Two Fools Running

The Borgess 5k

2008-04-27T23:29:00.002-04:00

I have not died. I was finally given the "all clear" about a month ago from my sports med doc to resume running. Like a maniac, I went out and ran a 5k yesterday with Jeff, the 'other' of the two fools. We finished dead last - virtually simultaneous finish. I'm a little sore, but not too bad at all. I've been in my Galloway book all day today reading about 'running for fat burning', actually 'training for the 5k', shoe selection, and so on. I set up a race calendar from mid-summer to mid-autumn of races that we might be interested it depending how are training is going.

So, although slow and definitely out of shape, I'm out of the gates, off and running. By the way, Jeff has lost 49 lbs. in the last 6 months or so - seriously heroic.

Mom, I do not have "the hot foot"

2007-06-22T08:06:00.001-04:00

Mom, I do not have "the hot foot", originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

For 2 years I've been hobbling around in the morning to one degree or another and my feet have hurt off/on kind of bad. I finally broke down and went to the Sports Med. clinic and the doc said, (runners hold your breath), plantar fasciitis :(... So until I get the orthotics made, I've been walking around with my feet taped for the last week. Lovely, very very attractive. Wait 'til I get the night splints, that should make me smokin' hot! So ... no running for me for a while they said, but hopefully after all this I'll be back on the road full tilt. Oh yeah, but before then, this is how I get to shower now - daily. Please ... PLEASE resist the urge to call me 'stink foot'!

Getting Better

2007-06-02T09:31:00.001-04:00

Getting Better, originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Well, my last posted run had a 15:08 pace and this one was at 13:42. You can still spell s....l.......o.......w........ but that's definitely improvement.

Hmmmmm

2007-05-25T22:06:00.001-04:00

Hmmmmm, originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Well, I guess at the moment, 15 minutes per mile is considered SUCCESS!! by my Garmin buddy. I'm not sure how it comes up with that figure anyway - I ran exactly 2 miles in exactly 30 minutes.

I felt something the last two days......... and no it wasn't gas! I'm going to register for my first 5k of the season: the Kalamazoo Klassic!

Random Out of Nowhere Post

2007-05-24T11:16:00.000-04:00

Went out to run today for the first time in MONTHS.

Have to be at a noon meeting and it is 11:20.

Ran for 30 mins. Run 2; Walk 1

Run time temp. of 83 degrees plus heat index = 89, mmmm toasty!

Typical 'first run'; 'getting back into the swing of things' knocks and pings - ouch there, feels good there, what the hell was that feeling there?!!

Somewhere in the 2 mile range.

Gotta go!

Ice Art

2007-02-06T19:36:00.001-05:00

Ice Art, originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

WEll, there are some benefits to sub-zero temperatures and windchills between -10 and -25! Click on this photo and then open the large view to see the details of this pretty little picture of natural art.

Flickr

2007-02-06T19:34:00.003-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

2007-02-06T19:34:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Walking Down Stairs Sideways

2007-01-29T12:14:00.000-05:00

No - that is not a euphamism, code, or metaphor for anything. I've been literally walking down stairs sideways for the last two days. Why? Because I went to Day 1 of half-marathon training on Saturday, thinking it would be what MOST first training sessions are like, run 15-20minutes, slow pace, etc. Nope - right out of the gate, boom - a 4 mile run. I signed up with a group that was supposedly the 12 minute/mile or slower group. Nope - they took off and as best I can tell were probably running 10.5 min/mile based on when the finished in front of me. Seems like it could be a really fun bunch of people but that we might not actually train together because their pace is already far faster than mine. We'll see - it was only week one, but let me tell you - going from basically sedentary (or at least no strenuous exercise) to running 4 miles, yeah - that = pain. I'm into it though - what in the hell does that say about me??!! I am off (which you already knew) and running (which now you know!)

Arisen - Half Marathon Training

2007-01-22T08:27:00.000-05:00

Wow, I haven't even looked at our blog since the last post in friggin' OCTOBER! You would think that it's taken me two and a half months to recover from the Tigers' World Series debacle. Not the case, but I won't rehash every little moment since then that's kept me away from writing. I was sick, we traveled a lot over the holidays, my grandfather passed away, I started a new grant project and am teaching a new course, bla bla bla... Mostly, I just haven't been into it. After I get back from work where I read/write all day, one of the last things I want to do is come home and write some more.

I saw a picture on Lara's blog today from a run we did last summer. It nudged me a bit to send up a post and I actually have something running related to report! Last year's Detroit half-marathon was a bust - my running partners bailed, the Tigers lost the World Series, and I got really sick. This year, I decided to start earlier and to train with a group. The race is at the end of April - not October so the winter will not be wasted time. I registered yesterday for the training program for the Borgess Half Marathon. It's right here in my own city so there will be no hotels, drive times, and I can train with a community of runners which will hopefully be a positive experience. I've never done it before but many friends who have, have always enjoyed it.

OK - off to work - I'm back on the boards!

Dream Over

2006-10-28T18:24:00.000-04:00

Dream Over
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

What's left to say.

Michigan Sucks Sometimes

2006-10-24T17:50:00.000-04:00

White Out Conditions
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Even though this picture was taken a week ago or something like that, this is what it looked like this morning also. C'mon man, seriously? It's freakin' October!! We're running a half-marathon in 5 days!

The Year of the Tiger

2006-10-15T13:37:00.000-04:00

The Year of the Tiger
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

This morning, the ESPN announcer proclaimed:

"The Tigers win the pennant! The Tigers win the pennant! The Tigers win the pennant!"

My heart almost exploded.

Itis

2006-10-05T07:21:00.000-04:00

I've got a few cases 'itis'. The Sports Med doc told me it looks like plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis which would explain why the bottom of my feet and the area between my heel and calf is always so sore. When I went throught the list of the things that contribute to these itis-es, I checked off about 75% of them. Luckily for me, the only treatment the doc recommended was an anti-inflammatory (for symptom management), stretching (and maybe an orthotic). I also recommended getting off my ass more often because my feet seem to hurt worse after sitting for extended periods - make sense? It didn't to me either but...... apparently one of the major causes of plantar fasciitis is tight soleus and gastroc nemius (calf) muscles, and man are they ever cranked tightly after sitting at work for too long. So, it sounds pretty simple - we'll see. Meanwhile - I have a run to do! Detroit is d minus 24 and counting - gulp!

Motivation

2006-09-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

From the website of the Detroit Freepress Marathon

The marathon, half marathon and relays are international events crossing US and Canadian borders twice. It is imperative that you accurately complete all information on the registration form, including date of birth, citizenship, and green card information (if applicable). The half marathon run and walk starts at 7:15 a.m. You must be able to make it to the entrance of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel (less than 8 miles) by no later than 9:45 a.m. Pacers will be provided and will maintain the pace needed to make it to the tunnel entrance on time. If you do not make it to the tunnel by 9:45 a.m., your race is over. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS BORDERS WITHOUT A NUMBER. Both borders will be heavily secured and patrolled. Anyone attempting to cross the bridge or tunnel without a visible number will be arrested. Crossing borders illegally is a federal offense. Such a crime will remain a part of your record.

How's that for motivation?

I'm Bummin' but this picture makes me happy

2006-09-23T13:19:00.000-04:00

Surfing the Gold Coast
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Man has it been hard to run. I was doing well - getting out doing the maintenance, speed, and long runs right on schedule. The weather turned crappy - it's rained at least this whole week if not last week as well and work..........well, what do you say? It's back to 12+ hour days plus time with the Karen and kids .....I haven't worked the schedule out yet. I better get my crap together - Detroit's 13.1 miles are looming.

Per Half Mile

2006-09-11T14:00:00.001-04:00

OK, so there was a little misunderstanding on my last post. When I wrote that I was run 3 800m laps and needed to do it in a 5:10 pace, some of you thought I meant I needed to run at a 5'10" per MILE pace. No no people - let's get real. I needed to run the 800 METERS in 5'10" which means I would have roughly been running a 10'20" per MILE pace. So anyway, I ran them last night and did fine. It was a little bit of a struggle, but not anything overwhelming. This is what was on the training schedule for this Sunday in an attempt to run the Detroit Half-Marathon in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Galloway mentions in his book that if you're not able to complete the 800m runs in the assigned time, your time goal is probably too ambitious. Does this mean I'm on track for a 2'20" half-marathon? It's not likely - in fact highly unlikely. One reality check will be a 5k scheduled in two weekends. The training calls for a <29 minute race time which if my calculations are correct would put me at a 9'20"/mile pace. I don't see it happening - running is not like a team sport where there's always a chance for a suprise last second field goal or walk-off homerun. You get what you train for and sometimes not even that. I guess I won't make any predictions and just run this 5k and try to hit the 29-minute or better finish and see where I wind up. I still need to get new shoes - my shins can be really problematic - not splints, but just uber tight!! Happy running. :)

Per Half Mile

2006-09-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

Magic Jelly Beans

2006-09-09T07:34:00.000-04:00

So Heather's first day went fine - she loved it - and when I asked her how her 'Friday' went she said something like "really, really, really, really, really, really, really great!"

So my ten miles last weekend turned into eight. Not that I ran out of steam - eight just seemed more appropriate as my previous long run was 5 miles and to doulbe it seemed like poor judgement and just asking for some kind of injury. So eight was great! I took an anti-inflammatory about 20 minutes before I went out and also brought along so Goo-beans, which I now call magic jelly beans. Never once did I have any significant tightness anywhere, I was fresh almost the whole way through the run (the last mile I could feel fatigue setting in a bit), and had negative (which means I got faster I think!!) splits every single time the whole way through the run. There was no blazing pace - surprise! - but every mile I shaved at least 13 seconds off the previous mile and in one case 45 seconds - so it was a good run overall.

This Saturday's training manual calls for 3x800's at a 5:10 pace per 800. I've never done this before so I'll be really curious to see how this plays out and post it when I knowst it (sorry, it's early and I haven't eaten breakfast yet!)

My Baby is Going Kindergarten :(.......

2006-09-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

Childhood Friends
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Well, the day has finally come. Our little girl is going to Kindergarten and I can't help but mourn the loss of innocence. I did it when Eddie went to Kindergarten also, and like that situation, I'm sure I'll get past it, but I hate the thought of what's about to happen. As far as Heather knows right now, she's smart enough, pretty enough, nice enough, etc. etc. ....as far as she knows, she's perfect without any need for improvement. There is something so beautiful about that state of being - "I'm fine the way I am" - and next week Wednesday, will be the beginning of the end of that. After that it will be; 'write your letters better, stay inside the lines, you take too long to come up with the answer....' And well beyond all of that, I used to love coming home for lunch (I only work 2.5 miles from home) and seeing this little girl. It (almost) always made my day. And the days where she was upset or frustrated or angry about something, I cherished being able to come home and make it better - a father should be able to do that you know. Anyway, I can't say much more about it - things will be wonderful and beautiful, but there is a loss in this metamorphosis, and it has me a little down right now. We took her to meet her teacher and see her new class the other day, and when we got to the school, and she got out of the car, she shrieked "Yipppeeee!!!". She's excited - I'm less enthusiastic, but not in front of her. There's a far more beautiful post of someone else who is going through the same thing right now who is a world class runner - check out Joan Nesbit Mabe's post "Tuesday's Gone" here

On the running side - things have been going well. I've been out this week doing my maintenance runs and tomorrow will be my long run - a 10 miler - I know I sound like a wuss to a lot of you, but I'm a bit nervous about a run that distance. I've only done it once before, and it was a race, and I got a stress fracture in my foot during it. Say a prayer.

The CRIM Start Line - 2006

2006-08-28T15:09:00.000-04:00

The CRIM Start Line - 2006
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Well here it is - the post-CRIM post. Eagerly anticipated by two people (me and our dog Rosa; maybe anticipated by nobody; I don't want to write it and Rosa's not a person!) Well, whatever - there were 13,024 athletes there that day and here's the story of two of them.

I CANNOT sleep the night before raceday. The race I did in Saratoga? Up all night. The CRIM this weekend - up all night the night before. It's not that 'Christmas Eve' kind of excitement - it's, sort of this half excitement, half anxious, half ....., well you can only have two halves.

Jeff wanted to leave at 6 a.m. to meet up with his training group, and at 7:30 the phone rang -
"Hello.
Hey man, what time do you guys plan on leaving?
In about 30 mins, why is the traffic bad?
I don't know - I didn't leave early and wondered if you wanted to drive down with me."
This race has so much excitement tied into it, it's hard to stay discplined when you start and not takeoff like a jackrabbit. They broadcast this live on t.v. as well as a week of replays afterwards and it just kind of grabs hold of you. We stayed pretty cool for the first mile though - avoided what for me would have been disastrous and start off too fast or with two infrequent walk periods.
Mile 1 was fine - getting into the feel of the race.
Mile 2 was even better - shaved about 50 seconds off - woo hoo - positive split!
Mile 3 was rougher because of the Bradley hills.
Mile 4 I was getting this really painful tightness in the soles of my feet (more on this later), my left shin, and the top of my right foot.
Then all of a sudden, at the beginning of mile 5, bam, everything just loosened up and the body felt great. My lungs were fine, my legs and feet were fine, and we were crusing. Of course Jeff, like always, decides to spring the last 40 meters or so, and of course, like always, (and like an idiot) I give chase - I cannot resist!
Jeff and I did exactly what we thought we'd do in terms of time. We finished with a 1:08:38 time in the 5-miler. So, you see we were not tearing up the streets of Flint. I think Jeff might've been a little disappointed but for me, the really good part about it, is that almost ALL of my training had taken place on a collegiate track. A nice cushy, bouncy, FLAT track. Almost the entire course of the race is a slight upward grade and there are a set of hills around mile 2 or so that are so grueling, they've gained a reputation among runners who simply refer to them as the "Bradleys", named after the street they are on(?). Anway, the time we ran was dead on with my fastest training run which was done on the cushy flat track I mentioned earlier - so for me, this was a wonderfully successful race in that the pavement, grade, and hills of this race didn't slow me down at all! In fact, we had positive splits going into the hills, and positive splits coming out of them - so I think we did great for the amount of training we put into it.

OK - so I've got to buy new shoes - there's no way I can continue to train in these and our next big race is the Detroit half-marathon. So RBF'ers (hmmm, that doesn't sound good does it?), I need some help. What causes that extreme tightness and soreness on the soles of my feet? I don't think it's heel striking as I've had a gait analysis and they didn't pick that up at all. Maybe it's as simple as buying a shoe that simply has greater arch support. I'll bring in the pair of Saucony's I ran in before these Reeboks and see if we can get something similar - they worked great.
Anyway - so the CRIM has me totally blissed out again on running and I was up until 2:30 last night reading my Galloway book and looking at continued training for Detroit - right up to the part where I read about the necessity of sleep for muscle repair. And with that, it was time to rest.

Hauling A&$

2006-08-24T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hauling A&$
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

OK - this photo is almost 2 years old at this point, but I couldn't resist posting it. He's committed to running a couple of 1-mile fun runs this Fall and I'm trying to see if I can get him to run a 5k with me. Like I said, I just like this shot, that's all.

Well, Saturday's the day - CRIM day! Forecast - 89H 69L. Scattered thunderstorms. Pain.

I've been running the Saturday long runs and the x3/week maintenance runs over the last month (or so) and ofcourse all of the hit/miss running I did befoer that. So......... no, I'm not nearly prepared for this race and as a matter of fact, we've been registered for the 10-mile race up until this past Monday when we came to our senses and changed our registratration to the 8k. You know, it was just like "what's the point? I'll probably finish the full 10, but only probably, not absolutely, and I might even create an injury situation and knock myself out of training for the Detroit half-marathon........, so that's it, I'm switching to the 8k". And that was pretty much that. A little disappointment, sure, but that really doesn't help me improve so I'm looking at this as a smart move and one that's going to keep me on the street preparing for Detroit. My brother Kenny, the running poet, or poetic runner has already registered for that race putting the heat on me to commit. Damn him! No, wait, I mean ........ bless that man!

I'll share all the blood and guts of running through the streets of downtown Flint, MI early next week, until then, wish me luck, and GO TIGERS!!!. They got shelled today: 10-0

(Re)Learning Curve

2006-08-14T10:00:00.001-04:00

So what'd I think? That I'd pretty much be able to strap on a pair of running shoes and pick up where I left off?

A few weeks ago I ran the Silks and Satin 5k in Saratoga (NY). I finally met Jon and Lara before the race and we hung out for an hour or so afterwards - how cool was that? Top notch people. We were lauging because they actually had pace runners for a 5k THAT STARTED AT 4:30/mile! ....and then went on to 5, 5:30, 6, etc. etc. all the way to 10/mile. Man those kiddies in the 4:30 area could fly! I of course had to ask the question "where's 10:30, 11, 12, 13, 14...?" That would be a telling comment. I learned something important from that race. When we took off, I started at a reasonable pace but for the level of training I put into it, but I stayed there too long, (remember, I'm a Gallowayer) and almost from the first half-mile, my "race" was painful. Lots of shin issues. I'll get back to this. So I finished the thing and as I approached the finish line there were Jon and Lara cheering me on (see, I told you they were top notch people - thanks you two!)

So..... yesterday, I took Jon's advice and did LSD. I ran 5 miles in 67 mins. 11 secs. That's me now, that's where I'm at - a sub 14-minute-miler... and my shins did not hurt - at all - I started slow and stayed there. I did it in 1x1's (run/walk) and that's just where I am at the moment. It took me a full 30 mins. before I felt warmed up so I was already over two miles before I felt completely loose. Two years ago where I ran the CRIM I did it in a 10:01 pace. Yesterday's pace was 13:52. Whatever, frustration and disappointment only get in the way of getting better so I'm just staying focused on training. The C.R.I.M. is lurking, Aug. 26th, and this year we're doing the full 10 miles. I have my concerns :S

Oh yeah, my brother-in-law just turned up the heat by registering for the Detroit half-marathon. I'm in.

Chrissy/Jon/Lara - thanks for the birthday wishes for Heather - she got a kick out of seeing her name "on-line".

Heather's "1st" Birthday

2006-08-04T15:30:00.000-04:00

Heather's "1st" Birthday
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Heather just had her 5th birthday on Wednesday and found this photo in my photostream. Seemed appropriate to send up.

I'll eventually get a brief race report of the Saratoga Silks/Satins... maybe when I get home next week.

Happy Birthday Heather!

Yadda Yadda ...........

2006-07-21T08:59:00.000-04:00

OK - so more running. Everything is starting to come together the way it is supposed to. Mileage is not increasing yet of course, but the body is starting to respond better.

I've spotted the races I'd like to do with the first 5k coming up in a few weeks (July 29). The Silks & Satins 5k in Saratoga Springs, NY will be the first. I've got some friends upstate I haven't seen in quite a while either so I should be able to mix in some nice visiting with the race also. Any upstate RBF's care to join?

The C.R.I.M. will be the biggest summer race. From there - I'm not committing just yet. I have a few I've spotted but will have to think about whether or not I can actually work them into the schedule. No goals or expectations with these races - I just plan on using them as motivation to keep on running and improving.

I have a meeting I need to get to and then we're off to NY tomorrow morning. Happy trails........or roads or tracks or whatever else you run on!

Dancing Near the Sun

2006-07-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

Dancing Near the Sun
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

Well, today I ran. It was fine. There's not a whole lot to say really at this stage. I ran somewhere around 3 miles - I'm not totally sure about the distance as I didn't have my Forerunner with me. There was a little 'ping' in the sole of my right foot, then a 'pang' in my left chin which at this step in the process I recognize as my body trying to trick me into thinking there's a legit problem. There's not. It just needs to be beat up a little bit. I came back from the run and started reading a section in the Galloway book about training, shoes, speed work, etc. etc. At first it kind of got me psyched then I could feel my interest wane and I just put it down so it wouldn't spoil the experience of actually running! I'm thinking the Detroit 'half' might be my target race - or maybe Chicago has a 'half' also - probably full by now, but I'll check into it.

In the meantime - we've been going to the beach almost everyday - it's been so damn hot here - like the rest of the country so we just head to the shore.

How Do I Title This?

2006-07-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

OK - so I looked and saw the date of my last blog as being June 8th. And today is July 17th. Wow, can I say I've just been too busy, or that there was this or that, that kept me from blogging.....running.....eating right.....sleeping......??? Nope. Most people would die for the summer schedule I have. I go to a few meeting here and there, write a little, play with the kids, watch a lot of t.v., kill TONS of time on the computer, etc. etc. I've done a few projects on the house so there has been some productivity to speak of, but running......nope - I've been running like twice a week maybe, and they are lame uninspired runs. My weight has gone completely bananas as all discipline has just been shrugged off. We went up north for two weeks to my parents' place on a really nice lake. You think it would be an idyllic setting for a nice early morning run. Nope. When you stay up late and don't wake up 'til 9 or 10 in the morning, the motivation to get out and be active is just not there. I'm laying all this out here because my man Jon, who was in MI but now is in NY has been writing some really honest stuff recently. He hasn't been sugarcoating it and it made my kind of want to do the same.

The thing is, I downshifted when the semester ended, BACK IN MAY, and never quite shifted up a gear since. In fact, I've been annoyed when tiny moments of work creeped into my day(s) - having to respond to an e-mail or a phone call, you know, real laborious stuff like that!!!!!!

Some good news to report - I got a phone call from the other "Fool" yesterday and he and his wife are now expecting their 2nd child. Congratulations guys!!! Also, Jeff ran a 10k a couple of weekends ago and as I understand it is training hard for the CRIM in August. I hope I can get my ass on track for that too!

Ramblings

2006-06-08T10:37:00.000-04:00

When I first started this blog a few years ago, it wask called Training for the CRIM and I started it so a buddy of mine (you know, the other fool) and I could keep track of each other's progress as we trained for the Coolest Race In Michigan. For the most part our posts were written either for ourselves, like a journal entry, or for the other one to read for motivation, technical competence, etc. Over time, others started to read the blog and our (my) writing style and content started to change as if we (I) were writing for 'readers' other than ourselves. You'll have to forgive me if in the middle of a post it just stops making sense - that just means I'm writing for myself or for the other Fool (Jeff) as he has started to pursue his running dreams again.

