Ellie Live

09 Friday Mar 2012

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I made it back from Texas last weekend just in time to catch Ellie’s first live performance.  She sang Taylor Swift’s “The Best Day” as if it were her own.  Her best friends came along for the recital along with her big sister and fellow performer Brittany.  We all had tears in our eyes near the end.

It was unbelievable just how comfortable and confident Ellie appeared onstage as she sang.  Normally she’s a fairly cautious if not shy little girl, but she seemed really at ease.  I have no idea how a 9 year old kid can remember all those lyrics – this song has quite a number of verses.  And it was such a sweet song for her to pick.  We all felt like she was singing to each of us personally.

We signed Ellie up for singing lessons, not just because she walks around the house all day singing, but because her sister enjoyed it and we thought she would too.  You do that with kids.  You sign them up for stuff until they discover what they like.  This was a home run from the start.  We’re a bit more experienced at this after Brittany and knew an excellent voice instructor.  Monica Augustine is simply fantastic.  She hugs Ellie every session and they have a blast.  But she also teaches her everything from getting good rest and nutrition to all the vocal basics which I can’t really describe.  Monica runs the Wildflower School of Voice and wrote a song I love and still listen to regularly on my playlist – Telluride.

Here’s a pic of Ellie’s three biggest fans having a post performance dinner.  And now the Mahoney family has two incredible singers.  I should say three with Karen.  Karen played guitar and sang for me on our very first date, and the rest is history.  Check out the Youtube link above to see Ellie’s performance.  I know many of my friends and family already have – she has nearly 150 views to date.  And if you haven’t seen Brit’s Youtube site, click on this link.  She’ll sing you a song if you request one.

Eleven After Noon

04 Sunday Mar 2012

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Ran eleven miles today with my neighborhood Twelve O’Clock Running Club.  True to form, we met up after noon.  These boys have been staying fit.  They need to as we are all slated to run the Moab Half Marathon in two weeks.  It’s a toss-up between Keith and Kelly as to whom is the most fit.  I’m going to go with Kelly.  The boy has been doing this boot camp that focuses on your core.  Core matters.

Today’s pace started out a bit fast for me.  Perhaps a month in Austin has lowered my high altitude capabilities.  Not sure but I was winded the first half today.  I led most of the way back and ran at a slightly slower pace.  That felt better.  Kelly would run noticeably faster whenever Eminem played on his playlist.  I might offer him a special playlist for Moab – with a few Carpenter tunes thrown in the mix.  Kelly picked up the pace on a long hill with about two miles remaining.  That’ll help him in Moab as there’s a substantial hill after 9 miles.  Based on today though, we’re all in good shape for Moab.  From what I understand, the entire neighborhood has been putting in the mileage and is ready.  Moab here we come.

Leaving Texas

01 Thursday Mar 2012

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I fly home tomorrow from ABIA at 1:30pm on Southwest flight 365. From a foodie’s perspective – one of the world’s best airports. I’ll plan for lunch after passing through security. I have to pay a small fare increase for delaying my return a week – but hard to complain with a $200 round-trip ticket. That’s like a dime per mile. And my return flight is now direct and no longer transfers in Houston.

I had some fairly straightforward expectations of this trip. High-level – spend quality time with my mom. She’s 78 and has more than her fair share of maladies slowing her down. I thought I could get into her routine. Handle things as they come up without the rushed pressure of the holidays. And of course I could become aware of important financial matters – at the level of logging into her online accounts, etc. – as I will be the executor of her estate. I even thought my brother might benefit. He lives with her but has his own house and no doubt would appreciate a month off.

And my expectations were mostly met initially. It’s almost spooky how we both start our mornings with coffee and the newspapers. We even subscribe to the same stuff – local paper, WSJ and Barrons. Although I cancelled my local paper recently because I didn’t have sufficient time to read it. And our favorite network is CNBC. But it’s like a holiday here because my mom has CNBC on 24×7. Ellie won’t allow that at home. My mom and I have totally different personalities, but oddly similar interests – cooking and gardening included.

I even got to hang with her friends. We meet the Desormeaus and Bill Scott for breakfast each Sunday morning and then attend church. I’m now friends with Dave and Barb on facebook. Dave is an ex-IBMer. Both are mile-a-minute New Yorkers who won’t let me buy a meal. Bill turned me on to the free version of anti virus software Microsoft makes available for download called Essentials. I used it to replace Norton AV on my mom’s computer. Norton was slowing it down more than any actual virus or spyware. The result was fantastic and the bonus is it’s free.

My mom generally went to bed early but sometimes she’d stay up and we’d watch the first season of Downton Abbey which I bought for her on DVD for Christmas. What old lady doesn’t like that show? Otherwise I’d do some work or put on my Marshall headphones and listen to a playlist while cruising facebook or blogging. This is a pic of me blogging this post right now – but is indicative of me any night of the week while here.

I also got to cook for my brother and sister a few nights, as well as my mom’s very good friend Irv. The first time I cooked pork chops, I followed my mom’s recipe. The second time I did it my way. Same thing for a couple of roasts. I like my pork chops style more but my mom taught me a thing or two about cooking a roast. She liked my grilled asparagus and steamed spinach with garlic. And I squeezed in the Austin Half Marathon which turned out much more pleasant than last year’s run of the Austin Full Marathon. I’ve been running almost daily on the Brushy Creek Regional Trail – an amazing path that meanders for nearly seven miles along Brushy Creek and Harry Man’s Road.

I have to thank Karen for holding down the fort in my absence. She drove Ellie to her singing lessons on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Held sleep-overs for Ellie’s friends. Took out the garbage and picked up after the dog. Her thanks is that she is now one step higher up on Jack’s pecking order. We called every night but I couldn’t get Karen to match Ellie’s technical aptitude with communication. Ellie would video call me with facetime from her iPod Touch. I used to be concerned Brittany wouldn’t know what an album was. Ellie won’t know how to call without video.

It was Karen who convinced me I needed to take this trip now. Not a day goes by she doesn’t miss her mother who passed away entirely too young. And now the three weeks have stretched out to four as my mom became ill. I had to call EMS to take her to the ER. After nearly a week she was finally moved from ICU to a regular room and she was able to come back home today. Turns out working a week from the St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center wasn’t much different from working from my mom’s house – or my own basement office for that matter. Maybe Dell contributed but their wifi is totally pervasive throughout that campus and even the acceptable use policy statement works lightening fast. That hospital kicks ass over any airport I know of. Man, I can’t even complain about the AT&T signal for my iPhone.

My mom’s tremendous circle of friends all came through for her. Next door neighbor Beverly didn’t just bake me chocolate chip cookies – she dropped off a bag of over three dozen. I’ll be taking some of those home with me. I continued to meet the Desormeaus and Bill for breakfast. And I haven’t been sitting alone at the hospital. Mom has a wonderful support group.

