Pics on Facebook?

Being that I was an early adopter of THE Twitter, Facebook has always taken a backseat in my little social media world. It isn't that I do not like FB it is just that the 140-character Twitter theme works better since I have the attention span of a gnat. 

In sticking with the Facebook neglect theme, I finally clicked the icon to switch over to the new Timeline layout. While doing this the FB prompts you to update your information and it also shows all the pictures in which you have been tagged by others!

Due to the overall neglect of FB, I just found a bunch of pictures of myself that have never been seen before and thought it might be fun to post up a few of the more interesting ones:

Sometime in 2008? No idea where I am or what the hell happened to my hair.

This was 9 years ago, BEFORE I got fat.

Our wedding 11yrs ago, have seen this one before just didn't know it was on the FB!

Guessing this is in Pittsburgh about 15 years ago - I am eating a cookie and Annie appears to be wearing an Ascott?

This is Annie's college roommate Jill and it appears we are at a wedding and have been drinking!

Some intense Wii action happening!

World's Best Uncle!

This is from my Sister's pics, Annie and me on vacation in 2009.

Not sure where this was? With our friends Jim and Elizabeth and based on our eyes drinking was involved!

Puppy Training Class with Mandy and Roger around 2001. Dogs - Bailey, Ernie and  Rocky.

My 1st HIM in transition. That is 3 bikes ago!

On Annie's parents farm. I am a country boy and love farm living!

The Horse Whisperer: No saddle = hardcore!

This isn't an Instagram photo, just a shitty disposable camera, think about that you Instagram  hippsters!

At Annie's Family reunion in New Mexico. I was the entertainment for the kids!

Annie and I in front of the Alamo!

Have a great weekend and thanks for viewing!

Jeff

Ten Days ...

In a mere TEN days Kevin and I will be running the Woodlands Marathon and attempting to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2013.

Right now I am in full taper and am actually going a little batty. This is good as the garage has been meticulously cleaned and the office is next in line!

The training has gone smooth and I am 100% healthy (knock on wood) despite what the taper madness gods are trying to tell me about my right ankle - get out of my head bitches!

In a weird way this is officially my first stand alone marathon. Now it is not the first time I have done the distance as I have run two 50K's, an Ironman marathon, and paced Annie at the Houston Marathon last month. I ripped off my timing chip at the Houston Marathon so I would not be tempted to run faster, as it was Annie's day to PR, so I did not get an official marathon time.

So really it is my first official marathon but not the first time I will be doing the distance which makes the BQ attempt not all that crazy.

- BQ Time for Jeff is sub-3:10
- BQ Time for Kevin is sub-3:05

Next week I will lay out my pacing plan, finishing time goal, and the training numbers that have gone into the race.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

It is time to go Underground ...

My new dream is to live in a de-commissioned Missile Silo.

What?

You read that right. A de-commissioned Missile Silo. For those of you who are currently not removing this blog from your Google Reader are probably thinking, "Huh?"

Let this website explain:

Click Image to Expand

In 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik; the first satellite ever to orbit the earth... Fears of a “missile-gap” motivated the U.S. military-industrial complex to design and construct numerous nuclear missile base sites.  The Atlas nuclear-tipped rocket was housed in 3 different configurations: Atlas–D, Atlas-E, and Atlas-F.  The massive Titan-1 sites completed the first generation of ICBMs.  This missile technology was new and the structures were large to house the equipment necessary to facilitate a space launch.  And these U.S. weapons systems were certain to be targeted by Soviet missiles, so they had to be protected from nuclear blast. Hardened bunkers were also constructed to assure the survival of communications connections during a nuclear war scenario.  Millions of dollars were spent on each of these structures to assure their strength and survivability against nuclear attack.  Over the years these first generation sites have been decommissioned as other improved systems replaced them.  Some of these historic fortified structures are now available for sale.
These de-commissioned nuclear sites are in limited supply.  No more structures of this type are currently being built.  The missile sites de-commissioned after 1965 are being imploded to conform to international treaties.  These are rare and collectible real estate offerings.

