Let's Play Two

Softball Nite

Last night was softball night. We started playing in the rain, but that quickly ended. We played a really bad team and won two games by the 20 run mercy rule. I walked, tripled and walked my first three at bats. The rest of the night I spent trying to hit the ball as far as I could. I don't have a lot of power, so I end up not doing real well. I flew out to the left fielder a few times. It was very humid, by the end of the night my grey tee was totally drenched. Fun was had by all. At least on our side.

Random pictures. My first car. A 1982 (?) Toyota Corolla hatchback. I took over my brothers payments on this beauty. I had just graduated from college and it's in the parking lot of my first apartment in St. Louis, MO. Did you know? I've never owned a brand new car. Now, we've bought new cars for my wife, but never for me. That's ok, I'm not really into cars and I'm pretty frugal too. (Green Alert: buying used is being green, isn't it?)

Sculpture found in the parking lot of a Gilbert, AZ office park. It rotates in the wind. Pretty cool.

Training for a full marathon.

My exercise consecutive days is now up to 50. My training for the fall will revolve around the various 5k's I have planned and will also focus on the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon in January. My plan is to test my left knee with my long runs. If I get through those 12, 14 and on up to 20 milers ok, I will do the full marathon. If the knee acts up again, I will do the half. This will be my first full marathon. 13.1 miles has been the furthest I've run to date.





Here's me with Clark Kent at last years Rock and Roll half marathon. Rumor has it he turned into Superman around mile 10.

If he really is Superman, why didn't he run the full marathon?

Anyway, I'm hoping I can be a bit of a Superman this year. (Green alert: The ND Irish sweatshirt I had on was bought at Goodwill, left at the 3 mile mark of the marathon and should have been donated back to Goodwill)

*SparkPeople please leave a comment. I'd love to know you visited.

The Heat is on.

I started my run as soon as the temps got down to 101. I could see toward the southeast lightning. Could I get my run in before the rains came. I decided to keep my run near home.

Here's what I got done:

activity: Run

Miles: 2.42

Time: 30:24

Pace: 12.34

Weather: overcast, spinkles at the end

HR: 146 avg

activity: stationary bike

miles: 4.3

Time: 20 minutes

Days: 49 straight

Record Breaker

Today can be a record breaker for us here in the valley. Notice 2 hours north in Flagstaff it's 50 degrees cooler. Not sure if that's accurate, but northern Arizona is always cooler because of the altitude. Friday afternoons in the summer you can see bumper to bumper traffic jams heading north.

Stay tuned for my running report in this temperature. I'm learning to embrace triple digits.

It only gets better

The nice thing about having a less than stellar run, like I did last night is. . .it only gets better. Tonight was a great run around the neighborhood and then around the lake. The moon was full, the traffic was light, the temperature was almost under 100. A perfect Arizona night in the desert.

Activity: Run
Miles: 4.26
Time: 53:48
Pace: 12.37
Avg HR: 144
Days: 48 straight

I've read a few blogs about the Chicago triathlon and the IronMan Kentucky. Very inspiring. I'm sure many of you read them too. I looked at the course for the Arizona Ironman, it's unbelievable. I have smaller fish to fry, but maybe some day.

The smaller fish being another half marathon or two and then to prepare for doing my first full marathon. Hopefully, sometime in 2008.

If you're looking for a training program for either a half or full marathon you might check out this one from active. The price is right.

Ironman Kentucky

Countries I've visited:

7 Countries

States I've visited:

27 States

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Hey, my cousin David is an Ironman, again. Congratulations David.

Got in a short 2.66 mile run/walk. My garmin said low battery, I think it was talking about me. I got out the door saying I would at least go 2 miles or 30 minutes. I made it for 37.49. That makes 47 straight days.

Running Cross Word Puzzle

Here's a cross word puzzle for you. Time yourself or do it for fun. When you're done, let me know. If you want to make your own, go to The Puzzlemaker.

Day 46 was spent with a 44 minute pool run. My neck is a bit stiff today, I'm hoping a heating pad will fix the problem. If anyone else has a solution, please chime in.

***

Last night we saw Deathtrap, a play with our friend, James Leatherman as Porter Milgrim. It was in a theatre that at capacity held about 70 people. It was a great play, well acted and full of twists and turns. Before the play Amy and I joined three other friends at Logan's Roadhouse. The ribs were great. Amy and I shared a meal, but I still ate too much.

Blog Action Day

Here's something we all can do to help the environment. Blog about it! I will have a special super duper blog on that day about running and the environment. Of course what else would you expect from a blog called self propelled.

Last night I got in a good 3.58 miles on tired legs. It took me 46:42 of running. That's not counting the 10 minutes of watching a youth football scrimmage. They were hitting hard last night. It was the 45th straight day of exercise for me.

