Bike MS Valero 2010 Alamo Ride to the River

Wow, what a great and logistically challenging weekend! After months of training on the bicycle the MS 150 is finally here and gone. 2 days, 160 miles ridden, over 7000 calories burned, gallons of water and Gatoraid consumed, hundreds of dollars for Multiple Sclerosis raised.... It all began Friday evening, driving to the Day 1 finish line in New Braunfels to park Jennifer's truck so we will have a way home upon arrival the next afternoon, then driving back to San Antonio to get our bikes and gear ready. Saturday morning we pack everything into Betty's truck and drive over to the Alamo-Dome for the start of the ride. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation and at 8:30am after the line-up was announced and the National Anthem was sung, we were off! Day 1 was a very good ride. The weather was absolutely beautiful. The pace was great and everyone was very friendly(of course because cyclists are among the nicest people in the world, they just want to have a good ride and then maybe drink a couple beers after.... must be all those released Endorphins or something). We stopped at about every third water-stop just to relax a minute, replenish our supplies and socialize, then it was back on the bikes and before you knew it we reached the rest-stop at mile 70 and had a decision to make.... finish up the day by going to the left were the finish line was a mere 2 miles away.... or go to the right and tack on a 30 mile loop to put us in this years Century-club for riding 100 miles in the first day. Obviously it wasn't much of a choice because we are weird-O's and like to punish ourselves and besides what's an extra 30 miles between friends? After 100 miles of Day 1 were finished and I had my Century patch in my pocket all I wanted was food and a tall cold beer.

Now we have to drive back to San Antonio, where the boys are spending the day with their Aunt Jessica, do some laundry and get some sleep because the alarm clock is going to start ringing at around 4:30 in the A.M. Sunday Wake up, pick up Betty and drive BACK to New Braunfels for the start of the Day 2 60 mile ride back to San Antonio. The first 30 miles or so were great. I felt really good but some where in that second hour my knee started to tighten up and my pace fell off quite a bit but luckily I have a great team to keep me going and we struggled for about another 20 miles together but when there was less than 10 miles to go i switched from this 'really hurts' mode to 'I don't care if this hurts I'm going to finish this ride' mode and we powered through. We even skipped the last rest stop just to get it done! Then BANG! We were done, we rode our bikes triumphantly into the Alamo-dome like a band of conquering heroes, received our MS150 pins and complimentary hamburger and potato salad lunch, changed clothes and drove Betty's truck BACK to New Braunfels to pick up Jennifer's truck and then drove BACK to San Antonio where it all started just two short days before. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it. Next up, San Antonio Marathon....32 days and counting.

Almost time....

Wild West Hammer-Fest pictures. Well it's almost time for the proverbial rubber to hit the literal road. Only 11 days until the MS 150 Ride to the River. It is going to be a weird event. Somehow we are going to have to ride 75 miles to New Braunfels (which isn't even 75 miles away) on a Saturday morning, then find a way back to San Antonio that afternoon. Then we are going to have to get up extra early Sunday morning and drive BACK to New Braunfels to ride back to San Antonio.... seems pretty complicated but it's all for a good cause so that makes it OK.
47 days until the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Marathon. Got some new running shoes Friday night and put them to work running another 15 miler on Saturday. Took off about 2 minutes from my first 15 mile time but I know, that means absolutely nothing. I am really going to have to buckle down and take this last month and a half of training more seriously than anything I've ever done before. 15 miles is awesome, and to date it is the longest distance I have ever run, but that being said, run 15 miles and you STILL have 11.2 miles to go, to finish a Marathon!
Chipmunks Motivational Corner: "Adrenaline goes a long way. After you finish 17 and feel good, it will only be nine more. Only nine miles to a life goal. If your race is in the morning think when you're eating lunch the day before, wow, this time tomorrow I'll have finished my Marathon."-- Jean Marie Contreras