For the last month, most days have been pretty easy going. A meeting here or there, working on the house a little bit, catching up on reading, helping out with Eddie's baseball team, went to NY for a few days, and wasting gobs of time watching movies/TV and on Flickr! Oh the weight you can put on in just a month or so! Eddie has been having so much fun with baseball and his doing so much better than we thought he would this year as he is in a division for the first year that most of his friends are in for their second year. He's doing well at the plate - only a guess - but I would bet he has one of the top 3-5 batting averages on his team of 14. Now that Heather is finished with school for the summer, I've been hanging out with her in the daytime too when Karen is with clients. She complains about having to hang out with 'boring Dadddy' and screaches with with delight when Karen comes home (which is actually nice for Karen because she thinks the kids "kiss my butt" all the time!

Starting this week I have finally been back on the road, with laced up running shoes, putting one foot in front of the other. There's no way I can say it has been bliss, but it has been good, and I'm just trying to keep the body in motion for a few weeks until it gets past all of the initial pings and pangs of going from relative inactivity to running. My runs have been short - about 1.5 to 2 miles and that's good enough for now. Jeff and I are going to scope out the races that will align well with our training for the 2006 (30th) edition of the CRIM and get a few races in before then. They are always so much fun and unbelievably motivating!

I have to thank Lara for a beautifully written post yesterday that wasn't all fluffy, "I'm going through a rough time but I'll get through it" kind of post, rather, one that was full of real human feelings of self-doubt, dignity, and a bit of desparation perhaps. That kind of honesty is so much more engaging and inspiring than putting on a happy face and "this too shall pass" front because that's what we do when other people are watching. Thanks Lara.

Eddie at Bat

2006-05-03T17:01:00.000-04:00

Eddie at Bat
Originally uploaded by Ed Roth.

I thought I better get Eddie's "stats" from his 1st two baseball games up here before I forget them and don't have them written down elsewhere. We have the official record as well, but the coach has it, not me.

Game 1
1st at bat - full count - attempted to duck out of the box to avoid being hit by the pitch and the ball hit the upper edge of the bat and fell in play - thrown out at first.

2nd at bat - walked - stole second - slid into home and scored the 5th and final run in an opening day loss (8-5)

Fielding - threw a runner out at the plate from left field. Threw a runner out at 2nd from left field to end the game (time limit).

Game 2
1st at bat - walked on 4 straight pitches; stranded at 3rd.

2nd at bat - hit by pitch - tagged out trying to steal 3rd.

Fielding - fielded a ball hit to third - throw to first - runner safe; fielded a ground ball in center field which held runner at 2nd

I umped last night's game. I could live without that experience again. Eddie's having a good time with it.

Dear Prof. Roth

2006-04-19T23:02:00.000-04:00

".....and it is my distinct pleasure to inform you that I will forward my recommendation of tenure on your behalf to the President and Board of Trustees.........and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor"

So there it is. After 6 years of sweating it, it all comes down to this one final letter. Many thanks to friends in the 'blogosphere' for all the support, especially over the last 6 months - it has been much appreciated.

Woo hoo!!

Dead Legs

2006-04-10T12:20:00.000-04:00

Whew - I went on a 3-mile trail run the other day. And by trail I mean more like path, not a nicely groomed suburban trail - more like a path in the woods that has been matted down a bit by other runners/walkers. I can't tell you how many roots, twigs, and stumps I kicked over tripped on over that 3-mile period, but never having really 'run' on a trail before, my guess is all of that 'tripping' and rebalancing is what is causing this fatigue. Hmmmmmm, could also be the extreme lack of rest as well - my eye is twitching like crazy which is usually a pretty good indicator for me that I need more sleep. By the way, I will actually get final word from the Provost regarding her decision about my tenure application by April 21, not May 21 - so I will not have to wait nearly as long as I thought ............hope that's a good thing! :)

The Bachelor Life

2006-04-06T11:10:00.000-04:00

The Bachelor Life
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Karen took the kids back to NY this week while they are on spring break so I've been "batchin" it this whole week.

An Unexpected Run

2006-03-23T21:49:00.000-05:00

The other night I was working late, tired, and was just wishing I was home in bed. I checked the clock, about 11:15, and decided to call it a night. I got my coat on, grabbed some stuff to throw out to the trash, and shut the door behind me. I knew immediately ..I'd locked my keys in my office. Crap! Crap. I stirred around for about a minute and found someone with a cell phone. I called Karen, but she had already been sleeping for quite a while - so she never even heard the phone ring. It's two and a half miles home - screw it - I'll walk (what other choice was there really?) I made it home in about 25 minutes!! In my jeans, with a heavy black leather jacket on I ran a 10-minute pace home! I was freezing by the time I got there as I had no hat or gloves and the windchill had the temp down to about 18. THEN, I had to wake my darling bride up to give me a ride back to work and get my car so it wouldn't get towed away in the morning! She was extremely forgiving. I can be such an idiot. Anyway ...I got my run in for Tuesday after all!

The Promise Starts Here

2006-03-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

The Promise Starts Here
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Heather with her Kalamazoo Promise shirt on that she got when she registered for kindergarten a few weeks ago. She will be part of the first Kindergarten class entering in under the new Kalamazoo Promise program which guarantees free college tuition and fees to any graduate of Kalamazoo Public Schools to any public university in the state of Michigan (that they earn admission to). My kids are going to school for free baby!!

Jazz and Champagne

2006-03-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

Jazz and Champagne
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Karen and I were out to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. She looked great, the band was swingin', and the champagne was bubbly - a great night out! We both commented that it hasn't seemed like ten years at all! (for me it was fast for Karen it's felt more like a hundred!!!)

Vegemite

2006-02-21T16:13:00.000-05:00

Vegemite
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

A student of mine from Australia brought this with her when she heard that I had 'failed' to try the Australian sandwich spread. Heather took a nice big bite of it on toast and I tried some also - how many different ways can you say blech!!! I suppose it is one of those cases where "it's all what you're used to", but man - that stuff is pretty rough.

When I was in Australia, one of my Japanese students from back in the U.S. sent me an e-mail and asked me if I had "tried that nasty brown paste?" I hate to be so harsh on someone else's grub, but seriously, and I like almost all food, this almost made me gag last night! Bon appetito!

Got the Spirit?

2006-02-21T00:25:00.000-05:00

Got the Spirit?
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Just a quick photo from the Super Bowl a few weeks ago. I had a good week of running...... right up to the point I got the flu and missed my long run on Saturday. Not sure what to do about that. My plan is to just pick up tomorrow and Thursday with my mid-week runs and run my next long run this upcoming Saturday. Sounds like a good enough plan to me!

For the Record

2006-02-13T08:18:00.000-05:00

Looking ahead at this week's schedule... have to get a fast post in now or there will be no post at all. Every hour basically from 7a - 10p is has something scheduled this week. Who said kids are boring?

Did my long run yesterday, 6 miles! The first 2 were the hardest. Not really any 'self-doubt' per se, just all of the, "mmm, this hurts, ouch that's tight" kind of business. Around mile 3 my mind changed a little bit as I ran down a street where there is a lot of new home construction going on. Karen's closest friend here has already purchased a lot and will be moving in June - assuming there is a house to move in to! So Karen wanted me to take a look and this was the best time to do it. Anyway, it was really mile 4 that things really settled in. At that point I was really feeling strong and felt like I was getting stronger, looser, etc. What a feeling! Those last 2 miles were not difficult at all. I got home, and Karen did a little post-run massage *try not to be too jealous*, I hit the showers, and ate dinner. What a great afternoon. It was frrrrrrrrreezing out there - so when I got inside, it felt like it was 100 degrees! Hope all of our east coast RBFers can dig out of the snow today! Have a great week gang.

The Good Life

2006-02-09T23:28:00.000-05:00

It's 11 o'clock on Thursday night and I've been up since 5:30, so I don't have enough energy to write down everything from the last week in full sentences - here's the general idea.

Ran my two mid week (tues/thurs) runs last week. Felt great! Loved it. Appreciated the comments you all left!
Missed my Sat. long run because I was working in Motown at the SuperBowl! Had a great time and the city look fantastic. All of us were just praying nothing would happen that would give the rest of the world yet another reason to bash us. It didn't, and the national press was there to celebrate with us. I was on my feet for 2 and a half days straight so even though I missed my 5-miler on Sat., I probably walked 15 miles over those two days. It's not the same, I know, but still...

Spent the next couple of days working 12-15 hour days working and trying to recover from the weekend. Got lots of sleep - just worked and slept and that worked out well.

Today - wow - today was just one of those days that's exhausting but makes you so happy to be alive.
Got up at 5:30 and was in my office by 7
Collaborated with a physical therapist and occupational therapist with a patient who is a Ph.D. holder, former superintendent of a school district, who suffered a brain injury as a result of a car accident 5 years ago. The guy is all heart and has guts to spare. He works so damn hard and his speech is becoming more intelligible and we plan to get him up and walking later this semester.

Went from there to a school for kids with developmental delays. They are just so full of joy and my student is working on helping them increase their ability to attend and become more aware of their peers and others around them. Their lives are simple and true.

Popped over from there to a local medical center to supervise a student who is working on a pediatric oncology unit. Have to admit - that is hard for me to deal with - my kids are young and I have to really get a hold of my own emotions so I can help my student help these kids deal with their treatments and ongoing changing self perception. They remind me of the temporary nature of life.

Went from there back to campus and gave a lecture to a biological psychology class on the neuroscientific substrates of rhythm perception and how that can affect motor functioning for athletes and various neuro' patients. Awesome class - inquisitive students.

Lunch, then to one of my own classes - practiced a gait rehabilitation technique - rhythmic auditory stimulation - used with stroke, parkinson's, tbi, and huntington's patients. the students struggled a bit. i may need to slow the pace down for them.

Drove over to a center for adolescents in crisis situations - supervised a student of mine who traveled from Australia to study with me at this site. I still feel humbled and honored she did that and hope the time and effort she is putting into it is worth it. She did great and the "patients" there responded to her warm Australian personality and accent very well.

Went back to campus and consulted with a student working at a site for older adults with dementia/Alzheimer's disease - she's scared s---less and just needed a few ideas and some support.

Went home and had dinner with Karen and the kids - what a blessing they are - coming home and seeing their faces was great (particularly because they weren't fighting when I got there!!) Talked with Karen for a bit after dinner, went upstairs to grade/e-mail/etc. Called Eddie up so he could look at the stocks he just bought earlier this week. He owns his own little piece of Apple, Stryker, Disney, XM Satellite Radio, and Sirius Radio. He's still tring to figure out why the XM stock shot up just because Oprah signed a contract with them. I had to explain to him that she's reorganized the universe around her and every little move she makes seems to ripple across wide expanses of space, time, and wall street. Back down and hung out with the crew and played a couple of games of Rummi-something-or-other.

