Sweet Victory

Anne and her pals at Triabetes have a nice video out... almost makes me want to swim again. Almost. Check it out here . As I write this, I have a new Garmin 405 dangling from my wrist... It's all charged up, set up and ready to roll. Alas, I'm about 3 hours from my lunchtime run, after which I'll post a mini-review. Early thoughts: 1) I'm glad I have girly wrists. It fits me perfectly - and I think it will fit most twiggy runner wrists. But not water polo wrists. 2) The navigation is easy - not super easy - but easy. But it took me a while to get used to the 305, too. 3) It found a satellite indoors in about 20 seconds... around these parts, my 305 used to take about a minute outdoors. 4) It's small enough to get away with wearing a watch, though barely. It's the same width as my Timex, but the face is twice as thick. Chunkier, but not overly so. 5) I was able to buy the one for $300 (without the HR). However, it's the same unit as the one w/ HR (just withou...

Nearly a week without a Garmin - no surprise, but I'm lost without GPS. Ha, get it? Here's where are with that: Garmin will fix the out-of-warranty 305 for $99. The repair will come with a 90 day warranty. However, new 205's/305's can be had for $150-ish, so that doesn't make sense. However, the diff. between a 205 and a 405 is $150, so the question isn't really should I spend $300 for a 405 - more like, "Should I spend $150 more for a 405 over a 305?" To which I answer, "Yes." The wife's contributing for Daddy's day and I'll kick in the rest and there we go. Plan is to go to Flying Feet for the tent sale tomorrow night. (Yes - there's about $50 of wiggle in these numbers.. not sure if I'll get the HR monitor or not. Frankly, I don't need it, but I'm hearing that many retailers are only carrying that one.) After I finish my 2 races in the next two weeks, I'm 19-ish weeks from my marathon. However, I'm havin...

As impressed as I was with the Garmin 405 introduction, I'd planned on waiting to buy it... First off, I had a perfectly fine 305. Moreover, some of the reviews indicate that the first batch might be a bit wonky. But then last week, the screen faded out at the end of a run and today, it completely faded out mid-way through and hasn't come back since, despite a full recharge. The prognosis isn't very good. I'd bought the 305 online but don't want to risk an online retailer for the new 405. Coincidentally, I'd gotten a postcard from my favorite local retailer who's having a tent sale next week. I called them up and - sure enough - they carry the Forerunners and they have the 405. I'll give the 305 five days to repair itself and - if not - I'll be picking up a 405. Not because I have three hundred clams burning a hole in my pocket, but because I'm truly in love with the Forerunners - even if they only last 14 months, as my 305 has.

I'm at the point in my life where I'm a little embarrassed to be a baseball fan. The game has changed so much and the players have changed so much and there are so many ways to spend our time today that watching a bunch of overpaid babies chase a little white ball around doesn't seem to be a good use of my time. And yet, most nights I spend at least a little time keeping an ear or an eye on the Phillies. I feel guilty when I do this, though - as if I'm still holding a torch for a girl that stopped caring what I think a long time ago. And then Jimmy Rollins goes and does this . Does something wrong and deals with it perfectly, immediately. Doesn't act like a spoiled rich guy or that he's entitled to play however he wants. In a day and age when we don't read stories like this, I found it outright startling. And for me - well, it'll make me feel a little less guilty about watching the ballgame tonight.

So, I'm in a hurry to go to bed last night around 11 because I need to get up @ 5:30 to go speak in DC. So I take off the insulin pump, take off my clothes, put on what passes for pj's in my life, brush my teeth and go to bed. Notice the part where I didn't put my insulin pump back on? Yeah - neither did I. I wake up at 3:30am, figuring I'm just nervous about oversleeping my early wake-up call. I go to the bathroom and go back at bed. I sleep fitfully, realizing I don't feel so hot. Nerves? Nah. Around 4:30, I'm feeling really queasy and think - hell, am I getting a virus on a day I have to give a speech? No way! So I stand up to go to the bathroom again. When I do, I rub my belly because don't we all do that when we wake up in the middle of the night? It's at that time I realize my pump isn't plugged in. I stagger into the bathroom and there it sits, dripping perfectly good insulin into the bathroom sink. I plug it back in - calculate how much insu...

Never has such a mediocre performance received such media attention.... Here are full results . I came in 11th out of 135 in my age group (they also have me two seconds slower, but the race wasn't chip timed, soooo...) Here I am leading a mini-pack to the finish line. Please note that I am out-kicking both my neighbor (34) and the local weatherman (404). And - here's an exclusive for Marcus Grimm fans - VIDEO COVERAGE! Buddy Dave's wife had her video camera at the event... The Youtube version is kind of grainy in a grassy knoll sort of way but you can feel the breeze as I put away the weatherman.

Race #1 this AM - I did the Lancaster Red Rose Run (5mi) in 33:48. I forgot how tragically hard this course is. Myself and Dave & Christine each blew our goal time by a minute. However, there are many good points: Last year, I followed up a 35:29 Red Rose with a more honest 34:10 only a month later, so the course is at least a minute slow, meaning my 33:48 is probably comparable to a 32:45ish. Here's how my splits compared to last year - 6:22 this year - 6:34 last year 6:19 - 6:34 7:55 - 7:16 7:21 - 7:46 6:59 - 7:19 So my biggest net gain came on the brutal 4th mile, which is pretty much a 1 mile hill. All in all, I'll take it.. this is a gutsy race. You have to be willing to run hard on the first two miles of downhills, knowing you'll pay for it on the 4th mile. So I did and I did. Results posted when available, but more than anything, this means I'm currently tracking 20 seconds per mile faster than I was last year at this time, which is a very good thing. One mor...

I've been meaning to bump up this comment from a few weeks ago: I was at that race (ed. note: The Brave Run). I was the one shooting the race, with the yellow lab. My girlfriend was running the 1/2M, but was nowhere near as fast as the rest of you. I think I got a few picts of you. You're more than welcome to view my photos in a public gallery. All my photos are free for download, but I do appreciate any small non-deductible donations or gifts, just so I can pay for gas and some time to cleanup the photos. Its not about the money. Just trying to offer a near-free service to the runners. If you want: take a look at http://picasaweb.google.com /BadDog8Cat Please pass it along if you know of anyone who ran the Brave the Race and also the Pickle Runs at Ridley Creek State Park. It doesn't look like Oct.High School is going to post anything soon. Thanks and Good Running Matt Thanks, Matt, for the pic - the best of which I've uploaded here. I don't remember you or the dog...

So I'm racing 3 times in the next four weeks... This wasn't intentional, but there are 3 races I really want to do. Moreover, after this month, marathon training takes precedence over weekend racing whims, so this is it. Here's the line-up, with goals. May 31st - Lancaster Red Rose Run - 5 miles. Last year, I had a miserable blow-up in that one. This year, I'm in much better shape. My 5 mile PR from last year was 34:11 and this time around, I'm going hard for a sub 33 on a tough course. Based on last year's time, this still would put me two minutes off an AG award. However, I'm running on a swift team, and we're going hard for the Corporate Team Award. June 15th - Smith's Challenge 10k Trail Race - Tough course - here's last year's blog post . I'm going for something bold here - 48-something if the Gods are willing. Two things: first, I'm in way better shape. Second - and more important - in the past year, these trails have pretty m...

Hehe... boy golly, have we gotten old.

Via Marcy , we learn that those who buy 3 pairs of sneakers per year are more likely to be leaders . Given my habit of running shoe consumption, I reckon I should have enough "leadership" in me to pilot a small third-world nation, at the very least. And yet - I have to scream to get the kids to the table for supper. Clearly, something is amiss with the data.

Truth is, I don't really *love* NY. Frankly, it's too much of too much for my taste. And on this particular trip, which included a cabbie that didn't know where Ground Zero was (????) and a botched hotel reservation, I really got my fill of the city mighty quick this time. However, there was a bright spot. Most trips, I stay up-town and run Central Park. This time, I stayed downtown, which gave me the opportunity to run Battery Park. What's amazing to a small town runner who rarely sees other runners except in races is HOW MANY people run in these relatively few place in NYC. I must've seen 75 runners in my six miles today (a good bit less than what I see in Central Park, but still a lot). I'm the world's worst photographer, but I always take the cell phone w/ me when I run in different places as a way to document new sites. I had a great view of the Statue of Liberty but took a horrible photograph, but here's a fairly decent one of the Brooklyn Bridge t...

.. .calling the jury line three days in a row and never once having to report. God bless our clogged legal system. :) In other news, I've had a good week of running - 4 days in a row. Tomorrow's an off-day and Saturday's a big 15. Monday, I go up to NYC - hopefully will get to prance about the Village. In other news, I'm within 24 hours of getting the last contractor out of my house. All of which goes to say, the light at the end of the tunnel is oh so very close.

In the past month: So, the basement is finished. That contractor was awesome. A dishwasher was replaced. The replacement had a dent, so that required a second visit. Thanks, Sears. Furniture was delivered. Instead of a couch and a love-seat, they delivered two love-seats. Another apology. Another re-delivery. Today, the Firedog guys are installing two tv's. Well, they would be, but they don't have the ability to put the ends on the cables my contractor ran for them. Huh? Don't you think if you were Firedog, putting ends on cables would be a skill you'd have. Any jackass can plug them in when they have ends for crying out loud. So Firedog is doing everything EXCEPT plugging in the cable, which means I won't know if any of this worked until after tomorrow morning when my contractor comes in and puts on the ends of the cables. When I told him my dilemma, he said, "I'd be a little concerned if your TV installers can't put ends on your cables." I give h...

Like the King of Rock-n-Roll, April's gone. Let's do a recap: 147.8 miles of running. My second best month to date and only two schedules days of running missed. A difficult half marathon, but a hard-fought one. Long runs up to 14 miles. The best parts? A good 40% more mileage than last April, when I was finishing training for a triathlon. Heading into May, here are the goals: Keep the long runs up, at least two 15 milers. If I think I'm ready, slowly try to sneak in a 6th day of running per week. I'm concerned about this one, but aim to start low and slow with the 6th day. Start pushing the tempo - doing 1 tempo run per week. Keep the miles up. The end of May, start of June will bring 3 races, which will inevitably cause mileage to dip. Put the miles in now so it won't matter later.

Just three days after Jamie warned me I'd be getting a new meter from Medtronic, mine showed up. Kudos for Medtronic for not making me wait, since I'm still not over the Global Heroes mess. (Sidebar: Realizing it's May 1st, this means you now must turn the calendar page of your Medtronic calendar and says Goodbye to me, Mr. April. It's been a fun month of staring at myself, but it's time to move on. This month's star? Abigail H. She's cuter than me, but considering she looks about 4, I think I could take her in a triathlon. Well, maybe not on the bike.) Anywho - the meter. Medtronic did the right thing for once, partnering with the leading meter company and not those goofballs at BD, who haven't seemed to be able to provide consistent quality at anything diabetic except alcohol swabs, sugar tablets and syringes (in other words, things that don't require technology). This time around, they partnered with LifeScan. What does it do? Basically, the mete...

I don't know how many times I caught my daughter trying to sneak a look at my blog this weekend... I was tempted to say, "It's a little hard to write a blog when I'm doing your laundry and cutting the grass." Alas, I think she's waiting for my race report, so here it is. Allie and I were accompanied by my niece, Tania. As mentioned before, Allie has a pre-race goal of going sub 30, but I felt her fitness pointed to more like a 32/33. She had another goal, though - run the whole 5k, only walking through the water stop. This is a big race - more than 2800 runners and walkers. I'd learned my lesson in this one last year, so we lined up closer to the start than you'd expect, due to all the walkers who didn't know where to line up. We went into the first mile and settled in around 9:30 pace for the first half mile. After that, Allie said it felt a bit quick to her, so we nudged down to around 10:00 pace. She was talking to us, but also working. A good p...

I've been a bad blogger of late, mostly because I've been a good worker and runner. Mileage is steady and climbing and things are getting to done on my to-do list. Many times, that means a lack of reflection time. But still, there are things to say... This Saturday I have a 5k. Even though I really really feel I'm in PR-shape and would have a shot at 19:15-19:30, my goal time for this one is 30:00. How's comes? I'm running it with my 12 year-old daughter. The kid has done the work, at least as well as a 12 year-old can, which is wicked better than I could've at 12. Nobody hated running back then more than I did. But for the last 9 weeks, she's been solid about running with the school club twice per week and running with me once on the weekends. In all that time, she missed one week. Not too shabby, I'd say. Don't know if she's in 30:00 shape - our training points to more like a 32. However, I've noticed that kids seem to have the ability to s...

Sorry to hear about the thyroid, Jerry - definitely keep an eye on it. To me, it's a bigger pain than diabetes, simply because it takes longer to fine-tune. Thanks for the comments re: my A1C's. It's that nice run of them will likely keep me off CGM for the foreseeable future - 50% because I'm not sure what benefit I'd gain and 50% because no insurance company will believe I can benefit enough to warrant the expense. Since Alan's asked about me and CGM's, here's my complete spin. HOWEVER, I always says that diabetes is a personal disease and my circumstances are different than anyone else's. Thus, this shouldn't be read as the CGM Gospel According to Marcus, but rather, The CGM Gospel FOR Marcus. 1.) I rarely have no awareness of my current bloodsugar. 90% of the time, I can very closely predict it. Maybe once a month, I'll be surprised by a blood sugar test. Many diabetics are not so fortunate, and if I weren't, I'd be more incline...

Note: This is somewhat of an obligatory post. I suspect some diabetics ignore this blog because I so rarely write about my diabetes. To do so - IMO - would be akin to writing about shaving: it's a necessary evil and one that needs to be approached with caution, concern and care, but otherwise, I've got more fun things to talk about. Anywho, I had my regular check-up scheduled two weeks ago and had my fasting blood work done. Heading into the week of the appointment, however, I told my wife I was bagging the appointment because my schedule that week was a mess. She looked at me as if I was shirking my diabetic responsibilities, but I said, "Here's what's going to happen: My A1C will be good, my thyroid reading will still be off and they'll adjust my Synthroid. If I'm wrong, I'll go in." Sure enough, I was right. My A1C this time was 6.5. The coolest part about bagging my appointment was the doc actually sent me a copy of my lab records, including a ...