54 Days....

Saturday was the Lavernia Wild West Hammer-fest Bike Ride. A nice little 65 mile jaunt through some old Texas towns like LaVernia of course, Stockdale and Sutherland Springs. This was a tough ride full of headwinds, Chip seal roads and rain but we stuck it out and finished in a relatively good time of less than 4 hours. Sunday was supposed to be long run day but with the impending rain storm, a lawn that was in much need of tending to and the fact that my legs felt like Jell-O I made the Executive Decision to skip it. Watched a very good Documentary called 'The Spirit of the Marathon' about 6 very different people training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. It was inspiring but it also made me feel even more nervous about my own upcoming event. Am I doing enough to prepare? Am I doing too much?
54 days from now, I will put on my Cocked-n-Locked Endurance Sports jersey and line up with about 30,000 runners from around the world heading into the uncertain and for me, unknown lengths of 26.2 miles of roads to run. Now it's getting exciting...... Chipmunks Motivational Corner; "Running changed my life as it will change yours, just give it a chance. Once you get that blood moving, it's show time!" - Wilfredo Melendez, US Soldier

I must be butter, because I'm on a roll..........

Well well well, look who is writing two blog entries in the same week. I feel as prolific as Stephen King. OK, that's stretching it a bit but yes this is an abnormality. I have absolutely nothing to write about that will be of any interest, to anyone, but I really do need to get back in the habit of updating this daily. In case anyone reading this has recently been given/won/inherited/stolen/swindled or other-wise bam-boozled a large amount of money and was wondering what to buy me let me help you with my wish list; 2011 Harley Davidson Night Rod. That's it, that's all I want. You don't even have to go pick it up you can just give me 20k and I will be so kind as to do all of the leg work.

Chipmunks Motivational Corner: "In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a satisfaction in that." -Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon Co-Founder

59 days till the San Antonio Marathon. Yikes.

Yikes!

My sister Kristan was asking me if I still had a blog and so I looked to see when my the last entry was put in here and it is dated August 4Th...... I suck so bad at the 'making sure to keep my blog updated game'. So what have we missed? I don't even remember.... Keith's birthday BBQ, Kris' birthday shindig, Labor Day Whine Run in Dry Comal Creek Vineyards, Zoo Run, Poth Ride and I've finally broken the 15 mile run barrier. There is 61 days to go until the Rock-n-Roll Marathon and 25 days until the MS 150 Bike Ride and plenty of stuff in between to keep me busy so maybe I'll be a bit better about getting entries in here in a more timely matter.

I don't have much to write about and I don't have any cool pictures to put up, but, I felt that since it is a new month(August already?) I had better type something or I am likely to procrastinate and next thing you know it will be September and so on and next time you look up it will be 2011 and I'll be wondering why I don't have any blog entries. So update time I guess, 94 days till the San Antonio Marathon and 65 days till the MS 150 Ride to the River.

Los Chupacabras De La Noche 10k Trail Run 2010

This is what happens when you do a 10k run through the forest in the dark, over loose rocks and low hanging branches and exposed tree-roots....and I wouldn't have it any other way. What I'm referring to of course is Los Chupacabras De La Noche. One of my favorite running events of the year. The weather this year actually cooperated(well, more so than last year) and the humidity couldnt have been more than 85%. I finished pretty well with a box score of 25th person in my age group(about 90 people in my bracket) 95th male and 118th person overall (out of 912 people who finished the race). Jennifer and Carol both did very well also and thankfully our whole team finished safely in one piece, although Jenn crashed at mile 2, I bit it at mile 3 and Carol decided to wait till she was within eye-sight of the finish line to take a header! After the run, Carol, Jen and I met Martin at Momaks restaurant for a post race Burger and beer. It was much needed. I can't wait till next year so we can do it all again.

