Moonlight

Since it's like the biggest moon tonight in the last 20 years, figured I'd write a poem to commemorate the event.

Through window, moonlight glows
A depression left in your pillow I see
You've never been further from me

It's been our companion and friend
On the beach, in sand it glowed
Our bodies entwined in love throes
It reflected off the lake
Between us, love we did make
We gazed upon it in fields of flowers
Our love, it's awesome power

A depression left in your pillow I see
Come back to me

No Guarantees In Life

Well I found out today that the General Manager at the Chick-fil-a in Selma died this past weekend from a massive heart attack on his way home from work. He was 54. I didn't know Dan personally, but I go to the place at least 5 or 6 times a week. Every time I went into the store, he would be working a register, filling orders, or drinks just like his lowest level employees. He always had a smile and really set a great example for his workers and for the culture of the restaurant chain. He probably didn't have to do that, but he did and it was one of the main reasons I used to go there so often. Also because I liked the food.

There really are no guarantees in life. My own dad was 43 when he passed on. Here one day, and then gone the next. For me, I don't want to sit on my death bed having regrets for all the things I wish I would have done. That doesn't always mean how many races you do or how many places you see. It also means, how did you treat your neighbor. Did you smile and say hi, or did you just walk on in the house. It means, not compromising your integrity and being magnanimous. Things like that.Eevery day you wake up, you've got an opportunity to try again. One of my favorite quotes is:
It's not how many times you fall down, it's how many times you get back up.

So no matter how much you screw up, you have free will, and you can fix it. You can not fix the past, but you can fix your future.

Ran 6 miles, kinda crappy. Think I was dehydrated or something, just didn't come together very well for me. Was at Gold's. Working on heart rate training. I have decided on the clean and jerk with a front squat for time and reps, will probably be the single best exercise to increase the strength and size of the heart and it's ability to move massive quantities of blood. Besides actually running wind sprints, this movement is one I will be focusing on quite a bit. Using 135 barbell right now. Went 3 sets of 5 and 1 set of 4. Try it, and you will see what I am talking about. You can take your HR from 110 to 180 in about 10 seconds.

It looks similar to this, but only one squat and then repeat the movement:

Change of Plans

Well Leadville and Tahoe are out. I found this race called La Ultra - The High.
Actually from one of those targeted ads on the right hand side of my facebook page.
Other than actually climbing Denali or something like that, this is the ultimate high altitude, mountain, running adventure. And, BTW, I freakin hate being cold and camping at night and being cold in a sleeping bag, so no Denali like stuff for me. I submitted an inquiry on-line, and the RD gave me permission to run the race. My credentials are pretty light, judging by the standards of the 3 people who ran it last year, but I am excited and pumped. My only real qualification is finishing Hardrock 100 last year. This is in the foothills of the Himalayas, the most bad ass mountain chain in the world. In northern India.
What is actually pretty coincidental, my Tahoe and Leadville trips, I bought the travel insurance. First time ever. So I should get a refund on the ticket. The Tahoe race entry I can roll to next year. Not sure about Leadville race entry.
I still will have to train hard. I will need a very,very strong heart. Need to figure out how to do heart-ups or or heart-presses/curls or something.
Anyway, went for 7.5 miles today, slow. Ran over to Gold's did a little stretching and some easy lifting to work out the kinks from Saturday.

4:46 50K. Hip, Hip, Hurray!

Yea, you read that right. Fast. Second fasted pace I've ever run. But, overall I had the best race I have ever done. Managed my hydration, salts, and fuel perfectly. No issues. Had 2 gels per loop on 1st 2 loops, and 3 gels on the last loop. Drank 2 to 3 16oz water bottles per loop. (loops were 10 miles). Had coke at almost every aid station, for all 3 loops. Oh and 6 Scaps per loop or so, about 2 per bottle. To run a 9:13 average pace, you gotta dip down in the 8min 7:30 zone, quite a bit. First loop ran alone, got into a spot and it almost seemed like I was the only guy out there. Second loop ran with Brain Ricketts. This due is like 6'4, he's running 8min pace, looks like he ain't even moving. I had trouble keeping up. Had to weave in and out of all the 10 milers here, which is always fun. Parted ways at the 7 mile aid station on loop 2. Kinda eased in behind some other dude that running a good race, but he was running 9ish. Seemed a bit slow, but I needed the recovery. Came in on loop 2, looking good. Left on loop 3, behind the same dude, he was starting to slow down, so I went on around. In the first half of the loop, I passed about 6 or 7 50k'ers. And then didn't see anymore. Up on the damm, I was running 7:50. Popped smoke on some ass! Anyway, was by myself the whole loop. Finally, walked about mile 6.5 of loop 3, but really just stopped for a second. Thinking, shit man. This fuckin blows. Anyway, I pulled up my big boy shorts. Hammies were screaming from all that speed work earlier in the week. Which paid of nicely, by the way. Was about 1'500 yards from the finish line, still in the trees. Freakin did a superman and busted my ass. Ran the whole race and fell down at the very end. Oh well.
Ended up 3rd in my age bracket, again. Beat my 50K PR by 22 minutes, and still got 3rd, just like last year. Arrrrgh. When I got done, I busted out my party hat and glasses. Drank about 7 beers, while still at the park. And they had fajitas, so that was cool. Ate some of them. Meet a new trail runner from Austin, told her to get hooked up the the Hill Country Trail Runners. She kicked ass, 5 hours. She is also a soccer player, so she has one hell of a running base. And, she is pretty cute too.
Anyway, left the park. Stopped off at Hooters to celebrate a bit. Had about 3 more. Sat there BS'in with one of the girls that used to work there, was hanging out with her parents, and her sister (still works there). Anyway, she was lookin hot. That party fizzled out, so I got on to the house. Poured a vodka neat, it wasn't going down well at all. So busted out some Becks. Had about 5 more tall boys.
Surprisingly, I don't feel like total shit today. I'm moving good, feeling good, little bit of a headache. haha

Yea, It Sucked

Was going to bag my run after work, but those NB Minimus were calling my name. Damm fine shoe. Kinda wanted to see what I could do after a week of speed work. Went for 9 miles, averaged a 8:29 pace. Had trails, road, urban terrain, hills. Not bad. Felt great afterwards. Kinda makes me wish I woulda started those 800's about a month ago. Was trying to get a feel for what pace I should try to set on Saturday at the prickly pear 50K. I really would like to go 4:30, but that's probably a stretch at 8:50 pace. Prob, try to keep it at about 9 pace for 20 miles, then hopefully under 9:30 for the last ten. Gotta use all my experience to make sure I fuel right and stay hydrated. Anything under 5 would be bad ass, but under 4:45, I'm going to get wasted and party to celebrate!!! One of the girls from "the office" was in a bad car accident a while back and is doing physical therapy to recover her ability to walk again. So I'm dedicating my 50K run to her. If all goes well I may beat my PR by 30ish minutes. We will see.
No day is promised to you. Make the most of each day. An old acquaintance of mine believes in re-incarnation. So he used to say, the body is just a temporary vessel, so ride the fuck out of it, you'll get a new one.
Well he could be right, I don't know. But, I rather like to go with. God gave you this body, don't waste it. If you can do, then do. I don't run for God per se, but he probably enjoys seeing you pursue the limits of the potential that he has endowed you with.
So, I'm going to give it all I got, and see what I come up with.

Books

I've been wanting to write about my love affair with books.
My grandma taught me how to read when I was two or three. I don't actually remember this but that is what she used to tell me. I used to read encyclopedias in the second grade, and the third grade I read most of the Greek mythology. I didn't understand it all, but Hercules and Jason and the Argonauts, Medusa, Diana, Hermes, were all pretty bad ass stories. In the sixth grade I read all kinds of Louis L'Amour. With the classic line, "the attack broke just as quickly as it had begun" I read Lord of the Flies in the 6th grade, cause it sounded like a cool story, but I didn't get as much out of it as I did in the 11th grade. My senior year in high school, they kicked me out of art. Which wasn't a big loss, I thought making clay pots was stupid as hell. I guess they thought they would punish me by making me a library aide. They were wrong. I loved it. The librarian was a little off, but a pretty nice guy I guess. He let me have like 50 books they were going to discard because they were so old. I read books mostly, and never figured out the Dewey decimal system. So what. In the Army I used to read all the technical manuals, field manuals, SMCT, and regulations for fun. For the last 10 years, I get to read technical manuals at work. They are pretty dry, but I just skip through the bullshit, and get down to the nitty gritty. They are fairly complicated, but not like programming. That shit is hard. Not my style. I started building my library about 10 years ago. I used to spend 100 a week at Barnes and Noble, or half-priced books, or Boders. Now I just buy on Amazon. With the advent of the Kindle, it has been predicted that books will go the way of the dodo bird, and that may be true. I bought one in 2009. I read like 5 books on it the first 2 months. It is a nice product, I won't lie there. I was really excited about it. But, I don't use it much anymore. I've got about 1,000 books. Probably comes out to a ton of books. ha. They range from classical novels, to history, economics, politics, sociology, etc.. Hell I kept almost all my books from college, since I didn't have to pay for them. In history, it ranges from Greek and Roman, all the way up the modern era. I have been buying quite a few books from the Mises Institute. I can't stop. I read most all of Hemingway, and currently working on Erich Remarque. Just wherever my thoughts, lead me, there I go grabbing another book. I'm bad about reading a hundred pages, and starting another book. I wonder sometimes, when I die, "WTF is my sister going to do with all these books?" Who knows, maybe they can be donated to a library, if they even have real books then. If not, maybe the will just end up in a landfill. Anyway, don't ask to borrow any. You'll never return 'em anyway. If I like you, I'll probably just give you the damm book, and buy another copy.
If you are not much of a reader, try it sometime.

Ah Hell

Dammit, Larry was right. Shouldn't be doing speed work everyday. I knew that, but hell push the limits.
Hammies were tight today, opted for 3 mile run at lunch, but at a much faster pace than my typical 10 min pace. Didn't have garmin, but prob was around 8:15, 8:30 pace.
Ran in the NB trail minimus after work, for 5 miles on the most rocky trail in Texas, Cibolo Creek. Check it out on Facebook, Cibolo Creek Running Club. The NB Trail Minimus ran like a champ. Once again, I pushed hard, averaged about 160bpm on the heart rate monitor. Not sure the pace, but pushed myself.

Read that the Army is re-vamping their PT test. Probably b/c all the douches they get coming in cain't pass it. The new test, is pussy. Read about it on the National Guard Facebook page.

Next hipster I see, I'm gonna choke 'em out.