Oh yeah, went out for my Thursday run and was literally dancing in the street! I had Eddie's new iPod shuffle and just couldn't resist - anytime some jam came on - I just started dancing right in the middle of the road. Had a party out there for 2.5 miles and then came in, grabbed a glass of wine and some razor thin prosciutto, and wrote all this.

Good night!!

"Long Run"

2006-01-31T12:43:00.000-05:00

The title for today's post (and Saturday's long run) could have been so many things. Both my body and my mind were sending so many contradictory signals. Just for my own ability to go back and keep track:

4 miles
53:55

I decided to run on campus today because I'm just bored of running through the neighborhood and needed something to shake it up. So, I parked the car on the far western side of campus and ran a mile east to the track. I started off WAY too fast - I mean, seriously way too fast. YOu know my avg. pace right now is somewhere b/w 10:30 and 11:30 minute/miles and I looked down at the Forerunner at one point and it said I was running at an 8:13 pace. This may have doomed me. I've never EVER liked running on tracks before, especially indoor ones, but today (Saturday) was better. AFter running the mile down to the track I ran the next two miles on the university's outdoor track, which was actually just what I needed. Quiet; somewhat isolated as there were only 2 other runners there; and I have to say that that surface was much cushier than asphalt! This is where the pain started though. My shins were unbelievably tight then they moved from tight to painful. After a while, I had almost no dorsiflexion left and I was just swinging my lower legs through their rotations. I had to stop (painful to admit) about 6 times maybe (maybe more) to stretch my shins out so I could continue. Anyway, did the 2 miles on the track then headed UP THE HILL for the last mile back to the car. According to the Forerunner, it was about a .4 mile hill which to be honest, actually helped to continue to stretch my shins out. Did the last mile and then went home and grabbed some ice. All the stuff that went through my head today:

Ok here we go
this feels pretty good
it's cold but this will be great later on
damn going way too fast, have to slow down
getting tight
ouch
damn that hurts
i suck
not a helpful thought
concentrate
have to stop again
did i plan for more training than I can accomplish at this point
discouraged
wow that lap went fast
doesn't hurt as much
ouch
have to stop again
discouraged
i will not be discouraged
it's not complicated, just one foot in front of the next
my shins are like cement blocks
i will not be discouraged
i did it
i might suck, i might be great, we'll see

Running in the snow

2006-01-24T23:22:00.000-05:00

Alright - did what was on my training schedule tonight - 17 minute tempo run. The thing that made this run interesting was the snow - it was snowing like crazy for the first 10 minutes, then it turned into some kind of freakin' hail or sleet or some crap like that - like little salt pellets nailing me in the face. Not all that bad though and actually I was getting into the whole 'misery' aspect of it - cold weather, snow/sleet, dark streets, wrong shoes (left my running shoes at the gym at work), and that whole scene. I really had a good time which was a nice change for me - several of the last few runs have just been robotic - no emotion to them at all - this was a good time in that bizarre "I'm into pain" way. Little Eddie went with me and did great. He's training for his first 5k - he's run a couple of 1 mile fun runs but yet to do a 5k and he's into it. He did great and is going to be a fun training partner on these mid-week maintenance runs.

Holy Shins Batman!

2006-01-22T23:13:00.000-05:00

OK - first let's get the stats out of the way.

3.1 miles
35:33
11:28 pace

There, now that's out of the way, I can say YEEEOOOOWWWWWWWW! Man my shins were burning tonight. I'm going to chalk it up to not really being "into it" lately and just running longer than I can without some initial pain. It's not bad - trust me - but enough to make me go straight for the ice (and beg for a massage from my massage therapist bride) the instant I got into the house!

So, I've been reading a lot of blogs over the last few weeks. Everyone seems so damn motivated - all pumped up after the new year, running with purpose and meaning...and me... I haven't really been into it at all. I want to be - I don't even feel the same as I used to when I was running every day, every other day whatever, and I want to feel that way again. Over the last 20 days since my last post, I'm lucky if I ran all of 3 or 4 times. But tonight something clicked. When I got home, (after all the begging of course) I took a look at the list of races I created near the end of December because I just couldn't get into the race that I had currently planned on running on 4/29th. It's right here in Kalamazoo and I just couldn't get up for it. Then I found the link I highlighted for the Bayshore Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10k and I found the "half" I've been looking for. So..... here we go. Now I have a target to aim at and a goal in front of me. Because I pretty much run alone, I'll need whoever is left that still reads this from the RBF to keep me honest and I'll do my best to both read and post as often as I can.

Oh yeah, I meant to post this a few weeks ago ....."..... and I recommend Prof. Roth for both tenure and promotion to Associate Professor". That's from the director of the school, so only two more rounds to go - the Dean and the Provost! See ya round gang!

Oh yeah part 2 - I'm part of the host committee for Super Bowl XL in Detroit in a few weeks - finished all of my training last weekend and am pumped about getting this party started!!

Dreams

2006-01-02T08:57:00.000-05:00

I don't keep a "regular" hand-written journal and I wanted to make sure I wrote this down somewhere.

I saw a dream take place right in front of me last night. It almost moved me to tears but I was cheering inside too much to cry. This was particularly exciting for me as most of the dreams I had as a kid have already been exceeded or are well out of reach (too late for a 35 year old to play his rookie year in the NFL probably :)

Eddie was asking me all of these technical questions about making CDs ... "how many can you burn at one time, how much does it cost, can we do it ourselves or do we have to go to somewhere else..." After answering all of his technical questions, I asked him why he was asking and he said he wanted to "make a CD with 14 songs on it". I congratulated him on his ambition and he asked me if he would have to record it "brand new each time I want to make a new CD" to which I of course said, "no, once you record it the first time you can make as many copies as you want, and usually studios will only press a minimum of 500-1000 or if we do it ourselves we can make as many as we want". And there it was - this smile... pure, innocent, and inspired. He was overjoyed with the possibility of creating something that was all his and from his heart. He immediately went downstairs and got a pencil and paper and started writing - wow, now my eyes are... I probably just need some sleep. When I saw him smile I connected to this old part of me that felt that same thing when I was around his age - something I haven't felt in a long time - it was just so instant, joyful and innocent, childlike and .... real. Wow - what a moment.

Running

2005-11-20T13:07:00.001-05:00

So Saturday I hit the road, I mean the actual road, not a track, or indoors or anything, in quite a while. Did a little under 3 miles, slower than my 'normal' pace, about 11:40/mile - which is all o.k. - but man was I tight and sore afterwards - particularly in my shins, the bottoms of my feet, and whatever that white fascia is called below your calves and above the Achilles tendon. Luckyily for me ..... I'm married to a massage therapist! I don't think I've evern mentioned before what Karen does for a living. Man, I came in, stretched out as best I could and began the begging. It didn't really last that long, maybe only 10 minutes or so - then came the pain! But you know, that kind of pain ... you want :) I must have asked her at least a dozen times "no, not there... there, yeah and then push with your thumbs"... etc. etc. which she completely disregarded at least a dozen times. Once I finally shut up and stopped begging and directing, I let the pro do her thing and I felt so much better. Went back out on the road today, a little less distance, same general pace (2.5 miles; 11:45 pace) and felt good about it. I definitely need those new shoes though. The bottoms of my feet ache. Partly, I assume because I haven't been pounding the pavement much, but these shoes easily have to have that 300-500 miles on them by now, I assume more than that. Jon said he just picked up a pair of Reebok Premier Road Lites which I will definitely be checking out. I also need to get myself squared away for winter. Last winter just blew my training apart - I tried to run at the gym on the indoor track, and I did manage to get a few days a week in, but I'm just not set up to run hamster-esque. I hate the 'round and round' and would love to run outside if I could. It gets crazy cold here in the winter - usually has highs in the low 20's in January and February although you can catch a day here and there that is 10 degrees colder and 10 degrees warmer. I'll have to explore this a bit and am asking all you Eskimo types to chime in with ideas regarding gear and techniques for winter road running. I also need a good springtime race to use as a target. I am not the type to train just for the health of it ;) and need some event to train for. Something in late March or early April would be ideal.

I'm Baaackkk!

2005-11-17T06:18:00.000-05:00

Hey RBF!!! Unbelievable - I just looked at the site - nearly a month and a half since my last post. As you know I've had my head down, making sure that the whole tenure application process was as overwhelmingly convincing as possible. It was worth it, dig this ..." ... and Prof. Roth's record of scholarship, service, and public outreach has far exceeded our expectations for him and we unanimously recommend the granting of tenure and promotion to Associate Professor." I'm sorry, did I hear somebody say Woo Hoo!!!!! O.K. - back to reality - that letter marks the 3rd of 6 reviews - now it just has to go through the Director, the Dean, and the Provost - but things sound good so far don't you think?

Man, so much has taken place "since I've been gone". Jon ran his first marathon and rocked Detroit, little miss runner pants ran San Francisco, Lara ran a half and has since announced that she's in training for her first marathon, Joan hosted a wonderfully successful race and keeps writing the most beautiful poetry, and Iron Wil runs an awesome tri AND launches her new online store! Man you all have been busy! I've still been carrying on the running "burps" I mentioned previously, short little spurts of running; 15 minutes here and there, a mile or 2 here and there, you get the idea.

If you haven't heard of this yet, I SO can't wait to tell you. My kids are going to college for free! And so will roughly 11,000 other kids from Kalamzoo public schools. You see, last Thursday on Nov. 10, the superintendent of Kalamazoo public schools announced that for the last 2-3 years, a group of wealthy philanthropists have been considering a multitude of ways of donating a large sum of $$$ that would have the greatest impact on the entire community over sustained periods of time. What they came up with is stunning, brilliant, awe-inspiring, and exceptioanlly generous. It's called The Kalamazoo Promise. In a nutshell, these people have committed the cash to pay the tuition, from 65%-100% depending on how long a student has been in the KPS system, of every child who goes to a Michigan public university or community college for at least the next 13 years! You would not believe what it has already done to this community as well as the surrounding communities. There are kids who never EVER even thought about going to college because their families could not begin to afford it who are suddenly presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Realtors have created lawn signs to be placed next to the real estate signs the read "Kalamazoo Public Schools - College Tuition Qualified" for all of the people who may be looking to move to Kalamazoo to take advantage of this enormous gift. The Kalamazoo convention and visitor's bureau have already run out of relocation packets as both potential homebuyers and businesses have snatched up the 1100 plus they had on hand prior to Thursday's announcement. Local school boards and city commissions have had impromptu meetings called to figure out how they will deal with a flow of students out of their districts into Kalamazoo. The Kalamazoo city commission has put together task forces to handle the influx of interest from the various regions around the country.

Then ... I heard one of the most beautiful things last night that's come out of this. A group of high school students have banded together and started a small trust of several thousand dollars to "give back" to the coummunity in ways yet to be determined. Groups of parents, teachers, business executives, local politicians, etc. have also been volunteering in droves, to help students who may be underprepared, and functioning as academic mentors and tutors. You can find another excellent article about how it has already, less than a week after its announcement, affecting people in this area - in The Kalamazoo Gazette

In more trivial things that I still draw joy from ..

