Movember Wednesday

Today was the end of our Movember contest at work. Several of us ended up in the competition and it was a lot of fun.

 

Before the contest - the final mustache/sideburns combo

The whole group

Since it is an office, there was cake

This asshole beat me. He used some Just For Men on the stache.

This guy and I were the only two that tried growing funny or shaped facial hair. He went with a Wolverine look with the whole beard only shaving the chin and neck areas, then today comes in with this colored caterpillar. He said the corners don't show up very well and he wanted to go for that Magnum P.I. look, so he applied some hair dye. When everybody who came in for cake voted on the Best Mustache, he beat me pretty bad. I did come in second place and tried to overthrow the vote thanks to performance enhancing drugs, but to no avail.

Then of course after work I had to come home and get rid of that mess. Clean shaven again! The point of Movember is to raise awareness for male pattern cancers and their treatments, and maybe we did that by walking around with funny mustaches all month. We didn't do a donation site, but Dean did. If you want to make a Movember donation his link will be up until the end of the month.

Holidays are here!

For the last several years we've gone to the Holiday festival at Cameron Village in Raleigh. It's an outdoor shopping center nearby, and they always make it very festive with lots of live music and other acts. This year we saw a jazz quartet, a juggling magician, and a poodle show.

And the big guy!

Our family photo with Santa for this year. I look like the perv creeping over the nice family.

Really both girls got to be a part of the magic show. Bigun got up on stage there, and Evil Genius and I both got to throw juggling balls up to the guy as a part of the act. We had some fun with it, this guy was hilarious!

Overall it was a great time to be out there kicking off the holiday season! It was a great night, cool but not really cold, and we all had  blast seeing the stores open and enjoying the environment.

Movember NotReally Wordless Wednesday

Last week we had snow flurries so I drove to work like this. Hat, scarf, gloves, big coat. I thought I looked like the guitarist from U2.

This Monday night the Stache is a bit more  prominent. I'm going for a Hulk Hogan look with the big Fu Manchu and sideburns. We're having a Movember contest at the office, and it's all supposed to raise awareness for male pattern cancers and treatment options.  Still, I feel guilty driving past a school. Sunny weather came back this week and it is a glorious fall in Raleigh.

Screwed

Sometimes the best laid plans get screwed. I was planning on running the Columbia Marathon next year, but last week the organizers cancelled it. I thought it was odd that registration hadn't opened yet, but they still had the date reserved. So it was supposed to be going on March 8th.

That means I need another marathon either on March 8th, March 29th, or April 5th. Actually, Feb 1st would work too. Well, need is a strong word. We're trying to streak the Marathon Maniac 3 star level, which is 4 full marathons in 31 days, or 4 marathons in 4 different states in 51 days. We've already got the Myrtle Beach marathon in SC and the Umstead Trail marathon in NC, and friends have been asking us every year to do the Shamrock marathon in VA. Those are each 2 weeks apart, Feb 15, March 1st and March 16. So finding a 4th marathon in another state would be great. If it doesn't work out, meh, 3 fulls is still a strong spring. 

Got a spring marathon in the plans? You should be into a training plan by now.

Mizuno Musha 5, new Zoot's, Mizuno Wave Rider 15's

I bet I'll be hitting these marathons in some green shoes, it seems everything I've gotten lately has been bright green. Those Zoot's in the middle are new, I found a good deal from LeftLane sports that I couldn't pass up. They were cheaper than The Clymb! Nobody's cheaper than the Clymb.

My beloved minimalist Musha 5's are being retired, as of tonight. I ran intervals in them tonight to see if I'd want to wear them for a 5k coming up this weekend. the answer is no. a full grumpy cat no. Ever since I really got over the right foot tendon problem (I don't want to call it an injury) during Ironman training cushioning has been at the forefront. Since the Ironman 3 weeks ago, I've been noticing other tenderness in that same foot. Not the same tendon as before, just sort of a general ache in there somewhere. That's really a normal part of the recovery process I think, and why I'm still taking it easy so I'm not worried about it. But it does mean I should be done with the minimalist shoes.

