Hell Week

This has been one crazy week!

It all started last Sunday as I was hoping to get a long run in before beginning my marathon taper. Having pushed off the run to get in the Charlotte Half Marathon, I thought a nice 20-mile morning jog would be a great way to cap my training. Then, I woke up. My stomach felt like a stampede was heading through, and I returned home before even starting my run.

I should have known that when I fell back to sleep for three hours, the run was doomed but I felt better around two o'clock and thought "hey, let's go". A bad idea gets worse. Now a run in the 85 degree heat is coming - and a long afternoon of puking set me up for a week that I really needed my "A" game.

By Monday morning I felt better and kicked off my team meeting at work with a great series of discussions that helped me feel better about puting off the impending Health Policy Final due Sunday night. Monday turned into Friday and the week had passed with little advancement on my final.
Saturday proved to be the turning point. In a desperate effort to atone for my ill fated run last weekend, I had two solid performances during the week and nailed a PR at the Skyline CPCC 5K. I ran the course in 21:38, better than 7 minute miles!

The majority of Saturday night was spent nailing down my final with a brief interruption for a sunrise 11-miler Sunday morning. After my run (the last long run before the Pig) I settled down for a push to the finish on my paper. As I update this blog, the submission has been in to the professor for a solid 23 minutes - 20 minutes ahead of the deadline...

So now you know why the updates have been non-existent this week. Hopefully, I will do a better job this week and will also try to post an update on the marathon...one week from today. In the meantime, I better get started on my Strategic Management Final - it's due Tuesday by midnight!

Medical University of South Carolina

College of Health Professions

The Chef is in the House

At the request of my buddy Chris, the blog is getting a visit from Chef Brian. Tonight was a good night in the kitchen and I wanted to share a new recipe I've been working on for roasted chicken. If you haven't tried beer-can chicken you are in for a treat. The recipe on the back of the holder is a little weak, so here is what I've come up with so far.

Beer Can in the Ass Chicken

>Use a can opener to remove the top of a beer can and remove about half of the beer (drink it sissy).

>Add a tablespoon of Liquid Smoke to the can and place it in the holder.

>Sit the holder (you can get one at any cooking store) in a baking pan and preheat the oven to 350 - I like convection roasting for the even browning, but a regular oven works.

>Mix equal parts; cracked pepper, Hungarian paprika, dry Italian herbs, and sea salt in a small bowl and set aside for a minute.

>Rinse a whole organic chicken and pat dry. Coat the outside of the chicken with olive oil or vegtable oil and then pat the dry mixture around the outside on the skin. Now the fun part...

>Sit the chicken on top of the holder (ouch...that hurts) and shove a cut lemon in the neck hole to prevent the steam from escaping.

>Place the pan in the oven.

>Roast until the internal thigh temperature reaches 180 degrees and remove. Let rest for 10 minutes and then enjoy being "The Man" as your significant other enjoys a succulent bird!

FORE - (tune) Cookies

Golf Season is finally here...well, sort of. This picture is from the "Coach's Cup" tournament last year. Ralph and I were taken to the woodshed by Al and Sean shortly after this picture was snapped. It one of several beatings I would take that weekend, but at least the beer was cold.
This afternoon storms ripped through the southeast and I spent most of my time thinking about playing golf while procrastinating over the papers that are due by the end of the month. I'm not sure which is more daunting, the research papers or the marathon. Both have a victorious finish line that follows months/years of hard work?
Last night while Toni was catching up on her rest, I treated myself to Sushi at one of my favorite restaurants; "Bonsai" in Davidson. It was a stormy outside and the combination of a hard run and a big plate of sashimi prepared by Simon was awesome. I took along the book I'm reading "Atlas Shrugged" and spent most of the evening reading. When I got ready to leave my fortune cookie had the quote - "your hard work is about to pay off". Go figure? I wonder how they know?

Racefest

Do you ever wonder where the days go?

It is 24 days until the Flying Pig Marathon and my mileage was supposed to peak tomorrow, but I decided on a two week taper instead of three. Making the change gave me the opportunity to run the Charlotte Racefest Half-Marathon this morning. One more race under my belt before wrestling with the Pig. I finished in 1:49:32 and felt pretty good. Unfortunately, I didn't plan very well and had my 7-mile tempo run the night before which made the 13.1 today a bit slower than I would have liked. Hopefully, my peak run next week will be a good trek and finish my preparation.

On the home front, it has been an awful week for Toni. She spent most of the week in bed and didn't move much except for a couple trips to see the doctor. Were not sure what it was, but the thing knocked her down hard. She's on the mend now and getting ready for a vacation home to see her parents this Thursday. I'm sure it will be a good trip.


This billboard came in an email a while back...I thought I lost it when I upgraded my computer, but found it again looking for a couple files.

Does this mean only married or ugly people drive convertibles?

Different Plans

One of my best friend's mom died this morning. I was sad for her and really didn't know how to communicate the shared feeling of loss we all experience when a loved one passes. I was glad we talked, and happy the suffering was over. It reminded me of a "Story of the Day" from Brian Andreas that came by email recently.

