Monday, January 29, 2007

me - healthy < ε

Okay, the corner I turned last week as I got healthy got unturned and I got real sick again, but then got returned and I'm approaching healthy once again. I'd say I'd be arbitrarily close to healthy tomorrow, and I'll start running again.

I took the whole weekend off from running and from all strenuous activities and it seems I missed the last chance for a quality long run before the Surfside Marathizzon. I know it's my fifth marathon in five months, but I still feel guilty when I don't reach the goals of my training plan.

I finally got my certificate from Dean's Race in the mail last week. It looks pretty official, I don't think Roger Soler will have a problem attributing it to my TMC. And I also got my TMC singlet from Roger Soler and it's very nice. Weather permitting, I'll wear it next weekend in Surfside as I run straight into the history books.

And I've been thinking about the goals for next year, I have tons of ideas and many of them drift away never to return, so before I make them public, I usually wait until one of them digs a hole and solidifies itself in somewhere in my melonpulp. So the plan is to follow one of the 'advanced' marathon plans, maybe Pfitzinger, and focus on a winter marathon, and shoot for the 3:50 - 4:00 range. My PR is 4:17, so it seems like a good goal. Let me know if you think it's too easy or too hard for me.

I think I'll plan to run Marathons of Texas, and hopefully one of those three days, the weather will be good and the nine golden keffeshlumps will be vibrating at the perfect frequency, and I'll have a good race.

I am already a little excited about training for it, but I always start too early. Any more than 6 months of focused training is just too much to ask. I'll try to enjoy some down time and stay around 30 mpw for a while. And no more racing for a while. I like running aimlessly.

Anyway, take care.
Love, Keith.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Turned the corner

Well, I think I'm finally starting to get better. I worked out way too much and got a cold at the same time, which left me almost incapacitated for all of yesterday.

The worst part was when I was hobbling home from work early, walking through the cold rain, hunched over from sore / tight muscles and shivering. My abs were painfully sore and I couldn't stop shivering, it was so unpleasant.

Now, my cold isn't really better, just different, less headachey, more sore throaty. And my muscles still hurt real bad, but at least I can use them, and getting off the sofa takes less than 10 minutes. My friend Heather thought my condition was quite funny yesterday, and I have to agree, it was funny in a pathetic wet towel kind of way.

But I feel compelled to warn you about something. If you ever find yourself home in the middle of the day, there's a television show that is so horribly evil, just thinking of it now is bringing back all the pain of watching it. It's called Games Fever and it is the worst thing ever created, and I couldn't stop watching it. The whole show was a game where people were calling in to read the evil hostess' mind. She wrote down a word and you were supposed to guess it, and the clue was that it is part of the phrase "Back _". So you call in and guess things like "back door" and "back hair" and that was the whole show - for 30 minutes. And at least 3 people said "backstage" and each time she said it was a very very good guess. And they take a caller only once every 3-4 minutes and the rest of the time the hostess is explaining the clue over and over and over. It's so painful. And then at the very end (as I mentioned, I couldn't stop watching it), she gave a clue so they would surely get it, so she said, "in a theater, this is the term for the seats lined up in the very back." And they took one more caller and the caller said "backstage" and she said it was a very very good guess. (Just so you can sleep tonight I'll tell you, it was "back row")

Anyway, gotta go.
Keith.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

First time weight training...

oh no. I am sore. I can barely lift my arms.

I worked out this morning for the first time in several years.

I had been meaning to add some weight training but was having difficulty actually getting around to it. I did the bench press and the pulldowns and all the different varieties of pushing and pulling. And some core exercises.

Right now, I feel terrible. Not just because of the fatigue and soreness, but I think I'm coming down with a cold. It's not that bad yet, but everything feels a little too bright and a little too loud and I'm kind of achey all over. I'm sick of the cold rain.

Okay, there are more minor annoyances to complain about, but I needsy my sleepy right now.

Love, Keith.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Yo-Yo Rocks

Since I posted on Wednesday, I think I've done some running. I must have.

I know I ran on Saturday, 6.75 miles with the club. It seemed like everybody had some extra energy that day and were trying to drop me.

Did I run another day too? I think so, maybe Friday? I remember running by those crazy Jack Russel terriers one day, so I think it was probably 4.4 miles on Friday morning. Ah yes, now I remember, I was going to run Thursday night, but instead, we got tickets to see Yo-Yo play with the Houston Symphony, so I ran Friday morning - my 4.4 mile route that goes by the Jack Russel house. Incidentally, Yo-Yo Rocks!

And then I ran this morning and I felt really strong. I think I was going fast, but I didn't have my watch, so who knows. I haven't worn my watch in a long time, now that I want to use it I can't find it.

What else, what else...

Oh, my club had a party on Saturday night, and everybody was going to be there, even my long lost friend Tonia, and there was going to be a slideshow and catered food and everything, but I didn't make it there because I'm stupid. I copied the map and left off the label for one street - which totally messed everything up because there were like one hundred other possible streets, so I drove around like a drunken fool in the rain for at least 90 minutes.

FYI: Emails from the Surfside Marathon say they're more than 72% full, when last week they were 62% full, so if you're thinking about registering, you should probably do it this week. Plus, I've been telling people to register before it fills up for a couple days already. I already told my entire club and my friend Yong.

Keith.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Back to running...

