Random

2 movies I highly recommend: "Sunshine" and "Waitress"

Watched them over the past 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. "Sunshine" was actually my favorite movie so far of 2008 (not that it was released in 2008, that's just when I watched it). That includes movies I've seen for the first time such as "Good Night and Good Luck," "Once," "The Lookout,"and "Ratatouille." Each of those is admittedly a totally different type of movie but "Sunshine" was awesome. I was completely wrapped up in the story, literally sitting on the edge of my seat for the last 30 minutes of the film. It had its flaws but the story was pretty badass. Watch it.

I'm starting to feel really good on my runs. This may just be in my head but my legs and lungs feel very strong right now. 7 minutes per mile is now a full-sentence conversation pace run. The rest of my body needs to cooperate now that my fitness is coming along well. My stupid stomach won't get on pace (great pun, I know) with the rest of me. It's not something that slows me down to any noticeable degree but it's definitely something that would be better off not happening. Duh. I supposed if that's my only complaint about running, I'm not doing too poorly.

Warmer

The warmer weather brings with it some new considerations for running I haven't thought about in a long time. On Sunday and Monday - both days were right around 65 to 70 degrees - I ran a combined 20 miles and did not hydrate myself properly. I lost a ton of weight just because I sweat so much and never replenished my bod. This caused me to feel very tired all of yesterday afternoon with a mild headache running pretty constantly in my noggin.

Of course, given the predictability of Charlotte's weather it may get back down to 40 again next week so I won't have to think about proper hydration as much on my runs.

First race of the season is a week from this Saturday, so that's exciting. It's a 4 miler, which seems a somewhat non-traditional distance to race but given that I run/race that distance almost every Thursday I'm pretty used to the pacing. I'm shooting for a goal time of sub 24:00 with the bonus goal of doing 4 miles of sub 6 minutes. Of course if I accomplish the latter I'll obviously accomplish the former... The second goal is there to make sure I try to stay consistent with my pacing. I'm not sure how I feel about negative splits in a race this short but I'm pretty much going to go out hard and just hold on tight. I'd like to place in my age group. It might happen.

I also got some badass new racing flats from Asics. They are, according to their manufacturer, the lightest racing shoes Asics has ever produced for the US market. I got one of the last 3 pairs in my size off zappos.com so that must mean they're pretty popular. I haven't gotten to take a mini spin in them but I'm going to try and get a couple of miles in them before the race. They look super fast. Just what I need.

Baseball

Andddd the 2008 Yankee season is (more or less) underway with the completion of the first exhibition game. A win, albeit against a college team and not a drubbing like the Red Sox shoveled on their collegiate counterparts (classy guys), is a win.

Phil Hughes is going to be better than Joba and IPK. Consider it set in stone. His mental composure and pure stuff combined with his mental capacity for the game make me almost too excited to type two-handed.

Igawa - in hindsight - was not worth 46 million dollars. Luckily hindsight has shown me that gem of a realization. I might trade a piece of broccoli for him. Consider this; I like broccoli because it has a lot of potential for a vegetable but doesn't taste all that great and takes a long time to really appreciate. Igawa may or may not be worth a piece of brocolli.

the white boy is back

Just got back last night from El Salvador, an experience on which I will elaborate more later on this week. It's hard to describe a trip like the one I had without rehashing it several times in my head.

It was so nice to get back to America and all the spoils I normally take for granted. I was able to do cardio just about every day after working while out of the country but nothing really great; only pretty limited stuff. Did manage about a 3.5 mile run along the El Salvadorian coast on Saturday and because it was on the sand actually felt quite sore the next day. Sandblasting is fun. Looking forward to getting back in gear and ready for my March 15th Shamrock 4 miler.

a day off

Today is the first time I've voluntarily not run in what feels like forever. It was so hard to not lace up the ol kicks, especially considering how nice the weather was. My calf really needs it though so I'm hoping that this will clear up some nagging soreness that has been interfering with my daily awesomeness.

I've been antsy all afternoon because of this. Screw you recovery.

finally

I finally managed to feel good after a long run today. It was a nice feeling, to say the very least. While 8ish miles may not be long for some...it's long enough for me. Doing it in under an hour was a nice bonus.

Here's a link to the map. Not that it's interesting in the slightest. Fair amount of elevation change though, seemingly as much as can be had anywhere near where I live.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1603704

Satisfaction

It will never get old watching New England based sports teams fail when it counts the most.

Throughout the broadcast last night Troy Aikman repeatedly said "The Patriots were so good at (insert stat here) during the regular season..." Unfortunately for the Pats and their fans, 18-0 didn't really matter during the Super Bowl. It was more of a hindrance than a help as all the Giants were playing with more motivation than usual to prove that someone could beat the unstoppable.

Small consolation though it was that one Manning won the Superbowl and an MVP award it was still hard to watch the game while only getting brief looks at a street-clothed Peyton sitting in a luxury box cheering his brother on while sitting awkwardly far away from everyone around him.

Superbowl 41 MVP: P. Manning
Superbowl 42 MVP: E. Manning