Bolder

Euphoria! It's been a long time since I've done a fun run with lots of people. This morning I ran in the Bolder Boulder which is a 10K up in Boulder, CO. Folks east of the Rockies know it, but maybe only a few folks out west have heard of it. It's similar to Blooomsday in Spokane in that more than 50,000 people do it each year! For a race this size I was amazed at the organization. They send folks off in waves every 2 min. with qualifying racers getting to move to the front. The 5k I ran last weekend didn't count so I was stuck in section EE, leaving 22 minutes after the first folks. Like clockwork every two minutes another wave went (this may not sound like a big deal, but for those who've ever done a race like this it's amazing when anything happens when and how it should!) . When we got to go it was smooth sailing for about the first quarter mile, but thereafter it was a constant battle to find the good line through the crowd. The only downer I could find in the race was the lack of community support. If anybody's done Bloomsday they know how most of the course is lined with supporters cheering you on. Maybe it was the early start (7:22 am for me) or that it was a holiday weekend, but I was pretty appalled at how few people were out. In any case, didn't matter I'm running, at least there was a group of belly dancers to gawk at! Even through working the crowd I managed my fastest time in about 5 years: 41:01 officially, averaging a 6:37 mile. For my friends you know how big a part of my life running was before training for the marathon's took their toll. I can't describe how great it feels to be back in the game!

the bitch redux

ultimate was a bust. I got to the fields super early only to have our first opponent not show. All of our players who play for good teams showed and I thought we'd really have a shot. In my experience good players usually play pretty lackadaisical during league, but really step up on tourney day. Needless to say I was pretty excited to see our teams full game. Turns out our experienced players have complete meltdowns on tourney day. I don't think I've ever seen so many horrible decisions, poor throws, and abhorrent defense on any team I've ever been on. I'm not saying I don't share some of the blame; I did drop one pass, got scored on long and had trouble transitioning from a horizontal stack to a standard end zone offense. Positives: I really did get a chance to run some Ho-stack, which was fun. I learned that a dump won't cut unless you commit to them. Lastly, I'm slowly learning to not poach quite so much or another way; to trust that my teammates are covering their people and I don't need to worry about slackers anymore. I'm out of ultimate for a while. It's not worth it to me to drive 35 miles one way to a place my dog can't come and I can't drink beer. What's ultimate without dogs and beer??

Used what was left of the Gdumbya check to upgrade my bitch (now The New Hotness). She's 10 years old and stuff was just wearing out (the seat post at sea otter was the final indicator). The plan was to get her under 20 lbs and I thought I'd make up most of the weight in my new wheelset. I decided to go with an entirely new SRAM drivetrain and some mavic crosstrail wheels. The wheels were to replace my Bontrager Mustangs, which are at least 10 years old. The Mustangs are top of the line now just like they were then, but I figured in 10 years the advances in technology would make the old ones obsolete. Nope. If nothing else the new wheels weigh more! I weighed the old bike just before taking it all apart: 26.6 lbs. After upgrading: 26.6 lbs. I was a little disappointed, but finally got the bitch out today to see if the drivetrain was any better than the ancient XTR stuff I was running. Yes. OH YES! I'd read the SRAM stuff was solid, but I never expected to be as nice as it is. The all thumb shifting took a little while to get the hang of, but it shifts like a dream. Aside from the standard practice of setting the limits on the derailleur the parts required no adjustments. Zero. I once got to drive a Mitsubishi Eclipse and was amazed at the short throws between gears and how crisp and easy it went. I also in high school got to drive this beat up old tractor when pulling irrigation pipe; double clutch in, double clutch out, two handed shifting and then holding the stick to keep it in gear... horrible! The change from my ancient XTR to the SRAM X.0 is that significant! Should make for a fun summer!

fast found

Just finished up the Fed Cup 5k. This is a fun race made even more fun by all the shwag I come away with. For example: one race, 4 medals. This year was the 25th aniversary so every finisher got a medal, I got second in the 30-39 age division, and our office team won both the men's and the federal agency team divisions. The coolest part of the day was finish time. My hamstring's been really bothering me lately so I had to take the first half of the race pretty easy to get it warmed up. Finally it decided to let me go and I was able finish strong. It was the first time I've been under 20 minutes in 5 or 6 years! I think I was 6th or 7th overall. Having a good hammy I think would've only got me one place higher; the guy in 4th finished about 40 seconds faster. The race finish bodes well for the Boulder Bolder, but I'm not sure the endurance will hold up and I don't think I'm going to be able let the hamstring heal and increase mileage at the same time.

The Sunday frisbee league tourney is tomorrow. If we do well chances are all update tomorrow otherwise it could be a while.

Could somebody please tell Hillary to stop wasting our time?