I was concerned I wouldn't have time to exercise today. But, work was light and I had pretty much the whole day off. In the afternoon I did a 'brick' workout. I cleaned my garage and then road the stationary bike. The weather was much better. It was about 85 degrees and 30% humidity. I was drenched just working in the garage. I got the exercise bench out from underneath a bunch of junk and put it on the back patio. There, I can pump iron all winter long. Then I road the bike for 30 minutes while I watched the Georgia little league team win the US championship. This makes 46 straight days of exercise for me.

Tri-athletes, I got my bike down. I haven't ridden it in years. I think I'll need to get it tuned up at the bike shop and then I can use it for some cross training. You know there going to laugh at it at the shop. Oh well.

Baseball fans, I asked if you knew the five major league teams to name themselves after their socks. I know you know the Red sox and white sox. But, did you know that the Reds used to be the Red Stockings. Then they became the Reds, which didn't sit well in the 50's. So, they became the Redlegs and then the Reds once again.

So, who are the last two? The Cardinals in St. Louis were not originally named after a bird. They had cardinal socks. And the Tigers had oragned and black socks that looked like tiger stripes. Now you know the rest of the story.

Tonight Amy and I go to Scottsdale to see our friend James in Deathtrap, a play. A review will be coming soon. Please pray that our kids don't burn our house down. Is it a bad sign when the told me that I only had four beers in the fridge, so I should go to the store? And why is my son putting directional arrows on the lightpoles outside?

Must Read Posts

I wish they were written by me, but they were not. Instead I direct you to a post from Donald of Rumbling and Rambling. It might just put a tear in your eye.

And I direct your attention to Running Chick with the Orange Hat. This is all her posts for April, 2007 when she conquered the Boston Marathon. I suggest you read it in chronological order. Then you can move up to this month and see her pix of her bike crash.

I love when I find well written blogs. Someday, I hope to write as well.

Anyone Interested in some softball? Our team, Damage Inc. played again last night. First game was at 6:20 pm, 104 degrees and hot, hot, hot. We got crushed by Iguana Macks, a local eatery. The second game started during a dust storm which brought much cooler temps. We played better until the last inning. Up by one we only needed three outs. We didn't get them. With the bases loaded our second baseman made a costly error letting in the tieing and go ahead runs.

Yes, I was the second baseman. it was a grounder hit right at second base. All I needed to do was pick it up. Tag second and complete the game ending double play at first. In that order. Unfortunately, I didn't pick it up. We lost. Hitting wise, I got 3 hits in 6 at bats. Not great, not bad.

Activity: softball
Time: 2 hours (approx)
days: 44 straight.

Obrats Asked

Obrats asked how my HR readings from my polar compared to the same on my garmin. Remember I wore both at the same time.

I turned my polar on several minutes before the garmin, while I was still in the house. For 29 minutes it gave me a reading of 131 average and a high of 165.

My garmin was activated in my driveway as I started my run. For about 24 minutes it gave me a reading of 144 average, with a high of 159.

I can understand that the 5 minutes my polar was on at the beginning my heart rate was probably in the 50-70 BPM range and that would lower the average. My only guess as to why I got a higher reading is at the end of my run. I turn my garmin off as I am running, then I probably turned my polar off during the cooldown walk. The last minute of my run my heart rate went up 7 BPM. It probably went up some more after I hit stop on the garmin.

My guess is that they are fairly accurate. Since I have found out how to enlarge the HR reading on my garmin, I won't be wearing both any longer.

***

By the way, if you haven't visited Obrats blog, you should. Read it from the earliest posts to the present. He is inspiring. Lost lots of weight and he's really built up his running. I wish I could do the under 30 minute 5k's he regularly posts.

Anyone else have an interesting question about my posts or running in general, ask me. I'll give you my take on it.

Garmin Update

A short easy run tonight. It was 104 fahrenheit, so I just wanted a nice consistant pace without my heart rate going thru the roof. I ran with my ipod for the first time since I got my garmin. In addition to my Ipod I had my garmin and my polar HR monitor. Which means I had on two, count them two chest straps. I wore my polar, because I can read it. On my garmin, the HR reading is very small and hard to read. Especially in the dark. But, I wanted my HR graphed above.

activity: Run

Miles: 2.07

time: 23.49

Pace: 11.30

Weather: 104

Days: 43 Consecutive.

I decided to read my owner's manual again. They had to have a solution for the HR reading. On page 43 it talks about changing data fields. Now one of my screens looks like the above. Time of run in top left, pace in top right, distance in bottom left and HEART RATE in bottom right. I love my garmin.

