Hello? Blog? It's me, Glynn...

Ah... an obscure Judy Blume reference.  This is going to be a good post...

I haven't blogged in a 43 days.  What a shame...

Cliff's notes RECAP (bullet style)!!!

- Our wedding is 183 days away!!!

- Chase is 10 months and 14 days old and is almost walking... 

- I'm running a lot now.  I've decided to run in Carlsbad in January, but I need to choose either the full or the half marathon.  I'm leaning towards the half only because...

- Oh Girl is starting to hit its stride.  We're playing shows regularly (well, once a month, which is regularly enough).  We're FINALLY heading into the studio.  We're having fun and taking steps and keeping it loose but also, strangely, progressing more quickly than any other band with which I've played.  The harder you try to hold on, the more quickly it slips away... so we're learning to let go with this one.

That's pretty much been my life in the last month and a half.

And now I can sleep tonight without feeling the guilt of having not posted on my blog in a long time...

Schizo wedding-baby-running-recording posts will continue to proliferate more frequently from now on...

Schizo fits me...

I haven't been running (FAIL).  Tomorrow, hopefully...

But I have been playing music...

And thinking about playing music...

And listening to lots of music...

And looking at awesome blogs including http://st00pidjesse.blogspot.com/...

That is all...

Run Log #11- Running Fits Me

I will gloss over Run Log #11 because I should have posted it on Thursday when I actually ran.....

No, wait.  Scratch that.  I will describe how I somehow put my iPhone into airplane mode which disabled the GPS which meant that Runkeeper didn't keep track of my route or my pace.  So I manually entered it using MapMyRun.com.  Sweet...

Which brings me to another point. I'm slightly neurotic.  I have semi-weird, occasionally OCD tendencies.  I always eat my burgers in a circle (outer crust first, then slowly whittle it down into ever smaller circles till one bite is left).  I listened to the same Helmet album every time I went to watch one of my high school's football games.  I have a thing for odd numbers and have seen a pattern in the important dates in my life (11-19-81: birthday, 7-5-09: re-Anniversary with Rachel, 11-11-09: my son Chase's birthday, 3-27-11: wedding date). 

All of this detail-oriented, anal-retentive behavior gives me a personality that it is well-accustomed to running.  When I found out that I had put my phone into airplane mode, I obsessed over not being able to track that run.  I needed to know what the specifics were... what were my splits?  Did I improve?  What does it mean...?

I'll admit I'm an addict when it comes to looking at my Runkeeper profile and seeing how far I've run, how quickly I ran, how many calories I burned, the routes I take, etc., etc., ad nauseum, ad infinitum...

Which is why running fits me.

There needs to be something a little bit off inside you if you actually enjoy putting your body through pain for long periods of time while listening to the lonely thoughts droning inside your head.

And I'm beginning to really enjoy it, to need it, to feel antsy if I don't get it, to dread rest days, and look forward to discomfort because I know I can push through it and better myself in the process.

Thanks, running.  For letting me find you.

Hipstamatic Set #1- Daily View

Hipstamatic rocks my socks...

And, so, I shall start another set of posts to go along with my album reviews and my YouTube vid posts...

Hipstamatic Photo Sets!!!

The theme of this Hipstamatic photo set is "Daily View".  As some of you may know, I am the Prescription Customer Service Manager for Kaenon Polarized.  It's a job that I love for a company I believe in.  And my desk is where I spend every day on the phone, on the computer, on the grind...

sustenance 

potpourri

reorder  

communication helix

yes, this is an exit

 

clearly sticky

purpose

Run Log#10- Silence is Golden

Soundtrack:

Nothing.  Literally nothing.  Except Runkeeper updating me every 2 minutes on time elapsed, distance traveled, and average pace.

I felt good today.  2.25 miles in 25 minutes.  11:14 per mile (which is under my average pace for the last 3 weeks).

I counted backwards from January 23rd to find out when my actual training will start.  September 27th.  Just under 11 weeks away.  11 more weeks of base fitness training before jumping head first into a more focused marathon training program.  I better get some mountain biking and weight lifting in before I need to cut those out of the routine.

But, oh yeah... Silence is golden.  I didn't set-up a playlist for this morning's run.  I figure I'm not going to listen to music during the marathon, so I should get used to the silence.  And it actually helped.  I was able to focus on my body more, feel how my arms swinging helped the perpetual motion of my legs and how changing my breathing affected the ease or difficulty of my pace.  I'm looking forward to being able to zone out while running, without being distracted by the music I love so much.  There are better times to listen to music.  Running should be about escaping for a bit, and being able to do that in silence will be comforting.

Rest day tomorrow, then another 25 minutes of running on Thursday morning.  I'm tempted to try for 2.5 miles, but I know that I need to take it slow.  There will be plenty of time for speed work later on...

Run Log #9- Slow and Steady Wins the Race...

Slow and steady wins the race.

I've been running for the last three weeks.  Focusing on timed runs to build up my stamina.  Started with 10 minute runs and hope to build up to 40 minute runs by the end of next week. 

Over the course of my first 8 runs, I've been averaging about 11:30 a mile.  Not horrible, considering I've never been a runner and I'm in the worst shape of my life.

11:30 a mile turns out to be just north of 5 hours for a marathon.  (*sidenote: I'm planning on attempting my first marathon January 23, 2011.  That's why I'm doing all of this running.)

So, today I graduate to a 30 minute run after two 20 minute runs this week.  And I figure a solid pace would be 12:30 a mile, which would mean I would run 2.4 miles in 30 minutes.  Achievable, right?

Definitely achievable...

... if I had run at 6:30am, so I could avoid the heat...

... if I hadn't run at 1:21pm in close to mid-90 degree temperatures...

... and if I hadn't started my run at 9:30 a mile!!!!!

I went out too fast.  I played checkers, not chess.  I got ahead of myself, and shot myself in the foot.  I was that hare, sprinting past the tortoise, yelling back, "See ya at the finish line, you slow poke!", burning out at 25 minutes, and panting, gasping, dredging to the finish line as the tortoise lounged in triumph...

I was very disappointed today.  If I had just stuck to the plan, I would have run 2.4 miles in 30 minutes, and I probably would have felt fine...

Lessons learned:

- NEVER skip the morning run.
- If you skip the morning run, definitely don't run IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EFFING DAY...  Just wait for dusk.
- Stick to your pacing.
- Set-up Runkeeper to update every 3 minutes, so I can adjust my pace if it's off.

2 rest days, then 25 minutes on Tuesday.  GOAL: 2 miles.

Now off to watch Spirit of the Marathon on Netflix...

Soundtrack:
With a Heavy Heart (I Regret to Inform You)- Does It Offend You, Yeah?
An Autopsy- The Faceless
Whatever Happened to Pong?- Frank Black
Turned Out- Helmet
He Feels Bad- Helmet
Obnoxious- Immortal Technique
This Is F*****g Tragic- The Impossibles
The Boys Are Leaving Town- The Japandroids
Blood of the Scribe- Lamb of God

Oh Girl

Oh Girl played at Clancy's tonight.  And there were a couple songs that absolutely felt "spot on in the zone audience in the palm of your hand" good...

And this was after 3 weeks of not practicing. 

It's in our fingers and our brains and our hands and our toes and our brains.  We just need to let it out and be true and genuine and authentic.

Dynamics...

I love being in a band that is a true extension of myself...

August 5th in San Diego...