Now after reading this you are probably thinking WHY THE HELL would Jeff want to live in one of these de-commissioned Missile Silos?

The answer is actually pretty easy - because they are freaking awesome!!!

That is 8-Stories Bitches!

How Badass is this?

This would be my CompuTrainer Room!

Stairwell to Launch Control Center.

6,000lb Blast Doors - Screw You Zombie Apocalypse!

Speed Intervals in the corridors!!

Stair workouts would be killer!

Unfortunately it comes without Nuclear Missiles so World Domination will have to wait (-:

So now after being educated on this piece of American History you are probably thinking about how you can get yourself a de-commissioned missile silo?

Well, if you got to this site: http://www.missilebases.com/

They got the hook-up.

You can pick up a silo in the Adirondack Mountains in NY for a mere $750,000 (reduced from $4.6mil).

Or head on over to a fixer-upper in Tuscan, AZ for $540K!

But I have my eye on this sweet little $2.8 million dollar homestead in Denver, CO that has 45,000 SqFt of livable underground space and is on 210 acres. And it is Denver so Tim Tebow could come over and hang and stuff.

Anyone else have some crazy ass place they would like to live?

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

A Couple Race Reports and PR's ...

Yep, it is a Chocolate (edible) Medal!

Race Report #1: LifeTime Fitness 10K Chocolate Run

Today Annie and I ran in the inaugural LifeTime Fitness Lake Houston 5K/10K Chocolate Run. The course was setup by our friend and Run Club Coordinator, Coach KT White, and she did a wonderful job for the first year event. She had over 100 runners signed up and the premise of the race was simple: Run and then eat chocolate. This is something most of us can support!

The 10K was scheduled to start at 9am followed by the 5K at 9:15 and, as luck would have it, it was the coldest day of the winter so far for us in South East Texas. The wind was cutting and the Real Feel Temps were in the high teens to low 20's. It was freaking cold!

My plan for the race was to take it out slow and then settle into marathon pace (7:00/mi) and just cruise on in for some chocolate. I had run 20 miles yesterday (and 60 for the week) so today was to be nothing more than a flush out the lactic acid type of run.

The starting cowbell rang and the group took off. Within a few steps I was up in the front with a couple other guys and it was absolutely freezing. I was flapping my arms around like bird wings trying to stay warm - this had to look ridiculous! I looked up and saw my buddy Dennis on his bike as he was to lead the front runners along the course. At this point I decided it was so damn cold that running faster would get me back indoors that much sooner. A new plan had been devised! I dropped down to about a 5min pace to catch up to Dennis on the bike. I looked back and no one had come with me so within less than a quarter of a mile this was my race to win or lose.

When I got within earshot I yelled for him to slow the hell down so I'd have someone to chat with. Dennis was freezing too so he was down with my plan of going faster than planned and I told him to keep his bike speed around 9mph (6:30 running pace) and we settled in to that pace.

The rest of the run was rather uneventful. I was running at a good pace but not one that had me redlining or even really hurting that bad. I was concerned with blowing up my legs so I held back just enough to lay down a respectable time. The last mile of the run was into a pretty viscous head wind and this one hurt a little bit as I maintained the same pace but it was over quick.

Dennis dropped off with about 400 meters to go and I cruised on in at the time of 40:20 for the win. I wish I would have paid more attention to my watch (it was tucked under my sleeve) and ran a little harder as I was just 21 seconds short of going sub-40. Still a 5min PR!

Jeff Irvin

LifeTime Fitness 10K Chocolate Run

Humble, TX 2/12/12

40:20 - 6:29/mi avg

First Place Overall

1st Place Award - A vase of Chocolate, the entire thing is filled with Hersey Kisses and bars!

Race Report #2: Bridgefest 5K

Saturday, Feb 4th - This was the second year in a row that I have run in the Bridgefest 5K. Last year it was icy and freezing and I was coming off a bout with Bronchitis. I finished last year in 19:54 and my current 5K PR sits at 19:43.

