I Will Never do That Again............

Okay, it has nothing to do with the post but I thought it was funny.

Walking over to the community center to exercise with the 'Blue hairs', the wind was gusting and sending chills through my blue jeans (thus the cartoon). The snow was drifting across the roads and I was just not into running out in these elements.

Then I remembered that they had these machines that you could use to simulate running but you stay in the same place! Ha that's what I'll do, I'll use the 'Running in place simulator machine'.

Of course since I packed my bag for running outside, I only had a long-sleeved T-shirts and thank God I still had shorts in my bag. Along with seven pairs of extra socks!

So I mounted this strange machine and started pushing buttons. How can a machine with 1,212 buttons not have an owner's manual attached to it? I was fortunate enough to get a signal on my Garmin and I finally managed to get the moving path on the machine going.

The first few minutes were slow but I eventually got the machine to a point where I was running. I was amazed at the older woman next to me that was walking on her machine but I couldn't get ahead of her. I'm assuming that she would throw in a few surges to catch me when I was looking at her.

This was amazing, I was able to run and build up a sweat on this machine and stay out of the cold wind and snow. Of course this was all too good to be true, I glanced down at my Garmin and it read 0.00. How could this be, I was sweating and breathing hard(even though I still couldn't get away from the woman walking)? The clock on the Garmin was functioning and my legs were still moving but it wasn't registering any distance!

Frustration set in and I decided something must be wrong with the Garmin and startegized how to leave the moving path without hurting myself or the fast walking woman next to me. Luckily, I spotted an emergency stop button and pressed it, since this was an emergency. I expected some alarms and sirens to go off and the staff to rush to my aid but the only thing that happened was the path stopped moving.

.....and that was how I spend two minutes and fourteen seconds on the 'Running in place machine'.......

Wednesday's Why

Why the hell do I have everything to run outside except socks??????

I have a gym bag that weighs about 30 lbs and extra long-sleeved shirts, swimming trunks, headlamp, tennis ball towels............

But no socks!!!!

I hate forgetting $hit, especially now that I'm older....... is this the first sign of senility?????

Oh well, what was I talking about????

Weekend Warrior

I had the opportunity to go to a TNT Fundraiser for one of my alumni that is doing the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. That in itself isn't unusual, I have alumni coming back on a regular basis. The part that really sticks out is that Lou originally dedicated his journey to his father that was diagnosed with Leukemia. Lou continued to raise funds for the cure and his father was treated successfully. But we all know that cancer is an evil disease that has no concern for who it effects. Log story short, Lou's mom was just recently diagnosed! How the hell does someone handle a situation where both of your parents have cancer?

This is just wrong! These people never did anything bad enough to deserve this!

Okay, we all had a great time and some of us even had too much of a good time! I hate those sunny mornings after a good night out,,,,,,,,, oh my aching head.

We had another TNT group training with ideal weather(for February), temps were in the high thirties and there was hardly any wind. We were in running nirvana....

The Spring and Summer teams merge this coming weekend, unlike Survivor we'll hopefully keep everyone on the island. This is when I get to coach everyone at the same time.

Well as I stated in my last post, I knew I would jinx the area about the lack of snow. We got about eight inches of the white stuff yesterday. It's just like the announcer mentioning that the pitcher has a no-hitter or the guy shooting a free throw hasn't missed in forever. It never fails, except in the summer.

¿dice usted el francés?

As we get closer to the 2010 Spring Team in training events, I got to thinking about the Paris marathon and the one participant that I have on my team.

Since I only have one runner going, I will not be the coach traveling with the team but I still need to get my runner as ready as possible. So I'm going to take a crash course in some of the common running phrases translated into French.

• What mile are we at?
• Is that Lance Armstrong?
• What wine goes with a marathon?
  
• Who helped who during the BIG war?
• Can you take my picture?
• Is my beret on right?

It's going to be quite different for the participants in several ways. The aid stations are every 5k and they'll have plenty of water, raisins, oranges and bananas. Now I don't know about you but in the latter stages of the marathon, I loved seeing those aid stations every mile!