Thanks to my folks

So lately I was feeling a little self-conscious about the color of my teeth and thought using the Gdumbya check for something as superficial as a whitening would totally be right in line with the GOP and their belief that a everything will be ok if you just make the surface pretty. I'd heard about Brightsmile and they were running a special so I had them set me up an appointment with a local dentist. Then I read an article that the whitening works better if you get your teeth cleaned first. I set that up and went yesterday. Firstoff, I haven't been to a dentist since maybe high school. Shocking! I brush daily and have never had any troubles so I just assumed I was fine. So, I'm in the chair and they want a full set of X-rays since I haven't had them in forever and the hygenist keeps tell me my teeth are beautiful. Course the entire time I figure she's buttering me up for something. Long story short; apparently my teeth are awesome and she says that usually they want to see patients every 6 months, but that I could probably go another 5 years using the same logic that if nothing bothers me there's probably not a problem. How cool is that, "Nah, we don't need your business, and it would be silly for you to think otherwise"!

I was still scheduled for the whitening though, which was the whole point. I was a little worried if it'd work because I was on tetracycline when I was a teenager and it was known to stain teeth. Luckily, I found out it will only stain if you're on the drug before the age of 9. Knowing this alone was reason enough to go. Today I'm in there and am surprised to find out that my teeth are only 3 shades away from the whitest I could get! Then they basically tell me it'd be a waste of money to do the brightsmile and I should stick with just some standard peroxide gel stuff! Again they cut themselves out of $300. If I needed to go back I definitely would! In the end I really have to say thanks to my parents. First for the genes to get me the good teeth and second for the pure luck that wherever we moved growing up had flourinated water and we did flouride swishes in school and third for the vibrating toothbrush. Yeah for stocking stuffers!

the streak is over

Until this last weekend we had not lost a Sunday game I'd played in. Oddly I have to blame our experienced players this week. These guys play on teams that routinely compete for and/or win the national title. With all their red zone turnovers I thought I was back on Cornfed! The ironic thing was they'd preach about not looking long and always look long. I didn't really care; I'm more worried about my hammy. I'll have to work on it all week to be ready for the tourney next weekend.



Friday was the ultimate season party with the theme "Don't be that guy/girl" As an excuse to get the hair client out the door Eight opted to come. I went as the guy wearing way too much cologne and Eight went as a mulleted redneck. Eight finds a way to amaze me everytime we hang out. Weds night I introduced the Flight of the Chonchords videos on YouTube and Eight couldn't get enough. On Thurs I went to the Snug with Soandso, Eight met us there and was just as friendly and cool as with everybody. Then on Friday at the party I found out that Eight can dance! We'd talked about being at raves before, but generally that doesn't mean much as far as having rythm or moves. Eight had both! Simply blew me away! Again! Incidentally, the cologne didn't wear off for two days and I purposefully bought horrible stuff. FYI: do not under any circumstance purchase JOOP! I got it because I remembered years ago in San Antonio some friends got. I remembered not liking it then and it's just as bad now. I can't keep my face from wrinkling just thinking about it!


Saturday I caught the movie Ironman, which was definitely good. Spent the rest of the day with Soandso studying math. Outside of Eight, Soandso is definitely my best friend in Denver. Whatever I can't talk about with one I can with the other. Since I'm a gabber it's great to have a couple places to vent. The blog gets the rest.

Spring rains and ice cream

This time of year is just too awesome! I'm sure at this point the Seattleites are bored with rain, but I'm very happy that our precipitation is finally not white. It's even better that everything is blooming. This morning on the way in we had a nice sprinkle, just enough to magnify all the colors and scents in the air. It's so great the season has finally turned.

With the frustration of the spring weather it seems like lots of my friends have turned to ice cream as a means of solace. Caught up in the mix I've found a couple new ones I'd recommend. The standards are B&Js Vanilla (or Coffee) Heath Bar Crunch and the Dublin Mudslide. The new tasty is Imagine Whirled Peace; the toffee cookie chunks are unreal! The other new one is Dove's Caramel Pecan Perfection, course no sane person buys it unless it's really, really on sale. The winner and still champion (first experienced after a dinner with Los Corredores) is Edy's Girl Scout Samoas. It's only available during Girl Scout cookie season, but it's totally worth the wait. After the dinner, a huge Jess dinner fit for a Jorge, the three of us somehow ate the entire half-gallon! It was too good!

quickies

Yep, another brutal day at ultimate. I don't know if my hamstring will ever forgive me. Nobody showed the first game so we forfeit. In the second game I think we had a legit team, but had to play savage. We still won. The endurance is finally there with the speed and I'm back to being a tough cover. On the way home I used my 20% REI discount and picked up a set of nuts. That pretty much fills out the rack except for big pieces (Nuts:4-13; tricams: 0.5-4; Cams:2-7, Hex:7 and 9). I also picked up the Dyna-flex grip strength toy. This thing is awesome! It'll be awesome at any party with an athletic crowd.

Saturday, was just J, Sarama, and I. Took a nice hike up to flatirons, had some great food at Breadworks, then tooled around REI. J wanted some gear and shopping for gear is almost as fun as using it so I was totally down. Doing anything on a full stomach is tough though and we yawned our way through it all. It's a shame California is calling and J is gone in about a week; my world will be a dimmer place.