Starting over.. again..

This seems to be a recurring theme, whether I'm talking about working out or cutting back on my drinking after rough month.

Last Thursday was the first time in over a month that I ran at work. A running club started here a few months ago and there was a lot of enthusiasm, but few participants. Eventually the "club" was down to three regular runners - the two that organized it and me. We were supposed to meet Monday and Wednesday night at 5:30 until one of the leaders started class. The date was changed to Tuesday and Thursday. One of the leaders left the company, the other started having classes Monday and Tuesday, and I started class on Monday and rugby practice on Thursday night. Eventually everyone stopped running.

Back in 2003 and 2004, I ran regularly at lunch. I set up a recurring "meeting request" in Outlook and the reminder would pop up every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:30am. Then my running partner would stop by my cube and get me. The hardest part was going downstairs and getting in my running clothes. It was nice having that. I would also run with my now former boss. He was the one that got me involved in ultra running and was a great pacer. Running negative split mile repeats for a 5K really helped me get faster and lose weight.

I also hit the gym yesterday after class. First time I've been to the gym since... well, I think I went a few time last month. It's not that I haven't been lifting, I've just been doing stuff at home with my dumbbells, medicine ball, and stability ball.

And then this morning, I biked on my rollers for the first time in probably 6 months. It was an easy 20 minutes, but it was just like.. well, just like riding a bicycle. Rollers can sometimes take a little getting used to, but I had no problem staying upright. It helps that I have them positioned between a brick wall and the sofa so if I do fall, I either have a somewhat cushy landing or I get scraped up. Let's just say all the scars on my right elbow and forearm aren't from childhood antics..

I'm not going to make any bold predictions on my training, but it's nice to slowly get into a routine again. I'm starting to look at my tentative racing schedule for next year and I need to get a move on, but I don't want to rush back into training. I'm dealing with some nagging injuries, aches, and pains that I want to get sorted out. It's better to deal with them now before they morph into something worse forcing me to take more time off.

This also might be the first time since I started running marathons in 2000 that I won't run one. I'll see what I can do, but I don't want to risk injury to keep a streak.

This is so unlike me, too.. what's all this "training" I'm talking about??

Tigers.. cont..

You have to admit.. game 4 on Saturday kicked ass. I was in Michigan over the weekend watching the game in a bar and the place went nuts when Maggs hit the 3 run shot. I don't know what it was like in bars or in living rooms across the nation, but I'm sure a collective cheer went up when the ball left his bat and eventually landed in the left field stands. It was, I know, followed by at least one "holy shit.. did you see that? did that just happen?" which came out of my mouth.

Everyone should be jumping on the Tigers bandwagon. The ALCS was so much more exciting that the NLCS is. I'm bored with it. I was watching the game Sunday and was just as bored with it as I was with watching the football game.

Would love to see a rematch of the '68 series with the Cardinals, but I really don't care who they end up playing. They've exceeded many expectations already this year and a WS win would just be icing on the cake.

How 'bout them Tigers!

I can't contain my exuberance and love for the Detroit Tigers. I've followed them since their World Series win in 1984 and all the crappy hang-your-head, when-does-hockey-start? seasons in between.

The list of my favorite players start with Chet Lemon in center, Trammell and Lou Whitaker up the middle, Darrell Evans, Kirk Gibson, Jack Morris, Matt Nokes (love catchers), Lance Parrish (see?), Frank Tanana (just cuz of the funny name), Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton (big ol' nibber in his lip), Travis Fryman (hated seeing him go to Cleveland), Tony Clark, Robert Fick (followed him from his days with Class A Whitecaps near my hometown), Jeff Weaver, Brad Ausmus, and Bobby Higginson.. to name a few of the past guys.

I remember attending my first and only game at old Tiger Stadium with a group from church. We sat along the third base line off left field aways.. and I think they played the Texas Rangers. They won it in either the bottom of the 9th or 10th on a Rob Deer home run. The guy either homered or struck out. I had never seen grass so green. It was also the first time I heard a nun swear.

I remember watching games on the local CBS station with Al Kaline doing the broadcast. The games started with this animated logo..



Ernie Harwell has one of the best radio voices..

.."and tell them Ernie Harwell sent you" was from a commercial for Citizens Insurance. Any Tiger fan should know that.


I cringed at the unveiling of their logo in the 90s of a tiger coming through the old English D; I cheered the signing of Trammell as the coach who brought along fellow mates Parrish and Gibson and hoped they would bring baseball back to motown; I wondered if it could get worse than 119 losses in 2003; and was hopefully optimistic at the signing of Pudge Rodriguez for bookoo bucks after winning the World Series with the Marlins.

A catcher to the rescue!

So it's only fitting that, after years of misery, the Tigers are in the playoffs. I don't care how far they go, either..

(and I say it like that because I don't want to make any bold predictions out loud, such as a World Series appearance or win.. but I'll take one.. or both! Shhh...)

.. and I'm sure they have a few thousand more fans, which includes a few thousand Yankee Haters. The more the merrier!

In the meantime, I'll enjoy their success while I can and continue to be a proud Tigers fan.

The final countdown

It's that time of year again.

I'm making my 2nd annual trip back to Michigan to celebrate homecoming with my college buds. I don't think my liver has recovered from last year, however, drinking with the rubgy chicks has helped get me into prime drinking shape. I should be able to hold my own for 2 nights of binge drinking.

The only small concern I have is that my father is looking forward to running the 5k with me Saturday morning. I've done numerous stupid things while drunk/hungover, so why should this be any different. Well, it's my dad.. that's why.

My mom emailed me yesterday to tell me that the course changed, so the whole thing is now on campus. I asked her to fax me a copy of the route, but she said dad is hoarding it. He doesn't want me to have any sort of 'edge' going into the race. I don't want to make any wild predictions, but I think I might beat him. The only way I couldn't would be if I didn't show up because I was still passed out.

It could happen, tho.

Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to this weekend. I've been looking forward to this weekend since last year and I've been looking forward to it since February when most of us were together for a wedding. I even told my boss then that I would be taking a couple days off in October. I think she knows it's a given every year.

I know I will come back on a bit of a low, but that's fine. The holidays are close and I'll be back in a few short months. After that, who knows, but I don't want to think about that just yet.

I have a few games of Flip Cup to focus on winning.

The Easy Part is Done

The application has been turned in. I have officially applied to graduate.. for 100 frickin dollars! I would say "it'll pay itself off in the long run," but I doubt that is true.

So on the 11th of September I started my fourth and final class of the graduate certificate program I am in. Things are going well and this looks to be a good sememster. I hope to get an A and finish on a good note. What I'll do with my 'degree', I don't know yet, but I hope to use it as a springboard into a new career.

However, since work is paying for it (when I get an A or a B), I have to wait a full year after completing the last class before leaving the company, which I hope to do. I have been here for 4.5 years and in 2008 or 2009, the company is looking to move to a location further away from the District. I can't say I'm all too thrilled about that because it means I will have to buy a car.. there's no getting around it.

Is it selfish or wrong of me to consider finding a new job because my company wants to move? I haven't had a car since August 2001 when I wrecked mine in an accident. Have I thought of buying one? Sure.. many times. But I want to buy a car on my terms and when I'm ready. I don't want to buy one when I'm not ready, and with my company moving, it makes me feel like I have to by a car on their terms.

Aside from the car situation, I just can't see myself with the company for more than 2 more years anyway. I've moved up to as far as I want to go unless I want a Manager position, which I really don't. My boss, who is on maternity leave until December, will be coming back part-time and won't be my boss anymore.. at least I don't think. She'll be working 3 days a week from home. I'll be happy when she's back, but it will leave me wondering about my position with the company and within our team when she takes backs the clients I took over for her.

Lots to think about.

Past Due

Earlier this year I made my one Resolution for 2006 - to be able to do 2 full chin ups or pull ups (whichever one has you have your palms facing in). I had hoped to complete them by September 30th. Well, that date has come and gone and I am no closer to completing my Resolution now than I was when I first made it.

Did I fail?

Nah.. I don't think so.

Like most Resolutionists, I was gung-ho at first as evident by my bi-monthly updates. Those came less and less and eventually I fell off the wagon. I got back on then I met someone who got me involved with rugby. From there, I injured my rotator cuff and stayed away from the gym for awhile. That time off kept me from doing my hangs and my push ups, the staples of my training.

So we're over a week into October. Now what?