Sunday Morning Ramblings

It is time for my 2 hour ride on the trainer so instead of doing that right now I figured that procrastination is a much better alternative:

• I am captivated by the race for the open Senate seat in MA and the upcoming Tuesday special election to determine the winner.  As we all know MA is about as "blue" as a state can be in this country and for this reason the DNC pretty much assumed that Democrat Martha Coakley would easily win the election and take over Ted Kennedy's seat. Not so fast - enter Scott Brown.  Brown is the Republican candidate who has come out of nowhere to be the leader in the latest polling results.  The reason this is so interesting is that this election could determine the outcome of the Government run healthcare bill that is being negotiated between Reid and Pelosi right now.  Brown claims he will vote against it, Coakley claims she will vote for it.  The GOP is happy right now no matter the outcome because if an extremely liberal state like MA (home of Barney Frank) is giving a Republican candidate a chance it is really showing the temperature of the country right now and that temperature is HOT!  Anger with reckless government spending, anger with government run healthcare, anger with the utter arrogance and elite attitude of the career politicians in congress.  2010 could be shaping up for the real year of  "Change".

• My father sent me this link yesterday: Black Bear Den Cam   I am now captivated  by this and I have no idea why?  It is a live feed of a Black Bear named Lily in her den hibernating for the winter.  The bear is supposedly pregnant and ready to give birth to little baby cubs any day now.  I have checked this cam probably five times since last night and the bear is pretty much just sleeping. 

• Being a native Pittsburgher and a huge Steelers fan it was very satisfying to watch the Colts smack the Ravens in the mouth and knock them out of the playoffs.  And Ravens fan - Joe Flacco is not Big Ben so quite making those comparisons.

• Last night Annie and I watched, "The Hurt Locker".  I am not sure how I felt about this movie?  I did not love it but did not hate it either.  The actors were very good in their roles and the directing was captivating and realistic. It gave you a lot to think about but overall is was rather forgettable as a whole.   Believe it or not the realism angle of the film hurt the story, IMO.  Or more accurately the lack of a story.  The plot was all over the place because their really wasn't one.  It was pretty much just the perspective of the three member bomb squad and the struggles each had with the job that could kill any of them at any time.  The tension in the film was palpable and kudos to the director for pulling this off.  The real problem for me was that we didn't have enough back story about the 3 main characters to have any connection with them.  They tried to pull this together toward the end but it was a little too late.  Conversation between Annie and I during the movie:  Annie: "Is this movie ever going to end?"  Jeff: "um, the DVD player says it has only been on for 1:38"  Annie:  "What are you doing?"  Jeff: "Checking my email."

• The earthquake in Haiti was/is a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to all those affected.  However, the 24/7 coverage by the cable news channels is completely over the top right now.  They all are already running promos on how they were, "There first in Haiti!!!" and blah, blah, blah.  Why not get the hell out of the way and let the rescue and relief efforts take place without you getting in the way asking a million questions?

• Tonight Jack Bauer is going to be welcomed back in to our lives with open arms.  I am downright giddy to watch Jack kick the crap out of some "bad guys".

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Week Five, Day Six: 23 Minute Tempo Run

Why only 23 minutes you ask? 

My wife Annie and I set out for a nice little afternoon run.  She was planning on doing 5 miles per her Hal Higdon Marathon training and I was going to tick off the 30 minutes called for on my BT 1/2 Ironman plan.  My run was a tempo run today so I started off at a much quicker pace then her.  Since the run was a short one I headed off on the sidewalk of the main road of the neighborhood.  It is .75 mile down and .75 back.  Then I head into another section and run all the cul-de-sacs and start to head back towards the house. 

Well, as I was headed back I see Annie walking with a limp.  After yesterdays run she said she was having a little pain on the inside of her left knee about midway up on the knee.  She iced and took some advil and said it was feeling much better today so she wanted to try and run.  About a mile in the pain came back and she decided to hobble on home.

When I saw her I was right at 2.9 miles and instead of continuing on for a few minutes I decided go walk back with her.  So I sprinted over to her ending my run at exactly 23 minutes and 3.0 miles which is about a 7:40ish pace.  I had some work to do so I left the house and she spent the day on RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate) duty.  On my way back I stopped at the Academy Sporting Goods and found a Nike Knee Compression Sleeve for her.  She has it on now and says it feels pretty good.  Her marathon is on Feb 14th so we are hopeful this is just a minor tweak and she can be back training in a few days.  It would be very disappointing for her to have to miss the race after all these hard months of training.

We are watching BAL vs Colts right now and are going to watch, "The Hurt Locker" on DVD as soon as this game is decided.  I am excited to see this movie.  Some of my friends have said it is awesome. 

I'll have a full movie review tomorrow:

Tomorrow is a 2hr ride on the indoor trainer!!!!  Picked up "Inglorious Basterds" to watch then!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff