Prior to this endeavor, I could not run one mile without becoming winded beyond recovery. Now I was able to do the six miles that was required, but it became increasingly obvious that my next focus needed to be strength training, as my muscles were just not able to keep up with my breathing and heartrate.

Word to the wise: It’s easy to fall out of shape. It’s not so easy to fall back into shape.

The highlights of the race:

• The Elvis Impersonator at mile 1. Thumbs up, good sir!
• The “Temptation row.” Marshmallows? Cotton Candy? BACON? The hell are you people trying to do to us? D:
• All the homeowners who set up shop in their front yards and cheered the group on.
• RTD setting up buses that took you where you needed to go, without fighting traffic.

The lowlights of the race:

• The sheer volume of people. Half the time I was running, half the time I was dodging runners in front of me. It’s just about to the point there needs to be two lanes of traffic – one for walkers, one for runners.
• Sorry, but smoking along the race lines really does the runners a dis-service. A lot of us are already choking for oxygen. And this coming from an occasional smoker.

Although my showing was abysmal, I had fun. My goal would be to get my 10K time under an hour at this point. But, really, the goal I set for myself at the outset was accomplished. I’ve picked up some habits that make for a more healthy lifestyle, and I’ve lost close to 20 pounds at this point.

Mission accomplished, indeed.

This time next week, I will no doubt be cursing at my own body and downing ibuprofen like it was going out of style. On Memorial Day, I will be running the Bolder Boulder 10k.

The last time I ran this was in 2000, right before I left for San Diego. My life was about to take an interesting turn that I could not have predicted. I’d have a nasty breakup with my girlfriend, move to a new city, and experience the tech downturn firsthand. I’d also have made what was perhaps the most liberating and, at the same time, entrapping decision.

Prior to then, I’d not been a car guy. I didn’t like driving, did it only when necessary. I’d ride my bike EVERYWHERE. I hauled my groceries with my bike. I’d ride in the rain…in the snow. To work. From work. 365 days a year for the most part. For fun. With the move to San Diego, I’d need to get over that. (And now I love to drive, to the point my current vehicle plays in to that.) So I bit the bullet, got myself a truck, and unknowingly kissed my fitness goodbye. As much as I tried to ride in San Diego, the city just wasn’t set up for what I liked to do.

Fast forwards 10 years – New Year’s 2010. I was 60-70 pounds heavier than I was then – granted, I was a beanpole, but I was also in great shape. Now, I had no stamina, I’d get winded going up stairs. I’d been through a bout of pneumonia which still scars my lungs to this day.

That afternoon, I found a channel on the TV that was showing a series of Ironman triathlons. I watched for hours, my attention wholly on not the professional athletes, but on everyone behind them. The Everyman. The 72 year old nun who was doing her 20th Ironman. The firefighter who was made of cookie dough 12 months ago. The various athletes with missing limbs. The mother making the run for her two children with a fatal genetic disease. John Blais, who ran with ALS, and died the next year.

Who was I if these people could accomplish this seemingly impossible feat? 2.4mi swim – 112mi bike, and a 26mi marathon. It made me feel increasingly like I was living a life of failure. I felt dirty. I felt like I’d wasted any potential I had.Their stories were so infinitely more interesting than my own.

So I decided I’d had enough of it. I started planning out how to dig myself out of the physical, financial and spiritual rut that I’d created for myself. I put myself into rehab for a decade of excess, sickness, and sloth. I planned out my finances to the penny. I started paying off my debts. I endeavored to make wiser choices in what I ate, and I began making decisions that led to a greater purpose other than the now.

And I started working out. I didn’t listen to anyone who wanted to tell me where I should have been, what I should be doing, how much I should be running or lifting. I listened to my gut, and did what I knew I could accomplish. Maybe it was small, but it was worth doing. I signed up for the Bolder Boulder so that I had something to work towards. It didn’t matter what my time was, or how I survived it – all that mattered was that I did it.

Today, I’m 15 pounds lighter. I have much more stamina than I did when I started, I’ve got my credit cards paid off, and I’m generally more positive about the world around me.

Next week, I’ll likely kill myself just trying to run 10K. But it isn’t about that day, or that one event. It’s about that lifetime.

I figure “Well, it’s Randy. He’s a car nut, he’s probably just working on one of his cars.”

It would end within about a half hour of starting.

Then I started hearing it later in the day – at dusk. At night, even. What the heck? Okay, maybe it’s the wind…vibrating the damper or something.

So today, I’m eating my cheerios in the morning…it’s sunny, and NO WIND. *BRAAAAAAAT*

….what the hell?

So I go outside…and I hear it now! Much quieter, though. *braaaat*

And then I look up at the top of my chimney, and see this:

Woodpecker. Using my chimney as part of his mating call for his sweetie over in the cottonwood on the neighbor’s property.

I haven’t stopped laughing for a half hour now. XD

So I’ve been getting a ton of calls from technical recruiters these past weeks. Depite the nuclear wasteland that is our economy, it seems people are hiring on in my area.

This would be great if I was looking for a job – which I am not. So, shout out – if you’re a techie and reading this, and don’t mind working int he Denver area, let me know, and I’ll make sure I keep your name handy in case I get more of the calls. So far I’ve gotten sysadmin calls, SAN guy calls, and one Tibco Administrator. Also, Artech (IBM Boulder) is always hiring, it seems…..

………D’AWWWWWW!

I was feeling sort of blah this morning, but these two blog posts made me feel a bit happer. I thought I’d share.

