Talk about falling off the wagon

I keep slacking at updates. That sucks. Okay, back to updating.

We were in New Orleans back in the middle of May and found a 3 miler to race called the Al Briede Gold Cup. It was a nice flat course through City Park with people at every mile yelling out times and encouragement. For a small race they did it up right. Friendly people, music, jumbalaya after the race(?!) and best of all a Budweiser trailer. Four taps, 2 Buds, 2 Bud Lights. Free. No one busting your balls for a ticket. No limits. Just drink after the race until the thing is empty. Nice. Kristen was 2nd female overall and 1st in her age group. I won a t-shirt so I got that going for me which is nice.

We signed up for the Laguna Beach Memorial Day Half Marathon, but we really didn't think about it enough. We weren't able to pick up our packets and bibs the day before which meant that we would have had to get there by 6:15 to give us time to park and get our stuff and get organized in time for the 7am start. We live in Long Beach so as any runner knows, there's a morning pre-race ritual and then you have to drive to the race. To be in Laguna Beach by 6:15am we would have had to get up at 4am. We had a party to go to later that day so the night before we decided to bag it and eat the fee. We offered it up to friends, but I guess they were all smarter than us.

On June 11th we ran the Long Beach Wrigley River run 5k/10k which I've done in the past. It's a nice event. Small, but well organized. Kristen had a bum toe, but still managed to PR for the 10k and win 1st place in her age group. I was off my 5k PR by 10 seconds again. Whatever dude.

So I picked up a new hobby. I've been brewing beer for a few months and have really gotten into it. I have a 5 gallon batch of Kolsch fermenting now that I will bottle tomorrow. It needs to condition in the bottle for 2 weeks and then it'll be ready to drink. 5 gallons equals anywhere between 43 and 48 bottles of beer. Sweeeeet! I have to figure out which beer to brew up next. Hmmm. Maybe I'll have to change the name of this blog. Winebeerandthefinishline?

Home Sweet Home

I'm back from the Land of the Rising Sun. Man, it felt good to get back to the motherland. I really missed good wine and Mexican food. I can tear into California rolls and tuna rolls no problem, but I'm not a big sashimi fan and even though yakatori sounds like a good idea, they don't always (re: usually) use the best parts of a chicken. It's usually lips and assholes, ya know? Gives new meaning to the expression, "Guess what? Chicken butt."

I did an easy run both yesterday and today and got the ol' pumpers back in action. It's been sluggish, but good. I have a 6 mile tempo run tomorrow that I'm nervous about, but what the hell. Gotta get it done. My back feels great which surprises me since my last day in Japan consisted of me carrying my camera (35 pounds) around for about 16 hours straight. I popped 2 Advil and drank a beer before hitting the sack. I was terrified I was going to wake up in the middle of the night with searing back pain, but I guess I'm in better shape than I thought. I seriously need to get a chance to compete in Ninja Warrior. I just know deep down I can kick some ass. Someday. Anyway, back to training for the Seal Beach 10k.

Long drought

I just ran for the first time since last Sunday (it's Saturday morning here in Japan) on a dreadmill on the 31st floor of a hotel overlooking Tokyo. Man it feels gooood to run after so long. I just sweat out all the crap that's building in my system for the past week. I know I am officially addicted on running now since all I could talk about was how I was looking forward to running when we got to the hotel. Everybody I'm traveling with looked at me like I was crazy. Since getting here I've stayed in four hotels (with one more tomorrow) and it's been planes, trains and automobiles and shoots from morning till night and today our call time was late enough I could get in a good 5 mile tempo run. Ahhh, normally I hate tempo runs, but this was nice. Anyway, the shoots are going great and I just saw that the convenience store in the hotel sells bottles of wine with screw caps so I guess I know what I'm doing tonight!

Trinchero

Some friends of ours gave us a nice bottle of wine for Xmas this year. It's a Trinchero 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. Here are the notes (mind you that I am no expert in tasting, just drinking):

Color: Deep, ruby red. You can't see through it.

Nose: Spicy, toasted oak (which is weird since this was kept in a barrel that was 92% French Oak which is supposed to be mellower than American or Hungarian), and a slight peppery note that probably comes from the Hungarian percentage of the barrel, cassis.

Palate: I tasted a herbaceous quality that Kristen didn't so that was strange. Peppery, smooth tannins and a long finish, blackberry and cherry.

Overall a nice wine by itself or paired with food.

Pouring rain and nipple rash

Ran the Lakewood Mug Run 5k today in the pouring rain. The starting line was walking distance from our house so we couldn't not run just because of the rain. It wasn't miserable. Cold, yes, but no wind so it was an experience. I fell off in my third mile by about 60 seconds so I don't know what happened there. My shoe lace came untied during the last mile and I probably weighed a little more with the soaked clothes, but 60 seconds is a lot. I must have subconsciously told myself not to push too hard. I also had no idea where the finish line was until about 100 yards out so I couldn't anticipate it earlier and kick in harder. Oh well. It was still a good workout. I also got a little nipple rash on this one so I got that going for me, which is nice. At least I beat the 10 year old kid that was trying to pass me in the 3rd mile. I tried to drift over and force him into traffic, but thought that might screw up my time too much so I just shoved him into the grass instead. Hey, it's dog eat dog out there. Better he learns at a young age.

