Run, Fatboy, Run!

On July 25th I ran in my first 5k race, the Torchlight Run in Seattle's Seafair.

I had started running and training for races back in December, but quit when I had my first thyroidectomy, and didn't get started again until about a month ago.

Luckily - miraculously - I managed to not only participate, but to finish, and maintained a running pace the entire time, except for a brief pause to drink water. I just can't drink when I run, apparently.

My time was 39:13, which is pretty good for an out of shape guy.

The only bummer - apart from nearly puking and having the world spin around me at finish - was that my Nike+iPod announced that I had completed 5 kilometers when, in reality, I had several hundred more meters to go. Kat said that they can be re-calibrated, but still, it was depressing to hear the digital voice announce that I was done, but to see the finish line so, so far away.

So yay, one more down!

Veggie Tales

Our garden has certainly been a learning experience.

Lesson 1: Broccoli sucks. I don't mean it tastes bad or anything; in fact, I wouldn't know, since we never got to harvest any. Before I knew that broccoli was notoriously hard to grow, I planted several of them. Never again. The plants took off fast, but apparently due to unseasonable warmth (thank you, GM), they went to seed before we got anything out of them. We keep cutting them back, though, hoping the next growth will be the winner.

Lesson 2: Tomatoes do a lot better in the PNW than had previously been thought. I planted a bush cherry tomato, which is doing quite well, and a regular tomato plant that has become a one-plant jungle. Seriously, whatever combination of sun, water, and my special blend of soils, fertilizers, and coffee grounds there were seemed to be exactly what the doctor ordered. The thing is currently being held up by a tomato cage, two five-foot stakes, several twist ties, and a length of twine.

Lesson 3: Get more strawberries. Our strawberries are producing, but if we wanted quantity, we should have gotten more plants.

Lesson 4: Why buy seeds and plants when the seeds from veggies do just fine? Upon attempting to compost the guts of a spaghetti squash, the seeds all sprouted in our worm bin, and now a couple of the plants I transplanted are booming.

Lesson 5: Gardening is awesome! K and I have had a blast, working on something and seeing progress. It's great to get outdoors, and eating our own produce is one of the most rewarding things ever!

This was probably the most pristine zucchini I have ever seen, and it was just as delicious as it looked.

Our first pea pod, and Kat's first ever pea right off the vine. She doesn't like peas, but she liked ours!

Ta-da!

Nike+

My running has slowly but surely been getting back on track, thanks largely in part to our good friends at Nike. I have been using a little gadget from their Nike+ line which attaches to my iPod and tracks my workouts.

So thanks to this teeny little attachment on my iPod and another teeny little sensor attached to my shoe, I am able to track my distance, time, and calories burned. I can even set goals on the iPod before I start a workout; for example, lately I've been setting a distance when I start, and as I run, a voice comes on periodically and tells me how far I've gone and how far I have left.

On the Nike+ site, I can track all of my workouts, set goals, get challenges, and even sync with Mapquest to plan a route.

And the best part of all is that whenever a new personal best - for example, a new best MPM - a sports figure comes on in my headphones and tells me that I've just reached a new personal record.

Hooray for motivation!