What I'd really like to do for the new look, since I've learned php and have been experimenting with the club's blog, I'd like to extend WordPress to add Running Log functionality to it, so you could easily post your training plan and log mileage and times and it will draw some graphs and stuff. I'll never have enough time to do that though.




I ran 3 easy miles yesterday and felt pretty good. Much better than after the other marathons. I'm getting excited about the Surfside Marathon. Somehow, I've become reenergized, without a long break as I thought I'd need.

Keith.

My new look.

As you may have noticed, keithrselassie.blogspot.com has undergone a bit of a redesign, or more like an undesign.

What happened was, I was chatting with the dudes from Earthlink over the internet about how they wanted to charge me $21.95 for dialup service. And since that's way too much for dialup, and since new subscribers get it for $9.95 for three months with no commitment, I thought maybe I could get the newbie deal since I've been with them for several years. But no, newbies get a good deal, I get a thumb in the eye. So I cancelled it and I didn't even think about it, but all my webspace with all my images for the backgrounds and everything else went up in smoke.

I still have everything on my computer, but I figured it's time for a change anyway. I'll slowly start adding all new bells and whistles as necessary. MonkeyBuddha probably won't be back, but I'm sure there will be other Monkey-related add-ins.

Stay tuned.
Keith.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Houston Marathon - 4:27:50

The Houston Marathon was very nice. I was looking forward to this race for a long time. It burned me up last year and the year before at this time, when all those people were running like crizzazy and I wasn't fit enough for the full.

I had very little trouble until mile 20 or so, then it was difficult, as it should be. I felt better than expected, and I was worried because I haven't run as much as I would have liked since Sunmart.

It was very nice to run here, with so many people that I know. It was like "this is your running life" for me as I saw almost everybody I've ever run with. You guys rock, you know. And this city rocks too. I like so many things about Houston, it's become my home, and I was happy to run through the whole town in one day - the Heights, Rice Village, West University, the Galleria, Tanglewood, Memorial, Downtown, very nice.

I feel pretty good right now, better than usual for two days after the marathon.

I signed up for Surfside this morning, so it's decided, this is the last one for the TMC!!! I'm ready to be finished. I'm looking forward to a long period of aimless running with no goals or races or anything - just running for the sake of running - maybe another 6 month streak :).

There's a lot of ideas for next year's racing. I saw the Marathons of Texas jacket at the Expo, and it's really nice. It's very appealing to run those three. It seems like my base should be solid by now, so maybe I can think about some speedwork for next year. The question is, "do I go farther? or do I go faster?" (by faster I mean a faster marathon - not like a 5K, those still seem like cruel and unusual punishment for me)

more to come... (really, I promise)
Keith.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Chevron Houston Marathon Athlete Alert

Keith Kelleher, 04:27:50 (NET) @ finish, Pace 10:12
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Chevron Houston Marathon Athlete Alert

Keith Kelleher, 03:06:10 (NET) @ 30k, Pace 9:59, Predicted 04:21:44.
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Chevron Houston Marathon Athlete Alert

Keith Kelleher, 02:09:46 (NET) @ Half, Pace 9:53, Predicted 04:19:07.
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Chevron Houston Marathon Athlete Alert

Keith Kelleher, 01:03:10 (NET) @ 10k, Pace 10:09, Predicted 04:26:06.
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Thursday, January 11, 2007

I'm getting nervous...

It's a very exciting time to be a runner in Houston. Pasta Parties, Packet Pickup's, EXPO's, trying to relax, trying to distract myself. I'm happy to be in marathon shape (or at least close enough). I remember past years, when I wasn't and I'd be all jealous of the people who could run the whole way.

I have so many things to do this Saturday. I need an oil change and I have to go to the store and buy a power drill and a coffee maker, and I have to clean my house a little, and fix my couch with my new power drill, and I think I might just blow it all off and do that stuff on Monday. I should just be lazy and laze around the house and watch movies and do lazy guy stuff. I had to put together another piece of Ikea furniture for one of my old lady friends again last weekend, and it takes a couple hours and tires me out. If she comes by again, I think I won't even answer it. And I even told her last weekend, I said, "I don't have a lot of time today," but then she just gave me some list of restrictions to her own schedule, none of which actually gave me more time, and I eventually gave up and said "okay, I'll do it." And then she said she'd give me 55$ to put together the bed and to move her gigantic hide-a-bed couch, and by the end, I guess she forgot how much she said because it turned into 30$, and she even said 25$ at one point in the conversation. But she only had 20's so she'll give me 10 more at a later time maybe. Anyway, I've been amusing myself endlessly, everytime I see her, by mumbling under my breath, "bitch owes me money."

Okay, sorry about that. You shouldn't have gotten me started talking about the old ladies. What was I talking about? I don't even remember.

I've been running.
8 miles with the club, as we taper.
7.3 miles while I did my laundry on Monday morning.
6 miles last night at Mizzorial Pizzark.

I'll probably run 3 easy miles tomorrow morning, pickup my packet at lunchtime, carbo-load with the bloggers at the pisketti warehouse, and on Saturday, I'll be lazy and watch movies and eat bananas. Sunday, I'll shock the world.

That's all for now. I'll probably be better about blogging from now on, probably.
Love, Keith.

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Thursday, January 04, 2007

Resolutions

Resolution #1: I will post some kind of 2006 wrap up and 2007 plans some time before the end of February.

Resolution #2: Think of some song to quote for this post.

Gosh I'm the worst blogger evar.

Listening to: Artist - Song (clip)