Running like a kid

Now I love to run, it's refreshing and it's meditative for me.  Plus I like to challenge myself, unfortunately as of lately and by lately I mean the past couple of years, running has begun to suck. And it always leads to knee pain.  So when I heard about barefoot running, my first thought was impossible, which instantly made me want to go out and do it. But knowing my feet, I knew it was going to be a challenge.  My feet are way to sensitive, I could barely step on a marsh-mellow with out having an adverse reaction.  Then I learned of minimalist shoes.  I did my research and I settled on these Vibram Five Fingers Trek Sports

Goofy! Believe me I know but I was draw to the idea of running free, but with a little protection.  Now I've read enough to know you just can't jump in 'barefoot', to say, that you have to take it slow.  And I did for about three weeks. Trust me it wasn't my choice, after every run my calf muscles felt like they were tuned with piano wire, and not to mention the tingling in the soles of my feet, because I almost ran my skin raw.  I figured after a few good SHORT runs, that I'd be able to progress further. Progress I did, normally my knees are screaming after a mile and by mile two I just try to ignore it and keep going.  Well on this particular day I was flying! In fact I did 4.5 miles without losing my breath or even breaking a good sweat.  I was ready to run another 4.5 or hell I might just try to run a half marathon, and then the school bus came by.  Seriously a school bus pulled in front of me and I had to stop running, and thats when I noticed the burn, seriously I felt like parts of my feet were burning, because they were.

Sorry I know that might be a bit disturbing to see, but at least you could take comfort in not having to feel them.  BLISTERS!!!! And holy shit do they hurt.  I can't tell you how many times I've read the phrase..."Let your skin be your coach", well it didn't matter because I didn't listen, but I will now...

To make a long, gross, boring story short I learned the hard way on how to take baby steps. First and foremost I had to take care of my feet and not just blisters, but bones, tendons, ligaments and SKIN.

New Plan of Attack;

That's me the next day, bandaged and busted feet, but I have a plan.  I walk my dog a lot, so I figured what if I go barefoot during those walks, maybe that will help me toughen up the tread on my feet. 

I most definitely hit a road block to a barefoot life but I promise that I'm not going to stop until it isn't fun or I give up caring about my old canoes. I'll keep you posted on how its going and I hope I don't have to post anymore tragic photos of my gnarly feet.

Baby Steps.

Oh and don't worry if you are one of the few people who actually read this, and prefer my stupid random thoughts I'll continue to post those too, I have a great idea about a garbage can!

Missing the live show

Just to jump into it, otherwise I'll start musing and who knows what kind of weird ramblings you'll find me saying.  I went to a Lucero show this past Tuesday and it was amazing, yes the band is great and I have a new burgeoning love for them, but the highlight for me was being at a show again, the energy, the beers, that slight ring in my ears the morning after.

Now I'm the type of guy who frowns apon New Year resolutions but hitting up more shows may be one that I'll get behind

That's the band...beards...t-shirts and good tunes. I felt at home.

Here's something else new but old..lets say revisited.  For about nine months I tried the whole veggie-guy thang and it worked well for me. Primarily because I love to cook and I've gotten quite bored with all the MEAT I've been grilling.

I'm not an impressionable guy, well not for very long, and I say that because I'm a great listener and I'll jump on the side of a conversation to understand, learn, what have you.  But eventually my superior logic wins out.

I digress, I started reading the Food Inc. book and started the documentary, now its still early since I haven't finish either of them, but I'm seriously annoyed with food. Animals are meat and meat is food and as for whether or not they have a soul I don't really care.  This whole food industry is so captivating, like watching a bad American Idol contestant. But in the end its still bad, horrible, inexcusable.(I'm talking Idol here)

What's getting me is the lack of truth in what I'm eating. So in far fewer words bring on the farmers market and seasonal food, winter tomatoes are ripened with gas fumes!  Now I know what you're all saying.

"Didn't you huff gas fumes as a kid?"

Yes I did but it was for fun not sustenance.

Now I can go on and on and on (great WILCO song) but I'll start delving into such topics on how I think string theory is filled with knots, and how google and wikipedia gives dumb people an unfair advantage.

One more thing.

This isn't me, but it's what I've been daydreaming about ever time I slide around my kitchen in my socks

So why don't all you Gals and Pals cross your fingers for the Bard, because I am in some desperate need of some ridin' time.

Pajarito Playlist

Now I'm not sure if this really fits into the parameters of a blog, but I'm doing it anyways.  Just this Saturday past I went snowboarding on Pajarito mountain, in Los Alamos New Mexico. Small mountain lots of runs, great views, and some of the best powder this rookie has seen all season.  I mean this stuff was fresh a bit of ice underneath, but just untouched runs. It was a boarders dream come true, well at least mine.

With views like that its kind of hard to stay focus at the task at hand, that being, staying on your board!  That was the best photo I took all day, here's the second best:

Damn it feels good to be a Gansta, actually I believe they call that Hillbilly Camoflauge.

I digress, I went with two co-workers, pretty good guys, absolutely phenomenoal skiers.  Needless to say I couldn't keep up so I paved my own trail to the Greens & Blues of the Mtn.

Normally I don't listen to my Ipod when I'm around other, I find it to be quite rude, but since I was on my own I thought maybe a few tunes would help me loosen up or "Get in the Groove", as the kiddos say.  And I must say, I'm a bit of a convert.  I rode better than I ever have while I was listening to music it was great.  Seriously, while listening to music my fall ratio drop dramatically and my form and speed improve and increased.  So here is my Pajarito Playlist...you could judge all you want, but you can't knock it.

1.  THE ROLLING STONES  "STREET FIGHTING MAN"

2.   THE BEATLES  "LOVE YOU TO"

3.   NINA SIMONE  "FEELING GOOD"

4.   DAVID GRAY  "L'S SONG"

5.   TALIB KWELI  "BIG DEL FROM THE NATTI"

6.   THE MISFITS  "RETURN OF THE FLY"

7.   GRATEFUL DEAD  "COSMIC CHARLIE"

8.   BILLY JOEL  "SCENES FROM AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT"

9.   THE MISFITS  "NIKE A GO GO"

10. THE WHO  "BEHIND BLUE EYES"

11. COLDPLAY  "VIOLET HILL"

12. JACKSON BROWNE  "FOR EVERYMAN"

13. THE WHO  "JAGUAR"

14. MODEST MOUSE  "LIFE LIKE WEEDS"

15. TENACIOUS D  "DOUBLE TEAM"

16. TODD SNIDER  "D.B. COOPER"

17. MORPHINE  "I HAD  MY CHANCE"

18. LEON REDBONE  "AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' "

19. FRANK SINATRA "(LOVE IS) THE TENDER TRAP"

20. EARTH WIND & FIRE  "SEPTEMBER"

21. BLIND MELON  "TONES OF HOME"

22. GRIZZLY BEAR  "FINE FOR NOW"

23. REAL THING  "YOU TO ME ARE EVERYTHING"

24. THE WEAKERTHANS  "RECONSTRUCTION SITE"

25. THE SHINS  "PINK BULLETS"

26. RICH KIDS  "RICH KIDS"

27. BRIGHT EYES  "LAND LOCKED BLUES"

28. DINOSAUR JR.   "GREEN MIND"

29. THE BEATLES   "ACROSS THE UNIVERSE"

30. SMASHING PUMPKINS  "MUZZLE"

(Weird, that turned out to be a very even number. Hope you enjoy this music as much as I did!)

Lifting the Lid

Never in all my schemes, ideas, musing.......Did I ever think I would bare my soul on the internet.  Good thing I won't be starting now, but I felt like saying something.  What to say what not to, it doesn't matter I'm just going to start.

So let this be my mission statement:(For the Record Mission Statements are Bull$h!t)  I promise to write my thoughts and views in the most humorous and honest way possible, be prepaired for typos, grammatical errors and well, possibly some nonsense.  It'll be like a late night phone call with me begrudgingly responding while my pillow is seducing me to bed.  Or when I'm so excited that I forget to to use verbs.

I like Capitol Letters in all the wrong parts of a sentence-thats a fact about me and heres another..Twinkies are not as good as they were when I was a child, But I desperately want to love them like I did back in the day.

I'll expound more but I must return to work, and since typing is not a normal activity for me to do at work I'm standing out a bit, People are staring and wondering what the hell I'm doing.

Maybe later I'll have something meaningful to say I have a pretty good feeling I will.