The Pistons are still undefeated
Western Michigan beat Central last weekend
The Lions actually won a game
It snowed - about 3 inches - last night
I got a VERY small raise as a pre-cursor to promotion (every little bit helps!)
Eddie joined the boy scouts
Heather is jamming at her swimming class
I'm in the market for new running shoes (any tips?)
My volunteer application for the Super Bowl was accepted!!!
Thanksgiving is only a week away! (and there is so much to be thankful for!!!)

and the beat keeps runnin' runnin' and...

2005-09-28T06:28:00.000-04:00

Not dead, haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Thank you for the supportive comments and e-mails - I assure you I've read them - several times - and that they are received by grateful eyes.

The quick and dirty is ... I've submitted two articles since I last posted - one was a revision that had already been accepted for publication (which will probably require yet one more revision, it's just the way it goes) and one was an initial submission. I have my 3rd and last for this season in preparation for submission by Oct. 7th. Things are looking good!

Running - what a blessing it has been to have legs and lungs that still work the way they are supposed to. I work with people every day who either by trauma or disease no longer can run, walk, speak, etc. and when I was running this morning, I couldn't help but feel like I was running, simply because I could.

As you might have gathered, my running recently couldn't really be described as training - they have been more like running 'bursts' - I find 15 minutes at some point in my overly scheduled day - slide on my running shoes and hit the road. I go out for these little 1,2, and 3 mile 'bursts' - not long runs - (hmm, I wonder if they would more accurately be described as running 'burps') but they have done wonders for both my body, keeps me feeling loose and strong, and my mind, keeps the anxiety pangs at bay.

Congrats to all of you on your recent running achievements - I keep somewhat up to date, reading your blogs once or twice a week. You know, typically, I'll read one of Jon's posts or one of Lara's posts, get juiced and take off for 20 minutes or so. It's been great - thanks for the inspiration and support guys. Have fun out there!

The Tenure Push

2005-08-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

OK - a coulple of nice runs recently. On Friday and Saturday I ran a couple of what many call "an easy three miles" but at this point, running the three miles is not 'easy', rather, it's actually a bit reassuring in that I know if I entered a 5k I'd do o.k. For a while there I thought I might not even be able to finish a 5k race so it feels pretty good to know that all things considered I'd do o.k. The Friday run was one of those runs where everything just line up nicely. The weather was gorgeous (at that time of day), I was appropriately hydrated, and people in the neighborhood all just seemed pretty cheery. The breathing was good, the muscles felt fine ... it just felt good (at the pace I was running - 10:48/mile).

So ... as many of you know I'm coming up on my final tenure review this year. So many have asked me recently what that actually means, which is a completely legit' question as I had no idea what it meant when I started, and in fact, my understanding of what tenure is was completely off. I thought if after your final review you are not given tenure, then it is not such a huge deal, you simply work under the same conditions you've been working under for the past several years, you just don't have the job security the tenure provides. No. Wrong. What it actually means is ... if you are not given tenure you don't have to worry about job security for next year because you don't have a job! You either get tenure and stay or don't get tenure and leave. That is a slight oversimplification as there is an appeals process but the writing is clearly on the wall and most people who aren't given tenure do not bother sticking around for an extra year to appeal ... they simply move on. I've already went through 4 previous reviews and all have been very positive so I'm not overwhelmingly concerned except ... I have two articles that MUST be submitted soon - one by Sept 2 and another by Sept 15th - in order to get some type of feedback from the reviewers prior to my final submission date which is Oct. 14th. Cross your fingers - here's hoping. From there, now dig this ... my materials are first sent to my department chair, if he gives me a positive review they then go on to the tenure committee, if they give me a positive review they then go on to the director of the school of music, if he gives me a positive review they then go on to the Dean of the college of fine arts, and if she gives me a positive review, they then go on to the Provost and she makes the final determination. I do not have the same near-panic frame of mind many do who are in their final year of tenure eligibility, but I am of course anxious a lot of the time, my sleep is a bit screwed up, I get grumpy with my kids, etc. etc. You get te picture. I am hoping I will be able to use running to keep most of that ugly stuff at bay but I'm worried that I'll be too tired from running to bring the necessary energy to the "day" part of my job and still have enough left over for what will eventually clinch or lose me tenure. Your support will of course be very much appreciated and help to keep me on track. Now you know what I'll be doing for the next month and a half.

Bunch of Stuff

2005-08-14T09:48:00.001-04:00

Wow - after that run the other day, I remembered another part of running I had forgotten about, or maybe even romanticized a bit - being sore. Particularly my ITBs and quads - not bad - just walked like a penguin for a couple of days (nice image eh?) Eddie and I have been going out for little 1+ milers at night when it cools down. It's been fun to run with him although apparently run-time is also question-time for him; a few examples...

~Dad, how does google make money, I mean, who pays them, and wait, I mean..WHY do people pay them?
~Dad, how does flour know when it's supposed to be bread, or a cake, or a cookie, or a pizza?
~Dad, why do people pay other people, like Joey Callahan just to make them laugh? Would they pay me to make them laugh? Happy Birthday by the way Joey!
~Dad, what's up with Heather having dreams about lions in the backyard? There aren't really lions out there right?

OK - now, to go back to something from APRIL! I mentioned an April 13th story from a suburban Brisbane newspaper that had me laughing for a long time. It's a little story about how prevalent snakes are in that area and how this local reptile-catcher-guy was trying to change the perception of the public toward snakes. Some poor guy had his dog picked off by one of these snakes (a python) and this is snake-boy's response.."residents need to learn to live with snakes rather than try to eradicate them". I'm sorry..what?!! The article goes on to say that "larger pythons, in their search for food, could attack small pets, as appeared to be the case with 'Hero'. "'This is an example of a suburban ecology at work,' he said". I'm sor.., wait... did you say suburban ecology? "Fellow snake catcher Geoff Jacobs said suburban yards attracted pythons with their plentiful supply of food and water. 'Everyone in suburbia creates a food chain. Look at the fruit trees and frog ponds,' Mr. Jacobs said. 'Residents should not create environments attractive to snakes without also learning to live with the reptiles' he said. Killing a snake could attract a fine of up to $225,000 or a two-year prison sentence".

Warning for all you 'Madden-ers'

2005-08-10T11:43:00.001-04:00

For the video game buffs, especially those of you who love Madden, you know that Madden 2006 was realeased this week. People were camped out over night at Circuit Cities and Best Buys around the country with an article written about the realse in the Detroit Free Press.

Well check this story out about a guy in Seoul Korea who actually died from playing 49 non-stop hours of video games! I hope you're reading Eddie!

Alternatively, if you want to check out something a bit more inspiring, former Olympian Joan Nesbit Mabe has a blog that is just terrific. This woman ran a 15:27 5k - blazing!

Back in the Saddle

2005-08-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

O.K. - I didn't peel the pavement off the street, I didn't burn the rubber off the soles of my shoes - but I was out there, running away one foot in front of the next. In my heart - it felt great to be back out there and what that means to me - my body however... Have you ever taken a blanket out of the washing machine and felt how heavy and clinging it is? That's what the air was like this morning. I was up at 5:00 a.m., couldn't sleep, and started reading Jon's blog and Lara's blog and got inspired! One of the things that came to me while out there was how much fun I have running the different races. I would love to run a nice little 5k somewhere out in NY while we were there but I haven't found one yet that will be near where we will be. So, I might have to look ahead a little bit. This is my final tenure push, which I'll write more about later, so I really have to buckle down and focus on all of that, but I'd like to get maybe 2 or 3 races in to keep the batteries charged between now and then (Oct. 15th submission date).

I was reading in Runner's World over the weekend about some big time runner who took about 3 months off and was so worried and heartbroken about being away. When she got the sneakers back on and hit the pavement she realized how beneficial that break was for her - physically. She said the 1st 2 weeks back were pretty tough training wise but not nearly as difficult as she had imagined and she was back in near-peak shape in just a few weeks. Well, at my level, "peak" shape is relevant but I also, by taking it slowly... r...e...a...l...l...y s...l...o...w...l...y today, I did fine.

Stats according to the Forerunner
Run Time: 31:11
Run Dist: 2.28 miles
Avg. Pace 13:39
Best Pace: 8:15
Calories: 251

Eddie are you there?

2005-06-09T16:41:00.000-04:00

Hey I just figured out how to get back here. Sorry it took me so long. How is everything? You must be in heaven with your family there. Have you been running. I think I read you ran 5 miles not too long ago. That's great. My training is going well so far. I like my group. There's seven of us from last years group in this years group, if that made sense. I ran my first race of the year. It was the Flushing Evening race, 5K. It was soooo hot. The heat index was 95. I slowed it down to a 13 minut mile. This year we are running for 2 minutes and walking for 1. Last year it was 2 and 2. I'm not sure if I told you that Tanya bought me the Garmin 201 for my birthday. It's pretty cool, I like it. Well I will go for now. Say hey to your family.

Jeff

Roths Down Under

2005-05-26T20:17:00.000-04:00

For the next few months while (whilst) I'm still in Australia, I'm only going to post to our 'other' blog. Getting to be too much to keep up with both so please come visit us over at Roths Down Under. Looking forward to hearing from you over there, and of course, g'day mates!

Write your own caption

2005-05-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

The Three Amigos
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

So... what do you think the caption should be for this photo? This was us last year at the Lansing Capital City River Run.

Kalamazoo Foot Chase

2005-05-20T01:36:00.000-04:00

OK - how cool does this sound?! My father in law was part of the NYPD for 15 years - count me in on this one!

The KAZOO AREA FOOT CHASE is a 3.5-mile run patterned after a police foot chase in pursuit of a fleeing suspect. This is an unconventional course that includes fences, fields, business districts, school grounds, neighborhoods, and even buildings before reaching the finish line. Witnesses located along the route give the only clues where to go next. The course is not certified, but the event is timed. Awards to the top 2 times in each age category (male/female). Door prizes to runners who recover contraband found along the way. Additional prize to the first police/corrections officer or dispatcher (ID required) across the finish line.

The race is sponsored by a Michigan based non-profit organization that aids the survivors of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

What I do when I should be running

2005-05-19T04:17:00.000-04:00

OK - this was pretty cool. Click the link and check yourself out!

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Upper Midwestern

15% Yankee

0% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Not burning up the pavement, but..

2005-05-16T01:10:00.000-04:00

OK, so it wasn't at an Olympic pace, but I probably had my best run in the last 6 weeks last night. I took off about 4:30 p.m. and because it's Autumn down here right now, that was a perfect time of day. It was still sunny out but it had cooled off quite a bit and the weather was just gorgeous. The first part of a run is almost always the most difficult. My body just screams STOP, and sometimes WHY AM I DOING THIS AGAIN? pops in to my mind. I am not a mentally disciplined runner, or at least the discipline goes in stages and I would say in general, I have been in an undisciplined stage since 2 or 3 weeks before I left. Anyway, the first 10-15 minutes was tough, especially as this is a relatively hilly area. I don't know what happens, but at some point with only about a mile to go, things felt better. I don't know if they actually felt better or I was just inspired that THERE WAS ONLY A MILE TO GO but ... in general, I just felt under less stress, physically and mentally... something just let go.
A few key features include shorter overall time, obviously a faster overall pace, but also, a slightly slower "best pace" so I guess overall my pace was more even. Anyway, according to the Forerunner:
Run Time: 35:45
Run Distance: 3.11 miles (5k)
Avg Pace: 11:30
Best Pace: 8:50
Calories: 624 (because of the hills - the Forerunner measures change in elevation also and calculates that)

One last thing, and I'm sorry - I don't mean to be gross, but one thing that was annoying during the run was the amount and "type"? of spit my mouth was generating. It was thick, and for lack of a better word "syrupy". Anyone have any idea what causes this - too much of ??? in my food that day or too little ??? in my diet - wagging tongues would like to know!

