Tennessee’s not on my side

In honor of today’s “Third Saturday in October” game with the Vols, and (admittedly) one of my favorite current commercials starring their most famous football player, a set of jingles. Bet you he wouldn’t sing these!

  • Tennessee can’t play football
  • Throw-up-in-a-pumpkin orange
  • Neyland is a sardine can
  • Get another fight song, please
  • Smokey is an ugly hound
  • I hate Rocky Top so much
  • Bama’s beat ’em seven straight
  • Soon enough it will be eight

2013 Running Stats

With a five-miler this morning, my 2013 running calendar is done. This marked the first year since I’ve taken up running that I set some pretty ambitious goals for myself. You might have followed my Twitter feed as I chronicled my yearly mileage with the hashtag #RunResolution. However, that was not the only goal that I set for myself in 2013. Here’s a look at my 2013 running goals.

  1. I will run at least 1,000 miles this year. I did it! According to my log, I finished with 1,117.31 miles.
  2. I will set PRs in the 5K (22:03 as of 12/31/12), 10K (51:12.8), and half-marathon (1:51:26). I only tied my 5K time, with another 22:03 on September 21 at the Duck and Run 5K in Athens. I did, however, set new PRs in the 10K (46:57 at the A Christmas Story 10K in Cleveland on December 7), and half (1:43:46 at the Team 413 Half Marathon in Homewood on April 13).
  3. If I can successfully register, I will run the Marine Corps Marathon on October 27, 2013, in addition to at least two half-marathons, including Mercedes in February. I didn’t manage to get in due to website problems that could only be rivaled by the government healthcare site, so Marine Corps will have to wait for another year.
  4. If I cannot successfully register for the Marine Corps Marathon, I will run at least three half-marathons this year, including Mercedes in February and Talladega in September. Talladega didn’t fit into my schedule, but I did run three half-marathons as planned: Mercedes in February, Team 413 in April, and the Huntsville Half Marathon in November.

Other interesting (well, to me, anyway) facts about this year:

  • Breakdown of mileage by month:
    • January: 92.37
    • February: 76.87
    • March: 87.19
    • April: 86.60
    • May: 121.37
    • June: 71.07
    • July: 103.24
    • August: 66.76
    • September: 79.10
    • October: 83.92
    • November: 120.51
    • December: 128.31
  • Time spent running this year: 170 hours, 40 minutes, 50 seconds.
  • Average pace per mile: 9 minutes, 10 seconds.
  • Fastest single mile: 6:11 on May 29.
  • Most miles run in a day: 18, December 21.
  • Most miles run in a week: 36.01, week of 12/15-12/21.
  • Number of different states I ran in: four (Alabama, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio).
  • Approximate number of calories my log says I burned: 120,000

I don’t know what my 2014 goals are yet. I’ll have to give that a little thought. Once I figure them out, though, I’ll post them so that you can follow along again as I run through 2014!

if Gollum sang “Call Me Maybe”

We dropped precious in our home
Hobbit came in all alone
We thought we’d gnaw on his bones
But now it’s in our way

We trades our soul for a ring
All of our life for this thing
Better than if we were king
And now it’s in our way

It’s riddle was told and
Answer was unknown and
Bright light, Sting was glowin’
Where’s it think it’s going, hobbit?

Hey, we just met you
And this is crazy
But it took precious!
We kills it maybe

It’s hard to leave here
Wants to stay free
But it took precious!
We kills it maybe

Hey, we just met you
And this is crazy
But it took precious!
We kills it maybe

All of the hobbitses —
Fat little theives!
But it took precious!
We kills it maybe

It took no time to get out
We took our time with our doubt
But then we figured it out
And now it’s in our way

Precious was there in his hand
That power his to command
We takes it back, understand?
Now it’s in our way!

It’s riddle was told and
Answer was unknown and
Bright light, Sting was glowin’
Where’s it think it’s going, hobbit?

(chorus)

things I learned from running a half-marathon

  • There are lots of like-minded individuals out there. There were over 5000 today.
  • It’s really freakin’ cold at 6 in the morning in February in downtown Birmingham.
  • Training would be useful for next time.
  • No matter how much clothing you wear when you run, you’ll warm up best by just running.
  • If it weren’t a matter of my legs getting sore/stiff, I really believe I could have run the full marathon at a ten-minute mile pace today. I wasn’t even breathing hard at the end. That knowledge is really heartening.
  • I like chocolate and berry-flavored Gu. Vanilla bean, not so much.
  • Running 13.1 miles generates some of the worst B.O. known to man.
  • It’s a lot easier to walk down stairs backwards when your legs hurt as badly as mine do right now.
  • It’s awesome to be able to eat a whole medium pizza for dinner and still quite possibly be calorie-negative for the day.
  • I’ve got my medal and my finisher’s hat, but I think that my biggest thrill was being able to put a “13.1” magnet on my truck, and know I earned it – running the whole way.
  • My wife is awesome for coming out and cheering for me in the aforementioned freezing temperatures. For that matter, everyone else who stood outside and cheered is awesome too.
  • I’ve come a long way in nine months – from couch to 13.1 miles.

twitter change

To those of you who follow my tweets through this site: I’ve had to change to private mode. Too many tweet spammers have followed me in the past. I reached the breaking point just now when I checked my account and saw a spammer who had used an offensive picture as their icon. I’m not going to keep allowing that.

Unfortunately, this means that the widget below the menu will no longer work. I’ll remove it later when I have a little more time (I’m on my lunch break right now). From now on, if you want to follow me, you’ll have to have a Twitter account and request to do so (an easy way to do that is to click the link below the widget and then follow the directions on the page). I’m sorry it had to come to this.

halfway through the Daniel diet

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To answer a few questions:

  • Has it been difficult? Not as much as you might think. Kelly has been instrumental in this effort: she’s looked up and tried lots of new recipes. My lunches, even the ones eaten out, have usually been pretty good.
  • Do you feel any different? Yeah, maybe a little. I definitely don’t feel as “stuffed” at the end of a meal, even a big one. I feel like my body may be digesting the food a little better as well.
  • Have you lost any weight? Yes, a little. The last time I weighed was yesterday, and I had lost about three pounds from the beginning of the month. I haven’t really been doing any exercise to speak of, so I’m left to believe that it’s simply been a matter of eating less overall, and more of the right things.
  • Are you taking a vitamin to supplement your diet? Yes, when I remember to.
  • Are you going to keep doing this after February? Not full-time, no. I think that I could easily see myself doing it for a week at a time or so, though. As mentioned above, it seems to have a good effect on my body.
  • What’s the best thing that you’ve eaten so far? Probably the eggplant Parmesan, although the spinach enchiladas, spinach quesadillas, summer zucchini casserole, and the black bean chili that we’ve made have been quite good too. I’d eat any of them again.
  • Anything that you’ve tried that you wouldn’t eat again? Actually…no! It’s all been good.
  • Come on, level with us. How many salads have you eaten? Thus far, four.