The exercise wasn’t entirely bad for me. It started badly. As I called each family member outside ER the first day, I had to take longer and longer between calls to maintain composure. I called Karen last and couldn’t speak. My throat locked up and when it finally loosened, all I did was basically sob. I doubt I completed a full sentence the entire call. It was fairly pathetic but Karen understood. What was good was that I started to perform my mom’s routine of getting the mail, processing bills, monitoring online accounts. That will help me later on.

I’m excited to return to my family. No doubt this trip was more of a hardship on them than me. They experienced winter. Karen was a single working parent. I missed Ellie’s first science fair where she came home with top honors, but I’ll be home in time to catch her first public singing performance. It’ll be at this sound studio in Boulder but Ellie takes lessons with Monica Augustine at Wildflower School of Voice – a super voice teacher who is already teaching Ellie to compose her own songs. If Ellie lets me, I’ll post video of her performance on my YouTube account.

Racing Shape

27 Monday Feb 2012

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This is me weighing 145 lbs at 19 years of age.  I was that weight all through both high school and college up until I got married at 25.  I think the reason I kept the weight off for a few years after running track and cross country was that I graduated during the last great recession and was a late bloomer in terms of being gainfully employed.  I blog  a great deal about losing my pot belly, but honestly I would never want to look like this again.  In college I was a cross between Rocky from the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Gandhi after one of his more aggressive protest fasts.

The truth is, I’m fairly comfortable with my current weight.  A few years back my mean-spirited skinny sister pointed at my belly and asked, “What’s that?”  I replied, “Comfort.”  Seriously.  I’ve earned my body fat and sort of like some of it.  Well, maybe not the double chin but the fuller face is nice.  I’m happy to have retreated from 200 lbs but I hardly care to look like a teenager.  I feel the same way about women.  As a 49 year old, prepubescent is not attractive.  I’m not defending Mississippi, but I feel good about carrying a sensible amount of winter warmth around the middle.  And I want as much for my friends too.

But a fair question to ask is just how much?  Medical charts would probably have me weigh 165 pounds.  They would likely have me drink less too.  Silly charts.  Regardless, the problem with me trying to run all these half marathons is that the conditioning of the stomach is possibly more critical than even the legs.  At least if I want to cruise at a decent pace.  Some people call it your core.  My experience tells me this is true.  A few weeks of running will condition your legs for a 10K.  It can take forever for your core to toughen up.  Running alone will do it assuming you’re going for 6-8 mile slogs.  But, except for weekends,  I generally only squeeze in 3 or 4 mile jaunts.

Actually, since I’ve been in Texas the last few weeks I have increased my runs to 6-7 miles.  And I feel the difference.  But I started situps before coming down here and have stopped that activity.  It might be a fair trade-off running more miles for less situps, but I need to step it up and start doing both.  I’ll be running Moab in a few weeks with some neighbors and I sense those guys are gunning for me.  Last time I ran with them, two of them blew by me on the final mile.  I suspect most guys my age might discover competition in a tri-county area when they run the big events.  I can’t get past a tri-street area in my own neighborhood.

I do like racing.  I like running fast even without someone to race.  And I sometimes fantasize I’m running a 30 minute 10K again.  The key to enjoying these runs is having a strong core, but I’m only going to go so far.  It’s one thing to dream of being a kid again but another thing to be one or even look like one.  I am impressed by men my age whom can reach such youthful levels of fitness.  Assuming they are not totally narcissistic.  Anyone can be fit as a teen if they blow off all other responsibilities.  I’ll be happy to be somewhere in between.  Thirty years later a 60 minute 10K is good.  Putting the proper effort and time into my career and family are more important to me than fantasies.  If running faster were much more important to me, then losing weight would be more of a priority too.  The idea of strengthening my core is about making running strong more comfortable – if that makes sense.  I like running and I’ll keep doing it as long as shorts have elastic waist bands and I have a drawer full of loose fitting cotton shirts – because this is me weighing 190 lbs at 49 years of age.

Bridal Wreath

26 Sunday Feb 2012

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Mom’s Bridal Wreath started to blossom last week.  She has been repeating this fact everyday from her bed in the ICU – stating how pretty it is.  She talks about this annually on phone calls and honestly I never really knew what it was.  She described it to me as a shrub in the back yard so I took a picture this morning to show her how it’s coming along.  I can remember us always having these bushes in our backyard and I know they eventually blossom a great deal more than this to where it’s a seven foot tall wall of white.  I used to think it was a white lilac bush which we always had in Iowa before relocating to Texas.

Mom didn’t get into gardening until she moved to Texas in the summer of 1976.  As she relates in this video interview, sure she grew vegetables when she had a young family because one almost needed to in order to feed a family of seven children back in the day.  But she picked up gardening as a hobby she truly enjoyed in Texas with its super long growing season.  She had a tremendous vegetable garden, as one could with a half acre lot.  I can tell you though she clearly prefers flowers over vegetables.  If you garden, then you know this is like cats vs dogs.  I garden myself – to the extent possible in my eighth of an acre lot.  I love growing tomatoes, peppers and giant pumpkins.  And I enjoy talking about it.  My mom’s face lights up when she mentions a blossoming flower in her yard.  Her description of the beauty of a single flower is like a summation of the grandeur of the entire universe within the bloom of a single plant.  When I think of my mom I think of her surrounded by blossoming flowers.

The Happy Runner

24 Friday Feb 2012

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Is it me, or am I smiling in this picture?  In it, I’ve just crossed the South 1st Street bridge onto Cesar Chavez Boulevard nearly 8 miles into the Austin Half Marathon.  When I think back to the run, I can remember this and I was smiling.  I felt good throughout this run last Sunday and no doubt ran past the countless spectators with a goofy smile for much of the 13 miles.  I find it remarkable for the contrast with the suffering I endured in the 2011 Austin Marathon.

I wouldn’t have noticed my expression in the picture or remembered the run in quite the same way yesterday.  Calling EMS for my mom and spending 7 hours in ER helplessly watching her fragility left me in a fathomless depth of despair.  If I tightened my lips it was not to smile but to hold back tears.  I was as close to darkness as my mom.  And so her heart’s dramatic return to a normal rate today and seemingly complete recovery has me feeling beyond relief.  After the entire day, I have a goofy smile on my face.  I saw this picture on my hard drive looking for something to blog and immediately understood it was a reflection of my current grin.  What a roller coaster.  I changed my flight home tomorrow to spend another week here.  I’m going to enjoy and make the most of this coming week.

Austin Half Marathon 2012

19 Sunday Feb 2012

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I was up most of the night with a cough from these Central Texas allergies. Still, I felt fine when I woke at 5am for the big run. My brother had to wake early as well since he would drive me down to the Texas Capitol building.  I ate a banana and drank a cup of coffee, got dressed and we headed downtown at 6am.  Dressing presented a difficult decision knowing the temperature would go from 46° to 64° but I opted for a single long sleeved shirt.  It’s a training shirt made from high tech fabric so it would be fine in the heat but the sleeves would also serve to keep me warm early on.  I nearly wore a second short sleeved shirt underneath but there wasn’t any wind and the 46° felt comfortable.  I also took a Sucrets for my throat and it felt fine by the time Steve dropped me off at 6:30 on 15th Street.

I lined up near the pace sign for a 4 hour marathon, expecting to run the half in about 2 hours.  I learned last year I couldn’t trust running with these pace setters.  Instead, I opted to run alongside a flock of pretty girls.  There are so many decisions to make at the start of any race, from what to wear, and what energy aids to carry, to whom to stand next to.  I brought along 3 one ounce energy gel packets and ate one before the start of the race.  It tasted like tripe.  I hate those things.  Lance spoke a few words and a woman sang the national anthem.  Then we were off.  It took me nearly 5 minutes to reach the starting line – still running alongside the pretty girls.

A total of 18,000 runners started the race but I didn’t feel overly crowded.  The first couple of miles wound through downtown Austin and was packed with cheering spectators.  I started up my run playlist around the 2 mile mark.  I was concerned about starting out too fast and paid close attention to my pace.  I learned last year running the full marathon how easy it is to start too fast when coming down from altitude.  I didn’t wear a watch and never saw any of the official race clocks, but I felt I might be running a tad bit fast.  Keeping it in check was difficult and required constant monitoring – breathing was just so easy.  The 3 mile hill running up Congress Avenue served as a decent governor.  Nothing like hills to slow you down.

The hill crest just after 5 miles.  My hope was that I would start off slow and then loosen up my stride running down South First Street.  I didn’t feel a need to push myself too hard down First because I knew I had run well up Congress. My allergies and sore throat weren’t affecting me at all.  My breathing was great.  Still, I continued a strong pace.  However, I throttled it down a bit on steeper downhills.  The memory of running out of steam by 10 miles last year was still fresh in my mind.  Discipline.

I tried eating another but different type of energy gel at the 6 mile point as part of my plan but spit it out and tossed the remaining packet.  All energy gels suck.  I drank my first sip of water at the 7 mile aid station.  Really just to wash the gel out of my mouth.  Steve and my sister Nancy were down on the north side of the First Street bridge cheering me on.  This was about 8.5 miles and I was still feeling really strong.  There’s a bit of a slope crossing MoPac around 9 miles and the hills just keep coming after that.  I tried to maintain my cadence with shorter steps but would slow down climbing the steeper grades.  The course split a bit shy of 11 miles for the full or half course.  Last year I took the red pill.  Ironically, I felt strong enough to consider the red pill this year but swallowed the blue pill instead and was happy for the opportunity.

The last 2 miles run along Enfield/15th Street and present some sharp hills.  By this point anyone running with me was strong enough to take the hills without walking.  Some runners took them quite a bit faster than me.  Even though I didn’t feel winded on this set of hills, my legs burned so I took them slow.  A few runners did stop after cresting the hills to vomit.  These are real hills.

As we neared the finish line some runners put on their sprints.  Satisfied that I had maintained a strong pace the entire run I didn’t care to put on any kick.  I did step it up though the final 100 yards.  I was feeling good and felt like catching a couple of women who tried passing me.  I refrained from any actual sprinting though.  My body is just too delicate right now and I didn’t want to stress anything.  Besides, pain wasn’t part of my game plan today.  I missed seeing the final clock too but learned shortly after I ran in 1:48 – an 8:16 mile pace.  I didn’t expect to run over 2 hours but also didn’t expect to run quite that well.  More important than the time though was that I felt great.  Very happy with today’s run.  Not happy with the race results site.  You’ll need to know my bib number 16012 or use my name if you click on that link above to view race results because I can’t give you a direct link.

The weather was ideal for this run today, but oddly it was cold afterward as I waited to meet up with Steve for a ride to brunch.  I’m not sure if the temperature actually dropped but the wind did pick up considerably.  It certainly had not warmed up to the 60s yet.  We took breakfast at the Magnolia Cafe on Lake Austin Blvd.  I hadn’t been there in 25 years.  I later got a men’s pedicure to treat my feet and work the lactic acid out of my calves.  Overall, an outstanding day.

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Slower

18 Saturday Feb 2012

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After enjoying Austin’s fine eateries this weekend, I’ll be rising early tomorrow to run the Austin Half Marathon.  Registering for this run served its purpose which was to keep me training through the winter.  Not that I lost any measurable weight but I know I can run 13 miles.  I ran 13 last Sunday in the rain.  The next day, my throat was sore and I had an annoying cough.  I don’t think it’s a cold, I suspect allergies.  Austin is suffering from their worse drought in eons and yet it’s rained nearly every day I’ve been down here.  It’s floodin’ down in Texas.  Hence, the mold count is high and it was only a matter of time before I began to display symptoms.

This isn’t going to stop me from running tomorrow.  My cough got bad enough that I didn’t run yesterday or today.  I would have run though if not for the allergies.  I’m not worried about keeping my legs fresh because I’m simply going to treat tomorrow like any other workout.  It’s not like I’ll be racing.  But I would like to think I could feel strong.  I’ve doubled my distance from 3 to 6 miles since traveling to Austin two weeks ago and I can feel my stride quickening.

And you know, I’ve been struggling with plantar fasciitis.  Not that I’ve healed myself of that little malady, but I have taken control of it with some good shoes and by wearing the Strassburg sock every night.  If Jesus loved runners instead of Tebow and Lin then I would be rewarded for all this training.  Instead it’s a constant uphill struggle.  My age alone conspires against me.  I need a good two miles before I sufficiently loosen up and find my stride.  I shouldn’t have these additional hurdles.

I’m not sure what to expect from this sore throat and cough tomorrow.  I know my foot will loosen up.  Unless I actually do have a cold, allergies shouldn’t impact me too much considering I won’t be pushing my pace too hard.  It would certainly hinder me if I were racing balls out, but it’s been decades since I could do that.  Still, I could use a little help here.  The full marathon kicked my butt last year and I was hoping to find this year’s half marathon more enjoyable.  The weather is supposed to clear by race time, but I won’t be surprised if it’s floodin’, and all the telephone lines are down.

Regardless of the weather, my foot or the mold count, I’m ready for tomorrow and I’m going to enjoy the atmosphere that is Austin.  The Austin News is on right now playing a story about all the cancer survivors that will be running.  Understand, this is the Lance Armstrong sponsored LiveStrong Austin Marathon.  So I’m not going to whine anymore.  You know what Wall Street and Lance Armstrong have in common?  They’re both too big to fail.  My brother made that one up.  I picked up my race packet at Palmer Events Center this afternoon.  What a party!  For runners with any cash remaining from the triple digit entry fee, a thousand sports vendors were lined up selling their wares.  I was actually looking forward to this as an opportunity to buy some new ear buds.  I’ve read in some running blogs about Yurbuds and was curious to see them.  Naturally there was a booth and I tried them out.  The reviews said these are the absolute best ear buds for running in terms of handling sweat and fitting.  Some negative reviews dissed the sound quality.  I suspect the poor audio quality was associated with the cheaper versions.  Yurbuds come in 3 or 4 models and the ones I tried out support an iPhone and sounded decent.  I bought them and will wear them tomorrow.

