Limp Bisquit

well the running career has been cut temporarily short. it appears/feels like i have broken the top of my left foot. after three successful days of running (total:6.8 miles) and feeling pretty good. i can't put pressure on my left foot for more than three minutes. which is great now that i am working a trade show for Energy Action, a business i am doing energy audits for, at the austin convention center this weekend. all weekend. if you've ever worked a trade show floor, you know my pain. literally. the floor of any convention center is as hard as a diamond and after 35 minutes, feels like your standing on broken glass wearing paper towel flip flops.

i need to hit the bike a.s.a.p. but with the trade show and helping dave at the studio over the next couple of nights, it may be difficult. the new concrete patio has been poured and looks great. grading to be finished tomorrow and then another bid from my contractor for a concrete retaining wall. then gravel, then sprinkler, then grass, then plants, etc.

oh and by the way, it was 91F today! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Day 2

well today's run was better. didn't have to stop after the first mile and ran just over two miles before it felt like my lunch was going to come up. so i would consider that progress. mindy has said she would run in the morning before work, but i absolutely hate mornings and am not the most cheerful of persons. but if it will get her into it, i'll give it a shot. 

and shot is what i'm going to have after i pick up dave from the airport tonight. he is staying all week to do some work at publi hi-fi studios here in austin. jim eno from super group spoon runs the place and it is top notch. looking forward to helping dave load in tools and hopefully run into the guys from okkervil river as they are they right now recording. opel sort of knows the drummer so i may throw that out there.

work is terribly slow right now, but that allows time to get work in the backyard done. i will post a large blog once there are enough photos to see the difference. i am working a booth at this weekends Green Expo at the austin convention center with a company i will be a part of called energy action. trying to get people to have energy audits performed so i can show them where they are losing efficiency and money and how to improve it.

Day 1

age: 37

height: 5'10"

weight: 166.5

Waist: 33"

Gut: 36"

put down the first miles today. mile #1 ran in 10 minutes! whoa, slow down there its not a race. well it is kinda, but still slow down. mile #2 in 14 minutes. now that's more like it. the first half of mile 2 was almost enjoyable and was able to pace check myself a little better. i'm wondering when the 'runners high' is going to kick in. is that later tonight? or when? no don't tell me, i want it to be a surprise.

i've been working in the yard the last couple of days as well, so i'm counting that as a workout. moving rocks and pushing wheel barrows of dirt is good for some exercise.

more to come...

Run, Scooter, Run...

Well I've been inspired by K-Dub's recent visit to join the ranks of the running. After picking up my first pair of actual running shoes, I have signed up for the Austin Statesman Cap 10k to be held 3/29/09 here in beautiful downtown Austin. This along with other races this year will culminate in the 2010 Austin Marathon held on 2/14/2010. I would like to invite, my soon to be, fellow runners (you know who you are) to join me, on my birthday no less, for the 2010 Austin Marathon. Get your 18 week schedules out and mark'em off as completed.

Stay tuned for updates and blogs about my new found, and hopefully to stick, running career. Thanks to K-Dub for the inspiration and the hook up on the shoes. And here's to getting my 37 year old ass in shape!

Dial S for Stink

Reading discretion is advised......So today was an interesting day.The holy grail of home inspections is finding a dead body. I know it may sound morbid, but hey you see enough pee stained toilets and dirty laundry that something out of the ordinary is welcomed. Today I may have come as close as possible to the grail. I was inspecting a duplex, one side had two twenty somethings and the other side an older black lady and her son, who appeared to be mentally challenged. Or as we said in high school, retarded. Upon entering the son's bedroom there was a distinct smell of foulness. Okay, not everyone is as tidy as I, so moving on. As i opened the closet door, the smell; wait a minute.... have you ever smelled a dead deer on the side of the road as you passed by it at 65mph? That smell seems to stay in the car for miles, right? This stank hit me like a ton of bricks right in the nose. I immediately grabbed my shirt to cover my nose as I dry heaved under my shirt. Inside the closet, there was one of these plastic bins you store shoes or sports equipment in. All over the side was what appeared to be blood and "particulate matter". Now I've watched enough First 48 or Cold Case Files to know what a "scene" looks like. And this was one. I took two photos as quickly as I could. The first was of the bin and the huge stain under neath and that covered most of the floor in the closet. Almost like something had "bled out" from the tub. Now stay with me, this is an actual account of what i saw. The next photo was of the wall above the "bin" that was a 1' X 3' blood stained splattered wall. I mean if you zoom in on the photo in my camera you can see the splatter!! Absolutely crazy. So I reel back from the closet slamming the door shut, taking a quick look around the room to finish my inspection of that room and head for the door way. As soon as I enter the hallway the son is standing there looking all Norman Bates at me. I quickly say, "Oh, hello there.." and head for the next bedroom that has a bathroom, enter the bathroom and shut the door. "Holy shit" I keep saying. What have I've just seen/smelled? What has this guy killed or stuffed into that bin? Why is there blood all over the wall? Next thought, you know that tub stopper is missing. Always working...

So after the rest of the inspection, roughly 20 minutes, I got out of there as soon as possible. Hit the truck and called the real estate agent. The police were called to investigate and I have yet to hear anything or been asked to appear in court to recall what I saw. But we'll see. Moral of the story... always be prepared. Be aware of your surroundings. Always expect the unexpected. Know what to do. Be ready to act.

So coming up this week... #37 and then K-Dub comes for a visit to hopefully break the record at the Austin Half Marathon. GO K-DUB! Mindy and I will be eating breakfast tacos and nursing a hang over I'm sure, while K-Dub runs her race. Afterwards we'll celebrate at the Hula Hut with some fish bowls and lunch tacos. Gotta love Austin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!