I promised, now I deliver (part 1)

I promised that I would write more about my marathon experience. Basically the key to running a marathon and finishing it is practice. Without getting the miles on the feet there is no way in hell to finish 26.2 miles and still be alive. I decided back in September 2006 that I would run the Boston marathon in April 2007 -- that's 7 months. Mind you, I don't think I had run more than 2 miles in 10 years, seriously. After a little research, I found a web site with a number of training regimens for beginner runners -- all of which seemed a bit, no extremely, daunting. Where was I going to find time to run 4 days a week?

The program was 18 weeks long, so I counted back 18 weeks from marathon day and found that my real training was to start in late December -- oh joy cold weather. However, before I could even start the real training, I had to get into shape. The key here is to start slow, really slow. I started by running 2 miles on the treadmill 2 times a week. Walking is ok. Walking is expected. Walking is welcome. A few weeks later, I decided to try and do 5 miles -- out to the Nahant circle and back. I got out there doing a walk run combo and came back all walk. I just kept at it until I could run the full 5 miles.

Take it slow, build on it and the next thing you know, 5 miles is nothing. However, you still dread the coming long runs. First long run was 8 miles. Then it was 10 miles. Then 15 miles.

At this point it becomes a mental game. There's not a lot to do while running except run. And think. And ignore the pain and that voice on your shoulder asking you what the hell you're doing. My longest training run was 21 miles and that was in March.

That's all for now.

Part 2 will come along in a while...

I really can't believe it!

One week ago I was nervously walking around the middle-school gym in Hopkinton, MA waiting to be shuffled through the pouring rain to the start of the marathon. I promised back on 4/16 that I would write more about my experience and I will, just not now. I've got a sick kitty at home to take care of and my better half is leaving for France for a week and the Yankees got swept by the Sox.

I might as well provide a non-update on my Daring Fireball non t-shirt experience. The update is...there is no update.

--Mike

It's over...

I finished my first marathon in 4:45:47. Not too bad. I would've done better if I didn't wait for my brother to catch up all the time. All in all it was a fun time. I know, who thinks running for almost 5 hours could be fun? More later.

--Mike

Bib Number 21452

That's right - I have an official number for the 111th Running of the Boston Marathon this coming Monday, April 16th. The weather should be downright CRAPPY. I am not too worried - it would be a lot worse for me if it were 85F and sunny as I have trained for this race in the freakin' New England cold. Running when it's 15F out kind of sucks.

For those of you interested, I will NOT be wearing my Daring Fireball T-shirt as I DO NOT HAVE ONE YET (and it's cotton so it would suck to run in anyway.) Jeez, K-Tel didn't take this long to deliver my hits of the 80's LP.

It's a good thing...

...people are thinking about a code of ethics for bloggers (not really); it's even better we have a blog warning level scale now!

(shamelessly taken from a link on Daring Fireball. Oh yeah, John, WHERE THE HELL IS MY DARING FIREBALL T-SHIRT?)

paci.blog goes International

If you look in the lower right hand corner of this blog you will see a badge from Sitemeter which gives me some idea of who hits this blog and a little info an how they get here. If you search for "GDP Density Map" on Google (click here) you will see that a post George made on this blog is listed as #3 on Google! Anyhow, Sitemeter tells me that someone in the Islamic Republic of Iran was interested in GDP Density Maps, Googled it, and then followed link #3 to my, er our, blog! I am so honored to have such an international audience.

Who am I kidding? It was probably Nancy Pelosi looking for ammunition to undermine US foreign policy in the Middle East when she was making her unscheduled (imaginary) appearance in Tehran.

--Mike

Twitter without friends is kind of boring

Twitter without friends (or with very few friends as is my case) is just about as interesting as life without friends (or with very few friends as is not my case.) I know I am ADD, but I don't know if either I'm not ADD enough or too ADD to comprehend how I am supposed to pay attention to Twitter and forsake all of my other responsibilities. Maybe Twitter doesn't have the ADD draw that I need.