Feelin Irie

I'm glad this whole blog thing isn't graded, because I fear I would fail the class miserably. Unless, of course, the assignment was to only write once a week and to be about absolutely nothing in general, in which case I would undoubtedly pass with flying colors. I think I have the Seinfeld of blogs. I could pitch it as "A Blog About Nothing". Actually, I finally got my Dreadlocks! They are only a couple of days old but I absolutely love them. I may never cut my hair again. Friday after work Jenn, the boys and I went to Books-A-Million to get some new reading material. Keith couldn't find anything he liked, Kristopher got "How to Train Your Dragon", Jenn got the first installment of the Percy Jackson and The Olympians Series for us to read in an attempt to make them more interesting to the boys, i.e. If Mommy and Daddy read it, it must be worth a look.... I think they should give out Psychology degrees to all parents ... and I got the first book in the Millennium Trilogy "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".(The boys will not be reading that) Jenn and I also watched the movie. I wasn't sure, at first, if I liked it but once I was a couple of days removed from the graphic nature of the film I realized that it was quite good. It is on Streaming on Netflix if you want to give it a shot but I think they only have the subtitled version. The DVD has a dubbed version in English from the set-up menu. I am now ready to settle in to reading the book series. The second movie comes to theaters here in San Antonio July 16Th but I think I will go in the proper order this time and read the second book before I see the second movie. Francis and Beau and their children came over Sunday so we Bar-B-Que'd and had a couple of drinks. It was fun as always. We watched "Whip It" because they had never seen it. Jenn and I have seen it already but I like that movie well enough so it was OK.
Other than that, the rest of the weekend went pretty well. Long bike ride on Saturday and a long run on Sunday can only mean one thing... sore legs on Monday.

July 4th weekend/130 Days till the Marathon

What an outstanding weekend! It started Saturday morning with a great 57mile Castroville ride. Then we (Jenn, Betty, the boys and myself) all piled in the truck and went to a 4Th of July celebration out in the Pleasanton, Jourdanton, Devine Triangle. It was probably the most Texan party in the history of parties in Texas. There was BBQ, Shiner and Lonestar Beer, Skeet and Pistol shooting, Cigars and Pinatas.

Sunday we sat around with Aunt Jeanne and Uncle John and had some great conversation for much of the day until it was time to make the drive back to San Antonio. Jenn and I met Carol and Martin at the Palladium to catch a movie, then it was off to Stonewerks for a bit of Calamari and a tall Sapporo. It was a great day that was capped off with the neighborhood fireworks display in full bloom.

Monday was of course a Holiday so it consisted of lazing around the house all day. Netflix was definitely working over time on Monday! Well there is 130 days left till the Rock-n-Roll Marathon so it is time to ramp up the training a notch, our cross training on the bike is great of course we put in close to 80 miles a week but the actual running needs a boost. New running shoes coming soon hopefully then perhaps a new iPod and presto you've got the recipe for some serious street time.

Has it really been a whole week since my last post? What a slacker. Not much to report I guess, this being the "dog days" of summer and all. Saturday Jenn, Carol, Martin and I all piled in Carols brand new 2010 Jeep Wrangler and headed out to her family condo in Concan for some much needed time on the river. It was great, but exhausting. The 4th of July is this weekend so hopefully there will be some good goings on to write about. I believe we are going to Pleasanton hang out with Aunt Jeanne and Uncle John, which should be awesome as always.

I am all moved into my new office, now I have to figure out what to do with it. I have the same things I had in my cubicle but the office is so big it looks so sparse, it's actually kind of depressing, but, I do have my surround sound speakers set up so I can at least get some good tunes going. I'm going to need to get some color in here.

Saturday, run. Sunday, ride.

Chipmunks Motivational Corner - "Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." -Oprah Winfrey

Today's "Shirt of the Day" is the event T-shirt from the Carrabbas Classic Half Marathon Relay Jennifer, Carol, Betty and I participated in on Saturday. It was a great event, and my team-mates all did really well. I wished that we could have sampled the food that Carrabbas brought to feed the runners but the line was too long and we were all too hot, hungry and impatient to stand around and wait.

This is a picture Carol took of Betty and I waiting for Jennifer to finish her leg of the relay.

Sunday we went for a 60 mile bike ride to Rebeccas Creek Rd. Now that it is over and I have had a day to reflect on it, I'll say it was an awesome ride. Very challenging. While we were doing it I thought it was the worst idea ever hahaha. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad it's over. I can't wait to do it again....weird how that works.