I haven’t been running with music much lately but thought I would again.  I do suspect I run faster to music.  It’ll keep me from thinking about work for sure and that’s a good enough reason to run with music.  Gonna work on a new runner’s playlist right after publishing this blog.  I also picked up some 1 ounce energy packets at Palmer.  I bought two Hammer Gels, one GU Energy Gel and one GU Roctane.  I’ll study their nutritional values a little more carefully and select two to carry in my pocket for the run.  I’ll probably eat one at 6 miles and the other around 10 miles.  For anyone interested in following my progress on the Austin Marathon App, my bib number is 16012.

Telling Time

15 Wednesday Feb 2012

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I’m sitting in direct view of six clocks.  If I were willing to stand up I could easily take in another three.  I’m including the cable box clock in my first count.  It should be noted here that the VCR sitting under the cable box isn’t showing the time in its liquid crystal display.  The old lady who owns this house never learned to program it.  And I wouldn’t even count home electronics but the cable box is remarkable in that it’s the only clock in view even remotely telling the correct time.  Bravo Time Warner.

The grandfather clock pictured here is just one of my mom’s clocks within view.  Even without my glasses I can see from here it’s two hours behind.  Actually, I don’t think the hands are moving.  And that’s a good thing because several of these clocks sound their alarms all at once in a spasmodic chorus of off-time bells.  Dozens of angels must get their wings by the hour around here.  Why do old people surround themselves with so many clocks?

I bet I didn’t even need to inform you I was at an older person’s home after describing the multitudes of clocks.  You would have figured I was at my mom’s house because everybody knows old people collect clocks.  But does anyone know why?  And should I read anything into the fact so many are telling incorrect time?

I know my mom doesn’t have Alzhiemers.  She’s not only a world class bridge player who could very likely kick Bill Gates’ ass, but she’s constantly doing math in her head.  She counts the collections at church in her head while a second person reconciles it on paper.  So what’s the deal with the clocks being off?  My best guess is she is geared to only looking at a couple of the more accurate time pieces in key strategic locations around the house.  I guess I should just be happy she doesn’t collect cats.

Austin Week One

12 Sunday Feb 2012

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Why was there someone dressed up in a gorilla suit at the UT vs Kansas State basketball game on Saturday?  For the first half, I figured it was simply because Austin is a bit weird.  Then at half time a team of characters from Bevo to a Schlotzsky‘s sandwich played a half court game for some charity cause.  The gorilla was easily the high scorer of the 10 minute madness.  My father-in-law took me to the game – he’s a season ticket holder.  This was a must win game if Texas hopes to be invited to the NCAA tourney.  Things didn’t look good the first half as UT made less than 30% of their shots, but they took the lead in the 4th period and pulled off an 11 point win.  Hook ’em Horns!

Today is my 8th day in Austin and it’s been going well.  Upon arrival I was immediately invited (some say self-invited) to a super bowl party.  And I won a dollar on the final score.  Working hasn’t been an issue.  My mom’s wifi and broadband are sufficient to meet my needs, as is the signal for my mobile.

My running regimen has changed up a bit.  I ran sun-mon-tue-thur-fri.  I didn’t have time for a run Wednesday and Saturday.  And I was okay with that knowing the rest would be good for my plantar fasciitis.  I’m a little disappointed right now because as I went outdoors for a really long run, I had to come back inside due to the weather.  It’s raining ice at the moment.  I suspect that will turn into rain – but it’s too cold to run without gloves and probably tights as well.  I didn’t bring cold weather running gear with me on this trip.  I knew there might be a day or two like this but didn’t care to pack for it.

Still, the positive here is that my runs have all been 6 or 7 miles.  That’s double what I was running in January at home in Colorado.  And I feel it.  My body, or fitness, is such that I barely feel the effects of a 3 miler.  But 6 miles is enough to make me notice tightness in my stomach and firmness in my legs.  Unfortunately it also stresses my left foot a bit too much.  I’m still wearing the Strassburg sock to bed and it does mitigate the plantar fasciitis.

I have the Austin Half Marathon next Sunday and my plan was to run that distance today.  It would be a confidence builder if nothing else.  I haven’t run over 10 miles all year.  I know I can run the distance but seems like a good idea to prep my body before the race with a nice long, slow run.  Maybe this cold rain will dry up and I can still get outside.

We Are Marshall

06 Monday Feb 2012

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I bought these Marshall iPhone headphones knowing I’ll be using my iPhone for conference calls all day long for the next few weeks rather than a land line.  And after first using them for music, I was a happy boy with their quality.  I just knew I would not want a bluetooth ear piece or ear buds stuck in my ear all day.  I’ll wear ear buds running – although rarely these days – but I’m generally dissatisfied with that experience.  I like the big ole comfy headset.

Today was their first run in production and turns out comfort wasn’t the issue – echo was.  I never heard echo myself but I had people complain on several conference calls.  I could go on mute and solve the problem although I wasn’t sure it was me.  People would hang up and redial to try to solve the problem – apparently it was pretty annoying.  Then I called Karen later in the afternoon and discovered it was me.  Funny thing is she didn’t hear it from her iPhone, but her signal was weak and she called me back from a land line.  Then she heard it confirming I was the culprit.  I unplugged my headset and the echo went away.  But I was devastated.  I really liked my Marshall headphones.

So what does a guy like me do next?  I googled the heck out the situation.  Turns out it’s not the headphones per se, but my iPhone 4s.  A good number of iPhone 4s owners are reporting this problem.  And here’s where it gets weird.  You can mitigate the echo by cycling through the speaker phone.  Your call participants hear an echo, hit your speaker button on and off.  Unfortunately this might only fix the echo temporarily.  The good news is it appears Apple will replace the iPhone.  There’s an Apple Store at the Domain off MoPac.  I’ll be setting up an appointment for this weekend.

Travel Day

04 Saturday Feb 2012

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The blizzard Friday didn’t change my day much.  Weather doesn’t impact a basement commute.  But having Ellie home from school all day sort of made it feel like a Saturday. I laundered clothes throughout the day and started packing after dinner.  I don’t travel much anymore but I’m still fairly efficient at it.  Except I couldn’t find my Garmin or my Nikon’s mini USB cable.  I did find my IBM badge.  Could have used that for my Wednesday afternoon meeting at the Diagonal data center.

I lost my focus packing and gave up once I had all the clothes cleaned and folded.  Figuring I had time in the morning to pack, I sat down to listen to a Diana Krall playlist with Karen.  We sat until about 11:30 in front of the fire while the snow continued to fall – Karen sipping her white, me quaffing my red.  600 flights had been cancelled out at DIA but I assumed I’d be good to go in the morning.  The shuttle was scheduled to pick me up at 8am.