Anyone have any suggestions for either 1) making friends on Twitter or 2) approaching Twitter in a different way as to make it actually interesting.

I don't know why I am asking you out there. Jen is already on Twitter and understands it about as well as I do, though she has friends; Stefan is on it and he is one of my two friends (Jen is the other); my brothers might be too ADD to understand Twitter or it's on a completely different plane of thinking and they therefore cannot comprehend. Breedo? Nah, he's too mad at me to understand Twitter. Does anyone else out there read this freakin' blog? Maybe if I mention Twitter again it will boost my Google ad revenue. No?

--Mike

Will you be my friend?

Ok. So in my last post I lamented that I have no time nor interest in building a friend list on Twitter. That has changed. I want to see what I can make of blogging for the ADD set. I also want to prove to myself that I am not, in fact, too old for the Internet.

Also, I'd liked to welcome a new reader to this blog. His name is Stefan S., he's from Washington State, wants a pink Zune, and comments more than anyone else on this blog.

Maybe I should be more concerned with getting regular readers on this blog before I get people reading my near-worthless Twitter feed.

--Mike

Twitter? I don't even...well, you get it.

I don't get it. I really don't. Am I getting too old for this Internet thing? I get Digg - I don't like Digg. It's like a snarky Slashdot if you can imagine that. I hate the fact that when I read it in the RSS feed and click the article link it takes me to the freakin' comments and not the actual article where I can see what the blurb was referring to. Am I being old? I'm only 34, damnit! Now there's Twitter which is basically blogs for people who are ADD. I first heard of Twitter on TWIT (This Week in Tech, Leo Leporte and John Dvorak and Kevin Rose and some hot sounding chick and some British Guy, etc.) and don't really know if there's a relationship between the two. It sounds like there should be, but I don't think there is. Did I mention I feel too old for the Internet? I don't want to be, it's just that I don't have enough time to be up on the latest and greatest all the freakin' time. I hate MySpace because it insults my sense of order. I don't think I am alone on that. That said, I signed up for an account on Twitter just to see what all of the fuss was about. I'll probably forget I have an account there in a few days. I don't feel like publicizing my Twitter page and then feeling responsible to my friends to keep it up to date. Who has time for this crap?

Oh well. Off I go...

(I'll probably make mention of this on Twitter...)

--Mike

I know I am not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth...

But what the hell am I supposed to do with this? I went to Microsoft's Vista launch event back a few months and dropped the 1 business card I had into one of those fish-bowl things. As I never win when that happens, I forgot all about it. So, this afternoon, Jerry from the mail-room drops by with a package for me. I have been eagerly awaiting my Daring Fireball T-shirt* and was thinking, "OMG! OMG! it's here!!!" only to be shocked to see a freakin' Zune in the envelope. I use a Mac at home. Zune doesn't work with the Mac.

Now before all 1 of my readers out there go, "Oooooo! GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!" the answer is "No."

--Mike

*John Gruber if you're reading this because you Googled yourself, could you please respond to my inquiry of where the hell my Daring Fireball T-shirts are that I ordered back in January. I wanted one so I could wear it while running the Boston Marathon, but that will probably not be possible since 1) I don't have my t-shirts which I ordered back in January, 2) you've been sitting on my money since January, and 3) running in a cotton t-shirt kind of sucks.

UPDATE: Apparently I am not the only one who has yet to receive their t-shirt. Look here and here. I know the links are to the same blog but hey, it looks better with multiple links to validate my claim that "others" are having this issue.

UPDATE 2: I knew there was another blog out there that would make mention of the mystery of the missing Daring Fireball T-shirts! I wonder if Mr. Gruber is reading up on his customer service gaffe. Come on, all we wanted was a freaking response to our inquiries. Is that too much to ask?

UPDATE 3: I found another post on a blog about the great t-shirt debacle at Daring Fireball. We just want our freaking t-shirts. I bet Fake Steve Jobs got his ahead of the rest of us who've been waiting forever and a day...