Tonights intervals were done on the treadmill, half mile intervals at a 10.0 speed (6 minute pace). I did 4 of them and stopped when my abs started giving out. That's good, solid speedwork.

This post was supposed to be a pictoral about my 12 mile long run from Saturday, but I forgot to grab the phone. It was over 70* in Raleigh, and a perfect fall day to run. I hit the Ironman Raleigh course, taking Hillsborough street to the State Capital building and back, then hitting the greenway on Meredith College for a couple of extra miles. Oh the things I saw on that beautiful autumn afternoon, including the leaves on the campus of NC State and the people downtown. I even saw Kelley and the girls driving back from her dad's house.

Finally, a Cast Iron Club update. After that 12'er, I'm sitting on 29.19 marathons on the year, then with tonight's 5 it's 29.35 marathons. The goal is 30, so I'm getting close.  Only about 17.4 miles to go. With that 5k on Saturday, it might take into next week before I finish that up.

The Other Stuff

There hasn't been much going on worth blogging about since the Ironman. I got in an easy 3 mile run Saturday morning just to test out the legs. I know I need to take at least another week off before trying anything serious. It was just an easy jog.

I still have 58.4 miles of running left before hitting the Cast Iron Club milestone. And with just under 2 months left I think that's going to happen.  I'm sitting on 52.22 Iron Swims, 34.52 Iron Bikes (and holding fast), and 27.78 Iron Runs. The goal is to get over 30 for each sport.

Today's MMNW (Monday morning naked weight) was 181.8 lbs and 20.6% body fat. This is pretty good. After IMFL in 2011 I put on 20 lbs in the first two weeks after the race, which was pretty extreme. I'll take a 6 lb gain the first week no problem. You should see the massive amount of foods I've been taking down.

Recovery has been going really well. By Wednesday I felt normal again and the "holy shit why did I want to do this" mentality has turned into planning for the next one. No troubles walking with the kids on Halloween.

This weekend was all glorious relaxation.  I got to watch college football and it was fabulous. I made some hot sauce and a salsa with the habanero peppers from the garden.

I love how Kelley used a Hello Kitty water bottle that the kids don't use anymore, and drew on the skull and crossbones and the "do not eat" warning for the children. It is a pretty hot sauce, a Trinidad Peppa Sauce that I almost used that recipe for. Mangos and onions and habs, oh my! Pretty tasty stuff too. It makes a really good meat marinade, like a jerk sauce for chicken and stuff.

All in all, I've got another week of relaxation and stuffing my face lined up. Going to hit the yoga mat and strength work pretty regularly again, and spend plenty of time with the family and friends. I'm already looking forward to it.

5 Things Friday

1. October is Over!

Swim: 12,800 m, 5 swims, 1 Ironman
Bike: 287 miles, 9 rides, 1 Ironman
Run: 106.4 miles, 12 runs, 1 Ironman
Strength: 2 times
Yoga: 5 times

Can you tell what the important part of October was? Those totals are pretty good even with the taper time & 1 race.

2. Last one of these now that Ironman training is over

and that sweet sweet race on the end. Best 13 hours of the month right there. This is week 39 of the training plan, Race Week. 16 hours total.

3. Spike got a new home!

We got an aquarium from some friends while we were in Wilmington. So cool, he's growing really fast!

4. More Ironman Pics!

This was taken by a AAA Carolinas teammate! Thanks Scott! me exiting the swim.

Bike pics show the suffering

Remember, when I came out of the water it was still 36* and I had to take a shit. real bad.

I'm going to end up buying one of these. Real big print, too. Me and Evil Genius crossing the finish line.

5. Halloween!

EG changed her mind at the last minute, wanted to be a mummy

and Bigun wanted to be a princess, my mom made her costume

Parents still get a 40% cut, right?  Walking fee? Protection fee?

This is how you know you did Halloween right.

They were totally worn out by the end. We only went one block over what we normally do on Halloween, they were loving it at first and totally wiped out by the end.  Insane night. EG left small bits of torn toilet paper in most of the yards as she ran through, because, well, she's part Evil and part Genius. By the end, she told Kelley "carry this" and handed her the bag of candy, then told me "carry this" and pointed to herself. Too cute!