Blog Master G

Puerto Rico: Day 1, originally uploaded by Blog Master G.

Puerto Rico: Day 1, originally uploaded by Blog Master G.

Happy 5-year anniversary to my beautiful bride! Saturday marked mine and Jen’s 5th wedding anniversary, and we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. We reflected on how lucky we are not only to have each other, but to have such a full life, surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family.

We started our 5-year anniversary by running our first 5k together.

 

We spent the rest of the day at the track with friends and family. What better way to mark our first 5 years of marriage?

So we have a list: 5 things we’re grateful for at our 5th anniversary:

• Five years with each other: OK, we’ve actually been lucky enough to know each other for 11 years now, 9 of which we’ve been together, and 5 of which we’ve now been married. Woohoo!

• Friends: As I’ve said so many times before, we’re lucky enough to have the best friends on both sides of the country. Running the Silks & Satins 5k together Saturday morning was not only a fun way to commemorate the day, but it was so cool to have so many friends come out to cheer for us. It was also fun running my first Saratoga race and to see other friends in the race and along the course cheering.

• Family: My cousin Rose and her boyfriend Tom hopped a train from Manhattan for the weekend to live it up with us, Saratoga style. It was wonderful having them here and that they got to meet so many of our friends.
• Fitness: Thanks to running, we’re both in much better shape than we were in our 20s. So we feel great, we’re healthy, and we look good (at least we like to think so). With a time of 21:07 (8 seconds off my goal; pace of 6:48/mile), I placed 11th out of 41 in my division (147 out of 1,002 overall) in the Silks & Satins, which was my 7th race this year and first 5k; Jen successfully trained for and had fun finishing her first 5k. Big thanks to Tom for taking so many awesome race photos!

• Fun: After the race, we hit the Saratoga Track for opening day. We scored 5 sweet picnic tables right by the Paddock (thanks, Mara!). We soaked in the sun, ate, drank, bet on the ponies, and got caught in a torrential downpour walking home after the races. What can I say? If you’ve read this blog — ever — you know that we have fun. No question there. The pictures usually speak for themselves.

Blog entries of anniversaries past:

• 4th Anniversary
• 3rd Anniversary
• 2nd Anniversary & 2nd Anniversary Dinner
• 1st Anniversary & Wedding Reflections

Happy anniversary, Jen! I love you. Here’s to the next 5, 15, and 50!

Tonight at the Inn at Saratoga:

(Taken from my new (p)i(mp)Phone, which is better than I could’ve ever imagined — and it’s only Day 1.)

Like most summers, this one is flying by already — 2+ weeks since my last blog entry?! — and we’ve done so many awesome things that it’s impossible to blog about it all (trips to Atlantic City and Maine come to mind), but I figured creepy statue people photo is better than nothing.

Once I upgrade WordPress on this blog to 2.5, I’ll be able to blog from anywhere with my new phone.

What a way to celebrate 9 years of being with my awesome wife (and race photographer), as well as our independence: Running a 4-mile race with 444 448 other people on a picture-perfect day through the beautiful and historic streets of Saratoga Springs.

The second annual Firecracker 4-Mile Road Race was my 6th career distance race (all this year, of course) and my first here in Saratoga Springs (home court advantage, anyone?). The race was tons of fun and the course was great — mostly flat — cruising from City Center down Broadway to Circular to Caroline to Salem to Excelsior and back to City Center. It was a territory I know well and run often.

I finished in 28:21 (pace of 7:05.25 per mile, which was rounded up to 7:06 in the official results), which was good for 89th place overall out of 445 449 runners, and 15 of 49 in my (too broadly defined) division (men 26-35); it should’ve been 30-34, as it was in this race last year. My goal was to finish in less than 30 with a stretch goal of 28 minutes, so I’m really happy with my performance, though feel like I could’ve gone even faster, especially toward the end after the final hill up Excelsior. But that post-race runner’s remorse is fairly common for me. I know I should be really happy with a 7:05.25 pace — particularly when you consider that just 5 months ago I ran my last (and first) 4-mile race, the Polar Cap 2008, in 34:10 (pace of 8:32.5).

My pace was pretty consistent since I ran most of the way behind two girls who were likely on the Saratoga Springs High School cross-country team. In my sweet finish video below, you’ll see me on the left as I squeeze past 14-year-old Gabby (one of the two girls I was on pace with the whole way; yeah, that’s right, people — I’m as fast as a 14-year-old girl!):

Thanks, as always, to my most supportive wife (who gets all the photography and videography credit), and happy 9-year anniversary! I love you, Jen.

And a very Happy 4th of July to one and all!

View more photos on Flickr.

Has another year already gone by? A big happy 28th birthday to my little bro, Pete! The past year in brotherdom has brought a myriad of unforgettable times — Dad’s birthday / family reunion in October; my February visit to California; my marathon weekend, which included seeing a Giants game with Pete and Dad; and who can forget the inaugural Anderson Brothers Mustache Growing Contest 2007?

Good times, brother! As you might say, looking forward to another year of total domination with you.

