It’s official. I’m going to enter my first marathon ever. Last Saturday I ran in the 20-mile pre-marathon race in Grand Rapids. The weather was great for running. It was in the high 50’s and low 60’s for the entire run. Earlier in the week they had predicted rain, but it never happened. It was overcast with a slight breeze. For me, that’s ideal. I just hope that the weather cooperates for the actual marathon. Running yesterday gave me a good chance to see what the general course would be like on race day. I wasn’t planning on running with anyone, but I ran into my brother-in-law’s neighbor just prior to the start of the race. We started out together and ended up running the entire race together. I’ve never run with anyone before but it seemed to work out pretty well for me. We talked throughout the race and before I knew it, we were done. I’ve never run 20 miles before, but after finishing the race, I felt great. I burned a total of 2800 calories. After I got home and took a shower, my wife, daughter and I went out to eat. We ate at a new Italian restaurant that just opened near our house. I ordered a Calzone, chicken wings and cheese breadsticks. I think I replaced the entire 2800 calories that I had just burned earlier in the day!
In case you’re wondering, the left-hand picture is what my current running shoes look like with a little over 1100 miles on them. They’ve stayed in remarkably good shape for that many miles. The right-hand picture shows one of the old shoes above one of the brand new ones. The soles have held up really well for that much mileage. The Asics brand has been a good shoe for me. I just switched to the new pair about 2 weeks ago and will have about 80-100 miles on them by race time. Hopefully, I can stay injury free for the next three weeks. The marathon is Sunday, October 18th. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Today marks the 34th anniversary of me picking up my wife-to-be in Michigan. I was living in Montana at the time and I flew into Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 25th, 1975 to bring her back to Great Falls, Montana. That was a long time ago but I still remember it well. After meeting her at the airport, we took her car and drove back to Montana by taking the northern route through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We stayed along the northern portions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and finally, Montana. It was a three-day trip in all.
The first picture is a billboard on US-31 in Michigan. I don’t need to know that Michiganders are proud of breastfeeding. Really, I don’t. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice that they’re proud. I just don’t need to see a 10-foot breast on the highway telling me that. I’m easily distracted by much smaller ones. I’ve got enough on the road to deal with already. The next thing you know, there’s going to be a 10-foot athletic cup with the caption, “Michigan Men Protect Their Jewels With Pride.”
This second picture is from a urinal in a men’s restroom. As I was standing there doing my thing, I read the following: “Place hand in front of automatic eye for 15 seconds to flush.” Ah huh. I’m going to just stand there for 15 seconds and wait for the stupid urinal to decide and flush. Sorry, folks. Ain’t gonna happen. Maybe five seconds but not 15. Do they really expect someone to stand around that long just to get their urinal to flush? Either put a handle on it or make it flush automatically. I’d like to know how many people are really going to stand around that long and do it. Actually, I’d like to meet the idiot that designed this.
The third picture is a sticker on a 2010 Chevy Camaro SS. My daughter and I were looking at the new Camaros. Back in 2008, the state of California (surprise!) mandated these stickers on their cars. Apparently, they’re finding their way onto cars in all the states. I guess they’re supposed to shame you into buying a “greener” car. The sticker says, “Protect the environment, choose vehicles with higher scores.” Yeah, right. How many people are going to really use this sticker as a determining factor in their car purchase? If someone is in the market for a performance car, then the car’s looks, horsepower and features are going to sway that individual, not the global warming factor. If you’re into economical or high mileage cars, you’re going to look at price and mpg. I can’t imagine that someone is going to use the “Global Warming Factor” or “Smog Score” on the sticker. Plus, if two cars are almost identical in features, engines, etc., chances are, the scores will be pretty much the same. I can just hear the auto customers now. “Gee Mary, I really had my heart set on the Dodge Viper with the 600hp V10 engine but the Ford Taurus has a much higher global warming score so I guess I’ll get the Ford!”
If you’re not familiar with the Onion News Network, you should take a look at some of their stuff. They’ve got some hilarious little 2-3 minute fake news segments. There are video spoofs on politics, gender, business, etc. They’re definitely worth a few minutes of your time. If you can’t laugh at any of these, please seek professional counseling. Below are a few of my recent favorites:
