Category: memes

One Word

Red and Rover Cartoon

One word to rule them all, and in a mindset bind them…

My word for 2006 is …

Fun

Sure, there’s not a whole lot of challenge or struggle there, but my major goal for 2006 is cementing the lifestyle. I want to have energy, I want to be fit, I want to be “that guy”. Sure, I could pick some tough and manly word, something deep and motivating, but to heck with that. I’ve got enough gut checks in the rest of my life, or have had. This running/swimming/biking thing – I do this to relax, to let it all hang out, to live life to the fullest so that when I die someone will say that he really sucked (the marrow out of life.)

So, my word is Fun.

Fun as in mud.
Fun as in bugs in the teeth.
Fun as in burning lungs trying to go full out with alternating breathing.
Fun as in cornering hard enough to hear the tires start to complain and praying that the April showers have washed all the March sand off the road.
Fun as in buying a pair of size 32 pants, then deciding to return them for a pair of size 30s.
Fun as in seeing how far I can fling the boys into the ocean while we’re at the beach.
Fun as in sunrises
Fun as in sunsets
Fun as in PR
Fun as in “Chicks dig scars”
Fun as in yelling at cagers
Fun as in standing on the road at the Tour of Connecticut screaming “Allez! Allez! Allez!” for the 30 seconds that it takes the peleton to scream by in May.
Fun as in beating my time at the New Haven 20K.
Fun as in finally getting off my butt to run with Susan again. (And the rest of the CT runners, too)
Fun as in getting the kayak back in the water and paddling until my arms ache
Fun as in chinups
Fun as in chopping wood
Fun as in seeing Jeff break three hours at Boston

Marathon year is over. Done. Finished. Water under the bridge. On the compost heap.

Fun year is here.

Now, to start planning another run at Mystic Places ;^) What are you doing for fun?

Meme o’ riffic

David reminded me that Dianna had tagged me for the fifth sentence in the 23rd entry deal. Here it is:

There was a park at Savage Mills along the middle branch of the Pax river that was between the lab and the hotel.

Well, unless we’re not counting parenthetical sentences. If we are, it’s:

Good times.

Which, frankly, I kind of prefer.

I chose not to tag anyone, mostly ’cause this is last week’s meme. Sorry. One day I’ll be with it enough to catch one of these before they’re over the hill (BTW, that’s a submariner metaphor, not an age thing).

Meme ‘o’ the week

Got tagged by Jeff

q: what are you training for now?
a: I’m planning on continuing my current theme of not necessarily doing the smartest thing, according to whatever training book you want to read, and doing my first marathon at the Mystic Places marathon (which, curiously enough takes place not in Mystic, but about 15 miles down the coast in Niantic) in late October, and then following it up with the New York Marathon the first weekend in November. My goal is to finish.

Actually – scratch that. Right now, the biggest reason I’m running is that I decided last winter that I was sick of being overweight. Not like really and truly fat, but at the point where I could make jolly and plump jokes. I am training because I want to be lean. The marathons are merely vehicles.

q: if you are raising money for a cause, what is it and why is that cause important to you?
a: I’ll be honest – I’ve done the MS 150, but kind of looked at the minimum fundraising goals as an entry fee. I’d like to pretend I’m doing something important, but frankly, my training is all selfish now, and likely to remain so for another year. I might do a charity ride/run, but right now fitness is all about me, so again, minimum goals would be mostly a donation from me.

q: what is the furthest distance you’ve run in your training and what is the furthest distance you will run before your event?
a: If you’re willing to count the attempt I made to train for the 2000 Disney Marathon back in 1999 (before I gave it up in favor of my first, and most impressive) sympathy pregnancy, I’ve hit 16 miles at a shot. This time around, I’ve hit 13 miles so far. On my training plan, 20 miles (3x) will be my long runs. Although I’m looking at Niantic more as a training run for New York than a marathon in its own right.

q: what is your favorite flavor of gu? (or other sports gel)
a: Uh – yeah. I’m kind of a luddite as far as this is concerned. I do the gatorade and bananas thing. I will rock a powerbar occasionally, but that’s usually whatever’s on sale. Oh, and cookies – I fuel my long runs/rides between gas stations and Chips Ahoys.

q: How many days a week do you run?
a: I try for five. I do Tuesday through Thursday, long run on Saturday, and try to do a short recovery run on Sundays. I’ll skip the Sunday runs pretty frequently, but we’re usually pretty active after church, so if I miss the run, I don’t feel bad. I try to do something cross-training wise on Monday and Friday.

q: Are you injured in any way right now? if so,what are you doing about it?
a: Nope, knock wood.

q: what is one item of running clothing/gear (shoes don’t count) you can’t run without?
a: shorts? ID? I guess shorts would be it – don’t see myself recreating the ancient Olympics, though mostly for legal reasons.

q: do you have a talisman you are planning on taking to your event? if so, tell us!
a: No.

q: Share one thing about yourself we don’t know.
I was quite the thespian in High School. Always did the school plays. Even got to pinch Penny Grigsby’s butt as lecherous old Uncle Willie in “The Philadelphia Story”. In college, even as an engineering major, I got a part in one of the Senior directing class one-acts. Despite having an audition that began with one of the directors asking “Uh, is this serious? Are you really an engineer?” After the performance, the biggest compliment my girlfriend (now wife) could muster was “Well, we could really hear you…”

And, just because I’m in an early generation, I’ll tag Jon, April-Anne, and Susan