Here's the Story of the Day:
Different Plans
I don't know how long I can do this, he said. I think the universe has different plans for me & we sat there in silence & I thought to myself that this is the thing we all come to & this is the thing we all fight & if we are lucky enough to lose, our lives become beautiful with mystery again & I sat there silent because that is not something that can be said.

We're all thinking about you Benny...your Mom would be proud.

Toni took me to the "Metrolina Antiques & Collectibles Show" this wonderful Easter weekend (read: yuppie garage-sale). I must give her credit for her tenacity; she was clearly in search of a new table and reading lamp for our landing upstairs. The woman was not to be denied!!! After some good negotiating techniques, we found a beautiful double armed lamp for a fair price [the antique status of which is clearly manufactured]. Then in a last ditch effort to purge the remaining $135 in cash left in my pocket, she took the dealer of the table down from a-buck-eighty-five and left me with a solid 2 bucks! Anyone who says happiness doesn't have a price, clearly doesn't shop at a garage sale.

Notice anything strange about the photo? Sunshine, April, Easter, Master's Weekend...it was fricking cold! A bitter 39 degrees outside, that gave me some consolation about not playing golf and made laying on the couch watching the Master's (read: napping) more palatable. I decided against starting on the papers that are due towards the end of the month in favor of a deep sleep between holes 4-12, followed by a spicy bowl of chili.

The good news, I nailed a great training run. This week is a low mileage week for me to prepare for my peak before the marathon. There is a 400 ft. climb over 3 miles during the race and I simulated it on the treadmill and kept a solid pace the entire way. This afternoon starts hell-week. 10 miles tonight, followed by speed work, tempo work, and ending on Sunday with a 24-miler. After that it's a slow taper towards May 6th.

Finishing the Cooper River Bridge Run - 3/31/2007

Good Friday

I knew it was going to be a quiet day in the office, so the big guy came to keep me company. He likes to lay under my desk while I work, so we had a great morning - me knocking out the 196 emails that I was behind for the week, while he napped most of the morning away.

A good friend of mine sent me this book review from the Sunday NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/books/review/leonhardt.t.html?ref=review

I am a huge fan of the Sunday Times and really like the book review. The Radicals for Capitalism sounds like a good (but long) book that any aspiring libertarian might like. The quote about "socially liberal and fiscally conservative" being "the basic libertarian mix" made me laugh out loud. I'm not sure if that is the same as being a "flaming libertarian" but it was funny.

Below are a couple pictures from a recent business trip to the west coast. While travelling from LAX to Ventura, MAK and I stopped at the Santa Barbara Mission. What a beautiful place, I could have spent all day, but had meetings to attend. Sometimes, it really makes the travel worthwhile. You get a chance to make a 20 minute pit-stop at a place you might never visit. What a treat.

On a seperate note, check out my cousin Tracy's blog: http://www.tracerhawk.com - She has three amazing kids that are a constant source of joy. Her blog was the inspiration for mine.

Thx Tracy.

Waiting on the World to Change

I think when you are happy that a flight is only delayed by an hour, there must be something wrong with the system.

This morning started early in Chicago, but I'm back home and the sun is still up. I didn't get back soon enough to play in the Wednesday night shootout at the course, but the dogs were happy to see me. This new found appreciation for my presence was probably linked to tonight being Toni's late night at the office and I happened to be on feeding patrol.

Is it just me or does the whole issue of taxation just suck? I'm not against paying for the services we get, or defending the nation...but this process of filing taxes with the IRS is just about as painful as it comes. Not that I would trade my freedoms, but maybe we could return a bit more to the people if it wasn't so damn complex. Somehow, we seem to figure out all kinds of things; how to shop for groceries on-line, pay for tolls without stopping, maybe the IRS should be a little more like cell phone companies. They ALWAYS get their money, of course, I can't figure out that bill either.

Oh well, beats the alternative...

Well, here it goes.

It has been a good day today in Chicago. The weather held out nicely and I actually went for a nice run along the lake shore this afternoon and then had dinner with a former co-worker. I'm not sure why, but Chicago in the springtime always seems to improve my mood. God forbid the fact that I have to deal with O'Hare and US Scareways tomorrow!

I'm hoping by tomorrow, there will be a couple pictures for me to post from the Cooper River Bridge 10K from this weekend. I played a short bit of hooky from classes this Saturday and posted a 49:36 time in the race. Good enough for 2637 out of 29,000 runners, but much slower than I had hoped. The sheer volume of people made it hard to pass and the first couple miles were really congested. That said, it was an awesome experience and one I will repeat next year.

The marathon training is going well. I knocked out a 19 miler on Sunday and felt pretty good. If all goes well the pig just might fly in 32 days!

Good news on the school front...this semester is half over and I just might pass health policy after all - go figure? While on campus last week several of the o5 doctoral students were defending, and it was nice to see people finishing the research, and being over-whelmed by the satisfaction of accomplishment.

It seems like a long while off, but we'll get there - One Bite ata Time!