I've been tempted the last few weeks to see if my blog controls the weather in my area. I haven't really spoken of the lack of snow that we've been getting since other areas have been hogging all of it (Washington, New York, etc.). I've yet to use my snow blower and it's primed and ready. I haven't logged one of my runs in the mall parking lot this winter, as opposed to several last winter. We haven't canceled a TNT training run. Okay, I think that's enough, now we should get dumped on!

Oh I almost forgot, the title is French for 'do you speak french?'...........

Wednesday's What????

Okay now that the Winter Olympics have started, I want to do my best Andy Rooney.

What the hell is NBC thinking of to spend that much money on Winter sports????

Who is getting the blame for the Opening Ceremony glitch that had Wayne Gretzky looking so out of sorts? Can you get fired from an Olympic job?

Nice move guys to put the wall up after the luge participant was killed, DUH! Did the guy that designed the course lose his or her job????

I love seeing the Weather Channel guy telling me the forecast for Vancouver in the next few days, NOT! I watching on television.........

What events did we watch before snowboards were invented?

All I remember is seeing Jean Claude Killy fly down the slopes............. and that one guy that hit the side of the ski jump. Classic stuff.

Remember when all of the men in the skating competition were gay????? Okay, maybe not all of them(jk).

Remember when all of the women in the skating competition were grown women???

Did anybody go out and purchase their Olympic headgear yet?

Isn't Apolo Anton Ohno about 54 years old yet?

Okay I'm done, let the games continue...............

Paczki Day!!!!

Happy Paczki Day! It's Fat Tuesday and not Phat!

I've already consumed more sugar in one day than I normally do in a week!

The weekend was great with a TNT group training run in 26º weather that seems like running in the forties. When there is almost no wind, it makes all the difference in the world. The team is doing fantastic and I don't want to jinx any of them.

Sandy and I actually got out for a Valentine Day run together, which I thought would be easy since she's been sick. But nooooooooo, she still kicked my butt like it was nothing.

I made the mistake of standing on a scale the other day and the numbers were not what I wanted to see. Now I know why my knees are complaining about running.

I can see a co-starring role in the sequel of 'Run Fat boy, Run'......

So now I'll be hitting the gym with a vengeance, okay starting tomorrow................ just kidding.

I hope everyone's weekend was full of running and burning calories......

Okay, where did that lady hide her husband?????

Wednesday's WTF!!!

Living in Michigan means that you'll get an opportunity to enjoy four season every year.

It just so happens that one of those seasons is winter! It typically starts in December and runs until the third week of the Major League Baseball season. (don't get me started on that)

So why is it breaking news that we are going to get snow in February???

WTF!

Why do News stations need to have special broadcast for the snow????

Hey, how old do I have to be to get shoes with Velcro straps instead of laces????

Please tell me 102 years old!

My knee is getting better but I still feel some discomfort at times when running. It's almost like the knee is hyper-extended!

February is not only Black History Month but it's also Random Acts of Kindness Month. So go out and do something good.....

Say Aah, it's my Birthday

Super Birthday Bowl.......



Say Aah lyrics

Wednesday's Why???????

Okay, where did this sharp pain in my left (good one) knee come from????

It started at the end of the TNT group training run and has persists since.

Okay, I know R.I.C.E., but I'm not running enough miles to have pain!!!!!

Okay, my question for today is for the older generation.

Why did Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), have a name for his chimp(Cheetah), a name for his woman (Jane) but not the infant/child human being boy?

He actually called the boy Boy!

Everyone else had a name but Boy??????

Team High-Five vs Team AZ

Wow, the month of January flew by and we're still enjoying a relatively dry winter. The only snow we've gotten has been a dusting compared to previous winters.

So the challenge for 2010 was a competition between Michigan and Arizona to see who could log the most miles and keep each participant motivated to run.

After four weeks of running Team High-Five had a slight lead on Team Az (292.77 miles vs 291.2), is that amazing or what?

What's really funny is that I ran more miles in January 2010 than I did in January 2009 when I started my daily running streak! By having the rest days, I can run more miles than trying to run at least one mile a day.

This past weekend was definitely a TNT weekend. I had group training on Saturday morning, a bowling fundraiser that started before our training was over and a Seventies Disco party fundraiser that evening.

Needless to say my Sunday morning run wasn't until Sunday afternoon.........

Why do I do that to myself???????

Good times.