I had time to read the Journal in the morning before the van showed up at the curb.  Karen woke up to send me off with a hug and kiss.  She’ll be a single working parent for the next three weeks.  Today even she’ll be driving Ellie to an activity in Boulder at 11am, which she’ll do every Saturday while I am gone.  Ellie’s activity is 2 hours and Karen intends to go to the studio to work on her Zumba routines.  She’s teaching now a 30 minute class every Monday-Wednesday-Friday in Louisville.  She only has a few students to date but expects the class to grow quickly.

The shuttle driver was talkative.  I’d guess him for about 70 years old.  He had no reluctance in asking all about my trip.  Told him I was visiting my mom and he wanted to know her age, then her health.  Guessing this guy isn’t in tune to HIPAA.  The only way to keep from giving up my SSN and bank pin code was to start asking him questions. Found out his brother is 79 and a long haul truck driver for 40 years. Maybe I’m just more in tune to old people right now, but this guy is old and working.  His brother is older and working.  I stopped by McDonalds as the van exchanged me to the bus and a lady easily of retirement age served me at the counter.  Are old people refusing to retire or am I just overly sensitive given my trip to visit my mom?  They must be hedging their bets in case Romney gets elected and takes away their safety net.

I rode on a bus from the Interstate the rest of the way to DIA.  I was surprised to discover this bus had wifi with a great signal.  Nice.  I took full advantage using my iPhone.  My next surprising observation was as I sat down at the Southwest gate.  Absolutely everyone within sight who had a laptop had an Apple MacBook.  Hmm.

Seating on Southwest is a free-for-all and I got the aisle seat in the first row and no one took the middle seat.  I ordered a Bloody Mary and finished my Saturday edition of Barrons.  Then I started a new piece of fiction on my Kindle – Fear Index.  Good read. After reading 15%, I set it aside for a song writers’ genius playlist and listened wearing my Marshall headphones while drinking a second Bloody Mary.  I was relaxed and feeling pretty good by the time the flight landed in Austin (ten minutes late) and my brother picked me up outside the baggage claim area.  The weather here is cool and comfortable.  Karen called me to let me know I should crash my brother-in-law’s Super Bowl party on Sunday.  Sounds like a plan.

Search Results

02 Thursday Feb 2012

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If you’re a web voyeur, and most of you are, I think you might enjoy this.  Click on the picture to the left to view a large enough image to read.  This is a partial list of the searches people have entered into Google, or Bing or whatever search engine which has lead them to my blog over the last 30 days.  While I get a few regular hits from friends and family, most of my readers come from searches.

Don’t be insulted by the term voyeur.  It’s a general term ascribed to people who read blogs, forums, facebook etc. but rarely if ever produce content.  Information on this topic I’ve read indicate 90% of participants in basically anything are voyeurs, while another 9% participate – leaving 1% as the original content producers.  This (assuming you even believe it) can be mapped to facebook users as well as the typical classroom where there is one teacher, a handful of students who ask questions, and the remaining class sit and listen.  It’s the remainder that sit and listen whom are referred to as voyeurs.  But the point of the studies I’ve read is that even the voyeurs contribute by means of learning and perhaps later sharing in other forum.  So the term is not intended to be derogatory.  And there’s a name for this ratio but I forget what it is.  Whatever, I may have digressed.

Back to my search results.  I am as voyeuristic as anyone.  I get such a kick out of reading some of these stats.  I don’t know who actually reads my blog because like in facebook readers are anonymous, but I do get some fun stats like these search terms.  Because I didn’t capture the entire list above, you won’t see many of the search terms that include the word “porn”.  It’s unbelievable what some people are looking for.  And they can be so specific.  Like “cross country runner porn”.  Seriously?  Still, other terms are pretty boring.  I get a lot of hits on the term “iStock” because I buy many of my pics from that site and the word iStock is in the file name.  You might think searches only find blogs that have the term listed in the tags, but search engines actually index the entire web page.  Tags are a bit superfluous nowadays.  If you’re curious, click on the image and take a peek.

Strassburg Sock

29 Sunday Jan 2012

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Don’t laugh.  I wore this sock to bed last night.  Paired with my flannel bottoms and cotton T, I made quite the fetching bed partner.  As I was in the Boulder Running Company’s store yesterday buying a new pair of running shoes, this sock was an emotional purchase in my desperate attempt to cure my plantar fasciitis.  I am more interested in using a “boot” but saw this and thought I’d try it out.

Having read online reviews this morning of the Strassburg Sock, I wish I’d have performed more research first.  The reviews are almost entirely unfavorable of the sock and instead suggest use of the Night Splint.  I intend to order a night splint but will continue to wear this sock to bed until the splint arrives.  After one night I can’t say I noticed any improvement in my heel pain, but can say it seemed to loosen my tight calf.  Overly tight calves are one of the causes of plantar fasciitis – although not in my case.  But since I started running less on my heel and more on my fore foot, my calves have tightened considerably.  It would be nice to wear two of these socks to loosen them both but these grossly over-priced socks don’t come in pairs.  Apparently runners don’t tend to experience plantar fasciitis in both feet at once.  It would be insult to injury for the poor bastard who does after having to fork over $70 for a pair of these socks.

Basketball Jones

27 Friday Jan 2012

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Who  doesn’t like high school basketball?  Basketball was so big in my hometown as a kid in the ’70s that Cheech and Chong’s Basketball Jones was the top song of the year.  Going to the high school games in small town Iowa was the equivalent of Friday night lights in Texas for football – the gymnasium would be packed and the atmosphere raucous.  Having my older brother play on the team made it that much better.

I’ve gone to a couple of Niwot High School basketball games this season to watch my neighbor Henry play.  The crowd is a bit thinner than my memories as a kid in Iowa, but then that’s usually the case in Colorado as everyone is outdoors performing their own activity.  At this time of year that would be snow boarding or skiing.  Tonight though was special.  The crowd was larger than average because Niwot was playing cross town rival Silver Creek.  These two teams are fairly evenly matched.  Niwot is maybe better on paper however all but two seniors are injured making the teams more on par.  In fact, Silver Creek is visibly taller and they have a couple of football players.

Silver Creek completed half time with a small lead.  And by the end of the third period had a ten point lead.  But the fourth period was Henry time as he scored ten points and led Niwot to a one point victory.  The lead changed like a million times in the fourth.  Well, maybe less considering the final score was 49-48.  But it was back and forth.  It was so exciting all the fans were standing and the student section rushed the floor at the final.  Karen and I sat with Henry’s parents and several neighborhood couples.  We all went together afterward to the Pump House for drinks and dinner.  Great live sports night!

