50 kilometers

50K. that's what's on my mind today.

on saturday, i'll be taking my first shot at running the 50K distance. i'll be running on trails, in a warm climate and my pops is gonna be there to make sure i don't die.

haha. just playin'. 50K (31 miles) isn't much more than a marathon, so i know i'll be just fine. still, since this is my virgin voyage, i can't help but acknowledge that i do have some nerves piling up.

i've decided to not race it, to just take my time and enjoy the journey, wherever it takes me (hopefully not off course!)... and in making that decision i realized that my plan is quite the cliche metaphor for life.

well, shit, things become cliche because they're RIGHT, right?

right.

:-)

Fucking up

i'm stubborn. no, seriously... like, really stubborn.

it's a family trait... passed down from alpha male to alpha male in my family. my dad is a mule... when he's made a decision (right or wrong) there's no budging from it. he cannot be budged.

my granddad (dead now) was even worse. at 135 pounds and full of booze, he was one of the feistiest men on the planet. a boxer who was always ready to fight, one did NOT want to cross him because he had no problem punching his way out of an argument. he was such a stickler for fighting (and small in stature) that he was nicknamed "skeeter" (as in "mosquito", an annoying blood-sucking insect that just wouldn't go the fuck away).

i like to think that i've broken the family tradition of always being right by being able to admit that i fuck up (from time to time ;-). and will probably continue to do so.

but, i do tend to sugarcoat it.

no one's perfect.

(image via skull swap)

'Sgetti tacos

don't laugh. growin' up i ate plenty of potato chip sandwiches... with ketchup. and my dad's specialty outside of frozen pizzas and mac-n-cheese happened to be fried bologna sandwiches.

yes. they were disgusting. but i ate them anyway, 'cuz i didn't wanna hurt my dad's feelings.

at least he tried, and there are plenty of people out there who would probably love to have a father who tried.

thanks, dad! next time you visit i'll make some 'sgetti tacos for ya!

(image via ihmp)

Going all in

this weekend is gonna be pretty special for me. not only am i takin' a few days off from the daily grind, but i'm also gonna head down to st. louis, spend some quality time with family and then top it all off by running the st. louis marathon on sunday the 10th.

i've spent the last 18 weeks training diligently, through snow, sleet, ice, hail, bitter cold and fatigue. i've endured shin splints, piriformis syndrome and a wickedly unforgiving thunderstorm boasting 35 mph winds during a 20 mile training run that was intent on making me an i-give-up-pussy.

i NEVER gave up. i ALWAYS gave my best. and in doing so, i've gotten exponentially faster. i'm as fit as i've ever been in my entire life and by golly, from all that core work i actually have a six pack now! (just icing on the cake)

but on sunday morning at 7 a.m., all of that preparation will be behind me. it will be stored... locked and loaded, held deep within me, to propel me forward at 7 minutes a mile for 26.2 miles.

i hope.

and even if i don't reach that lofty time goal (st. louis is quite a hilly course), i will still have plenty to be happy about. i mean, my pops will be there and i'll be traipsing through one of my favorite cities on earth.

but there's no negativity in my game right now.

i'm gonna run the shit outta that race.

Halloween

the best halloween ever was when i was a kid. eight, maybe nine years old.

it's freezing out. but dad (newly divorced) went out in the cold, as the slave victim of me (the blood thirsty vampire), with nothing but a loin cloth and a leash.

at least, that's how i remember it.

it was just us. and everyone loved our costumes.

i was really happy that night.

really happy.

Fridays!

totally radical dudes! know who else is totally radical? my pops.

even better, i get to hang with my pops on this friday... which is rare, so GO ME!

one of the bazillion reasons why i love my pops so much is cuz he's... smart! he gets it! he realizes that, in the end, it doesn't come down to bronze age fairy tales and ghost stories.

he knows that's all bullshit!

fuck yeah, let's celebrate!

FUCK YEAH TURTLE POWER!

:-)

Dope ass shit

when i was living in china and was working at vertex in beijing (2001 or 2002 or something; it's all a vodka haze now) i had a lot of free time on my hands. i'd sit in the production office and create "art" on the paint program in windows. i totally forgot about them. then recently, my dad sent me a disc that had a bunch of old files on it, including those digital masterpieces.

so now...

i present to you...

some dope ass shit:

 

 

 

 

 

yep. i thought those were pretty cool too.

my fave is the frumpy naked chick with no feet and no hands oddly shaped tits and no face cuz nothing is more sad than a frumpy naked chick with no feet and no hands oddly shaped tits and no face.

thanks dad!