MR. HAT GOES ON TOUR

Took my new Cocked-n-Locked® fitted cap on a whirlwind Promo Tour. What follows is a pic-tography of some of our exploits. Enjoy.

Dublin TX celebrates having the oldest Dr. Pepper bottling plant in the world. One weekend out of the year the town of Dublin is officially renamed Dr. Pepper TX. During their annual birthday bash they have charity running events, the Tour-De-Pepper bicycle ride, booths, arts, crafts, classic cars and of course all the free Dr. Pepper you can handle. The official Tour-De-Pepper T-shirt. Dublin High which is the site of Tour-De-Pepper packet pickup(try saying that 3 times fast).
Jennifer holding the hat at the starting line and the hat waiting for Jennifer at the finish line.

A very talented "Sand Artist".

Not sure who commissioned this statue but I think it was ill-advised and more than a little creepy.

On the way home we stopped for some authentic Texas Country BBQ. Think Rudy's except even better and even more expensive(about $65 for 5 people) pricey but very, very good.
It was a great road-trip, just like it was last year and I cant wait till next year to do it all again.

BORED AT WORK

"Chipmunks Motivational Corner" today is for my sister Kristan, but also applies to anyone else who doesn't think of themselves as "runners"; "The only difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry form." - George Sheehan

Well, I'm in the office but that is about the extent of my "working" today. There is absolutely nothing going on. I have posted a picture of my latest project...."The Rubber-Band Ball", 5 inches and 3 pounds of awesomeness. The mouse and Superman Pencil are for size reference points and the Dr. Pepper is just a segue into my next adventure; getting out of town on Friday and heading to Dublin, Tx which for one weekend a year is officially renamed Dr. Pepper, Tx but more about that when I get back. Anyway back to the grind, I just found 2 more bands under my desk.

Edge falls

Awesome ride today. Jennifer, Betty, Uncle John and I did a nifty little 60 mile loop from Bullis County Park to Edge Falls to Kendalia and back to Bullis. We traveled a bunch of roads that I do not know the names of so I won't even bother to try I'll just post the pics and call it a day.

Shirt of the day

First "Shirt of the Day" in a while. Not because I don't like the segment but because I haven't gotten any cool, funky or fun new Tee-shirts, so luckily today was the day my prize from a Blackberry Twitter contest came in...For those who don't have a Blackberry, first of all shame on you, secondly BBMe simply means Blackberry Messenger (me). It's cute and clever and only "we" get it but like I said there will be lots of random.

163 days to go

Well there is now only 163 days left until the 2010 San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Marathon. There is so much to do and I just hope there is enough time to fit it all in. Yesterdays training ride went very well. Jennifer and I rode out Scenic Loop Rd which is quite nice, it starts out with some rolling hills with a pretty steep incline to finish that portion of the ride. I'm going to have to go back and take some proper pictures sometime soon but all I could get were the two you see (both at the very top of Scenic Loop) which are not very "Scenic" although that is a pretty good picture of Jennifer's um, back-tire. After you crest the top of Scenic Loop you take a downhill right(see picture) and continue on to Kyle Seale which goes through an up-scale neighborhood that sits on a "thigh-burning, why did we go this way, holy-crap is this thing ever going to end" hill. And I loved every minute of it.

This was the shortest training ride so far, at just over 15.5 miles but it had by far the most challenging uphill climb I have yet to tackle.

Tonight we are going to either OP Schnabel or McAllister Park to get in a trail run because June 19th is the Carrabbas Classic 1/2 Marathon Relay so we thought a bit of cross-training was in order.

I will have a new segment of motivational quotes for my Sister and Brother-n-Law, Kristan and James Herrera, who are starting a summer 5k series in Bakersfield, Ca. I don't know yet what to call it maybe "Chipmunks Motivational Corner" after my niece Kendra, hmmm...... anyway without further ado;

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs." - Jesse Owens