A new month

Sorry I haven't been keeping up everyone, but life has been busy and really haven't felt like sharing a lot of what's been going on with everything in my life. As the kalendar turns to a new month, hopefully better things are on the horizon and the month closed pretty well for me all things considered. I ran less miles in September than I had since I started running. I took almost 3 of the 4 weeks off completely. My weight has jumped up to almost 180 pounds, a combonation of too much junk food/beer and no running. It actually probably isn't that bad, I just never changed my diet after I stopped training for Chicago. I have been struggling with pain in my abdomen for the last 3 weeks or so and the sad truth is that I finally after all this time may have found out what keeps bothering it. I wear a uniform that is supplied to me at work. All of the pants have a 32 inch waist. I remember when I first got them, I had a pair or two of them that were a little snug...over the last month, they have all become that way as my waist has grown a little. Bottom line is I spend 12 hours wearing pants that are too tight in the waist and its pushing on my midsection, causing pain in my ab. I went out and bought a couple pairs of "dress pants" last night to wear for a couple weeks till my weight comes back down.

From a family standpoint, I have been trying to keep up with my family on the Western Slope a little bit more here lately, but that hasn't gone great. I called my mom on Sunday and she was a mess so I kind of let her cry a little, did what I could, but in the end we just said goodbye and left it at a 5 minute conversation or so.

Mustache week was a success for a local establishment and I could not help but take part. The deal was that Road 34, which is a combo bike shop/bar/deli that always has Original Coors on tap for $1 a pint would give you 1-10 free Coors every day, depending on the quality of your mustache. I walked in Monday night and the dude behind the bar promplty handed me a free beer. My mustache was worth only one free beer each day. By the time it was all said and done, I grew a crappy looking mustache to get 4 free Coors that would have cost me 4 dollars had I just bought them...totally worth it. It was a little late in the evening when they drew for the motorized cooler, so no new wheels for me.

Sorry everyone, no pics of mine, I must have forgotten, but it was still a good time for everyone involved and in retrospect, a great promotion for the bar. Thursdays in their dollar beer night and that was the big night for it. Lots of fun. :-)

I also returned to running yesterday, with 2 miles in just under 16 minutes, nothing too stellar, but I need to get some miles in before Chicago, partially to see if I can get my weight under control. Plus I need to see if the change in my pants solves the ab pain because it does get to hurting when I run. I plan to push to 2.5 tonight and see how I feel. I'm kind of getting excited about running again, if I can feel good and do it. The plan right now is for me to begin to get healthy, build some miles, and kick full training in again 18 weeks out of the Colorado Marathon and retry that one again.

Jaz is doing great, she's down almost 4 pounds since they put her on thyroid medcation and she is far and away faster than she used to be. Plus she's got a lot more "spirit". Very cool.

That's all for now.

September

It's been a long stretch, but life goes on. I have returned to running, and have been pounding out a consistant 5-6 miles per day again, with a couple on the TM on Saturday morning. My legs seem ok and knees seem healthy, hopefully it will all stay that way. Although Chicago is still out of the picture, I think the Crossroads Half, the Denver Half, the HCOTR Half, and the PF Chang Half are all still in sight. I'm really going to try to be attentive to my weight during this stretch, but all the while I need to probably start thinking about a spring marathon, or at least if I have it in me to run another one in the spring. I think more and more that I may stick with shorter stuff for now. I am really struggling with my concentration it seems. I'll let everyone know when I make that decision.

Jaz has been steadily improving, but a trip to the vet on Friday revealed that her weight has not moved since her surgery. She looks so much better, but after a quick blood test and and couple hours, we have found her to be hypo thyroid. Basically they said that I could feed her so little to the point that she might starve and still exercise her, and she probably wouldn't lose weight. 13 dollars worth of pills later, and they say it's quite possible that she'll be 10 pounds lighter in a month. She just has to take 2 a day for the rest of her life. Her coat feels so much better already. :-)

Tour De Fat was Saturday here in Ft. Collins, although I didn't get to participate because of work, I did get to spend some time in Old Town afterwards having a beer and talking to the people around

You can see how people are dressed and how busy it was down at the Trailhead. I actually spent the day before over at New Belgium Brewery, taking the tour, sampling some beers, just hanging out with Jaz in tow. The staff was already dressed up, getting in the spirit. One guy was wearing a lime green suit, but in the pocket were a turkey feather and a claw. He reached down to pet Jaz and she grabbed the feather out of his pocket and turned to me to give it like she had just retrieved a bird. Everyone thought it was the funniest thing.

There she is guarding the door of one of our watering holes.

With fall coming came the growing of the beard. This happens every year around this time. I think it's the long weekend for Labor Day that I don't have to shave over. I made it 11 days this time before the itching took it's toll. I was inspired by Tyler Foos, winner of the Horsetooth Half last year and bartender at New Belgium's Tap Room. I was thinking that his speed came from his beard, plus Squirrel has one too, but turns out that's not the case, as I am still slow. The beard is gone and that gets rid of my once a year urge to grow one. Plus I think they suck to run in anyways.

That's all for now.