102 In the Desert

Activity: Run

Miles: 4.42

Time: 58:27

Pace: 13:13

Days: 42 Consecutive

A good out and back to the lake. It was so hot, you could feel the heat coming off the lake water and it didn't smell very good. I ran 82% of the distance. Most times I'm running in the 75% range when running 4 or more miles. Tonight I ran a little further than last night and in less time.

For the month I am at 60.2 miles, which is equal to last August and I still have 10 days left.

Mt. Whitney: It's the last climb at Badwater. Imagine running over 100 miles and then the finish is up on a mountain. What does this have to do with me, the runner that doesn't do very many hill workouts? The runner that considers speedbumps in the road a hill? I have a stretch of road that is about 4/10ths of a mile of straight away. You can see the end, but it seems like it never comes soon enough. I choose to pretend it's the climb up Mt. Whitney to the finish of Badwater. I fix my eyes on the stop sign at the end, I run on the white line and I get their much faster. So, my question is, dear fellow runners; what do you do to keep your eye on the prize during your runs? Do you have any special tricks? Let me know, because eventually I'll get bored pretending I won Badwater.

Running Schedule

Here's my tentative running schedule for the next few months:

September - the Run to Remember 5k on the 8th, I Did a Run 5k on the 16th, Montezuma Castle 10k on the 29th.

October - Cactus Cha Cha 3 mile Trail Run on the 13th, Race for the Cure 5k on the 14th, Ghost and Goblins 5k on the 28th. I know two of them are back to back days, but they're short races.

November - New Times 5k on the 11th, Dobson Ranch 5k on the 12th, Las Vegas Turkey Trot 5k on the 17th.

December - Half Marathon time. I am either doing the Fiesta Bowl Half in Scottsdale or the Tucson Half in Tucson.

and then in January I will be doing the Rock and Roll half marathon again.

Anyone want to come out to Arizona and run, I'd love to see you.

Take me out to the Ballgame.

I ran to Desert Breeze Lake again. I like this route, but I'm going to have to go the long way to get my short runs up to 5 miles. Last winter most of my runs were 5 miles or longer. Tonight I started by going north before heading over to the lake. Then I did two laps around the lake and ball fields.

Activity: Run
Miles: 4.36
Time: 59 minutes
Pace: 13.32
Days: 41 consecutive days of exercise.
Mental: Felt good most of the run. My legs hurt early. Different than the usual pain. But, it went away after a mile. Saw the kids practicing football which reminded me of Lucas, up in Wisconsin.

The other night I dropped my daughter off at the Freshman Dance. I had some time to kill so I went over to the Oakland A's training facility. The Rookie A's were playing the Rookie Angels. Rookie League games are free. You get about 30 to 50 people watching. Most are family members or affiliated with baseball in some way. I watched a few innings.

Now that I'm done with running a cool dip int he pool would be nice. But, since I live in Arizona and it's August I'll have to settle for my pool with warm water. Pools have to be chilled to be cold this time of year. Ironic, huh? This is a picture of the hot tub at one of my townhomes I just listed for sale. It looks more refreshing than my pool.

Baseball Quiz: There are five major league teams named after their socks. Can you name all five? I know you can name two.

English Lesson: Their, there and they're. Which one to use? Take this test and then read this definition. This is more for me than anyone else. I scored a 95%, so maybe I don't really need this lesson.

The Stationary Bike

We have a stationary bike in our living room for anyone's use while we watch tv. On my rest days I ride it to work up a sweat. Tonight we all watched tv and I got a workout in. However, before hand my family wanted me to go pick up some ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Don't worry it I'm not going to see how many days I can DQ in a row. I went and got my wife, daughter and son some DQ and I had a tall glass of water while I biked.

Activity: Stationary Bike
Miles: 10.5
Time 40 minutes
DQ: none
Days: 40 consecutive
Mental: Watched Monk (great show) while I road. It went by pretty quick.

Do you know about Badwater? The 135 mile race thru Death Valley in July. It gets over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Here's a rather long video about one of the participants - Gundy or you can visit his website at www.seegundyrun.com.

My New Best Friend

What to do on a Saturday night. Well a trip to Dairy Queen would be fun. I went to the one that was about 3.5 miles away. And I went self propelled.

Run: 7.32

Time: 1:40:44

Days: 39 Consecutive

Mental: I was excited on the way out. My mantra was DQ, DQ, DQ. I planned to have a medium ice cream cone dipped in chocolate. I think the girl felt sorry for me and gave me a large. I then walked while I ate it and stopped at CVS Pharmacy to get a gatorade. Then it was back home.

Oh yeah, on the way out I tried to do a crop circle. click on the aerial below and you'll see my attempt. It's supposed to be a spiral outward. They aren't easy. But, I'll try again someday.

You, might ask why everything is underlined. I'm asking that myself. I don't know.

Funny Running

I googled 'funny running' and here's what you get today.

