Lucky Bamboo

In February 2003 as I was getting ready to run my first marathon, I received a package in the mail from my sister. In it was a good luck present for the race, a "Lucky Bamboo" plant. It was a great gift and a perfect plant for me. It didn't require a lot of care or attention. Just add water when it starts to run out. Since then I've always thought of it as a marathon good luck charm.

My lucky bamboo has lasted all this time and has been with me through 4 houses now. It originally had 3 stalks, but over the years a couple of them died and I removed them. The last stalk hung on until this week when it turned yellow, just as I am getting ready to leave for Portland for my 17th marathon. I sure hope that doesn't mean anything!

I don't know if turning yellow means it is dead, or not. After doing some research, I see that lucky bamboo is not supposed to be in direct sunlight, which it is, of course, sitting in the window. I don't remember that being in the care instructions. I'll have to pull it out of the window, give it some fresh, clean water and hope it revives itself.

Mystery Sticks

Yesterday, I came home from work early and was rummaging around the hallway closet and discovered something I hadn't seen in quite some time. Way in the back, stuck behind the vacuum cleaner and a bunch of coats was this tall blue bag with a bunch of metal rods sticking out. I was curious so I crawled into the closet and pulled this mysterious bag out into the hallway.

After the cloud of dust settled, a closer inspection revealed about 14 of these sticks of varying lengths. The shorter ones had shiny, metal extensions attached to the end and seemed to be set at different angles. The taller sticks had these large hats on the ends that were covering larger, rounder metal extensions. The shortest stick in the bag had a squarer "head" attached to it and didn't look anything like the other 13. They all had these strange words like "Mizuno" and "Taylor Made" stamped on them, along with different numbers. What could these strange instruments be? What are they used for? Why do the numbers start at 3 and stop at 9? Why does one say "P"?

Searching for clues, I started looking through the bag. One pocket on the side had several small, white balls tucked into it. Another had a bag of tiny wooden stakes in it. Without thinking I took one of the balls and balanced it on the end of one of the stakes. As I did, old memories began rushing back into my mind. I could see people hitting the balls off the stakes with the metal sticks that were in the bag. They seemed to be advancing the balls towards these small holes set in the middle of a field. Some were walking. Some were riding in little mini-cars. A few people seemed to enjoy hitting off the freshly cut grass that extended as far as the eye could see. Many others looked like they preferred playing amongst the trees and sand.

It all came back to me know. These were tools used to play a game. Instinctively I threw the bag into the back of my truck and set off towards 620 where I recalled seeing people using these objects. Mr. Tee's Driving Range, that's the place. I forked over $10 inside the office and set off for the lawn with a big basket of balls. They were just like the ones in the bag except they were yellow and had stripes on them. I found a nice level spot, did a few stretches and started hitting the balls out into the field with the clubs. Nice and easy. The first few were a little crooked. On a couple I made more contact with the ground than the ball causing big patches of grass to go flying.

Pretty soon though, the balls started going in the direction of my target. I determined hitting the ball with the middle of the club's face produced a much better result than the edges. I worked my way through all the clubs in the bag from shortest to longest. The longest one was the most fun to hit, but it also was the hardest one to hit straight.

As I hit the last few balls it occurred to me what this was. This is golf (or at least some form of it). My old friend that I hadn't seen in a while. This may be something I'll have to do again.

25 (almost) big ones

I got to tag along with Sadie and her Team Rogue group on Saturday for my long run, so I guess I'm obligated to blog about it. :)

Since I've been so busy with work the last few months and my running group was focusing on track meets and other races, I decided I would just train by myself this summer. It's really been a nice change of pace. I run when I want to and take the day off when I feel like it. I spent the first part of the summer just running easy, but lately I've been adding hills when I can. That's pretty easy to do in our neighborhood. The worst part has been the heat because I run after work. I think at one point I had a string of 7 or 8 runs in a row above 100 degrees.

Long runs have been harder because I've worked a lot of Saturdays and it's hard to get out of bed early when you're not meeting up with anybody. I had managed to get in a 16 miler and a 19+ miler, but I knew I needed to get in a few runs above 20 miles in order to keep Portland from being painful. That's why I jumped at the chance to run with Rogue on Saturday when Sadie suggested it. It was their 2nd of 3 Soul Buster or Race Prep runs. (Basically, 20 miles with 1 "fast" mile and 9 miles of MGP, followed by 6 miles on the track progressing from MGP to 10k pace.) I figured that this run would give me a good idea of my fitness level, but I also figured with my lack of training (compared to their training), the 6 miles on the track was an injury waiting to happen. Instead I elected to just run another 3 miles on the trail when I got to the track.

So what happened? I had a good run. I don't know what my fast mile was because the auto-splits on my Garmin weren't in sync with the track, but I felt like I gave it a good effort. The first 5 miles of the MGP, I seemed to be staying right around 7:00-7:05, except for the mile I had to stop and ask Jon and Keith for directions. The 2nd section I picked it up a little and averaged about 6:55/mile. That was my first MGP work of the summer, so I was pleased to be able hold those paces for 9 miles.

After that we ran up Red Bud Trail and into Westlake for some hills and finished it off on Stratford. While everyone else broke off to the Austin High track, I finished off the 3 mile loop for a total of 23 miles. Garmin said I had a 7:47/mile average. I thought that sounded like a good days work.

It was starting to get hot when I got to the track to watch Sadie finish up her run. She must have been 3-4 laps in when I got there, so I had around 20 laps to relax and stretch and get re-hydrated before we would leave to go back to the car at Barton Springs. I watched her run for a couple miles and then all of a sudden she runs by and I hear her say "Do you have any energy left?" I knew what that meant. She wants me to run with her. I could have said "No, I'm tired" or pretended to not hear her, but all I could manage to say was "Maybe....Why?" as she ran past. I knew what I had to do so I cut across the field and met her on the other side of the track just to make sure she wanted me to run with her.

From there I ran another 7 laps of the track taking a few laps off to let Sadie run by herself. So my long run turned out to be 24 3/4 miles. That's the longest I've ever run at one time without being in a marathon. The crazy thing is that I'm not really that sore. I guess the extended break before I hit the track probably helped that.

Jury Duty: Day 4

It's 10:00 and we haven't started yet. We're waiting on them to
complete a list of the charges before we go into the courtroom. So I
sit here and wait.

The most entertaining thing has been a guy yelling at his lawyer out
in the hall. I can also watch a basketball game being played on the
roof of the jail across the street.

Thank you, whoever invented the iPhone.

Did you know...

Did you know that the 353rd District courtroom has .....

Approx 1,500 sq ft
374 ceiling tiles
16 parabolic 2'x4 lights
12 sprinkler heads
13 speakers
Poorly done woodwork (you can see all the nail holes)
Uncomfortable jury chairs
2'x2 Armstrong "Dune" ceiling tile in fineline grid
4 a/c grilles
It's own restroom
A temporary judge
Cheap blue carpet

And yes I am paying attention. There a just a lot of pauses in the
action.

Jury Duty

I'm in Day 3 of jury duty. They say it is supposed to be done
tomorrow. This one has been semi-interesting so far, but I can't say
much about it until it's over.

They give is 1 1/2 hours for lunch. Yesterday I walked over to
Wahoo's. Today might be The Screaming Goat.

At the game

Rangers v Rays, July 4