Running Down Under

2005-05-09T03:07:00.000-04:00

IMG_0003
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Just to prove to my friend and co-blogger that I actually have been running, here's a photo of me coming back from a run the other day! The weahter was perfect - even though it is Autumn here, it is still HOT in the middle of the day - about 75, so when running in the mid-day heat, it gets a little warm!

Just the Stats Ma'am

2005-05-06T23:35:00.000-04:00

According to the Forerunner:

Run Time:37:30
Run Dist: 3.11 miles
Avg. Pace 12:03
Best Pace: 8:17
Calories: 423 (not that I care, but it reports it so...)

I know it seems like squat to most/many of you - but this was a tough run for me today - don't know why. Hanging in there though right!

On the Road Again

2005-05-05T06:05:00.000-04:00

OK - went for a 5k run around the athletic grouns on UQ's campus tonight - had a good time (sort of). I didn't use my "virtual partner" correctly and these will be slower than what I actually did because I didn't shut it off until about 90 seconds after I stopped running but ....Stats from my Garmin Forerunner:
Run Time: 37:43
Run Dist: 3.14 miles
Avg. Pace: 12:00/mile
Best Pace: 7:46/mile
Calories: 443

Good Runner Bad Runner

2005-05-04T20:57:00.000-04:00

OK - I talked with Jeff this morning back in Michigan and completely shocked him. He had no concept of me calling him from Australia and thought that would probably be costing me "50 dollars a minute" - which it does not, which is why I was able to talk to him for 15 minutes or so - cost all of about 50 cents for the whole call.
Anyway....
He's the good runner and I'm the bad runner. He said he's been running three days a week and walking in between (such a good little "Calloway-er". I've been running two days a week top (bad runner) but the bigger problem is that I run two back to back days, or run twice with a day break in between and then don't run for the rest of the week. I WILL get back on track and you WILL be the first to read about it!

My Crew

2005-04-29T00:42:00.000-04:00

IMG_0060
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Now you know why I miss them so much!

3 runs 5 days

2005-04-25T21:34:00.000-04:00

OK - Back on track. Well, maybe have to be consistent over a month or so, but I feel back on track. I ran all timed runs instead of distance runs. Pretty much the same thing each time in terms of distance - 30 mins. 4.4k or roughly 2.8 miles. Feels great to get all the parts moving again and the times really aren't THAT bad ..... considering.

It's fall here now in Australia, but the part of Oz I'm in it is still hot - 80 degrees in the middle of the day. Which by the way, has been the time of day I've been running (on the weekend anyway). I definitely wouldn't do it at home, but somehow, the timing just works out pretty well this way.

The one race I have my eye one while I'm here is the Gold Coast marathon - not that I'm running the marathon of course, but I'm shooting for the 10k event they have that weekend (July 3rd). It looks great and it gives me an incentive or a target - for training, better nutrition, sleep, etc. etc. My friends David and Karyn are running the half marathon that day and have this sort of cute sort of real competition between the two of them. I'll be happy to run a good pace (for me) and a good overall time (for me). It's funny because I'm a competitive guy, but for some reason, I am just happy enough to be out there competing against myself during these runs. Anyway, all for now. G'day mates!

Thanks for hanging in there!

2005-04-20T23:56:00.000-04:00

Hey, thanks to everyone who has continued to check into our blog from around the world! Lots of continuing readers from Europe and S. America - we're encouraged by your checking in on us and will start blogging more frequently because of it! Good luck with your running and shooting for your own personal bests!

To Run or Not to Run...

2005-04-20T23:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I wish there was better news to report, but I've been in Australia for 3 weeks now, and have only went for maybe 4 or 5 total runs. I want/need to get back into the swing of things. My schedule hasn't totally stabilized - I take a bus from the house I'm staying at to work which takes about an hour. If you've been reading my Australian blog (http://rothsdownunder.blogspot.com) you'll know that running at night is a little bit daunting because of these giant friggin' bats - bats the size of crows man! Anyway - I better figure out something fast before I turn into Jabba the Hut!

Another "temporary" Travel Blog

2005-04-13T02:11:00.000-04:00

Hey Gang - I see I am still getting several hits on this blog despite not having posted anything for a LONG time. I've been traveling and am currently in Brisbane, Australia. For those of you who are runners - Australia is a fitness-crazed country and running here is definitely one of its favored personal past-times. If you'd like to check out the other blog, the address is: http://rothsdownunder.blogspot.com

Be well and keep the sneakers laced and ready to go!

Snow on the way, numb foot, slow run

2005-01-04T22:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I thought I'd get my run in tonight instead of waiting as snow, snow, and more snow is supposedly on the way!

I had the weirdest thing happen during the run tonight. My left foot got really warm all of a sudden, then started getting a little numb. First my big toe, then all my toes, then basically the whole foot went numb. I wonder if it was just from too much pouding, although, I've never had anyone tell me that, and never had this problem before (at least not this severe). Hmm, wondering if I should be concerned. I also have some of that nausea I had yesterday also, but not nearly as bad. I think that is mostly (or exclusively) from the weight-lifting. I'm guessing this nausea is from lack of proper hydration. Because it's winter, I hate drinking water and need to get my body rehydrated after a holiday break of cookies, cakes, coffee, etc. - everything but water!

Stats
3.11 miles
41:40
13:23 average pace
9:35 best pace

Just the Stats

2005-01-03T19:06:00.000-05:00

Weight-lifting today.

Rows 3 sets x 10 reps x 75lbs
Bicep Curls 2x10x40 lbs.
Bench Press 3x10x75lbs
PecDeck 3x10x75lbs.

Ran 1 mile - just to get some kind of running in. Weight lifting always gives me the shakes afterwards and today gave me a headache and made me feel a bit nauseous. I'm guessing it's probably poor hydration (headache/nausea).

*Note - couldn't use my Forerunner today because I was indoors in the gym - bummer.

2004 Highlights 2005 Goals

2005-01-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

Well, the news is good - I have neither died nor fell off the face of the earth, despite my last blog being on Nov. 8th indicating that either would be good explanations for my 'absence'. There is simply too much info' to blog since Nov. 8th so I won't even try, but here are some highlights (lowlights in some instances).

I slept about 10 hours last night. I can't even begin to recall when was the last time I slept 10 hours.

I had to - I was completely spent after two weeks of wonderful holiday travel, eating, gatherings, gift exchanges, eating, hugs, tearful goodbyes, eating, joyous hello's, eating, a few light jogs, catching up with everyone, and eating.

I gained at least 9 lbs - maybe because of all the EATING and only a FEW light jogs.

I ran yesterday for 2.41 miles - how do I know it was 2 point 4 1 miles - because I got the Garming Forerunner 201. This thing is amazing! I told my family yesterday that it might be the greatest gift I've had since I got my drums in middle-school! My iPod is clearly a challenger... but I bought that one... with grant money... from work...which I use for work.

I've scoped out several runs already in the Brisbane Australia area as I will be there for 4 months next year. There is the 'Gold Coast Marathon' and all of the shorter runs as well as the Brisbane Marathon which seems to double for the "Lest We Forget" run. There is a group that I've already joined for weekly runs on Sunday called the 'Brisbane Road Runners'. I can't wait to meet all the guys and get started as soon as possible.

2004 Runs Include:

The Tuuri - 5k (Flint, MI)
34:17 11:03 pace

The CRIM - 8k (Flint, MI)
51:42 10:24 pace

The Capital City River Run - 10 Miles (Lansing, MI)
1:59:35 11:58 pace

The WMU Campus Classic - 5k (Kalamazoo, MI)
38:06 12:17 pace

The Detroit Marathon 5.2 miles (Detroit, MI) (5-person relay)
5h 1m 1s 11:29 pace (Team Results) Motown-Manhattan Transfer
56:20 10:50 pace (Individual Results)

Tangible running/fitness goals and plans for this year:
1. Finish in the top half of my age bracket (35-39): for most runs this means to get in the 8:45-9:30 pace range
2. Get weight down to 165-170 lb. range (currently 187 lbs. - started at 207)
3. Add running into vacations or build vacations around larger runs
4. Strength/Cross Train during winter months

Weird but Good

2004-11-08T18:21:00.000-05:00

This will have to be a quick log as I have to be in class in less than 10 minutes. Just for context, by the time I go home tonight, today will wind up being one of those 14+ hour work days. I was driving downtown tonight to drop some books off at the library. I was feeling tired, a little stressed which for me usually means grumpy. I drove past the gym where I've been running, saw a few runners outside, and the whole thought of being active, getting the athletic gear on, and just being 'out there' running, lifting weights, etc. instantly changed my mood! I immediately focused on going running after class tonight which changed my mood completely just by giving me something to look forward to. I have a lot more energy to bring to class tonight and I'm looking forward to hearing some very smart students present their papers - with enthusiasm! Can't wait to get home, slap on the running shoes, grab a hat (it is COLD tonight) and hit the road!

Quick Log Today

2004-11-05T08:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's Work

2 miles (run)
3x10x75 lbs. declined bench press
3x10x75 lbs. seated press
3x10x75 lbs. lat pull-downs

Like a good little hampster

2004-11-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

Like a good little hampster I ran around the track yesterday a few dozen times. Man I hate running on the track but it was raining and a bit cold. I know, I know ....wimp .....whatever. I ran the 28 times around the track which works out to 3.1 miles. I have no idea about the time, but the chins were really tight and burning for most of the run - I don't know what that's all about, but Ihope that crap stops pretty soon. I'm digging being on the weight machines and working the upper body. I have to find a better time to run actually - I've run around mid-day recently a few times including yesterday, and whereas it breaks up the day nicely, I'm kind of tanked for the rest of the day. I do not find it 'mentally stimulating' as some do - I just find it relaxing and tiring and I'm certainly in no mood to get back to work after running. I've been getting to work, on most days, really early 7:00 a.m. or so. I'm wondering if I shouldn't try a 6:30 run time, shower at the gym, then head over to the office from there. Or, just get in at 7, work until 3:30 or so, then hit the gym before I head home - that sounds like the best idea. We'll see how that works. I've refocused my food intake again also and feel a lot better. Over a period of about a year or so, I lost about 35 pounds and over the last month, I gained a small amount, about 5 lbs. and I really feel it on me. So I tightened up the type of food, poured lots more water down my throat and feel so much better again.

Man, I'm listening to Andrea Bocelli sing the Ave Maria - feel like I'm listening to an angel sing to another angel - so incredibly moving! Must be my Catholic roots!

Bad Blogger..Bad Bad Blogger

2004-11-01T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been several days since my last post but after the Detroit Marathon (relay), I was pooped - it really took me quite a while to put all of the pieces back together. Last week I ran a few times at the gym, nothing more than a few miles at an easy pace, just enough to keep myself in the game. I've turned my attention to some cross training, trying to tone up the upper body a bit - have to be strong to run strong right?! It's fun to hit the weight machines and it couldn't be more convenient to do it at the student rec center right on campus. Today I started to head out to the gym after my 9 a.m. class and saw that I had a ticket on my car. I went over to campus parking and got that all squared away including a new parking permit and headed back to the gym. I got halfway inside and realized I didn't have my running shoes with me - DAMN! Oh well - I headed home, grabbed a sandwich, laced up the shoes and did free weights for about an hour at home. Probably won't run today unless I do it after my night class which doesn't get out until 9 p.m., although I find when I run, and run hard late at night, despite what some people say, I sleep like a baby!

The call me ..... MISTER estupido!

2004-10-27T16:07:00.000-04:00

OK - not that it wasn't already official - but I'm an idiot.

Yesterday, I was pretty sore, especially my quads, gastrocs, and feet. So, I thought a nice light run might loosen things up a bit - get the blood flowing a little. I ran two miles and lifted weights for about a half an hour (it's great, the track and the weight room are right next to each other). Today, I am sore in the same places I was yesterday plus a few new bonus ones - lucky me!

By the way, I saw on the Detroit Free Press website today that our place was moved from 208th to 210th and the number of teams in our division moved from 216 to 218. Damn that's sad - I looked at what we would have to run, pace-wise, to put us in the top 50% (team number 109) and we would have to run a team average pace of 9:14. Next year - this was our "get out on the road, get educated, run a few races, and have some fun" year.

Sign of the Times

2004-10-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

OK - so the Free Press FINALLY posted our times, albeit on another company's website.

Here they are:

Kenny Leg 1, 7 miles: 9:30 pace (1:06:29)
Karen Leg 2, 4.7 miles: 13:44 pace (1:04:33)
Dad Leg 3, 3.3 miles: 11:08 pace (36:43)
Me Leg 4, 5.2 miles: 10:50 pace (56:20)
Jeff Leg 5, 6 miles: 12:50 pace (1:16:58)

THE MOTOWN-MANHATTAN TRANSFER 5:01:01 finished 208 out of 216

Detroit Marathon Report

2004-10-26T07:37:00.000-04:00

What an awesome race! Forget about Cleveland - "Detroit Rocks"!

Just for the record though, Detroit is a mess right now. I spent the night before in Ann Arbor with an uncle and Karen drove in from Kalamazoo, left that car in Ann Arbor, and we headed into Detroit together. I was Mr. Grumpy Person because we had to pick our packets up by 7:00 p.m. Saturday night or we could not run, and Karen didn't get to Ann Arbor until 4 p.m. Now for those of you in the area, you're saying - yeah - so - it's only 45 minutes or so from Ann Arbor to Detroit, you had plenty of time. Have you seen Detroit lately? I'm not talking about the suburbs, I mean Detroit. It looks like it has been shelled - streets are completely torn up - traffic was backed up inside Detroit all the way out into Dearborn. So we waited, and waited, and .... We finally got downtown, parked, and ran our little butts into Cobo hall and picked our packets up around 6:30 p.m.

Off to the hotel. We thought this was going to be great - we got a room at a Ramada Inn - downtown - for $100. We are not prissy travelers, really, trust me. But blood stains on the mattress? Come on! A room with no heat - in Detroit - in October?! Come on! We stayed in the same hotel, but switched rooms, much cleaner - much happier. Kenny and Dad showed up about 9 o'clock from a 12-hour drive from NY, all raring to go and in goofy moods - which was great - because I let myself get in a terrible mood. They immediately fixed that and it was great seeing them again. We were all up until about midnight or so maybe and finally decided to call it a night (we had to be up at 5 a.m.!) Well, then the fart games started, and the ice machine outside of our room started, and so on, and so on..... none of us really slept much that night. But we all woke up at 5 in pretty good shape. Showered (well they did, I didn't), took our gear down to the car, and met our 5th runner outside at about 6:15. Grabbed some muffins from the seedy little diner connected to the hotel and headed over to Tiger Stadium (AKA - Comerica Park). Right away - BAM! The mood was getting pumped by a live band - 6:30 a.m. - how in the hell did they get that gig?! The place was packed and the Free Press reported 10,000 runners were there that morning - what a charge that was. We said bye to Kenny who was running the starting leg and Karen, Jeff, and I got on our buses and headed out to the relay points. And then we waited, and waited, and.... The race started at 7:35 - I didn't start running my leg until around 10:30

Leg 1 - 7 miles - Kenny He said he was having a great time; the start of the race was cool and he worked his way through the crowd. But then - the bridge. The incline was long and steep. He was running great until he hit that damn bridge and - WHAM - just kind of wiped him out. He ran the whole leg and did great, we'll find out more once the Free Press posts our times, but it sounds like he ran it in about an 11 minute pace.

Leg 2 - 4.7 miles - Karen Karen was awesome. She 'trained' for all of about 2 or 3 weeks. She went into the tunnel feeling pretty good as the entire first half under the water was all decline. But apparently, all things that go down must also come back up, and that's what she did. Ran up, and up, and up, with a curve, and a twist, and up, and up, AND UP! Dad said when she handed the anklet with the chip in it to him, it was drenched with sweat. Way to go Kar!

Leg 3 - 3.3 miles - Dad Dad LOVED that his leg started all of about 2 blocks from the hotel. He didn't come down to the start line with his - he just hung out in the hotel until it was his turn to run his leg. He took a nice long shower, took his time getting ready - damn that sounds good! He took the chip from Karen and was off; off on the culminating run of several months of training which began with 3 painful steps and ended 3.3 miles later, when he turned the corner into Chene park, ran the last quarter mile strong, and handed the chip to me. I took the chip, hugged him and was off.

Leg 4 - 5.2 miles - Me I started out feeling great just to be on the road. I'd gotten cold waiting out there and it felt great knowing that I would be sweating and everything would be warmed up soon. I ran with music this time which was different for me - I trained with music occasionally but never ran a race with it. Popped on my iPod and was feeling great. I used pink bandana woman as my pace setter. She said she runs 10 minute miles and that sounded good to me. I hung with her for the first two miles, then slowly she pulled a little further and further away. I had to stop a few times - my shins were burning from not being able to seriously train for the last month. Jeff popped out of the crowd right before I got on the bridge to Belle Isle, and grabbed my arm. Now, I'm in Detroit, with music in my ears, running a race - so when he grabbed me, it kind of caught be off guard. I turned and yelled "What the F&^! are you doing here?" He pointed to where he was standing, smiled, and gave me a nice push. Belle Isle was gorgeous, I ran hard, and coming across the bridge back to Detroit was definitely tough. I just kept saying to myself, this is the last race of the year, who gives a F&^! if I'm sore tomorrow. So I ran - HARD - and finished my leg strong - maybe not fast, but strong. I'm guessing my pace was somewhere in the 10:30 range.

Leg 5 - 6 miles - Jeff Jeff took off, I got on the bus, back to Ford Field, and I met up with Karen, Dad, and Kenny. I was so proud of all of us when I saw them there waiting for Jeff and me. The next 20 minutes or so were great - we just stood there and cheered for all the finishers as they ran by. It can be an amazingly emotional thing - some runners started crying as they saw us cheering for them, some stuck their hands out to get a high-five, others just did all they could to run that last part of the race. One guy, God bless him, fell to the street, yacked his guts out, got back up and took off. We were breakin' Jeff's balls about not getting there sooner but when he finally got there we just sort of grabbed each other and headed into the tunnel leading down into Ford Field. What a great feeling. We got down to the field and Jeff was so excited he just bolted - took off - sprinted to the finish line and the rest of us just sort of trotted across.

Thanks to the few of you who chime in from time to time with words of encouragment and well wishes. It was an awesome experience and we're already talking Detroit "next year" talk.

Big shout out to the Chocolate Runner - sounds like his "run through hell" was awesome and reading his blog everyday was a big time inspiration!

I'll post the times as soon as the Free Press makes them available.

Day 2 After - Ouch!

2004-10-26T06:58:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I'm sore. I'm also typing with my eyes closed - I'm burned man! My son came in around 3 a.m. - he had a nightmare - so we did the right thing and let him in our bed - now, I'm typing with my eyes closed. Ahhhh parenthood. So today I'm calling the Detroit Free Press to see if I can get them to reprint the results with our times in there. One of my teammates pointed out that there were probably still 100 people or more that finished after us and only one relay team had their times posted that finished after us so something is screwed up. It's weird how much we (I) want these times posted - but I do!

The Morning After

2004-10-25T08:37:00.000-04:00

So it's the morning after - and the Detroit Free Press has not posted our results - not on their website and not in the print edition. So of course I'm disappointed - lucky for me - I'm too damn tired to be all that disappointed. More, much more to come about the race later. But we had a good time, everyone ran hard, and it was great as always to be in Motown. Our unofficial time is somewhere in the 5'08":27 range. A quick overview of personal stories.

Kenny didn't train at all apparently, still smoked, AND STILL ran the longest leg (7 miles) over the Ambassador bridge.
Karen only had about 2 weels of training - the girl is insane - and she finished an international underwater (tunnel) leg. 4.7 miles
Dad went from taking 3 (painful) steps - yes literally - to run 3.3 miles - awesome, absolutely awesome.
I ran a 5.2 mile leg one month after fracturing my left foot, with only 5 or 6 runs in between the injury and the race.
Jeff ran a full 6 mile leg without stopping - not even once!

More to come later - very tired and have to teach a class in 15 minutes.

The Motown-Manhattan Transfer

2004-10-22T11:58:00.000-04:00

OK, so here's the breakdown of who's running what.

Kenny - Ambassador Bridge - 7.0, miles
Karen - Detroit/Windsor Tunnel 4.7 miles
Dad - Theater & Sports District 3.3 Miles
Me - Belle Isle Bridge 5.2 miles
Jeff - The anchor leg to lead us to Ford Field - 6.0 miles

All of these legs have so much fun built into them. Kenny's leg will cross over into Canada via the Ambassador bridge and then up through the Windsor bike path - big fun.

Karen's leg will take her under water, back to U.S. soil and into center city Detroit - more fun - especially as she will turn the chip over to Dad.

Dad's leg will run through the theater district and around the Comerica Park and Ford Field - sounds like fun.

My leg will take me across the Macarthur bridge onto Belle Isle, around Belle Isle and then back into Detroit.

And Jeff's leg is a bit of a mystery as I don't know that part of Detroit - but he is going to have a blast being the one to lead the rest of us onto Ford Field and cross that finish line together as a team!

