Running Progress

Here is a quick update on my running progress.

I have logged 894 miles Year to Date (December 3rd).  I have only 28 more days left in the year and just over 100 miles to go.  I am trying to hit 4 miles each day for the rest of the month.  There may be a couple days (days off or weekends) that I could do 2-a-days, but I don't need to at this point.  It would only be for cushion and to finish early.  Wish me luck!

Staci's Headboard Project

Staci has been wanting to make a headboard and redo our bed for a while...

Here are some pictures!

Staci getting instruction, then making the cuts herself.

Selecting the fabric for the new pillows.

Making some measurements.

Stapling on some padding.

Staci and her assistants.

A preview of what it might look like.

Before.

After.

What has been going on

 

 

You can see what the big news is in our family. Carter was born earlier this week. The above pictures are to prove that I have infact held him. He is a cute baby, as far as that goes, and he appears to be well liked by most of our family. Congrats to mom and dad bell as well as the rest of the family.

Progress on Running

Here is my progress...



I am half way through with the year and just eclipsed the 500 mile mark today! Yesterday was helpful because I biked about 20 miles which is the equivalent in my game of running about 6.7 miles.

As you can see, I have had good months and not so good months. There is a spike up in the weeks leading to my BWCAW trip when I was really trying to get ahead, and some less good weeks since then, and a resurgence in the last week when the weather has been good, and I've been biking home from work.

I'm still uploading my videos from the trip to Minnesota and will put more up soon.

A Tour of our First Camp Site

A beautiful place on a beautiful lake.

Boundary Waters Video 2

Here is a bit of typical scenery in the BWCAW.



Perfect water... So clear, you want to drink it, but you had probably leave that for the fish and the moose as some microbes in the water could ruin your week.

And how we hang a pack...

Boundary Waters

Here is our recap from day one...



In case you didn't know, my dad and I went to the BWCAW the week of Memorial day. I will upload a day by day recap in the coming days.

My running adventure

Recently I have become a believer is setting goals and striving to reach them.  I, like many other people, have established goals that are to last a year, beginning on January 1st.  I don't like to call them New Year's resolutions, because they are easy to abandon once the year doesn't feel as new as it did in early January.  One of my goals this year is to run 1,000 miles.  As a bit of perspective, I ran track at Indiana Wesleyan University and was a sprinter for 3 years (early graduation).  1,000 miles may be more than I ran that entire 3 years combined.  If not more, then it was close to 1,000 miles.  It works out to about 3 miles per day, and allows me to miss a day or two every so often for injury, difficult scheduling, or just rest.  Also, I am allowing myself to substitute 3 miles on a bike for 1 mile on foot with a maximum of 750 (250 of credit).  This will give me an opportunity to break up the monotony of running every day and allow my bones to rest from the pounding.  Since I started, I have gotten quite a bit faster and have much better endurance over the length of the run.  I know if my goal was to "run more" I would have fizzled out by now.  But since I have a defined distance and know what I need to do every day I have been much more consistent.  You can follow my progress here.  Click on "Chart 1" to see how many miles I need to run each day and how many I have acutally run to that date.  Click on "Chart 2" to see how many miles ahead or behind pace I was at that time.

Just My Luck

Here is a post from my birthday :) March 15, 2007.  It is a phrase that has bothered me since then... Just my luck... with my luck... Luck really has nothing to do with it.  Sometimes people just hold onto the bad a little more tightly than they do the good.  Well, I did run into a stretch recently that is on the other end of the spectrum.

In December of last year, I took Staci to Nashville for her birthday and to watch the Colts vs. the Titans.  Staci started talking to some Colts fans from Logansport.  She talked to them most of the walk to the stadium, about 15 minutes.  They asked us where we were sitting, and we pointed to the highest corner of the stadium, because I got the cheapest tickets available.  They asked us if we would like to sit next to them, in the lower bowl, mid field.

3 weeks later we won FREE tickets to the Colts and Titans again!  This time the seats were not as good, but the price was right.  Oh, and I got to walk out on the field during warm ups and was introduced on the big screen.









A few weeks into the new year, we got tickets to the Pacers game.  Our seats were not together and we were sitting outside of a section trying to figure out where to sit.  A friend from the past whom I hadn't seen on a regular basis for 15 years walked up.  He happened to have 2 tickets to a VIP section with a buffet and open bar. (Mountain Dew and Water for us!)

Staci and I couldn't help but laugh at the Pacer game, and she quipped, "this is just our luck."

Picture of Bella

The Bella and myself playing Monopoly Deal.



She always cheats.

I need to blog more often.

I'm working on a post called "just my luck" which will go into an unusual series of events regarding sporting events that have taken place in the last year.  Also, an update on some year long goals I have set for myself including running 1000 miles (that's 1609 kilometers for those of you on the metric system).  As well as my goal to read on book a month.

Sanibel Trip

As was promised (a couple of months ago) here are a few pictures from our trip to Sanibel Island in November.

Our kayaking excursion in Tarpoon Bay. We navigated in and out of the mangroves and saw lots of cool wild life.

Our nice occasion sushi spread. We take a picture every time. Sometimes it goes up as our background on the computer, but then the cravings get too bad.

A picture of what we did every day (play tennis).

What we looked like at the end. (not what we look like now). The sun was great!

u-Control Remote Control Helicopter

I got this toy yesterday and have documented a few moments in its time with me.  See below.

Pretty sweet looking, even in the box.

Here is a video of what it looks like straight out of the box.



And here is its first flight...



Obviously not great the first time, but since then I have become pretty good at maneuvering it around and even landing it where I want.

More to come.