Oh Dada

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

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That’s what Ellie says when she doesn’t know what else to say to me.  When she thinks I’m being silly.  When she’s caught on to my joke, which she can do with an uncanny ability.  She said it tonight and Karen called attention to it as sounding so sweet.  I can’t reproduce her cadence in speech without playing audio in this blog, but it’s pretty sweet.  And I love hearing it.  I was a bit down at the end of the day and it made my night.  Ellie says it with a fair amount of frequency and nothing makes me feel better.  It’s the equivalent of her telling me she loves me – which she also does often – but it’s more sentimental.  It’s Ellie saying she feels good being with me.  There’s nothing sweeter.

Brittany did something similar.  She would call me Daddy.  Ellie calls me Dada and Karen Momma, while Brit always said Daddy and Mommy.  But Brit always spelled it Dady with one “d” instead of two in the middle.  I think she was in high school before I called her on the misspelling and she informed me that she was well aware of the grammatical error but she’s been misspelling it for years to purposely continue the cuteness of it.  When did it switch from being cute to me to being cute to her?

This picture to the right is from Ellie’s first day of 1st grade – 3 years ago.  She’s matured so much since I can’t describe.  Her vocabulary is nearly on par with mine.  I can sense the sophistication forming in her.  Has she already reached the point like Brit to where she purposely says things knowing it will make me feel better without me catching on?  Do I think of her as a 1st grader when she is oh so much more schooled?  When do kids start playing their parents?  Doesn’t matter I guess when it’s all with best intentions.

Run Austin

19 Thursday Jan 2012

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I registered for the Austin Half Marathon today.  That makes 3 half marathons between now and April 1st.  Register for any more and I won’t have to train in between – I’ll stay fit simply from my weekend events.

This is a call out to all my friends in Austin to join me.  I’ll be down there for most of February hanging out at my mom’s house – spending quality time.  And no doubt washing windows.  It’s not an easy course.  In fact, it’s a ball buster if you’re not in shape.  Think hills.

At a high-level, it’s 5 miles up slope, followed by 5 miles back down the same slope, although on a different street.  And the final 3 miles are over the rolling hills west of downtown Austin.  While I don’t consider myself in good enough condition to run the full marathon – at least not without pain – I suspect I’ll run this in 2 hours or less.  I’ll treat it like a workout by starting out slow up South Congress.  I’ll unwind running down South 1st Street.  Then focus on maintaining good form over those final hills.  Should be a good beer drinking day.  Having run the full last year I can tell you this is a well run event.

The Foot Strike

15 Sunday Jan 2012

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I was talking to Chris, someone I’ve recently met, while watching the Broncos get blown out of the playoffs last night.  Chris is 41 but looks like a competitively fit 21 year old.  So we were talking about running.  Chris and Dave share a similar injury with strained calf muscles.  I tried to trump them with my plantar fasciitis.  No one ever wins these “I got more scars than you” contests but they are fun nonetheless when you’re drinking with the guys and watching football.

I got some value out of it when we began discussing the effect from running with either minimalist shoes or low profile shoes.  I’ve personally received a healthy dose of advice recommending them as a cure to my pronation.  I understand the argument, although I’m not deep enough on the topic to confidently explain the difference between low profile and minimalist.  The link I share in that last sentence though is full of good information on the topic.

I’m curious enough now that I suspect I will eventually buy a pair.  Likely low profile.  The REI article I linked above suggests that barefoot running or minimalist shoes are not good for runners who over pronate – which I do in my left foot.  But I’m not committed and question whether these new style shoes are as important as simply changing one’s running form.  Chris, Dave and I all agreed that if it’s a matter of your heel strike vs a mid-foot or ball-of-foot strike, you don’t necessarily need these shoes for that.

I tested this theory on a 7 mile run today.  I focused on maintaining a mid-foot strike on the ground.  This route has about 2 miles of pavement and the rest is trail.  It’s necessary to shorten your stride a bit when doing this.  And there’s a tendency to run faster with a shorter stride and mid to fore foot fall, but with proper attention you can slow down your cadence as well.  I feel like I did a great job maintaining this form throughout the run.  I did run faster but have been improving my conditioning lately and was able to handle the faster pace.  Four hours later my left foot feels better than normal after such a distance.  I can’t say anything definitive yet but I intend to work at this new foot strike and will report on my progress.

Most of my focus is on fixing this nagging injury because I have a full running schedule planned for 2012.  I’m already registered for the Moab and Boulder Half Marathons – March 17th and April 1st respectively.  Those are target runs to motivate me to train through the winter.  The picture above is of the Boulder Reservoir where that event takes place.  After those warmups, I aim to run mountain trail half marathons.  Haven’t booked any yet but have a list of them to consider.  Let me know if you have run some cool trail races up in the Colorado Rockies.

Middle Aged Prime

14 Saturday Jan 2012

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I forget the context but a friend on facebook recently called me middle age.  Ray called me a couple of other things too which I didn’t debate but I did ask him to define middle age.  He responded over 40.  Hmm.  Then I read a story in the WSJ this morning on mid life crises and related nuances of my age.  What’s weird to me is that I just never feel it.  Of course I’m middle age but I don’t spend much time looking at myself and if it weren’t for the reminders like my symphysis pubis arthritis and friends like Ray, I’d be oblivious to it.

But now I’m thinking about it.  I guess that’s what you do with all the free time available to us pending seniors.  But Honey Badger don’t care.  Honey Badger don’t give a shit.  I find it ironic, and not the least bit vain, that Karen and I are in better shape than we were ten years ago.  That’s less true about Karen because she’s been good about maintaining her shape over the years.  She never let herself go as far as I did.  Friends and family constantly inform me that Karen looks so young for her age.  Perhaps because I tend to consider this a backwards compliment, I respond on how the 2′ x 7′ foot slab of double vanity granite in our master bath is a virtual shrine to the mid-life industrial complex.

With my preoccupation over the thought of middle age building, I did what any other average 49 year old with 4 wifi servers in his house would do – I googled middle aged runners.  I came across this cool blog that has a similar theme as mine but the writer probably does a better job at chronicling his races.  And apparently he runs faster than me.  But not by much and reading it motivated me to get in a good workout today.

I’m actually fine with the direction the second half of my life is taking.  I seem to be improving upon my areas of interest.  I’m reading more.  I’m focusing more on trading which for me is more about enjoying a hobby than about planning for retirement.  And Karen and I both are clearly putting much more time into fitness.  Karen doesn’t run, she’s my tiny dancer.  She likes to dance as an aerobics instructor.  This is not something one makes money at – trust me.  You can argue you’re not paying for a gym membership, but the appeal of teaching is that the time spent making a playlist, choreographing the routine and practicing serves as a much more intense and satisfying fitness experience.  Karen taught Jazzercise for over 5 years and has now moved on to teaching Zumba.  She compares them by describing Jazzercise as aerobics with a dance flair to it while Zumba is dance with an aerobics quality.  She favors Zumba.

So after having thought about what I’m doing in my middle years, I’m happy.  That I’m actually becoming more fit each year as I age is a blessing.  I feel fortunate.  The last few years of returning to racing and hiking in the mountains is like reliving the best times of my youth.  It’s a fantasy really.  I’m good with it.