My Tri Club sets up a tent at this race since it is local and this means we have to get there early to get this accomplished. The race starts at 9am and we had the tent up by 6:15am - just before the skies opened up!!!

Yep, another Bridgefest with crappy weather!

It literally just poured on us all morning long with high winds, thunder, and lightening. The organizers pushed the start time of the 5K back by 45 minutes as the radar showed a little break in the weather and would allow us to get in the run. The radar was wrong - this is called foreshadowing (-;

After a couple mile warm up a few friends and I got ourselves positioned towards the front of the starting line and were standing by as they made the pre-race announcements. The course is a simple out-and-back that has us running the first half mile along the tree lined West Lake Houston Parkway and then we run up and over the one mile bridge going over Lake Houston. We turn around at the base of the bridge and run back -- easy peasy!

My plan was race this hard and just go until I blow up.

The gun went off and we were off. The local High School track and Cross Country teams were there and all the 115lb kids shot off like they were fired out of a cannon. I settled into a 5:38 pace and was actually feeling pretty good - and then it happened - started to POUR rain again. It was coming down in buckets!

I made the turn at the base of the bridge and was feeling pretty good even at this pace? I started back up the slight incline and it was here when I realized why the first 1.55mi of the race went so well - we had a tailwind. And based on the now headwind I was fighting it was a very solid tailwind!

The last half of the race absolutely wrecked me. The rain felt like little daggers hitting you in the face and the wind felt like you were running against a wall. The amount of water made it difficult to take long strides so my cadence seemed to be extremely fast. Not very good times!!

Anyway, I finished with the time of 19:11 and got myself a new PR. My Garmin showed the course as being a little long and my pace per mile was 6:02 on the watch - which was my overall goal. I was the 4th non-HS kid to finish and picked up 3rd Place hardware in my Age Group. They had the AG's at 30-39 this year and a couple of youngster 30-year olds aged up on me -- hehe!

Jeff Irvin

Bridgefest 5K - 2/4/12

Kingwood, TX

19:11 - 6:10/mi avg

3rd/41 AgeGroup & 14th/619 Overall

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Stuff I Have Enjoyed this Week ...

Here are a few things I found interesting over the last week. Some are comical, some are serious. Enjoy!

• "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?"  By Andy Andrews

• This short (72pg) book is political without the use of the labels Democrat, Republican, Liberal, or Conservative. Mr. Andrews takes a compelling, non-partisan look at "how" the Nazis murdered 11 million Jews and draws a parallel to the political climate and citizenry today in the United States by asking us extremely relevant questions. 
• "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?" is quite possibly the most powerful book I have read and it completely captures the feeling of unrest that is gripping our nation. It is a must read for everyone and especially for those of you who are not political or chose not to vote. 
• I believe so much in the message of this book that I am willing to send 10 readers a copy on my dime. The only condition is that once you read it you will pass it on to a friend or family member and ask them to do the same. The first 10 emails I receive (jeffirvin@gmail.com) will get a copy. Please include your name and address and I will take care of the rest.

**** Edit - 10 emails for the book have been received ****

• This was shared by Kevin on the Twitter and is absolutely hysterical:

• Many of you read my take on the CrossFit Endurance Fad last month. Here is a much better flame by Steve Magness citing science and results. Click Here.

• Back to politics: Here is a speech on immigration given recently by Senator Marco Rubio. After the article you can find the full transcript and video of the address. I am a huge fan of Senator Rubio. He is someone who has the ability to articulate Conservative values while at the same time espousing that of American Exceptionalism. He does this without apology and it is rather refreshing. This is well worth the read as many of us expect great things from Rubio.

• Did you run a marathon in 2011? Have you ever wondered how you ranked compared to every other person that ran a marathon in the entire world? Well, the folks at All-Athletics.com have that answer. Click Here to view your world marathon rank!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff