Though my 30th birthday party set the party bar pretty high, this year was also pretty freakin’ awesome.
Jen masterminded yet another great event — the Wine Snob Smackdown ’08 — this time pairing 7 wines with 7 cheeses and challenging party-goers to a blind taste test. Rather than asking everyone to bring the usual 2 bottles of wine, as we normally do for Saratoga Wine Club, we asked people to contribute $7 to the pot, which would be split between the winner and my Team in Training fundraising efforts.
The wines were excellent, the cheese pairings perfect, and the food of the evening was delightful (triple combo of Mama Mia’s, Jen’s tortellini and cheese selections, and Alexis’ lasagne — thanks, everyone!). Nature treated us all to an amazing sunset (thanks to Patricia for discovering it and calling everyone to the porch to enjoy). Later in the evening, we reminisced about my party last year and I fired up my video roast, so we all enjoyed some great laughs — it’s hilarious every time, no matter how many times I see it.
Vinnie and Mara took the unofficial prize for playing the part of biggest wine snobs of the evening, dressed to the nines:
And what birthday party would be complete without a Penis Pokey book (thanks, Seth & Niki!) or a birthday pie (thanks, Mrs. A!)? Not mine!
As Jen was worried might happen, I ended up winning the contest with 8 total points (4 correctly identified wines & 4 of 7 wine trivia points); all the money collected that evening went to the cause. Thank you again to our awesome friends for a great time and for helping us raise nearly $400 for the LLS!
On Saturday I ran my longest run to date: Nearly 17 miles. I only stopped for two brief refueling breaks. I felt great at the end. Alex and I had a greasy diner breakfast following the run, then I cruised home and spent the afternoon doing a few hours of yard work.
Later that afternoon, Jen and Alexis went for a run, then we all basked in the beautiful, warm spring sunshine:
That night Jen, Alexis, and I joined Sarah, Eric, Todd, and Andrea for dinner at Sushi Thai Garden, followed by some drinks at Bailey’s, where Jen defended her ICB title yet again, defeating 3 challengers (me, Sarah, Todd).
Sunday, April 13th, 2008 · Comments Off on Gabe, Ben, Jonty Go to White Castle
A couple weeks ago (March 27), I spontaneously took 2 days off work and headed south to New Jersey to hang out with Ben, who was in town from San Francisco to visit his parents, and Jonty, who came to party with us for the night. I had a great time — spending time with Ben’s family, making homemade pizza, chillin’ in the hot tub, and, of course, our 2am trip to White Castle in an attempt to recreate one of the greatest movies of all time: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a tiger to ride upon, but it was an adventure nonetheless.
And now that Flickr has finally launched a video feature (though a maximum of only 90-second “moving picture” clips are permitted), I’m pleased to bring you Jonty’s incredible one-bite White Castle burger eating demonstration (he was the pie eating champion at Vassar, and I was proud to be his spotter):
Oh where does the time go? Too much fun, too little time to blog about it all. My current blogging backlog begins with last Sunday’s 5-mile race, the 22nd Annual Shamrock Shuffle in Glens Falls, NY. It was my third distance race, following January’s Wimp Wimp and February’s Polar Cap, so I’ve been running one race per month since I started running. Cool. So long as I find a race to run in May, that trend will continue through the summer, with the half-marathon coming up later this month (gulp), the full marathon in June (gulp, gulp), and the Boilermaker in July (15k? bring it!).
But I digress. Last Sunday was a beautiful March day — and despite having run my still-longest run to date (15 miles) — I went through with my commitment to run the Shamrock Shuffle. Sarah, Patricia, Leslie, and I cruised up the Northway for the 11am race. About 530 people ran in the Shuffle, and I somehow ended up as racer #6, though my finish time didn’t quite place me that high. It was a really fun day — bagpipe band playing in the high school gym before the race, running through Glens Falls past cheering spectators, and that feeling of pride and accomplishment when crossing the finish line.
Although I was ahead of the ladies, who all enjoyed the race together at the same pace, it’s always fun to run a race with friends. I got a great shot of the three of them as they approached the finish line (I had just enough time after I finished to run back to my car, get my camera, and return to the finish line for this shot):
I shaved nearly 10 seconds per mile off my pace since the Polar Cap, according to official race results, but discovered that my iPod and Nike+ had been lying to me: It told me that the race last Sunday was actually 5.55 miles (not 5), so I re-calibrated at the Saratoga Springs High School track on Thursday and finally have a much more accurate calibration, confirmed — at least a bit closer to the more accurate truth told by Alex’s new GPS watch — by our 8-mile run yesterday morning at the Niskayuna bike trail.
Official results for Team SPLoG:
Following the race, we enjoyed post-race beers and snacks at Sarah and Eric’s place, then lunch at the West Side Stadium Cafe. Good times, and I’ll look forward to the next one!
(By the way, last Sunday Sarah was talking up my mad blogging skills to Leslie, so I hope my weeklong delay in posting hasn’t let you down as a new Blog Master G reader, Leslie!)
Upon returning home, Jen, Patricia, and I enjoyed more sunshine with the year’s inaugural porch sitting:
Last night we hosted a pretty awesome wine tasting party, thanks to lots of hard work by Jen in planning and executing yet another great event — a combined birthday / Saratoga Wine Club / Team in Training fundraiser… but I’ll save that for another post. Let me just say that we had a rockin’ time and that our friends rule.
At 31 today, I’m no longer a spring chicken, technically (I guess), but I still feel like one. My senior year at Vassar I took a contemporary media class taught by then executive editor of The Poughkeepsie Journal Meg Downey, who said to us on the last day of class, “The way you feel right now, the way you see yourself and the world — at 21 or 22 — is the way you’re going to feel the rest of your lives.” I like to think I’m smarter, more experienced, and more world-wise now, but what she said definitely resonated with me since I still feel basically like that same college senior, about to embark on this crazy life adventure that’s turned out (so far) better than I could’ve imagined. I think I’ll always be young at heart and still feel like I have as much energy, excitement, and enthusiasm about the world around me.
So today, on my birthday, I’d like to do a special shout out to my parents, who are obviously a big part of shaping me into who I am today. I couldn’t have asked for more loving, supportive, encouraging, positive, and enthusiastic parents as I’m lucky enough to have in my Mom and Dad. Given my Dad’s eloquence with words, I figured it’s only fitting to let him share in his own words an example of how much he and my Mom rock, always telling me that I can do anything I want in life and accomplish whatever I set my mind to do. It’s really true. So thank you, Mom and Dad, for being you, and for helping shape me into who I am today.
An excerpt from the birthday email from my Dad today:
You leave something good with everyone you know. I have never met anyone who is so universally loved and liked. You are wealthy beyond dreams with your assortment of friends. You bring passion, dedication, humor and wisdom to everything you tackle in life. Any mistakes I have ever made with you, I hope, can be forgiven as the gushing over-enthusiasm of a Dad who is prouder than words could ever explain. Mere mention of your name makes me burst with pride and love. Your Mom and I have loved you with all our hearts from the instant we saw you make your grand entrance into this world. Thank you, Tiger, for being everything and more than I ever expected from you. Thank you with all my heart for being such a good young man who has made such brilliant choices in life, with Jen being the diamond in your crown. Thank you for your brotherly love and fraternal friendship with Peter.
Thank you, Dad. And thank you, Mom. I love you both.
Of course, I would be remiss on this day where the emotions are flowing wide open not to mention my awesome wife, Jen, and little bro, Pete. I love you both, too. I feel really lucky to have such a great family and so many awesome friends across the country.
The runner’s high: Every athlete has heard of it, most seem to believe in it and many say they have experienced it. But for years scientists have reserved judgment because no rigorous test confirmed its existence.
Yes, some people reported that they felt so good when they exercised that it was as if they had taken mood-altering drugs. But was that feeling real or just a delusion? And even if it was real, what was the feeling supposed to be, and what caused it?
It was a pretty incredible feeling to run so far — 15.06 miles in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 38 seconds (7:57 pace) — and I surpassed the 11 miles I ran last week by a solid 4 (my goal was to run 14 today):
The other cool thing about my run today was how the power of people (and Gatorade) is such a tremendous boost when running. When I ran my first-ever distance race, I nearly opted for the 2.2-mile version of the race, but the crowd’s energy cheering runners on at the finish line helped inspire me to finish the whole 4.4-mile race. Likewise, my record distance run today involved three people-powered moments that helped me push through:
Between miles 5 and 6: I ran past Patricia’s house, where she and a couple friends were soaking in the sun on the porch; seeing them and saying hi to them helped me feel proud of what I was doing (“5 miles down, 9 to go,” I declared).
Mile 8.25: I returned home for a brief refueling stop (Gatorade and part of a Cliff bar), along with a kiss from my wife; my legs and motivation were ready to rock again.
Mile 12: I was beginning to feel delirious and my legs were getting sore. Then I saw my friends Jen and Kyle, who cheered me on as I ran by and shot my arms up in the air.
In the final stretch between miles 12 and 13, I leveraged my new PowerSong for some extra motivation, and definitely experienced a euphoric runner’s high.
It’s kind of weird to think that I’ve now officially run farther than a half-marathon. I guess that means I’m ready for Nashville — with about a month to spare.
This weekend was a great one for running where I set all kinds of new personal records. Saturday morning I ran my longest run to date — 11.04 miles. I ran this near-half-marathon distance not only without stopping for water or a breather, but in record pace (average of 7:48/mile or 7:49, according to the below chart; I’ve noticed that Nike+ sometimes contradicts itself depending on how you’re viewing the data):
It was an awesome run and I felt really good throughout and at the end. It was a Team in Training run at the Niskayuna bike path. What’s Team in Training, you ask? It’s an organization that’s helping me prepare for my marathon while I raise money to fight blood cancers. And yes, you can help!
So Saturday night following my run I went out on the town with Hugh, Jami, Alexis, and Ryan, then woke up Sunday and clocked in another 7.09 miles (average pace: 7:56), bringing my 2-day weekend total to more than 18 miles, and my weekly total to a record 33.21 miles with only 4 runs:
Monday, March 24th, 2008 · Comments Off on Casserole Potluck
Once upon a Saturday, March 8, 2008, Alex and Cati (potluck professionals) hosted a casserole potluck party. Jen and I made the Mean Green Casserole Machine, which was green beanlicious. The competition was tough and our casserole didn’t take top honors that night — some might argue because it was so good, no one really knew what hit ’em — but Saratoga was definitely in the house and represented the casseroles that night: Sarah and Eric took home the runner-up prize with their spicy, Mexican casserole, and Alexis scored the most interesting casserole prize for her mac ‘n cheese with chicken casserole. Way to go, Team Saratoga!
Thanks, Alex and Cati, for hosting yet another fun culinary evening (that might have ended in a mysterious disappearance of the wolf, which was promptly recovered thanks to Alex’s detective work).
Although I had a pretty crazy day yesterday and, unfortunately, didn’t make it to the local anti-war demonstration here in Saratoga to mark 5 years in Iraq, I did take a look at some of the photos from yesterday’s protests in San Francisco:
Looking at the photos brought back memories of living in San Francisco and going to similar anti-Iraq war protests, as we did more than 5 years ago to protest the start of the war, as in this photo of us from February 16, 2003:
How come I look so young and strange, but Jen still looks as great then as she does now?
The first 100 miles took a couple months. The next 100 miles took me less than a month. Yesterday’s 7.5-mile run put me almost exactly at the 200-mile mark (200.53 total miles since December 26)!
(Fun fact: Monday night I partied it up for St. Patty’s Day for 7.5 hours; Tuesday I ran 7.5 miles.)
Not only that, but on Sunday I developed a new stride that helps me go faster and use less energy — imagine that! The new technique was an evolving work, and I recently mentioned the pushing off the heel method. However, as it turns out, that was more of a sprint-kick method (“bouncy,” as fellow TnTers observed in Saturday’s 10-mile training run), which makes more sense for fast finishes at the end of a run or a race.
My new stride is simply more of a glide: My legs stay closer to the ground, so I expend less energy. And I go faster — my last two runs have had average paces of 7:57 (Sunday) and 7:56 (yesterday), and I had my fastest pace yet in mile 1 Sunday: 7:24. Before long, maybe on shorter runs I’ll break into my college-era pace of the 6ish-minute mile.
It was like this big aha! moment I had. Being a sprinter, I was running distance like a sprinter, and it only took me nearly 200 training miles to realize this.
Meanwhile, in the latest miles challenge, Magnus has established a dominant lead in the past few days and put himself in a class of his own, with 45.03 since last Thursday (I have 30.4 and Dave has 29.37). At least we can battle it out for second, as Dave predicted.