I found Mark over at Passion for Running and his slooooowwww runner.

Anytime I see Eat On the Run, I have to check it out.

If you can't figure out how to work a treadmill, this video might just help.

Finally, a Fedex video. Have you seen the movie Castaway. You'll enjoy this. Oh by the way, have you seen the arrow on the fedex trucks? I'm sure everyone has. Next time you look at the fedex truck, let me know if you find it.

The Distance Debate

Just thought you might want to see this part of my run. Courtesy of my Garmin, you can see me zig zagging on my way out. I am about 3/4 of a mile into my run as I head west (right to left). The straight line is me heading back home. No games here, as I'm about 3 miles into the run.

I did it for fun a couple weeks back, but it did add some distance to my run. I've been thinking about running and making designs at the same time. Like a Garmin crop circle.

I do like to have fun when I run.

I found a new gadget I want. It's only $399 and every runner has sunglasses. The reason it would be cool, is that I want to run, map and photo my experience and stopping to take out my cell phone to snap a picture doesn't always work with the running part.

Quote of the Day: "We all can't be heroes, someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by" - Will Rogers

Bright and Early

I played softball until 10:30 last night, so I wasn't planning on running this morning. But, around 5:30 am, I awoke. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got the newspaper off the drive and sat down to read. My kids woke up surprised to see me. Being a Realtor, my day doesn't have to start early and I was planning on sleeping in. Then, sometime after 7 am, I decided I might as well enjoy the weather and get my run in. I should have eaten more for breakfast, because I soon learned I was running on empty.

The first 1.5 miles were great. I ran to the west and headed toward the lake. I made it there in about 18 minutes, had a pit stop and headed back for home via the long route (around the lake). That's when my tank read empty and I started my run/walk intervals. At least I didn't have to call for a tow.

Run: 3.43 miles
Time: 46.19
pace: 13.31
Avg HR: 139
Mind: Going out was great, didn't have to think, just run. As I got tired, I tried to occupy myself with thinking about softball. But, boy was I tired. Could have used a GU at this point.
Days: 37 Consecutive

Javamom was wondering how much you could add to a 5k race (or any race) distance wise. Like if you always followed the curb or was always on the outside of the pack when you made turns. I was wondering the same thing. I got on google earth and measured my last race, but didn't come up with any empirical proof. I guess it's really a matter on how many curves are in the race. I looked and looked and I think I finally found the data we need, but I might need every one's help crunching the numbers. So, if you are up to it help me out. Just click here and start reading.

Damage Inc.

I played on a new softball team tonight. Damage, Inc. They won their league last season and I'm the new addition. Played some right center and 2nd base. I got nothing in right and made an error at second. But, I did assist on a couple outs at second and I did fine hitting. In the first game I went 4 for 5, all singles. In the second game I went 4 for 6 with a double. We won both games pretty easily. 18-5 and 14-5. Looks like we're in first.

Activity: Softball
Time: 2 hours
Days: 36 Consecutive.

Quote of the Day: "Well that (Pope Paul VI passing away) even puts a damper on a Yankee win."-Phil Rizzuto.

BP & 3M

Headed over to Kiwanis Park, one of my favorite places to run. Went to the hitting cage first and hit for 25-30 minutes. Then I strapped on the garmin and went for a nice slow run in the dark.

My first mile was done at 11.35, a bit on the fast side for me. Might have been a bit of a vanity fartlek becuase I was running past all the parents watching their kids practice football.

Yes, it was pee wee football and they practice after the sun sets on our softball fields with the lights. The high schools practice right after school in 105-110 degree heat. I played 7 years of football (2 in college), but I doubt I would have played at all in Arizona. I just wasn't feeling it tonight, so I ended up walking some. I still ran 75% of the time. At around 2.1 miles I took an 11 second pitstop (according to garmin). You can even see on the map me ducking into the john in the middle of the softball fields. I eat a GU (tri-berry, my favorite) and finished my run strong. The last 1/2 mile was at a 12:19 pace.

I should have taken a picture. On one of the softball fields the city of tempe has adult kickball. One game going on in left field, the other in right field. They were having a blast and I watched it after my run. I even got to see the 2nd basewoman yelling at the umpire about him awarding 3rd base to a runner. It was fun to watch, but not softball.

So, if you haven't figured out what the title means - BP stands for batting practice and 3m stands for 3 miles.

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Quote of the day is from John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach of UCLA - "The road to mastery is through the eight laws of learning: explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition and repetition."

.

Run: 3.01

Time: 39.45

Temp: 101 nite

Days: 35 consecutive

Mental: felt good, but felt tired and didn't do anything to redirect my thinking.

I updated my photos of all my tees and medals. Amy is going to take most of them and make me a quilt. If you're really bored, check them out.