6 Utterly Loyal Dogs

15 Reasons Mr. Rogers Was The Best Neighbor Ever

One thing that has stuck with me this last week, and that one of my co-workers has shared, is the feeling of dread I have that, no matter what, people are setting their expectations too high with regards to President Obama.

Even if the man manages to move the earth and the heavens, and even if he manages to magically return all our 401Ks from the brink of destruction and return the troops from Iraq, still, people will be disappointed that he didn’t cure cancer at the same time.

I believe we need to keep in mind that, when the day is over, he is still human. He is still going to screw up, he is still going to be party to political influence in the capital. As much as I like the man, I cannot see him being more than a one term president, simply on the basis of the unrealistic hope that the American public has wrapped themselves around.

I hope I’m proved wrong.

I was asked when the next post would be…so it’s RIGHT NOW, BITHCES.

Been a crazy couple months, as holidays usually are. Mostly ran into some unexpected expenses in the form of more work done on the truck, and Buster (My dog) developing epilepsy. So that made Christmas a little thin this year, but you know, I’m not terribly in tune to the whole spending at Christmas game anymore, so the holiday is always a challenge for me, having to figure out what people would enjoy. Every year is harder than the last. But I always enjoy the holiday. I enjoy just relaxing, catching up with folks, going to small parties, etc.

I took quite a few photographs over the holiday – the weather was way too bloody cold, but the entertainment provided by watching squirrels and birds fight over the nuts placed outside in my mom’s bird feeders was worth of a few hours worth of picture taking. You can see them at my Flickr page.

I’m starting to ramp up for some winter home projects. The first of which is going to involve punching holes in the walls and wiringthe house for Ethernet and coax cabling. I still need to get a copy of the house plans from the city, and also read up on codes to figure out how anal I have to be about running the cable – if I can follow A/C ducts to use as a riser or what…

Change in schedule at work, which I’m actually looking forwards to. I was getting a bit burnt out on working Sundays – so now I’ll have both Saturday and Sunday off, which will make beig social a little easier.

Roommate and I are working together on a plan to keep certain foods out of the house, as the both of us are a bit more portly than we should be. I’m going to try and start going to the gym a bit more regularly, as the rec center is right down the road from me. I have no excuse.

Well, out of steam, see you all in another couple months!

We’ve had a week of freeze temperatures and ice storms, so I started winterizing the house – blew out the sprinkler system this past week and started to cut the lawn short. Of course, this means the weather is now goregeous and warm. Go figure. Still, putting in new weatherstripping around the doors this weekend since I found out last year that the front one leaks like a sieve. Next week is likely buying some winter tires for the new car.

Oh yeah, speaking of that:

So I am now officially a yuppie, I suppose. (Really, does anyone use that term anymore?) Finally settled on the BMW 335xi since it had the best ride/power out of them all, and the best salesman out of every car. Seriously, best buying experience ever. BMW goes out of their way to make you feel like you’re buying less into a car and more into a club or lifestyle. It’s actually pretty cool.

Got to take it out the last month to a wedding on the Western Slope, so this picture was taken at the bottom of Kenosha Pass. I have some pictures around Independence Pass, but those didn’t come out so well due to how cloudy the area was. (And snowy!) Beautiful drive, right as the aspens were turning. I have to admit, the way they did their wedding was the right way. (NOT VEGAS.)

This time of year is actually my favorite time, as the weather is just right. Not too cold, not too warm, but cold enough in the morning to wake you up and put a crisp on things. I’m not particularly looking forwards to winter, but hey, them’s the breaks with living in Colorado.

The cars -

• Acura TL Type S – Tight suspension, lots of get up and go. Not enough to make my teeth come loose, but certainly decent. Only drawback is the lack of AWD. Supposedly AWD is coming, but that won’t be in a sport model. Doh! But, 10yr/100K powertrain warranty is hard to beat. And for a normally aspirated V6, the power is pretty damn nice.
• Inifniti G35x – Tight suspension, very nice Hp for a normally aspirated engine. The MPG was on the low side, I know that they could do better. The Nav unit was a bit confusing to work with, and the key, for being a prox key that saves driver settings, only saved wheel/seat position. No climate control or radio at all. (The Acura had this.) Lots of standard features than the BMW 335xi, but it just didn’t seem to have the same oomph. I liked this car, but the fact that iwas power EVERYTHING made me a little twitchy. Plus the salesman pretty much dropped me like a hot rock when I wouldn’t let him run my credit. Not cool.
• VW R32 – I felt like I needed to be 10 years younger and a bigger douchebag than I am in order to drive this car. Coupled with an anemic acceleration curve and lack of a 4-door option, I was not impressed.
• VM Jetta Wolfsburg Edition – AMusing, much better acceleration curve than the R32, but once it got to 60, it didn’t have anything else to give. Way too utilitarian. Pass.
• Subaru WRX – I mention this only because I found out why the suspension in the WRX I tried out last week was so squidgy. They apparently softened it for 08. Boo. Bad move, Subaru!

So Saturday was spent on a hike..took the dogs out to  Alderfer/Three Sisters Park.  It was a nice hike, and very enjoyable company, but the area reminds me of some things I don’t like about foothills hiking and hiking near a major city: The trails were too well groomed and thus too hot in places for the dogs, and the views were..well..there weren’t many. Too many trees, too little elevation gain. That said, I will be taking my mountain bike there, for sure. The look is a pretty decent workout. But next time, we go hiking in my old stomping grounds.