. I won't be making it to her 6 month check up, but I'm not missing much. Plus, she has to get more shots and I'd rather not be around for those.



This last picture is a sample of one of the professional pictures we recently got. They turned out okay, but we are way to cheap to get very many of them. That whole baby pictures business is damn stupid. $200 bucks for a service that probably costs $10 bucks at most? No thanks... Andrea did this mainly because she is turning 6 months and we wanted something to send out for Easter cards. We also got a few cute wallets and a very special 8x10.

Horoscopes

I'll confess - I read my horoscope. Every day. Why? I have no clue. Sometimes I think they are so very stupid, and other times I just think, hey that kinda sounds like how I'm feeling right now. Truth is, it just became something I did to start my day and mostly I just do it now out of habit. Monday, I had an interesting one:

Every time you give more than is expected of you, you bank points in some far-off cosmic vault to be redeemed when you really need or desire them. Therefore, even if your generosity seems to go unnoticed, it's not.

There have been times in my life where I firmly believed that there was no bigger reason for why things happened. Everything was random, chance. But sometimes... I just have to wonder. Especially when things just always seem to work out for me. Is it more then luck? The atheist in me scream NO, and my logic dictates that there is no cosmic vault, aka Karma. But still... I can't help but wonder. Do good things happen for a reason?

One of my goals when I started the whole running thing was to finish 3 miles in under 30 minutes. I did that tonight, with a 3 mile run in 29:45. I haven't done that since I was 19, 10 years ago. 10 YEARS. I'm as healthy now (if not healthier?) then I was a decade ago. That's a pretty damn good feeling. With the big Three-Oh looming over everything this year, I am so glad I picked now to have this major change. Perhaps the thought of turning 30 was some weird subconscious motivation. Who knows. All I know is, it's time to play some video games!

Case of the Mondays

Oddly enough, I've never used that as a blog title yet. I would never have guessed...

Where to begin? I don't even know. I guess I'll just start with a recap of the weekend and make up for the missed post yesterday. Saturday started out okay - Andrea was feeling lots better, and I was able to head out for my run at noon. It was kind of cold and windy out, but hey, at least it wasn't raining. I ran to my Mom's house which by my estimation, is somewhere around 5 miles.

After that, I just chilled out until roleplaying. Friend of mine called me and asked if he could come along, curious about what our sessions are like. My guess is he is regretting that decision now. :-) We spent a good 4 hours doing nothing but finishing up characters. I was worried that was going to happen... and then finally we actually played a little for 2 hours, and when 1:30am rolled around, and I was like "Well, this is a good stopping point." everyone looked mad at me. Well, whatever, it was really 2:30am due to day light savings time and I was tired. I had just run 5 miles that day and been up since 6am taking care of Megan.

So Sunday rolls around and things are going okay. I get a bug in me to go blow some money on new video games: Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2. Played that all sunday afternoon. When evening arrived, Megan decided to have a tough night. Now, to say that things get "tense" around the Anderson house on tough Megan nights would be an understatement. I'd like to think that learning how to cope with these nights, and Andrea and I learning how to deal with each other during these times will really help us both become stronger people... but that doesn't make the tough nights any easier. Thankfully, tonight was pretty easy.

So... work... ya. Andrea doesn't ask me about work anymore, she knows I'd prefer that. Today was probably one of the worst Mondays I've had thus far. I don't even want to get into the details. I left work in such a bad mood, I had to repeat (out loud) "It's only work, it's only work..." while trying to calm myself with deep breaths.

24 years, 8 months, 27 days, and 59 minutes till retirement. Sweet.

Sick day for Andrea

My Friday started off pretty well. I got to work early, got a lot done. And free lunch was coming! Then I got an IM (instant message) from Andrea about 8am saying she felt really bad, like she was going to throw up. I told her to call me if it gets worse, and that I'd find some way to get home. Remember that I take the bus to work every day, so getting home in the morning/early afternoon isn't exactly the easiest thing sometimes.

We headed out for our group lunch at 11am. Turns out it was at Chevy's btw. When we got there, I jokingly said "So we're all getting Margarita right?" Turns out I wasn't too far off. The dynamics of the meal after that got weird... the conversation went something like this:

Boss's boss: We're getting beer right?
Boss: If you get a beer I'll get a beer.
Me (to boss): Well if he gets a beer, and you get a beer, I'll get a beer!

Long story short, we all got beers (cept 1 person who was sick, and 1 woman who is trying to lose weight for her June wedding). Not only that, but most of the guys got "Talls" (aka 24 oz beers?). I stuck with a Light Corona, but still... Very interesting. Everyone was a bit surprised when I said this was my first time in 8 years of working that I had ever had a beer "on the job" as it where.

Okay so where was I? Oh yes - so when I got back from lunch, there was an IM waiting for me from Andrea. She had thrown up shortly after 11am, and needed me to come home. I made a few phone calls, to no avail. Turns out I would either have to take a cab home or a bus. I checked the bus schedule, and there JUST so happened to be a bus coming by that would take me home. I got outside and literally, 10 seconds later the bus I needed came by. If I had missed that one, I would have needed to take a $20+ dollar cab or wait another hour for a bus.

By the time I got home, Andrea had thrown up again. I got Megan and took care of both my princesses as best I could. I think it was some kind of 24 hour stomach flu, because we are pretty sure it wasn't any type of food issue. We will see how she is feeling today, I might have to change some of my plans. Hopefully I'll still get to go roleplaying, but if she just isn't feeling up to taking care of Megan all night then I'll just have to skip it.

At least I had a really good excuse for not posting on the final day of my Blog-O-Thon yesterday!! Happy April Fools Day everyone.