Since there’s not much I can write that can compare with the birthday prose of last year, I’ll just say this: I love you, bro bro, and happy birthday! Can’t wait to see you here in August.

(Note that throughout the years we’ve apparently always been on the same side in photos.)

Last weekend Jen and I cruised down to Manhattan and had such a fun time that we questioned why we don’t go more often. From Saratoga Springs, it took us only 2.5 hours to the “Welcome to Manhattan” sign just past the George Washington Bridge, and only about 3 hours total to get to the Lower Eastside to Heather and Saahil’s place.

Objective: See my first Broadway show, enjoy dinner in Manhattan, and hang out with Heather and Saahil, whom I hadn’t seen in a couple years. All missions accomplished, and we had tons of fun.

Our show of choice was Avenue Q, which we’d been wanting to see for years and about which we’d always heard great things (coming in January to Proctor’s!). It lived up to expectations and was absolutely hilarious (Bad Idea Bears!). It’s like an R-rated (perhaps even X-rated) Sesame Street for adults, about a puppet who’s just graduated from college and moved to his first post-college apartment. With songs like “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?,” “If You Were Gay,” ” Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,” and “The Internet Is For Porn,” the show was pretty much non-stop laughs and also rang true to the post-college experience (hmm… whom do you know with B.A.s in English?). It was the best musical I’ve ever seen, right up there with Little Shop of Horrors, which Jen and I saw back in November when we went to Toronto (never blogged about that trip!).

It was a matinée show, and right afterward we got caught in a torrential downpour. It looked a little something like this:

Jen laughed at me for buying and eating a giant pretzel from a street vendor. Hey, I was hungry and our dinner reservations weren’t until late. Every time I’m in the city I always forget how packed with people it always is — especially in Times Square. It’s always fun to be in the midst of so much energy and vibrancy.

When the storm broke, we headed back to Heather and Saahil’s place for some pre-dinner drinks, then battled the rain on our walk to a local wine bar then a most delicious dinner at The Mermaid Inn. We had fried clams and raw oysters (both west coast and east coast varieties) for starters; everyone but me had lobster sandwiches for entrees; and I had grilled mahi mahi.

Good times, and thanks again for hosting us, Heather and Saahil! We’ll look forward to the next trip.

View more photos from the weekend.

Damn, has it really been 17 days since my marathon and 13 days since I posted the entry about it? Time flies. And I’ve been riding the marathon high ever since.

So the part of the story I haven’t told is how awesome the entire marathon weekend was. It wasn’t just this huge, momentous event. It was an action-packed weekend with family and friends in California.

Highlights of my rockin’ CA weekend include:

Southern California

• Walking on the pier in San Diego and taking in the ocean air and sunset
• Sailing in San Diego with Jen, Alex, Lars, and Adriana (sunbathing seals!)
• Enjoying pre-marathon Mexican food with Jen
• Spending time before and after the marathon with my Mom
• Having dinner with colleagues (Blue Point Coastal Cuisine)
• Eating lunch with Jen and my Mom at Gordon Biersch

Northern California

• Eating giant and delicious Juan’s burritos with Pete, Enoch, and Mark (and Enoch’s dog puking story)
• Hanging out on the roof of E’s pad on Treasure Island
• Seeing the Giants destroy the Mets at AT&T Park in San Francisco with my Dad, Pete, and Mark the day after the marathon
• Rockin’ out with Ben at his place, and breakfast @ Chow in the Castro
• Getting to see Pete’s rockin’ new place in Sactown
• Enjoying happy hour with Pete, Shannon, and Mike in Sac
• Chillin’ the night away with James at Pete’s pad

Pete’s recap is hilarious, as always.

It was tons of fun hangin’ with my parents, my bro, and the CA posse. Miss you all very much, and can’t wait for the next time!

You can also view the full California 2008: Trip II collection on Flickr, which includes all of the above, as well as my marathon action photos.

Tonight I ran a hard and fast interval workout with the Saratoga Stryders in the Spa State Park. We did roughly 8/10ths of a mile five times — fast. It’s a big and fast group of local runners. And everyone’s really nice. Last Wednesday was my first workout with the group, and the Saturday before was my first recreational run with the club.

I came home, hooked up my iPod, and was greeted by an exciting Nike+ milestone — the 500-mile club:

It was just over 3 months ago when I hit the Nike+ 100-mile mark. so that’s kind of crazy, right? That I’ve run 400 miles in about 3 months? Never in my life did I think I’d be running more than 100 miles per month.

Of course, my official mileage, which includes my pre-Nike+ days, surpassed the 500-mile mark even before the marathon.

Still, I’m proud to be a member of the Nike+ 500-mile club! And yeah, I think I’m going to have to order one of those t-shirts.

Next stop: 1,000 miles. And if I keep it up, I should be on track to hit that milestone before the year’s end.

Happy birthday, Mom! Thank you for always being such a supportive, caring, and loving mother. Your being there to cheer me on for my first marathon meant so much to me. It’s no coincidence that you and Dad are now the proud parents of two marathoner sons. You’ve always told us that we could do anything.

Happy birthday! We all love you.