Motown Marathon Madness

2004-10-22T07:12:00.000-04:00

Alright - so everything is looking great so far. All five of us are feeling good, we worked out babysitting for the kids, the crew from New York will start heading in tonight or first thing tomorrow morning - sounds like we're all set. I've been stretching like some type of nut over the last week - not that much running - still coming back from the stress fracture. That hasn't bothered me at all, but the lack of running has made the rest of the body a little tight so I've been stretchy boy over the last week or so. Had the marathon trainer down at Gazelle Sports in downtown Kalamazoo show me some knockout stretches back on Monday. Just when you think you know what you need to know, someone comes in and introduces you to something new. She showed me these great stretches and I've been doing them all week.

I'm heading out to Detroit tonight for a Colorado State Alumni football "watch party". Never been to one, but it sounds like a good time and it might be fun to connect with some of my CSU alums.

Good luck to all who are running this weekend - especially all of you Detroit marathoners and Hell-o-ween runners!

What the &^%$&^!!!!!!

2004-10-20T17:45:00.000-04:00

How in the hell did THAT happen? Now it changed templates! I'm really not this technologically illiterate (really) - this thing has gone mad!

Comments? Comments? What the hell did I do?

2004-10-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'm screwing around with the HTML code trying to input code for comments, as this new template, as snazzy as it is, does not provide a space for comments. Excuse me, what the hell is the point of that?!! I'd ask someone to lend me a hand with this, but there's no way you can leave me any comments!! Just in case anyone is highly motivated and sympathetic to the cause, if you know how to add the code for comments, maybe you could email me at ed_roth@yahoo.com Thanks!

Tough Shins Tougher Chin

2004-10-18T18:19:00.000-04:00

I ran about 45 mins today - ouch! My shins were aching and I stopped - frequently - and stretched, massaged, and walked to try to loosen them up. I eventually found a nice stride that I seemed to be able to handle the pain with, and ran for about a mile. I wanted to make sure I wasn't just "toughing it out" at the expense of creating some type of injury so I took it as easy as I had to to stay on the track. All in all - lousy run but I stayed out there and feel the better for it.

Foul Weather+Hilly Course = Tough Race

2004-10-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

So it was only a 5k right? Wow - that was the toughest run of the season. It rained pretty much the whole run, sometimes hard, sometimes light but always rain. Did I mention, it was cold rain? The termperature with the windchill was 33 degrees - one degree above freezing! To be honest, the weather didn't really affect me all that much other than maybe taking a bit of the edge off the race-time buzz you feel. The hills and the lack of training over the last 3 weeks were definite drawbacks. My foot (with the stress fracture) felt fine - no sweat - but the other body parts, particularly ligaments, tendons, and the stabilization muscles were tight. But, like always, we finished, albeit last in our age/gender bracket. That's the past Detroit is the future.....

I know there are no magic pills or mysterious techniques to make up for the rest I had to give the foot over the last 3 weeks, but I'm going to do everything I can to get in the best shape I can by Detroit. It might even mean 1 run, and lots of cardio work on bikes, pools, etc. This is going to be a blast - I can't wait.

Runnin' in the Rain, Just Runnin' ....

2004-10-16T06:51:00.000-04:00

6:50 a.m. Saturday morning - raining like hell.
Weather.com predicts heavy rain and wind, and a race-time temperature of 33 degrees wind chill adjust temperature. Oh oh.

1 Day to 5k

2004-10-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

So tomorrow's the campus classic. The run part will be fun, but I am just looking forward to being outside, even if it rains, with friendly faces around, and being on campus in October is great! I'm looking to start and finish together this time - the last few times I wanted to test myself. This time, with Detroit coming up next weekend, I want to take it easy, enjoy the scenery and comraderie, and get ready for Detroit. I turned in my tenure/promotion materials this morning - so that's a giant monkey off my back. Now its run time - run, run, run! Thank God I 'found' this sport - it's breathed new life into me.

Daily Tips from RW

2004-10-13T19:47:00.000-04:00

Gear
Stay comfortable in cool weather
When cooler weather comes around you might cower at the sight of it and overdress on your runs. But if you do that you'll think you're back at the beach by the end of your first mile. You should feel cool when you step out the door on your runs, not toasty warm at first.

Training
Stop and smell the roses
To re-energize your running, do a tranquil run in a beautiful setting. Throughout the run, force yourself to take at least five 1-minute walk breaks, while you smell the flowers, take in the scenery and simply appreciate the great outdoors.

Nutrition
Add variety to your training table
Here's a new training system for your diet. Try one new vegetable every week, and consume at least four servings of vegetables daily. Look for plump, well-hydrated vegetables. Avoid wilted lettuce and veggies with punctured skin.

Indoor Run Today

2004-10-13T19:41:00.000-04:00

Alright man - back on "the road" and feeling great! I ran about 3 miles tonight indoors at the University Rec Center. I've been at my office every day this week no later than 7:00 a.m. and today, I got to the gym about 4:00 (which normally I would be in my office). I SO NEEDED to RUNNNNN today!! I felt like an old Chevy or something - all the tendons were tight, sore, and at times really hurt like HELL!! But it felt so GOOD to be back out there man! I'm the oldest person out there easily by 10 years, and for the most part, by about 15 years. All of these 18-22 yr. olds out there just hammering away at the weights, running laps around me - their bodies just GO GO GO! My colleagues always ask me if I'm intimidated by all of that, and I'm not - I'm inspired. There's a part of me that believes if I'm in the gym everyday, my body can do that too. I don't mean that sarcastically either - I feel great man - not one bit different from when I was 20. BUT - I wonder if I'm just deluding myself. Could be - but I'm just having a great time out there and think I'm probably in the best shape I've been in at least 5-7 years. Here's looking forward to the campus classic and even more forward to Detroit - DETROIT ROCK CITY!!

Light Run - Little Sore

2004-10-07T20:16:00.000-04:00

Alright, well after over a week off - that is so hard to say - I ran a total of about 1.5 miles yesterday with a long break in the middle to play with the kids at the park. My foot was only a little sore, but sore enough to make me know that I'd better lay off it for several more days. I only have one option as I see it and that's to rest the foot, hit a bike or elliptical machine or maybe a pool for cardio work and just suck it up during the next two races. I'm a little bummed that I won't be able to really RUN; I'll just have to refocus my purpose a bit - work through this injury, make it more about overcoming obstacles than performing at peak ability.

Last night was "one of those nights". Cool Fall air, crunch of leaves under your feet, my children playing at the park, my GEEEORGEOUS wife talking with her friends, and that blue/grey color the sky gets right at dusk. Man - that was a great night!

Hauling A&$

2004-10-07T09:59:00.001-04:00

Hauling A&$
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Having fun?

2004-10-07T09:59:00.000-04:00

Having fun?
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

The Three Amigos

2004-10-07T09:58:00.001-04:00

The Three Amigos
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Easy pace

2004-10-07T09:58:00.000-04:00

Easy pace
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Workin' Hard

2004-10-07T09:57:00.001-04:00

Workin' Hard
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Coming in Strong

2004-10-07T09:57:00.000-04:00

Coming in Strong
Originally uploaded by ed_roth.

Getting Jumpy

2004-10-05T10:38:00.000-04:00

I walked Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning, and last night.

Friday = pain
Saturday = no real pain, but foot felt hot
Sunday = felt good
Monday = felt good - ran with the dog about 1/2 mile

Maybe today I'll get out there and try to go for a mile run. I of course do not want to come back too early and reinjure the foot so I'll take it easy - even the smallest twinge of pain will send me off the road. Maybe go to the gym and hit the bike or elliptical machine.

On the Mend

2004-09-29T18:17:00.000-04:00

So, my foot is feeling better already. I have been able to walk on it today without having to do anything strange with my foot like the last few days. I still have a noticeable limp, but I can place my heel all the way to floor and have only moderate to bad pain today - manageable. I'm wondering if by Saturday, I'll be able to take a short run while I'm in Washington. Man I hope so - I've been really looking forward to that. I'm hoping to even do a little bit of sightseeing while I'm there - I can't get enough of things I've already seen a dozen times or so like the Declaration of Independence - I mean the ACTUAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! The inscriptions inside of the Lincoln Memorial I remember being particularly moving and the whole Jefferson Memorial area is just absolutely lovely. I think Karen is going on some kind of power-shopping yard sale tour starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday so we'll see how my plans work out. I have to remember I actually have to WORK for a short time while I'm there. I hope it works out to be as quick, easy, and engaging as I imagine it to be and that there are not the technical or personnel problems that can occasionally arise. One way or another, it will be nice to spend some time with just Karen - can you believe, my parents said this will be the first time in about 4 or 5 YEARS since the two of us have been away for more than a few hours by ourselves. Last year's trip to Chicago you may remember was a bust - one I'm really not over yet - but I really don't think about it all that much. So - this should be very fun and once I get on the plane all the planning stops and the doing starts!

Busted!

2004-09-28T17:44:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? A broken foot! Well, I guess not really broken, it's just a stress fracture, but man that is disappointing. I guess I'll just have to use this time to cross train or something. I was REALLY looking forward to running around the monuments and national mall in Washington this weekend - but, AS they say, OH WELL!

Capital City 10-miler

2004-09-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

Alright - we did it! At 8 a.m. the next morning,that's about as much enthusiasm as I can muster.
10 Miles
1:59:35
11:58 pace

Can you say S......L......O.......W...... ...but like you were saying last night, I definitely feel like I accomplished something significant yesterday. We have one under our belts now, a fairly lengthy run that is, so we know that one way or another we can finish. I was telling Karen yesterday that a goal for next season would be to finish in the top half of my age bracket - so for most of the races we've run, that would put us in the 9 to 9:30 pace range. HOWEVER, yesterday, we would have had to run an 8:00 pace to finish in the top half of our bracket. Can you believe that - an 8:00 pace was the median score. I'd be curious to see what the average pace was. Next year, I'll move into the next age bracket, 35-39 - the times don't seem too drastically different to me.

OK, so back to the foot pain I was telling you about last night - it's still here this morning. I'm thinking about heading over to Sports Med' this morning and having one of the docs there check it out. It is a very sharp and easy to locate pain, not one of those dull throbbing types. I don't think it's a bone actually - I'm wondering if it's muscular or tendon/ligament pain - when I run my finger across where the pain is, I can feel a swollen band of something - I don't feel this on Karen's foot which I used as my "normal subject". Anyway, other than the foot, I feel great today - a little bit of stiffness but nothing that is limiting my range of motion at all or anything like that - feeling really good!

Congratulations again Jeff on a great run and for being such a good guy when Kristie needed you yesterday - she was really struggling there for a while and I know you really helped her through that.

OK - the next guy is the 5k WMU Campus Classic - I can't wait!

OK -What a GREAT RUN!

2004-09-22T20:46:00.001-04:00

Wow! I just had an awesome run. I'll give you all the splits and pace later, but I felt GREAT to GOOD to the whole way. Muscles felt great - breathing was only a small challenge for the last 10 minutes or so - but I had a great time. More later!

Getting Ready ...nervous....a little

2004-09-22T11:48:00.000-04:00

OK ... so.... I haven't run in about 5 days, it's Wednesday, and we have a 10-mile race ahead - whoa Nelly! I think I just need to readjust my sights and not think of it so much as a "race" but as a recreational or fitness event. I've never run more than 6.5 miles so .... I think the overall concept is to run farther in your training runs than you have to for a race - again - breaking all the rules! :)