Kristen ran the 10k and got first place again, of course. When she came through they said her time was 41 and change, but the "official" time was 42 something so I think they screwed up. Oh well. This was just for fun since it was in our 'hood.

Now...onto the wine.

CRUSHED IT!

I CRUSHED my best 5k time today at the HB Surf City race. My previous PR was 28:22 (lame) and I destroyed it today by posting a 24:28. I was (and still am) on cloud 9! I guess I earned the right to wear that skin tight Under Armor shirt (I will probably feel like a dork anyways). It was chilly and overcast, perfect conditions to run. They didn't put mile marker signs for the 5k race in highly visible places so I wasn't able to keep track, but in the end I think that helped me. I had an idea of how I wanted to run, but since I couldn't keep track I just ran at a pace that was uncomfortable, but manageable. Around the two mile mark (I guessed) I saw a guy about 15 yards ahead of me so I just fixed my sights on him and stayed at his pace. At a certain point he began slowing down and I caught up to him and said, "Come on man, I'm pacing myself with you," at which point his chuckled and picked up his pace. We ran side by side for the rest of the race and once I saw the finish line we both started cranking and I think I beat him by about one or two seconds. I think that not being able to keep track of my pace and just going on feeling (and friendly competition) allowed me to post a good time. Crazy. I ran for the Michelob tent and had a beer to celebrate.

Anyway, I'm drinking beer, dinking around and kind of watching football. Not a bad day.

I (Kristen) didn't do too shabby today either. I beat my last - and only other to compare to - half marathon by 13 min. It felt good... I didn't have much of my "juice" left at the end of the race so I'm not sure how much I can improve in the future. Next Saturday is another 10k and I get nervous about local 10k's since I usually place around 2nd or 3rd and feel like I need to defend my hometown of Lakewood with a good time. That's lots of pressure for me - more so than just surpassing my last PR.

Speaking of pressure, yesterday I worked on remodeling my friend's kitchen all day, didn't have a sip of wine (never do the day before a race) and I couldn't imbibe today until I finished my annual "self assessment" for work. Yeesh, I hate those things. Anyhow, I just finished that tedious task, am sitting out back in the studio and have in my fist a gorgeous glass of 2006 Beckman Estate Cabernet. Mmmmm. Good enough to almost ignore the football inside the house.

Walking a wine line

It's no secret. Everybody who's ever had a lick of liquor knows what the next day brings. It comes in varying shapes and sizes depending on the previous night's imbibing. Slight morning fog. Grogginess. Maybe a dull headache. Some aches and a curious "pop" or two in the old bones. Or maybe you had too much fun and it reaches a full blown, 3 alarm ass-kicker. The "it" I'm referring to is obviously a hang-over. Regardless of your grog of choice, you've had "it".

Obviously by the title you know what the grog of choice is here. Vino. My wife, Kristen, and I are big on the inky stuff. From inexpensive weekday labels to the better weekend brands all the way up to the expensive "my boss just invited me to his holiday party" bottles. Kristen and I even have a few wine club memberships here in California (down from a pre-economic meltdown 6 or 7 memberships). I also love the barley pops. Beer, to use the parlance of our times. I like all styles and I also dabble in my own home brewing. We're not alkies or anything. You can't run, lift weights and compete if you booze it up too much. So this is what I call "walking a wine line." The balance of power between quaffing our favorite liquid and running marathons. Okay, so I've never actually run a marathon. Neither has Kristen...yet.

In addition to countless 5 and 10k's, Kristen has run the Long Beach half marathon and is training for this year's Huntington Beach half marathon. She's a natural. Fast, great VO2 max and determined. She's also hell on wheels, whether it's a mountain bike or road bike. She might train for a marathon this year and has expressed interest in competing in triathlons. She's competed as the running leg of a team for a couple of triathlons, but I'm sure she will soon be an army of one.

I was more reluctant to get into the distance running game. In my younger days (I'm 35 now) I played soccer, baseball and ran track (100 meter dash, long and triple jump). I haven't done any of that in years, but I've always loved going to the gym to lift weights. I was raised on water and snow skis as well. My turn to hitting the pavement came about in a rather pathetic way.

I was never really into distance running, but my wife's enthusiasm finally got to me. She entered a cross-country 10k race in Palos Verdes in 2007. Being the supportive, dutiful husband, I dropped her off and went to a local greasy spoon and had breakfast. When I returned to pick her up I discovered that she'd won 2nd place overall in the woman's category. I stood around and watched as everyone there shook hands, smiled broadly and patted each other on the back. It was a great, communal vibe and I felt lame for not being a part of it. I also felt lazy and shameful for being full of a big, crappy breakfast. And that was that. From that moment on, I pushed myself forward, mile after mile, to get myself into running shape. Since then I've run a good handful of 5k's and will be running my first 10k in February at the Los Alamitos Annual Race on the Base. It's like a drug now. Kristen and I have 3 races in February and will be competing in a lot more throughout the year. I will post our current races and PR's soon. Hers are amazing, mine suck, but the point is to keep on keeping on and hopefully my future PR's won't suck so bad. Only time will tell.

So that's what this blog is about. Running the fine line between Wine and The Finish Line. How to manage that delicate balance between staying in shape to run and enjoying lifes little indulgences. We will also explore other aspects of our days in what is our ode to what Teddy Roosevelt called "The Strenuous Life." Camping, hiking, drinking, running, competing and just staying active.

P.S. - I can totally out drink Kristen. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's something!

Cheers!