The Bar Code Diet

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

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The new year has gone off like a gun shot.  Work is in full sprint with 12 hour days, lunch at my desk, and leaving little time for running.  But I’m catching up on my fitness regimen.  I got in 3 days in a row over the weekend.  And I started situps and light weights.  I feel my tone returning.  More importantly I believe I’ve established some diet discipline to counter the re-emergence of my belly over the holidays.  I’m limiting myself to only a single beer per day.

This is not to say I only drink a single alcoholic beverage per day.  I’m not insane.  I’m starting with some beer discipline and will expand into wine if warranted.  I will say not all beer, wine and spirits are the same in terms of calories.  I know this because I’ve started to scan the bar codes on bottles for their calories with my food scanner iPhone app.  Many beers are probably not as bad as you think.  A Guinness is only 126 calories.  And yet my scan of bar codes on several spirits showed that many and more for a glass of whiskey or gin.  Certainly more once you add tonic or other fillers.  Don’t think you’re sparing calories simply because you avoid beer.

I haven’t actually scanned my wines.  This is because I receive my vino in monthly cases as part of the WSJ wine-of-the-month club and those bottles don’t come with bar codes.  Or QR codes which are the more graphical equivalents like you see on the tomato in the picture above.  That one translates to “organic” in case you are interested.  From what I know, every type of alcoholic beverage adds up to roughly 100 calories.  Light beers might be less but most other drinks are perhaps closer to 125 calories.  Let’s not even talk about a frozen rita.

Point is that at 49 I have to both diet and workout if I hope to lose any weight.  I gained 10 lbs. at the end of 2011 and need to be back down to 180 for the Moab Half Marathon in March.  Which is totally doable, but not by simply wishing it.  I think I’m on track.  I feel like the discipline is in place now and it’s just a matter of time before I start seeing results.

Big Girl Pants

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

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Happy new year for some, but not for all.  My daughter is facing an eviction from her Denver digs due to the actions of another roommate.  The roomie threw an out-of-control New Years Eve party that resulted in unruly guests vandalizing the lobby.  You expect these things in college.

This is not how you want to start the new year.  Facing eviction, loss of your security deposit if not fines and even potential police charges.  Poor Brit came home shortly before 2am from her restaurant job to discover the party and did what she could to contain the situation.  But then one of her other roommates wasn’t even there and is equally a victim.  Regardless of degrees of culpable wrong-doing, four girls stand to start the new year off on a bad foot.

Brit is overwhelmed emotionally.  She’s never faced anything like this before.  And how is she handling it?  She put on her big girl pants.  She met with Detectives today to serve as a witness to the party crashers.  After being told in the morning by apartment management to expect eviction, she went out looking for a new apartment.  And before the day was over, she worked with the management team on another plan to only have the party-thrower evicted and allowing the three others to stay.  In 24 hours, she has turned this thing around.  She didn’t take it sitting down.  It’s not over yet but Brit has demonstrated she can take control of events seemingly out of control.  Dad’s impressed.

A Runner’s Year in Review

31 Saturday Dec 2011

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Zilker Tree2011 wasn’t really about me.  I had an 18 month old nephew survive a heart transplant.    He’s now 24 months old and I suspect Little L will dominate the next decade, and that’s okay.  My mom is getting on in years with more than her fair share of ailments, but she maintained a fairly steady pace and I was able to visit her during the Austin Marathon and on Mother’s Day as well as Christmas – which is more than usual.

I had some personal achievements though.  Top of the list was completing the 500 mile Colorado Trail with my buddy Rob, and it wasn’t even on my calendar at the start of the year.  Second was finally trading options.  I consider investing/trading as much a hobby as anything because I enjoy it and trading options is something I’ve read numerous books on but had never done until 2011.  I’m not a day trader by any means – I might do several trades per month – but I spend a great deal of time reading financial news and books.  I maintained decent fitness in 2011 which was a goal.  I ate healthy foods.  I would argue I didn’t accomplish my exact goals on running.  I wanted to increase my speed but instead opted for hiking.  I also gained a few pounds after having lost weight in each of the preceding four years.  Lastly, I didn’t start on another 2011 goal of writing a book.  Most of my new year’s resolutions will be to further unfinished 2011 objectives.

I want to spend more time with my mom so I’m considering living and working from her home in Round Rock for a month or so.  She can make do on her own but it’s not wise and my brother lives with her now.  Of course Steve has his own house and maybe he’d appreciate me giving him some time to live there.  Ideally, I’ll do this in the late winter / early spring.  I just returned from Austin yesterday – the picture above is of Karen and me checking out the Tree at Zilker Park.

As for running, my plans are to run a series of half marathons – mostly trail runs in the mountains.  I’ll start with Moab in March.  I still need to correct my plantar fasciitus, but I don’t expect that to limit me too much.  And I’m going to make a concerted effort to trim down my abdomen.  Enough is enough.  I’m also going to move our elliptical into my office to work out on during conference calls.  The idea being this will replace the snacking I do currently.  I might do that tomorrow.

I’m going to increase my trading focus on options.  All I actually did last year was sell covered calls which is easily the least risky type of options trades.  The only risk is that you can’t sell a stock that is losing value until the expiration date.  And you won’t likely recognize gains over the strike price.  This isn’t important to me because I generally sell stocks after 10% gains and I set strike prices at 10% for my covered calls.  This has worked out well for me as I handily beat the market in 2011.  For 2012 I intend to begin buying options rather than simply selling them.

My last big goal will be to write a book.  At least start a book.  Blogging keeps my writing skills exercised but I haven’t written much fiction lately and would like to tell a story.  This is going to take discipline.  I could be wrong but I suspect I’ll get a great deal of satisfaction from writing a book.  I don’t care about the publishing aspect – I’m not trying to become a novelist.  I’ll just upload it to Amazon.  Related to writing is reading and I’ve already downloaded a series of books to my Kindle to keep me busy in that area.

I am happy with 2011 and feel pretty good about 2012.  At least I have plans.  One of my neighbors told me last night he intends to make quarterly resolutions for 2012 thinking they will be more obtainable.  Interesting concept.  I’m going to ask my friends and neighbors at the NYE party tonight what their goals are.  I usually find I’m not very unique and expect to hear numerous goals on health and fitness.  I’m curious as to what people’s work and career goals are.  I need to put some focus on that as well.  I had a really cool project in 2011 and have an idea of what my primary task will be for 2012, but it’s not well defined yet.  I like to manage my own career versus being tasked and I need to put some focus in that area.

For all my plans, 2012 is still unknown and whose to say what will happen.  I actually like the prospect of the unknown.  It’s exciting.

Leave the Light On

29 Thursday Dec 2011

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Returning from Austin to Longmont for the holidays, we are retracing our route through Kansas.  We intended to stop in Dallas to visit the Gillis family which already placed us on I35.  Otherwise we normally take Hwy 183 to Amarillo for the path through Raton Pass.  The reason for revisiting the blizzard drive is that we want to stay another night at our lodging discovery – the Midland Railroad Hotel.  It’s just so comfy.  For the same price as the rotting Holiday Inn on I40 in Amarillo, we get cozy atmosphere, charming and caring staff to chat with, and amenities that would make the everyday business traveler salivate.

Karen made the reservations on the road after departing Dallas so we would have a good arrival estimate.  The staff remembered us – no doubt because we share surnames with the proprietors Heddy and Thomas Mahoney.  After a 13 hour 700 mile day, we reached Wilson, Kansas and were given the keys to our old room – 313.  And it’s a real key to an antique 5 panel oak door.  No key cards at the hotel used to film The Paper Moon.  After dropping off our bags in the room, I descended into the hotel basement to the Sample Room Tavern.  There, Jena Mahoney – pictured – served me a Pilsner Urquell and conversation.

I now know the town of Wilson has approximately 900 residents, Thomas is an airline pilot, Jena’s brother is in the Air Force while another brother builds planes at a nearby shop.  Jena talked about the hotel too.  Her dad purchased it roughly a year earlier at auction and they are steadily establishing a presence among Kansas travelers.  It goes without saying that I highly recommend the joint.  It offers all the key business amenities from pervasive wifi to an early complimentary breakfast and late night tavern, while also capturing the ambiance of a B&B for a weekend destination.  We returned.

There’s something about this place that makes you feel comfortable.  Guests talk to one another like students in a dorm.  The lobby living room, the dining room tables, and the tavern are designed to bring strangers together.  Jena asked us about our holidays and shared her plans with us.  She’s excited for the murder mystery party the hotel is planning for New Years.  It will be a 1920’s gangsta costume party.  Sounds worth staying for.  But we have to get Brit back to Denver for work and we have our own neighborhood party to attend.  It’s been a nice vacation.  Hope all my readers have enjoyed the holidays as much as I have.

A Runner’s Christmas

26 Monday Dec 2011

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At the risk of sounding materialistic, I totally got what I wanted for Christmas.  Chad gave me a running shirt, hat and gloves.  The shirt is Under Armour Heat Gear, but it’s thicker material than my other two.  It doesn’t list the content but feels like a cotton/polyester blend.  I could wear this as a first layer on cold runs – probably when wearing only two shirts rather than three.  I should also mention the shirt is bright orange – not outside the color spectrum of Denver Bronco orange.  I did suggest bright colors in my earlier blog.  The gloves are in between the thicknesses I already have.  This gives me a total of four pairs of gloves now.  And the hat is definitely thick and heavy, but not fleece.  It’s less form fitting so I’ll have an air pocket between my head and the top of the hat which should keep me warm.

I’ve yet to wear any of my new gear.  I ran Christmas Day with Brit down on Lady Bird Johnson Lake in a cold, light rain.  This was several hours before receiving the new gear.  I still like to call this trail by its original name – Town Lake.  My old loop appears to have become a giant dog run.  I saw maybe a half dozen runners without a dog.  Of the two or three dozen runners with dogs, most had between two and four dogs running alongside them.  Despite the signs posted every few feet reminding humans to scoop the poop, no one did.  And nearly half the dogs were off leash despite the on-leash signs.  That’s the Austin I remember – where laws are merely suggestions.  City ordinances are more like guidelines.

The sky cleared today but it doesn’t look like I’ll run.  Too much to do.  I was invited by some of my college buddies to run on Christmas Eve but at 6am in the rain.  I’ve said this before – I’m a gentleman runner.  That’s a fair weather, never before noon kind of runner.  I hope to get back down to Town Lake one more time before heading home.  It’s amazing how little time I have for myself while on holiday.  But it’s all about family and I’m enjoying myself.  I got another cool gift – a pair of orthopedic house slippers designed to correct pronation.  Just what I need.  My plantar fasciitus still hurts like the devil and I’m hoping that a move to fully orthopedic footwear will aid my recovery.  Something has to give, I’m gaining significant holiday weight and need to be able to increase my mileage.

I’ve heard for every mile run, an angel gets its wings.  More importantly, a 180 pound runner burns 130 calories.  I bought myself a 99¢ iPhone food scanner app by daily burn for Christmas.  It tells you the calories and other nutritional information of foods by scanning the bar code with your iPhone camera.  You don’t have to actually take a picture – it’s extremely quick and easy.  My brother-in-law Steve turned me on to it.  Steve also advised me to drink this Sierra Nevada Celebration Pale Ale which scans in at 214 calories.  Dammit, that’s a big beer.  But tasty too.  Cheers!

The Blizzard Drive to Austin

19 Monday Dec 2011

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Gorgeous weekend, but we left for Austin on Monday to accommodate Brit’s work schedule.  After learning of the pending weather, we delayed our morning launch to buy new all-weather tires for the van.  Hard to say that was not a good call, but it’s possible we might have been able to stay in front of the weather system had we departed Denver two hours earlier.  We attempted to flank the eastern side of the blizzard by driving I70 through Kansas, but had to pull off the highway 50 miles short of I35 in the charming farm town of Wilson, Kansas.  This was after seeing a good twenty or so cars in the ditch, many whom had only recently passed us at higher speeds.  I slid after passing a car and clipped a mile marker sign with the passenger-side mirror.  This was when I finally acquiesced to Karen’s plea to pull over.

And so we are now ensconced in the historic Midland Railroad Hotel in Wilson, Kansas.  The proprietor is Heddy Mahoney – no relation.  Heddy married a Mahoney but is of German descent – her name shortened from Hedwig like the owl in Harry Potter.  Upon shaking her hand as she told me her name, I had a flashback to The Shining and imagined I might go insane while riding the storm out.  I was still tense from the white-knuckled drive.  Heddy went on to say the kitchen and tavern would be closed due to the blizzard.

Being the first to abandon the highway we got to choose our room.  It’s turn of the century with more oak than the lost woods of Killarney.  Among the oaken furniture and paneled walls are two rooms separated by an antique bathroom.  Ellie immediately set out to hunt for ghosts where upon she discovered the Sample Room Tavern in the hotel basement.  The tavern is so named from salesmen riding the Union Pacific 100 years ago whom would display their wares in the basement.  Upon this discovery, Heddy apprised us that the cook just arrived and the hostess was soon to follow.  We could dine on the tavern menu at 5pm.

The Sample Room ministered satisfying pub food and nerve calming libations.  And get this, free wifi throughout.  I’ve experienced many a business hotel that could take lessons from this establishment.  I caught up on email and am now studying road conditions and weather forecasts.  Looks like a couple of causalities from a rollover an hour behind us on I70.  And the roads should be open tomorrow but the storm won’t really clear until mid day.  We can likely make it to Austin tomorrow, but there’s no guarantee.  We’ll adapt.  I can do some work in the morning.  Hopefully the kitchen will be open for breakfast.